by Ace Gray
It was one of those perfect evenings, where music drifted on the soft summer breeze and the sounds were straight from a movie edit. I would have given anything to capture it in a jar to open from time to time.
“Ferris Wheel?” Cole asked when we were back on the dock.
All of us agreed and Cole footed the bill for a fancier car, one with four plush seats instead of eight bench ones. The second they shut the door behind us Cole pulled me into his lap.
“Shhhhh,” he whispered in my ear as his hand slid underneath me and flipped upwards.
Luckily Conrad and Horse were taking turns being fixated on the bright city lights or on each other, they didn’t even see him slip up the seam of my denim. His fingers explored gently, teasing at first but then he slipped inside. I couldn’t help but roll my hips. I felt his hand creep up toward my neck to still me then fell away. Horse would know what we were up to immediately if Cole started squeezing on me.
He kept stroking me, poking inside then falling out and flicking my clit. I did what I could to stay still but my body wanted to roll against his the way it always did. Need was building like the skyscrapers I’d stared at in the late daylight earlier today, fiery pillars piercing into the sky.
Across from our naughty antics, Horse leaned across and grabbed Conrad by the neck. He looked him full in the face for a minute then down at his lips. I felt the needy fireworks all the way in my bones just before he pulled Conrad the rest of the way to his lips.
At first Conrad was too shocked to do much of anything but to stare wide-eyed at the man kissing him. But after a few heartbeats, he melted and met him move for move. Big plump lips rolled over each other and teeth grazed across the dark or light scruff depending on who was more interested in biting or lapping.
Watching while Cole started spinning circles on my clit was going to make me rupture.
Conrad gave up his seat to straddle Horse after a few minutes and my view became big Horse hands roving sculpted Conrad muscles through a thin white t-shirt. Conrad’s ink trembled beneath the fabric until his hips started a slow steady rock against Horse.
My hips started to do the same.
“You like watching as much as I do don’t you, Ladyface?” Cole murmured in my ear as he sent more fingers between my legs to work.
Since they weren’t paying attention to us, he wrenched my legs wide and gave himself free access to my sex. It wasn’t long until I couldn’t hold back. I cried out as I leaned back to stare up into the deep black night. It was even less time before I turned my face into Cole’s neck and bit hard to muffle the cries that accompanied my orgasm.
“Without me?” Horse purred from across the car and I sat up to see where he’d twisted a shocked Conrad to watch.
“Sorry man. Some moments are too good to pass up.” Cole stroked along my neck where I stayed turned into him now smiling instead of tearing at his flesh. “And if it’s any consolation, she got really excited watching you two. Gives me ideas for next time.” Cole’s husky laugh told me just how much he liked his idea.
“Next time? Next time what? Next time you’re left out? As in you’ve been in?” Conrad shoved off Horse’s lap.
“I told you I was bi.” Horse raised an eyebrow.
“You never told me you fucked my best friend.” Conrad’s voice was getting sharper.
“Your best friend. My best friend. A lot of other somebodies’ best friends, too.” Horse shrugged his shoulder. “I’ve never made out with them on a Ferris Wheel though.”
The ride stopped as if on cue and Cole quickly folded my legs back together just before the door opened.
“Like fuck if that matters. You’ve been in her Dolly Parton signing Jolene.” Disgust was thick in his voice as he pointed his finger at me. If we hadn’t been over just how foul he found vaginas in general, I would have been insulted.
“Jolene, Nine to Five, and the rest of the Grand Ole Opry,” Horse shot out after Conrad and they tore off down the pier.
“Was it something I said?” Cole asked, a mischievous smile played on his lips.
“You better start being nicer to Conrad,” I scolded as best I could; it wasn’t very harsh.
“Or you’re going to punish me?” Cole’s hand came to my throat and he used his grip to push me out of the bright carnival lights of the pier and into the dark recesses behind a building.
I crashed into a building between two A/C units just before he bent to kiss me every bit as unrelenting as my orgasm had been. His body pressed fully up against me, adding weight to my chest and making it even harder to breathe. I surrendered fully to the feeling.
