Barber Shop Ink - Book 2: Between a Hedge and a Hard Place

by Penny Blush

  The punch, elbow combinations became faster and harder, the power of her punches forcing Jaxon back. The smack of her gloves on the focus mitts echoing across the yard.

  “Okay, body shield,” she demanded around the mouthguard.

  Jax shook off the mitts picking up a shield which when he leant it against his leg. It stood from the ground to mid-thigh. Jax grabbed the handles at the top and bottom of the shield, holding it at shoulder height at his side.

  “Switch?” he asked.

  Hedge nodded her reply and Jax called, “let’s go!”

  Her left leg stayed planted on the ground, pivoting into each kick letting her right leg fly.

  Three quick kicks connected squarely with the shield. The kicks would have landed knee, hip, and shoulder height, then quickly switching to the other leg. Jax masterfully repositioned the shield to his other thigh, Hedge throwing three kicks with her left leg. She stopped, removed her mouthguard and spoke to the others gathered at the edge of the mats.

  “The kicks should land on the knee,” she demonstrated as she spoke, Jax moving the shield as required. “A knee strike, if connected properly, will collapse the knee and your opponent. Then your next target is a kick to the hip and the head. The head blow will rattle their brain if you hit the right spot, the concussive force will also mess with their ears throwing their balance off. There is also the chance that you could knock them out,” she instructed.

  “I wish I could see that,” Bear called out laughing.

  Hedge looked at Jax, and he nodded.

  “Make sure you are on it with the shield Jax, I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Let’s do this,” Jax said gripping the shield tighter. “Let’s go!”

  No sooner were the words out of his mouth when she let fly, three lighting swift kicks to the left and then the right, her powerful strikes, smacking against the shield.

  “Holy fuck,” I whispered.

  “I know, right?” Cassidy said beside me. I hadn’t even realised that she had walked up the steps to the balcony. “She’s such a badass,” she added in awe. “She’s offered to teach me, you know?”

  I looked at her through my sunglasses, raising an eyebrow in question. “Yeah? You want to become a badass?”

  “Oh, God no,” she laughed. “I just want to be able to protect myself. Not that I'm planning on getting myself into that kind of situation. I just want to know if I needed to that I can get myself out of a bad situation.”

  “Yeah, I think that every woman needs to know how to protect herself and Hedge would be a great teacher,” I said.

  I like the idea that both my girls would know how to handle themselves. I looked back down to watch Jax and Hedge sparring, ducking and weaving, dodging punches and kicks.

  Jax stumbled back, and Bear yelled, “stop being such a woose Jax!”

  “You come here and hold the shield then, tough guy,” Jax held the shield out to him.

  “Give it here Cupcake,” Bear said as he took the shield from Jax walking onto the mats. “You don’t scare me, little girl,” he taunted with a big smile on his face.

  “Drop him Cuz,” Jax said, leaving the mat.

  Hedge showed Bear how to hold the shield at his hip to protect himself.

  “Make sure you hold the shield exactly as I have shown you Bear and move it when Jax tells you to. I don’t want to hurt you, okay?”

  “Let’s Go!” Jax called.

  I could tell that Hedge was going easy on Bear until he became more confident with moving the shield every time Jax yelled ‘switch’. But then his confidence changed to cockiness. Bear thinking that because he was almost seven-foot tall and a big hulking man, there was no way she could hurt him. That meant he was not paying attention as he should be and didn’t move the shield quick enough. A resounding smack rang out followed by a bellow from Bear as the flat of her foot connected with his hip. Then she dropped low sweeping his legs out from under him, the big man went down like a felled tree.

  “Timber!” David called out as Bear’s massive body hit the mats.

  “Told you, dude!” Jax laughed, picking up the shield that Bear had dropped.

  “Holy crap boss, that is one hell of a kick,” Bear stated, rubbing his side, gaping at Hedge.

  “Oh, my God, Bear,” Hedge laughed looking at the red mark she’d caused on his dark skin. “I am so sorry, are you okay?”

