DIrty Dark Deceit: A Criminal Bad Boy Standalone

by Lacey Alpha

  “No,” she says through pursed lips. “Take me home with you.”

  I sigh, raising my eyes to the sky, my heart cleaving apart from all the pressure resting on it. “Come on. Don't make me drag you.”

  Tears slide down her cheeks as she silently unclips her belt and steps out of the car. And then I do the most painful thing I've ever done. I walk around the car, drop into the driver's seat and leave her there on the pathway outside her house.

  Don't look back. Don't look back. Don't look back.

  Anger floods out of me. I thump everything I can with my fist: the wheel, the dashboard, the gearbox.

  Than I snatch my phone, calling my contact and making arrangements to sell the car. He wants in, of course. I knew this part would be easy. It takes all of about twenty minutes for him to set up a drop-off point for me. And when it's done and dusted, a shitload of cash will be deposited into an offshore bank account. I already moved every Heathcote penny into it before this job went down.

  After the trade is done, I head home. Taking the tube, glaring at every motherfucker that dares to look at me.

  When I arrive back at the mansion, it doesn't look like home. It looks like a monster I created. And in a way, I did. I built these walls, contracted a company to bring Adam's dream house to life. Every inch of it is for him. Not for me. That's what life is now. A penance to him. And waiting for something that may never happen. Keeping the place spotless, ready for him to walk in the door with that shit-eating grin on his face.

  When I arrive at the metallic front door -arched at the top just how he designed it- I punch the fuck out of it until my knuckles bleed and crack.

  The door swings open and my heart stops.

  “Now, now, Mr Chase, there's a perfectly good doorbell right here.” Heathcote points with the butt of his shining handgun. But I don't look. I gaze at him, knowing I'm fucked. That I deserve to be fucked. And all I can think is thank fuck I set up the payments to the hospital indefinitely. Because I don't think I'm gonna be around much longer to transfer them myself.

  “In,” Heathcote snarls, his eyes dead and cold. Just like I'm gonna be in two seconds time.

  I march into the house, grinding my teeth. Heathcote's men line my house. I count six of the fuckers, their faces covered in ski masks. The further I walk, the more I see of the place. It's destroyed. Every picture, every ornament, every chair, table, curtain, ravaged, torn, devastated. The house I built for Adam has been gutted like a fish. And all I can do is look on in silence.

  Heathcote gestures for me to sit on the sofa in my lounge, the seat torn and the stuffing hanging out of it. The one I shared a bottle of wine with Darcy on over a week ago. It feels like months, years even. It barely feels like the same room from the broken glass and upturned chairs.

  The tallest, broadest one of his men, tugs his mask off and I'm reunited with the gorilla that floored me because of Darcy's watermelon.

  “How's the jaw?” he asks, chuckling.

  I rub it with the memory, grimacing. “About as good as yours is gonna feel when I get my hands on you.”

  “You've got a lot of confidence for someone with no weapon and surrounded by my men.” Heathcote stands before me, smoothing his hair back which is slicked into a topknot. Prick.

  He rests his hands on his thighs, leaning down so we're nose to nose. “It took me a while to place you, fucker. But you made a bad move showing your face to me in front of that little slut. I hope you paid the whore well, Chase.”

  I dip my chin, giving nothing away about Darcy. Gotta hope he doesn't find her. There's a good chance he won't. How could he?

  “Got nothing to say for yourself, huh?” Heathcote folds his arms, the handgun tucked into his armpit. “Interesting stance, considering I'm about to shoot that pretty face of yours.”

  “Go right ahead. I was thinking about getting a face lift anyway,” I muse, not giving him the satisfaction of fear. If he was going to kill me, he would have done it by now. So that means he wants something, namely the car.

  “Where's the P1?” he confirms my suspicions.

  “Long gone. Sorry, bro, shit happens.” I look him in the eye, the man who's fucked with my life more than once. I know what he's capable of, but he sees what I'm capable of now too. And he's not going to underestimate me this time.

  Heathcote swings the gun around to point at my knee. “One more try. Then you can say bye bye to kneecap number one.”

