There he was; there was the Marcus I knew. Now I just had to figure out how to stall a killer for twenty minutes.
When we reached the bottom floor, no one was asleep anymore. I saw the body of Ed, and it was the redheaded guy who worked with Marcus. I wasn’t sure what his real name was, though, only that in this undercover job he had gone by Ed. His body was near the door, and it looked like he had a gunshot to his head. I looked away quickly. There was no time to be sad about his death—that would have to come later.
“Line them up,” Rudy said to the man who stood next to Marcus.
Everyone lined up quicker than I had hoped, and within a moment, they were ready for Rudy. Marcus still held onto me as Rudy moved toward the line of people.
“This is over; I’m going to kill the girl if you don’t step forward,” Rudy said as he looked at the group of people.
I saw Zed, and he looked at me and then at Marcus. I was so relieved that he wasn’t the one who had been shot. I didn’t know who the third guy was that Marcus said was undercover. I also didn’t know how on earth I could stall this situation at all.
Marcus and the other guy who Rudy seemed to trust brought me up to the line of people and stood me next to Rudy.
Rudy held onto me and Marcus, and the other guy let go and stepped back.
I felt more unsafe than I ever had.
Rudy clearly had no concern for my life at all; he didn’t care about me or anyone else in the room. He just didn’t want the mole to continue to feed information to the police.
He grabbed me by the hair and pulled me down to the first person in the line. I still felt like I could hardly breathe. I sat dizzy and nauseated. Sweat was pouring from my brow, and I wiped it away while I looked at the man in front of me.
“Do you know him?” Rudy asked.
I shook my head no.
We stepped to the next in line. He wasn’t wasting any time at all. I was terrified that this was going to go by so fast that whoever Marcus was waiting for wasn’t going to get there in time.
“Do you know him?” he asked again.
I again shook my head no.
I felt relieved, though; if this was how it was going to go, we would easily take twenty minutes, and the raid would be here by the time we got to the end of the line. One at a time, I just needed to deny each of them one at a time.
But I wasn’t that lucky. After about ten people, Rudy got frustrated and threw me onto the ground. He clearly wasn’t a man with patience.
“Just tell me which one of these guys you know,” Rudy yelled.
Marcus, and the other man working next to him, came and picked me up from the floor. I looked at them in desperation. I couldn’t take it any longer. I couldn’t draw this out until someone arrived to him, there was no way.
“I know her,” Zed stepped forward from the other end of the line and said.
His eyes were filled with sorrow, and I felt so bad for him. Zed was such a sweet man, and he literally stepped forward and was willing to get killed in order to save me. He didn’t care about the mission or anything else; he just wanted to make sure I wasn’t hurt.
I looked at him with urgency; I couldn’t understand why he had stepped forward. Why would he put himself at risk if he knew the raid was coming?
I broke free from Marcus and the other man holding me and tried to cause a commotion, but Rudy was there quickly and grabbed me by the hair and pulled me toward him. I fell to the ground, and he yanked me back up by my hair and stood me in front of him.
His face was only a few inches away from mine, and I could smell his breath. He was a disgusting man with horrible breath and poor hygiene. I just had to stall for a little bit. Anything to make the time pass so Marcus and Zed weren’t hurt and got this guy behind bars.
“You’ll be dead in a few minutes, sweetheart; no running away now.”
His eyes were cold and void of any emotion. I felt the fear as it took over my body, and I couldn’t move. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t stand the thought of him killing the guy that worked with Marcus. I closed my eyes and felt Marcus and the other man grab onto me again.
This was it; it was all going to be over in just a minute. Zed was going to get shot and then Rudy was going to turn the gun on me. I just knew it was going to end, and there was nothing left for me to do.
Rudy made his way toward Zed with his gun drawn; he passed in front of Marcus and I and then the other man who held onto me. I closed my eyes for a moment as I thought Rudy was going to shoot Zed, and I didn’t want to see it happen.
Then suddenly, the second man holding onto me let go and wrapped his arm around Rudy’s neck. Marcus grabbed the gun out of his hands, and Zed took the gun and held it toward the long line of people.
I could see the shock on everyone’s faces. Not only was their boss being held in a headlock, but the two men that were closest to him were the ones doing it. The two men that he had not expected at all were the ones who had turned against him.
Luckily, none of them had their weapons anymore; since Rudy had suspected them all of being possible moles, he must have had their weapons taken from them. A few of the people looked like they might try to rescue their leader Rudy from Marcus and the other man who held him, but there wasn’t enough time.
Within seconds, there was a swarm of swat team people that broke down the door and screamed as they entered the room. I stood still as the men forced their way into the crowd and moved right past me. Each man grabbed one or two people and pressed them to the floor as I heard them shout.
“Put your hands up,” they yelled. “Everyone on your knees with your hands in the air.”
I looked at Marcus and the other man that had been holding me. They had control over Rudy and were moving him to the ground. It all had happened so quickly. I just stood there and took a step back as I watched the whole scene unfold.
