The Devil's Eyes

by Jennifer Loren

  As soon as I step out the door, someone takes my phone from my hand. “Where are you going, Kayla?”

  “Dan … Connor?”

  “Hi, Baby.” Connor said blocking my exit.

  “I have to be somewhere. I don’t have time to talk right now.” I said trying to get around him.

  “I think you have time for me.”

  “I don’t have time right now. I am running late as it is. How about we get together tomorrow- for lunch or something?” I said as I take notice of his men scattering around my house.

  “Nick’s not here? Hmm, oh well. I assume you’re running off to meet him? Tell me where and I will let you go.”

  “No, I have been seeing someone new and I …” Connor grabs my arm and shoves me up against the wall.

  “I saw him bring you home. I know you went to the club to see Nick. Your cop friend is on the other side of town with his buddies, flirting with some other girls. So, tell me- where are you going to meet him?”

  “Let go of me, Connor. I know all about you and Nick and I don’t want anything to do with either of you.”

  “Well, it’s a little late for that now, isn’t it?” Connor jerks me towards two of his men, I get out a single scream before they shut me up.

  ~

  I am locked in this room with no way out, while the voices outside decide my fate. When the door finally opens, Connor comes in with a smile. “I tell you what, since I have a soft spot for you, I will give you a choice. You can either work for me or you can die.”

  “Doing what?” I asked.

  “Whom actually. You know the work well and you are good at it. I haven’t had a good whore since your sister.”

  “Braylin worked for you?” I asked tensing up.

  “She was sweet. Give her a little something to pump her up and she was a gold mine.”

  “You killed her?”

  Connor laughs, “Kill her? Are you kidding? With as much money as she made me? The girl was the life of the party. She did everything that was asked of her. Gang bangs, video, hell, I even had her on a web cam for a few months until she left and killed herself. Stupid whore. If she wasn’t dead already, I would have killed her. I didn’t even know she had a sister until I read about her death. I tried to find you but Nicholas caused a bunch of problems for me at the time and my intentions became distracted … I didn’t think much about it until I saw you that night at the old blue bloods party. You look similar to your sister but better for some reason. I knew as soon as I saw you that Nick must have seen it too. I wasn’t real sure how interested he was in you until I sent Harvey after you, and boy, did he come running.” He said rubbing my bare leg. I jerk it away from him and he forms an honest expression. “I have a little movie I would like to make with you.”

  “Go to hell!”

  “That’s not the answer I am looking for. Now, I can help you get more in the mood. I have whatever you need.” I shake my head as I back away from him. “I have the clothes that you will need to wear and I already have your costars setup.” He becomes excited as he raises his hands up, “It is going to be great. An innocent young girl gets taken for a night of sex with a group of … how you would describe them … undesirable men.”

  “No! I prefer you kill me.” I yell.

  “Don’t worry. You will probably die during.”

  “Because of Nick!”

  “Just make sure you scream a lot … for Nick.” He smiles huge.

  “Connor, please. Nick and I have nothing to do with each other anymore. He doesn’t care about me at all. He had some girl blowing him in his office when I went to see him.” I begin to ramble whatever comes to my mind.

  “You know how to save yourself?” I shake my head. “I want HIM!” He yells waiting for me to say something. “You have nothing to say? I know you can get him to come to you … alone even. Call him and tell him you want to see him. Give me him and I will set you free.”

  “You want to kill your own brother?”

  Connor walks over to me and jerks me by my hair closer to him. “No, I want to torture him and then kill him.”

  “No. No, I won’t help you. Do what you want to me, but I won’t help you.” Connor throws me to the ground.

  “I have business to take care of tonight. I will see you tomorrow for your big debut.” Connor leaves locking me in the room. I do everything I can to find a way out while he is gone. After hours of trying, I realize my only way out is the way I came in. I take apart the room to form some kind of weapon that I hope will allow me enough time to get to daylight. When I hear someone coming, I take hold of my weapon and start swinging as soon as the guard comes in with my food. I manage a few good hits and run. Unfortunately, I am only able to reach the next locked door before another man comes in and takes hold of me. I am quickly returned to my prison and forced to watch a needle pierce into my skin. Within minutes, I am falling-out of my own body and am subdued. They release my restraints and leave me alone again until Connor comes in screaming at me. “That fucking punk screwed me AGAIN! I should kill you and leave your dead body on his doorstep!” Connor yells stomping towards me and gripping me by the back of my neck, “I am sick of this! You are going to help me get him whether you want to or not. He cares for you, doesn’t he?” I shake my head as a smile forms on his face. “Yes he does. I saw him. I thought he was worried you would turn on him at first, but no, he was looking out for you. I wonder how far he would go to save your life. I don’t know. You tell me, Kayla, would he give his own life up for yours?” Connor lets go of me, letting me fall into the floor.

