Grape Juice from Lemons

CHAPTER IV

Him...

I sat inside my car for a while after that. I felt weird but safe as I took in deep breaths, the smell of her lingered in my passenger seat. I loved the smell, I wanted it to be my air freshener. I wanted it to muffle my sorrows and eventually choke me. I wanted it to devour me. To intertwine with every cell in my body, with every blood cell in my veins. For it to suffocate me.

A knock on my window echoes before he opened the door and tried to sit in the seat where she had sat. I didn't realize how important the smell was for me, how important the mark she had left on the spot meant for me until I pulled a gun out on my own man. My unbiological brother was faced with a barrel of a gun to his forehead, just because I didn't want him to crush the aura of her.

He raised his hands but deep down thought nothing of it. He isn't afraid of guns or violence, he isn't afraid at all. A soldier from birth, he was trained to perfection by me, to fight beside me. To fight my fights for me.

" Smith didn't have the cash. "

" Say that again but slower." I load the Glock 27, pointing it towards him once more. His devilish smile filled his entire face, being faced with death doesn't inflict a single emotion on him.

" Smith lost the cash. He swore he had it on him, but claimed that some chick stole it from him. He pleaded for more time."

" How much was he given? " I put the safety on and placed the gun on the passenger seat, sending a subliminal message to him to not sit there.

" Three days. '' I kiss my teeth, this isn't right. I will be seen as weak, what kind of boss receives his money later than ordered. What kind of emperor let a fool like Smith rule his kingdom? It's pathetic.

" Who was the lady? "

" It's hard to say, he described blonde and redheads. "

" We'll look at the cameras and try to find her ourselves. If in three days we don't have the money, I'll kill him. " He shakes his head, but I know he loves the plan. He loves splattered blood on walls and the thrill of reading about himself in the newspapers. He irks for fear, for darkness.

" Send out a message today, kill his old man, I heard he's going to retire anyway." He said before he does the unthinkable and sits down on the seat. My hand goes to grab the gun, but he's quicker than me. The safety's off with a blink of an eye, the guns pointed at me and I have nothing to do but to look at the monster I created.

" You don't want the cash. But for your image? You need it. Four families are watching your every move, you can't mess up. Can you?

" My chest rapidly rises and falls, my brows furrowed with a glare set rock-solid on my face.

" You don't pull your gun out on me. You don't tell me what to do. And you don't sit in the seat that wasn't meant for you." My eyes fly shut when he shoots the ground behind him. He's always been like a leopard, antisocial and when you let your guard down with him, you're asking for it. He points the gun back at me.

" I can't sit here, because it smells like her, doesn't it? Like vanilla and cigarettes. Disgusting-"

" You don't get to call her that! " I roar at his face. He doesn't even flinch, he doesn't even blink. He loads the gun.

" Don't lose your cool. She's probably the one who took it. She's struggling financially, why wouldn't she."

" She's no thief!" She's pure, delicate. Free of all sins, because she's wonderful. Immaculate. She's never done something like that, my baby girl.

" She's not perfect either."

" She has no flaws," I scream again, he shoots the ground, pulling the gun back on me.

" You don't know her. " He all but scoffs, takes a bullet out of the gun before throwing the gun back to me.

" And from what I've heard. You're hooked on her. Like an addict to a drug."

I point the gun towards him, load it and without thinking pull the trigger aiming at his shoulder, just to find out that the gun has been robbed of bullets. He smiles.

" If she stole the cash that belongs to us. I'll put this bullet right through her small hands. Maybe she loses the will to steal. " He throws my car door shut and places the bullet in his pocket.

Without thinking, in the midst of my rage, I didn't realize how fast I moved. I lost sight of when I pinned him down and when I started punching him, but when it all came back to me, his face was red. All I saw was red.

He coughs and slides on the ground, his boots trying to get a grip so he could pull himself up, or push himself from under me, but to his dismay, I push him down again. I'm not this violent, this vile. But when it comes to her I'm a different man. I protect her name.

" You don't call the shots and you don't talk about her, ever. " I grab his chin harshly, looking into those deep eyes of nothing.

" You will fear me one day. And when that day comes, I will be the one putting the bullet in you. " My voice drips of venom as he takes a deep breath after I let his throat go.

" You aren't even strong enough to kill a man. Much less, a brother like me. " My other teammate walks by, not paying mind to the scene in front of him. He's used to seeing us fight like this.

" Hey, you. " I call on him. " I want three men at the Montgomery mansion, right now. I want two hundred thousand and Paul Montgomery dead."

" Yes, sir. Is he coming along? " I stare at the man under my knee. I stand up offering a hand for him to stand, but he just flips me off before spitting out blood and standing up by himself.

" He's the one who'll kill him." I pat his back, before pushing him towards my friend.

With that I go to open my car door again, trying to memorize the small amount of her aroma that still lingers. I take the gun and throw it towards him, as he catches it, before starting to fill the slots with bullets.

" If she turns out to be the one who stole the cash. Paul Montgomery's or Tokyo's death will lay on her tiny hands. " He places the gun behind his back. " How do you feel about that? "

" I told you not to talk about her, ever again. " I growl.

" You have an unhealthy obsession. I just thought I'd be the only brave soul to tell you that. " I turn on my heel not wasting time with an excuse of a human being like him.

We drove silently towards the mansion. From the backseat you heard his phone blaring, as it always does, with new messages flooding in every minute. But that's the way I liked it, fresh news, raw. I knew every new detail that came out, I was on the top of my game.

" Sir, Hunter said the mansion was unguarded at this hour. Everyone is out, celebrating the release of Smith. " Idiots. I looked towards my drier as he scoffed.

" Why are you so affected by the fact Smith wasn't charged with murder. Was the guy ... someone you knew? " He looks so innocent with his bloody lip and red face. He is anything but.

" I used to know him. I wouldn't recognize him today. He's dead, so that changes everything." I stare straight ahead. " I suppose it's just unfair. Living in the unknown. "

" Unknown of how he died? "

" Unknown of how he lived so long. " I take the AK, in my hand as we near the white mansion sprinkled with gold. " But I'll figure it out, I always do. "