32.🍸 Bloody Maria 1.0

**KEKE**
I know I’m alone.
Last night I’d fallen asleep with Justice still inside me. He’s not here now. I feel no warmth. No connection. Nothing.
I open my eyes, just be sure.
Yep, he’s gone. The house is still… except for slow footfalls on the stairs… in the hallway… outside the door.
Someone knocks.
“Uh, Ms. Keke?”
It’s a voice I don’t recognize.
I’m slipping on my sleep shirt, sans bra and panties, when the man knocks again. “Ms. Keke, are you decent?”
I smile the barest of smiles thinking of Cam saying the same words.
Once decent, or close to it, I open the door on a crack with most of my body weight behind it in case I need to slam it shut.
One can never be too cautious.
I poke my head out to find another big man, this one in an expensive black suit and shoes that shine like a newly minted penny, staring at me from the other side of the door. Judging by his stomach girth, it seems he’s built from more bulk than muscle.
I relax.
Slightly.
“Justice asked me to tell you he won’t be here for most of the day. He should be back late this evening or early in the morning. He told me it wasn’t the kids. Uh, they’re okay and everything, but an emergency came up and he had to… ah… attend to it.”
Post-coital bliss has yet to unwrap itself from around my heart. Sleepy and relaxed, I’m not worried about where Justice went. I only hope he can solve whatever came up and we can continue where we left off when he comes home.
If Justice wants to tell me his business, I’m all ears. If not… well…
Do you trust him?
Yes. Yes. I do. He’s no Krish.
That thought has me giving the man a warm smile. “Don’t worry about it…”
“Sebastian,” the man says with a nod in my direction. “I’m Sebastian.”
“Nice to meet you.” I’m about to shut the door and take my third shower in less than twenty-four hours when Sebastian sticks his size fifteen shoe inside the room, blocking my movement.
The tips of his ears are pink and he has a red hue to his olive skin tone. He removes his wingtip to shift his considerable weight from one foot to the other. “He… uh, told me to be sure to tell you he… uh, misses you already.”
“Thank you, Sebastian,” I say calmly, ignoring the happy beat of my heart. “Thank you for letting me know.”
I shut the door and lean against it, knowing that I’m cared for and protected by a good man… a man who has thoroughly loved my body and completely stolen my heart.

___________
**JUSTICE**

Maria, with a body so thin she defies the laws of physics, stares at me defiantly while Tino holds his head in his hands.
They know why I’m here and who sent me.
Maria has on a rather revealing black negligée while Tino is butt-ass naked. I’d entered the premises five minutes ago to find them going at it.
My eyes still burn.
Sebastian had called me with the lovebirds’ location just as I heard Blake leave to go visit his relatives. With Keke sound asleep, I took down an upstate address of a cozy studio sized cabin near Allegany State Park.
Leaving Keke was damn hard, and I had extracted myself from her warm body with regret. I purposely dressed in the room instead of the walk-in closet so I could watch her. Before I left, I planted several kisses on her forehead and cheek. The tingling feeling they gave me lasted for most of the drive.
Until I started thinking about the information I was keeping from her.
I tried to relax by admiring the scenery and singing along to the songs coming from the digital radio station.
My singing talent came from my mom. She’d sung in her church’s choir till she upped and married my dad at seventeen. Being able to carry a tune better than most is the only good thing she gave me.
When I arrived at the cabin in the afternoon, the first order of business was to determine what I was walking into. I sat incognito in the parking lot surrounding the cabins dotted around the property. I made a few phone calls and played some games. In between, I observed the happy couple leave twice during the day. Each time, they came back with enough Mc Donald’s’ for just the two of them.
Satisfied they were alone, I waited for darkness.
The ultimate element of surprise.
When the birds flew up to the telephone wires, I stepped from my truck—an early 80s model with no distinct markings or paint job. The idea is for no one to remember what it looks like, should the cops ask questions.
And they might.
I don’t know how this evening will end. It could go well, or it might get out of hand. Either way, I want to be back on the road within the hour and with no violence inflicted on my person.
Keke wouldn’t like it.
You should have told her where you were going.
True, but no use on second guessing my actions now. I have to deal with the job first.
“Whatchoo going to do, Justice?” Maria asks, twisting her fingers together in agitation.
“Me?” I say in a casual drawl, keeping my nine-millimeter pointed at the floor. “I’m not going to do anything. Pepito is on his way to take you home.”
Tino moans and grips his shaved head tighter.
Maria rounds on me, her hazel eyes flashing furiously. She looks ready to launch, and I just gave her the fuel to get started. “You know you just killed him, right?” she says, pointing a scarlet nail at Tino. “You just killed my husband.”
“You two got married?” I ask, careful not to take my eyes off a twitchy Maria. “Yeah, we’re married, see.” She throws a hand in my face and Bane with a screwdriver embedded in his temple flashes before my eyes. A second later, I zero in on a nice-sized diamond ring.
It’s on her third finger.
A knock at the door and a raspy voice saying, “Open up, puto,” drowns out my heartfelt congratulations
Maria grabs my arm, her eyes wild. “Justice, I’m pregnant. Don’t let my brother kill him, please.”
Crispy crackers and shit on toast.
Sarge used to say that when I exasperated him.
It’s fitting for this situation.
So he could save face, I had planned on talking Pepito into hurting Tino a little instead of a lot. I was thinking a broken arm, or a little disfigurement would do the trick.
With Maria pregnant, nothing would happen to Tino.
I knew what growing up without a father was like. No child would suffer that fate if I could prevent it. Whatever the cost.
“You have ten… no, five seconds before I come in.”
Shit! That means we have three.
“Trust me,” I say to Maria, prying her fingers off my bicep. I reach the door in record time, flinging it open to allow Pepito and three of his men to enter. One grabs Maria with one hand, and after a split-second goggle, her robe in the other. He shoves it in her direction while he averts his gaze. The other two haul Tino from the bed, naked as the day he was born.
I’d rather take a bullet than be forced to my knees with my dick on display in front of both my peers and my boss. Let alone my wife.
That’s love for you… or self-preservation.
I’m thinking it’s more the latter for Tino as he begins to blubber and beg, his face contorted in a grimace.
Pepito throws a disgusted look in Tino’s direction. “If you don’t shut it, mane, I’ll shut it for you.”
Tino stops his groveling like a timer hitting zero.
I jerk my head to the door. “Pepito, can I have a word?”
At his nod, we head out into the night. A robed Maria watches us, worry for her husband... for her future, etched in her face.