by Piper Page
I was having such a blast; I didn’t want the night to be ruined. If I left before they went to the Wildfire, I’d always remember this night fondly.I couldn’t call it quits at eleven at my best friend’s bachelorette party.
You’re probably wondering why I’d be so scared about going to a club. One, Megan was a lot more experienced than me. Two, I didn’t dance. Three, and most importantly, I didn’t dance. When I danced, it looked an alien trying to fit in with humans. Like I didn’t know how a body should move.
And dancing meant getting close to men. Don’t get me wrong, I loved men…if they stayed far away. I was only afraid of getting close, and I had my reasons. Good reasons.
So while we walked down the street toward the Wildfire, my body tingled. Nervous energy bounded around inside me. My lips were sealed shut as the girls talked, and I kept to the back. We were on a prominent street with bright streetlights, so I felt safe enough to hide in what little shadows I could.
Maria noticed. She dropped back.
“Hey, you all right?”
“Yeah,” I said, my voice rough. I rubbed my throat. “I’m not good with men.”
Oh, crap. That didn’t come out right. My nerves were out of control.
She gave me a questioning look. “You mean—”
“That didn’t come out right. I’m not a lesbian. I’m just…”
Just what? The darkness closed in on me as I remembered that day, the one that would come to define me. My ex-boyfriend of the time, Chris, he strode by me in our high school hallway.
“Have a good day,” he said coolly to me before he passed by.
I saw his smug face as the rest of the school talked behind my back.
I stood at my locker, wishing that I could hide, that I could shut it closed forever like my coffin. Old wounds re-opened as I heard them whisper in my ear again. I heard those words in that fake ad he posted about me online.
My skin crawled at those words. Words that would haunt me forever. Come take me. I liked to be fucked hard. Just walk right into my house. I’m waiting for you with my legs spread.
I snapped out of it. It hurt too much, like slicing my wounds open again. Nausea rolled up my throat as I walked in pace with Maria. I’d not been there for a second. I’d been on autopilot.
Maria took me by the shoulder, stopping me. She noticed other girls glance over their shoulder, so we kept walking, but I got the point.
I was acting crazy. “Sorry, I had a flashback.” I shrugged. “Those tend to happen to me sometimes.”
“You’re nervous, huh? Do you want me to go back to the hotel with you?”
“That, I can’t do. I want to keep hanging out. I’m just…not much of a dancer.”
“That bad?” She started to smile.
“Yes, that bad.”
We drew near, the lights like the front of a military compound, the heavy bass pounding in my chest. A large group crowded to get in.
“Don’t worry. I’m not dancing, either. Megan will dance enough for the rest of us,” Maria said.
I nodded. “Thanks, I needed to talk about this. I’ll not bring it up again and be the annoying one who spoils the night.”
“Stop apologizing. I’m here to help.” We’d only met, but I liked Maria a lot.
The bouncers let Megan and her entourage right through. My jaw dropped at the view of the club. It was massive, like a sea of bodies. The electronic music blasting made it hard to hear anything. Anyone close to the speaker system must have been wearing ear-plugs.
Girls in sexy angel outfits danced on top of neon blinking stages like strippers. I liked the fact that they were equal opportunity employers, as I noticed men in devil costumes dancing too.
What got me worried most was the passion of the dancers. They were close, packed bodies, and the place screamed sex. I decided right away I’d definitely not be dancing. I’d steer clear of the dance floor, instead choosing the corner lounges.
“Don’t get lost yet,” Megan yelled over the roar. The girl had a pair of lungs. “And make sure you have your cell phones. No one get lost.”
She had her wits about her still. We went to the far back to the VIP section and sat around the leather couches. I settled in, getting comfortable again.
They already had the liquor out for us with a big, sparkly bow across the top-shelf vodka. Megan asked if we wanted to do another round of shots. I shook my head. I needed to stay sober. As they went down the line, I took cautious glances over my shoulder to the crowd.
It was like that sea of people would somehow pull me into the tide.
The girls sat on edge. They would head out soon, and I would be left here.
“Actually, I’ll have one.” I took a shot to steel my nerves. The vodka burned going down and I almost coughed.
When there were parties on campus, I tended to avoid them. I had a weak tolerance for alcohol.
After her shop, Megan hopped up. “Let’s go, girls.”
For Megan, there wasn’t enough time for a rallying cry. The majority had her back anyway, as the line of girls took their game to the dance floor. That left Maria and I alone.
“Let’s make the most of this, shall we?” Maria said. I agreed. We broke out one of the few games from the naughty bag.
We stopped on a naughty game for couples.These questions were heavy...”Would you rather show off your naked body to a neighbor or would you rather be the voyeur peeping at your naked neighbor?”
“Would you rather be spanked or be the spankee?”
The list rattled on and on, but we didn’t play for long. We were mainly reading through the questions to see what the creators had come up with.
I had no sexual experience, but I could answer most of the questions. Like the one about spanking, I’d definitely want to be the one to be spanked. If I ever got into a relationship, I would need to be the submissive one.
My body flushed, the room got warm, and energy raced inside me as the DJ changed to a different song. This one had a disco flair to it, and it got me bobbing my head from the couch.
