Playing Dirty

by Tiffany Snow

  “Do you love him?”

  That wasn’t the question I was expecting. I thought he’d ask if I loved him, not Ryker.

  “I do,” I said, deciding honesty was the best way to go. “But—”

  “I’m not doing this to him again,” Parker interrupted, backing away from me. “Last night was a mistake. It should never have happened. I was out of my mind, crazy with worry for you. You were terrified, nearly killed, and running for your life. Neither of us was thinking straight.”

  I stared at him, my stomach dropping to my toes. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying we’re going to pretend it never happened.”

  “But last night you said—”

  “It doesn’t matter what I said. He loves you, and you love him. I won’t let history repeat itself. I can’t.”

  Before I could utter another word, he was gone.

  I stared in shock at the empty space where he’d been, unable to believe what had just happened. My chest ached and pain stabbed me with every breath I took. After last night, how could he just throw away what we had together? We had a connection, something that went deeper than anything I’d ever felt before. He had to have felt it, too.

  Or maybe he hadn’t.

  It was hard to breathe and my knees were too weak to hold me. I sank to my knees on the floor of my closet and crossed my arms over my middle, holding on tight. I choked on a sob and realized I was crying. How long had I been crying?

  I had to pull myself together, when all I really wanted to do was curl up in a ball in my closet and sink into a pool of miserable self-pity. Had Parker not felt like I did? I was in love with him and I’d assumed he loved me back, or else why would he have done what he had last night, said the things he’d said?

  But he didn’t love me. All this time I’d kept my love for him alive, even when I shouldn’t have, unable to kill that last tiny shred of hope that wished so desperately for more between us. Last night I’d thought it had finally paid off. The realization that I’d been very, very wrong stripped my dignity to the bone, leaving me feeling vulnerable, naked, and exposed.

  I pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes, halting the flow of tears. I had to be angry about how Parker had misled me, used me, and discarded me. Otherwise the heartbreak and hurt would cripple me.

  After splashing water on my blotchy, tear-stained face, I brushed my teeth and hair, then dressed in jeans and a black, long-sleeved shirt.

  Tennis shoes seemed the wisest choice, and I braided my hair in a French braid, the familiar workings of my fingers comforting me. Though it took me two unsuccessful attempts before I finally got it on the third try. My hands were trembling and whenever I let my mind wander to last night, it felt like I couldn’t breathe.

  I took a deep breath before leaving my room, giving myself a pep talk. “You can do this,” I muttered. Facing both Parker and Ryker felt like a daunting task. Parker had made me ashamed and embarrassed about last night and how I felt about him. And what to do about Ryker? If I told him the truth, he’d probably kill Parker … and me. Maybe it was best to just do what Parker had said and pretend it had never happened.

  Even if it was impossible for me to forget.

  They were both downstairs sitting in opposite chairs in the front parlor talking when I stepped into the room. I tried not to think about anything, my emotions numb. They glanced at me as I took a seat away from them both.

  I looked at Ryker, keeping my gaze averted from Parker. “So what’s the plan?” I asked, wincing a little at the leftover roughness in my voice from crying. I cleared my throat. “Where are we going?”

  “You’re not going anywhere,” he said. “You’re staying here. Parker and I will take care of Viktor.”

  I bristled at this. “Why should I stay behind while you two get to go? I want to see Viktor go down, too. He tried to kill me, for crying out loud!”

  “I know, but let’s be real, Sage. You’re not trained for this. Let us do what we know how to do, and keep you out of it.”

  What he said made sense, but I hated not being able to be there when they got Viktor. That man had terrorized me on several occasions and I wanted to see justice done, up close and personal.

  “It makes the most sense, Sage,” Parker said in his let’s-be-reasonable voice.

  I stiffened, then completely ignored him, directing my response to Ryker. “Fine. I’ll stay. But only if you swear you’ll call me as soon as it’s done.”

  Digging in his pocket, he handed me his cell. “Here. Keep this. I’ve got a burner phone I’m using while I’m on the job.”

