Cold Blooded Goons Read online

  cold blooded goons.

  Mirika Mayo Cornelius

  cold blooded goons.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved, including the rights of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  Copyright © Mirika Mayo Cornelius, September 2014

  An Akirim Press Publishing

  Book Cover by Akirim Press

  www.akirimpress.com

  Acknowledgements

  I first and always thank God for giving of his Son, Jesus, to save me, and I acknowledge and confess that without Him, I have and am nothing.

  To my family, I love you all. Mom, you’re one special lady, dad and step-dad – you are awesome in unique ways. Brothers and sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends and fans who are like family...you rock. Always love.

  To all in my family who have gone to our heavenly home, I love you still.

  To my son, you are my heart. I cherish you as the special gift sent from our Father in Heaven. You make me better, and I love you. To my husband, we did it again. Love you.

  mirikacornelius.com

  cold blooded goons

  They say blood is thicker than water, but how far are you willing to go when blood puts your life on the line?

  Jack and Lukewarm have always been bound by blood, but when Lukewarm gets Jack involved in his next scheme for riches without giving him any details other than telling him that no one will die, Jack must then choose between being down with his blood or ditching this deadly dilemma before it’s too late!

  Cold Blooded Goons is the untold back story of the character named Jack from the pages of the novel First Degree Sins.

  More Akirim Press Books

  Books by Mirika Mayo Cornelius

  Secret

  Colored Lily: Poppa Took My Innocence

  Paton

  Ain't Quite What I Thought!

  Ain’t Quite What I Thought! 2

  First Degree Sins

  Inside the Gates of Doons

  Sunny Sides of My Shade

  Murders at Gabriel’s Trails: The Complete 5 Part Series plus bonus Sins of Bain

  I Thought I Was Alone

  Most Wanted Felon

  Books by Rod Cornelius

  Ugly

  Diggin’ Gold

  The Trusted

  Single Again

  Ghetto Eyes

  The Best Kept Secrets

  Books by Cyan Deane

  Dead Man’s Mayhem

  Execution’s Karma

  Table of Contents

  cold blooded goons.

  More Akirim Press Books

  Preview FIRST DEGREE SINS by Mirika Mayo Cornelius

  Preview UGLY by Rod Cornelius

  Preview Murders at Gabriel’s Trails: The Complete 5 Part Series by Mirika Mayo Cornelius

  Preview INSIDE THE GATES OF DOONS by Mirika Mayo Cornelius

  cold blooded goons.

  The comb felt great across his scalp, far better than the bristles of a brush. He flexed his non-muscles in the mirror, and a small bicep bulged through his skin as he allowed the comb to massage its round ends through his straight hair that shot down past his shoulders. He’d just gotten soaked in a warm shower when it suddenly went cold, causing him to exit the shower immediately, but because he was feeling overwhelmed with thoughts of the woman he’d fallen head over heels in love with, he took the chill like a man and pretended not to feel it.

  There he stood – butt naked combing his hair while straining to look inside the fog covered mirror – when he noticed there were no towels hanging from the walls.

  “Where are all the towels?” he said under his breath as he leaned over to look underneath the cabinet. As he searched, he found nothing but an extra roll of toilet tissue. Frustrated, he stood tall once again, shook off his disappointment, and continued out of the bathroom.

  “Jack! Don’t just walk outta the bathroom with your whole butt out...”

  “Ma! Ma, move!” he shouted, dropping his comb on the floor as he tried to hide his private area from full view. “There are no towels in there, ma,” he complained. “I wouldn’t have had to come out in the hall if you’d hung the towels up that you washed last night.”

  “Move, Jack,” she said pushing him out of the way, causing his body to fall up against the wall as she moved by, cautious enough not to touch the bare butt she used to wipe when he was a child. “Here,” she continued, opening the hall closet and snatching out a green towel. “And stop using up all the hot water like I know you did.”

  “How the heck is that even possible?” Jack asked, taking the towel from her. “I pay for water...”

  “I pay for water,” his mom corrected him, placing much needed stress on the I. “You on the other hand need to get a better job, if you still have one, and go off and do more with your life. That way you can have a family, raise kids...”

  “And be just what you want me to be,” he rebutted rebelliously.

  His mom looked back before entering the living room. “Exactly. Start with looking the part, Jack. Image is everything. It gets you where you want to be like I’ve always told you. Clean yourself up.”

  Immediately, he latched onto his long locks after putting the towel around his waist. Then, he slithered into his room, beginning to feel worse than what he planned for that day. He was supposed to start preparing for a trip out of the country to Jamaica with his love, Candyce. They’d been dating for a while, and Jack knew in his heart that she was the one for him after the months they’d spent together. Candyce was his princess, and in order to make his fairytale woman become his royalty legitimately, he needed to make major life changes.

  Candyce came from a rich family. Her family was one of the richest in the city. Although Candyce was rooted in wealth, Jack wasn’t intimidated when he identified her while she was out shopping. That was just how well known her family was. It happened so fast, and he was really amazed by how down to earth she was. That was what added to his attraction to this posh stranger at their first meeting.

