“How you could have? Jesus Brax. If you’re trying to talk me into feeling safe around you, you’re doing a shitty fucking job. Tell me, how could you have hurt me? What could you have done? Maybe that will make me feel better.”
Braxton sighed, feeling like there was no point in trying anymore. Everything he said was coming out wrong. “What I’m trying to say is I’m different with you and I don’t think you realize it. You have no idea who I am or what I do. I’ve told you, but it’s not the same as knowing for yourself. Now you’re finally starting to see, but you still don’t understand what it means. That first day in Starbucks, the real me would never have let you go. I would have taken you. Would have watched you storm back to your hotel thinking you were safe while I called in orders to have you picked up, and I sure as hell would have fucked you by now, whether you wanted to or not. But that’s not what I did. I let you go. It was one hundred percent out of character. So much so, that I had you followed. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. That’s how I knew you were at my bar. Your intuition was spot on. I was not just there for work, but I couldn’t exactly tell you that.”
“So you lied?”
“No, I didn’t. You asked if I was stalking you. I wasn’t. Stetson was.”
“That’s still not being truthful. You’re a hypocrite. You get mad at me for withholding information when you were doing the same thing. How long has he been following me? Were you just waiting for a good time to take me? Oh my god, is this it?”
“No. This isn’t it. Damn it B, listen to me. I’m trying to tell you that I might get close to doing something bad, but I don’t think I could ever go through with it. Not even tonight. I told myself over and over I would kill you if you tried to shoot me again, but I didn’t bring anything to do it with. No gun, no knife. Nothing. I’d have to do it with my bare hands and I think subconsciously I knew I wouldn’t have been able to go through with it. Do you know how scary that is for me? You make me weak.”
“How does that make you weak? Why do you need to be able to kill me?”
“Because what if you’re not who you say you are? You could destroy me. You tried to. It made me second-guess myself and I still would have let you go. Hundreds of people would have lost their lives tonight from the rampage I would have went on, but you would not have been one of them. So to answer your initial question, that’s why you should still trust me.”
His explanation finally got through to her and her eyes softened. “And what about me?” she asked. “Do you still trust me? How could you after what I did?”
“Because I’m an idiot. Because I can’t live without you. Because you’re mine. I don’t know. I just do. I think last night was an accident. You went too far. And after tonight, I think you just proved it won’t happen again. So yes, I still trust you. With everything.”
Annie was the one who wrapped her arms around him this time. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry” she whispered over and over again.
“Hey,” he pulled back wiping the tears from her cheeks. “What’d I tell you about apologizing?”
“You told me not to say it if I didn’t mean it. That I’m supposed to own it. Well what if I don’t want to own it? I just want to go back and forget last night ever happened.”
She held on to him again, tightening her arms around his neck. He had never been held like that before. Never felt as needed as he did in that moment. “Then that’s what we’ll do,” he whispered and picked her up as she wrapped her legs around.
They stood like that in the dark, shadowed, parking lot for minutes, hours, Braxton wasn’t really sure. By the time he put her down the tears had all dried and she never looked more beautiful. He leaned in to kiss her, but she turned her head away.
“What’s wrong?” Her disinterest sent a shot of insecurity directly to his gut.
“I don’t want you to kiss me,” she looked up toward the sky, unable to meet his eyes.
“Why? I thought… Are you still…” leaving me was what he wanted to say, but the dread of her answer stifled the words.
“I just threw up. My mouth tastes like puke. It’s on my arm. Probably in my hair. You can’t kiss me now.”
The flood of relief made Braxton laugh, echoing loudly. “Do you think I give a shit if you taste like puke? Get your ass over here and kiss me.” She shook her head no and he decided to relent. Wanted to play a different angle, one he wasn’t used to. “Okay. We can do this your way.”
“Excuse me, did those words just come out of your mouth?”
“They did. You see. I’m doing all kinds of things for you I never thought I’d do.”
“Oh really? Are you going to turn into my prince charming now?”
“Don’t fucking push it.” He shook his head smiling and then thought better. “Actually, I take that back. Does prince charming get any?”
“I don’t know,” she teased while walking back toward the SUV, leaving him standing alone. “The evil villain hasn’t so it might be worth a try,” she called over her shoulder.
Interesting. Could be a fun game for later.
Braxton trailed behind to the car, noticing Greg was already there, opening the door for her and stood in place, waiting patiently for him. “Greg, it’s going to be a headphones kind of night, all night, unless I tell you otherwise. Understand?”
“Yes sir.” He shut the door behind him and had the headphones in before he got back around to the driver’s side of the car.
“I know you probably need to get back to Trevor and explain what’s going on, but we still have some things to talk about.”
“I assumed as much. You want to know what happened with the detectives?”
“Yes. I need to know everything. It’s imperative you cannot leave anything out. If you slipped and told them anything, that’s okay. I just need to know what.”
Bethany took a deep breath before starting in, a smug look on her face that did not match the words to come out of her mouth.
