by Pavan Kaur
I open my eyes and glare at them both. "Just fuck each other and get it over with. And Katie, the next time I see you here when he's here, you might have to find a new job."
“Sorry, Mr. Masters. I’ve been sent this email and the subject says it should only be opened by Hope.”
“Forward it over to me.” I wave my hand letting her know that she can leave.
Jackson walks around to my side of the desk. “First, I’ll fuck her just to piss you off and second Jack’s watching us.”
I grin at the fucker. "First, I'm impressed that you haven't fucked her already and second why do you think Hope is here? I knew he would be watching." I tell him. I thought that Jack had eyes on me last night at the park; I kept getting the feeling that someone was watching me. In my head, I kept thinking it was Hope, but my gut was telling me it was him.
“Hope, you want to read this?”
“No.” I didn’t think she would, but I wanted to give her the option.
Opening the email, as Jackson stands beside me, I read the email aloud.
You know where to find me; I told you things about me. The night we spoke after I taught you, we had a little chat. Think back to a time I mentioned New York and think back to what I was doing to you then. Think about how I made you feel that day, and you'll know where to find me.
Love Uncle Jack.
I look over at Hope who’s still reading the file, but I also know that she listened to everything I just said. So now she’ll be thinking back to all the times he abused her so that she can remember the time he mentioned it.
Chapter 29
Hope
His hands are moving over my body, it’s like a needle piercing me over and over again. Closing my eyes, I let the tears escape me.
“Your skin feels better each time,” Uncle Jack tells me as his tongue moves around my ear. “I’m never going to forget you, and you will never forget me.”
He climbs off me, his hand still on my stomach, to make sure that I can still feel him. The voice inside my head is laughing. Does he really think I will ever forget his touch? No matter how many people touch me after this, his touch will always be the one I remember.
“I’m going to do so much to you one day, there is this place in New York; the museum of sex. I haven’t been there, but I’ve heard a few things about that place.” Uncle Jack sits up, bringing his leg around me.
There is nothing that I hate more than this, he always goes too far, I choke too much, and it hurts.
“Hey,” I jump at the touch on my leg, “Hope?”
I look up and around the room realizing I'm still back at home, safe. I then turn to Leo. "Sorry," I say with a shaky voice, and I start looking at the file again.
The moment Leo read out the email so many thoughts have been running through my mind. So many nights, so many words. At the moment, my head has so many awful memories churning around and all I want to do is hide in a dark place.
Jackson told Leo to use me as bait and I agreed. The quickest way to finish this is to give me to him. I trust Leo so much that I know he would never let Uncle Jack take me, never. This can all be ended today if Leo just agrees.
The thought of being near that evil man again makes my body shiver in horror, but I do feel this is the best way. I trust Leo with my life and I know he will make sure I'm safe. I know he doesn't want to do it this way and I’m going to back him in whatever he chooses. So, if he feels he can find him, kill him and save himself from going to prison, then I trust him with that too.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, just reading this, that’s all.” I know what game Jack is playing and if he gets the upper hand he’ll kill Leo before he can say a word to him.
“How about we stop lying and you tell me what’s going through your head.”
All day I've kept to myself. I've let them talk about how to find Uncle Jack, looking at every hotel and I've heard Jackson tell Leo a few times to just ask me.
“You need to go to the sex museum,” I blurt out. I glance over as Jackson starts typing and I look back at Leo and shake my head to let him know I don’t want to talk about it further. I don’t want to tell Leo things that he doesn’t need to know.
“It closes in two hours,” Jackson confirms.
“I’ll make dinner, so you two can eat before you go.” I get up and let them talk.
I have a feeling that this is going to be a bad meet up. Uncle Jack is playing a game with them for running away and he’s using me as a pawn. He’s killing two birds with one stone.
Leo comes over and stands next to me in the kitchen. "I've called John to sit outside the house to make sure that everything is safe here. Want to talk about it?"
“No.” He knows just as well as I do the things that Uncle Jack does, so what good would it do to talk about it?
Placing his hand on mine, he pulls me closer. I stand in front of him and he puts his hands on my hips. “This time next week, all this will be put behind us and we can move on.” Bringing his face down, his lips brush mine, “And I can see these lips smile again.” He looks over at the ingredients that I’ve taken out. “Hey, Jackson and I will get some food when we go out. I told John to get you something.”
I lean into him and think about how it will be in a week when this is all over. How will our life be? "Are you going now?"
“Yeah, if I go now, then I can be back to spend some of my evening with you.” He wraps his arms around me as he kisses me again. “Always smile, please.”
“I’ll try.”
“That’s all I ask.” I see Jackson walking towards the door. “Hi John, thanks. We won’t be long.” The door closes and I look back at Leo. “Don’t worry. We’ll be back before you know it.” Leo gives me a reassuring smile. I take the food from Jackson.
“Hey beautiful, we’re going to end this I promise and then we’re going to do something fun, like ice skating once the rink is set up.”
