Thunder rumbled above us as the storm approached the city. The rain started to pour as I walked away from my so-called friend Officer Jamie Cook. The rain was beating down so hard it made loud clinging noises on surfaces. It was hard to see anything that wasn’t in front of me. I tried looking around to see if Charlie parked closed by but I couldn’t see much from the middle of the alleyway. I didn’t think to turn around anymore until I heard Jamie’s footsteps splashing behind me.

The static in between messages on her radio got louder as she approached, “10-80. I need back up down at the pier on the north end. I have a possible homicide suspect who is evading an arrest, send back up immediately.” I heard the call loud and clear as I picked up the pace dashing through the ally. “Stop Ally! You’re under arrest. Don’t make me shoot!”

Charlie showed up just on time. The car shrieked as it stopped almost right front of me, just as I got to the road. All of sudden, I heard gun shots and two bullets went straight into Charlie’s friend’s Impala. One busted out the back window and the other hitting the driver’s side door. “Shit! Get in! Hurry!” Instead of wasting time and running around the car to the passenger’s side, I hopped in the back. Charlie drove away as fast as he could but it didn’t stop Jamie from shooting two shots at us. “Stay low, that bitch ain’t hitting shit…” He ducked down low as well as he quickly turned down a narrow street leading to the highway. We could hear police sirens coming as we were leaving the area towards a different part of town.

I couldn’t help myself, I threw a fit in the backseat. A straight tantrum… There was glass all over the seat behind the driver’s side and I flung pieces everywhere kicking and screaming. “AW! What the fuck?! What the fuck is her problem?!”

I continued kicking the back of the passenger seat and banged my fists on the cushions. I cut my hands a few times on the glass making pieces fly. Charlie just looked back at me the whole time until I stopped. I was huffing out of breath when he said, “You done back there? I told you she was bad news… She flipped when she became Stevens’ side bitch.”

“Stevens was her partner! What are you talking about? He was one of the officers you took out that night of the train crash.” I quickly snapped back.

“And you’re welcome! He was the one shooting at you… I shot him dead center in the back of the head, the bastard. I don’t know when but somewhere along the way, they decided to cross the line. Stevens and Cook went into the ‘cop forbidden zone’, you can say. Your friend became super loyal to him, eating up everything he said and well I guess she fell for it.”

I climbed to the front and plopped down in the seat. As I buckled up, I noticed we were leaving Freeside. Charlie missed the last exit leading through the city. “Um where?” I started ask but Charlie interrupted me.

“Somewhere safe… We need to lay low for awhile and I have a place where we can go. The police are hot on our asses right now.”

We arrived to fancy an apartment complex that was in the middle of nowhere. I wasn’t paying too much attention but we had to be in a small rural town just outside the city. When Charlie opened the door to door, Apt 202, I was astonished to the setup inside. The apartment was huge, almost as big as my loft downtown. I had to admit this apartment looked better than mine… As I looked around I noticed there were no pictures on the walls or anything personal, anywhere. Charlie quickly put down his things on the counter close the main door and walked into the kitchen. He knew where everything was like it was his home. “Is this your apartment? It’s nice… I wasn’t expecting it to look like this in here. The furniture is exquisite and the carpet much have cost a fortune, it’s so soft. The tan color really makes the décor stand out but there’s things missing like personal things.”

Charlie just listened to me while I went on then smiled before replying, “Cause it’s not my place. The Syndicate owns this building and some of us have access to it when we need to ‘get away’”. He used air quotes to explain, “We’re safe here so make yourself at home while I go hop in the shower ok. There’s beer in the fridge and food to make a meal. The TV is over there and the remote on the couch, so get comfortable. Give me like ten…”

I nodded as I watched him dashed down a hallway towards the back. I walked into the enormous decked out kitchen to the refrigerator. It was full of everything you think of like a really small grocery store. Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, all kinds of lunch meats, two different types of milk and about four different juices. The damn thing was packed and the other side was full of pop and beer with wine bottles in the doorway. Damn I thought I said aloud, there’s got to be close to a thousand dollars at least in here. I grabbed a beer and the materials to make a sandwich then sat down at the dining room table. I sat there looking down at the untouched ham sandwich lost in thought. I didn’t really know how to feel about it all, one side of me is scared and the other side is saying fuck them. The fear is natural, no one likes being in trouble but on the other hand this police department is corrupt. So who’s really scared of who? Soon I’ll have enough evidence against them as well. I’ve went toe to toe with the Freeside Police before but never like this, never a fugitive or a suspect.

