Page 53 of Hesi-Dating
Joley grew up with the founding leader of the Red Crips. He had to be the one holding something over her. Maybe they'd become involved? Maybe they were still involved in some way? The story in the report might not be the full truth, but the only person who could tell me was Joley.
ChapterTwenty
JOLEY
I should be used to running on fumes after a long night of no sleep, but I wasn't. I'd done it often enough in the past, but I never acquired the skill to be able to put myself together early in the morning when exhausted. Instead, even though I'd showered, I looked a mess in my maroon yoga pants and hair pulled up into a haphazard bun. My red, puffy eyes could be construed as the results of a long night of drinking or sex or crying. Or all three.
I stared around the kitchen table at my three siblings. I loved each of them, no matter how much each of us messed up. Marino had a gambling problem and periodically relapsed. Bruno had more than one ex-girlfriend stalking him. Amber seemed like she had no issues, but she had too much emotional baggage from her work as a vet, not to mention being on the reality TV show based in her office.
"Here's the plan," Amber said. "We'll sit in the TV room. That way he doesn't get deep into the house. He's going to want to get you alone, Jo. He always does. Then he'll say something that tears you apart and makes you catatonic for the rest of the day. We're not going to let him get you alone, okay?"
"What if he orders all of you out of the room?" I held my hands tight together to hide their shaking.
"He can't do that in my house." Feisty Amber had showed up this morning, but she was no match for Nosh and his associates.
"I don't want anyone getting hurt." I covered my face with a hand.
Amber took my free hand. "It's not your fault you and he were in the same foster home. You couldn't control what happened any more than you control him."
"Where'd you go after the wedding?" Bruno asked. "You promised you weren't getting involved with the sheriff. I assume you hooked up with someonenot himfrom the wedding."
I ignored Bruno. The answer didn't matter.
Marino blinked his light blue eyes at me. He never judged my behavior with men, which I appreciated. He'd told me once he understood my stupidity with sex came from a deep level of hurt and insecurity. It was a rare philosophical moment since most of the time he remained glued to a computer, probably hacking something he shouldn't be or playing games with friends. Softly, he asked, "Why does Nosh try so hard to control you? If you're a threat to him, why hasn't he nixed you like he does otherproblemsin his life?"
"I've wondered too," Amber said. "Is he in love with you?"
"It's complicated. Maybe a form of love but notin-love." We each owed the other for bailouts at the worst moments of our early existence. We knew things about the other that neither wanted anyone else to know. Things that happened in that evil household long before the night of death. If Nosh wanted to speak to me alone there wasn't anything they could do about it.
"Rule number two is you do not leave this house with him." Amber pointed at me. The finger coming out indicated a top level of distress from her.
I nodded. I didn't want to leave the house with him either.
We all stared at the analog clock on the wall. Each scraping stroke of the second hand as it closed in on the twelve echoed through the quiet room. The four dogs posted around the table seemed to hold their breaths too to keep the quiet.
Amber's sheltie moved to sit on her toes. She reached down to pet his head. "We got this."
Three minutes after seven.
Knock. Knock.
We all jumped. The dogs rushed the door, barking.
Amber held up her hand to stop Marino when he moved to get it. She waved us to go into the TV area. I sat in one of the stuffed chairs, unwilling to share the sofa with Nosh or anyone else from his gang.
A slick Latino in dark jeans and a black sheeny polo shirt waved through the door at the dogs. That was Mitchell, Nosh's right-hand and lieutenant.
"Marino, can you put the dogs up?" Amber called out.
We knew the dogs would be loud. They'd been left out strategically as an intimidation factor. Directing four off-the-chain barkers into the bedroom took several minutes.
Nosh entered behind Mitchell. The word "precise" matched every aspect of the man from the fitted slacks to the gray, neatly pressed, button-down shirt to the small wire frames he wore that contrasted artfully with his dark skin. Of average height, he had the sleek build of a biker. I never knew if he worked out, nor did I spend any time pondering it. This was one man who I had zero interest in seeing naked. The mere thought made me want to puke.
When Nosh's ice blue gaze met mine, there wasn't anger or judgment in there. For an instant we were the two people who grew up in the heart of gangland L.A. in the shittiest of shitty circumstances. There was far too much secret history that should never be talked about between us. A part of me understood his frantic need to control everything around him to the point of violence, but that part usually got overrun by the condescending gaslighting he directed my way.
He strolled into the TV area like a king. Both Marino and Bruno rose and shook his hand. I didn't move from my chair, nor did I offer my hand. Neither did Amber.
"Joley baby, you look as extraordinary as ever." His eyes crinkled at the edges but there was a coldness to them that warned of the scheming fox hidden behind the beautiful exterior. "Amber, boys…if you could excuse us, I have some things to discuss with Joley."
