Page 109 of The Heir
“What if we find one?”
“Cut it off and take it with us.” May answered for him.
“Pretty much,” Mackie confirmed, plucking the beretta from his waistband.
I drew the forty-five, double checked the safety, and started surveying the driveway and perimeter of the trailer as it came into view. It was an older model, with a large bay and a hitch that faced the forest. It was missing underpinning in places and was surrounded by what had likely been segregated junk piles at one time. There were so many now it had become a long wall of unnecessary bullshit.
“Fucking yard full of tetanus,” May whispered, his eyes wide and glistening in the moonlight.
“Just what you wanted for your birthday, right?” Donnie teased.
“Is it really your birthday?” I whispered.
“You mother fuckers come to gossip or–?” Mackie cut a look of warning at us.
May saluted me with his chin and nodded.
Nobody had even said anything.
Mackie jerked his head toward a busted-down truck to our right and we shot toward it and squatted down. I watched through the passenger window as he sauntered along the house, dragging his fingernails along the screen as he passed the window.
“How does he know which one dude is sleeping in?”
“He doesn’t,” Donnie confirmed.
“Jesus,” I mouthed.
The front door popped open, and Nikki tried to hand a child over, but Mackie shot a finger toward the truck. She glanced toward it, and I stepped out and waved. She nodded and jogged our way. When she got close, Donnie shot out from the other end of the truck.
“Get to the forest, follow the road to the bikes.” May told her, his voice barely more than a whisper as he scurried after Donnie. I watched her go and fell in line after him.
It sounded like someone let a bull into that single wide trailer. I could have sworn it even swayed a little as things crushed and smashed within. Mackie was screaming, his words unintelligible save for the occasional roar of a curse.
The distinct crunch of bone on bone sounded, and a very bloodied stranger flew face-first out of the hallway. Donnie mercilessly swung, landing a solid, nasty-sounding blow high on the man’s right jaw when he emerged. The momentum of his swing took the man sideways to the wall and he bounced off the paneling, half collapsed and fully bent. May helped him up with a football style kick to the chest that audibly knocked the wind out of what I assumed was Dwayne.
His arms flailed out like he’d been electrocuted, and he thumped back against the wall with a delayed howl. I chambered myround, and his eyes darted toward me and the sound. They widened and he started to blubber, his words distorted, but his meaning crystal clear.
“I don’t know what the fuck she told you, but we can work something out alright? Just tell me what you want, I’ll give it to you, I swear to God I will! You guys want her worn-out ass? Have her! Shit, you want the girl? She can be sweet for you, too.”
Mackie pistol whipped him, sending a tooth flying out of Dwayne’s mouth. It landed next to May, who of course, leaned down to pick the fucking thing up and shove it in his pocket like a souvenir.
I didn’t know if it was worse to be caught in possession of a dead person's tooth or to demand he leave it behind with his fingerprints on it. Could fingerprints even be left on a tooth?
I didn’t fucking know, but I was certain Dwayne had terrorized his last child.
If none of them would see to that, I would.
Mackie grabbed Dwayne by the back of his dirty-blond hair and shoved him face first at Donnie again, “Take that bitch outside I can’t listen to his nasty ass while I work. And don’t fuckin’ kill him!”
He bugged his eyes at me, so I knew that last part was for me.
Dwayne tried to dodge Donnie’s grab, but Donnie jabbed him in the eye and swooped him into a headlock that would have made Easy proud.
Donnie was tall, but Dwayne was, too. So, he didn’t dangle the way that Makaveli had for Easy, but Donnie was easily able to keep him off balance enough to instill panic and leave the man scrambling to free Donnie’s muscular forearm from his throat.
May stepped right up and slapped Dwayne in the face. He stayed close, trailing as Donnie dragged him so it looked like a dance. Dwayne was momentarily startled at the blow. When he locked eyes on May, that crazy bastard snatched both Dwayne’s ears and pulled him forward into what looked like a kiss.
“What the fuck–?” I blurted over a sudden pained shriek that came out of Dwayne.