A few moments later, Charlie popped from around the corner and walked into the dining room. He had a small wooden box in his hands which he carefully sat down next to me on the table. I couldn’t help but examine his nice muscular body from head to toe. He remained shirtless allowing me to see his body clean of all the dirt and ash. His milk chocolate brown skin looked soft and silky minus the scrap metal wounds. I could also see the bruises and cuts more clear as well when he walked towards the fridge. He had basketball shorts on instead of jeans this time. The shorts sat low on his hips like they were hanging off him. The shorts were more revealing… I liked the shorts, he could stay in the shorts. Charlie put on the same gold watch and a different smaller gold chain necklace. The aroma of his cologne or body wash really put the cherry on top making him even more desirable. I snapped out of it when I caught myself biting my lower lip. I didn’t want him to see that…

I felt like he knew what he was doing though. Charlie smirked at me as he sat down in the chair next to me. He opened his box and pulled out a fat blunt rolled in a leaf cigarillo. I just looked at it was he slowly took a big deep whiff of his nice creation. “You smoke?” He asked. “You should if you don’t…” He suggested as he put the cigar filled with weed to his mouth and puffed a few times to get it started. I watched the pretty clouds of marijuana fill the air as he blow out the smoke. He extended his hand towards me offering to take a hit. I slowly grabbed it then shrugged my shoulders, why the fuck not at this point. Charlie laughed when I damned near coughed up a lung. “That’s my girl! Hit again, go ahead.”

I took two more puffs before passing it back, “I haven’t smoke weed since college.” I said still trying to catch my breath, “That’s some super strong shit.”

“It’s good right? Weed makes everything better…” Charlie leaned back in the chair while taking deep puffs. He looked like he was really enjoying himself.

I couldn’t help looking at him. I don’t know what it is about him that makes me feel so… wild inside. Smoking with him doesn’t help my situation at all either... Is because he’s very handsome or smart and quick witted. Maybe because he’s also the ‘bad boy’ so to speak. I wished he would put more clothes on… “You got comfortable…” I said in a joking way.

“Hell yeah. I don’t plan on going anywhere and neither should you.”

“Charlie I can’t just sit around…” When he turned his head I noticed a small trickle of blood was streaming down his neck. “You’re bleeding. There’s blood coming down your neck.”

He wiped his neck and saw the blood on his hands, “Shit it’s from the glass hitting me when the officer chick was shooting at us.”

“Let me help, it’s the least I can do.” I watched as he got up and walked over to grab his med box from his bag.

“Usually there’s hardly any med supplies here. I always carry my own anyways.” Charlie dug in his bag and pulled out the bandages and wound cleaners. He sat back down in the chair as I stood behind him cleaning his cuts. I hope he won’t need stitches because that would not turn out good for him.

“So…” I was curious, “You bring a lot of people to this fancy apartment?”

Charlie hissed from the alcohol stinging his neck, “By people you mean girls? No, we have to get special permission to be here in these apartments. The Syndicate owns this building and all the apartments so it’s very restricted in who is allowed in here.”

“Does that means Consuelo knows I’m here?” I needed to know. I will be not under his thumb.

“Not necessarily but he knows we’ve been working together.” Charlie tried to turn around but I wouldn’t let him.

“Stay still…” I moved his head down, “I’m good with Consuelo. I don’t need the Syndicate’s help.” I said as finished putting the last band aid on.

“Yea, yea. Well right now you do…” He huffed as he mocked me, “Changing the subject, what did you find out from Jason. Did he give you anything good about the stolen money? Catch me up to speed.”

“He… hasn’t found the missing money yet.” I tried to my best ability to tell everything Jason told me. Everything, even about Shanti stealing her siblings share of the Douglas funds pie. Charlie just sat there listening carefully to everything I said.

“So Shanti is stealing from her family. The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree and your dad was Syndicate. Well, that all makes sense.” I could tell from his sarcastic attitude that was not what he wanted to hear. “What about the written ledgers? I need to take a look at them.”

I interrupted Charlie, “They’re in my dad’s storage unit. I only gave Jason the accounts numbers not the ledgers. Besides, I still have to go back to speak with Jason. I promised I would come alone this time… He mentioned just scratching the surface telling me about the accounts I gave to him. I think we’re on the right track.”