  “Okay.” I clutched it in my hand, wondering how I was going to sit and wait for hours to find out what had happened. And if they were safe.

  They both stood and that was when I saw they were armed. Parker had his weapon in the small of his back and he took it out. He popped the magazine and checked the bullets before slamming it home again. I hurriedly looked away just as he lifted his gaze.

  Both men flanked me and I could nearly feel the testosterone in the air as the prospect of what was to come had them on high alert. They looked like men you didn’t want to fuck with, both sporting a day or more’s worth of stubble on their jaws, tight T-shirts that stretched across layers of muscle, wide shoulders, and biceps that said pumping iron was a leisurely hobby they did as easily as breathing.

  “It’ll be okay,” Ryker said, sensing my growing worry and unease. Sliding a hand to the back of my neck, he pulled me close for a kiss. At the last second, I turned my head so his lips landed on my cheek.

  “Yeah, be safe,” I said, giving him a tight squeeze before nervously stepping away.

  He looked at me strangely, but didn’t make a comment. “Okay, let’s go,” he said to Parker, then headed out the parlor door into the foyer.

  The last thing I wanted was to be in the same room with Parker, so I started to follow Ryker, only to be caught up short by Parker hooking his finger in a belt loop at the back of my jeans. It was the wrong move. I was tired of being pushed around, by both of them, and I spun around, knocking his arm away from me.

  “Sage, I just want to say—”

  “I don’t want to hear what you have to say,” I hissed, cutting him off as I fought back tears. “I listened too much last night. And if we make it out of this alive, I quit. I am so through with you and being your secretary.”

  I stormed away before he could respond. Anger was so much easier to deal with than the heartbreak that pulsed inside me.

  Ryker was waiting at the open front door, his gaze narrowing when he saw me. I pasted on a smile and tried to calm down.

  “Be safe,” I said, hugging him again.

  “No worries,” he said, brushing a kiss to the top of my head. I let him go, then clenched my fists at my sides so I wouldn’t reach for Parker despite myself as he walked by. What if something happened to him? Maybe I’d regret what I’d said, but what else could I do? I’d bared my soul to him last night and it hadn’t made a bit of difference. I had nothing left to give him.

  Our eyes met and he paused just for a moment. I said nothing and neither did he, the unsaid things piling between us like a brick wall. Then he was gone, following Ryker out to a black SUV. I watched them both get in, my heart lodged in my throat. My vision blurred as they drove away, the SUV disappearing down the long driveway.

  I didn’t know what to do, how to while away the time. My nerves were already shot and the sun had risen barely an hour ago.

  I needed to talk to someone and before I’d even thought twice about it, I’d picked up the phone and called Megan. When she answered, it was obvious I’d woken her.

  “Oh geez, I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to wake you. Just … call me later—”

  “No, it’s fine,” she interrupted with a yawn. “What’s going on? You okay?”

  I hesitated, then blurted it out. “I slept with Parker.”

  “Really? Oh my God, that’s great! That’s what you’ve
been wanting, right? How was it?”

  Her enthusiasm made me grimace. “It was good, I mean, in and of itself. Really, really good. But then today, Ryker showed up and I thought we were broken up, but I guess we weren’t—”

  “Please tell me you did not tell him what happened,” she interrupted.

  “No, I didn’t. I was going to break up with him, but then Parker like … took it all back.”

  “What do you mean? How could he take it back? It’s sex. There are no takebacks in sex.”

  “I know, but he did. He said it was a mistake and we should never have done it.” Saying the words made my eyes water and I had to blink several times.

  “What a complete asshat!” Megan fumed.

  “I know, and I got so angry and just … tired, you know?” I sighed. “I’ve been feeling this way about him for so long and then I thought we were finally getting somewhere, and it was so … great, then boom! It’s gone. So … I quit.”

  “You quit?”

  “Yeah. I told him I was through with him and I quit.” I still couldn’t believe I’d actually done it.

