He wasn’t as handsome as I’d once thought he was. He wasn’t as big or strong or intimidating either. You know, if it wasn’t for the gun.
I guess that was a perk to being around these biker guys. The kind of men you knew could rip you limb from limb when you caught sight of them from across the street.
If you stood a Raúl next to a Cary or a Dezi or a Voss, or any of the others I’d seen, and you were asked who would win in a fight, you wouldn’t even hesitate in picking any of them over him.
I guess when stripped of his fortress and his crew of bodyguards that were willing to do his bidding at any time, he was just an average man.
“You think you can leave me?” he hissed, and I wasn’t so immune to him that the coldness in his voice didn’t send a shiver through my system.
But I didn’t shrink.
The me I’d been just a few weeks ago, she would have curled into herself at the sound of his voice when he was angry.
This me, though, she just felt the shiver and lifted her chin in defiance.
“I did leave you,” I said, proud that my voice didn’t sound shaky.
I didn’t want to talk to him, but I had a feeling that I needed to bide my time, to have a chance of Cary coming back before anything terrible happened.
“Where did that mouth come from?” he hissed. “I thought I beat that out of you.”
“You thought a lot of things about me that were wrong,” I told him, digging my fingernails into my palms because the pain seemed to distract me enough to keep me from freaking out.
“You always believed you had a lot more power than you did. Did you get the gift I sent to you?” I asked, even though my stomach turned over at the memory of actually killing someone.
Raúl’s face went red at that, at realizing he didn’t have the power over me that he used to.
The hand holding the gun was shaking in his fury as he took a step forward.
“A minor inconvenience,” he insisted, trying to calm himself down, wanting to come across as cool and collected, but I knew him too well at this point. I could see right through him. “It has not stopped me,” he added.
“How did you get in here?” I asked.
“You mean because of those dirty bikers stationed here to look for me?” he scoffed. “You’d be amazed how easy it is to sneak in the employee entrance. And to charm some information out of the maids, even sneak one of their room cards off their carts. You thought you’d be safe here. But there is nowhere in the world you can be safe from me.
“I wanted to bring you home,” he went on. “I wanted a few weeks to punish you for what you’ve done to me,” he said, taking another step forward. “To make an example of you to my men. I don’t think I will have enough time for that, regrettably,” he said, inching closer still, and his arm holding the gun had gotten a lot more steady, a lot less likely to miss if he decided to take a shot. “I’m afraid I will just have to kill you here. Maybe I will take a souvenir back home to show my people.”
“You always did like the sound of your own voice,” I said, mainly to enrage him, to distract him, because he’d somehow managed to miss the beep of the door lock disengaging, but I didn’t want him to hear the handle turning.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Raúl snapped, taking a threatening step forward, face and neck going red again. “You stupid fucking bitch, I—“
“Care to call me a stupid fucking bitch too?” Hope asked, pressing the muzzle of her gun into the back of Raúl’s head.
Hope.
How was it Hope?
I hadn’t seen her since the night the princesses had hung out with me at the apartment.
“Or are you not feeling so tough now that you’re not the only one with a gun?” she asked, and I maybe had a little girl crush on her right then. She was so cool, calm, collected, and badass.
“You could try,” she said when Raúl’s hand slipped to the trigger. “But you will miss. And I sure as shit won’t.”
“You won’t shoot me,” Raúl said, but he didn’t sound as confident as he usually did.
“Oh, you have no idea what I am willing to do right now,” Hope said, though it was clear to me she was stalling for time. Why, I didn’t know. She had the upper hand. But maybe she just wasn’t willing to kill someone? I had no idea. “I’m pretty sick of your entire fucking gender right now and I’m three hours late on my Midol, so you could say I’m feeling pretty fucking murderous. Alas,” she said, clearly hearing something that I couldn’t as she suddenly moved to the side as Cary charged into the room with Dezi.
The latter rushed forward to grab Raúl’s wrist, twisting it savagely. Even across the room, I could hear the crunch of bones breaking as he grabbed Raúl’s gun just before Cary grabbed a hold of Raúl and shoved him into the bathroom.
Dezi slammed the door shut, but kept himself on the bedroom side of it, acting as a sentry, as if one of us might try to rush in there.
“Took you long enough,” Hope grumbled, waving her gun at Dezi. “I didn’t have a silencer,” she explained.
That was why she hadn’t just handled it herself. Not because she had any actual reservations about doing it. She just didn’t want to create a panic among the other hotel guests, and possibly get herself caught.
“You okay?” Hope asked, moving over toward me with her cool, confident, unaffected gate. Like she wasn’t hearing the slamming noises I was hearing coming from the bathroom.
“I… ah… yes. Cary—“
“Can handle himself,” Hope said, shrugging.
“How did you…”
“I’m still on suspension,” she explained, rolling her eyes. “And I’m going a little fucking stir crazy. So I decided to think of your situation as a case. I had a hunch that he maybe never left.”
“You should—“ I started.
“I did. I did tell everyone.”
But they hadn’t told me.