  ~

  “Name’s Jack...Jack Seedman,” he introduced himself as he walked over to her while she inspected some bracelets that were hanging on the rack. Her hair was long, just like he liked it, and she was just as beautiful to him as he’d seen on the television as she stood with her family.

  The woman he’d eyed from afar glanced down at first, only to look over his shoes, and then she continued to follow him up to his face. There she saw a man with a cute grin, only because he had all his teeth intact, a passable body, and a nice voice with hair that draped his back. He was handsome in the face, however, with an edge that Candyce appreciated and needed in her life due to the fact that she came from such rigid formalities and wealth.

  “Candyce...just Candyce,” she introduced herself, responding to his greeting.

  “Hi, Just Candyce,” he responded in an attempt to be funny, however, that particular gesture caused Candyce to toss him a side grin and turn back to continue admiring the bracelets.

  Jack, being fairly confident with his looks, charm and smell which always overcompensated for his weak wallet, felt shaken by the way Candyce ignored him after seeming interested for two seconds. Therefore, he figured his Just Candyce gesture was taken the wrong way.

  “So, which bracelet seems to catch your eye, Candyce?” he asked, attempting to breeze over what he thought was a complete fail at getting her to respond.

  “Oh, so I’m Candyce now?”

  “I’m sorry if I...”


  “Did you not know that the word just is an adverb that I placed in front of my name because I didn’t want to give you my last name as you voluntarily gave me yours?” Then, she looked at him once more, this time from head to toe. “I tend to not be that giving.” She turned to lift a bracelet from the rack.

  “Maybe not giving but possibly forgiving, I hope. May I get that for you?” he asked, referring to the bracelet.

  “Do you have the money?” She looked at his shoes that were clearly falling apart in the next hour at the least.

  “Oh these?” he said following her eyes down to his scuffed up shoes. “These have nothing to do with me and what I can get for you. Believe you me,” he replied, hoping to debunk her views on his less-than-one-hundred-dollars-in-the-bank-every-two-weeks of a lifestyle. The truth was, some people lived with their parents just to do it. Others, such as himself, lived with his mother as a year off thirty year old man because he just couldn’t seem to attract a high paying job without screwing it up on one or two levels. Besides that, however, he was robbed for all his lesser goods two weeks ago, including the last of his cash which he kept in his old apartment.

  “Are those your work shoes?”

  “As a matter of fact...yep. Yep, those are my work shoes,” he stated slightly embarrassed at the brown bulldozers that actually looked worse at the sole of the shoe due to a massive hole that decided it was time to accelerate the decision to buy a new pair. In all actuality, the brown bulldozers weren’t his work shoes. They were his only shoes until he could get more money for another pair. Until running into Candyce, he had no reason to rush.

  “Where do you work?”

  “At the bowling alley,” he stated confidently.

  “Oh.” She gave him a quick smile and returned to her shopping. “I like this one. Do you mind?”

  Before Jack noticed the type of bracelet it was that she was holding inside her hand, he noticed the price tag that hung from the far too expensive piece of cosmetic jewelry. The label read two hundred dollars, and when he glanced over at the real jewelry, he was certain that there would be some real gold earrings over there at half the cost. In order to not look like the no-account man that his shoes already succeeded at doing, he cocked a smile and said, “Are you sure this is the one you want?”

  “Don’t I look sure? I’m gonna skip over to the shoe section...right there,” she pointed. “If you want me to have this bracelet, that’s where you’ll find me,” she paused, “Jack.” It was with those words alone that she walked off through the jumble of people that had decided to visit the mall that particular day. This left Jack standing with a two hundred dollar bracelet in hand, not knowing what to do next.

  Pressure was something that Jack wasn’t too fond of, but he’d always ended up in anxiety ridden situations throughout his life which taught him to think fast and think of a way out that gets all parties involved what they want, if possible. This was one of those cases.

  As he watched Candyce prance over to the shoe department, he was stricken by the way her hair bounced down her back, and although she wasn’t a girl with much of the curves a man likes, what she had was good enough for him. Jack took a deep breath, dug inside his pockets, fiddled around and only found fifty cents...in nickels.

  “Dammit,” he whispered while a little girl walked by with her mother. Immediately, he became apologetic for having used vulgar language near the child. “Excuse me, my bad...didn’t know...hi, little girl,” he stammered as the child stared up into his face with her hand over her mouth tugging at her mom’s shirt. The woman scowled at Jack without accepting his apology and continued walking past him with her daughter, stringing her along with the child leash.

  Jack simply shook his head and looked back up at Candyce who was already standing in front of the counter with four single shoes requesting the matching counterparts. Sweat started to bud upon the back of his neck causing him to wipe underneath all his hair. For the most part, he liked to remain as dry as he could when he had on cologne because his body chemistry didn’t mix the cologne and natural perspiration too well. The odor didn’t quite work, and he started to get paranoid about possibly emanating a horrid stench as he knew in his heart of hearts that time was dwindling down for him to prove himself to the woman he wanted in his arms each night and not just in his dreams. Jack was nervous. Not only was he nervous, but he knew he had to steal.

