“I can’t. I’ll never stop looking until you can face me and tell me why,” I force out and cause my voice to break.
“Where are you? I’ll come to you,” he sighs, sounding defeated.
I grab the business card and read off of it, “The Kandy Factory. Do you know it?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” He doesn’t reply. “I love you,” is the last thing I say before the line goes dead.
Ingrams grabs the phone and slides it into his jacket pocket. “Beautiful performance.” He starts to slow clap. “Almost brought me to tears with this little love story.”
I stand quickly from the table, and the two men with Ingram stand as well, ready to tackle me if I make a move. “Down, boys. We have places to go and a best-friend-killing asshole to return to his father.” I turn towards Ingram with a sly smile on my face. “Shall we?”Shit, this wasn’t part of the plan.
Ingram motions for one of the men to walk in front of us as the other lingers behind. He stands and motions for me to walk ahead of him. We walk out the door, and Ingram comes up behind me and places his hand on the small of my back. “We’ll ride together,” he orders as he ushers me to his black Escalade.Cliche much.
The Kandy Factory is about a minute down the road, and the locations are making sense. He wanted some time to get his men set up to wait for Alexie. I’m thankful for the short distance because Ingram sat right next to me in the back as though there weren’t space for three people.
We pull up to the back of the Kandy Factory. It’s a strip club, and it looks closed. The men in front get out and open the back door. I exit the car first, followed by Ingram. Once again, he places his hand on the small of my back and presses firmly enough to guide me to the door. One of his men pulls out a keycard and swipes it.Of course, he has access to this place.
We walk through the back halls that have a well-used men’s locker room stench. I have been in a lot of clubs before, but this one is definitely not well taken care of. Which is not surprising since this is the one Ingram has access to. We walk through an entrance into the main area. There is dark red, shag carpeting -that is clearly matted down in some areas- and dark gold tiling on the walls that looks like it hasn’t been wiped down in years. There’s also some cloudy looking mirrors on the ceiling.Is this place even up and running?There’s one large stage in the center with a pole and a few smaller stages around the edges with some curtained off areas.
Ingram removes his hand and walks over to his men, leaving me standing by the main stage. His men walk out of the room after being given their orders. Ingram then looks at me and smiles before disappearing behind a partition. A loud bass sounds, followed by some music that has no words. The main lights dim, but the neon and dance lights come on. Ingram comes back around the corner and points to the stage.
“Absolutely not!” I shout because there is no way I’m dancing on this stage for him.
“The music will drown out any listening ears,” he says. “We have time to kill, so if you want to get up there, I won’t complain.” The music is so loud, I hope Conrad is still able to pick up our conversation.
“Not in your lifetime. How do you even have access to such a grand place like this,” I respond sarcastically.
“I know it’s not much to look at now, but with the right investors coming in, we’ll have this baby up and running in no time. It’s getting a complete remodel,” he says so proudly that I would bet one of his investors is Andrei, and they plan to use this for some shady shit.
“Thank goodness! This place needs a facelift,” I comment while scrunching up my nose.
Ingram walks to the counter area that lines the main stage and sits in a chair. He pulls back another one and pats the seat with his hand for me to sit next to him. I comply.
He starts to sway in his seat as though he’s trying to move to the music.Sorry, dude, but dancing was never in the cards for you.His eyes stay on me the entire time. Does he really think he has a chance?Ew, I bet that’s exactly what he thinks.
Luckily, only a few minutes pass before the door we came in through swings open. Alexie is standing there and wastes no time walking directly to our table. Ingram shifts in his seat, clearly uncomfortable that Alexie just walked in here like it was no big hassle to him.
“How the hell did you get in here?” Ingram demands.
“I was invited,” Alexie states blandly. “Although, I thought it would be a party for two.”
“My men wouldn’t have let you in,” Ingram says, a cocky hint in his tone.
Alexie smirks at Ingram. “They annoyed me, so I sliced the big one’s neck. Not enough blood from such a large neck. The other one tried to run, so I broke a heavy rock with the back of his head. It is no surprise there weren’t many brains in there.” Alexie starts to laugh at his own gory story, but I know he did exactly what he’s told Ingram. He turns around and grabs a chair from the table behind him, and pulls it up next to me. When he sets his hands on his knees, I can see they are covered in blood.
I look back at Ingram, who looks like he’s about to explode. His face is red, and his lips are pulled tight, but then it smoothes back out, and he says, “Well, at least you only killed two of them.”Liar.He wants Alexie to think there’s more so that Alexie doesn’t just kill him on the spot. Not that it would stop Alexie.
“Two, six, twelve. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is thatMalyshkahere wanted to see me, but I am very upset that she is not alone. This makes me think you are using her or hurting her. Which is a very bad idea.” Alexie’s smile fades, becoming more serious.
“YourMalyshka? That’s what? Baby? Interesting for someone who left her after killing her best friend,” Ingram snarks back. He really thinks he is winning this and will be leaving here alive. “Here is what’s going to happen. You will return to your father, and your precious littleMalyshkahere will remain unharmed. Your father already has your location, I texted him on the way over here.”
I laugh out loud at his ludicrous statement. “Ingram, you should have practiced your poker face if you’re willing to bluff like this and have nothing in your hands to use against Alexie.”
Alexie stands and walks around the chair, placing both hands on the back of it. “My father wants me back home?” Alexie mocks, a laugh escaping him that makes even me nervous for Ingram. “I’ll tell you what, you insignificant piece of shit. You can tell my father to fuck off, and I’m coming for him next.”
Ingram just stares at Alexie, not saying anything. Did he really think he was going to tell Alexie what to do? He grossly overestimated his power. Alexie puts one of his bloody hands out for me to grab, but Ingram jumps from his seat and points a gun in Alexie’s face.Damn, he pulled that gun out fast. Impressive, Ingram, but it’s still not going to save you.“She’s not leaving with you. You will come with me, so I can take you back to your father!”