I knew I had every right to feel angry about that. But I also knew that Cary had been doing everything in his power to protect me. Which, in his mind, meant keeping me from getting stressed out about the possibility of Raúl still being in the country.
“But they were hearing some chatter about him in Mexico. It just didn’t sit right with me. So I have just been keeping an eye. I’ve never seen the schmuck before, but when I saw that guy charming the maids and stealing the key, I had a hunch. I only took so long because I was having trouble getting my own damn key.”
“Thank you, Hope.”
“Psh,” she said, waving a hand. “I should be thanking you. It’s the first time in weeks that I’ve felt like myself. I hate not working.”
There was a low knock, making me turn to find Dezi tapping on the bathroom door, then opening it up, handing Raúl’s gun to, I imagined, Cary.
Then there was a distinctive pew pew pew sound that must have been the silenced gun, before there was complete silence.
“You and me,” Hope said, charging across the room, grabbing Dezi, and dragging him out into the hall, where I could hear her yelling at him like they were a couple having an argument. “You’re always so fucking drunk!” she hollered. “Stumbling all around. Breaking shit. There are other people staying in this hotel, you fuckhead. You’re disturbing the peace. I’m so done with you.”
“Aw, baby,” Dezi slurred. “I love you.”
“You don’t love anyone but yourself,” Hope insisted.
“Where are you going?” Dezi asked.
“To the front desk to apologize for you fucking up the room, asshole. As usual, cleaning up your damn mess!”
God, these people were too freaking cool.
I mean, I was trying to wrap my head around what was going on. Meanwhile Hope and Dezi were creating a cover story for the noises Cary and Raúl had been making in the bathroom, so no one would call the front desk or the police.
On oddly numb legs, I moved across the room, going to the bathroom door, and tapping gently on it the same way Dezi had a
moment ago.
“Cary?” I called.
“Baby, you need to go,” Cary said back, a little winded. “It’s safe. Go down to the lobby. Voss will take you back to the clubhouse.”
“No.”
“Abigail…”
I wasn’t sure I was fully prepared for whatever I was about to walk into. But I did know that I needed Cary to know that I was okay with whatever he’d needed to do.
He couldn’t hide that part of his life from me.
It was a part of him.
And if I wanted to be with him in a permanent way, I needed to show him that I could handle it.
Besides, who was I to judge?
I had a body on my conscience too.
Taking a deep breath and steeling my stomach as best I could, I pushed open the door.
Red was what I saw first.
Blood.
On the walls. On the floor. Across the toilet and the bath towels.
Second was the body of Raúl, his upper half inside the tub where his blood was steadily dripping down the drain from the hole in his head.
His eyes were open but lifeless.
There was blood coming from his nose and his mouth and one of his eyes was almost completely red.
I knew what I was supposed to feel.
Shock.
Revulsion.
But the overwhelming sensation that flooded my body was relief. Peace, even.
Because it was over.
Raúl could never come for me again.
I would never have to look over my shoulder anymore.
I was free.
I could live without fear.
I could build a future.
With Cary.
“Love, don’t look,” Cary begged, drawing my attention over to the other side of the bathroom. Where he was leaning against the sink vanity, blood splattered across his shirt, his neck, his face, and even flecked in his salt and pepper hair.
His lip was split and his knuckles were broken open, but otherwise, he seemed to be the one doing most of the damage, not receiving it.
Taking a deep breath, smelling the metallic tang of the blood all around, I moved toward him, reaching out to place my hands on his elbows as I gazed up at him.
“Thank you,” I said, offering him a soft smile.
“Anything for you, love,” he said. “I’m just sorry I—“
I didn’t let him finish that.
I didn’t want his apology.
“I’m finally free,” I said. “We’re free,” I added.
“Almost,” he agreed, nodding.
“Almost?”
Just as he was about to explain, the room door opened again, and a second later, Voss was walking into the bathroom with a backpack in his hand. His gaze moved around the room until he settled on Raúl’s body.
Then he nodded before walking in that direction, reaching inside his backpack to pull out gloves that he slipped on while we stood there in silence and watched. Next out came a giant black bag that he shook open, then started to slide up Raúl’s legs.
“Love, I need you to carefully walk back to the doorway, slip out of your socks, and then step back into the room, okay?” Cary asked, nudging me when I kept watching Voss load Raúl into a garbage bag. “Abigail?”
“Okay,” I agreed, sensing this was important. I mean, if they didn’t clean up the scene properly, there was a chance we could all go to jail, right? I had to do what he said. “Now what?” I asked when I was in the room without my socks.
“Did you get anything on your hands?”
“No.”
“Okay. Then I need you to start packing everything up.”
“I can do that,” I agreed, glad to have something to focus on.
It wasn’t long before Dezi came back.
He went right to work scrubbing down the room itself with a pack of bleach wipes he pulled out of his back pocket.
“Isn’t Cary’s name on the room?” I asked, not understanding why he was wiping everything like the actual room wouldn’t trace right back to us.
“Nah. Different ID,” he said, scrubbing away at the walls, the nightstands, the light switches.
“Come on,” Hope said, stopping in the doorway. “I’ll take you out of here so you don’t touch anything by accident. Is that good with you?” she called toward the bathroom.
