by Aly Martinez
I laughed and kicked his cane, but he didn’t even stumble. “Shit. Between you and Liv skimming off the top, it’s a wonder I have any money at all.”
He started toward the living room. “Have you spoken to your accountant recently? You might not.”
Liv
“So then he dropped to a knee, and obviously, I said yes. I’m thinking a summer wedding. My mom is already chomping at the bit though. We’ll see if I can hold her off that long.” I lifted my phone to see that Don and I had been chatting for well over twenty minutes. “Shit! I need to get out of here.” I pushed to my feet.
Don stood with me. “Well, congrats. I’m glad to see he finally did it.”
I smirked. “Finally? We’ve only been together for a few months. This was fast.”
He sheepishly glanced down at the ground. “Right. Well. Since, it’s Christmas and all, I have a bit of a confession. When I first came in for my interview, I recognized you. I’m a huge boxing fan, and I’d seen you in pictures with him. Everyone thought you were his girlfriend. I forget sometimes that you two were just friends at first.”
My eyes went wide, but a laugh bubbled from my throat. “You rat! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
“Like you would have hired me if I’d spent the entire interview talking about boxing.”
“If you were signing, I doubt I would have cared. I was desperate. What else have you lied about? Do my cookies suck too?”
“Uh, no. But I will admit your brownies are better,” he teased.
I started collecting my phone and my charger in preparation to leave. “You know, now, I don’t feel so bad about basically abusing your volunteer assistant services.” I smirked. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. I need to get home before Quarry sends in the SWAT team to look for me.”
“Smart girl,” Don said, turning the lights off.
After flipping the Christmas music off and arming the security alarm, I was digging my keys from my purse when Don clicked the inside lock and pushed the door open. The alarm started beeping our warning that we had sixty seconds to exit the building just as the cold, biting wind rushed in.
I was still focused on my purse when Don’s back suddenly collided into me, sending us both to the ground. I was in such shock that I didn’t even have time to get my hands under me to break my fall. My head cracked hard against the tile floor, and my vision tunneled.
Then I heard a deep malicious voice roar, “Where the fuck is he?”
Don climbed off me.
I couldn’t get my bearings to figure out what the hell was going on, but my questions were soon answered.
“Back the fuck up, Davenport!” Don growled.
My eyes came into focus just as the icy metal edge of a knife landed against my throat. I froze as panic overwhelmed me.
“Where the fuck is Page?”
“I-I don’t know,” I lied, my eyes filling with tears.
Dropping to his knees over me, he gripped the crown of my hair and pressed the knife even deeper into my throat until I felt the warm trickle of blood slide down to my collarbone.
“Where is he?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but it was too late.
I ran out of time.
Quarry
“Shut the fuck up!” I laughed at Till, who was telling yet another embarrassing story from my youth.
“Dirty shirt and all. You didn’t give one single damn. Six years old and you were asking out my girl.”
The whole room was laughing when, suddenly, Leo’s phone started screaming in his pocket. It was an annoying-as-hell ringtone, but it was the way his face paled that really caught my attention.
He quickly released Sarah and frantically started digging out his phone. His wild gaze lifted to mine from across the room. “Call Liv,” he ordered.
My heart lurched, but I followed his direction without question.
“What the hell’s going on?” Slate asked, reading the sudden shift in the room.
Leo ignored him and began pacing the room with his phone at his ear.
The drone of an unanswered phone played in my ear as my eyes remained glued to Leo.
“Rich, tell me all is good,” he barked. After several agonizing seconds, he growled. “Well, she’s not fucking here yet!” Pinching the bridge of his nose, he lifted his distraught eyes to mine in question.
I shook my head and fear sliced through me—the sound of her voicemail iced my veins even further.
“Get your ass back over there. I’m en route.” He lowered his phone.
His legs were already moving to the front door when I caught his arm.
“What the fuck?”
He snatched his arm out of my grip, not even sparing me a glance as he raced out the door, yelling, “She supposedly left over a half hour ago, but now, the alarm is going off at the community center.”
Terror and fury mingled in a dangerous cocktail within me. Snatching my keys from my pocket, I rushed out of the door after him.
Liv
“Please. Stop,” I cried as Davenport used my hair to force my face into the security panel by the door.
“Turn it the fuck off!” he shouted.
“I-I can’t think!” I sobbed.
The alarm was blaring, distracting my already-hysterical mind even more.
He yanked my hair so hard that my knees almost buckled from the pain. “Turn it off!” His face shook with exertion, and spit flew from his mouth.
My eyes bounced to Don’s body unconscious on the floor. The moment the alarm had sounded, Don had made a move, but Davenport had been quicker. He’d never even let go of me as he’d landed a nasty right to Don’s chin. The only positive of this was that the knife he had been holding had gone skittering across the floor.
“Now!” he barked, shoving my face back into the security panel.
I sucked in a deep breath and tried to get myself together. Finally, I came up with the right combination of numbers and the room fell quiet.
“Damn it!” Davenport slung me forward.
I stumbled before slamming into the tile and then skidding to a halt on my knees.
