by Kitty Parker
"Yeah, you're right. I am amazing."
"Don't let your head get any bigger than it already is." I said slipping out of his arms and stepping onto the floor.
"Are you saying that I have a large head?" He asked propping himself up on one elbow.
"Yes, I am." I stated smugly before turning to head into my closet.
I had barely got three feet when I no longer felt the soft carpet beneath my feet. Soon I was on my back, with Andrew straddling my hips. He had his hands placed on the sides of my head and his face was bent close to mine.
"Let me up. I need to get dressed." I demanded pushing against his chest.
No such luck, he didn't move an inch.
"Say I don't have a big head."
"I cannot tell a lie."
"So now you're George Washington." He stated.
"So then that makes you gay and you have a big head."
"Gay?"
"If I'm George Washington, then I'm a guy and I'm pretty sure you're a guy, unless you've been hiding something from me. Seeing that you're straddling another 'guy' then I assumed you were gay." I said ending my speech with a bright smile.
"I'm not gay!" He protested.
"Prove it." I said smirking.
He eliminated the little existing space between our faces, bringing his lips crashing down onto mine. After a while I finally managed to push him off, so I could come up for air.
"Believe me?"
"You're not gay." I said standing up.
"And…"
"And you don't have a big head."
"Thank you." He said jumping up from the floor.
I backed into my closet watching him the whole time.
"IT'S HUGE!" I yelled before swiftly closing the doors on an approaching Andrew.
I heard him mumble a few curses, then kick the door, before walking away. I heard the door to my room close as I guessed he headed back to his own bedroom to change.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I walked out of Emma's room and headed for mine to go change. Before I reached my room I saw Mason step out of his.
"Hey Mason!" I called jogging the last few feet to catch up with him.
"Yeah?" He asked turning to face me.
"Do I have a big head?"
"What?"
"I think he does." A voice chimed in from down the hall.
I turned around to find Seth leaning against his doorframe looking rather smug.
"No one asked you!" I shot at him.
"You know I never keep my mouth shut." He replied pushing himself away from the door and walking over.
"Yeah." Mason spoke up.
"Oh, and I saw you coming out of Miss Emma's room just then." Seth said wiggling his eyebrows.
"Really?" Mason said suggestively.
"Shut up! Nothing happened."
"And why not?" Seth said nudging my arm.
"You are one sick man."
"I don't believe you." Mason stated.
"What? Why not?"
"When have you ever spent the night with a girl and NOT had sex with her?"
"That was different." I defended.
"How so?"
"She's different. She's innocent. She's doesn't like me for my money and she in it for more than just sex."
"Yes. But are YOU in it for more than just sex?"
"OF COURSE! I would never do something like that to Emma!"
"Why?" Seth asked joining the conversation.
"I told you she's different. She likes me for me."
"So she likes the kidnapping, killing type." He said crossing his arms across his chest.
"If we had never kidnapped her then she wouldn't be here, and I haven't killed THAT many people."
"Five."
"Three!" I protested.
"Name them."
"There was that hit-man, and then the next one was self defense and then- -"
"Hey!" Emma called walking out or her room. "What you guys talking about?"
"Nothing."
"Andrew's big head."
"Pudding."
We all said at the same time. I have no idea where Seth came up with pudding. I was just glad neither of them had mentioned the real topic of discussion. I didn't want her knowing anything about that.
"Uh-huh" She said in a disbelieving tone.
"Well I gotta go and get dressed. I'll meet you in the kitchen in a little while." I said before slipping into my room.
I closed my door behind me as I heard three sets of footsteps retreating down the hallway. She didn't need to know anything about that; ever. There was no reason for her to know that I had killed a man. I mean yeah, the other was self-defense, but this one wasn't as clear.
It wasn't black and white, clear as crystal. It was gray and muddy. If you looked at it one way, I seemed like a man rightfully defending his life. On the other hand I looked like a cold blooded, merciless killer. She didn't need to know, because I was afraid she would see the latter of the two, and that was that.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"So what were you guys really talking about?" I asked Seth and Mason as we headed downstairs.
"Andrew's big head."
"Pudding."
I got the same responses. It seemed I wasn't going to get any answers out of these two stubborn asses. I would just have to ask Andrew about it later. We thumped noisily down the stairs and into the kitchen. Upon entering we discovered the twins sitting at the counter, seeming to be arguing over something.
"No it's not!" One of the twins yelled at the other. I could faintly make out the scar on his left cheek, Matt.
"Yeah it is!" His brother screamed back at him.
"NO!"
"YES!"
"NO!"
"YES!"
"MAYBE!" I yelled breaking up their fight.
"Maybe?" They both asked cocking their heads to the side.
"Just getting you to stop fighting." I said smugly.
"What were you two fighting about now?" Seth asked as he bit into an apple.
"Well, my idiotic twin here, thinks that my head is bigger than his."
Good God! Everyone in this house had issues with their heads. I just hoped I wouldn't be next.