Leo starts laughing. “When have we ever been skating? No, when have we ever done anything fun? We work and then come here to watch sports.”
Jacksons shrugs. “Well, maybe it’s time to live a little.”
“I think we live enough and I looked at the house magazine that Hope’s been reading, I think my house is about to get a full makeover so we might be moving in with you soon.” Leo looks over at me and smiles. I don’t think that I’ve folded that many pages, but I do have a lot of ideas.
“Um, not sure that will work.”
"Sorry, will it get in the way of your sex life?" Leo asks and I start laughing, not loud but it's enough to make Leo look at me in surprise. "Now that's a sound I'm going to enjoy listening to."
“Yes, it will,” Jackson tells him, these two really are like brothers. I think I’d probably fight like this with my brother, not about his sex life, but other little things.
“Well, you’re going to have to zip it up for a while, but don’t worry you’ll have time. I need to get some quotes for how much it will cost and get this one to tell me what she wants done to the place.”
“Give me some notice, now let’s go.”
“I’ll see you later. Someone needs to get back in time for his hot date.” Leo starts laughing, as he kisses me before they leave. I stare into nothing, thinking about how calm Leo is being. I know that he has killed a lot of people before, but tomorrow he is about to finish what he started, finally killing the man that made his life hell.
Now, I wait until he gets back. To find out what Jack had planned for them today. He’s going to play a game that only he will enjoy. I just hope that Leo and Jackson are ready for it.
Chapter 30
Leo
Hope laughed, and it was like music; I do enjoy the days when she laughs. I can see her really coming out of the darkness even though it keeps trying to pull her back. Once Jack is dead, she'll be able to smile freely, and I'm going to be there for the whole time. I'm going to watch her every second of every day and love it.
“What do you t
hink Jack’s game is?” Jackson asks.
“Fuck knows, but he knows that Hope is with us, so he’s going to play more fucked up games than before.” My body fills with excitement just thinking about putting a bullet between his eyes.
“You do know that we can finish this if—”
“We are not using Hope. I can’t lose her.” I know that Jackson and Hope agree to this and I know what they’re saying is right. Yes, we can end it all now by using her but I just can’t risk it. Jack always seems to be five steps ahead of us and if we use Hope he could take her and I’ll lose her forever.
“You won’t. Leo, I won't let anything happen to her either. Before we put Hope in any danger, I promise that we’ll have a plan A, a plan B and a plan C. Nothing will happen to her.”
I know that Jackson means it, but I can’t, I just can’t do it. Just the thought of him looking at her again makes me sick, never mind him touching her.
“Let’s just see what happens here first.” Maybe they are both right, Jack is five moves ahead of us and using Hope will give us the upper hand; maybe we need to be a step ahead of him. I’m fighting with myself over this now, am I really thinking about it?
"Fine." Jackson's single word speaks more than anyone else would think. I still remember the day that Jackson was taken and thrown back into our room, the tears told me so much more than words could because of just the day before or week before that had been me. No matter how much I tried to save him, some days I was too tired and when I asked anything, the only answer I got was fine. Fine was the word he would use when he didn't want to talk about it anymore because no matter what he would say nothing would change.
“Three days, if nothing in three days, we’ll do it your way.”
Jackson parks the car. “I won’t let him win. I know how much Hope means to you and I will protect her the same way you protected me." He gets out of the car, and I watch him walking toward the museum.
I follow him. “So what, we wait here, go inside?” Looking around the street to see if I can see anyone, I wait for Jackson to answer my question.
“Well, out here seems dead so let’s see what’s in there.”
“Like you haven’t been here before.”
"I haven't if you must know." Jackson opens the door for me, and I give him a look. "I swear I haven't and looking around I don't think I will either."
Looking around, I think that this doesn't really seem like a place either one of us would ever step foot in and some of the things on display are things we know very well how that shit feels.
“So, what are we looking for?” Jackson asks as we walk around.
“I suppose we’ll know as soon as we see it.” I peer at the statues with disgust. Is this really what people like looking at?
"Found it." I turn around to see where Jackson is, and I walk over to the wall of what these people think is art.
I look at the three images, printed on A4 paper and stuck in a row. Anger bubbles up from deep inside me, and my body shakes with rage. I thought I wanted to kill him before, but now I want to make sure that I get a few more bullets in him now before he's completely dead. Hope can only be sixteen in these pictures. I'm filled with rage as I see how he has Hope placed on the bed. No wonder she prefers to sleep on the floor after what he put her through. I'm going to enjoy killing that bastard.
“Leo, there’s a note.” I rip the pictures from the wall and walk over to Jackson to read the note.
She was the purest of them all, they all wanted her, but I will always be the one that got her first.
I clench my jaw as I rip the note into tiny pieces. “He’s playing games with us, getting in our heads,” I growl.
“And he’s doing a fucking good job.” We walk around to make sure that there’s nothing else here, no more pictures of Hope, or letters for us to read. I storm over to the guy behind the front desk. “Who put these pictures up?” I ask, slamming the pictures on the desk.