  “Okay, so how are you feeling about that?” she asked carefully.

  “I-I’m fine,” I stammered. “I mean, it’s good, right? Ryker’s been wanting me to quit and everyone says I do too much and should, you know, find a different career and …” But by now I was having a hard time getting the words out past the tears, so I stopped talking altogether.

  “Aww, honey,” Megan said with a soft sigh. “That’s what I was afraid of. Are you sure about this?”

  Sniffling, I rummaged in the kitchen for a tissue to wipe my eyes and nose. “It’s too late,” I said, my voice thick. “I don’t know what to do. It-it hurts … so much—” I couldn’t continue. My self-pitying misery overtook me.

  “I know it does—”

  I heard a voice—a male voice—in the background murmuring something I didn’t catch.

  “Who’s that?” I asked.

  “Um, well, it’s um … Brian.”

  “Oh God, I’m so sorry!” Shit, I couldn’t believe I’d interrupted her and Brian, who’d apparently slept over. I smiled despite my inner misery. “Okay, ignore me, get back to what you were doing—I mean who you were doing—and I’ll talk to you later.”

  “No, it’s fine! I can talk—”

  “Forget it. I would be the shittiest friend alive if I kept you on the phone. Now, go. I’ll talk to you later,” I insisted.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. I love you. Bye.”

  “Okay, love you, too.”

  I hung up the phone, smiling a little. At least one of our love lives wasn’t completely screwed up.

  Looking at the clock, I saw only twenty minutes had crawled by. Damn. Today was going to be a really long day.

  And it was. I played two movies in the theater downstairs, neither of which I could concentrate on for more than five minutes. Giving up after the second one, I wandered the house, which took some time. We had a really large home, over eight thousand square feet, and I drifted from room to room, outside to walk the grounds and around the pool, down to the edge of Lake Michigan, then back.

  The sun was setting and I was trying to eat something—I’d been too upset to eat all day—when Ryker’s cell phone buzzed. I grabbed it up immediately.

  “Hello?”

  “Dear Sage, how lovely to hear your voice.”

  My hands went ice cold. Viktor.

  “H-how did you get this number?” I asked.

  “The detective’s number, you mean? Easy to learn once you know his real name.”

  Bile rose in my throat. Ryker. His cover had been blown.

  “I must say, Sage,” he continued. “I am disappointed in you. You are supposed to be with Parker, and yet I hear you have been fucking the cop.”

  I swallowed hard. “What do you want?”

  “I am glad you asked,” he said. “I love games, Sage, and when I found out about this love triangle you are at the center of, I had the most wonderful idea for a game.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  His voice changed, from light and playful to cold and deadly. “I have them both. Parker and the detective.”

  Oh God … My eyes slid shut in dismay and I pressed my lips together so I wouldn’t make the sound clawing its way up my throat.

  “So here is what we shall do,” he continued. “You are going to do some work for me, and in return, I’ll make their deaths slightly less painful. Do a good job, and I might even let you save one. Understand?”

  “How do I know you’re telling the truth?” I asked. “You could be lying to me.” I wasn’t stupid. I needed proof before I did anything he said.

  “Oh, you would like proof?” he asked. “I can provide that.”

  The phone abruptly switched from voice mode only over to camera. I saw him, someplace I couldn’t discern. It was dark behind him. Maybe a warehouse?

  He turned the phone and I sucked in a breath. I could see them, Parker and Ryker. Their shirts had been removed and they hung from ropes tied around their wrists. Their feet just brushed the floor, but not enough to take any real pressure off their wrists. A naked lightbulb swung listlessly above them, dangling from a wire.

  “Don’t listen to him, Sage,” Parker called out.

  A man standing to the side moved suddenly, swinging a short stick, like a policeman’s baton, and it smacked into Parker’s ribs. His body flinched and he flung his head back at the vicious blow, but didn’t cry out.

  “Hang up the phone. Go to the cops.” That was from Ryker, who got the same treatment. He grunted, jerking when the baton hit him, and my hand flew up to cover my mouth. Tears stung my eyes.

