Jack's redemption

“And then ... and then she fell into the water!” Jack tried to keep from getting a stomach stitch, but laughter was hitting him hard. “By the time we fished her out, it was too late. The dress, the hair, the make-up, it was all ruined.”

Jack, the smaller of the two, was sitting on his friend’s couch. A leather couch, Jack was sure, or some expensive derivative. The walls were a solid white but for the paintings framed in elegantly simple, smooth framework. The paintings themselves were of dark things, both in color and what they showed. Jack was sure many of them were of harsh moments from the bible, but he could never be sure.

Who was he to judge though? He preferred white walls without anything on them.

“Oh wow. And this was her high school prom?” Julias was also sitting on the couch across from Jack, a grin on his lips and a glass of red in his hand.

Julias was badass. There was no denying it. Jack was a little guy, he knew it, and while he certainly took care of his body and had become quite lean and strong, Julias was a big, built man. He was tall, with broad shoulders and pale complexion. His hair was blond and slicked back flat to his head. It was almost a surreal movie. No one did that with their hair. No one could pull off that hair.

Julias could. Even here in his home, on the couch with a glass of red wine in his hand, the man was wearing a really, really ... a really nice suit. Far nicer than Jack’s own, that was for sure. He had at least undone the jacket and loosened his black tie, but with the black shoes, black socks, and the cuffs, Jack guessed the cost of his getup at two months his own salary, at least.

“Yeah. She was so upset, I took her home and she missed the whole thing,” Jack said.

“Oh my, took her home?”

“Ha! Man I wish. No, within five minutes of getting her home, she dumped me in a fit of blind rage.”

“Ouch. You have my sympathies.” Julias was trying to not laugh, if only to not spill his drink as he sipped it. Jack doubted it would have really put much of a dent into his friend’s money even if he did though.

Jack had to stand up. Seeing Julias’s place was always a blast, complete with a massive TV on the wall and wall-window view overlooking the city. He paced a little as he looked over the buildings below him. Marble floors in an apartment. The floors alone made his shitty shoes seem inadequate.

“Ever date anyone after?”

Jack almost gasped at Julias’s sudden appearance next to him. He hadn’t made a sound. Those shoes and marble floors and not a sound. Damn smooth.

“No. Ashley was the first and last girl I ever dated. Dumped me before I ever got past second base either.” A moment’s embarrassment passed, Jack looked back out the window with his hands in his pockets. His own suit was a pale, dyed comparison of Julias’s, and the two of them standing next to each other made the sad idealism apparent.

“Oooh I see. So that’s what this was all about. You wanted me to find you a girl.”

“No ... well, maybe.”

“Jack, I drag your ass to the gym so many evenings. You even talk to people there. You’re not the weak little piss ant you were five years ago. Thought you’d have some confidence.” Julias swished his red wine around in his glass. It always looked so thick.

“I have confidence.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“A hatred for the human race and the stupidity of its populace?” Jack said.

“Or perhaps too much time on the internet developing ridiculous standards.”

“Yeah, that too.”

They both laughed. It was a weird friendship, to be sure, like fire and water. Julias was cool, suave, smooth and built. Jack was a lean little guy with a bitter tongue and too much time on his hands. They always had something to talk about.

“So you got that promotion at Barksen’s?” Julias took another sip of his drink before looking at Jack. He put his back to the window and leaned against it with his free arm folded against his chest, hand hooked underneath the other arm.

“You know I had plans to get into law school,” Jack said with a shrug. “Apparently, I’m good at making people do what I want. Barksen wanted me under his thumb early.”

“I can’t blame him. You’re a master at breaking people to your will.” Julias’s sarcasm was almost dripping from his lips, but Jack countered it with a classic wink.

“Barksen thinks I am! He hired me didn’t he, right out of high school.”

“Yeah but you’ve been stuck at that job for almost three years, Jack. Barksen got you under his thumb because he knew you’d be cheap. He’d have to pay twice what he pays you to get that job filled by someone with a license.” Julias looked down to his drink and gently swished it around with tilts of his hand.

Jack looked up to the older man with a slow squint, before he gave his own grin.

“You’re right, you’re right. I have money aside and I have the connections now. Barksen doesn’t realize one of his partners is looking to branch, and neither of them realize Mr. Turner is looking to expand into this district either. I got a foot in with him too.”

Jack must have looked absolutely pleased with himself. Why wouldn’t he? With this plan he’d have a secure and stable future. He’d get his jobs, his promotions, and retire at a comfortably early age all the while having a comfortable life.

That was good, right?

“You got your ducks in a row then.”

“I like to think so.”

“No risks?” Julias said.

“I ... I don’t know. I mean, why would I take risks?”

“When you want something, and really, truly want it, it likely means something or someone is stopping you from getting it so easily. Thus, risks.”

“True. I guess I just haven’t found anything worth taking risks for.”

Julias took a long, hard look at Jack after those words. He even took a lick of his teeth. With a sigh, the older man stepped away from the glass and walked toward his kitchen. The apartment was a seamless connection of entryway to living room to kitchen to stairway to bedroom. Surprisingly large and spacious, and it let Julias walk to his counter to grab his wine bottle and refill his drink without breaking conversation.

“And if you had one?”

“If I had ... something worth taking a risk for?”

