Page 70 of Hometown Heartbreakers: Sunkissed

There was white dust covering most of the surfaces in the room, including the one with lines of white powder on a cocktail table. Why was the bed in the living room? The room was in complete disarray and shameful to look at. Dante looked around the room, and I could see the mixed emotions as he took in the things he saw. There were pill bottles, drugs, alcohol bottles both full and empty, condom wrappers, sheets thrown in corners, clothes tossed here and there, a gun, and a computer in the room's corner. Wait, was that recording?

I spun my head and tugged on Dante’s shirt. “That computer is recording.”

“What?!” he shouted before looking over at it. “What in the actual fuck?”

Dante picked up a shirt and tossed it over the computer, covering the camera before walking over to close the laptop. He sighed, and I just looked at him. He used the same shirt to pick up the gun on the table, put the safety on, careful not to touch it, and put it on his waist.

“He’s never been this bad.” He walked over to me, looking me over. “You all right?”

“Yeah, just… I didn’t know that Jeremy was gay,” I admitted. And that wasn’t the problem. What bothered me was the way those men handled him. I could tell that Jeremy was mostly out of it, and they were rough and uncaring with him. It turned my stomach in a way that made me feel bad for him. Why would he put himself through all of that?

“Yeah… I never thought that he was straight. I didn’t know that homosexuality bothered you.” Dante seemed to struggle.

“It doesn’t. How they treated him does.” I touched his arm, and he calmed a bit. “Where’d you get that gun?” I asked, pointing to the one he’d returned to his back. Two guns.

“In my truck. You sure you’re alright?” he asked again.

“Yes.” I was as good as I’d get. There were bigger problems than trying to figure out if I was okay.

“Guess you’re not my next appointment.” Jeremy staggered into the room wearing just a towel. He walked over to the table, did a line of whatever was on it, snorted, and then another.

“J!” Dante shouted to him. “What in the fuck is going on here?’

“I think you saw what was going on, brother.” Jeremy coughed a little and sat on the bed.

“If Mom knew what you were doing in this apartment, she’d kick your ass.”

Jeremy scoffed and picked up a bottle of something, then took a swig. “You always were a mama’s boy. Bet you thought you were better than me, too.”

“J… what are you talking about? Where is all of this coming from?”

“You know she’s dead, right?” Jeremy said as he sat the bottle on the table and picked up a cigarette. He lit it and took a long drag. “She died a few days after dad.”

Dante moved fast, picking Jeremy up and slamming his back into the wall. “Shut your fucking mouth. This shit has completely fucked you up. Why would you say that about her when you know it’s not true?” Dante slammed him against the wall again, but harder.

“I owed Slim a lot of money. Four million, to be exact.”

“How do you owe someone four million dollars? What kind of shit do you have to get into to owe someone millions of dollars? And what does this bullshit have to do with Mom?”

“I’d been giving Slim my monthly allowance from Mom for months. He told me that ten thousand dollars wasn’t enough. It was barely paying back the interest in what I owed him. I went to the bank, and the teller asked for my ID and pulled up Dad’s other account. There was over three million in there. When I told the woman to give it to me, she told me I’d have to wait till she got it all in. She’d call me when it was ready. Guess I shouldn’t have been high as fuck or I’d have realized that she’d call the number on the account.”

There was something I didn’t like about this entire thing. Jeremy was too calm. And he wasn’t trying to break free from Dante at all. His eyes seemed void of emotion. I’d seen something similar before in a dog when he was about to strike. I knew the door was locked and there was no way that Jeremy had another weapon. All he was wearing was a skimpy towel.

“Slim’s boys had taken me up to the bank early a few days later to check on things, and that same clerk who was nice to me was now looking at me like I wasn’t shit. She told me it wasn’t ready, but when I walked into the parking lot, Dad was there. We argued about the money, and he told me how I’d never be shit and that he wasn’t giving me the cash I needed. One boy held a gun up to him, and when he finally agreed to go in, the other guy went with him. I guess he was going somewhere and Mom was taking him because she was in the driver’s seat of their car. They could only give him so much, and they got agitated with him. They took the money, shot Dad, and took Mom with them. Told me I had three days to bring the rest. I tried to save her, Dante. I did. Then, I drained all the accounts, but I still ended up being a mil short. They didn’t care that I was working on getting it. When I couldn’t deliver, they shot her. Right here.” Jeremy tapped Dante’s forehead, pretending to pull the trigger, using his fingers to show him exactly how she was killed.

I was stunned. Not Dante. Instantly, he began punching Jeremy in the face. Blow after blow without hesitation.

“You sick son of a bitch! Why in the fuck would you say that? You don’t give a shit about anybody but yourself!” And when he lost his grip and Jeremy hit the floor, knocking nearby stuff over, the assault of fists and feet only moved faster. He was going to kill him.

“Dante!” I ran over, trying to pull them apart. I took everything I had and pushed Dante, making him stumble backward into a dresser, knocking the contents to the floor. Dazed to the point of being mad with tears falling from his eyes, he reached into his pocket for his phone and dialed.

“Fucking answer!” Dante yelled as he put the phone to his ear. Who was he calling?

“Who are you calling?” I asked.

He didn’t answer. He just hit a button and put the phone back to his ear, ignoring me. The sound of something vibrating over and over caught my attention. I looked over at a phone vibrating repeatedly, but then it stopped. Dante took the phone from his ear, pressed a button, and put it back to his ear. I turned back to the phone that began vibrating again. The same thing happened.

“Dante…” My voice was low. I hoped he wasn’t doing what I thought he was.

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