  I grunt, shifting my knee so it butts into the gun. “Could be half way to Rome by now, for all I know. Not my problem anymore.”

  Heathcote stands back, retracting the gun from my knee. “I thought you'd say that. And, seeing as you don't seem to give a fuck about me tearing you limb from limb, I brought someone along who I suspect you do care about.”

  He snaps his fingers and my head jolts up to find two of his men escorting Darcy into the room, a gag in her mouth and her face bloody with bruises.

  Pure, hot rage engulfs me and I launch forward. The gorilla and one of his friends grab me, shoving me back down into my seat and keeping their hands on my shoulders.

  Fuck!

  Darcy doesn't shake as they walk her to the coffee table behind Heatcote and wordlessly lay her down.

  “So here's how this is gonna go.” Heathcote strolls around to Darcy, his eyes remaining on me as he takes hold of his belt. “I'm going to take the fuck your girlfriend owes me after all her prick teasing and then I'm gonna let every man in this room ride her ass until she's bloody.”

  His men chuckle darkly, shuffling keenly from foot to foot.

  I grind my teeth, trying to figure out what to do. What do I fucking do?!

  “Unless...you've got something to say, hm?” Heathcote unbuckles his belt and four men pin Darcy down, two on her wrists, two on her ankles. She screams against her gag, writhing wildly as Heathcote moves between her spread legs.

  “Don't you fucking touch her,” I snarl, my mind on overdrive, my pulse pounding in my ears.

  How the fuck do I get out of this?

  “The car's gone. I sold it. The deal's already been made. I dropped it off in Hackney,” I spill, not giving a shit about anything but her.

  A dark, writhing monster takes up residence in my body. If they hurt her, I won't stop until every fucker in this room is dead.

  Gorilla looks down at me with a smirk. First one to die, I mentally decide.

  “Who did you sell it to?” Heathcote asks, lazily rolling down his zipper.

  I squeeze my eyes shut for half a second, unable to bear what I'm seeing before me. My girl. My Darcy being held down for this toxic prick to fuck.

  The worst thing in my life is about to ruin the best thing.

  And I can't let it fucking happen.

  “A guy who works your turf. Some prick named Ice,” I reveal, not really giving a fuck about giving him up. He told me himself he'd be letting Heathcote know who'd got one over on him. So privacy wasn't in his interest.

  “Course,” Heathcote mutters, reaching into his boxers, placing the gun down beside Darcy's leg.

  Bad move, motherfucker. Five seconds and they're all dead.

  She squirms, trying to worm free as Heathcote reaches between her thighs. The second his fingers disappear up her skirt, all eyes are pinned on him. Not the gun, not me. Him.

  And that's my moment.

  I lunge for the gun, slamming the butt into Heathcote's face before spinning it and shooting Gorilla straight in the chest.

  Other guns are drawn but too slowly for me. Six rounds. Six fuckers.

  Bang.

  Bang.

  Bang.

  Bang.

  Bang.

  They all fall flat. All but Heathcote who backs away, tucking his dick back into his boxers. It's a blood bath, brains and guts everywhere, spread around me, splashed across Darcy. My skin is peppered with warm drops and it feels like fucking victory.

  I chuck the empty gun aside, lunging at Heathcote and grabbing him by the collar. Pu
lling him within an inch of my face, I breathe in his expensive cologne. “This is for my brother.” I wrap my hands around his neck, squeezing.

  “Adam. Chase.”

  I squeeze harder, hearing something crack. He turns blue, his hands clawing and pushing me but I feel nothing. A void grows inside me, dangerously empty. Guess you don't know if you can kill until it comes down to it. And it came down to it, alright.

  He turns bright red, then purple, veins popping in his head.

  Spit foams at his mouth.

  “And this is for what you were gonna do to my girl,” I growl, pressing my nose to his so I can look right into his eyes. I'm all he can see. Welcome to death, motherfucker.

  He goes blue, his eyes rolling back, a warmth spreading down my legs as he pisses himself.

  I chuck him to the floor, my hands cramped and bright red from the effort it took to squeeze the life from someone.

  I'm surrounded by death. And it clings to me.