“When I told you I was a psychologist, I left out how I often sit with men like you. I listen to them tell me all their worries, their crimes, their wants, desires. Everything. And then I use that information to testify in court of their sanity.”
His head was about to explode. “You what? You left that out? Are you fucking kidding me? What did you tell them?”
“Calm down Brax and let me finish.”
He couldn’t remember the last time he was told to calm down and it stunned him into silence.
“I know what to look for and I know what the police look for too. Every tick. Every nonverbal response a person could make to incriminate themselves. So believe me when I tell you, I told them nothing. If anything, they’re going in a different direction now.”
“Explain.”
“Okay, let me tell you what they said first and then you can explain some stuff.” Annie readjusted in the chair, crossing one leg over the other. “A party goer told them you raped me, obviously a lie and I told them as much.”
“Obviously a lie? I don’t know about that. On some level you must have thought that too. Otherwise the gun incident wouldn’t have happened.”
“That’s not what I thought, not even close, and I knew the gun wasn’t loaded. You know I would never hurt you.” She linked their fingers together and his stiff hand took a moment to relax in her hold.
Braxton wasn’t sure if he believed her. She barely knew how to shoot. How could she have been so sure the gun wasn’t loaded? She couldn’t, but he didn’t want to press the topic further. “Okay. Well did they say who told them?”
Annie furrowed her brows and tilted her head letting Braxton know exactly what she thought of his question. He was a fucking idiot. There was only one person who knew what happened; one person who saw everything and still walked away. “It was that dickhead DA’s son wasn’t it? I don’t know what the fuck you saw in him. I knew I should have killed that fucking prick. Of course he would go cry to his daddy.”
“Brax, I’m not going to
tell you again. It was a joke. I didn’t see anything in him. And you sure as hell shouldn’t have killed him. That would have been a dumb move. You played it right. Let him say what he wants. That’s not what matters.”
“Then tell me what does.”
“I’m getting to it. And this is the part where you’re going to need to do some explaining.”
“Okay…”
“They showed me pictures. Pictures of people they say you killed.”
“So what. I’ve told you about that before. Hell, you’ve seen that before.”
“I have, but what they showed me didn’t seem like you. At least I hope it wasn’t. I only got through four pictures, but they had dozens. I’ll tell you what they were and you tell me if you did it. Deal?”
Brax agreed and Annie described the picture he was most likely to admit to having a part in; the one of the man who stole the money.
“Yes, I did that. I told you I don’t let people steal from me, or from anyone else in the Emmo. You don’t steal from family. Not a cent. It’s in our code of ethics, what little we have, and I make members stick to it. I used him to send a message, and it hasn’t happened since, at least not that I know of. What were the other pictures?”
“Two of the other pictures were of men with their throats slit. One was in an alley leaned against a wall, and in the other the man was laying next to a trash bin. The one in the alley had blood pooled around him and the one next to the garbage can just had the wound on his neck, no blood, so I’m guessing he’d been moved there. I just don’t understand why he’d be left outside the trash and not in it. That doesn’t make any sense.”
“No it doesn’t. Depending on how old the alley picture was, that could have been me, but it would have to be over ten years old. I’m smarter about things now. I don’t ever leave a body for the cops to find unless I do it on purpose. I learned that lesson after Cole was sent to prison. And the picture with the dumpster sure as fuck wasn’t me. My guys are good, clean. We don’t leave a trace. Even if it were an accidental killing without my knowledge, never would they dump the body so haphazardly. They’re trained better than that. My guess is that picture was just thrown into a pile of assumptions to have something to peg on us.”
“That’s what I thought too. I’ve seen you clean up before. Those pictures didn’t really bother me. I just thought you should know about them.”
“Okay, well tell me about the picture that did.”
Annie was confused. “Did what?”
“Bother you. You said there were four pictures and you’ve only told me about three. If these pictures didn’t bother you, I’m guessing the one you haven’t described yet does.”
He guessed right. She was saving the worst for last. She described the last picture, unable to look him in the eye while doing so.
“Do you think I did it?”
Annie looked down at her hands resting in her lap, rolling her thumbs around each other.
“Look at me,” he demanded and her head snapped up. “Look me in the eye and tell me you believe I did that. I can’t have you always questioning the things I do. I need you to be able to look at a picture, and decipher if it was something I did or not, and still be able to stand by me.”
“I’m not questioning the things you do, and I’m here aren’t I?”
“You might not have verbally asked the question, but I can see it written all over you. You’re trying to figure out why I took an innocent girl who wanted nothing to do with us, raped her, beat her, choked her until she died, probably while I was still buried inside, and then pulled out my knife and carved our brand into her chest. I’ve told you I’ve done horrible things. You should already know the answer to your question.”
“You’re reading me wrong Brax. I’m not trying to figure out why you did it. I’m trying to figure out why someone is framing you for it. The next time you want to convince me of a story that isn’t true, you should refrain from using words like probably. You were probably still inside her while you killed her? If you did it, I’d think you’d know if you were or weren’t. Are you trying to push me away or just testing me again to see if I’d get the answer right, cause I’ve got to say, I’m not a huge fan of tests just to stifle your insecurities.”