Maria placed the board game card on her lap. “I want to go out there, Allie. Will you hate me if I do?”
“Absolutely not,” I said. In fact, I’d been thinking the same thing, and I’d been watching the other girls.
They’d found a place on the dancefloor and they’d claimed it as their own. For the moment, I forgot about my past. I lived in the here and now.
“No pressure,” she said, already inching forward.
“I’ll join you.” I stood, brushed myself off.
Smiling, although I was a little uneasily, we squeezed our way through the mass of bodies to get to our friends.
Megan darted over and hugged me. “Allie, where have you been all my life?”
“I’m here now.”
She didn’t seem to hear me, instead she hugged me hard.
She let go, and I danced with the rest of the girls. The crowd closed in, but I was keen on trying to flow with the beat. My limbs were a lot less wooden than usual thanks to the alcohol, and the killer DJ.
Out the blue, someone came up to me and began to dance in step. They drew closer, and that’s when I realized it was a man trying to dance with me, trying to get close. The protective shell I’d constructed rose, but since I was having a good time, I lost myself to the music and turned toward him.
He looked fine. He wore a V-neck that showed plenty of muscle. He was fit with gelled, slick hair, and he smelled good too, like the woods and spice.
We danced, and I’d like to believe it wasn’t as awkward as I thought. As the song ramped up, he closed in on me.
“You’re hot.” I barely heard him, but I read his lips. Those lips, getting closer, and closer.
My body tensed. I searched frantically for my friends. They weren’t watching. They had their own distractions.
He slipped his hands over my hips, trailing them up to my waist. I went cold as the crowd around me muted and all I heard was the buzzing in
my head.
I’d never asked for this. I’d never asked for any of this!
I shoved him off me, and he snapped back, offended.
“Get off me,” I snarled. My reaction told him he’d better not reach at me again if he wanted to keep his hands.
But I couldn’t keep up my defenses. His face warped, revealing my old high school ex, Chris. The way I shoved him off reminded me of how I shoved Chris off as he tried to force himself on me, thrusting me down onto his parent’s couch.
The next day, he ruined my life. He broke me and left me this shell, unable to have normal relationships with people. Friends turned on me and sold me out when the rest of the school believed his lies, that I was a huge slut who had posted an ad asking for strangers to come and fuck me at home.
“Frigid bitch,” the man in front of me screamed, his spittle hitting me in the face.
I brushed it off and tore away, my demons at my back again. It was like cold hands were all over my body, dragging me back, closing around my neck. My breath picked up until it was out of control; I couldn’t breathe.
I needed out. Now.
Only when I broke free of the club, into the cool night air, did I get some relief. I did some multiplication like I always did when trying to focus. I got up to thirteen times sixteen. Two hundred and eight. Then I could walk freely without the demons tearing me apart.
My walk back to the Allure was still brisk.
This night wouldn’t be about me. I’d never do that to Megan. Even if I had a panic attack, if it were to interrupt any of her fun, I’d feel even worse. I left a message to our group text.
“Hey all, I’m going back to the room. I got tired. It was a blast! Watch the bride to be for me.”
She’d be fine. Maria had her back. So did the others. In my state, I would be of little help.
The walk back was only a few minutes, yet it felt like I walked for hours, my feet moving but not taking me anywhere. I started to go back to the room, but the night had helped shaken off my fear.
I would go back to the bar find a seat, and calm my nerves. Really, all I wanted to do was be close to the ocean. When I got there, the closest seats on the bar were taken. I took off my heels instead, and walked out onto the sand, the calm rolling of the ocean waves like a lullaby.
It soothed me within a few minutes, and I was ready to go back to my room.
The night seemed not over with yet, though, as I heard rustling and muffled voices from behind me. I shuffled up the sand toward the shack.
At this time at night, who would be inside? I read in the moonlight the sign that said it was for surfing rentals.
Something seemed off.
I cupped my ear at the wall, and listened. I heard voices, what sounded like a whimper. It could’ve been a couple fucking in there, or it could’ve been a hurt animal. My curiosity got the best of me
Dropping my purse outside, I tucked my cell phone in my bra. It was uncomfortable but necessary. With the alcohol in my system, I found my courage to slip open the door, and sneak inside.
Chapter 2
Santiago
* * *
“You must know who I am, because you haven’t screamed.”
Hector didn’t move a muscle. He looked straight ahead like he was looking at a ghost.
“You look at me like I’m not real, but I’m very much real. And the pain that I am going to inflict on you will be very much real too.”
We were in a tiny beach rental shack. There were boogie boards and surf boards stacked against the walls. In the middle, I strapped Hector down onto a wobbly chair, but the knots were tight. I’d done this before.
He tried to squirm at first, but eventually in the dark shack he was able to see my face. He recognized me then. Santiago Estrada, one of the Estrada brothers. The Estrada brother who could get anyone to talk.
My fist slammed against his jaw. The force of it knocked him and the chair down.
“Sorry about that. Looks like I’m going to need to bolt you to the ground,” I said as I placed him back upright.
