“Really Trevor? Are you really going to be like that? What, we’re just pretending now?”
“That’s what you’ve been doing. Why should tonight be any different?”
On that note he stood for the door and walked out down the hall. He was being dramatic, but didn’t care. It pissed him the hell off to know their chance encounter wasn’t really chance at all. He didn’t approach him at the bar because he thought he was hot. It was all just a job. His entire vacation fling was a sham.
Thirteen
The trail stretched and curved its way through Central Park, the dirt hard beneath their feet. It was dark, lit only by lanterns and the sky above, although lacking stars. Back home never had many stars either; the bustling city pollution always hid them from sight.
He held her hand as they walked, making small talk, but mostly enjoying the comfortable summer weather. For dinner, Annie stuffed herself with steak, a chicken salad sandwich and a slice of cheesecake. An odd combination sounding good at the time, but now her overfull belly was paying the price. Thankfully Brax kept stealing bites from the cheesecake or she would have been worse off.
“So how do you feel about John and Trevor?” she asked and then clarified, “Or should I say Stetson and Trevor?”
“You know?” Brax sounded surprised.
“It took me a bit to catch on, but I figured it out half way through dinner. The looks you kept giving him, I just knew you must have known him. And then it donned on me. You mentioned Stetson in the car and John woke up the morning after the biker bar answering the phone as Stetson,” she laughed at the memory. “If it wasn’t for his obnoxious ring tone waking me up I wouldn’t have even remembered his name. I kept referring to him as cowboy Stetson after that,” she giggled again. “I’m actually a little shocked it took me so long to put two and two together.”
“Well you don’t sound too angry. I was a little worried you would be.”
“You? Worried? I didn’t think that was possible,” she feigned shock and playfully bumped into him with her hip, but he took her facetious comment in stride, not bothering to give it credence. “Why would I be angry?” she asked in all seriousness.
“Because of Trevor. I didn’t plan that you know.”
“I know. I’d be pissed if I thought you did it on purpose, but you were shocked to find out he was gay. I could tell. Does it bother you? That one of your bodyguards is into men?”
“He’s not my bodyguard,” Braxton scoffed, shocked she would think he needed a bodyguard. “I just hired him to look after you, that’s all. And it doesn’t bother me. I found it more entertaining it bothered him. I could care less who he fucks as long as he gets the job done, which he did.” He brought her hand up to kiss the top.
“Why don’t you need a bodyguard Brax?” she stopped walking to ask and turned to look at him. “What’s to stop another gang from killing you? You might be big, but you’re not invincible. If a group of guys walked up on the street and held you at gun point you wouldn’t be able to stop them.”
“I hate it when you call it a gang. Makes us sound like a bunch of thugs who were too dumb to make it through high school and instead thought they’d test their luck by getting high, choosing a favorite color and killing people for making fun of their idiotic nature.”
“Jesus Brax, tell me how you really feel.”
Brax walked her toward a tree off the path and sat down, pulling her beside him. Leaning back, he cradled her into his side.
“The guys I know are some of the most brilliant, conniving, hardworking people I’ve ever met. They figured out how to get around the system and make things work for them. It’s an insult to think we did all this just by stupidity and knowing how to pull a trigger.”
“Point taken. I won’t call it that anymore, but back to my original question. What’s to stop another,” she paused to think for a better word, “mob from killing you?”
“Technically nothing, but most of them don’t know who I am. I might give the orders, but I rarely carry them out. I’m just a name in the background. There are some orders I don’t even give. They’re just done in my name and because of that, there are people who don’t believe I even exist. That I’m just an entity; a tool used to scare people.”
“But some people have to know you. You can’t go completely unseen.”
“That’s true. And for those people there is a code. I respect their anonymity and they respect mine. If they sent a crew to kill me, they would be breaking the code. I’m not saying it wouldn’t happen, it’s just unlikely. If they were found out, the other syndicates would step in and get rid of them. We all have to play nice together and no one wants to work with a group waiting to take them out as soon as they get their chance.”
“But what about the other night?” she pushed again. “You killed the leader of that other group. What’s to stop someone from doing that to you?”
“That was different. He was planning to turn me in; a fucking rat. There’s a whole other set of rules for guys like him and I sent a message about that loud and clear.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “I’m not saying what I do isn’t dangerous, I’m just saying I know how to protect myself. Going around with a security detail would only draw more attention. It wouldn’t stop someone if they really wanted me dead.”
“Well either way, I don’t like it,” she wrapped an arm around him. “I don’t want to be watching the news one day and find out you’ve been killed.”
“Watching the news?” He tipped her head up by her chin to look at him. “That’s not how you’d find out.”
She looked back down at his chest and he brought her face up to meet his again.
“When I don’t come home, that’s how you find out. When one of my men knocks on our door and begs for your forgiveness, that’s how you find out.” He skirted around the real topic at hand, that she insinuated she would find out from the news because she wouldn’t be there in person to find out a different way.