"No he doesn't. You're both the same." I supplied before another fight started. "Andrew has the biggest any ways."
"Biggest what?" Andrew asked as he came into the kitchen.
"Cranium." I stated simply suppressing a giggle.
"That's head stupid." Seth threw in at the notice of Andrew's confused expression.
"I know what it is!" He defended.
"I'm tired of fighting over which one of you has the biggest melon, so I'm just gonna say all of your all heads are HUGE!" I stated crossing my arms and ending the conversation.
"NO THEY'RE NOT!" They all yelled turning in my direction.
"You all are in denial and need therapy." I said slipping off of the stool.
"Who needs therapy?" A deep voice questioned from the doorway.
We all turned to see Jett coming into the kitchen, stretching his arms above his head, making him taller that his already gargantuan height.
"You do." Andrew supplied.
I would have NEVER said that to Jett. That guy could have smashed me into dust. Andrew on the other hand threw it out like an ordinary, every day comment. Maybe Andrew was the one that needed therapy.
"Sure." He replied nonchalantly and grabbed a coke out of the refrigerator. He popped the tab and downed it within ten seconds. He let out an earth-shattering burp and all the guys cheered and complimented him on his achievement. I on the other hand had a look of disgust written across my face.
"Ew." I said simply, making a face at him.
"What?" He asked clue less.
"You all are so nasty."
"No we're not."
"Please. Have you seen yourselves? You just shattered windows with that burp, the twins look like they forgot to comb their hair, Andrew has a hole in his
shirt, Seth has a ketchup stain on his, and Mason needs to learn how to iron his pants." I said pointing out all their flaws.
"Well you're not so perfect yourself." Jett defended.
"Oh really?"
"Yeah! You… uh what's wrong with her?" Matt stuttered.
"Absolutely nothing, because I'm perfect. You guys are boring me. I'm going to find something to do." I threw over my shoulder before walking my perfect self out of the kitchen.
Hell I knew I wasn't perfect, but why deny it? I was the farthest thing from perfect. I had been kidnapped, was dating my kidnapper, and living with deadly men. Yes, I was sure that would not be filed under perfect more like crazy.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
We'll see how perfect she is in a couple of days. I thought to myself.
If I had it my way there would be nothing left of her perfect little life. Of course she would still be alive, that was the main reason of this whole thing, but her whole world would be gone. Her life had been pulled out from under her before and it was about ready to disappear all over again.
I halfway listened to the guys talking about various sports and other shit. None of that would matter soon. None of them would even be alive in a matter of days. I was sitting in a room full of clueless idiots, and it felt good. The less they suspected the better, if they had only known from the beginning, everything would have been different. Their lives wouldn't be about to be extinguished and they wouldn't have ever met me. They were to caring for their own good.
Chapter 19
Tomorrow. Everything was going to change in a mere twenty-four hours and it felt damn good. I couldn't wait to see the looks on all of their faces when they found out what I had done. They thought they knew me, everything I had told them from day one had been a complete and total lie. They believed every piece of crap that poured out of my mouth. I had to admit I was a pretty good liar. If you could pull one over on the Mafia, then you could pull off anything, and this wasn't just anything.
I folded my arms behind my head and relaxed. All I had to do now was wait, nothing could go wrong. I was in a house full of oblivious idiots; compared to them I was Einstein. I pushed myself up off of my bed and walked out the door and into the hallway. It was empty, but I could hear laughter coming from inside Emma's room.
I crept down the hallway and silently pressed my ear against the door. At first all I could hear were muffled giggles and laughs. However they soon subsided and turned into words. I pressed closer trying to catch every last word that was being spoken.
"I still can't believe that this thing turned out to be good." I heard Emma say to who I was guessing was Andrew.
Could she be any stupider? I mean really, nothing good could ever come from being kidnapped. I would let her live in her perfect little fantasy world for one more day. Then I would shatter it with the harsh reality. Oh what fun I was going to have.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"I still can't believe that this thing turned out to be good." I said to Andrew who was sitting across from me on my bed his legs spread out in front of him.
"I know. I never thought that something like this would happen. To me it was just another job. We were going to keep you for a few days, get the money and then take you back. Simple as that."
"Simple?"
"Well, you know what I mean."
"No, I don't." I said crossing my arms and looking pointedly at him.
"Well it's just …" He stammered out rubbing the back of his head.
"Go on."
"You're not the first person that we've ever kidnapped and brought back here."
"Really?" I asked raising my eyebrows. "How many others?"
"Just two. The first one was a guy about twenty five, we took him back after about a week and the next one…"
"What?"
"Never made it back." He mumbled out.
"Oh my God! Did you kill him?"
Andrew looked away from me, his eyes concentrating on the carpet.
"Andrew, you didn't."
"I had to."
"No you didn't!"
"It was self defense. The first time I came up to his room to bring him food, he attacked me. I pulled my gun out without even a second thought and unloaded it in him."
