Chapter four

      Kimberly’s shift at Angel’s bakery has just ended as she made her way to the terminal to catch a bus. The time was 4:03pm which meant that there was little time for her to walk Rex to the dog park before going to Luis’ birthday party later that evening.

After her dismissal from the marines, Oscar had set her up with his brother, Kelvin who owned the bakery. The pay was decent, at least she had to keep herself busy, and also have a good cover for her double life.

She got to the terminal and joined the small crowd to wait. It wasn’t long before a bus arrived and they all boarded it after some of the previous passengers alighted.

She took a seat beside a window and enjoyed a view of the city as she got closer and closer to her apartment.

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            Luis was relaxing in his pool at the back of his mansion, with Marco his right hand man when one of his men walked up to them.

“Boss.”

He said with a slight bow.

“Lucas.”

“One of our stash houses was hit this morning.”

There was silence for a while, which made Lucas fidget.

Luis watched as Marco emerged from the pool, his arms, chest and back full of numerous black tattoos on pale skin. At over 6”4 he was an intimidating figure made of raw muscles.

“And?”

He asked impatiently.

“They made away with two kilograms of our product.”

Marco was now standing few inches away from Lucas.

“And what did you do to stop them?”

His enforcer asked.

Lucas swallowed and stuttered for a while, as he tried to find the right words to say but his mouth failed him.

             Without warning, Marco landed a punch squarely on the young man’s nose which made a dull crack sound and immediately started dripping blood. He made to raise his fist again in the air when Luis stopped him.

“That’s enough.”

He knew how volatile Marco was. He did not want to risk disposing off a body when there were event planners decorating the house interiors for the party later that evening.

“Who was responsible for this?”

He further inquired from Lucas.

“The bloods.”

          This African American gang had been their major rival for years in the city. Despite both sides taking heavy casualties during several clash, none of them were ready to opt out of the drug market in Atlanta.

“Boss. We have to answer them in the same manner.”

Marco said while heaving like a bull.

While Luis appreciated having this huge beast of a man on his side, he knew that the man lacked brains over the brawls he had.

“We have been doing the same thing over and over again for years without any positive results. It is time to try a different approach.”

Another of his men walked up to the pool and announced that some of the guests had started arriving.

Luis came out of the pool, dried himself with a towel and walked into the house ready to party.

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          Kimberly tossed the ball for the upteenth time and waited as Rex ran after it. They had been playing the game of fetch for a while, which was what most owners where engaging their pets with at the dog park, when she saw a man approaching her with his black pit bull terrier.

“Hello.”

The man called out to her politely.

“Hi”

She responded.

“I’m Bryan.”

“Kimberly.”

“Not that I’m telling you what to do, but don’t you think he has had enough exercise for today? He’s been at it for a while now.”

The man said while patting her dog who had returned with the ball in his mouth.

She smiled and said.

“Only if he could complain.”

She took a proper look at him and saw he was quite good looking, and tall too. His hazel eyes and well chiseled jaw had this alluring effect on her.

Rex was now playing with Bryan’s dog as they were discussing.

So what’s your dog’s name?

She asked.

“Jack.”

“Yours?”

“Rex.”

“She definitely looks like a Rex.”

“How does a Rex look like?”

“You really want to know?”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe when next we see I’ll tell you.”

She looked at him with a feigned pout and said.

“That is one clever way of setting a dog park date.”

“If you wish to place labels on it.”

He replied with hands raised in mock surrender.

“Same time on Wednesday then.”

“Alright.”

She bent down and attached the chain to Rex’s collar before they hurriedly left the dog park.

She had a birthday party to attend.