Col: His Destined Mate

by Georgette St. Clair

  Her lips were pressed into a tight smile. “Yes, we have something that will work quite well. Will you permit me to take your measurements?” Somehow she had produced measuring tape which she was now holding up towards Lily. “I can do it right over your clothing.”

  As long as the saleswoman wasn’t holding a drill or a scalpel, Lily supposed that it would be ok. Because her hands were trembling.

  “I hope you don’t mind my asking—” Lily said, carefully. Why were her hands trembling? The saleswoman froze, her hands and measuring tape in midair. The look on her face was a perfect illustration of a deer caught in headlights. Too bad Lily couldn’t photograph it and show it to the boys for their next lesson in idioms. But it also made her more determined to press on.

  “I couldn’t help but notice that you seem a bit —” Freaked out? On the verge of a mental breakdown? One step away from frothing at the mouth? “—uneasy. Perhaps I can help in some way?”

  The saleswoman’s eyes flew open so wide that Lily half-expected her eyeballs to spring out like a cartoon. “Please,” the saleswoman whispered. “Please just let me do this.”

  It was not the answer Lily was looking for. You know, come to think of it, maybe she could just change into the dress at the restaurant and go commando. Or hey, this medieval kirtle was the height of fashion — in another century, granted, but it was still serviceable for a dinner date with a guy who was from another time period anyway. Yep, sounded like a plan. Victoria would get to keep her secrets, at least in this place. If Lily left now, she could probably walk to some place where she could arrange for a ride, with someone acting a lot less sketchy.

  “I’m sorry, no, I don’t think so.” With a plan in place, Lily started to push the folds of her dress back into the shopping bag, and it dawned on the saleswoman that the measuring thing wasn’t happening.

  Lily’s head dipped down, intent on getting the fabric where it wouldn’t be smooshed against the shoebox. And she heard a howl.

  “Nooooo!”

  The saleswoman flung the measurement tape around Lily’s torso and arms, wrenching it tight with a forcefulness that came out of nowhere. The shopping bag flew out of Lily’s hand as she instinctively pushed her arms out against the unyielding bind. Whatever the tape was made of had no give, and pressed into Lily with a sharp, bruising pain.

  “Ow!” she yelled, ‘what the—“ but the saleswoman quickly yanked her down to the carpeted floor, throwing her weight on top. Lily continued to fight, to try and flip the saleswoman over, but a bony knee mercilessly dug into her back, turning her torso into jelly when Lily struggled against it. Somehow in seconds, the woman managed to finish tying up Lily’s arms, pushing down the wrists onto her back so it was painful for Lily to move them, the strain in her shoulder joints blasting agonizing bolts of pain through her. She could hear the woman breathing heavily from her exertions.

  Why, oh why didn’t she listen to her instincts? She was apparently about to get massacred by a Panty Psycho.

  And then a shadow fell over them, as a pair of polished leather men’s shoes came into view, a few inches from where Lily’s face was against the ground. She tried to lift her head up to see, but Panty Psycho’s pressure against her back and shoulder joints said otherwise.

  “I did as you asked,” Panty Psycho was whining to Mr. Shiny Shoes. She sounded as if she were crying. “Now will you please, please, please let Phoebe Buffay go?” Great, she was friends with a character from Friends. Definitely another box checked under psycho killer, q’uest-ce que c’est.

  “As you wish.” The voice was silky, male, and malevolent. It sent a shudder through Lily, and she almost screamed as something squirmy fell on her and skittered off.

  But it let out an indignant bark. And tried to lick Lily’s face.

  “Phoebe Buffay!” The woman got up off of Lily and picked up the little Yorkshire Terrier, which protested at being separated from Lily.

  Lily tried to move, and managed to turn herself onto one side. Bad move, the pressure on her arm went right into her shoulder joint. But she persisted in using her leg strength to push herself into a kneeling position.