  Shaking my head as best I can, I begin to cry exhaustively as I crawl to him, “No, no, Connor, please …”

  “You’re in love with him too, aren’t you? How beautiful. As long as I live I will never understand the hold he has over women. You know our father was much the same. My mother never got over him. Even after she married my stepfather, she continued to sneak out to him.” Connor calls in some men, “Prepare her for our guests. Take some nice pictures and send out a notice to our poker participants that we will be offering up a new prize to the biggest winner.” I am handled roughly as I fight the men sent in to take hold of me. “Be careful with our prize. Give her something more if you need to make her more receptive but don’t damage her.” Connor said with a callous tone.

  As Connor begins to leave, I kick the man in front of me and force my way to Connor. Stretching up onto my toes, I lock eyes with him, “Nick is going to come for me and he is going to kill you.” I said happily.

  “Sweetheart, I am counting on him coming to get you but he is going to be the one that dies. Now, you won’t mind if I turn the heat off, do you? The bill is becoming a bit too much these days. I will send in the boys for another dose of some relaxant for you in the meantime.” Connor kisses me joyfully.

  The room turns frigid. I have to resort to curling up in the one blanket in the room, while I battle the drug spreading though my veins.

  ~17~

  Nick

  The slut that was sucking my dick earlier refuses to give up. She keeps coming at me and finally succeeds in breaking my cell when she grabs for it to get my attention. Dwayne removes her quickly from my sight before I do something I might regret. As soon as Tanner comes back, I intend to go home- by myself. I have to fight my urge to tell him to take me back to her house, but I know she needs some space right now. She’s upset, that’s all. She will be better tomorrow. Tomorrow I can talk to her and get her to come back. I don’t know why she is so difficult for me to deal with, she drives me insane- not that she hasn’t done that since the first day I saw her: that shy, young girl with the big ugly old glasses and oversized clothing. I don’t even remember why I went into the diner that day. Luke was having a craving of some sort. Harvey had us running constantly for him at the time, we had just finished a long night and wanted to go somewhere out of sight of Harvey so we could discuss our plans to take over his business. I was barely in my twenties and already thinking I
was too good to be working for someone else. That’s probably why he tried to kill me. What I do remember is being deep into conversation and arguing about some small, irrelevant detail and looked away long enough to see her walk in and say hi to her sister. Nothing about the exchange was out of the ordinary, except her reaction to when her sister handed her a small package. She instantly beamed when she pulled out a book. I thought it must be some special edition or the latest craze for young girls, something to make her so excited. She sat down at the table next to us and I watched her, trying to read the cover to see what she was so interested in. It was nothing special. It barely even had a binding it was so old and beat up. I thought it strange but it didn’t interest me much more than that, except she never even looked up and I waited for her to. Ego I guess but she never bothered to look at me. I even got up and borrowed the salt and then the pepper. She handed them over to me without a glance in my direction. I touched her hand in our last exchange, stroking it with my thumb but it seemed to give me more of a rush than it did her. I later figured out the waitress was her sister, Braylin and I talked to her hoping that maybe the book-girl would look up, but all it did was cause Braylin to gush over me. I couldn’t get the book-girl out of my mind. I went back to the restaurant and watched her confidently read through her books with no attention to anyone, not even the jocks that were determined to try to make her cry. They teased her outdated and ill-fitted clothes and her horrible glasses, but not until they would try to take her book would she pay them any mind. Her reaction was not to cry or beg for her book back, she would do nothing more than pull out another and begin reading. She was fascinating to me. I found myself doing whatever I could to learn about her. I started dating Braylin because I enjoyed hearing about Kayla. I would visit Braylin to see Kayla, to be near her. Not that she paid attention to me at all. I was like a ghost in their house or so I thought. Kayla often screamed out from nightmares and Braylin would typically run to her, but some nights Braylin would sleep too deeply, worn out from long nights of sex. I always heard her though. Once I was sure Braylin was not getting up, I would go to her. I wouldn’t wake her up like Braylin. I would simply adjust her fallen blankets back over her, remove some hair from her face, and go back to bed. It helped all the same, she would stop crying and be peaceful again. I thought nothing of it. She was never awake and it was nothing to me, until that one night I heard her whimpering and went to do the same routine. However, when I pulled the blanket back up over her, she moved. I thought she had woken up.

  Staring at her, she rolled over and opened her beautiful green eyes to me, “I knew you would come.” She said.

  “What?” I whispered still unsure if she was talking to me.

  “You always come and save me. Always.” She smiled her beautiful smile, still dazed and rolled over taking my hand with her.

  “Kayla.” I whispered her name for the first time ever. It felt strange to do so. “Kayla, I need to go.”

  “Don’t leave me. I need you.” She said drifting off to some world I was unfamiliar with. Maybe I will sit with her for a few minutes and wait until she is sound asleep before pulling my hand away from her. However, she seemed to sense my desire to retreat and rolled over onto my chest. My emotions went into an immediate battle with each other. My legs quivered to run, my heart pounded out of my chest, and my hands trembled as I tried to remove her. She began to cry and held onto me tighter, “Help me. Help me.” She pleaded over and over with me or whomever she was dreaming about.

  “Help you from whom?” I asked brushing her hair from her face.

  “The king.” She said and I bit my tongue to keep from laughing.

  “The king, huh? Well, he is evil. How can I help you?”