It was chaos as each person was held to the ground and searched for weapons. There was screaming and plenty of swearing as Rudy’s men put up a valiant fight against the police force that was arresting them.
I continued to move back farther and farther from the scene until I ran into the wall on the other side of the room. Then I slid down against the wall and started to shake as I realized the whole thing was finally over.
I pulled my knees up to my chest and covered my face as I was overcome with emotion by the whole situation.
Then suddenly I was swept up off the ground. I looked up and saw Marcus. He had me in his arms and walked with me out of the warehouse. I expected he would set me down in the parking lot outside, but instead, he just kept walking.
“Where are you taking me?” I laughed, and he continued to walk farther and farther away from the warehouse.
“Somewhere beautiful,” he said.
Marcus adjusted his grip and continued to carry me. It reminded me of the night we first made love and how he had carried me from the forest where I had been taking pictures all the way back to my house.
I let my head rest on his shoulder as the determination in his steps brought us farther and farther away from the horror of the warehouse. The sound of the police sirens began to get drowned out as we moved closer to the city and farther from the crime scene.
The sun was rising as Marcus finally sat me down on a bench overlooking the shipping yard. I could see the whole city of Chicago behind me and the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen right in front of me.
“I wish I had my camera,” I whispered as I looked out over the water.
Marcus leaned down and kissed me. The gentle loving kiss of a man who had finally finished the hardest job of his life.
“Some moments don’t need a camera to be remembered,” Marcus said. “Are you coming?” he yelled behind us.
I lifted my head to see Zed running up to us. It was over. The horror was over, and as Marcus set me down and the three of us watched the sunrise, all I could think about was how happy I was to have Zed and Marcus in my life and how I couldn
’t wait to get home to Stanley and even Rob.
The love of these four men was certainly more than I had ever hoped for. I was excited to see what our future together would look like.
Epilogue
“I’m making pancakes,” I yelled up the stairs to get the guys to come and eat breakfast.
“I don’t know how they can sleep so late?” Zed laughed as he put some plates out.
“Well, I know why Marcus is sleeping late.” I giggled. “It’s my fault; I kept him up late last night.”
“Yeah, yeah, I don’t need to hear about it.”
“I’m sorry.” I grabbed Zed around the waist and playfully reached for his cock. “You know I’d really love to have you alone next time. No Marcus, none of the other guys. Just the two of us.”
“I think we could manage that.” Zed kissed me and then went back to setting the table.
Zed had exclusively been the second guy in the bedroom since we had returned home. He seemed to really like threesomes, and I was actually coming to enjoy them myself. But Zed was such a sweet man, and since he was living with me now, I wanted to get to know him on a more personal level. I wanted to see how he and I could get along when it was just the two of us.
“Come on, put a shirt on man,” Stanley exclaimed as he walked into the kitchen. “You and Marcus really need more clothing.”
“Jealous much?” Zed flexed his six pack abs a little to tease Stanley.
Although Stanley had a house in town, he was in the process of moving in with me. As much as he talked about wanting a wife and a family, we always found ourselves back together, and we just decided living together again felt right for the time being.
When he was ready to move on, I was going to be happy for him. If he never wanted to move on, I would be perfectly happy with that as well. Stanley was one of my best friends, and I loved him very much.
“When are you two leaving?” Rob asked as he joined the group of us in the dining room for breakfast.
“Tonight. So you two will have to take care of our girl,” Marcus said as he appeared in the entryway to the room.
I loved how Marcus always referred to me as ‘our girl’ because that was how I felt. I wasn’t just Marcus’s girl, or Zed’s, or Stanley’s, or Rob’s. I was all of theirs, and that was exactly how I liked it. I had no plans to choose just one of them. In fact, I loved them all and loved the life we were making for ourselves.
“Marcus, I thought you were leaving tomorrow?” I asked.
“It got moved up,” Zed chimed in.
“Don’t worry, baby.” Marcus grabbed me and kissed me passionately. “We won’t be gone long, and it’s just a staff meeting and going over the notes from the last project.”
“No danger,” Zed added.
“I’m actually going to be out of town for work this week,” Rob said as he shoveled pancakes into his mouth. “So I guess Stanley is holding down the fort.”
“Uh oh,” Stanley said dramatically. “I’m responsible for Isabella, alone?”
He faked a look of terror, and the guys all laughed at him. It was a running joke among the guys that I was too much for just one of them to handle, and I should be left with two of them at any one time. I didn’t argue with that theory at all. I did like having at least two of the guys around.
“Oh, don’t worry guys. You remember that new guy that just opened up the coffee shop on main street,” I said playfully. “I could always agree to go on a date with him. You know … if I’m too much for you guys to handle?”
“No,” they all said in unison.
I busted out laughing at the idea. I certainly had a full love life with Marcus, Zed, Stanley, and Rob, and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. There was no way I wanted to try and navigate adding another guy to the mix. Not because I didn’t believe there were great guys out there, but I really liked how well my men got along and how our little family interacted. If I added another man to the mix, the dynamics would surely change, and I wasn’t sure I could handle that.