  “I would stay in that position for now if I were you,” the man said. He was tall, although not unusually so, with salt and pepper hair that looked styled. His face was lined, but of indeterminate age. His eyes emanated viciousness, in its concentrated form, and were fixed on her.

  She was so pissed off, without thinking, she moved into a seated position. Despite his suggestion.

  The man quirked up a smile, as if he had expected her to do that. Maybe showed some teeth. Shit, she really should have been taking notes while Rey made her watch The Walking Dead with him. It always ended badly when you went against the orders of someone who was abducting you. Or whatever the hell was happening here.

  Damn, even the dog was whining now.

  “Such defiance. Ohhh, I’m going to have such fun with you.” The man’s voice was like ice water in Lily’s veins. Somehow she didn’t think he meant the kind of fun like Parcheesi.

  “Did you have fun, smashing up Rosa’s home?” Lily demanded.

  The man’s arched brows took on some more height. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Well, didn’t that take some wind out of her sails. Even though he wasn’t exactly a model citizen, he didn’t have any reason to lie about this. Especially if he could claim credit for scaring the bejeezus out of her.

  “But I am sure you will tell me. I have been looking forward to meeting you at last.”

  “Why?”

  “You have information I seek.” The man said. “But we shall talk about it, over many, many hours, as I get to know you…very well.”

  She struggled to keep the panic from her face, but her throat went dry. This guy was straight up insane.

  The saleswoman who she would forever think of as Panty Psycho was cowering to the side, holding Phoebe Buffay tightly to her chest. She was crying, and looking at Lily through her tears. “I am so sorry. But he had Phoebe—”

  “Silence your prattle,” the man’s voice halted her immediately, and the saleswoman froze. “I’m going to show you a kindness, since you have skills that I may have need of again,” he sneered. The woman started shaking violently.

  “I now have all your information, where you live, your loved ones, and if you speak of this to anyone, you know what I am capable of. Nod if you understand.”

  The woman’s head wagged frantically.

  “I will visit that and so much more besides, upon you and your loved ones. And all of this —” He jerked his chin, indicating the surroundings “—will go up in flames. Are we clear?”

  The woman’s head bobbed up and down as if it were on a spring.

  “Go now, before I change my mind.” He waved magnanimously towards the front door, and the woman almost tripped and fell in her rush to get out through the front door in her red soled pumps. She didn’t even bother to close it behind her. The sound of her high heels clacked on the asphalt and around the side of the building where presumably she was running to her car.

  The man shook his head. “How people have forgotten their manners these days.” He kept his eyes on Lily, with that menacing glare in his eyes, matched by an equally predatory smile, as he walked slowly to the door, which was still halfway open.

  “Now you, my dear, have some secrets to yield—quite painfully, I might add, because otherwise it would be dreary for both of us —”

  Fear bloomed inside her, swelling, white-hot and suffocating. Lily was trying to calculate if she could push herself up onto her feet fast enough to launch herself at him when he walked back towards her. That would give her a fighting chance to get out through the door and hopefully her screams would get her some help.

  Her eyes were locked on his, she’d have to time this carefully, and pray that when he closed the door that he wouldn’t engage locks that would be difficult for her to open. Keep your eyes on me, that’s right. Don’t lo
ok at the door, just push it shut behind y—

  WHAM!

  The door flew open and smashed into the man, who exclaimed in surprise as he was slammed against the wall. But Lily’s eyes had widened at what came through.

  Or rather, who.

  “Found you at last. Miss me, bitch?”

  Rey bared his teeth in an evil grin.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Dafuq? He had followed her to this lingerie shop at the edge of town, and couldn’t believe his luck when she was dropped off, all by herself. It was too good to be true. Rey was still thrilled with how the tides had turned for him at last, even as he had crept up alongside the building to case it carefully, trying to see in. But the windows were covered up with some velvet shit.

  At least he could hear fine. The bitch was speaking in a low voice, but the other woman was loud enough that he could pick out some crap about this being a private shopping trip. Probably paid for by one of the men the bitch was spreading her legs for. Or by selling The Rage that she had stolen.