Letting go of her chin, they sat in silence, neither one of them pushing the topic, but he was down to the wire, had only hours to convince her to stay. It was now or never. “You still don’t want to move do you? After everything we’ve been through,” he shook his head in disappointment.
Sighing, she turned to get a better look at him. “It’s not that I don’t want to. You know I do.” Her fingers slid through his hair before grazing gently down the back of his neck. “I just. I can’t.” She let out a deep breath and rested her forehead on his shoulder, unable to look him in the eyes.
“Okay, I get it. Your friends, your family, your job. You don’t want to leave them. I understand.”
Her head popped up quick, shock written all over her face at his acceptance.
“I’ll move.”
Annie’s mouth dropped open, not knowing what to say. “What? No. You can’t. You have everything out here. You can’t just move.”
“I can. I am. I bought a hotel in downtown Lansing. Right near the university.”
She unconsciously pushed away and Brax reached out a hand, placing it on her thigh, holding her in place.
“Don’t do that. Don’t pull away from me. You’re going to love it. I’m going to make it perfect. You’ll see. Everyone will see. I don’t have to be your dirty little secret. You won’t want me to.”
“You bought a hotel?” She was still trying to wrap her mind around it while simultaneously pushing her heart down from her throat and back into her chest. She was so fucked. “You shouldn’t have done that. What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking I want to be with you. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
“How do you know you want to be with me? Jesus, we haven’t even had sex yet. I can’t just change my whole life on a whim and hope we work out.” She could feel his grip tighten on her thigh and anger stormed across his hard features.
“I’m not asking you to change anything. I’ll change. I’ll change everything.”
“Why would you
do that? You don’t know me. It’s been a week Brax. A fucking week.”
“I know you better than anyone. Have you even bothered to tell your husband about what you did? Your friends? Your family? They all know the fake you. I know the real you.”
She jumped up, needing space, but he followed, not backing down. “That’s not who I am. Just something stupid I did once.” She paced back and forth, hands clenched into fists at her sides, and he halted her to a stop, gripping her shoulders and tried to shake some sense into her.
“That’s exactly who you are,” he shook her back and forth a couple more times. “Or it’s who you’ve become, but if I had to guess, it’s who you’ve always been.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” She pushed hard against his chest, but he didn’t budge.
“You said yourself it’s consumed your life. Can you honestly tell me it came out of nowhere? You’ve never done anything like that before? Never thought about it? You were just little miss innocent your whole life until that happened. It was an isolated incident and you were completely normal after that until you got here, made me kill a man, blew me next to his dead body, and let me fuck you with my gun; which I know you loved. You’re full of shit if you truly believe that, so don’t tell me I don’t know you. I know you better than anyone, including your piece of shit husband.”
Annie had to use all her energy to twist out of his grasp. He was right, he was always right, but then he had to bring up Keith. He could badmouth her all he wanted, but not Keith. He was innocent in all this. He didn’t deserve to be called out. She turned back to face him, pointing a finger in his direction. “Don’t say that. Don’t you fucking say that! He’s always taken care of me. He’s given me everything I ever wanted. He doesn’t deserve you saying—”
“Given you everything?” he cut her off. “He can’t even give you a damn baby.”
Tears swelled in her eyes while she stood in shock. Did he really just say that? “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” Her voice was calm, collected; inside she was anything but. She wanted to strangle him. Wanted to cause him physical pain.
“Oh really? I don’t? You never would have lost that baby if you were with me.”
Annie could no longer hold back her emotions. Taking a step forward she hit him. He held still and she hit him again. Over and over; across the cheek, on his arms, his chest, everywhere she could reach. Her palm burned from the sting and tears streamed down her face. He stood still taking it, letting her hit him until her arms tired and she drooped into him, weeping uncontrollably.
“You can hit me as many times as you want, it doesn’t make it any less true.”
She couldn’t stay there. Couldn’t argue her point any longer. She took off running and he let her, back down the path they came. She ran hard and fast, adrenalin spurring her on until her chest felt like it would combust.
Braxton stood still, watching as she ran off. “Fuck!” he screamed, gripping his hands in his hair. How could he have been so stupid? This wasn’t how he wanted it to go. He wanted to convince her to be with him, not push her further away. Why the fuck did he bring up the baby? What was he thinking? Of course that would piss her off, but he couldn’t not bring it up. It was true. If she was with him, it never would have happened. She would have had the best doctor money could buy. She wouldn’t have had to work. He would have taken care of her. He could take care of her now; better than anyone else. He had to stop her. Had to make her understand. Without thinking further, he took off running down the path she fled.
Annie’s lungs burned and she braced herself on her knees before standing and wiping the rest of her tears. How did he know? Who the fuck told him? She could hear his footfalls behind her. Of course he’d never let her go that easy. The only way he’d let her go is if he knew everything. She had to tell him.
Without turning to face him, she let it all spill out. Everything he would hate her for. “I’m not from Michigan,” she whispered and then asserted herself louder. “I don’t work at that university. My name’s not Bethany, and I can’t even remember all the other things I lied to you about, so don’t try to pretend like you know me. You don’t know shit.”
