make an investment in your own self-worth; it all comes back to you manifold. You ever read The Purpose Driven Life ?”
“Can’t say I have.” Shake dug a pair of Jordans out of the box. A couple of sizes too big. He started to toss them back, then stopped to think. He stuck his hand deep into one of the shoes and came out with a roll of bills.
“It’s like any book, need to take a lot of it with a grain of salt, but there’s some truth in there. Or something close enough to the truth to be useful, you know what I mean?”
“I remember that book,” Shake said. “The guy killed that judge in Atlanta and escaped from the courthouse. Killed a deputy and another person, too.”
“That’s right,” Darth said. “Took a lady hostage in her apartment, but she talked to him. Told him about this book she had. How God had a plan for him. They stayed up all night, talking about the book. He didn’t kill her, and she made him pancakes in the morning.”
“Convinced him to turn himself in.”
“Funny thing? Came out later she’d had a stash of methamphetamine. They snorted that all up first. That’s how she got him to untie her. They didn’t put that part in the papers when it happened.”
“If God’s got a plan for me,” Shake said, “I’m not sure I want to know what it is.”
Darth put away his iPhone and turned to Shake, who flinched a little despite himself. It was uncanny how much he looked like his brother.
“You want to see V’s ride?”
“His ride?” Shake said.
Darth led him across the garage, past the Honda Pilot, and pulled the dust cover off the other car. A candy-apple red, mint-condition 1969 Plymouth Road Runner.
Shake gazed at the car with the admiration he usually reserved for a bowl of homemade gumbo.
“Boy howdy,” he said.
“He tell you about this?”
Shake heard a phone begin to ring back in the house.
“He told me,” Shake said, “that if I put so much as a scratch on it, I’d be going home in a motherfucking bag.”
“That’s V.” Darth chuckled.
The phone in the house stopped ringing.
“Who is it?” Darth called to Artemis.
“Nobody,” she called back.
Darth nodded at the Road Runner. “Go on,” he told Shake. “Keys are in it.”
Chapter 15
W ho you calling nobody?” Vader said into the phone. Stuck-up high-yellow bitch. He had to admit she was a good mother, though. He loved those little girls. “Just told you it was me.”
“A friend of yours just left,” Artemis said.
Vader sniffed the plastic mouthpiece. It smelled bad, like pickles gone off. He caught a CO watching him sniff the phone. The CO looked away real quick. Yes he did.
“What you talking about?” he said. Bitch. “Put my brother on. What friend?”
“You know. Shake.”
All the sound in the yard dropped away like a door slammed shut.
“Shake,” Vader said.
“He borrowed your car, like you told him he could.”
Vader hung up the phone. Then he picked the receiver back up and pounded it against the cinder-block wall until the plastic burst into pieces and spun away. Then he ripped the rest of the phone off the wall and pounded that to pieces. Then he pounded his fist against the wall until it looked like raw meat and the cinder block was streaked red, and two, then three, COs came flying out of nowhere to drag him bellowing down to the floor.
Chapter 16
G ina dreamed that Lucy was driving a cab in New York City. It was raining, but Lucy wouldn’t stop for her. Gina in the dream felt annoyed, aggrieved. Like, c’mon, how long can one person hold a grudge? Shake might have been in the back of the cab. It zoomed by too fast for Gina to tell for sure.
She woke up and looked at the clock by the bed. It was almost four o’clock in the afternoon. She’d been asleep for—oh, shit, her heart busted a little hip-hop move in her chest—three hours.
She sat up fast. Three hours. If one of Moby’s guys had spotted her at the airport, or in the hotel lobby, he
“Can’t say I have.” Shake dug a pair of Jordans out of the box. A couple of sizes too big. He started to toss them back, then stopped to think. He stuck his hand deep into one of the shoes and came out with a roll of bills.
“It’s like any book, need to take a lot of it with a grain of salt, but there’s some truth in there. Or something close enough to the truth to be useful, you know what I mean?”
“I remember that book,” Shake said. “The guy killed that judge in Atlanta and escaped from the courthouse. Killed a deputy and another person, too.”
“That’s right,” Darth said. “Took a lady hostage in her apartment, but she talked to him. Told him about this book she had. How God had a plan for him. They stayed up all night, talking about the book. He didn’t kill her, and she made him pancakes in the morning.”
“Convinced him to turn himself in.”
“Funny thing? Came out later she’d had a stash of methamphetamine. They snorted that all up first. That’s how she got him to untie her. They didn’t put that part in the papers when it happened.”
“If God’s got a plan for me,” Shake said, “I’m not sure I want to know what it is.”
Darth put away his iPhone and turned to Shake, who flinched a little despite himself. It was uncanny how much he looked like his brother.
“You want to see V’s ride?”
“His ride?” Shake said.
Darth led him across the garage, past the Honda Pilot, and pulled the dust cover off the other car. A candy-apple red, mint-condition 1969 Plymouth Road Runner.
Shake gazed at the car with the admiration he usually reserved for a bowl of homemade gumbo.
“Boy howdy,” he said.
“He tell you about this?”
Shake heard a phone begin to ring back in the house.
“He told me,” Shake said, “that if I put so much as a scratch on it, I’d be going home in a motherfucking bag.”
“That’s V.” Darth chuckled.
The phone in the house stopped ringing.
“Who is it?” Darth called to Artemis.
“Nobody,” she called back.
Darth nodded at the Road Runner. “Go on,” he told Shake. “Keys are in it.”
Chapter 15
W ho you calling nobody?” Vader said into the phone. Stuck-up high-yellow bitch. He had to admit she was a good mother, though. He loved those little girls. “Just told you it was me.”
“A friend of yours just left,” Artemis said.
Vader sniffed the plastic mouthpiece. It smelled bad, like pickles gone off. He caught a CO watching him sniff the phone. The CO looked away real quick. Yes he did.
“What you talking about?” he said. Bitch. “Put my brother on. What friend?”
“You know. Shake.”
All the sound in the yard dropped away like a door slammed shut.
“Shake,” Vader said.
“He borrowed your car, like you told him he could.”
Vader hung up the phone. Then he picked the receiver back up and pounded it against the cinder-block wall until the plastic burst into pieces and spun away. Then he ripped the rest of the phone off the wall and pounded that to pieces. Then he pounded his fist against the wall until it looked like raw meat and the cinder block was streaked red, and two, then three, COs came flying out of nowhere to drag him bellowing down to the floor.
Chapter 16
G ina dreamed that Lucy was driving a cab in New York City. It was raining, but Lucy wouldn’t stop for her. Gina in the dream felt annoyed, aggrieved. Like, c’mon, how long can one person hold a grudge? Shake might have been in the back of the cab. It zoomed by too fast for Gina to tell for sure.
She woke up and looked at the clock by the bed. It was almost four o’clock in the afternoon. She’d been asleep for—oh, shit, her heart busted a little hip-hop move in her chest—three hours.
She sat up fast. Three hours. If one of Moby’s guys had spotted her at the airport, or in the hotel lobby, he
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