Chapter 2: Men of Mayhem
JT waited until the light of day, to look at the envelopes and papers Tom took from the room. He sat on the end of the bed smoking a cigarette, looking at the papers beside him. He picked up a hand written letter and began reading it, realizing it was from Jake to Marlene. He read the words coming from Jake's heart, about how he felt about Marlene and his reluctance to ever let her go. He was apologizing for his actions, which JT assumed to be about the fight he was in, that landed him in jail, then put the letter aside, not wanting to read about his affairs of the heart, but to know where his killer lived.
He found an envelope addressed to Jake that was unopened and looked at the back for the return address. A smile grew on his face, one inspired by the knowledge that vengeance was now closer to a certainty, than at any time before this. 2830 Southridge Drive, in Palm Springs, became an address of deliverance, a destination of bloody revenge.
He looked at the address and the name Brock, the two synonymous with the same feeling in him. He looked over at Piney beginning to wake up and Mary refusing to be disturbed from her dreams and rolling over towards him. Despite his feelings to observe privacy issues, his eyes couldn't help but continue looking at Mary's abundant breasts exposed to him. He was so transfixed on them, he didn't see Piney sitting up slightly to look at him.
Piney's eyes followed the direction JT was fixed on and knew they were trained on Mary's exposure.
"Pretty nice, aren't they?"
Piney whispered words stunned JT and he blushed rapidly to a colourful, beet red. Piney quietly chuckled as he pulled the sheets over Mary, then got out of bed in his boxers and strolled into the bathroom to relieve himself. He came back out and saw JT had gotten over his embarrassing moment and wanted him to go outside with him. He pulled on his pants and grabbed his pack of cigarettes off the nightstand, heading outside with JT.
Piney lit up a cigarette and looked at JT through the plume of rising smoke, as he spoke.
"I found him, Piney. I know where the son of a bitch lives."
Despite his whispered words, the impact of them brought a dawning realization to the day. Words were going to become actions and whether he was for or against pulling the trigger, he had committed himself to the task and accepted the consequences as they came.
"Where is he, JT?"
"Palm Springs. Lives on Southridge Drive. Once we go today and have our gun practice, I say we make plans to take a little trip south and do some sightseeing and find out exactly where this guy lives and get some background on him. We're going to need to know what he does and where he goes, so we can figure out a place to take him down."
Piney could see the set in JT's eyes, how focused and determined he was on this one issue. He knew nothing would dissuade, or deter him from succeeding in carrying it out, the mission he had set his heart to, one it needed to accomplish, to be whole again. He couldn't deny his own feelings toward Clive Brock weren't honourable, wanting justice to be done for Jake's death, but carrying out the roles of Judge, jury and executioner, pushed his limits of reasoning.
Doors started opening and more guys came over and joined them, brushing hair with fingers and lighting smokes, stretching arms and backs to work out the kinks. Faces turned to the morning sun and let it wash over their faces, basking in the warm glow of a September morning. The normalcy of JT's demeanour, put the guys at ease, that he hadn't faltered and regressed back into his former state.
Keith opened his door and began stepping outside, when he was halted by a hand pulling him back. The guys noticed it and watched, then saw a semi-naked Gloria kissing him passionately. Keith accepted it and responded to it with his own passion and held her tightly to him. Gloria put her hands around the back of his neck and the sheet slid away, exposing her completely. The embracing couple didn't notice, or didn't care, as they continued the loving display for all to see.
The whistles, claps and cheers, had them disengage their hungry mouths and take stock of themselves. Gloria realized her exposure then and dashed back inside. That brought a greater round of applause from them and Keith smiled broadly at them, taking a small bow and limped over to them.
"Aye, now that's the way to start the morning, is it not, lads?"
"Good on you, Keith. How's the leg now?"
"It's no bad, JT. Healing well, just the bone aches if I use it too much."
Keith lit up a cigarette and inhaled the smoke, along with the fresh air.
"Grand place this. Warm sunshine, clean air, fresh water and absolutely, lovely women, who make a man feel good to be alive."
All the noise and loud voices, had the rest of them awaking and getting out of bed. One by one, doors opened and bodies made their way outside. Some of the girls did a fast scoot in night shirts and skimpy sleepwear to Lorraine's room and disappeared inside, after kisses were blown at the guys and some flashes of bare skin shown.
Lenny laughed to himself, as he saw them go in and shut the door to him, ending his view of them. He lit up his cigarette and blew out the smoke, then looked at the guys.
"Anyone else get a little speech from their old lady, last night?"
The guys all said no, that they had nothing in the way of a speech, or a request of any kind.
"Figures. It's always my old lady that has to do this and I end up having to deal with it, shit."
"What's that, Lenny?"