  “Nah, all good Hedge, you did warn me,” Bear said still rubbing at his hip, “I just didn’t think you would have that much power.”

  “Right Cuz, let the battle begin,” Jax said eagerly bowing to her.

  Within a matter of minutes, the ‘battle’ was over. Jax got distracted when Cassidy called out, “kick his butt Hedge!” and that’s exactly what she did.

  Three quick punches, a kick to the ribs and then she drove her hip into him, flipping him onto his back, knocking the wind from his lungs.

  “Jaxon, oh my God,” Cassidy called out her hands flying to her mouth in shock.

  She was down the stairs, kneeling on the mat beside him before she knew that she had moved. Hedge was giggling as she removed his head guard and unclipped the chest shield.

  “Deep breaths Jax, you’ll be fine.”

  “Are you sure?” Cassidy asked looking at Hedge like she had just sunk a knife into Jaxon. “Jax, sweetie, look at me, tell me you’re okay,” she fussed turning his face towards hers.

  “Cass, he’s okay,” Hedge reassured, “just a little winded he’ll be alright in a few minutes.” Hedge thumped Jax on the shoulder. “Jax, you’re slipping, getting distracted,” she tisked, shaking her head. “You’re clearly out of practice. Cassidy, he’s okay, we used to do this all the time. He should have known better. The flip is how I finished all our fights when we were younger.”

  Bishop, Bear, and Davis were heckling Jaxon who was still lying on his back basking in the attention that he was getting from Cassidy.

  “Cuz, you dead?” Hedge asked holding a hand out to him.

  “Nah, I’ll live, but I might need someone to stay with me for a little while. You know to make sure that I don’t have any delayed reactions to any damage you may have caused.”

  Hedge rolled her eyes as Cassidy fell for his ruse, “I’ll stay with you.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t want to mess with your Saturday plans,” Jax said, fishing for information.

  “No, no plans. I can keep an eye on you,” she replied, blushing slightly.

  “We’re done here,” Hedge said removing her hand wraps “You owe me,” she added, smirking at Jax.

  I watched as Hedge made quick work of packing the pads, mitts, and shields away in the steel lock box that was under the balcony stairs. The boys helped stack the crash mats in the small waterproof shed while Jaxon lay where he fell, relishing all the attention from Cassidy.

  “Thanks, boys,” She said hugging them all.

  “No, no thank you!” Bishop said taking her hand bowing and dropping a kiss on her knuckle. “I would have paid good money to see Bear get kicked like that and to see Jaxon getting laid out. Sorry, I questioned you,” he added timidly.

  “You have nothing to apologise for, I’m just glad that I could alleviate your concerns,” she leant closer to him.

  I could no longer hear what they were saying. They spoke quietly for a while then Bishop wrapped her up in a reassuring hug.

  “I truly am sorry Hedge. I’m just glad that you’ve found each other.” They hugged again, and then Bishop left with Davis and Bear.

  Hedge watched them leave and then turned and kicked Jax in the ankle. “Pack your own shit up, Cuz,” she said and then locking eyes with me she added, “I’m going for a shower. I’m all hot, sweaty and dirty.”

  Chapter 10 Hedge

  After a very long orgasmic shower, and a nap curled against Memphis’s chest, I decided it was time to let go of the past. I had to tell him the rest of the story about my history, my past.

  We ordered Thai food and sat on t
he floor, eating, drinking and talking. Memphis let me talk, and I let Memphis ask his questions. It was painful but necessary. I needed to get the rest of this off my chest. I needed to unburden myself.

  “So, you know that I was with Uncle Charlie for six almost seven years. That I started working with him in his legitimate businesses doing the accounts and general admin stuff,” I took a drink and continued. “After the incident in the bar, Uncle Charlie decided that I was more use to him as a weapon than a bookkeeper. I became the perfect weapon. I mean who would suspect a sweet innocent girl would be working for one of London’s top underworld figures. He taught me how to use a gun, how to intimidate people with and without using physical violence and how to get out of them what my uncle wanted. What big bad gangster would want it advertised that they had their ass handed to them by a girl?”

