Mess Us Up – Jaxson Kidman Page 0,28

I say.

“Off to do something stupid, I assume.”

“What makes you say that, Mama?”

Mama looks up. She smiles. “Love.”

“She would’ve been fine,” I say. “Whoever saw her…”

“I know,” Mama Dae says. “It’s getting deeper now, Mac.”

“We’ve been deep before, Mama. Let me handle this.”

“Is there something wrong with the way I do things?” she asks.

Shit.

“No,” I say. “But I know this isn’t what you would normally do. This is me taking advantage of everything. So I want it on my back. My shoulders. My ass is on the line. Okay?”

Mama nods. “Be safe out there, Mac. Make sure you have some sense of backup too.”

“Do you want to know what I’m going to do?”

“Nope,” Mama says. “I’m going to sip my nightcap and get some rest.”

She shuffles from the kitchen and I exit through the back door.

I light a cigarette and walk to my car.

She’s right about having backup.

I don’t have time to wait or waste though.

And what I’m about to do is dumb and risky.

But I do it anyway.

Like Mama said… love.

I send Les and Taz a text.

Back to the $ room just to see what’s up. Keep your phones on in case shit gets crazy.

I open the middle console of the car and look down at my gun.

Time to dig the hole a little bit deeper.

Getting into the house was as easy as the first time.

I took the same path and did the same damn thing.

You’d think for a couple of rich people, they’d be a little more cautious. Especially after what happened when Taz set off the alarm. Or the fact that I had already trashed Jeff’s room once before.

That just tells me Jeff knows he’s either fucked or he feels he’s protected against anything.

Either way I still have to be very careful.

A cornered man is a deadly man.

And a man who feels untouched is just as deadly.

As I walk through the massive upstairs of the house I start to wonder if they are even home at all.

Maybe Jolie’s parents went to a second home. Or a vacation home. Or a hotel under a different name so they could hide out.

Shit… imagine if the fuck up with the time of that meeting caused it to happen.

I swear, this just keeps unfolding and keeps getting worse by the minute.

I tell myself to just focus on the present.

And that’s getting into Jeff’s room again.

When I open the door, I pause and look around.

I’m looking for changes to the room.

Anything in a different spot. Cameras installed.

That kind of thing.

The room is normal.

All cleaned up like nothing happened.

And the smell is the exact same.

Rich douchebag asshole cologne.

I walk to the dresser and open one of the drawers.

I dig through and put all the fancy socks on the dresser itself.

The secret compartment is still there.

When I lift it and see the money, I let out a laugh.

So this guy… I trash his room as a message. He knows he owes money. And what does he do? He just cleans up the room like nothing happened. And he puts the cash right back where it was. Like nothing ever happened.

I open the next drawer and find more cash.

And the next drawer…

And the next drawer.

In the last drawer though, there’s no cash.

Just an envelope that’s not sealed.

I take it out and dump out the contents.

There’s a letter.

I slowly unfold it and see scribbled handwriting.

Tanya -

To my true love. It’s been a rough year or so. I promise, it’s almost over now. You deserve the stars, the sun, the moon, and the sky. I can’t give you that, but I’m going to give you the life you’ve dreamed of.

Do you remember the first night we spoke?

It was your first week cooking for us. You were outside, smoking a cigarette.

I smelled the smoke and approached you.

You were shy, beautiful, looking up to the stars.

You were so nervous that I was going to get mad at you about the cigarette smoke.

Do you remember what I did?

I smoked a cigarette with you.

That became our spot.

Our routine.

I craved those moments, Tanya. They were all I could think about. I knew my life had changed and would keep changing being near you.

We shared our first kiss in that spot too.

I can’t wait to have the smell of you in my bed all the time.

Not just on those forbidden nights in a hotel that would be cleaned of us the next day.

I promised you the world… and we’re going to travel it together.

The plane tickets are just the beginning.

I love you more