“Don’t worry, I’m teasing. I love our life,” I said and got up and went around to give each of the guys a kiss on the cheek. “Now I’m going to take some photos. You two be safe,” I said to Marcus and Zed. “Rob, I hope your trip goes well. And Stanley, I can’t wait for you to get back from work tonight.”
I grabbed my camera and stood at the front entryway looking at all the guys as they started chatting among themselves and finishing their breakfasts. My life wasn’t traditional by any means, yet as I looked at the guys, I felt like they were my family. Everything about this life was more than I could have hoped for.
Even Willow and Marv had come around to accepting my relationships with the guys. Marv actually enjoyed having so many guys around to talk about sports and other stuff with, and Willow could see that I was really happy. I wasn’t faking it. I wasn’t just saying I was happy. There was a genuine happiness in everything I did nowadays.
“Bye, Isabella,” Marcus said and blew me a kiss. “I’ll keep Zed out of trouble, don’t worry.”
“See you tonight,” Stanley added.
“Don’t worry, we will be back in two days.” Zed laughed. “And I’ll keep Marcus out of trouble.”
It was our running joke now that Marcus and Zed always said they would be back in two days. Even though they were always gone for much longer.
“I’ll be back, Sunday,” Rob said. “Don’t worry, I’ll stay safe too.” He laughed.
“I love you guys,” I replied before heading out of the house and toward the woods to get some more pictures. I had a whole new photography show that I needed to get photos for. There was no time to waste.
THE END
Point of No Return
Chapter 1
I started getting ready two hours early.
The unstable and scatterbrained lifestyle I had adopted over the last several years had no place in my agenda for the day.
So I took my time in the shower, ensuring that whatever grime I had missed or ignored previously due to my constant impatience and inability to luxuriate under warm water was dealt with, and in the end, I almost didn’t want to leave the bathroom.
Today, I also allowed the novelty of vanity thoughts, and my mind ran through them all. What was I going to wear? What hairstyle would best portray my prosperity? Appearing within my means today was out of the question.
After working up enough urgency to drive me from the bathroom, I crept into my roommate’s bedroom and began my transformation at her dressing table.
The Amore Pacific Moisturizer that cost more than my rent for the month went sparingly onto my face, and following shortly after, was her high-end makeup that definitely made me feel more confident than the under $10 dollar, nearly empty products that filled the Ziploc bag in the outer part of my suitcase.
I went for a smoky eye and a dark red lip, counting on the sophistication that it would bring to my usually plain face, and took my time curling my recently chopped hair into a wavy bob.
“Why would you cut off your beautiful hair?” my roommate Bethany had shrieked just a few months earlier when I moved in. A blush from my end covered up the pain of the real reasons as they filtered through my mind: short hair consumes fewer products and requires less time to keep in check.
“I needed the change,” was the excuse that I gave her.
Now if only some sort of similar principle could be applied to clothes. I had found over the years that it was a lot harder to deceive yourself and others that what you were wearing was as expensive as you wanted it to appear.
Bethany did not splurge on clothes as she did on moisturizers but a tucked in silk georgette off-the-shoulder top, tucked into a high-waisted leather pencil skirt from her wardrobe was more than what I could ask for.
My feet were unfashionably larger than Bethany’s, so I looked in my own wardrobe for salvation and settled on a pair of Oxfords that one of the few good times in my life allowed me to splurge on.
I hur
ried back to Bethany’s wardrobe for the punctuation that her small black sling purse would give, shimmied in just one spritz of her perfume and was out the door in a rush.
It was a cool autumn day in New York, and never had I been so grateful. I walked thirty-five minutes to save the cab fare and arrived at the cafe for my meeting without breaking a sweat. The perfume still swirled around me, my hair was only slightly tousled by the breeze, and my eyes were bright thanks to the involuntary late afternoon workout.
I took a deep, all-encompassing breath to boost my courage and confidence, and walked into the coffee shop to meet my parents. They had immigrated to the US from Brazil shortly before I was born and retained what I thought was a very conservative set of values and attitudes.
My mom was the one who first sighted me, and the approving smile on her face settled my frayed nerves. The next person to face was my father and for him, no amount of preparation could suffice. I avoided his eyes until after I slid into the booth and gave my mother a light kiss on the cheek. I turned to see him running cold eyes up and down my appearance, and then finally meeting my gaze.
“Dad,” I greeted, and he gave me a nod.
“Carson, how are you?”
“Great, I’m doing great. You’re looking so much younger, what’s going on? Mom, what are you feeding him?”
“Idleness will do that to you,” she said. “He does little more these days than demand meals and watch television.”
My mouth formed into a little o. “He does seem to have put on a bit more weight. You look good.” I hoped for a reciprocative compliment for my borrowed air of prosperity, but just as I expected, he went straight to what really mattered to him.
“What are you doing these days?” he asked.
I suddenly noticed my mom’s chrysanthemum tea on the table and raised it to my lips for a taste. “Same as always, working,” I replied.
“What work are you doing?”
“I’m working on my writing career, Dad, I’m improving.”
Damaged Love Page 39