Until a throat cleared behind us.
“What are you doing, Cole?” The voice was thick with an Italian accent and stopped Cole cold.
“This is neutral territory,” he snarled as he turned away from me, one hand automatically shielded me while the other blindly patted around the small of his back only to come up empty.
“I mean what are you doing with Jimmy Ponies’ stepdaughter?”
I peeked out to see the man that knew who I was. He was wearing nondescript jeans and a white t-shirt. He wore lace up boots but the way he’d tucked the cuffs around them, I could see a large knife tucked in the side. Automatically I scooted closer to Cole and grabbed his t-shirt. His hand that hadn’t been able to find a gun wrapped around me, pulling me in even tighter.
“How do you know her?” Cole’s voice rumbled wildly in his chest.
“There might as well be a police APB out for her. Jimmy has us, Mickey has Siobhan. That might as well be a citywide mobilization.” The guy stayed back, his stance casual. I could feel how nervous that made Cole beneath my fingers.
“Why do you want her?”
“To protect her,” he said simply and Cole’s whole stance changed.
“Why would you protect her?” Cole was honestly questioning now, his voice less menacing than it’d been a moment ago.
“Jimmy’s helping us with a project, it’s the least we can do.” He shrugged.
“For as long as it’s convenient,” Cole sneered and I knew that voice was directed at Jimmy. I didn’t blame him one bit.
“Not this time.” The Italian man stepped closer and Cole stepped back. “Look, Cole, you and I don’t have the best history, we’re both bad men.” He sighed. “But we’re bad men that do bad things to other bad men. Even we have a bit of a code and when it’s innocent girls getting hurt, you’d step in too.”
“What do you mean?” Cole leaned toward him, now more curious.
“So it’s true, Mickey took you back but it’s not like the old days. You aren’t the right hand of God.” The man studied Cole and I prayed the look on his face meant he liked what he saw.
“I’m only in for her,” Cole admitted as he squeezed on me. I nestled into the space between his shoulder blades. “I’m only for her, period.”
“Good. Someone needs to be.” The Italian stepped back and jostled his pant leg, seamlessly covering the blade that had been on display. “Something’s coming, Cole.”
A whistle broke the conversation. First one long then two short and loopy ones. The Italian swore under his breath and started slinking deeper into the darkness behind us.
“What’s coming?” Cole asked, his voice lower as he started to shuffle me in the same general direction.
“Well at this exact moment, that whistle means Siobhan.”
28.
Cole
If Vinny’s words had made my blood run cold than the fact that Siobhan was on the pier was my own personal ice bath to drown in.
I shoved Elle into the dark nook beside me and held my fingers to my lips to shush her. She nodded wildly but grabbed for my hand. I let her hold it while I patted my low back, desperate to magically find my gun back in place. We both stayed stock still as Vinny disappeared into the background.
Horse was still somewhere. And what was worse was he with Conrad. A Conrad that Siobhan knew. And more than that, knew was as intim
ately tied to Elle as I was.
We were fucked if she found them. Simple as that.
To me, wishing on a star was the same as praying to God, neither of them would do us any good. Neither of them would help us out. It didn’t stop me from doing both. I would have done far more if it meant keeping Elle safe.
Over the past week, Mickey had been in El Paso of all places and Siobhan has been MIA, it was the only reason that I’d been able to choke back the anxiety about us going out. As always, the ginger siren picked a perfect moment to resurface. I squeezed on Elle’s hand as she slunk by.
Elle craned her head from where she was plastered up against the wall and I knew the moment she laid eyes on Siobhan. Her fingernails dug into the back of my hand and a tiny little snarl rumbled in her chest. The sound was so adorable I had to hold back a laugh as warm as she made my insides.
“That’s her?” she spat the words at me as she spun away from me.
I quickly stepped toward her and folded her arm and body into me. Only the sound of us breathing broke the silence.
“She’s a red-headed harpy that might as well grow horns, so yeah, that’s her.”