“What do you want?” he wheezed.
It might’ve looked like I wasn’t a very good man. I wasn’t, really, but Hector was even worse. He was part of the Garcia crime family. Just like us, they were active in Puerto Rico, mostly on the outskirts of San Juan. But we were all over.
He worked the docks. And that was why I needed to talk to him. I also knew in order to become a member, he needed to shoot some innocents. We didn’t do bullshit like that in our family. Innocents and women were off the table.
“I want to know if you’ve got any interesting shipments coming in.”
Hector’s sweat dripped down his brow, but his eyes didn’t move. I saw his pupils contract.
It could’ve been nothing. But it could’ve been something too.
We were tipped off by one of our informants that there would be a shipment coming in, a very expensive shipment, a big blue diamond that had recently been stolen from a museum. If Hector was useful, he would tell us when that shipment would be arriving to the Garcia docks so we could make our move.
I placed my shoe on the chair to stop it from tipping, then I right hooked him again. The chair wobbled but didn’t tumble. Hector spat blood and groaned.
“I didn’t hear you.”
“What shipment?”
Okay, that pissed me off.
“The big fucking diamond shipment. The Angeline blue diamond,” I roared.
I wished I didn’t do that. Hector had been at the Allure resort when I nabbed him. I’d been following him for a few days now. When I saw him stumble out to the beach, drunk, I decided to make my move and dragged him into this surf shack. If he started to scream, I would have to silence him quickly.
There shouldn’t be tourists walking down the beach. It was closed. But there was an outside party deck not far from here.
The music should block out his screams, but I needed to be careful.
Hector shook his head.
“Wrong answer,” I grunted. I reached behind my back. I unstrapped the tool satchel I had placed there. They were all lined up nicely in a leather sack.
He kicked free himself when he saw it.
“Please, let me go. I don’t know anything,” he said.
“Shut up.”
If Hector wouldn’t tell me, I’d have to resort to using my trusty tools. The diamond was worth millions. Our brothers wanted it, and we definitely didn’t want it to fall into their family’s grimy paws.
I leaned down so he would see my slick smile. “I hope you don’t talk, you know. I actually like this job. When people squeal their secrets within the first minute, I’m let down. I look forward to the chopping, the slicing, the burning, the pulling…it’s what makes this job so much fun.”
Hector believed me. I could tell.
“I swear, I don’t know anything,” he said, trembling.
What the Guerra family would do to him if they found out what he said would be worse. They were sick bastards. I might be unhinged, but they were scum—weak scumbags who liked to murder and rape innocents.
Our family at least tried to treat the common people right. We might’ve sold drugs, and I might’ve chopped off fingers for a living, but we had a code.
Hector had no code.
Which was why I expected him to blurt out where the diamond was. Eventually.
“People always say the same thing when they’re first strapped to the chair, but they sing a different tune once I pull out my first toy.”
I whipped out the scalpel from my case. I could do some artful rearrangements on someone’s face with this. As soon as I held it up and it glinted from the cracks in the ceiling, Hector broke.
“All right, I’ll tell you if you promise to let me go.”
“I promise.” I dropped my hands onto his seat and leaned him back as I placed the scalpel to his eyebrows. “Now don’t lie to me.”
“It’s coming in at two in the morning on Wednesday. At
our docks.”
“Two in the morning? Exactly?”
“Yes, yes, exactly. Two.” He tried to move his hand to show me two, but his hand had been tied. People forget they can’t do so much when tied to a chair. You’d be surprised.
“Okay,” I said. Then I held the scalpel up. “I still need to see if you’re telling the truth.”
“No, no, no…”
I laughed. “Easy, I was just kidding.”
But I wouldn’t be letting Hector leave, that was for sure. If he left, he might tell someone, because he was an idiot. If he wanted to keep his life, he wouldn’t, but I couldn’t take a gamble on Hector’s intelligence.
As I returned the scalpel to my pouch, I heard a creak in the floorboards. I jolted toward the sound, in the front center near the door where they had a checkout counter. This place was all ramshackle, and the floors were made of wooden planks covered with sand.
There could’ve been noises from the place settling, but I doubted it. All I heard was my heartbeat for a few seconds as I tuned in.
Another creak. This one far quieter, but it sounded like someone’s heel moving back.
Who the fuck was in here with me?
I charged to the front, only taking three steps with my massive stride. A shadow blurred past me, but I caught it, dragging it back with my strength. The figure tried to fight, but it wasn’t strong. I manhandled it as I tossed it back into the room.
They fell onto the floor in front of Hector. I closed in the gap so they wouldn’t be able to run. That was when I noticed the dark tendrils falling over their chest. The fuck? It took me far too long to realize this was a female.
A girl…
I never expected to find a girl here.
She backed up into a sliver of moonbeam, so I could see her.
And what I saw made me feel like I’d found something more valuable than the diamond. Her emerald eyes shone, almost dragging my attention away from her soft, pale curves and her sleek red hair. This girl was fucking hot as hell, my type of girl right off the bat. My body responded and flooded with a pleasant sensation that I hadn’t felt in a very long time, if ever quite as strongly as this.