"He was defenseless!"
"No. He had a knife on him, which we failed to notice. Stupid mistake, that cost him his life."
"How old was he?"
Again he trained his eyes on the carpet. Before answering he closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.
"Eighteen."
"Oh my God! Andrew! Why the hell did you kidnap him in the first place?"
I knew he had been older than me, but this kid had died, at the hand of another kid. For some reason the fact that Andrew had been around the guys age, or possibly even younger disturbed me. It was like his innocence had been forced from him. It just didn't seem right.
"He was a threat. We found out that he had been spying so we captured him, we didn't plan on killing him, it just happened."
I sat without saying a word. Why did this shock me so much? He was in the fucking Mafia; it was expected that he had killed someone. He had even told me before, but I never thought it would hurt this much. Hell I didn't even know why it hurt. I felt sad. Maybe it was the fact that we had gone through the same thing, but I had come out of it alive, and he hadn't. I didn't know and I probably never would.
"Emma, are you okay?" Andrew's voice brought me back to reality.
"What? Oh, yeah. I'm fine."
"You sure?"
"Not really." I confessed.
"I'm sorry. I never should have told. I'm so stupid." He said resting his head in his hands.
"Hey. It's not your fault. I was bound to find out sometime or another." I said moving his hands away from his face.
"I know. It's just.. I wish I could take back what I did."
"You can't live your life in the past. You have to accept your faults and move on. No matter what they are."
His emerald green eyes found mine and I almost broke down. I had never noticed before, but they looked so sad, so full of sorrow and remorse, so full of guilt and regret. I just wanted to hold him and make all the bad things go away. So that's what I did. I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed. He returned the gesture, resting his head in the crook of my neck.
I could feel his warm breath softly playing along my neck. Then I felt his lips graze my collarbone. I shuddered at his touch. I removed my arms and looked up at him. He kept his arms firmly around me as he began to slowly kiss up my neck.
My head fell back in ecstasy. Who knew such little gestures could feel so good. His hand was placed on the small of my back, tracing small circles in a continuous pattern. He moved up and captured my lips with his. He started off slow and gradually deepened the kiss. We fell back onto the bed; he was propping himself up on his elbows, so as not to crush me.
I felt his hand slowly begin to creep under the hem of my shirt. His fingers brushed up against the edge of my bra. That's when I came back to reality. I rolled out from under him and sat up on the bed.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." He said sitting up beside me.
"It's okay. I'm just not ready." I said looking at him.
"I promise I won't do anything until your ready." He said offering me a small smile.
I returned the smile and then slid off of the bed, and headed towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Andrew called climbing off the bed and following me to the door.
"Outside." I said my hand on the doorknob.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Outside." Came a clear voice close to the door.
I quickly darted away from the door and into a nearby room. I heard the door open and shut behind them. I waited until their footsteps faded away down the stairs. I poked my head out of the room and stepped out when everything was safe.
That had been too close. I needed
to watch myself. I could not screw this whole thing up. Especially in the home stretch. I was not going to let all these years go to waste. I made my way back to my room and glanced out the window.
They were sprawled out in the grass pointing at various clouds. No doubt fighting over if it looked like a rabbit of pirate ship. I let out a rather loud laugh. One girl and Andrew had turned into a cloud watching, pile of mush. What ever happened to use them, then lose them? This was going to make it so much sweeter. He actually cared about her. I couldn't wait to see his face when I ripped her away from him.
She was going to be mine. It had been a part of the deal since day one. Of course it had gotten more complicated when she had been taken, but it had all worked out for the better in the end. She was already here with me. It would just make the transaction quicker.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Bunny."
"Pirate ship."
"Bunny." I insisted.
"No. It's a pirate ship." Andrew proclaimed pointing at it. "See there's the mast."
"That's the ear stupid."
"Then what do you call that."
"The tail."
"That's the cannon."
"Is not."
"Fine. It's a pirate ship with a bunny on it." He said half way giving in.
"Deal. So long as its not the pirate ship on the bunny." I agreed.
"You want to go out for dinner tonight?" He asked suddenly turning over on his side to face me.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I want you to go upstairs and put on a nice dress. I'm wining and dining you tonight."
"Just dining. I can't have wine." I joked as I sat up.
"Fine. Dining it is. Now go get ready. We'll leave in an hour."
I squealed happily as I jumped up and ran back into the house. I sprinted up the steps and into my room. It thrust open the closet doors and threw myself inside. I actually liked getting dresses up once in a while. So long as the dress was tasteful, the shoes didn't pinch my feet, the jewelry couldn't buy a small country, and the makeup did weigh five pounds. So basically no dress, shoes, or jewelry I was ever forced to wear for an occasion.
I selected a simple black dress that came down to my knees, with a pair of comfortable black heels, a pair of small silver studs, and a touch of mascara. A classic look that could never go wrong. I had just finished brushing out my hair, when Andrew's head popped into the room.