Trusting Nicole

by Muriel Garcia

  “What’s the plan?” Ant asks losing patience.

  “Get Nicole inside so sh-”

  “No. Fucking. Way!” Gabe bellows.

  “Will you let me finish?” Sergei glares at Gabe who nods once. “As I was saying, get Nicole inside so she can tell them where we stand. I know Jase will never rat on us and well, he doesn’t actually know where we are. Nicole is supposed to tell Slider where we are, hopefully he will send his men here to kill us, meaning a bunch of us should stay here to take them down and everyone else follow Nicole and kill those fuckers.” Sergei explains looking at everybody. A few nod their heads and a few look at him as if he’s grown a second head.

  “I’m not letting Nicole go in there, willingly or not.” Gabe growls.

  “Gabe, this is our only chance.” I plead with him.

  “No, we barge in and kill every fucking single one of them.” He retorts.

  “What if Jase gets killed in the process? I’ll never forgive you.”

  “For fuck’s sake don’t do that.” He sighs and rubs his face.

  “I have to do it, Gabe. I know you’re worried and don’t want me getting hurt, but it’s the only way. They don’t know we have a solid plan. What are thirty or so men going to do against however many there are of us? They won’t expect it. If we just barge in, they will kill Jase and that’ll be the end of it. I love him, Gabe. I’m in love with him and I’ll do anything and everything I can to save him, even if it means risking my own life.” I can feel tears filling my eyes as I look at him.

  “Fuck sake.” He hugs me and kisses my head. “Anything happens to her, I kill you with my bare hands, Sergei.”

  “Fair enough.” His thick Russian accent retorts.

  “Let’s get this rolling then.” Ant says talking to his men and starts setting up the plan for those staying behind.

  “You get even just a scratch and we’ll both go ape shit crazy on those Russians got it, sis?” Aleck tells me as he pulls me to him and wraps his arms around me.

  “Got it. Just make sure you aren’t late.” I squeeze him back.

  I meant what I said. I would do anything to save him. I’d give my life for Jase.

  Gabe drops me off at the side of the road.

  “You better be careful or I swear to God I’ll kill you myself.” He hugs me before I climb out of the car.

  I hope I’ll be okay too. It’s quite unnerving playing bait and I swear to fucking God they better bite. I don’t want to be doing any of this in vain. I start to walk in the direction of home, I don’t know if this will work, but since they seem dead set on capturing me too this is our best bet. I can’t possibly just show up at their location. They’ll know it’s a trap.

  It doesn’t take long for a bike to stop ahead of me. I recognize the cut and smile to myself.

  “Are you alright, Sweetheart?” the biker asks me, stepping off of his bike.

  “My car broke down and my cell’s battery died. I couldn’t call for a tow truck so I’m trying to find a gas station to call for help but it looks like you are my savior.” I smile at him, hoping he’ll buy it.

  “I don’t think so, Sweetheart.” He smirks and points behind me. I turn but don’t have time to react when I feel a fist connect with my jaw. This is not my fucking day. I fall to the ground, groaning in pain. I ‘struggle’ when someone picks me up and throws me in the back of a van. I’m blindfolded, gagged and handcuffed to something so I don’t move.

  “So trusting. So stupid.” a voice I recognize but can't place says.

  “Slider is going to be very happy. Now he has leverage to make Sanders talk,” another guy says. Just what we needed. Hopefully we’ll be locked up together so I can talk to Jase or at least see him.

  The drive is long, longer than I expected, but when we finally reach our destination I’m relieved, this van fucking stinks. The putrid smell is making me feel sick and the last thing we need is me choking on my own vomit because of the stupid gag.

  The blindfold is roughly taken off of my face and I come face to face with the same guy who came to my house to threaten me the other day.

  “Hello Nicole. Happy to see me?” He smirks.

  CHAPTER 24

  Jason

  I’m roughly shoved around. I open my left eye as the right one is swollen shut.

  “There we go. I was starting to worry that you had cut my fun short.”

  “Fuck off.” I look up at him.

  “Are you ready to talk?” He asks, wielding a gun in front of me.

  “You’ll never make me talk.”

  “We’ll see about that.” He chuckles darkly and walks over to a table and picks up something shiny. I can’t make out what it is from where I’m sitting but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be much fun for me. He walks back towards me, still smirking. “Still not ready to talk?” He asks and holds up a pair of shears and waves them around.

  “You don’t have the balls to do it.” I know what’s about to come and I don’t want it, but I honestly don’t know where the guys are and even if I did, I would never talk and even if I did talk, he would still do it.

  “Your loss then, literally.” He chuckles, proud of his lame joke and presses the sharp blades against my right pinky. “Last chance.”

  “Fuck you, Slider.” I snarl.

  “As you wish. This is for my father.” The fucker closes the shears around my finger and I can feel the sharp blades cutting through skin, ligaments, tendons, everything but the bone. The fucker doesn’t even know how to fucking use them.

  I don’t give him the pleasure of seeing me wince but I can’t help adding a little fuel to the fire.

  “God you can’t even torture someone properly.” I chuckle.

  “You’re sick, you’re getting off on this!” he yells and snaps the shears shut, the sound of bone crushing under the pressure reverberates through the warehouse. I clench my jaws together, not wanting to show him how much pain I’m in. I try to hide all emotion but it’s getting difficult now. I’m starting to shake, from both the pain and the adrenaline that’s rushing through my body. “I wonder how many more fingers it takes for you to speak?”

  “Cut them all off if you want to, I’ll never talk.” I groan in pain.

  “You’re all talk, Jason. You won’t be able to handle that level of pain. How about I move onto something that will get your tongue moving, how about Nicole? How would you feel watching her get tortured? Huh? I mean, she has a banging body, I wonder what kind of damage we could do to it.” He laughs creepily.