  There's no coming back from this one.

  I'm as bad as they come now. The disappointment my mother predicted, times a thousand. When push came to shove, this is what I turned out to be. A cold-blooded killer.

  My body trembles. Adrenaline or fear, I'm not sure which.

  I turn to Darcy who's sitting up on the table, her knees hugged to her chest, the gag dangling loosely around her neck.

  An achingly long minute hangs between us where we stare at each other and her judgement is formed.

  She clambers to her feet, approaching me warily. Yeah, I probably look like the grim reaper right now. I don't blame her for being cautious.

  When she's two feet away, she lunges at me, throwing her arms around my neck. I circle my hands around her waist in silence, breathing in the scent of her hair. It smells like home. A home I can't ever have. Because I just fucked every chance of a life we could have together.

  “It was self defence,” she breathes in my ear.

  But it didn't feel like self defence. In fact, it felt like something colder, something that took root in my body and grew for years, like tree roots curling around my insides.

  No, it didn't feel like self defence.

  It felt like revenge.

  DARCY

  When the weight of the last few days begins to lift, Logan starts to come out of himself. Since the incident at his house, he's been vacant. Going through the motions with the police. We gave our stories. Logan came up with the lie. Ralph and his men had broken into his house, attacked us for Logan's money.

  But the truth was, Ralph and his men had dragged me from the path outside my house, just two minutes after Logan had left me there. Turns out, Ralph had had people watching the hospital, hoping Logan would show his face. And instead of simply taking the car back, had sought his revenge on us. I guess that planned backfired...

  And luckily for us, Ralph Heathcote had been on the police's radar for a while. So they were more than happy to wrap the case up with a tidy bow. Didn't even ask too many questions, which Logan reckoned meant Ralph had probably done shit like this before. Only they didn't have enough to pin it on him until now. The weapons every one of the men had holstered and the chains and gags they'd found in their vans had given them all the evidence they needed. What Logan did was self defence. And no one said anything otherwise. Me included.

  Logan moved into my families' house, seeing as his place had been ripped to shreds by Ralph's men. And mum was more than happy to accommodate him. Despite the daily police calls and the fact Logan had barely spoken two words to her or Kelly since he'd arrived.

  But after I'd explained what had happened (the fake story, not the real one) she'd proceeded to mother him like she did me. Washing his clothes more than was necessary and running a tight ship as usual.

  I had to be the strong one. For both us. To make sure Logan found his way back to me. Because without him, life wasn't worth moving on for.

  I wake in my single bed with Logan's body tangled around mine. He kisses me for the first time since it happened, burying his head in my neck. I sigh my relief, stroking his hair, praying this means he's healing. That he's starting to move on from what happened. I was frightened of what he'd done at first, but the more I saw how broken he was, the more I loved him. The more I felt grateful to him for protecting me.

  Despite it not being pretty. Not being something I ever wanted to see, and still haunting me every night I went to sleep, I accepted it. And so long as I woke from the nightmares with him beside me, I felt safe. Because I knew he'd never let anything happen to me. I'd witnessed it first hand. And in the most violent way possible, he had pulled through for me when he could have laid down and let Ralph hurt me.

  Logan sits up in bed, revealing his hard shoulders and the V at the base of his spine, dipping into his boxers.

  “I love you,” I say, like I have every morning since it happened. It's easy now. After nearly losing everything, my walls are shattered, the gates wide open. Logan can come in, but if he wants to leave I'll deal with that.

  He still hasn't said it back and it only stings a little. This man has more weight on his shoulders than one person should ever have to carry alone. And if there isn't room in his heart for him to love me, then I can understand that.

  Wordlessly, he gets out of bed and dresses in jeans and a shirt.

  “I'm going out,” he mutters, not looking at me, heading from the room without a word.

  “Okay,” I whisper into the empty space, tears squeezing their way from my eyes.

  ¸.•*´♥`*•.¸

  A week passes and I hear nothing from Logan, despite trying to call him and driving to his house which was still locked up, covered in police tape. He'd disappeared without a trace and I was starting to feel like I'd never see him again.