  It wasn’t like stealing was something new to him. As a matter of fact, it was when he was in the grocery store with his cousin that he learned the simple rule of thieving – out of sight, out of everybody’s mind. When he was only seven years old, he would watch his older cousin, Luke, who now goes by Lukewarm, snatch the smallest of the fruit from the counter and pop them in his mouth like it was nothing. Then, he would grin back at Jack who would be standing there terrified. Luke would even pass him, purposely smacking louder and louder the closer he got to him. There was one particular day of Luke’s shenanigans that he walked right up to Jack’s ear and said, “Out of sight, out of mind, and when I get home, out of my behind.” Then, he popped the strawberry in his mouth. Jack looked ahead of Luke and saw that Luke’s mother was doing the exact same thing...except she had a banana, fully peeled. She would then move to the checkout counter to never disclose the fact that she was walking out with a banana that wasn’t paid for...inside her belly. It was out of sight, and thus, out of mind.

  Jack quickly dropped the bracelet by a different rack than it originally came from. The drop was precise, and as soon as he heard it hit the floor, he walked away from it with the decision to go chat at the jewelry counter with the sales person who was already cleaning the glass to make the shine more exquisite for customers who were ready to spend. She was a short and stout lady with an aged face, and as Jack got closer, she met him with a courteous smile.

  “May I help you today, sir?”

  Jack rushed to stand against the counter, remembering that his shoes sold the I’m-broke-but-still-making it story to the highest bidder. “Yeah, sure, uhmm...yeah. I need to know what kind of stone a woman likes...the most I mean...outside of a diamond.”

  “Oh well, let’s see. We have some emeralds over here. They are always nice, and then there are these pearls. What particular occasion or ...”

  “Birthday. It’s gonna be a birthday ring...for my sister.”

  “Well, that’s a wonderful gift, so let me go and pull out some other selections...” the sales person continued as Jack paid her absolutely no attention. He was watching as Candyce paid for all the shoes requested at the register, and it was at that point that he realized he was out of time.

  As the lady dug underneath the cabinet, Jack walked away from the counter whispering, “Out of sight, out of mind.” His blood pressure had already risen to the point where he literally felt the blood pumping through his veins as he approached the area where he dropped the two hundred dollar fake bracelet.

  The hole in the bottom of his shoe was just big enough where he could place his foot right over it and scoop it up. He wouldn’t even have to bend over while he pretended to look for another bracelet. His only hope as he watched Candyce walk toward the exit was that the bracelet slid easily into the hole of his raggedy shoe.

  “Sir? Sir?” he heard the sales lady call behind him, but he continued to walk forward as he answered her.

  “I’m just going over here to check out these other pieces of jewelry, ma’am.”

  “Okay, sir, take your time.” She turned back around, slightly irritated with how Jack just walked away from her and shoved the box of jewelry back underneath the cabinet while keeping her rehearsed, yet cordial, demeanor.

  As Jack came within five feet of the bracelet, he noticed that same little girl that he incidentally cursed in front of staring at him while still tugging at her mom’s shirt.

  “The hell...” Jack grunted under his breath as he tried to concentrate, preparing his toes for the struggle of sharing the shoe space with a something slightly spiked and ma
n-made. “Give me a break little girl. It’s just a freaking word,” he continued underneath his breath as he stepped on top of the desired bracelet, and like it was meant to be there, the bracelet slid right inside the gaping hole in the bottom of his shoe. Immediately, he fell over into a large rack as he pretended to have hurt his leg when in reality, he was shifting the bracelet further into his shoe as he watched Candyce walk out the door.

  Recalling the words of his own mother that appearances were everything, he continued his limping façade all the way out the door, careful not to crush the bracelet under the weight of his foot.

  “Are you okay, sir?” a young, teenage girl came to push the door open for him. Jack’s face was beginning to turn a full out blushing red, but he would have had no idea of his newfound tint if it weren’t for the statement the teenager said next. “You look like you’re about to pass out.”

  “Pain,” Jack responded. “My foot. I have gout.”

  “Gout? What the heck is gout?” she asked, but Jack totally ignored the question. He had an uncle that suffered from it before he passed away, and the one thing he remembered about his uncle was the way he walked while blaming it on gout. Truth be told, Jack had no idea what gout was either, and to tell the teen that gout was his uncle’s disease was ignorantly unacceptable, especially when he was pretending to suffer from it.

  “Thank you,” he stated as he limped out of the store without looking back at her. Instead, his eyes were watching as Candyce walked down the sidewalk, which was great because her back was to him.

  As he turned to limp down the sidewalk in order to get out of the full vision of the transparent doors, he was finally able to reach down and slide the bracelet from the hole in his shoe. “Hell yeah,” he stated as he began to race toward a calm, cool and collected Candyce as she crossed the street. “Excuse me, Candyce,” he called as he popped the price tag off the piece of what he considered tacky jewelry and tossed it on the street. He could feel his body calming down as he wanted to recapture the confidence that left him inside the store. When Candyce turned around at the call of her name, Jack proceeded toward her with his signature cocky grin.