Charlie twisted out and up of the chair to stand right in front of me. He was so much taller me, my head barely past his chest. He lifted his hand to the back of his neck to touch the bandages then stepped closer into my personal space as he said, “Thank you for helping me. I probably would have kept putting tissue back there.” Charlie laughed at his own joke. His smile bright and playful. “In the midst of everything I forgot to ask you if you were hit. You got any cuts or anymore bullet holes?” He pulled the corner of my shirt down pass my shoulder to look at my war wound then quickly patted me down. “I don’t see anything. Let me see your hands…”

“Wow, I’m ok you don’t have to search me. It’s nothing really… I’m fine, it’s just from me flinging the glass around.” I slowly opened my palms to see Charlie to little cuts and slits. They were too small to even put band aids on. I turned away trying not to make eye contact with him. My buzz was going down and reality was coming back... I felt myself getting shy again. I tried to pull my hand back but Charlie wouldn’t let it go.

He didn’t move. He stood there right front of me looking down at basically my forehead. He knew being this close to me made feel some type of way. “For what it’s worth that officer chick, Cook, she wasn’t aiming at you. She was right behind you when I pulled up and when she saw me, she quickly pulled out her gun. Now she knows who killed her man… I’m sorry she turned her back on you.” He took his hand and gently lifted my chin so I would face him. With my face parallel to his, Charlie began to caress the side of my chin.

A shiver went through my body… It made me closed my eyes to his soft touch. I could hear him breath as he leaned in closer to me. Charlie wrapped his arm around my waist pulling me closer as he kissed me softly on the lips. We pulled apart at the same time and looked at each other. Every bit of me wanted to tear him up… I turned my head slightly to side to catch my breath. My mind was spinning, my heart was pounding amongst other things… I didn’t want to cross that line with him, or did I? I looked back up at him as leaned in again quicker this time but stopped when my phone went off. My ringer volume was loud and the damn thing shocked us both. It was on the table beside us. Perfect fucking timing…

I leaned my arm down and turned off the volume on my phone silencing the call without breaking my gaze. Charlie caught on to my message then slightly smile. As he leaned in again to continue what we started, we never broke our gaze. Just as he was about to kiss me again, we heard a knock at the door. At first, it was gentle then the second time the knock was harder. That made Charlie’s demeanor quickly change to serious and defensive. I turned around and looked at the door with him, “Were you expecting someone?” I asked.

“I never expect anyone while I’m here, it must be an emergency.” Charlie grabbed me by the arms and guided me around the corner leading to the hallway behind the kitchen. Go towards the bedroom in the back. I don’t who this is and if anything pops off there’s a fire escape in the window. Go!”

I grabbed my phone off the table before running down the hall towards the guest bedroom. I stopped mid way and tip toed back to the entrance trying to hear Charlie’s conservation. I leaned very slowly around the corner looking with one eye to get a look. Before Charlie opened the door, he pulled out a small pistol from the stand drawer next to him. He held the gun ready behind his back as he slightly opened the door. He didn’t say anything and the mystery person was quiet and brief. I couldn’t hear nor see anything from where I was standing. The person handed Charlie a folded newspaper then dashed off. I watched as Charlie close the door, lock it, and put the gun back where he got it. He opened the newspaper to find a cell phone and a fold piece of paper. I came around the corner to see what happened. Charlie put the phone down and opened the newspaper then looked up at me with a pale face. When I saw his reaction, I had a bad feeling in my gut. “What is it, who was that?”

“A massager.” Charlie replied. “The message says turn on the news…” He walked over and handed me the newspaper. On the front page was a picture of Zima Sinclair next to Ernesto Martinez saying both were murdered and it could be connected. This was my first time seeing what Zima looked like… A young girl who’s life was stolen from her for nothing. Charlie walked over to the TV and turned on the news as instructed. Sure, enough the news crew were standing in front of Zima Sinclair’s house. The news lady said, ‘the bodies of the young girl and her mother were found early this morning. They were discovered by another family member. It looked like they were packing and trying leave due to the half filled suitcases found on the floor.’ Zima’s mother knew someone was coming… She was trying to leave town. Did she know ‘they’ would come for her as soon as Douglas died?