Just as quickly as I’d gone down, I popped back up, scampering to get away. I didn’t make it but a few steps before his thick arm hooked me around the waist.
“Where you going, Livvie?” he purred, lifting me off my feet and holding my back to his front.
Bile crept into my throat as he rubbed his scruff into my cheek.
I wanted to fight any way I could. Claw my way out his arms, biting and scratching before jamming my high heel into his balls. I wasn’t usually a violent woman, but I had an overwhelming urge to watch him bleed out onto the floor in a slow and agonizing death. I wasn’t going to be able to do that to him though. Quarry had told me not to challenge him, and right then, I knew exactly why. Physically, Davenport was superior to me in every way.
“Nowhere,” I replied through clenched teeth.
“Good answer,” he said, carrying me across the room.
I went willingly until I saw his knife come into view on the floor.
My legs thrashed violently, but his large hand bit into my hip as he bent over to retrieve it.
“Easy there,” he soothed. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
I sucked in a shuddering breath, fighting back the reemergence of my tears.
“At least, not without Page here to witness it.”
Quarry
I don’t remember taking a single breath as I sped down those icy roads faster than any mortal should ever drive. My lungs were on fire, and my chest ached with every passing minute. The gas pedal was on the floor as I weaved through traffic like a maniac. I’d even passed Leo on the highway.
I was less than a minute from the community center when Liv’s number lit up my cell phone. A huge breath of relief flew from my mouth, and my foot slowly lifted off the pedal.
“Thank fucking God,” was my greeting.
“Don’t come here!” she s
creeched into my ear, spiking my pulse all over again.
My lead foot fell back on the accelerator. “Liv!”
I heard the bellow of a maniacal laugh.
“You better hurry.” Davenport’s voice filtered through the line, solidifying my worst fears. “Before it’s too late”
“What the fuck are you—” I started but stopped midsentence when Liv’s agonizing screams hit my ear. The pain in her voice was paralyzing, and my already-tense body convulsed. “Liv!”
I helplessly held the phone as her cries continued. It wasn’t until her voice disappeared that I realized Liv had always been right.
The silence was fucking terrifying.
Liv
“Please don’t do this!” I whispered, cradling my dislocated finger against my chest.
Davenport had left it mangled after forcefully ripping my engagement ring off.
“Please, shut the fuck up,” he replied, casually lifting my ring in the air as if he were inspecting the stone.
Tears were streaming from my eyes as I stared at my phone, lying on the floor across the room. The screen was lit with an incoming call, which I knew was Quarry. Davenport had just hung up on him. I was in unbelievable pain, but nothing hurt as much as the agony in his voice as he’d shouted my name just before the call had been ended. It was a sound I could never unhear.
Suddenly, red-and-blue police lights caught my attention as they filled the parking lot. Davenport gripped the back of my neck and hauled me in front of him.
“Looks like your boyfriend brought reinforcements.” He laughed, not a care in the world.
He was seriously insane, and as if I hadn’t already been scared, the sound of his hollow laugh sent me into the petrified territory.
Movement from the floor caught my attention.
Don was starting to come to.
Lifting my hands, I silently signed, Help is here. Don’t move.
His confused eyes shifted from me to Davenport before closing again.
I was forced to the double glass doors, where dozens of police cars had joined our party. Tears of relief flooded my eyes as I saw my dad’s SUV and Quarry’s Porsche parked behind them.
“He took my belt,” Davenport whispered ominously.
“N-not yet. You could still win,” I replied as a cold chill ran down my spine.
“Dumb bitch,” he mumbled.
I saw Quarry’s strong body in the crowd long before Davenport did.
But, judging by the terror on Quarry’s face, he saw Davenport lift the knife long before I did.
We all heard the gun explode before Davenport did.
Quarry
It was unquestionably the scariest moment of my entire life.
“No!” I roared as a gun fired from out of nowhere just as Davenport lifted a knife to Liv’s throat.
It was a wonder I wasn’t sucking the oxygen out of the state of Indiana for as hard as I had gasped. Blood roared through my veins as my worst nightmare played out in front of me. Dozens of officers were rushing toward the door when another shot was fired, forcing them all to shift to the sides of the building, flanking the door.
“Get down!” an officer at my side ordered, but my legs were already moving—and it wasn’t to hide.
Sprinting down the middle of the sidewalk, I ignored every single officer shouting my name.
Fueled by desperation and adrenaline alone, rational thought left me. I would not fucking fail Liv James—no matter the cost to myself.
Yanking on the glass door, I found it locked. My chest heaved as I prepared to bust it down. But I paused when I saw Liv scrambling away with Davenport hot on her heels. Frantically, I banged on the door, trying to catch his attention, but then everything suddenly got worse.
In that moment, I didn’t even know that was possible.
But it was my life. It could always get worse.
The only person I could ever hate as much as Garrett Davenport suddenly appeared in front of me with his gun held high, aimed directly at my chest.
The moment his blue eyes met mine, his face softened.
Get back, he mouthed.
I couldn’t do anything but blink.
Swinging his gun away, he lifted a single hand and signed, I’ll get her.
