Grumpy Best Friend

I looked down at Jude, and I knew that I had to be careful. Maybe I was willing to take this all the way and get aggressive in order to fight back—but I couldn’t make that choice for her. I thought of my father’s fist, smashing into my teeth, and I almost smiled. Those were terrible memories, some of the worst of my life, but I knew how far I was willing to go. I knew how much pain I could take.

Jude though, she didn’t deserve that.

“How about this,” I said, and glanced over to where the construction guys stood, some of them leaning on shovels, others holding tools. “I call the cops, and you try to explain to them how you somehow have legal ownership over this building.”

Zeke laughed and shook his head. “That’s a good one. You hear that, boys? He wants to call the cops. What a bitch move.”

“Zeke, I thought we could figure this out together,” Jude said, stepping forward, and I had to resist the urge to grab her wrist and pull her back. “You seem like a reasonable man. Do you really think locking the doors and threatening us is going to get you what you want?”

Nicky appeared with the construction crew, and I saw him look in my direction. He nodded a little, and I wasn’t sure what that meant—if his guys had my back, or if he was bowing out of the confrontation, I couldn’t be sure, but I wouldn’t get them involved if I could avoid it. Hopefully, if something bad went down, they’d get the hell out of here, and save Jude if they could.

Zeke laughed softly and shook his head. “Maybe it was an aggressive bargaining tactic, I’ll admit. But it sent you a message, didn’t it?”

“What’s the message?” Jude asked.

“That I can be anywhere, at any time. And I own this fucking place.” He sneered, and his guys smiled like jackals.

Jude sighed and shook her head, like she was disappointed in a toddler. “I thought we were business people,” she said. “There’s no need for the aggression.”

“It’s all business,” Zeke said, shrugging. “Now what are we going to do about my factory?”

“We’re not going to do anything,” I said. “My crew’s going to keep going with construction, and you’re not going to do anything to stop them. If you stick around and try to intimidate them, I will call the police.”

“This shit with the police again,” Zeke said. “You say that like I gave a fuck about the cops.”

“You might,” I said, shrugging a little. “What’s it going to be? You want to lurk here and make things hard on yourself?”

Another tense standoff. I could tell Jude didn’t like this, and I couldn’t blame her. I hated that Fluke dragged us into this situation, and I wanted to end it here and now if I could—but I had a feeling Zeke wasn’t going anywhere.

“All right then,” Zeke said finally, and snapped his fingers. His guys began to go back to the cars. “I’ll leave you be. You can go along with your little construction project. But make sure they do a good job, since I’ll own it all sooner or later.”

“Send over the documents,” Jude said. “And we’ll see about that.”

Zeke laughed and walked off. He got into the car, and they pulled out. I watched them go as Nicky walked over.

“What the hell was that?” he asked. “Those guys looked like serious bad news. And I’ve met guys like that before, back in the city.”

“That’s the guy that chained the doors shut,” Jude said, shaking her head. “And he’s a real pain in my ass.” She stalked off, back toward the tree. I watched her go and wished I could do something for her, then turned back to Nicky.

“It won’t be a problem,” I said.

“It sure looks like one already,” he said and sighed. His guys were back to work already, carrying shit and talking to each other like they’d just watched one of the best movies they’d ever seen. “I’ll make up some story for them so hopefully nobody talks too much about what they just saw.”

“They didn’t see a thing,” I said. “Just a business meeting.”

“Yeah, right, a business meeting with a bunch of fucking mobsters.” Nicky looked up at the sky. “God in heaven, I don’t know what I’m doing here, but the money’s good, so fuck it.” He walked off with a wave.

I turned to watch Jude as she sat down with her arms around her knees at the base of the tree. I knew her well enough to give her some space.

Zeke was a problem, and this chain stunt was only the beginning. He didn’t have documents, that much was obvious, but he was going to keep trying to muscle his way into the business somehow. Lady Fluke was too much of a coward, and too afraid of bad press to intervene, and so my hands were tied. I had to find some way to get Zeke to back off, all without any real help.