“My insecurities?” he asked with a laugh on his breath. Damn she was fucking smart. When it came to her he was insecure. She was the only non-sure thing in his life. “Fine. Let’s say I’m insecure. Can you blame me? What if someone showed me a terrible picture of something they claimed you did? Something you quite possibly could have, but didn’t. Wouldn’t it bother you? Wouldn’t you wonder if even for an instant I thought it was true? And especially after what I just told you about the day we met. That I wanted to take you. After hearing that, you didn’t think the picture might have been true?”
“No, I didn’t. I know you Brax. Maybe it has only been a few days, but I know you. I don’t think you’re capable of hurting someone like that.”
“Then you haven’t been listening. I am more than capable. You know I thought about it? Really thought about it.”
“Thought about what?”
“Taking you.” Subconsciously he scooted away from her, just the smallest bit, but enough for her to notice. “I’ve never done that before. I never cared enough for it to matter. It’s rare I find a girl who isn’t interested, but when it happens, I just move on. Do you know how much effort it is to lure a girl away from a bar or take her by force without causing a scene? Even if you get close enough to drug her; getting her out and hoping you’re not noticed, it’s just not worth it when you can easily move on to a new girl who is interested. But it would have been worth it with you. I thought about it. I sat in that Starbucks and played it out in my head, how I would do it. And if I went through with it, I would have raped you. I would have held you down, you would have screamed, I would have hit you, choked you, anything to shut you up. That’s why I’m insecure about the picture; because it could have been you.”
“Thinking about it and doing it are two completely different things,” she stole his line from earlier. “You didn’t go through with it, just stalked me like a normal person.” Smiling she scooted closer, eliminating the space between them.
Brax was still stiff and uncomfortable, feeling remorse for his thoughts.
“It’s okay,” she rubbed his forearm. “They were just thoughts. You and me babe, we both have fucked up thoughts. We’re fucked up together. Trust me. I understand more than anyone. Now stop thinking about what you could have done to me and focus on what’s really important here. Is someone setting you up to take the fall for the rape of this girl? There were others too. They said ten total. Could the guys from the Emmo be doing this without your knowledge?”
Brax looked at her like she was dumber than a box of rocks. “Without my knowledge? Hell no. I know everything.”
“Well you obviously didn’t know about this girl or the others, so someone’s hiding something from you. It’s either on the outside or the in, and you better figure it out quick.”
While he didn’t want to admit it, she was right. How could he not know about these girls? Even if the news wasn’t released to the press, he should have heard about it from someone. Murders like these get around, especially if they’re branded. Whoever was doing this was leading the cops right to the body, before anyone else could find them. “It’s not an inside job. My guys wouldn’t do this. They know better than to brand someone. We don’t leave our sign at the scene anymore. I got rid of that when I took over. And if they’re going to do something like this, they sure as fuck know to clean up the mess. We aren’t a well-known mob for a reason. I don’t care for that type of attention. It doesn’t help the job get done any better.”
“And you don’t think it’s anyone in the Emmo who is upset with you? Wants to take you down? Replace you maybe? Who’s next in line?”
“Benny’s next. The guy I was with the first night at Bemelmen’s, but he wouldn’t do this. If he wanted
me gone he’s close enough to kill me. He could do it at one of our drops and make it look like an accident. It doesn’t make sense for him to go to all this trouble.”
“Then it’s someone on the outside?”
“More than likely.”
“Any guesses as to who? Any specific enemies?”
Braxton laughed, lightening the situation. “Honey, I have more enemies than I can count. This isn’t going to be easy to figure out. Whoever is doing this, I’m going to need to flush them out. I just need to figure out how. Did the detectives say if they had any other suspects or just me?”
“Just you, but I did what I could to talk them into someone else?”
“Like who?”
“I don’t know. I just pointed out the holes in their story and told them it would be in their best interest to look in another direction. I’m pretty sure I was able to talk them into it.”
“Good. Thank you. Hopefully that buys me time, but what makes you so sure you talked them into looking elsewhere?”
“Are you questioning my power of persuasion Mr. Cage? I’m pretty good at it don’t you think? I mean look at us now. A renowned killer in the car with a girl he barely knows who has broken most his cardinal rules, and yet I’m still sitting here.”
“Barely,” he joked. “But yes, I see your point.” Pulling her close he kissed the top of her shoulder. They were content. Finally.
“There was one other thing the detectives mentioned, something I wasn’t too happy to hear about from them.”
“Jesus, what the fuck else did they tell you?”
“They said I was marked; that you marked me. Care to explain?”
“Oh. That.” He could handle that. He would have told her about it last night if everything went as planned. “That’s technically true, but you’re not marked yet, you’d know if you were.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’s a protection order. To keep you safe. Like I said, I have a lot of enemies. I couldn’t risk them seeing me out with you and trying to hurt you just to get back at me. I started it, but it’s not finished.”
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