Undercover (2 page)

She stood as they arrived at the table, feeling stronger and more in control on her feet. LeAnn placed her hands on her hips, smiled and cocked her head to one side. Long dark spirals of her hair fell over one shoulder. A pretty girl if it weren’t for the heavy makeup and the pierced nose.

Erica let her lips curve up as the nerves tickled along her belly. Unlike her real high school days, she knew how to fight and wouldn’t hesitate to take the upper hand if forced. She took in the thick chain around LeAnn’s neck and the matching gold hoops dangling from her ears.

LeAnn, the leader of their wolf pack, broke the silence. “I realize you’re new here, so I’ll give you a courtesy warning. Stay away from my boyfriend and stay away from Joey Moreno.”

Erica pondered the so-called warning for a moment, a bit surprised by the reference to Joey. As far as she knew, he wasn’t seeing anyone. And considering she had no clue who LeAnn’s boyfriend was, why the hands-off.

“Why Joey?” Erica asked.

LeAnn glanced over her shoulder at Haley. “He’s hers.”

“Funny, considering the amount of time he’s spent with me over the last couple weeks.”

Haley stepped forward, but LeAnn stopped her. “Just stay away from him.”

Their little exchange captured the attention of the entire cafeteria and Erica knew her response could make or break her reputation. How she handled LeAnn would set precedence for how others would view her - a tough girl or a wimp.

Stepping up, like a batter to the plate, she felt a slight thrill at the fear that flared in LeAnn's eyes. “And who is your boyfriend, LeAnn, so I’ll recognize him when I’m stealing him from you.”

LeAnn swung her fist but their close proximity hindered her aim and strength. Erica blocked the punch and then reached up, grabbing hold of one gold-hooped earring, freezing LeAnn in place.

“Tell your girlfriends to turn around and walk out of the cafeteria or I rip a hole in your ear.” Erica’s tone dripped with honey. LeAnn motioned for them to leave. “Now, I’m going to let go and you’re going to walk away without a word. And while you don’t have to like me and we ain’t gonna be friends, we do understand each other, don’t we?”

LeAnn squeezed a yes out from between her black cherry lips. Erica let go and turned her back, a clear sign of disrespect. LeAnn would leave, she didn’t doubt that, but Erica knew she hadn’t seen the last of her troubles.

She sat back down at the table and pretended her insides weren't shaking like a rumbling earthquake. She dared to glance up and locked eyes with a boy sitting at a table across the room. He appeared to be older and sported a purple and black bandana tied around his head. She smiled and his lips bowed in response.

By the colors he wore, she knew he was a Mercenary gang member and possibly the source she was looking for to buy drugs.

****

"Where the hell were you?" Erica snarled at Joey, who waited outside her last class. She didn’t bother to stop, but strolled past him as she followed the flow of kids out the school doors.

Joey pushed away from the wall to rush after her. "I had things to take care of. Come on, Erica, hold up."

She kept walking, heading for her car. Joey caught up with her when the crowd thinned as everyone split off toward their cars. The parking lot, filled with an array of old second hand cars, hummed with activity as engines roared to life and kids yelled back and forth looking for a ride home. Exhaust fumes tinted the air, mixing with the hot scent of rubber as kids squealed tires leaving the school lot. Since she’d run late this morning, her coffee colored Oldsmobile sat toward the back. The thing was a monster with four doors and rust eating away at the wheel wells.

"I'm sorry, Erica. Give me a break. I lost track of time, is all," Joey whined.

The sincerity and hurt in his voice deflated her anger. He was too soft for this place, she thought. He had an air of innocence for a boy growing up in a neighborhood known for being hard and tough. How had he stayed unaffected by his surroundings? Or had he?

She had a part to play and a job to do. To take down gangs in the school who were dealing drugs to the students. More than a job really. If Erica had her way, she would go after every gang member and shut them down, one way or another. They didn’t have a right to live among people who just wanted a normal life. And that included Joey. She couldn’t let the fact that she liked him distract her. If he belonged to a gang, participated in gang activity, then he deserved whatever came from her investigation.

She turned to Joey, her hands on her hips and gave him a hard look. "Don't hang me out like that again."

"I won't. Promise." He crossed his heart with his finger.

Her lips twitched. When was the last time she’d seen someone do that? "Fine. You want a ride home?" She started walking again.

"Sure." He fell in step beside her.

Erica spotted LeAnn holding a car door open while a few other kids climbed into the back seat of the black Monte Carlo. The driver wore the blue and silver colors of the West Side Hell Boys gang. He smoked a cigarette while he waited for everyone to get in. His eyes narrowed to thin slits against the pale grey ribbon of smoke twisting up from his lips. There was a rough, angry darkness about him that sent a chill down Erica’s spine.

"Who's that?" She indicated with a nod of her head.

"Who?"

"The car LeAnn's getting into. Who's the driver?"

"Ricky Sanchez."

"Is he LeAnn's boyfriend?" Erica dug her keys out of her book bag as they neared the Olds.

"Yeah. Why?"

"No reason, just curious." She unlocked her door and threw the keys across the hood to Joey so he could do the same while she slid in behind the wheel. He handed the keys back to her and shut the passenger door. “How old is he?”

"I don’t know, eighteen or nineteen." Joey shook his head and held up his hands to stop the words about to spew from her mouth. "I know. I know. But you best leave that alone. He's in with the West Side Hell Boys and you
do not
want to get on their bad side. Beside's I think she's eighteen now."

“Why is he still in school?”

“I don’ know. Too dumb to leave, I guess.” When Erica didn’t laugh, Joey continued. “I heard he was court ordered to finish his senior year or go to jail.”

“For what?”

“Possession.”

Erica nibbled at her bottom lip. She needed to know where Joey fit. "Are you tight with West Side?"