  “Oh God …” I murmured.

  “Let me show you what happens to them should you decide to go to the authorities,” Viktor said.

  I watched, barely breathing. Something happened that I couldn’t see, then both men were shaking, their entire bodies taut. Even from the fuzzy image, I could see they were in a massive amount of pain.

  “Stop it! Stop!” I cried. “I’ll do whatever you want. Just stop hurting them!”

  Their bodies went suddenly slack and I realized what it had been. Electricity. Viktor was sending voltage through them somehow.

  “An excellent choice, my dear,” Viktor said, swinging the camera back around to himself.

  “What do you want me to do?”

  * * *

  I sat outside the bar inside Ryker’s truck, waiting. My nerves were shot and I didn’t know what I could do other than follow the directions I’d been given.

  At precisely nine o’clock, a car pulled into the lot. Taking a deep breath, I got out.

  The car I’d been waiting for parked and a man got out. He took a moment to light a cigarette as I approached him.

  “Detective Malone?” I asked, calling out to Ryker’s partner. “Is that you?”

  The man turned with a start, but relaxed when he saw me. I saw his gaze move over my body.

  “I am for you,” he said with a smile. He focused on my face as I got closer and his grin faded. “Sage? Is that you? What’re you doing here? Did you see Ryker yesterday?”

  “I have a message from Viktor,” I told him. “He said you’re no longer required.”

  He frowned. “What the fuck does that mean? And how do you know Viktor?” A panicked look came into his eyes and he looked around, searching the shadows and empty parked cars in the lot. “Where is he?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I’m just supposed to give you that message.”

  “Why? What’s going on?”

  I tried to take a step back, but he grabbed my arm. “You’re not leaving until you tell me how you know Viktor. What did he say?”

  “Let me go!” I jerked away just as I heard a popping sound. Then Malone was no longer there. Confused, I looked down to see his crumpled, headless body lying on the ground.

  My cheek was wet. In a
daze, I swiped at my face, my hand coming away with blood and gore. It was all over my clothes, too.

  I stumbled backward into another car, hitting it hard and nearly falling in my haste to get away. Malone was dead. Shot right in front of me.

  Turning, I ran back toward the truck, slipping and falling once. The gravel bit into my hands, but then I was up and climbing into the driver’s seat. I threw the truck into reverse and backed up, hitting something in the process, but I didn’t stop to check. Shoving it into gear, I floored it, gravel spraying from the wheels as I sped out of the lot.

  I was too numb to cry, too much in shock to process what had just happened. I pulled the phone from my pocket.

  “Excellent job!” Viktor crowed. The call had been live the entire time I’d been speaking to Malone. “It’s rather apropos, my final words being delivered by a beauty such as yourself. Death comes in all kinds of packages, though honestly I think I did him a favor, sending you. Much better than one of these thugs—unexpected and poetic, if I do say so myself.”

  “I did what you said, now let them go,” I demanded, my voice shaking only a little.

  “I said you might be able to save one of them, not that I’d let them go, but let’s make it more interesting, shall we? Come to this address, and we’ll continue our game.” He rattled off an address in the southeast part of Chicago. “Let’s make it ten minutes,” he said, “or they’ll start losing their fingers, one by one. Tick tock, little Sage.” The call ended.

  “Goddammit!” I exploded, tears of rage and fear spilling down my cheeks. I’d known he wouldn’t live up to what he’d said, but what else was I supposed to do? And now I was on a time limit before he hurt them again.

  My dad had grown up in that part of Chicago and I had cousins all over the place. I was vaguely familiar with the address, but even in light traffic, I was twenty minutes away. I floored it.

  Stoplights were nonexistent for me as I blew through too many red lights to count. I prayed I wouldn’t get stopped by a cop as I took every shortcut I knew, making turns at speeds that were outright dangerous, not to mention foolish. But I had no choice. I believed absolutely that Viktor would do as he said. He’d cut off their fingers and laugh while he did so.