by KL Donn
Turning, I glare at the woman who has protected my family for years. “What the hell does that mean?”
Standing, she tilts her head, and her eyes are on the gift in my arms. “Posy enjoys school. Despite the mudak here. This is her escape.”
The crimped fuse that has capped my volatile emotions is ready to blow. “What would you have me do, Ana? Feed her to the wolves?” I’ve switched to Italian because we’ve gained an audience.
“Pfft, she has the biggest lion already. But she needs freedom. She needs choices. And here is where she gets them.” Why the fuck does the woman have to make sense?
Looking down at Posy in my arms, I let her slip to her feet before lifting her chin with a finger to meet her eyes. “Is that what you want?” The bell rings for lunch before she can answer and the panic crawling into my chest as students and teachers pile out of their classes is foreign.
Not wanting anyone to touch her, I drag Posy to the lockers and await her answer.
“Is what, what I want?” I forgot we were speaking another language.
“To stay here? Does this place give you freedom?” I glare at Ana as she stands behind Posy, ready to strike if needed.
“I hate it here.” My triumphant grin is short-lived. “But it’s the only place where I haven’t been made to feel like I have no control.” There’s sadness in her soft words, and I loosen my stance.
“Do you want to stay?” She nods, and I grind my teeth, unhappy that I have to leave her all afternoon now.
“I want to be normal, Natale.”
And how the fuck am I supposed to argue with that?
Posy
I know he watched the clock all morning. I felt his gaze every time it shifted, and now, I’m doing the same. Minutes are left until the bell rings, and I find I like the anticipation of seeing him again.
Having Ana in my art and computer sciences classes with me eased some of my fears. She has made sure I’ve been seated near unobstructed exits but always puts herself between them and me, just in case, and it’s set me at ease.
“Time doesn’t go quicker because you watch it,” Ana whispers in my ear, and I try to hide behind my hair as I feel the blush working its way up my cheeks. “He’ll like that.” She nods at my charcoal drawing.
We were told to draw what’s on our minds, and Natale has been on my mind since we parted ways after lunch. I told him I would be fine, but then I’m always wondering if he is too.
“Do you think?” She nods, and I work quickly to clean it up a bit more. It’s his profile. The shaggy way his hair falls when I brush my fingers through it. The burning anger under the surface of his façade when he thinks someone is going to hurt me. The lust I feel emanating off him after he kisses me.
I drew it all. But if you didn’t know any of those things about him, you wouldn’t see it. You wouldn’t recognize the intimacies of this sketch.
But he will.
Because Natale notices everything I do.
Leaning closer to Ana, I whisper, “Can I ask you something?” My eyes immediately search to make sure no one has heard me.
“Sure.”
I feel ridiculous now that I’ve brought it out in the open. “Nevermind.” I shake my head because it’s stupid to think she could understand what I’ve asked of Natale.
“Ask me when you’re ready.” Her gaze says far more than her words.
Mouthing a thank you, I recheck the clock and begin to pack away my art supplies, wanting out of class to see him again.
When the bell finally rings, that last minute feeling like an hour, I’m rushing out with Ana right behind me. It doesn’t take long for students to fill the hallway and crowds to form, making it more difficult to find my way to Natale. My short height doesn’t help either.
My eyes stay glued to the hallway I know he travels from as Ana guides us along the lockers that take us to where I want to be. Bumped and pushed around, I can feel the aggravation in my ribs. Still not fully healed, I try to protect myself from the jostling with my bag, but it doesn’t work.
Roughhousing boys slam me into the metal doors, and my head cracks off a lock, causing stars to dance in my vision. My hold on Ana’s belt slackens, and she must feel it because she’s turning and making quick work of knocking both boys to the ground and taking a stance in front of me.
The commotion has people turning to look, but thankfully, not many stay to witness what’s about to be a spectacular embarrassment because it’s the end of the day. Sliding to the floor, I wrap my arms around my knees and try to breathe through the fire in my bones. I know Ana will put both boys in their place should they try to start anything with her. She doesn’t need my help.
The compact position of my sternum helps my lungs expand a little easier. As I count down from ten, the noise is slowly drowned out until I feel soft hands brushing across the top of my head.
“Natale,” I sigh as I effortlessly glide into his arms. I never thought I would accept another’s touch with such ease. Nor that I would trust so effortlessly, but I quickly realize that I’m falling in love.
With his dark anger, his soulful eyes, and his obsessive demeanor. Natale Morello has earned everything I was never willing to give.
Natale
Rounding the corner, I see Ana facing off against two sophomores, and I’m ready to draw blood. I have no idea what’s happened, but I know it involves Posy, and I’ll do anything to keep her safe. But Ana is doing precisely what she’s supposed to. Protecting my girl. Who is sitting on the floor at her feet with her head on her knees. She’s not tense like usual when she’s frightened.
Dropping beside her, I ignore everyone else around me and brush my hand across her head. Immediately, she whispers my name and slides into my embrace.
“I’ve got you, tesoro,” I murmur, picking her up. I’m always carrying Posy. It brings her comfort, and it calms my nerves. “Let’s go,” I tell Ana, who looks ready to bash the boys’ heads in.