  On the eighth day, the sting grew sharper when nearly half a million pounds appeared in my bank account. My payment. What we'd agreed on all those days ago.

  But I didn't want it. All I felt was betrayal as I gazed at my bank statement, my heart tearing in two. It was the final sign. He wasn't coming back.

  I sit in the kitchen, gazing at my half drunk cup of tea whilst Kelly curses Logan to high heaven. The girl has the mouth of a sailor. I have no idea where she learnt it.

  “We weren't a couple, Kel,” I say for the hundredth time.

  She takes bread from the cupboard and cheese from the fridge, starting to make me a sandwich. I know it's for me because she used to make me one every time I came home crying about Daniel. The difference is, I'm not crying about Logan. Because there aren't any tears left to cry, just a hole growing and growing inside my chest where my heart used to be.

  “You get held up at gun point by some lunatic and afterwards Logan just takes off? Who does he think he is? It didn't just happen to him. Selfish bloody stupid, dumbass-”

  “Stop. Please,” I beg, dropping my head into my hands. “It's not his fault.”

  “Why are you defending him?” She plants the sandwich in front of me, huffing a breath.

  “Because he has a lot going on in his life. He probably just wanted to save me from it.” Because that's who Logan is, I now knew. Someone who sacrificed everything for the people he cared about. Like his brother. And as much as I struggled to accept it, I was sure this was Logan's way of saying he cares about me. Keeping his distance and sending me money. Probably the same thing he did for his mother, too. Maybe even that Kira girl as well.

  Kelly sighs, dropping into a seat opposite me. “Can I say something?”

  I shrug.

  “Logan's a dick. But...I dunno, maybe it's a good thing this happened.”

  I glance up, my brows lifting. “Why?”

  She touches my hand. “Don't take this the wrong way but...he kind of made you you again.” She gives me a slanted smile. “You let someone in, Darce. And that's a big deal. Even if he did stomp on your heart.”

  I nod slowly, a sigh rattling out of my lungs. I couldn't tell Kelly the truth, that Logan was dealing with s
o much more than just what had happened with Ralph. It wasn't my place.

  The fact Logan wouldn't let me stand by his side now, was devastating. Ralph was gone, the threat was dead. So why couldn't we be together? Maybe he was cutting me like the umbilical cord to his criminal life. In case the police came asking questions again. Maybe he'd left the country and was lying on a pile of money somewhere with a hot girl riding him. Maybe I really had just been a device in his plan, and now it was over he didn't need me anymore.

  Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

  The worst part was the not knowing. The least I deserved was an explanation.

  And perhaps that's why, two days later, I find myself in the private hospital where Logan's brother is.

  I head upstairs to his room; the receptionist apparently remembered me from the other day. Though it felt like a lifetime ago.

  I step into the room, suddenly feeling like I shouldn't be there. But I'd come this far.

  Perhaps it's because I crave the connection to Logan, I don't know, but as I sit by Adam's bed, I begin to relax.

  “Hey Adam.” I clear my throat, feeling a little awkward. What the hell am I doing? Am I really so smitten with Logan that I'm stalking his poor brother now?

  I rest a hand on his wrist, feeling the steady beat of his pulse which sounds around me from his heart monitor. “I dunno if you can hear me...” I shake my head at myself, tears burning my eyes. “But I thought I'd come here and introduce myself properly. I'm sorry about last time. I guess your family have some issues between them. But I'm sure it's because they love you.”

  I choke on a sob, unsure why I'm saying all this but needing to talk to someone that understands. Someone that loves Logan as much as I do. “Anyway, I'm Darcy. Logan's...well, I'm not sure what I am to him. But he's very special to me. In fact, I...well, I love him.” A manic laugh rolls out of my throat.

  I gaze at Adam's face, his jaw just starting to grow a line of stubble. I wonder who shaves him, but I'm sure it's one of the people that love him. Six years they've kept him like this, like he's just about to wake up. It must be torture to see him this way. I imagine Kelly lying here and it twists my heart, forcing out another sob. “Oh Adam, I really hope you wake up soon. Your family needs you. They miss you. And I'd really like to get to know you. I bet we'd get along.”