  Fucking, thieving whore.

  He’d be taking care of that real soon, wouldn’t he. It was just two women to deal with right now. Piece of fucking cake. He had duct tape, rope, the whole nine yards in the backpack he carried. Not to mention good ol’ friends Glock and Sig Sauer, one on each side. Just in case. And then he was going to take her to get acquainted with his other shiny, sharp-edged friends.

  Although the back of the store was a different story. There was one other person that he could see—a man, from the window that wasn’t draped like the ones in front, thank Sweet Baby Jesus, so Rey got an eyeful as to what he was doing. Got to check out if this was yet another one of that bitch’s lovers.

  But no, the man appeared to be doing some weird, interpretive dance thing with his fingers and arms at first, and then making even weirder noises, as if speaking a foreign language made up of guttural sounds.

  It dawned on Rey where he had seen something like this before. It was similar to what he had observed at El Monstruo’s from time to time, once he had been allowed more access to the inner workings. He had known enough to keep his questions to himself, though.

  Rey was fully aware of how to be a good soldier for someone like El Monstruo, to know when to pretend not to see or hear, and to always, without fail, keep his mouth clamped shut. You had to unsee the kind of stuff that led to rumors like the one about El Monstruo wearing human bones around his neck. Or doing worse things than just wearing body parts. Dark, bad stuff that made even Rey shudder. Better to just stay the fuck away from that kind of shit as much as possible.

  But physically? Hey, now that Rey could do. It would be easy to take this guy on. Maybe this guy had some moves —he was in pretty good shape for an old dude — but he wasn’t a roid junkie or a muscle head or military like the other guys he had seen so far with the bitch.

  So when the man left the back area and moved into the front of the store, so did Rey. Just in time to hear the man tell the bitch that he was looking forward to having fun with her.

  ‘Cause it sure wasn’t going be with the other woman — that bitch flew out of the store like a bat out of hell.

  And that’s when Rey knew it was time to make his move. It was the break he’d been waiting for. Slamming the door onto the dude was just too easy, and then seeing the kinky shit that bitch was up to, all tied up like that? Wish he had known back in the apartment.

  Maybe he would’ve fucked her more. And tied her up so she couldn’t leave.

  She was speechless. But no, it really was Rey right there, glowering right at her, looking exactly the way he did just before he would beat the tar out of her. Except you know what? That was the past. Ancient history. That was a full three hours of high-tailing it away from a drug dealer lifetime ago. That was before the many wonderful things that had happened since she landed in Gardendale ago.

  And that was before the miracle that was Col.

  But most importantly, that was before she had discovered who she was, and what she was capable of. And she was capable of so much more than taking Rey’s bullshit. Or psycho dude’s—

  Who had just thrown himself on Rey from behind. Rey crashed into the counter, and Lily threw herself away from the glass that shattered. She concentrated on rolling into a position against one of the walls of a parlor, while the two men battled it out in the area by the counter. Lily was oblivious to the strain on her muscles, as she used the structure to brace herself, leverage to get onto her feet at last. Finally. Her arms were still tied behind her, but her legs were free. She’d be able to run.

  The older man moved like a martial artist, but she knew Rey had training as well. The two seemed intent on killing one another, which suited her just fine. She had to get out. She didn’t know if there was an exit anywhere except the door in the front, and she wasn’t going to take the chance there was one in the back. Especially when the one in the front was still open, the older man obviously no longer intent on completing his task of closing it.

  But it was also the door on the other side of the two battling men.

  Hell.

  She had to figure out how to get around them. Rey had the brute strength and possibly speed to finish up this fight in a New York minute, but the other guy was doing some damage as well, with well placed jabs to Rey’s stomach that had her ex grunting in pain. But then Rey quickly recovered enough to spin around with a powerful sweep of his leg. The other guy tried to sidestep the kick, but huffed out loud as it still caught him, and he went crashing into the wall separating one parlor from another. Lily winced. That had to hurt, but she inched her way towards the counter.