"No." He gave an emphatic shake of his head. “Hell, no." He laughed as if there was a joke in there somewhere - one she didn’t understand. "My bother would skin me alive. We’re down with the Mercenaries."

Unease settled like lead in her stomach.

“What’s with all the questions?”

She shrugged. "How else am I supposed to know who’s who in this place?” She put the car in gear and drove out of the parking lot.

****

History books littered the coffee table along with cans of pop and an open bag of potato chips. Erica sat on the living room floor with Joey beside her doing homework when Derrick arrived home from work. Her nose tingled at the hint of oil and gasoline that clung to his clothes and followed him through the door.

The sun had set an hour ago. A single lamp set on the corner table cast long shadows against the far wall. Erica couldn’t help but notice the dark stubble along Derrick’s jaw line or the exhaustion smudged beneath his brown eyes. Eyes that now skimmed over her, the textbooks and landed on Joey. The hint of a smile pulled up one corner of his mouth. Whether it was the love and affection she saw in the gesture or the mere fact the man was as sexy as any she’d ever seen, a flutter shot through Erica’s veins and straight to her heart.

“Long day, huh?” Joey asked.

“Mrs. Ridero brought her car back in.” A knowing looked passed between them.

“So you got some extra cash in your pocket.” Joey smirked.

“You know it.” Derrick bent at the waist, unlaced his old work boots, and toed them off. “Have you two eaten?” He picked up his shoes and started down the hall.  

“Yeah, Erica sprung for pizza.” Joey tapped his pencil on top his open book. “There’s plenty left for you.”

“Sounds good. I’m too tired to fix anything.”

Erica watched Derrick disappear down the hall into what she assumed was his bedroom. He would shower first, she thought, bringing back the vivid image of a towel wrapped around his lean hips. She’d almost gasped when he’d marched into view the first day she’d met him. The man was a solid mass of bronzed muscle, with the dark hair of his Hispanic heritage evident on his long legs, across his broad chest and down the center of his flat stomach. He’d stood there proud and uncaring that he was half-naked in front of a girl he didn’t know. She would be confident, too, with a body like his.

Erica pulled herself back from the naked images running through her head. “Who’s Mrs. Ridero?”

“Some rich, lonely, middle aged woman who brings her car in ‘bout every month for service.”

Erica had a feeling there was more to the story and the service provided. “A big tipper, huh?”

Joey gave humorless laugh. “She wants more than her car serviced.”

“Yeah, I got that, Joey,” Erica quipped, glancing down the hall. “Does he…oblige her?” She didn’t care for the ball of nausea rolling around her stomach at the thought.

“I don’t know. He’s never said, so I've never asked.”

“Is she pretty?”

“She’s not bad, I guess. Just old.” Joey’s brows pulled together.

“Why would he then?”

“If we needed the money...”

Hard times required tough choices and she had to wonder what other hard-hitting choices Derrick and Joey had made.

“Where are your parents?” She popped a chip in her mouth, trying to sound casual and soften the edges of the question.

“They died in a car accident when I was eight.”

“Jeez, I’m sorry, Joey.” She touched his arm, tugging a smile from him.

“It was a long time ago. I’m good.”

“So Derrick had to step in and take care of you.” How old would he have been, twenty, twenty-one? That couldn’t have been easy on either of them.

“I guess he didn’t have to, but he did.”

“Did he still live at home?”

“No. He was away at college on a full ride scholarship for baseball. He had just started his third year when the accident happened. Derrick dropped out of school and took care of everything, the funeral, the bills, me.”

“Don’t you have any other brothers or sisters? I mean, there’s a big age gap between you and Derrick.”

“No. Mom and Dad gave up on having more kids after years of no luck. They figured they were done and then… oops, I came along.”

They were silent for some time. Erica couldn’t help but wonder how many kids ended up in gangs because they were missing parents in their lives, whether from death or an emotional absence. Gangs gave wayward kids a sense of belonging, a sense of self worth and family. Unfortunate, they didn’t realize that acceptance sometimes came at a very high price.

Joey let out a heavy sigh. “Derrick would do anything to give me a shot at the things he lost out on.”

“And what, you don’t want that?”

“I don’t want the same things he did. I don’t want to go to college.”

“What do you want?”

“To work on cars. Derrick is the one who wanted something different, not me. I loved working with my dad, being a grease monkey. If I’d been old enough, I would have taken over the shop and Derrick could have gone on with his own dreams.”

“You haven’t told him any of this, have you?”

“I don’t want to disappoint him.”

****

Two main gangs vied for Power at Fairmont High. The West Side Hell Boys and the Vine Street Mercenaries. They wore their colors and loyalties with pride. Tattoos branded them for life, but then so did being a gang member. There were expectations and plenty of incentive not to stray from the rules. Codes, symbols and specific slang, set the two gangs apart from one another as well as from those students with no gang affiliation.

With observation and a few discreet questions, Erica learned that the boy she’d made eye contact with in the cafeteria was James Hufferman. He went by the name of Huff, was eighteen, and his brother was the leader of the Mercenaries.
Bingo.

Erica kept an eye on his movements as best she could, but he wasn’t in any of her classes. She was wondering how to get his attention, to get him to seek her out while she headed for the school parking lot one afternoon. As luck would have it, Joey stood by her car talking with, none other than, James Hufferman, creating the perfect opportunity.

Huff was a big boy, thick with both muscle and fat. His chin supported a goatee, which matched the color of his black hair. If he lost the extra weight and the overall roughness of his appearance, he might be handsome.

Stamping down the disgust she felt at having to play up to these assholes, she put her best hip action to work and strolled over to the group of boys. A few of them spotted her right away and ogled her every move as she approached. Huff noticed her before Joey did and his lips quirked up.