Betrayed: A Bad Boy Military Romance

by Penelope Marshall

  Looking through the rearview mirror, I eyed Battista. "Well?"

  "Let's go get 'er," he said, clapping vigorously to pump himself up.

  I shook my head. Battista was a fool, but he was a damn good SEAL, and I trusted him with my life. "Alright, there's no turning back now."

  The trip back to Aguirre's Bar was a blur, speeding through countless red lights, narrowly missing a pedestrian or two.

  "Call her phone," I said, handing Hill my cell.

  He dialed her number and put it on speaker. The phone rang once, then twice.

  "Hello," a deep voice answered,

  "Who the fuck is this?" I yelled, pressing on the gas even harder.

  "Who the fuck is this?" the man asked.

  "Carmichael!"

  "What kind of fuckin' name is, Carmichael?" The man chuckled.

  "A name you're gonna fuckin' know, pretty fuckin' soon," I warned.

  "Are you threatening me?"

  "Take it how you want, son-of-a-bitch."

  "Well, if you can find me…"

  I clicked off the phone. "Fuck that muthafucker. I'm 'bout to cut that bitch's throat out."

  "He don't know who the hell he’s messin' with," Hill growled, sliding his gun into his leg holster.

  A few minutes later, we were pulling up the street with Aguirre's Bar in our line of sight.

  "Park around back," Hill said, unbuckling his belt.

  Pulling around back, I pulled the key out of the ignition, surveying the lay of the land. We all got out of the car and slowly made our way to the door, holding our guns at the ready. I crouched down, motioning for Hill to kick in the door. The moment his foot made contact we were in, aiming our guns at the heads of anyone who looked at us cross-eyed.

  "Hands up!" Battista yelled.

  They all complied.

  "Fuck, that was too easy. Is this the kinda security Lopez pays for?" Battista asked, sweeping the room with his .40 S&W.

  A stray man strode out of the bathroom, startled by the sight of the entire room holding their hands in the air. He was a brave one, pulling out his gun when he knew he had no chance. My finger squeezed the trigger, the bullet zipped through the air, plowing into the soft bone of his skull, before he could even get the muzzle pointed at me.

  His head flew back, his body following closely behind as he fell on to a chair, breaking it into a hundred splintered pieces.

  "Anyone else wanna get brave?" I asked, cocking my gun for another round.

  No one moved an inch. Then from the corner of my eye, the bartender shot up from behind the bar, aiming that damn shotgun right at me.

  Bang!

  I have to admit I flinched a little, thinking he had gotten the best of me, but really, Hill had fired the shot, the bullet making direct contact with the bartender's throat.

  He dropped out of sight like a bag of bricks.

  "One and done," Hill said, sweeping the room for another brave soul.

  "Anyone else?" I asked sarcastically. "Hill, stay down here and keep everyone in check."

  "Got it, LT."

  I headed toward the stairs with Battista following closely behind, keeping my back to the wall. Kicking in the first door to my right, a woman screamed, grabbing the sheets to cover her naked body, leaving the man underneath her exposed.

  "Shhh!" I said, holding my finger to my mouth.

  She nodded as I closed the door. The next room to my left was empty, and so was the next few rooms after.

  "Looks like it was a slow workday for the ladies today," Battista said in a low snarky voice.

  "Last room. You ready?"

  Battista responded by kicking in the door, but a sudden bang propelled him back into the hallway. He clenched his chest as I dragged him out of the line of fire.

  "Where'd he get you?" I asked, looking for an entry wound.

  He gasped for a breath. "In my vest," he whispered.

  "Stay here," I said, standing to walk back into the room.

  Bang!

  Another bullet zipped through the air. "Chance, I presume?" the same voice from the earlier phone call echoed from the room.

  "Lopez?" I yelled.

  "So you've heard of me?" he asked with a boastful tone.

  "Only what an asshole you are."

  "Eh, bad publicity is still good publicity, and fear is the best commodity."

  "Where is she?"

  "Who?"

  "You know who, bitch!"

  "Tisk, tisk, tisk. You aren't gonna get anywhere by calling me names."

  "You'd rather die for her?" I yelled, still taking cover on the other side of the wall.