I had been wrong.
That was unquestionably the scariest moment of my entire life.
“Dad!” I screamed, pounding my fists on the glass as he disappeared down the hall.
Clay Page
I had been a lot of things in life: thief, con man, gambling addict, drug dealer, bookie, inmate. Most recently, I was the assistant to the director for the American Sign Language program at the local community center.
It was a job I took very seriously.
If you asked my kids, they would probably add a few other names to my laundry list of titles, such as: spineless, slimeball, coward, deadbeat, worthless, loser.
And they’d be right.
Over the years, I had more than earned every single one of those. However, that didn’t change the fact that, over ten years later, the only title I truly wanted was father.
And it was the only one they would never give back to me.
And they’d be right for that too.
I’d spent years watching my kids grow up and start their own families through the pages of sports magazines. After the shit I’d put them through, I didn’t even deserve that. But I was lucky enough to have donated sperm to create some amazing men. I’d followed Till closely as he’d grown up, selflessly giving back to not only the community, but the boys I’d abandoned when I’d lost myself in a life of drugs and gambling. I’d watched my weak and premature baby boy Quarry grow into one of the toughest fighters to ever step through the ropes. Flint had been harder to track, but a life of crime had some benefits. I’d called in some favors, and I had been able to get enough info to find myself in the audience the day he’d crossed the stage to get his college diploma. I hadn’t even graduated high school, and there he was, paralyzed, relearning how to walk, and still graduating with honors in only two years.
And Eliza had been right all those years ago when we’d first met in Las Vegas—I had not one thing to do with any of it.
Those boys had forged their own path through life and come out the other end stronger than I could have ever imagined.
I was a loser.
I was spineless.
I was a deadbeat.
But I still missed them more than words could ever express.
So, when I caught wind that Quarry’s long-time girlfriend had put an ad in the newspaper looking for an ASL assistant, I jumped at the opportunity. That first meeting, I went in guarded, unsure if she’d recognize me. But I should have known my boys wouldn’t have photos of dear old dad lining the walls of their new multimillion-dollar mansions. If they were as smart as I thought they were, any evidence of me had gone up in smoke years earlier.
After I got the job, I fell in love with Liv. It was easy to see why Quarry loved her like he did. I didn’t get to see her often, but on the days I did, she’d fill me in on what was happening in the boys’ lives. She loved the Page brothers so much that it didn’t take but a single question before she’d whip her phone out and show me countless pictures of my grandkids. I never would have gotten that without her. It was well worth the rest of the bullshit of grading papers and tutoring the adults.
And, right then, I was pissed all to Hell and back that Garrett Davenport had just cost me all of it. I’d been gone for the last month to avoid having my identity exposed after his first stunt. Now this? Fucking asshole.
I’d cleaned up my life a good bit, but I still had warrants out for my arrest and a pretty fucking substantial gambling debt, not even to mention the unregistered—and probably stolen—gun I had just fired in front of half of the Indy police force. There was no way I was making it out of that building without a pair of cuffs, but before I went in for my extended stay at the big house, I was finally going to do something ri
ght for my boys.
“Garrett!” I yelled, following the path of lights that had been triggered by motion sensors.
The creaks from the soles of my shoes against the tile were the only noise in the building. Even Quarry’s shouts from the front door had fallen quiet. I jerked every door open as I slowly made it down the hall. Davenport was nowhere to be found. And, if I could just find Liv, I could let the cops in to clean up the piece of garbage. But I didn’t trust that that mental case wouldn’t hurt her when a million uniforms rushed into the building.
I’d shot him in the leg when he’d lifted that knife to her throat. He wouldn’t find himself lucky again. I was aiming a little higher this time.
“Oh, Davenport!” I singsonged down the hall.
After I’d snatched the door to the supply closet open, I caught sight of Liv. I could barely make out her silhouette through the darkness, but from what I could tell, she was folded into a ball with her head on her knees. She didn’t look up as I jerked the door wide. It was for the best though. It meant she didn’t see when Davenport appeared out of nowhere and tackled me to the ground.
“Son of a bitch,” I groaned.
The guy was huge, so there wasn’t much I could do except for kick the door shut so he hopefully didn’t see her. The gun vanished during the scuffle; that was probably my only saving grace. Because, as much as I wanted to destroy that piece of shit, I figured killing him might not help my pleas for leniency in court. So, while I couldn’t do much to fight against him without a weapon, my only other option was to draw him away.
His fist landed hard against my face just as my foot stomped the bleeding hole in his thigh. He howled in pain, allowing me the opportunity to climb to my feet and haul ass back to the front door. I swear to God it took every ounce of self-restraint I had not to roll my eyes as I heard his grunts as the dumbass limped after me.
After I’d reached the doors, I was fighting with the locks, trying to get them undone, when the insane ogre finally caught up. Steeling my shoulders, I braced for impact. He plowed into me—just seconds after I’d twisted the final lock open.
I couldn’t even count how many times his fists landed on my face. But, as officers rushed in, I took every single blow with a smile, knowing that, for the first time in my life, I’d finally done right by my kids.