We both watched as Siobhan slithered down the pier.
“I hate that I can picture her with you,” Elle said loudly when she thought Siobhan had gotten far enough away and she shoved against my arms then against me.
Siobhan’s head whipped in our direction and she stepped back. I automatically pulled Elle in and covered her mouth as I pressed our bodies flat against the wall behind us. My breath balled in my throat and stayed there as Siobhan peered into the darkness. My fingers curled into Elle’s cheek as the first true fear I’d felt in years hammered inside me.
Elle struggled in my arms and grunted against my hand. Siobhan took one step down the dark passage and narrowed her gaze further. My heart jackknifed in my chest. I thumped Elle up against the wall to get her attention. It worked too well and she shot me a venomous look.
I did the only thing I could think of, I dropped my hand from her mouth and dropped my guard. The sheer panic inside me had to show as plainly as if terrified was scribbled on my face. She went to say something but I held my finger up to my lips then mouthed the most broken please I possibly could. Something about the combination soothed her, maybe even scared her as she slumped back against the wall.
Siobhan had frozen just around the corner, combing the darkness with her satanic glowing eyes. I flattened myself to Elle, partially to hide further from the demon, partially so that if this was the last moment I breathed on this earth, I breathed in warm cherries.
“Cole, where the fuck are you?” Horse’s booming voice split the tension from somewhere.
“I knew it.” Siobhan had crept so close I heard her murmur under her breath as she turned on her heel.
I leaned out far enough to watch as she all but careened into Horse. He grabbed her by her upper arms and held her in his vise grip. He shook her as he bent in close and though his mouth moved, I couldn’t catch the words.
There was a chance he could talk our way out of this. He could deflect, he could come up with a reason we were on the Pier that didn’t sound like bullshit. Words weren’t his strong suit but I had to believe in him.
After a few ragged heartbeats Horse set Siobhan down and narrowed his eyes at her as he pointed back toward the parking lot. She was every bit as pinched and suspicious as he was but she started turning. For a moment, I believed miracles did exist and we’d be in the clear.
“Horse, what in the hell?” Conrad’s voice was nails gouging out glass.
My eyes went wide as the loud, tattooed queen barreled down the sidewalk for what was the equivalent of a nuclear train collision. If Siobhan didn’t murder him, I would.
“You,” Siobhan’s raspy, ragged snarl carried on the wind. “And with you.” She shoved her finger into Horse’s chest.
They barely exchanged words but the way Siobhan lit up as she challenged Horse said everything. This was confirming every suspicion she ever had and there was no way to hide anymore.
Elle’s arms wove around me and she dug her nails in. When she bit into my pec, I squeezed her as tight as I could. Even she understood what very real and present danger we were all in.
“Where is she?” Siobhan’s three words stopped my heart.
When she turned toward the dark cranny we’d been hiding in with a glint in her eye. I was ready to run or fight or die. It was only Elle burrowing further into my chest that kept me from choosing which.
“Tell me where, Horse. Tell me now!” Her voice was getting closer to where we hid. “If you don’t, I’ll take it out on your pretty little piece of ass right there.” She laughed her evil laugh. “And then Cole, again, when I find him.”
Horse’s thundering footsteps plowed toward us and a second later a smash of a body right around the corner shook the metal we were flattened against. Siobhan yelled out and I couldn’t tell if it was in pleasure or pain. Conrad swore loudly afterward.
“Not if I kill you first,” Horse growled and I swore I felt his warm breath around the corner.
“Horse!” Conrad shrieked and it made Elle twitch.
“Do it. I dare you. See how long your precious Cole and his little whore last if I’m dead,” Siobhan’s voice was sharp and acidic.
“If you threaten her ever again…” Horse thumped her body up against the wall again.
“Next time you slam me into a wall, you better shove your dick in me. This whole Elle thing is rather frustrating.”
My skin crawled when I thought about it. The vivid memory of her fucking someone as she slit his throat came to mind. Bile coated my tongue at the thought she might ever touch Elle.