  "Would you?" he asked as the snap of a bullet firing seared through the otherwise quiet hallway.

  The drywall next to my ear burst open, the bullet piercing through, lodged in the wall across from me.

  "I can wait here all day," I yelled.

  Battista motioned to me. He was going to try and take out Lopez's legs. Still lying on the ground, he whipped around the corner, taking two shots. What I heard next could only be described as the wail of a wounded animal, followed by the pound of a heavy weight hitting the floor.

  "He's down! He's down!" Battista yelled, still cringing in pain.

  I grabbed his legs, pulling him back into the safety of the hallway as I made my way in, alone, to clear the room. Lopez was lying on the ground with a bullet to each shin.

  He was reaching for his gun when I got to him, picking it up before he could lay another finger on it, tucking it in the back of my waistband.

  "C'mon, get up!" I ordered.

  "He shot me in the shins," he cried out.

  "I don't give a fuck," I said, my brows furrowing as I watched him writhe in agony.

  "Fuck you."

  "Fuck me? Looks like you're the one that's fucked."

  He crawled to his black leather desk chair, grabbing on to the arm rest to pull himself up.

  "What do you want? Money? Name your price," he said, his face contorting in pain as he spoke.

  "I want her. Where the fuck do you have her?"

  He laughed.

  "I don't find this shit very funny," I said, aiming the gun at his shoulder, squeezing the trigger ever-so-slightly.

  Snap!

  The bullet ploughed through bone.

  "Fuck!" he yelled, his eyes widening as he gripped his shoulder.

  "I'll ask again, where the fuck is she?"

  He didn't reply.

  My anger intensified with every passing second.

  "You're asking the wrong question," he finally said.

  "What should I be asking?" I asked through gritted teeth.

  "Think about it for a minute…"

  It came to me. "Why did you take her in the first place?"

  "Bravo," he said, trying to clap through his pain.

  "Who?" I asked again, shooting into the flesh of his other arm.

  "Ah. Fuck! Muthafucker!" he cursed in pain.

  "Ortega?"

  "Ortega? Why would Ortega want that little cunt?"

  "That's his sister."

  His eyes widened as he clutched his arm. "His fuckin' sister? Fuck me! You won't tell him will you?"

  "You didn't know?"

  He shook his head.

  "Then who?" I asked, cocking my gun for another round. "Do I really need to ask again?"

  He stretched out his hand. "No, no. It was Nicole!"

  My heart sunk. "Nicole? What do you mean? How do you know Nicole?"

  "She's my girl," he said, writhing in pain.

  "Your girl? What the fuck kinda game are you playing" I asked, still confused as I took a step toward him with my finger on the trigger.

  "Yeah, my girl. What, you think a guy like me don't have a heart or something?"

  "Why?"

  "She wanted revenge, and I was in the position to help her," he said, his voice cracking as he spoke.

  "What does stealing Sierra have to do with revenge?" I asked through gritted teeth.

&nbs
p; "She said you embarrassed her, and left her out on the streets. What kind of man leaves a woman like that out on the streets?"

  "Did she tell you she cheated?" I asked angrily.

  "That's the price you pay to have a jàina that fine," he said, coughing up blood as he laughed.

  "You haven’t answered me. Why did she take Sierra?"

  "She wanted to hurt you, and what my baby wants, my baby—"

  Instinctively, my finger squeezed the trigger, firing one round into his right eye. His head flung back, finding rest with his face toward the ceiling.

  I dropped my arms to my side. "Fuck!"

  "LT," Battista said, standing at the door, still clutching on to his chest.

  "I killed him before I could get any more information. So fuckin' stupid."

  "Where would she take Sierra?"

  "Let me think," I barked, pressing my palms to the back of my head as I paced back and forth.

  Then it hit me. She wanted revenge. She would take Sierra to the same place I embarrassed her.

  I zipped past Battista, yelling, "Let's go!"

  We ran down the stairs, where Hill was still holding everyone hostage.

  Running past the crowd to the door, Hill moved slowly backwards, keeping his gun aimed at the bar full of miscreants.

  "I'll wait here 'til you get the car," Hill yelled.

