Page 26 of A Vicious Rumor

"Of course," I replied. "You know I never miss our Saturdays there."

"Think you and Mr. Cunningham are finally gonna get married one of these days?" Kate joked. Mr. Cunningham was my favorite of all the seniors that I visited. He was a fairly grumpy old man to everyone else, but he seemed to like me. He'd tell me stories from when he was in the war. He was a bit like the father or grandfather I'd never had.

I rolled my eyes at my friend. "You'll be the first we invite to the ceremony," I said, knowing it was better to just give into Kate's jokes than try and argue with them.

"I want to pick your colors."

"Deal," I said with a laugh, putting the whole Tyson matter behind me. If he didn't want to see me, that was fine. I had a life to live, and I wasn't going to stop it just for him.

TYSON

I tried to put Lily out of my mind and focus on what I needed to do. The street I was driving down was fairly deserted, but that made sense. I was clearly in the industrial district, and my GPS was leading me to what looked like the back of a fairly deserted old warehouse. I looked around, but there was nothing to see. Some abandoned machinery off to my right, some abandoned cars straight ahead, and a broken box spring on the curb to my left.

I parked the car in front of the building and tried to slow down how fast my heart was beating. I didn't have to commit to anything right now. I just was there to find out some information.

The news story flashed in my head again, and I realized that I didn't really have a choice. I needed money. The business needed money. My father might have no problem letting all of my Grandfather's hard work go to waste, but I did. I climbed out of my car and approached the plain, industrial styled door.

Before I had a chance to raise my hand up and knock, the door opened and one of the biggest guys I'd ever seen stepped out. He looked like Bane on steroids.

"You lost?" he asked me.

I shook my head and held up the card that was given to me. "I'm new and was told you guys might have some work."

I wasn't short at six feet, but I also wasn't one of the tallest guys out there, either. This guy still towered over me, and I didn't even want to think about how much more muscle he had on his body than me. His shaved head and the scar running across his chin didn't do anything to soften his appearance, either.

"Who sent you?"

"I didn't catch his name," I replied. "Skinny guy, lots of tattoos. Hangs around with Coco," I said.

The big guy nodded. "Stay right here." He went back inside and closed the door, leaving me alone with my thoughts. A stray gust of wind whistled through the buildings, and I tried to just put the reality of what I was doing behind me.

It was just the for the summer.

It was just to help the business.

I could stop at any time.

The door swung back open, and a hand reached out and gestured me forward. I took a deep breath and forced my foot past the threshold. The big guy closed the door behind me, and I took a split second to try and gauge my surroundings. I was in a little entrance room with an old receptionist's desk and some chairs. If I didn't know what went on here, or at least what I thought went on here, I wouldn't have thought that there was anything funny going on at this place. It all seemed very legitimate, if a bit run down.

"Come on," the big guy said as we walked past me. "This way."

I followed him and the sound of his boots against the vinyl flooring drowned out the sound of my own. It was unnerving to be in the presence of someone who scared me. I couldn't remember the last time I felt nervous around someone.

There were closed doors on either sides of me as we walked. Some had lights on underneath them, some didn't. Some of them clearly had people inside talking, and some were ghostly silent. At the end of the day, I could only guess what was going on behind those doors.

After what felt like an eternity, the hallway opened up into a large warehouse like area. There was a bar off to the left.

"Stay here," the big guy said.

"Yeah, no problem," I muttered, realizing how hard it would be for me to run out of this place and make it back to my car if I suddenly didn't want to be here any longer.

There was a guy behind the bar and a man sitting opposite him. His entire personality didn't fit the warehouse one bit. He was wearing black from head to toe, and his black hair was slicked back and off to the side as he sat at the bar, drinking what looked to be a glass of scotch.

From this angle, I couldn't quite make out his features, but it looked like he had a strong jaw and high cheekbones. Italian was my guess, or at least from somewhere in the Mediterranean. He looked oddly familiar, but I couldn’t place him.

The big guy exchanged a few words with him before he walked back over to me.

"You're lucky. The boss is here today. Normally he doesn't agree to meet with scum like you, but he's making an exception. Behave yourself," he cleared his throat. "Or else."

---