Leading the way out of the school and to the parking lot, she tosses our bags into the trunk of her Land Rover before opening the back door for me to climb in, Posy still in my arms.
Worried because she hasn’t moved or said a thing, I lift her chin to see her face pinched but her gaze clear.
“What happened?” I demand.
“Just boys being silly. I was bumped and got dizzy. Anatonia protected me.” While she doesn’t appear stressed about the situation, it doesn’t halt my concern.
“Are you hurt?” My hands brush along her body, searching for the invisible injuries.
Posy’s head shakes. “I’m fine. Some pain in my ribs. I just need to lay down.” I can see her eyes growing heavy. “Today wasn’t too much, Natale.” She must be a mind reader because I was about to say something along those lines.
“It’s a long weekend. You can get all the rest you need after tomorrow.” What I leave out is the plan I have to find her father’s partner.
I have spent many hours scouring for his whereabouts, and Domino finally got a hit on an old hunting shack in the woods about two hours away. The man will serve his penance, and Posy will gain her justice because I have no faith in the courts. Not after her father remains free, even after they caught him. He should be rotting in the prison system where he sent far too few criminals.
Stars twinkle in the clear night’s sky as I pick the lock to the small shack that Brian Lackey is hiding out in. I’ve already disabled the phone lines, his car, and enabled a cell phone blocker. He’s trapped with me and has no idea I’m coming.
No sound emits from the structure as the lock disengages. No lights turn on. Overconfidence will get a man killed, so I remain cautious and compacted as I slide through the small opening of the door before closing and locking it behind me. The open curtains allow the moonlight to shine through and illuminate the room, alerting me to exactly where Lackey is lying, comfortable in the knowledge that he’s hidden from the world.
But he’s not.
Not anymore
.
Even though Domino found the location, I didn’t allow him to come along because his duty is to the job. The force needs more men like him on the front lines, keeping the peace and enforcing the law. I need him around to be certain there is no blowback on Posy from my actions. No matter what happens to me.
Drawing out the rope I brought with me, I nimbly place a piece around each of his ankles and wrists. I pre-tied them with an arbor knot so that when he wakes up and begins to pull, they’ll constrict and trap him on their own. He’s going to be at my mercy in the exact same way he trapped Posy at his. Only his torment will end here, tonight.
Satisfied with how he’s restrained, I pull a chair over from the small dinette set against the wall. This place really is a piece of shit.
Spinning it around, I sit backwards and pull out the cattle prod I borrowed from my father today. Placing the item on the bed beside the man, I carefully retrieve the bottle of bleach, a pocketknife, and a lighter, lining them up on the floor.
I pick up the prod again and flip the switch. The device crackles to life. Lackey stirs on the bed, and I patiently wait for him to come to before grinning like the Cheshire cat.
“Hello, sleeping beauty.” He has about three seconds to register the intrusion before I place the prod against his side and watch as the voltage fires through his frame. His back bows off the bed, and he lets out one hell of a howl.
As soon as he stops crying, I do it again. Enjoying the agony he must be feeling because, unbeknownst to him, it’s about to get so much worse.
“Who the fuck are you?” he groans through clenched teeth, trying to act like a man now.
“Who am I?” I pretend to ponder the question. “Your worst nightmare.” I grin again as he pales.
It’s registering on him that he’s in trouble as he begins to tug on his bindings. “Why are you doing this to me?”
Leveling him with a deadly glare, I allow my own rage over Posy’s mistreatment from not only him but her parents and the assholes at school to bleed through.
“Why? I think you know why. But let’s play a little game and try guessing all of your sins.” Ripping the blanket off his body, I use the knife to cut through his shirt and shorts’ material, exposing him to me.
“Here’s how this is going to work. I’m going to slice”—he screams as I cut the flesh on each side of his hips, along his ribs, and across his thighs—“and dice a little.” Sitting back in the chair as he blubbers and spits, my eyes roll. Picking up the bleach, I notice him tense, and satisfaction sizzles through me.
“I’m going to toss some guesses out there about all the despicable things you’ve done.” I twist the cap off the bleach, “And when you lie to me, I pour this liquid along a cut. The more you lie, the more this is going to hurt. Sounds fun, right?”
“Do you know who I am?” He screams the words, I’m sure hoping someone will hear him, but they won’t. There’s nobody out here.
“The better question is, even though I know you’re a cop, do I actually care?” His eyes widen with shock. “I know precisely who you are, Brian Lackey. I know everything there is to know about you. Why do you think I’m here?”
“You’ll spend your life in prison,” he hisses, his bravado making an appearance.
Pursing my lips, I shake my head. “No, I won’t. I’ll be as free as I am now.”
“It’s that cockiness that will get you caught.” The fool still thinks I care.
“Maybe, maybe not. It didn’t get me caught last time, and I was only twelve.” His jaw drops. “In Italy, they call me the killer kid. I avenged the men who sought to assassinate my mother, instead nearly taking me out. What do you think I’ll do for the woman I’m about to call my own? The woman I’m about to claim?”
I can see it in his eyes that Brian is finally beginning to realize how precarious his situation is. Knowing he’s about to face his demise, he allows his anger to rise.