“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, but turn the fuck around.”
The voice echoing behind her was not one she’d heard before. Suddenly her anger turned to fear and she realized she ran away from the one person who would always protect her.
“Do what I fucking told you bitch or I’ll shoot a bullet right through the back of that pretty little head of yours.”
Annie swallowed and turned around slow. Facing the stranger, she was met by the barrel of a full size, black, 9mm; the muzzle trained directly at her head. On instinct she backed away, moving one foot behind the other while the gunman stalked forward. An unkempt beard covered his face and he ran his tongue below his bottom lip, rubbing it against the long straggly hairs. With steroid infused muscles bigger than Brax’s, his ascension would have been intimidating even without the gun, and from the shake in his hand he was obviously methed out of his mind.
“If you take one more step I’ll fucking kill you.”
She froze in response to his words with absolute certainty he was telling the truth, and raised her hands in the air.
“Your purse, hand it over.”
Her purse. It had what she needed to get home. She couldn’t leave without it. Fumbling with the strap she pulled it over her head. “Can I just take my ID?” she asked, reaching her hand in to search for it.
“Fucking drop it!”
He yelled so loud she was startled into submission. The purse dropping from her hand of its own accord.
“Kick it over.”
Despite her earlier adrenalin, it was now depleted, and her foot shook as she looked down toward the purse, preparing to push it his way, but never had the chance, and found herself jumping backward as his body crashed forward, almost crushing her in the process.
Braxton landed on top of him, throwing a punch to his lower back, straight to the kidney, but it wasn’t enough to keep him down and he managed to send an elbow into Braxton’s rib cage giving him time to push to his knees. Throwing his head back, it collided with Braxton’s chin, knocking him off.
The gunmen struggled to his feet and Braxton quickly followed, wiping the blood from his lip as they circled each other. He heaved another punch that Braxton effortlessly dodged and landed a punch of his own, but still, he didn’t go down. Instead, he jumped back, holding up his hands in surrender. What the fuck?
Braxton turned to where the man was looking to find Bethany holding a gun, aimed in their direction. The gunman must have dropped it in their struggle.
Bethany seemed unsure of who she wanted to shoot, pointing the gun back and forth between them.
“B, give me the gun.”
She didn’t move. Stood perfectly still. A haze clouded her vision and he wondered who she was aiming for; the gunman or both of them? He certainly deserved it after what he said.
She held the gun steady; steady as a rock. He could sense her finger squeezing ever so slightly and was thankful it was now pointed at her attacker, but she could just as easily take him out as well.
“Baby, think about what you’re doing. Just give it to me. It’ll be okay,” he said, trying to tempt her once more and a part of him considered running to take it from her; albeit a small part. Even if she was a terrible shot, the closer he got, the better her chances were, and he couldn’t let her shoot him or the gunman for that matter. It would be heard from miles away.
“You piece of shit,” she yelled. “Do you know what you did? Do you know who he is? You deserve worse than this.”
“Bethany no! Don’t be stupid—”
It was too late. The shot echoed piercing and brilliant; a perfect circle marring the center of the man’s forehead.
“Son of a bitch!” Braxton yelled, shocked and angry she didn’t listen to him, yet a tad bit proud s
he hit her mark. He stared down at the man and back toward Bethany, surveying the situation.
She lowered the gun, the haze of anger fading, but the damage was already done. The police would be on their way soon and while it might take them a while to find the body, they needed to get out of there.
“Are you okay?” her soft voice drifted toward him.
No, he was not okay. He was going to have to clean this mess up, and fast. What the fuck was she thinking? Why did she feel the need to do that? Braxton glared, not responding to her question, and stormed over ripping the gun out of her hands.
“Hey what the.”
“Shut the fuck up,” he hissed and ran a few feet away, picking up her purse from where it lay on the ground. Running back, he pushed it into her arms and took hold of her wrist, pulling her behind. “Run,” he called over his shoulder and dragged her along until she caught up to his pace.
They ran for five minutes straight, but it felt more like thirty at the pace they were going. Annie and running never went well together and she had to stop to catch her breath, unable to move another step. Brax on the other hand looked like it was something he did every day. While Annie was near death, he had the energy mid-sprint to call the driver and tell him where to pick them up. He also called Benny and in a nutshell told him to get his ass down to Central Park and clean up the body. He never admitted it was Annie who shot the man, claimed it was his doing instead.
Brax waited exactly one minute for Annie to catch her breath before he was pulling on her again, leading her to the park exit.
Thunder roared in the distance and it wasn’t long before the thick drops made their way down. By the time they reached the SUV, parked at the curb in the exact spot Brax requested, the storm kicked into high gear.
They raced over and he threw open the passenger door, picking her up and practically tossing her inside, before running over to the driver’s side. Greg slid out of the seat just in time for Brax to jump in and speed off, leaving him to fend for himself in the pouring rain.
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