  Battista and I ran to the car, honking when we got to the front of the bar. Hill ran out and jumped into the open passenger door as I slammed on the gas, ripping out of the parking lot as fast as I could.

  A storm of bullets rained down on us, as every guy in the bar rushed out, guns-a-blazing. The back window was the first thing to go, then the rearview mirror.

  Hill sat up, kicking out the rest of the back window with his foot.

  "You good back there?" I asked, swerving the car to miss an oncoming delivery truck.

  "Yeah," Hill yelled, aiming his gun toward the bar, firing four rounds.

  The return gunfire ceased. "You get 'em?"

  "Got 'em," he replied, bursting with pride.

  We rounded the corner, disappearing from sight, all of us exhaling a sigh of relief.

  "Jesus!" Hill said, putting his seatbelt on.

  "Are you putting on your fuckin' seatbelt?" Battista asked.

  "Shit, better safe than sorry."

  "Even in a gunfight, you two muthafuckers never lose your charm." I laughed as I zipped through some red lights and down a few alleys.

  "Where are we going?" Hill asked.

  "My apartment," I said.

  "Your apartment?" Battista looked confused.

  "It's where I embarrassed Nicole. It's where it all went down, with Sebastian and me."

  "Fuck…that bitch is crazy," Battista said.

  "And you wanted to fuck her," Hill chimed in.

  "But I didn’t know the bitch was crazy at the time. C'mon. That gets me a pass, right?"

  "Nope!" Hill retorted.

  SIERRA

  She pulled me out of the backseat, into the blinding sun. As soon as my eyes readjusted, I realized we were at the apartment.

  "What are we doing here? Who are you?" I asked, eyeing her gun.

  "Shut the fuck up," she said, pushing me toward the door.

  She stuck a key in and unlocked the door.

  "Where did you get that key?"

  "I had this key before you were ever a thought in his mind, little girl," she replied angrily, shoving me into the apartment, shutting the door behind her.

  "What are you going to do?"

  "I'm taking what's mine," she said, waving the gun at me.

  I was so scared, I didn’t know what else to do but try and be as calm as possible, but by the sound of her rants, I knew I wasn’t going to get out of this alive. She paced around me, rubbing her forehead with her free hand.

  "Go sit on the couch," she said, waving the gun at me.

  "Okay. Just keep that thing away from me," I said, holding my hands over my face.

  "Don't tell me what to do in my own house!" she yelled.

  "This is not your place," I said, but then quickly realized what a mistake that was.

  "This is my fuckin' house, with my boyfriend, Chance!" she barked, shooting off a round into the wall.

  Every fiber of my being trembled, knowing she wasn’t afraid to pull the trigger.

  "I'm sorry. It's yours and Chance's place."

  "You're goddamn right it is," she said, pushing the hot muzzle of the gun against my shoulder.

  Suddenly, there was a screeching of car tires right outside, taking her attention away from me for just a second. I took a chance and clenched my fist, swinging with all my might, landing a punch right across her jaw. Her head jerked to the right, but only for a moment.

  "You fuckin' bitch," she yelled, aiming the gun at my head as she straightened her posture.

  I stepped back holding my hands in the air.

  "Get in the fuckin' room," she ordered, still rubbing her face.

  Slowly, I walked to the room.

  "Sit on the bed," she said.

  Making my way to the bed, she followed closely, grabbing a fistful of my hair while pressing the muzzle of the gun to the back of my neck.

  CHANCE

  We pulled into the parking lot, flying out of the car like bats out of hell, smashing through the door, not knowing what or who was waiting on the other side.

  "Sierra!" I yelled.

  A muffled sound came from the bedroom, followed by Nicole calling out, "Is that you, my love?"

  Slowly, the three of us made our way into the hallway. "Nicole. Let her go," I asked in a soft voice, afraid to upset her into hurting Sierra.

  "Who? I don’t see anyone else in here except a dirty little street rat. You can't be talking about her?"

  The muffled sound filtered through the hallway again, followed by a slap, and a squeal.

  "Nicole!" I yelled, running into the room without regard to my own safety.

