Smoke -- Jim Hopper

62. NO CHERRY, NO DEAL

Hi, I'm back with this chapter, I will try to get the others soon. I'm definitely sticking with the Jim plot for this book and just going to make another book with the steve plot so this one doesn't get confusing.

Not edit and enjoy

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After getting Burger King, Natalie sat in the front seat with her arms full of bags. Her stomach growled loudly and she reached into one the bags to grab a handful of fries. Jim pulled the car back into the driveway and they both got out.

"You got cherry right?" Natalie asked as she adjusted some of the bags in her arms.

Jim nodded, a burger king bag hanging from his mouth as he grabbed Alexei's slushie from the cup holder.

"Good," Natalie responded as she walked towards the door and kicked it with her foot, making the steel door shake.

Shortly after she kicked the door, Murray opened the door. He wore a wide smile on his face as he looked at all the bags in her arms and Jim walking up behind her, "well took you two long enough. Take a little trip to Canada on the side?"

"Shut up Murray," Natalie snapped and shoved his bag into his chest, "has he talked?"

Murray grabbed the bag and shook his head as he pulled out a wrapped burger, "not yet. He's watching Looney Tunes still."

"Well, someone," Natalie looked back at Jim whose eyebrows were furrowed as he took the wrapping off his burger and took an angry bite, "is getting impatient."

After she said that, Jim pushed past her and Murray and approached Alexei and set the slushie and Burger King bag in front of him. Murray and Natalie walked into the living room and sat across from Jim and Joyce.

Jim leaned forward, his eyes locked on Alexei, "Alexei, the generators, what are they powering? And tell him that we know it is not the Starcourt Mall, so he can stop selling us that crap."

Natalie took a bite of her burger, looking around the room. The tension was so thick it could literally be cut with a knife. All eye shifted to Alexei when he went to grab his slushie and take a sip.

Alexei's face scrunched up in disgust and he choked on his slushie and threw it down against the coffee table while turning to face Murray. He shouted at him in Russian.

"What? What's wrong," Jim asked.

Murray held up a finger and listened to Alexei and then looked at Jim, "he says it's strawberry."

"I thought you said you got cherry?" Natalie added and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"So what?" Jim said, his voice getting loud, "They didn't have cherry, and it doesn't matter because they all taste the same, it's sugar on ice. Tell him that."

Murray sighed and told Alexei what Jim in Russain, to which Alexei replied again and scoffed.

"He says it's not all the same and he would like the cherry he requested," Murray said, repeating what Alexei told him.

Jim nodded his head, laughing to himself quietly, "oh yeah? You can tell him to forget it."

Murray spoke to Alexei and Alexei shot Jim a glare and folded his arms and said something to Murray.

"He says no cherry no deal," Murray said, his eyebrows raised.

Jim looked at Alexei, "no cherry no deal?" he balled up the burger wrapper in his hands and threw it on the table and leaned back into the couch. "Hm," Jim scrunched his face up and looked at Alexei again.

Natalie recognized that face, "wait, Jim!"

Jim jumped up from his seat and leaped towards Alexei, his fist raised high in the air.

Joyce jumped up, "Hop!" she shouted as Jim grabbed Alexei's collar and dragged him out of his chair.

"What are you doing?" Natalie asked as she rushed after Jim who was dragging a whimpering Alexei across the floor.

Jim pulled the front door open and practically tossed Alexei on the ground and threw the car keys at him, "I'm giving him an opportunity to get his own damn cherry slushie!"

Jim turned on his heel and herded Natalie and Joyce back into Murray's house and shut the metal front door.

Murray stood dumbfounded, his mouth hanging open in shock, "Jim that man is an enemy of the state!"

Jim leaned against the door and folded his arms over his chest, "Yeah, who's been jerking us around for a full day! I get him his cherry Slurpee, then what? He wants a helicopter to charter him to his own private island. I have dealt with assholes like this my entire life. Yesterday in the woods, he could've escaped, - but he didn't." Jim chuckled and shook his head, "why do you think that is? It's because he's scared."

"Scared of what? Us?" Natalie asked, her voice shrill.

Jim shook his head, "not of us but of that seven-foot Russian freak who could've killed him just as easily as us. Smirnoff knows that if he runs back to his comrades without a scratch on him, they're gonna think that he spilled his guts. So, whether he likes it or not, we are the best chance he's got. I give him 30 seconds before he comes knocking on that door, right back into our arms, with a new sense of humility."

Joyce tried to push Jim out of the way, but he stood his ground.

Then the sound of music and a car engine turning over caught their attention.

"That sounds like a car," Natalie said, "he's gonna leave."

"He's not, just wait," Jim responded, his head held high.

Natalie listened as Alexei seemed to be traveling further away and she and Joyce managed to push Jim out of the way of the door and raced outside to see Alexei stopped in the driveway still.

Natalie turned to see Jim sauntering out of Murray's house, a smirk plastered on his face, "what did I say?"

Alexei turned off the car and got out, his head hung low as he tossed the car keys to Jim, who caught them with ease. As Alexei passed by them, he mumbled something to Murray before walking back inside.

"I'm sorry, what did he say?" Jim asked, his smirk growing larger.

Murray turned to face Jim, his eyebrows raised in shock, "he said that he likes strawberry too."