“You want a fight, boy, let me go, and I’ll show you what a real man does. Not tying someone down. Let’s go!” I laugh at his futile attempts to get free.
“Let’s start that game.” Pouring the bleach over the wound on his hip, Brian screeches like a dying bird before panting, biting his lip to quell his cries.
“Remember, tell the truth.” I wink; he nods. “You’ve taken bribes.” He concurs. Bribery isn’t terrible. It’s an easy confession. “You’ve forced business owners to pay for protection.” I’m only guessing at this one.
“No,” he grits out.
“Wrong.” I unhurriedly pour the bleach over the small cut in his thigh.
Tortured screams fill the room, and I relish in the pain I’m causing. I have no sympathy for him. I’m consumed by nothing but pure hatred and rage.
“No, please, I’m sorry! I did. I made them pay us to keep the thugs off their backs.” Looks like I was right.
Leaning forward, a sick smile plays on my lips. “I was only guessing at that one.” I chuckle as he curses and tries to reach me.
“What else?” I tap the blade against my chin. “You take advantage of young girls.”
“You’re sick,” he spits.
“Wrong answer, Brian.” Wasting no time, I stand and pour the toxic liquid across his chest, watching as it slowly crawls into each wound, five or six in total, and I feel a sense of euphoria when he passes out from the pain.
“I didn’t even get to the good parts yet.” Gazing around the cabin, I see an iron fireplace set. “That could be fun.” Striding over, I grab a poker, and a twisted idea comes to mind.
“Time to wake up, Brian.” Lifting the heated iron overhead, I stand at the end of the bed before slamming it down against his groin with all my strength.
He wakes up with a blood-curdling scream, nearly making me second guess my choice, but then I remember holding Posy in my arms as she cried last night. Terrified he was coming back to haunt her.
And it’s that image that has me bashing down over his body repeatedly until I’m exhausted, soaked in his blood, and the sharp edge of the poker is lodged in his dismembered rib cage.
I had planned this much slower. With much more torture.
In the end, it doesn’t really matter because he’s dead.
And Posy is free of him.
Chapter 10
Posy
“Tesoro.” I can hear Natale even in my dreams. The silky way he calls me his pet name. The tender way he kisses along my neck. “Wake up, tesoro.”
Maybe it’s not a dream.
“Natale?” My eyes are hesitant to open, blinded by the dim light from the bathroom shining through the door. When they do adjust, what I see horrifies me. “What happened?” I barely squeak the words out past my tight throat.
“I’m fine.” He brushes his hand through my hair gently. Only marginally calming my nerves.
“Why are you covered in blood? Where did you go?” Glancing over, I see it’s after two in the morning. He was here with me when I fell asleep. “It’s late, Natale.”
My emotions start to get the best of me as he cups my cheeks and tilts my head up to meet his stare.
“I killed him.”
Three words.
Simple alone.
Complex together.
I should be terrified. I should be running as fast and far away from Natale as I can. I should be screaming and calling for help.
I’m doing none of those things.
Instead, I’m climbing to my knees and crawling into his lap. Cupping his cheeks in the same way he did to me, I can feel the cool stickiness of the blood beneath my fingers, but it doesn’t hinder me. I lean forward and lay my lips across his. Kissing him. Thanking him. Showing him with the words I can never seem to articulate, just how much his actions mean to me.
“Nobody has ever–” I’m choked for words. “I’ve never–”
“I know,” he says, picking me up in his arms and carrying me to the bathroom. Sitting me on the sink, I watch as Natale moves. His hands steady as he t
urns on the shower, his frame stoic. Not at all concerned that he committed a serious felony.
For me.
He’s risked his entire life for me.
And I have nothing to give him. No way to properly thank him.
Except…
My body. But he’s too honorable to take that as repayment. I know him, even if I don’t know myself.
Slipping off the sink, I nervously begin to undress, needing to take the first steps into intimacy. Needing for it to be my decision. I was foolish before when I asked him to take from me, even if I had a meltdown. It was selfish and reckless, and he was right to say no.
But now, it’s a whole new ball game. I see Natale as more than the first boy/man to show me attention. He’s more than my savior; he’s the other piece of me. The one I didn’t know was missing until that first time our lips touched.
When he turns, he pauses with his hands on the hem of his shirt to stare at my naked body. I feel his wandering gaze like a feathery caress. One that makes me shiver with anticipation.
In the full light of the bathroom, I’m able to assess the amount of blood covering him, staining his clothes.
“You have to burn those,” I whisper, stepping closer as his shirt drops to the floor.
“I will.” He nods as his pants fall away.
The crimson stain soaked through his clothes and has left coloring on his flesh. “Did he hurt you?” Natale scoffs but turns serious when he notices how concerned I am.
Threading his fingers through my hair, he pulls me closer. Naked flesh to naked flesh, and I shiver. “He never had the chance.”
Natale’s lips brush across mine, slowly at first. Gentle, with little pecks and small nips before deepening the contact. Our tongues tangle as my hands rest against his chest, sliding up and down his torso.
Feeling his masculinity. Acknowledging the sacrifice he made for me tonight.
Me…