  Before she ducked behind the side that didn’t have shattered glass, she noted that Rey had a bandage around one hand. It was getting redder by the second, probably because whatever happened wasn’t supposed to be used for punching. Whatever. The only thing she was going to focus on was that sliver of freedom, now only a few feet ahead. So close.

  Lily didn’t have much time to act before one or both of them would be able to return their attention to her. She ducked down as Rey went after the other guy, who was scrambling to get up. She would have to time this just right. She listened intently for the sounds of their fighting moving farther away from the door, just to give her a better shot when she ran for it.

  Her calves and thighs were burning from the strain of her crouch, but there wasn’t much she could do with her hands still tied behind her back, her body tilted forward like a runner getting ready to do a gold-medal Olympic sprint.

  All of a sudden, there was only silence, except for the thud-thud-thuding of her heart.

  Shit. Was the fight over? Did she lose her chance?

  She tried to peek up, but then she heard Rey’s voice, and she crouched back down.

  “That’s right. Slick moves you got there, but it would be stupid of you to try them against these hollow points.”

  Of course. Rey had a gun.

  But until she was dead, she still had a chance.

  “Come on out from behind the counter, bitch. It’s time you and I got reacquainted.”

  Not much of a chance, but still a chance.

  She raised her head, the tight muscles straightening in her legs as she got to her feet, before steadying the front of her body against the counter. The sight that greeted her almost made her muscles seize again, this time in fear. Rey’s face was bright red, there was a gash on his forehead which was already bleeding profusely, mixing in with the copious sweat. The sheen created a glistening mask, making him look even more deranged and scary.

  Both men were looking at her, although she knew Rey kept the other man within view at the same time. Rey held a gun in his uninjured hand, pointed at the other man, who looked slightly more composed, with his hair almost falling back into place in a fresh-from-the barber chair way.

  “I’m afraid that she and I have a prior engagement,” the other man said.

  His voice was silky, as if he was stepping in to c
laim his turn to dance with Lily, instead of plotting whatever the hell he had been alluding to. He was altogether too composed. Not to mention suicidal. He was facing off with an enraged Rey — holding a fucking gun —and all he had was a clenched fist and a smirk?

  Rey grinned, his teeth covered in blood, which only added to his crazed killer look. “Sorry, asshole. I’m the one taking her to the prom. And you—” he raised the gun he was holding, tilting it to the side, gangster-style.”—You’re going to hell.”

  It happened so fast that Lily wasn’t sure what actually transpired. As Rey fired off the first round, the older man flung what he had been holding in his fist into the air. Suddenly a huge cloud of swirling dust resembling a twister with lightning bolts appeared, swirling and enveloping both of the two men. Lily couldn’t make out their forms.

  A flash of light accompanied the sudden crack of a gunshot. And still another, before a loud, bloodcurdling scream filled the room.

  One more huge blast of light, this time causing Lily to shut her eyes in a belated attempt to shield them, and then all was silent. She opened her eyes, blinking them as the bright dots in her eyes kept her from focusing clearly.

  The two men were gone.

  No, she corrected herself. Only one, as she looked down on the floor.

  Rey was lying there, his eyes opened and glassy, staring straight up at the ceiling. The gun was by his side where he had fallen, and Lily was frozen in place, stunned with disbelief.

  Rey was dead.

  Chapter Fifty

  Simon showed up not long after the cops did, although he was kept back at a distance, near the entrance, as the crime scene technicians processed the area. She wasn’t going to question how he had gotten the report of gun shots fired at this location the same time that the Gardendale Police Department did, but she was grateful to see him.

  The mocha-skinned detective who was assessing the scene had already cleared Lily, after taking photos of the knots that had been tied securely behind her back. The detective also had Lily unbound, and her hands checked for gun shot residue.