“I appreciate it,” Cary called back. “It’s okay. Go with her. We are going to be a while.”
“Okay,” I agreed, nodding, handing half the bags to Hope, and taking the rest with me.
“You alright?” she asked as we got in the elevator.
“I, ah, I think I’m a little numb right now actually.”
“Good.”
“What?”
“I mean, not good-good, but you know, good for me. Big, over-the-top emotional displays… that’s not for me. I’m not good with that.”
“I’m not going to get over-the-top,” I promised her. “Where are we going?” I asked as we walked through the lobby and out to the lot.
“Wherever you want, babe. You’re officially a free woman.”
In that case, I knew where I wanted to go.
“I want to go to the apartment then.”
“You sure? You don’t have bad memories there?”
“I have more good ones than bad,” I said, shrugging. “What?” I asked when I caught her sending me a sideways look.
“Um. Well… let’s just see the place first, okay?” she asked, stubbornly keeping her gaze out the windshield so I couldn’t try to read her.
It wasn’t a long ride anyway.
And before I knew it, we were pulling up front.
“Um… what’s going on?” I asked.
“That’s Andres and his crew,” Hope said, nodding.
“Okay. But why are they at my apartment? Does Cary know about this?” I asked, tensing.
“He does. Look, I don’t know how much of this I am supposed to tell you. So the gist of it is that the last time A was at your apartment, he sort of made a mess. He told Cary he would clean it up. And I guess he’s not done yet.”
“But it’s been days,” I insisted as Hope promptly ignored me and jumped out of the car.
Deciding I had no choice but to follow her lead, I climbed out a bit less enthusiastically, not exactly thrilled about my apartment being filled with men that I hadn’t approved of.
“Oh, shit,” Hope said, having reached the top of the stairs before me, and moving inside the apartment.
I didn’t quite know Hope well enough to tell if that was a good “oh, shit” or a bad one.
Taking a steadying breath, not sure how much more surprise my system could handle, I moved in through the doorway.
To a completely different apartment.
“Oh, my God,” I hissed, looking around.
The board and batten that I’d put up with help from the others had been pulled down and replaced with a slightly higher version and painted so perfectly that it had to have been done with a spray gun, not brushes and rollers like I’d done.
The kitchen had been, well, gutted.
And in its place was the dream kitchen I’d pinned images of.
Even the floor looked different. Like it had been sanded and refinished.
I couldn’t be sure, but the windows seemed replaced.
“Hey, lil’ mama. Ruined my surprise showing up like this,” A said, coming out from the bathroom that, I suspected, looked nothing like the one I’d left behind.
“What… why…”
“Biker boy didn’t tell you?” A asked, brows pinching before he promptly shrugged it right off. “Seems it was my fault that ex-hole of yours found you. I handled that situation. But it felt like I owed you. Besides, when that man of yours handles that situation, I’m gonna be doubling my profits,” he said, shrugging. “Figured dropping some fixing this place up would be good for my karma,” he informed me.
“I… I don’t know what to say,” I admitted, shaking my head.
>
I needed to sit down.
It felt like someone had just grabbed a hold of the world and given it a good shake.
“She’s had a day,” Hope said, giving A a look that he seemed to have no problem interpreting.
“Know what always helps a day?” A asked as I went ahead and sank down on my couch. That, at least, was the same one I’d ordered, but hadn’t arrived before I’d been taken.
My hands roamed over the fabric, and I found the motion grounding despite the world still spinning.
“What is it with you guys?” Hope scoffed.
I didn’t bother turning around, because not ten seconds later, Andres was moving in front of me holding a little black, square-headed pitbull puppy. With one blue eye.
“You can say no,” Hope insisted, moving in at my side. “I don’t know what it is about the men in this town. An animal is a huge commitment. It’s not a gift.”
“She’s just mad I didn’t bring her one, yeah?” A said, smirking at me as he dropped the puppy onto my lap.
I’d never had a dog.
My parents had considered them pointless.
And Raúl didn’t want me to have any soft, happy spot in my entire freaking life.
So, really, I’d never much considered having a pet for myself.
Sure, I liked dogs and cats and everything else as an abstract, but I’d never factored one into my life.
That said, the second the puppy climbed up my chest to plant frantic kisses across my face, I was a goner.
I didn’t even consider consulting Cary about it.
This was my dog, case closed.
“Is it a boy or a girl?”
“Boy. He has a solid daddy, too. Good guard dog. Listens. Good instincts. If you were mine, I’d want you to have a dog like this,” he added, shrugging.
“A gun is a great protection too. And less slobbery,” Hope insisted.
“Don’t know what you’re doing with your gun, mama, but that thing isn’t gonna keep you warm at night.”
The two of them bickered in a weird, cold, indifferent, snippy way for the next five minutes before Hope demanded A and his guys get going so I could relax after a long day.
I didn’t feel tired, though.
If anything, I felt oddly wired.
“You need to get him food and bowls and stuff,” Hope said. “Andi would have my head if I didn’t remind you of that.”
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