He shrugs. “I-I don’t know, never seen them before, but—”
“Think fucking twice before you say your next words because I may rearrange your fucking face.” I cut him off. Just seeing him looking at the pictures makes me want to punch him.
“When were they put up?”
He's clearly intimidated by me as he twiddles his fingers. "W-well I did a walk around thirty minutes ago, and they weren't anywhere then."
“They were here waiting for us to come. That bastard is playing a fucked up game,” I shout in anger. I need to punch something or someone right now.
“Come on.” Jackson pulls me around from the desk and out of the museum. When he lets me go, I punch the lamp post. Yes, that fucking hurt, but I punch it again. “You’re no good if you break your hand.”
“How is the fucker in the same state and we still can’t find him?” I turn around and see a man standing a few steps away from us and I nod towards him so that Jackson will look at him.
“Can we help you?”
“Are you Leo Masters?”
"Yes," I reply. He silently holds an envelope toward me. I take it and rip it open before reading aloud, "You have four days to find me, and then I'll be gone and so will Hope." I pass the paper to Jackson so that he can look at it as we walk back to the car.
“Might want to give Hope some self-defense lessons and looks like she’s going to be in your office a lot more this week too.”
“She’s not leaving my sight and seriously? Self-defense lessons? Have you just met Hope?” I climb into the car. It’s not a bad idea, giving her tips on how to hit back might be a good thing.
“I’ll teach her,” Jackson says as he starts the car. “Just little things; where to punch them, or how to get out of a hold.”
I rub my face; frustration and exhaustion are fighting for my attention. “Sure, I’ll let her know and see what she says.”
Looking at the note again, I know I have to find him before he takes Hope. Not for one second do I think he won't try to take her. He's been looking for her for a year, and now he knows where she is.
“We’ll win this time.”
***
"Anything happens while we were gone?" I ask John when we arrive back home.
“Sir, this was left on the doorstep.” John hands me a small box. “Hope’s been upstairs since you left.” I look up to see which lights are on. It’s not the one in the front which means she’s in my room.
Jackson opens the box, as I look back at John. “Thank you for doing this, John. Go home now and get some rest. See you in the morning.” He gives me a swift nod and heads out to the car. I turn my focus back to Jackson and the delivery. “What’s in the box?”
“Something you might not want to give Hope just yet.” He hands me the frame. It’s a picture of Hope with her family. “Are you going to tell her what we found?”
I blow the air from my lungs out through my puffed cheeks as I think about his question. “I don’t think she wants to know anything, she seems to shut down on me.” I put the frame back in the box. “You coming over in the morning?”
“No, but I’ll come over to the office once I’m out of court and I have to go see someone about Jack. I asked someone to look into some places for me.”
“See you tomorrow then.”
Making my way to my bedroom, I see Hope lying on the floor in front of the lit fire. She sits up as I make my way over to her. “Glad you like it in here.”
“It’s warm.”
“It’s warm in my bed too.” I sit on the floor as I take my jacket off and place it on the chair behind me. “Want to know what we found today?”
“No.”
I didn't think that she would but thought I should ask. "What have you been up to since I left?"
Her face lights up. “Folded a few more pages in my magazine.”
I have no idea what she wants to go to the place, but it's the first time she's been excited about something. "So, when do I find out what you're planning?"
"If you're not too ti
red, I can tell you now. Shall I make some hot chocolate and you can have a shower if you want." Hope looks up at me, and I smile. She has this beauty about her that will always knock me backward, and the funny thing is she's doesn't even see how beautiful she is.
“I’d love that.”
As Hope leaves the room, I put all the stuff from today away so she can’t see it. I feel bad not giving her the picture of her with her family, but I think if I give it to her today, she’ll only see it as a mind fuck from her uncle and that’s the last thing I want for her, especially when she’s in a good mood. I also want her to sleep without thinking about him.
A little later as I get out of the shower, I see that Hope has come back. Her back is toward me as she puts out her magazines.
I make my way over to her. “Hope, I want to look at this, but I want to say something first.” Grabbing a pillow for myself, I sit on the floor. “I know that you’re scared and I have to admit you’re staying calmer than I thought you would, but I’m scared holding it all in will bury you.”
She shakes her head and tries to smile. “I... I just don’t want to talk about it; I don’t want to think about him. For the first time since I’ve been running, I feel like I don’t have to anymore. For the first time, I feel like I can breathe and that’s because of you.”
Placing my hand on her cheek, I softly rub my thumb across her chin. I want to say it, I want to tell her that I'm in love with her, but I'm scared at the same time. "Right, shall we have a look at what we have to change?" I say, grabbing a magazine to have a look. Hope gets up and hands me my mug, and the sweet aroma of chocolate makes my mouth water. "Thanks."
I flick through the pages she has folded over. “You know with the amount of work, it looks like we might be at Jackson’s house for a while.” I start laughing, it seems like she wants to rip out the whole kitchen.
“I just think a new kitchen would be nice, with all the space you have, you can have a nice opened up room.”