  “I don’t know. You’re the Prince.” She said with a huff.

  I held my laugh in with my free hand until I regained my composure. “Oh, so I am. Well then, Princess, will you runaway with me? Far away from the evil king so we can be together? Happily ever after.” I smiled watching her become excited by my proposal. I found myself making up a story of how we were going to fight the king off and how I was going to rescue her so we could be together forever. The more she smiled and rested closer against me, the more I wanted the story to go on. In the end I told her that we were going to get married and then out of nowhere she leaned up and kissed me lightly on the lips. The softest, sweetest lips I had ever tasted. All I could do was stare at her as she opened her beautiful green eyes to me.

  “Do you love me?” She said gripping my hand.

  “Yes.” I said staring into her sleepy eyes as she smiled beautifully at me.

  “I love you too.” Kayla said making me weak all over. She laid back down on my chest and drifted further away. Within a few minutes, she was silent and peaceful again. I curled her safely back into her bed and kissed her cheek with a heaviness in my chest.

  All I could think was how sweet and innocent she looked, just like a young princess. Too bad for her that I was far from being Prince Charming. I left Kayla and went back to bed with Braylin but didn’t sleep at all. Early the next morning, I told Braylin that we couldn’t see each other anymore. She cried and begged me to stay, doing everything she could to please me to make me change my mind. I eventually gave in and had sex with her for the last time, leaving her while she laid in her bed recovering. I walked out of her room quickly only to come face-to-face with Kayla. She was shyly waiting for us to finish in the hallway and looked me in the eyes for the first time ever, awake at least. It seemed like an eternity that we stood there but a second is all it could have been because I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

  Such a fucked up thing to do. She was so young but I had some kind of fantasy that when she finished school, I could dump her sister and date her. Once I realized my mistake, I tried to stay as far away from Braylin as possible, hoping she would get it together and take care of Kayla. Kayla was almost seventeen, if Braylin could have only held out for another year, Kayla would have been off to college- or so I had hoped. Damn I don’t know what I was thinking! When Luke told me what had happened, I did everything I could to find her again. I just wanted to make sure she was okay. I wanted … I wanted to bring her home with me and take care of her like she deserved. Her stepfather deserved to die and I have no regrets for killing him. I only wish I could have stayed away from Braylin and maybe my brother would never have found her. He has an obsession of seeking out the women I become involved with. I think over the years he has learned my type even better than I have.

  The first time I saw her in my club, I had to fight the urge to run to her. It only took a few seconds for me to realize why she was there and I had hoped she would kill me if that would help her. I didn’t want her there but I also didn’t want my brother to find her, so I did whatever possible to keep her from leaving. No matter how hard it was to give her what she wanted. I couldn’t keep her away from the club and I couldn’t scare her away from prostituting. And at the first chance I got to make her mine, I did. Then, I screwed it up and now I have no idea how to make it work or what to say to keep her here. I don’t ever show feelings for anyone- it’s dangerous for me and for them. It has already cost her so much.

  I lie awake all-night, thinking of what I can say to her, what I can do to keep her without giving up too much of myself. She makes me work for it like no one else ever has. When morning comes, I get up still unsure of what I am going to say. I pass Tanner, grabbing my new cell from his hand, and eagerly jump into my own car to drive to Kayla’s. Not something I should do, but I want to be alone with her. I want to make her feel comfortable enough to feel as if I am being as honest as possible with her and hopefully stay with me. Noticing her car, but not Exie’s, I quickly scan the area and I feel comfortable to approach the house. I knock on the door but no answer. After checking the back of the house, I leave her a note and walk back to my car stopping when I take notice of the shell ring I gave her back last night. Bending down slowly, I pick it up and hope it isn
’t a sign that she is done listening to me. I get back into my car and call her cell but it goes straight to voicemail. After leaving her a message, I call her a few more times throughout the day, growing more anxious with each call. I fear that she has gone and there is nothing I can or will do about it. I’m not going to force her to stay and be with me, no matter how much I want her too.

  ~

  “What’s wrong with you today?” Luke asks with his usual lack of boundaries.

  “Nothing.” I said.

  “Nothing … right. Did you talk to Kayla?” He presses as I roll my eyes towards him but roll them quickly away. “Oh, so she skipped town on you, huh? Well, don’t worry you will have ten others fighting to get your attention tonight.”

  “I don’t want them.” I mumble.

  “What was that?” He asked but I shake my head dismissing the conversation. “You know there is a new girl at the club: young, blond, and hot. Your favorite.”

  “When did I ever say blond is my favorite?” I snap.

  “Damn, you are in a shit mood today. Is there anything or anyone that can bring you out of it?” Luke snaps back.

  “We have work to do.” I said with a harsh tone.

  “That’s right. And that alone should put you in an excellent mood. We are about to take another piece of your brother’s empire here. He doesn’t have much left, the walls are closing in on him, and you’re the one pushing them in. You can’t tell me that you are not incredibly stoked about that.” Luke jumps around in some form of a dance.

  “I am happy about that.” I try to say with some optimism.