Part Four

Jesse Owens became Kelley’s only friend. He bartered a deal with the motel owner and Kelley got a room on the ground floor that had a small kitchen attached to it for a grand a month, payable upfront. The day after the incident Kelley withdrew another ten grand knowing that his cards would be cancelled that Monday.

His dead phone told him everything he needed to know. His father had been serious about cutting him off and out of his life. He truly was on his own now. Jesse helped him to register a new phone and he saw Norah and Hanson’s relationship update on social media, one day after his fall from grace.

Kelley had just enough aggression to play quarterback in football but he wasn’t a fighter by nature. He’d never needed to fight before. Jesse changed all that. He was an ex-marine who specialized in mixed martial arts.

Kelley spent every day with Jesse at his dojo, training and helping out. Jessy never asked him for anything and what he had, he gave freely. Friendship and moral support. In the mornings they’d jog together and then work in the dojo all day where Jesse trained whoever wanted or needed it, sometimes for free.

Kelley grew another inch in that month with the added training that Jesse was giving him, a new training diet and regiment made him fill out even more. With the physical mentoring also came the psychological mentoring and Jesse was a good listener.

“Kelley, stop.” Jesse grabbed the punching bag and he was forced to stop mid-punch.

“Is it time to close?”

“I closed an hour ago. What’s going on?”

Kelley sat down on the mat and wiped his face with a towel. “I’m just working through some things.”

“No soldier fights alone, Kelley. We’re not built to be alone all the time. You’re a good kid, I can see that, but you’re going about this all wrong.”

“I’m not good a kid, Jesse. I left my mom there, all alone.”

“Tell me the story. I’m not an idiot. You’re hurting so much inside and your anger actually just makes you weaker.”

Kelley looked up at Jesse who lowered himself to the floor and sat next to him. “I realized my father is a sick asshole.”

Jesse waited for Kelley to continue but he didn’t. How did he tell this man what his father actually did? He couldn’t get himself to say the words out loud and he hung his head low with shame. His mother had practically begged him to stay away.

“Did you know that I used to work for your father?”

Kelley’s head snapped up. “What?”

“I had just returned from my third tour and I’d failed my psych eval so I was honorably discharged from the marines. I had some issues with PTSD, flinching at every small sound. I started looking for permanent work, trying to integrate myself back into society.”

“I’ve read stories online of how bad it is over there, of men coming back and never being the same again.” Kelley looked at Jesse and his eyes were filled with past horrors.

“Someone has to do it, Kelley. Anyway, I got recruited by this security firm, working mainly as bodyguards. This hotshot guy had a whole team of us doing his bidding, driving girls around, keeping tabs on them, gathering intelligence about his enemies.”

Kelley frowned then. “You make it sound like you worked for some kind of mafia.”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. I realized too late what they really did behind closed doors. There was one night when I stood outside that door listening to this girl scream and beg for them to stop. Everything inside me told me to bust through that door and get her out.”

“What did you do?” Kelley had shifted to a more comfortable position.

“I barged through the door, pulled my gun out and got that girl out of there.” Jesse looked past him almost like he was reliving that incident, a movie reel playing off in his head.

“I’m guessing you didn’t keep your job.”

Jesse smiled sadly then. “You sign a non-disclosure agreement with your contract. Trust me, I tried. The cops are in so deep with him that they didn’t even listen to what I had to say. They basically raped that poor girl in that room, she was stoned out of her mind, but she still fought back.”

“Why did you help me, Jesse?”

“Sometimes the son turns out to be a bigger monster than the father. You got out, Kelley, you ran and it saved you. Your father never introduced you to that lifestyle because he could see that you weren’t like him. I helped you because you were a kid in need.”

“What happened to the girl you saved?”

“I took her home, nursed her back to health, she was skittish that one.” Jesse smiled as he relived his past again. “She learned to trust me and over time she opened up and confided in me. Two years later we got married and I loved her with everything in me.”

“I’m sorry … you don’t have to talk about it.” Kelley could see the raw emotion in Jesse’s eyes and he knew that this story didn’t have a happy ending.

“She never really recovered, Kelley. It took her seeing one of those men and it triggered everything I’d built up within her. I found her in the bathroom, shot her brains out with my service pistol.”

Kelley was surprised to feel the wetness of tears on his cheeks as Jesse’s voice broke. He had never recovered from that either. “I’m sorry, Jesse.”

“The point is, Kelley, there will always be bad people in this world but this world also needs people like you, strong and willing to not be a part of that evil. You have power even if you think you don’t.”

