Hard Candy Saga Read Online Free PDF Page B

his hand up to the boy’s chest to stop him. “Not here. Not now,” he said calmly.
    The boy backed down. Something about Rock’s words, the way he said them, had calmed him. “I’m Eric,” he said, introducing himself, “but everybody calls me Easy.”
    â€œRock.” He shook Easy’s hand firmly.
    â€œYo, man, how can I repay you for that shit?” Easy asked as he eyed the girl and the guy scurrying away.
    â€œNo need.” Rock handed Easy the magazine full of .40-caliber rounds and the slide of his would-be assassin’s gun.
    â€œNah, there has got to be something. Some money, some food, clothes, something,” Easy said.
    â€œJust go inside and get my BC Powder. I have the worst headache,” Rock said.
    Easy scrambled to do as Rock asked, and their friendship was sealed after that day.
    Rock had never given Easy a price for saving his life, but as Easy moved up in the game, he continued to look out for Rock. Every day when Rock went to the store, Easy would pay for his groceries, and they’d walk and talk.
    Soon, Easy graduated in the game from corner boy to boss, but he continued to frequent the neighborhood just to visit Rock. He and Rock had gone from walking and talking, to riding in whatever luxury car he had on a particular day. Easy and Rock would have long, serious talks about life.
    Rock grew to trust Easy, which wasn’t an uncomplicated undertaking. Easy also grew to trust Rock. In fact, Rock was the one person Easy trusted with his life. Easy trusted Rock so much, he shared his childhood with him, specifically his being born into the game. Literally.
    Easy’s mother was one of the first female drug dealers in Brooklyn. His father had turned her on to the game, and they were an unstoppable duo, until jealous rival dealers executed them both. Easy grew up with his grandmother, who he believed died of a broken heart shortly after his mother’s murder. Then he moved in with an aunt, who treated him like shit and let her husband beat Easy at will. Though Easy didn’t have an easy life, he was convinced that he knew how to hold his own in the streets.
    Rock wasn’t impressed. Easy still had a lot to learn. In turn, Rock revealed to Easy his talents as a professional cleaner for the CIA.
    Easy was impressed. Sometimes he would joke with Rock and say stuff like, “Get the fuck outta here, Rock! That’s some shit out of the movies.”
    Then came the day when Easy’s life hung in the balance once again. A rival hustler had threatened his life and murdered one of Easy’s workers, to drive home the point. This time, Easy hired Rock to take care of his problem. The job was done so well, the police never found the man or any trace of him, despite the number of missing persons posters hanging in the neighborhood. Rock had made him ghost and had quickly become Easy’s personal hired cleaner.
    Easy used Rock to carry out his most high-profile hits, but no one on the streets knew about Rock, who was like a ghost himself. He’d appear when Easy needed him, and disappear just as quickly. He could wipe out a person’s entire identity, but he did have one rule that he never broke—no women and no children. That became Easy’s street creed as well. Rock didn’t mind carrying out Easy’s hits because, unlike the government, for which he carried out hits on people simply because they had information that made the government look bad, Easy killed only people who tried to harm him or his family.
    * * *
    When Easy met Corine, he went to Rock for advice about whether or not he should trust her. Corine, the daughter of a retired NYPD homicide detective, had been forbidden to see Easy. Easy desperately needed Rock’s advice, but Rock, unable to speak about women or love with Easy, clammed up and cut his visit with Easy short when the subject of Corine came up. And Easy didn’t push the issue.
    It was a