“Yes. Let’s say you were ... fighting for power. Politics. What would you stoop to do to win a campaign?” Julias leveled his gaze on his small friend, and waited. His eyes were steel, cold, and Jack found himself squirming a little at the sudden stare. Why the abrupt change of mood?

“I suppose it would depend on how I felt about my rivals.”

“Oh, predators. Predators, a lot of them. Given the opportunity they’d kill you, let alone your campaign.” Julias licked his teeth again and offered another grin before sipping his red. “Some of them you’ll hate, some you won’t, but all would be willing to kill you in your sleep for their own goals.”

“Whoa, that’s ... that’s a lot of risk for political power.”

“But the rewards, Jack. The rewards are ... real power. You have your domain, you have peace, you have your way with whatever you want. With whoever you wanted.” He beckoned for the small man, and Jack came. He didn’t plan to, didn’t even want to, but Julias’s eyes were open and unblinking. They looked upon him, gazed upon him with a strange resonance.

“ ... what’s this about, Julias?”

“Answer the question.”

“No, seriously, you’re asking some we-”

“Answer the question.” Julias’s eyes flared wide, and Jack took a step back. The air around Julias seemed almost darker, as if the lighting had dimmed in some ridiculously cheesy horror film. Not so cheesy when you’re in it.

“I...” Jack’s mouth moved on its own. Why was he talking? He didn’t mean to answer that question, but he couldn’t stop. “I ... for my own goals? I’d ruin them. For my own life? ... I’d kill them.”

“Kill them? Harsh words.” The older man motioned for Jack to sit across from him at the counter, and the younger one sat obediently. He felt small, very small. All of a sudden the dark apartment felt less a cool hangout, and more a spider’s web.

“Well fuck, man, I’ve never been in that situation. We’re talking about some fantasy world where I’m a goddamn monster. I’m just going off my gut here. What’s ... what’s going on, Julias?”

With a long and weary sigh, Julias put down his glass and sat down as well. He leaned forward, and with netted fingers, put his chin on top of his knuckles. He wasn’t playing, or kidding or joking, he was just staring Jack straight in the eye until the young man was almost sweating.

This wasn’t the Julias he knew. This was frightening.

“I need help. I need someone I can trust. I need someone who will have my back when shit hits the fan.”

“When shit hits the fan like back at Omack’s? Right?” Jack said with a grin, but found his grin fading when Julias did not smile back. The man across the counter from him was almost glaring, but his gaze was more cold, more hard and dead than angry.

“What if, Jack ... what if you could ... leave it all behind.” He stopped. He didn’t explain himself. He just left the statement on the air, and Jack tilted his head to the side in confusion.

“I uh ... what?”

“I need someone to help me, and I think that person is you.” Despite the compliment, Jack found himself squirming. Julias was not complimenting him aimlessly. He wanted something; all the signs of a business proposition were apparent. Jack saw them, and Julias knew he saw them. The problem was that despite this, Julias was still effortlessly in control of the conversation, and Jack felt smaller by the minute.

“My help? Julias you ... you make enough money to buy ten of me. What could I possibly—”

“Trust. You are my friend. And you are far better at the dance than you think.”

“Dance?”

“Politics ... of a sort.” Julias gave his small friend a playful grin, like a fucking tiger might before the kill. “But to my point, I need a friend, and I have a proposition for you. The dilemma is you have to leave it all behind.”

“What is all?”

“All.”

“You can’t ... I don’t ... Julias you got to help me out here.” Jack knew his words would frustrate Julias, but the sheer vagueness of it all was driving him insane.

“All.” Neither frustrated or impatient, Julias kept his voice smooth but stern. “You will move on from your current friends and family. They’ll think you’re dead. You’ll be working with me, here in the South Side. You will have a new place to stay, and you will be powerful ... very powerful.” The fact Jack’s mouth had dropped open did not stop Julias. “The money is great, the power greater, but it’s not about that. Well, not just about that. It’s about ... a whole different world, Jack. A world with risks, and rewards.” If his friend was trying to make it sound romantic, he was failing hard. So far, Julias’s speech was only making Jack shake in his shoes.

Julias had gotten up at this point, and was walking around with his glass in his hand. He gestured with his words, but his cold gaze never left Jack. The smaller man couldn’t help but take quick glances to his friend’s drink, if only to avoid Julias’s gaze. Has his red wine always been so thick?

“You’ll be joining me in a long career, my good friend. You will have everything you’ve ever wanted, and more.”

“I, I just, I ... I don’t know! I mean, just ... abandon everything?”

“Everything. The only thing you’ll keep from your old life is my friendship.”

“But my fucking family, Julias! My mother, my sister, my fucking dog. My friends...”

“You don’t have any close friends besides me, and you know you’re not close with your family.” Julias took another sip.

“Hey, I got ... yeah I got nothing.” Jack slumped into a stool at the counter. “Holy fuck Julias. This is a pretty big goddamn thing you just dumped on me.”

“A secret thing, by the way.”

“Well yeah, considering the lead-up to your question, I get the impression I tell anyone about this and I’ll have snipers at my back.” Jack let his buzzed head fall to the counter, and lightly rolled it side to side.

“That is ... possible.”

“Oh fuck. Oh god fuck fuck, I didn’t believe it until you just said it.”