  I swirled my finger through the condensation left behind on the coffee table from my drink, collecting my thoughts.

  “Looking back on it now, I realised what a naïve, gullible, idiot I had been,” I gave him a small smile. “At first, Uncle Charlie told me that the people that he made me go see owed him money. That he needed that money to pay his employees. Employees who had families and children. He really laid it on thick playing up the fact that he was a caring employer. When that no longer worked, it was that they were wicked people, who did evil things and needed punishment.”

  I tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear. Fuck this was a lot harder than I thought it would be. But I pulled up my big-girl pants and kept going. Now that I had started I didn’t want to stop until it was all out in the open. I didn’t want there to be any more secrets between Memphis and me.

  “After a while, it just became second nature to me. I never questioned any of his orders. Like a good soldier, I followed them, blindly. Then the intimidation became orders to physically remind them who was in charge. Then,” I took a deep breath and just ploughed ahead, “they became kill-orders.”

  I looked at Memphis, trying to discern his reaction to what he just heard.

  “Keep going,” was all he said.

  “Memphis, do you understand?” I asked quietly. “I killed people for my uncle.”

  “Your uncle forced you,” he said, nodding for me to continue.

  “I could have refused. I should have refused, but by the time the first kill order came through, I was so far in that I didn’t question it. I was a good little soldier following orders,” I said disgustedly.

  “Hedge, what exactly was your uncle involved in?” He asked quietly.

  He reached out taking my foot in his hand and began massaging it. I moaned as he dug his knuckles into my instep, rubbing his thumbs in circles up my calf. I got lost in the soothing sensation of his hands on my skin as my muscles loosened.

  His hands stilled, “you stop talking, and I stop massaging,” his hands started up again. “What was your uncle involved in?”

  “What wasn’t he into?” I said under my breath. He gave me a moment to gather myself getting ready to drop a bomb. A very big bomb. I took and held a deep breath, then I declared on the exhale, “my uncle’s name is Charlie Benedetto.”

  Memphis’s hands stilled, and he looked at me with wide eyes. “Charlie Benedetto. As in ‘THE Charlie Benedetto’?”

  “Yes.”

  “As in Charlie ‘The Boss’ Benedetto?”

  “Yes,” I acknowledged. Memphis started rubbing my feet again, I took that as a good sign and continued. “I didn’t know who he was at the time. He was just my Uncle Charlie. The whole time that I was with him – before the incident at the bar – I was kept away from anything to do with Benedetto side of the business. Looking back on everything that I’d been through, I was so naïve. So blind to the obvious. But to me, Charlie was just a businessman.”

  “Baby Girl, you were young, innocent and trusting. You didn’t know any different, and up to that point he had always just been your uncle.”

  “Yeah, but when I found out, I should have done something. Anything. I should have left, I should have run, called Jaxon, something.”

  The identity of my uncle hung in the air for a while and then Memphis said, “So, is your surname, Benedetto?”

  I laughed, “no, nice try, but no. Charlie is my dad’s second cousin. They used to hang out all the time when they were kids. They were close. You could just ask me my name you know.”

  “I know, but it’s a lot more fun trying to figure it out,” he smiled at me, his fingers making their way up my leg to the back of the knee.

  “Memphis we’ve been together for over a year, and you still don’t know the name that is on my birth certificate. It’s a little weird.”

  “You could just tell me,” he replied.

  “It’s a lot more fun watching you try to figure it out.”

  “Anyway, you were saying?” He laughed.

  “After what happened in the bar Uncle Charlie started introducing me to the other side of his business. I became the ‘family medic’. Being stupid and naïve and wanting to please my uncle, I threw myself into learning everything that I could. I read every medical book I could get my hands on. I watched medical procedures online. I absorbed everything I could and felt a stupid sense of pride every time Uncle Charlie praised me.”

  It was so stupid, hindsight is twenty-twenty, and all, but my uncle got his hooks into me when I was vulnerable and in need of familial attention.