  My eyes widened and my jaw dropped when I saw Nicole sitting behind Sierra on the bed, clutching a fistful of Sierra's hair as she held a gun to her stomach.

  "No!" I yelled as the guys came up behind me, aiming their guns right at her.

  "Tell them to leave, Chance. This is between you and me," she cried, flailing the gun around.

  Sierra stayed still, paralyzed in place by fear. I could see it in her face, and by the tears streaming down her cheeks.

  "Okay, okay, okay. Calm down. I'm putting the gun down," I said, lowering the gun to the floor, but keeping a steady eye on her.

  "LT, what are you doing?" Battista asked.

  "You two step back," I said.

  "But, LT," Hill rebutted.

  "Go!" I yelled, keeping my gaze laser focused on Nicole.

  They backed away as I straightened my posture, but not before one of them slipped a gun in the waistband of my pants. Holding out my hands and outstretched fingers to show her I didn’t have the gun anymore, I slowly moved toward her.

  "Let her go, Nicole."

  "No. I love you. You're mine. Remember all the good times on this bed? Our bed?"

  "What about, Lopez? He's your man. Don't you love him?"

  She looked confused. "How do you know about that?"

  "I just talked to him. He said you two were in love. He wants to marry you," I said calmly.

  She shook her head. "No!"

  "No, what?"

  "No. I don’t love him. After you kicked me out I had nowhere to go. Sebastian threw me away, so I called my cousin who introduced me to Ricardo. Once I got him wrapped around my little finger, I bided my time for the perfect moment to pop back into your life."

  "And when was that supposed to be?" I asked, inching closer to her.

  "Stay there!" she screamed, shoving the gun farther into Sierra's stomach.

  "Please, let me go," Sierra begged.

  "Shut the fuck up!" Nicole screamed, obviously flustered from all extra chatter.

  "I know you d
on't wanna kill a pregnant woman. It's not her fault we didn’t work out," I said calmly.

  "But it is her fault," she said with a stern voice.

  "Tell me how," I asked.

  "Once I found out you had another bitch, I knew I wouldn’t be able to get you back. You're too fuckin' loyal. So I needed to get rid of her, and that's when I pulled out my ace in the hole. Who better than fuckin' Ricardo Lopez to kidnap someone and make them disappear? He has that shit down to an art." She chuckled.

  "What about Sierra's note on the table?"

  "Don't you get it? I did all of that. For us," she said, ramming the muzzle next to Sierra's temple. "You wouldn't have been able to move on if you knew there was still a chance with her."

  "Stop!" I said, watching Sierra's eyes widen as she tried to inch away from the muzzle.

  "Why do you care about this tramp? I could make you happy. Let me make you happy," Nicole cried.

  "Okay!" I yelled.

  "What do you mean, okay?" she asked.

  "Let's get out of here. Let's start over. Just me and you," I said, trying to appeal to the imaginary relationship in her head.

  She lowered the gun a little. "Just me and you?"

  "Yeah, baby. Just me and you. The car's right outside. Let's forget about Sebastian and Sierra. Let's worry about Chance and Nicole," I said, motioning to the door.

  She let go of Sierra's hair to wipe the tears from her face. "Chance and Nicole?" she echoed.

  Sierra and I made eye contact, and in that moment she knew what I wanted her to do. Sierra elbowed Nicole in the stomach and quickly crawled away from her. Nicole cocked the gun and aimed it at Sierra's head. Quickly, I pulled out the gun from the small of my back, firing off one shot aimed straight at Nicole's forehead.

  The bullet zipped through the air, seamlessly piercing the soft skin and hard bone of her forehead, lodging itself into the wall behind her, amidst a sea of blood spatter and brain matter. She fell onto her back, her legs and arms star sprawled over the entire bed. Sierra, who had been huddled in the corner, quickly ran to me, wrapping her arms around my neck.

  "I was so scared. I was worried you thought I really left you. I would never leave you," she said, kissing my face while crying profusely.

  "It's okay, baby. It's okay," I said, rubbing her back, shutting my eyes as tightly as possible.

  I was never going to unsee Nicole's body lying there. Her eyes were still open, staring at us. Slowly I backed us out of the room, leaving her on the bed where it all started.