My phone rang two more times before I looked down and realized Amber was blowing me up. I stood next to Charlie as he focused on what the news lady was saying. I turned around and walked towards the kitchen and answered the call, “Hey…”

“Hey?! Bitch, where are you?! I’ve been calling you like all day! Have you seen the news? You’re all over it. The police was at the office asking me all kinds of questions about where you were and shit and I didn’t tell them nothing! Yo, I’m scared for you Ally.”

“Shit, Amber I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I had a run with the police earlier and I’m somewhere safe with Charlie. Listened I’ll get you like three months worth of pay for all of this okay. Close up shop and don’t go there for awhile.”

“Girl, I’m already ahead of you. I had to cancel all upcoming appointments and Ally… just to let you know a lot of you clients fired you because of all this. I mean you’re on ‘Have You Seen This Person’ Crime Stoppers and shit. You need to come with me to my great auntie’s house across town.”

“The one that’s like ninety? I don’t want to put you or your boys in any more danger. Amber…”

She interrupted me before I could start, “Girl shut up! Just get your ass over here tonight.”

I laughed from her comment. Amber was my ride or die, “Alright, I’ll come by. See you later.” She hung up on her end. This was a hard choice for me right now but Amber was family. She would never leave or turn her back on me and I would do the same for her. I exhaled deep and turned to Charlie. I felt better speaking with Amber but this was far, far from over.

Charlie came around corner and asked, “Everything ok with Amber?” He slurped on the beer in his hands.

“She’s fine. I’m going to stay with her at her great aunt’s tonight.” I stumbled on my words. I know he wasn’t going to take it well.

“What?! You’re going out there? I thought you saw the same news report as I did. The fucking police are trying to link the murders together and blame them on us. They haven’t got a clear picture of me yet but yours is everywhere! No Ally! You’re staying here… with me.”

I looked away when Charlie got really close to me again. “Charlie… Amber needs me and I really want to get to the bottom of this. I’m not going down as some fugitive for shit I didn’t do! I still have to see Jason, he’s not done telling me what all he found on my dad and the Syndicate. All of that shit is linked to Douglas and what he did with the money. All of this warrant shit is happening because Chief Fuck Face doesn’t want me to find that money before he does. I’m not going to stay in and hide Charlie!”

His face went blank like he was disappointed by my choice of words, “You think I’m hiding? Hell yeah I’m hiding! I’m trying to stay out of prison!” He looked away when he noticed I wasn’t changing my mind. “Gosh you are so stubborn! I get it Amber is family so if you’re going to go out there at least let me drop you off. Don’t make me look like a total bitch…”

“Charlie, I don’t blame you for hiding. I just can’t! Seeing that news report put a fire inside of me. I didn’t even get the chance to warn that girl and now they’re pinning it on me. We don’t even know who’s behind the murders, what if it’s the same person who killed Douglas? My mind is racing Charlie and don’t get me wrong I know the smart thing to do is to stay. I… I just want this to be fucking over.”

Charlie walked over to me and hugged me tight. I started to sob but forget crying I didn’t have time for that. I wiped my face then straightened my clothes. “Like I said, I’ll take you.” He repeated.

“In what car? The busted Impala with bullet holes all over it. I’m sorry about your friend’s car… Those assholes are looking for that car now. We’ll for sure get busted if we keep driving around in it.”

“Fair… I have a boy who does Uber. He’ll come right away if I call and don’t worry about the Impala.”

I gave him a weird look when he shrugged his shoulders. He wasn’t as worried about this car like all the rest. I cut my eyes at him as he pulled away. “That car was stolen wasn’t it?”

He laughed as he texted his Uber friend, “Probably… He said he’ll be here in five.”

I shook my head as I headed towards the door. I turned around one more time before leaving, “Are you going to Douglas’ Wake slash party tomorrow night?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He said while he smirked.

“Ok, well I’ll see you tomorrow night then.” We just stood there for a while looking at one another. I know what he wanted and I wanted the same thing, trust me. I felt so indecisive. One minute I’m drooling over the guy and the next I can’t wait to get back to the action. I needed to clear my head, I decided. Taking it to the next level with him right now would only complicate things more… I fucking guess.

His Uber friend was outside waiting for me, right on time. I gave him the address to Amber’s aunt’s house and went straight there. I’ll go to Jason’s tomorrow in the morning. I needed to rest and reset my mind on what I was about to do. The ‘wake’ should be very interesting…