  Jaxon’s parents loved me like I was their own, but it was only one-half of my heart – my mother’s side. Charlie was my father’s family, and I needed that connection so that I could feel complete.

  Charlie was the epitome of the loving father figure, showering me with praise, and encouragement. There had been gifts that he had given me that made perfect sense at the time but looking back it was all to benefit him. After the bar incident, he gave me a gun saying that it was for my protection and that he would feel better knowing that I would be able to protect myself.

  He would get angry at me if I didn’t have my gun on me at all times. He took me to the rifle range so that I knew how to use it; he didn’t want me to get hurt because I didn’t know what I was doing.

  Uncle Charlie took me to a friend who was a tactical weapons expert to hone my skills. I had a natural aptitude, but also, he wanted to know that no matter what gun I got my hands on I could use it safely. Again, it was all under the guise that it was for my protection, my safety. I was, and I still am a good shot, and Uncle Charlie was so proud of me.

  He knew that I had martial arts training and that I had multiple black belts in different disciplines. But wanted to know that if anything like the bar incident happened again, that I had the skills and knowledge to use any item at my disposal as a weapon.

  To that end, I learnt how to street-fight. Down and dirty fighting where rules and discipline did not apply. I had cuts, bruises, and scrapes all over, but I loved the training and learning new skills. The knowledge that no matter what situation I would be able to protect myself made me feel powerful.

  Again, stupid naivety. I believed that my uncle wanted to keep me safe, but I was wrong. He was grooming me, molding me, manipulating me. I had become so dependent on his praise on the feelings of accomplishment that his pride in me gave that I was willing to do anything to please him.

  “Like I said, at first it was beatings and intimidation. Charlie would show me pictures of bloody and beaten women and or children telling me all the horrible things that had been done to them at the hands of my target. So that when it came time to deal ‘justice’ I didn’t think twice.”

  Memphis was sitting on the floor with his back against the couch, with my feet in his lap. While I had been talking, Memphis had managed to pull me closer to him so that my legs were draped over his. I was almost sitting on his lap. I wanted to. I wanted to straddle his hips, run my fingers through his beard and hair and just kiss him, forever. But I knew that if I did that, I would stop talking.

  “After my first kill order…�
�� I didn’t give him many details, and he didn’t ask for them and for that I was grateful. “I got blind drunk, rip-roaring-sloppy-drunk. I was trying to drown out the memories of the target cowering before me. The sounds of his begging and pleading for mercy, the smells of gunpowder and the coppery scent of blood.” I downed the rest of my drink and continued, “I was so starved for connection to my father’s side of the family and fatherly praise that I agreed without hesitation when I was asked to do it again.”

  I cautiously looked to Memphis, expecting to see, disgust, hatred, disappointment, anger. I expected him to shove me away and tell me to get out of his life. I had just confessed to being the company assassin, a killer, a murderer.

  I had more blood on my hands than I cared to admit, but he didn’t look at me with disgust, he looked at me with awe.

  “Memphis, Baby, what are you thinking?” I asked wearily.

  I needed to hear that he didn’t hate me, that he loved me, that he wouldn’t push me away. I needed to know that all the shit from my past hasn’t changed anything between us. Not that I could blame him if it did, there is a lot of fucked up shit in my past.

  I am a weapon, my hands, and my body have inflicted so much pain and damage. I’m not just talking about bruises and split lips. I mean physical, emotional and mental harm. There are so many people in the UK that to this day still hold the lasting effects of my handiwork.

  “You aren’t finished yet, though, are you?” he asked, bending my leg up and kissing my knee. “There’s more.” It was a statement, not a question.

  “What are you thinking?” I ask again. “I don’t want to say anything more if it means that you will hate me,” I laughed, it’s not a real laugh, it’s a nervous laugh.

  “I am thinking, that you need to finish your story,” he smirked. My God, I seriously love that smirk, even in the midst of my horror story one look from him and I was undone. “I am thinking, that I want to know the rest,” his beard tickled the skin of my knee as he kissed me again.

  Okay great, so he’s not going to give me anything, not even a hint of what he’s feeling.