I kept my grip on Elle and started to shuffle along the wall. We were tangled in each other the slightest bit and I had to catch us when we stumbled. My hand shot out and the metal beneath me made a far too loud creak as it flexed beneath our weight. We stopped cold, except Elle’s breathing, which was ratcheting up to shallow little things.
When I didn’t hear anything behind us, I pulled myself from her grip and turned. Neither Horse nor Siobhan had turned the corner at the crash.
“Ladyface, we need to run. Okay?” I cradled her little face between my hands. “I’m sorry it came to this and I hate what it means, but we have to, all right?”
“I’m not very fast,” she whispered as her big eyes searched mine and her bottom lip trembled.
“Not that kind of run.” Her innocence made me smile despite everything and I rubbed my thumbs along her cheekbones as I explained. “We aren’t going back to my place. Not now, not ever, unless it’s to burn it to the ground.” I sighed at the memories that would smolder in those ashes.
“Horse? Conrad?” Her whole body shivered when she asked. Mine felt like someone had gutted me like a fish.
“There’s a chance we won’t see them again.” My chest heaved.
Tears pooled immediately in the corners of her eyes but she nodded as they spilled down her rosy cheeks.
“I never meant for this to happen, Elle. I wanted to be your everything, your only thing, but because you picked it, not because it was forced on you.” I wiped away a few of the tears then dropped my hands to reach for hers.
“Cole.” Her little voice didn’t tremble as I expected. It was a strong, certain tone instead. “I did pick you. And I’d do it all again.” She pressed up on tiptoe and kissed the tip of my nose like I’d done so many times to her.
When she lowered back down and gracelessly wiped away her tears, she flashed a serious smile up at me. My heart almost split and I swore I might grow wings. But then Siobhan’s guttural cry grounded me back in the moment. I peered back into the darkness to see what was happening. No one was in pursuit and I found myself sending up silent prayers that Horse had finally snapped her neck.
I couldn’t wait to find out though so I threw my arm around Elle and started pulling.
“We have to get back onto the walkway
to get off the Pier. When we do, we have to act completely natural, okay?”
She nodded wildly.
“Don’t say anything unless you have to and then don’t say my name. If I tell you to do something, just do it.”
The look of determination on her face was reassuring. She wasn’t lying in the least about sticking by me. The set of her jaw said as much.
We walked with the pace of traffic but my insides were jumbled, tripping over themselves, desperate to both go faster and go back for Horse all at the same time. Elle’s grip kept tightening too like she was tempted to drag me in either direction herself. I swore I could feel the tension rolling off her, and my body matched. I managed to stroke small circles on the back of her hand as we faded into the crowd.
Finally the crowds and lights of the Pier dissipated. I hadn’t seen any backup with Siobhan and for the first time, I thanked my lucky stars she was such a filthy hellcat.
I had seen a few Italian faces watching us from various posts and now that we were just two people walking down a normal Chicago street, my mind wandered over what Vinny had said and why the fuck they’d be looking out for Elle, let alone me.
Something was coming.
How could three-word sentences alter my life so frequently? So completely?
We had to run but I needed to buy us enough time to find some answers. It was the only way to know with any certainty what was actually chasing us. The Butcher was with Mickey. Mickey was disappearing to the south for God knows what reason.
“Elle, do you have cash?” I asked as my mind raced.
“I have a couple hundred bucks and then my cards.”
“Can we use them?” Plastic would pinpoint her if Mickey still watched bank accounts but it was downtown Chicago. I had to take my chances that he couldn’t find us that fast if we pulled out cash.
“Of course.” She squeezed my hand again.
“Good.” I wracked my brain for an ATM.
Since we couldn’t pick up the car without Horse, I started to travel the streets nearby from memory. My mind gravitated toward Millennium Park, where we’d been just hours ago. I could picture Elle in the reflective metal of the Bean, I could feel the happiness. Even the desperate wish to have the same photo she’d wanted. If I’d known our little world would crumble hours later, I would have agreed. My fingers dug into hers this time, an automatic reaction to still having a hold on her hand.