“He showed me a video that night … a video of my girlfriend in a room full of men. She was enjoying herself, asking for more, crawling on her hands and knees …”

“Layla was the first girl that didn’t go in there willingly. Money makes people do crazy things, Kelley.”

“Did you know my mother?” He didn’t want to ask him if she went into that room willingly.

“I never saw her go in there, Kelley. I can see your mind working overtime with that train of thought. I met her a couple of times. She knew what was happening. She knew about all the girls in those rooms. I don’t know if she partook before I started working there.”

“I don’t think she had a choice, Jesse … she flinched every time he walked into a room.”

“You always have a choice. I chose to ruin any prospects of a good career for Layla and I’d do it again. Even when you feel you have no choice, you do. I’m sorry if you don’t like my answer but that’s the truth, Kelley. She might think she has no choice and that would mean your father has some kind of hold on her.”

“How do I stop him?”

“You can’t … at least not now. Good plans take time to hatch. Charles Alexander is nobody’s fool. He has deep pockets and he lines the pockets of the right people. Taking him down won’t be easy but maybe you can start with that girl you love.”

“She liked it, Jesse.”

“How sure are you about that? Does she know any better? Has she been conditioned to like it? The mind can be your strongest weapon but there’s always two sides of the same coin, kid. The mind can also be fragile, manipulated and used. Can you sleep peacefully every night knowing what you know about her?”

“No, I can’t.”

“I’m sorry this happened to a girl you love.”

“I do love her, Jesse, even if I’m not sure she really loves me back. How lame is that?”

“It’s not lame at all. Love is a powerful tool, it can push you to greatness but it can also break you. Be careful what you do with love.”

“You would’ve been a great father, Jesse. I can count the amount of conversations I had with my dad on one hand.”

Jesse didn’t say anything to that but Kelley could see more sadness in his eyes. After a few seconds of silence Jesse stood up and walked into the back of the dojo. Kelley knew that he had truly been saved the day Jesse Owens found him stumbling on that sidewalk.

Kelley jogged from the dojo back to the motel and showered and changed. He had a plan now, thanks to Jesse. Charles Alexander was the embodiment of pure evil and so was anyone else that associated with him.

Kelley parked his Escalade a block away and kept to the shadows on the sidewalk. He wasn’t really afraid of being seen in upper Yorkdare Bay, but he also didn’t want to announce his presence. He knew this area like he knew his own house.

Kelley climbed up the tree that flanked the outer wall of the grounds that housed the double story mansion. He landed with a soft thud on the shed built right against the wall. His feet found the grass next to the shed and he moved quietly through the trees.

The guesthouse lights were on but it was quiet inside and Kelley knew that he was in there. He could see a shadow moving behind the curtains of the bedroom. The sliding door was partially open and he slipped inside just as Hanson walked down the hall.

“Whoa … geez you nearly gave me a heart attack.” Hanson smiled brightly as he clutched his chest and walked closer to Kelley.

“Hey, Hanson.”

“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been calling but your number’s not in use anymore.”

Kelley leaned slightly against the wall. “I’m sure you’ve heard that I’ve been disowned.”

“Yeah, I did. Why, though, is my question.”

Kelley looked at Hanson, the unsure manner in which his hands clenched by his sides. “Does it matter why?”

“I don’t get why you’re such an asshole, Kelley. I mean I’ve been part of the inner sanctum for a year. Your dad saw you as weak, didn’t want to include you until later and then you go and attack him?”

“You know what they’re doing?”

Hanson chuckled low in his throat. “Don’t become all righteous, you’re no saint, Kelley. Norah told me how you pinned her down on your car, took her roughly from behind.”

“You were all righteous in your own way, Hanson. The feel good people, remember?”

“I had a momentary lapse of guilt that I’d been sticking it to your girl for a year. She loves the inner sanctum though, screams for more every time.”

“You’re sick, Hanson, what you’re doing is wrong.”

“We’re not raping them, Kelley. Shit man, is that what you think of me? They’re all willing, they love the money, the feeling of power they have, they love cock.”

“It’s not right, Hanson.”

“Your father was right about you, right to disown you and kick you to the curb. You’ll never be one of us, you’ll never be good enough to fit in.”

“I don’t want to be one of you.”

“Yeah, Kelley, you weren’t complaining when you screwed Norah. Did you know she came to me during every party after you fell asleep? She always needed more and you couldn’t give it. I wonder now if Marley will be the same.”

Kelley’s fist landed on the square of Hanson’s jaw and he fell backwards against the wall as Kelley kept punching him. “You’re abusing these girls. They’re not here for you to do with as you please!” Hanson slumped against the wall but Kelley didn’t stop and when Hanson finally fell to the floor he straddled his waist and punched him more.