  “You don’t have her.” Now he has my attention.

  One of his minions walks over to Slider and whispers something in his ear. “This is going to get interesting. I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.” He chuckles and jogs out of the warehouse. I’m starting to feel the blood loss from my missing finger. My body starts to shake and sweat as it struggles to handle the pain that I’m mentally able to tolerate.

  A few minutes later, the door to the warehouse opens again and I hear him walk back in, but there’s someone else with him. I don’t have to wait long to see who it is. My blood turns to ice as he throws Nicole to the ground.

  “Hurt her again and I swear to God I’ll find a way to kill you with my bare hands.”

  “Now I’d love to see that considering you’re tied to a chair.” He shrugs. “Get a chair for the whore.” He calls out.

  “Careful what you say about her.” I look at him intently. I hate seeing her here, I hate that they found her and she will probably suffer the same fate as me. It won’t make any difference that she’s a woman. They are ruthless bastards. It might make it worse for her.

  “Like your opinion matters.” He scoffs and ties her to a chair, placing her directly in front of me so we are facing each other.

  The expression on her face is laced with worry, anger and sadness. I’m desperate to hold her and tell her that everything is going to be okay but I can’t and truth is, I doubt everything will be okay. They’ve g
ot the both of us right where they want us and no one knows where we are. I wish I could have protected her better. She doesn’t deserve this. I don’t deserve her. I never did. I hoped things would turn out differently, that all my problems would solve themselves in the shadows but truth is, they were always hanging over me like the sword of Damocles. I just wish I had realized it sooner, I wouldn’t have subjected her to all these fucked up things and she wouldn’t be in this situation.

  “What should I do to you two lovebirds?” He asks, chuckling as he circles us. He caresses Nicole’s hair each time he walks by her, it makes me feel sick. After a couple more circles, he takes off her gag. “Are you going to be any better than your murderer of a boyfriend?”

  “Bite me.” she exclaims looking at him with disgust.

  “If that’s what you want I’m sure we can arrange it.” He smirks at her like she’s a piece of fucking meat.

  “Don’t you dare fucking touch her.”

  “You can’t touch me, I don’t care about your idle threats.” He laughs creepily and yanks her head back, exposing her lips to him. He kisses her and I roar, struggling against my bonds. Suddenly Slider yells and backs away. His mouth and Nicole’s both bloodied, she smiles as she spits out blood.

  “That will teach you to try shoving your tongue down my throat you sick fuck!” she yells at him and I notice the bruise on her cheek.

  “Who did that to you?” I ask her.

  “I don’t know, one of his minions.” She frowns, nodding towards Slider.

  “Are you okay?” I need to hold her.

  “I’ll be fine.” She smiles weakly. “You?”

  “I’m fine now that I can see you.” I smile back at her.

  “Shut up you two!” Slider yells and stomps to Nicole and back hands her.

  “You. Are. Dead.” I growl at him.

  “Try me.” He laughs.

  CHAPTER 25

  Nicole

  I can’t believe the state Jase is in because of that fucker.

  His right eye is swollen shut, his face is one big bloody mess, his bottom lip is busted and he’s missing a fucking finger. I have to give it to him, he was tortured and never betrayed his friends, but fucking hell it’s breaking my heart.

  Slider walks over to his Disciples thinking he’s God incarnation.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Jase whispers.

  “All part of the plan.” I whisper back.

  “What are you talking about? What plan?”

  “Trust me, please.”

  “You’re the only person I actually trust.” He sighs sadly and I feel the greatest urge to hold him.

  “Just play along.” I wink at him and mouth ‘I love you’ as Slider comes back.

  “Either of you ready to talk?” Slider asks us and we both stay quiet. “Alright, if you want to play it that way then I don’t have any other choice but to get the truth out of you Sanders’ style.” He shrugs and walks to his table, coming back with a knife. “Who should I try this out on first.” He walks between the two of us and stops in front of me. I look up into his eyes as he slides the blade along my arm. I keep my eyes on his, feeling the sharp blade cut through my skin but try not to show any reaction. This hurts so much, how in the hell was Jase able to do it for so long?

  “Stop it you sick fuck!” Jase yells.

  Slider turns to him and licks the blade. “Or what?”

  “You’ll see.” Jase smirks at him.

  “I’d love to see you get out of that chair.” Slider chuckles and starts circling us again.

  “You’re doing a piss poor job of torturing us, have you gotten the truth yet? I’m sure you could get a few lessons from Jase,” I tell him, earning me a glare from Jase and a shocked look from Slider. “What? Didn’t expect me to talk back? You thought I was just going to let you hurt me without giving you a piece of my mind? Oh, so you’re sick and delusional.” I chuckle.

  “I would keep my mouth shut if I were you.” Slider snarls at me.

  “Yeah like that’s gonna happen. My brothers have been trying to shut me up for years and it has never worked, not once.” I shrug.

  “I’ll slice his throat if you keep talking.” He stands behind Jase, holding the knife against his throat.

  “See, you’re not going to want to do that.”

  “Oh really? And why not?”

  “Because I know what you want.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh yeah, it’s not hard to guess. You want revenge against the man who could have given you a better life but your parents fucked with him and had to pay for their mistakes. You could have made it all better but you decided to ally yourself with the wrong people, you could have erased everything your parents did wrong, but you didn’t and now Sergei wants you dead. You’re lucky I’m in a good mood and ready to offer you a deal.” I grin.

  “You are ready to offer me a deal? Now who’s being delusional?” Slider scoffs.

  “I might be, but you want their location and I know it. It’s up to you if you want to make that deal or not.” I shrug.

  “What would you want in exchange of their location?” he asks, unsure of what to do. Ha! Gotcha asshole!

  “You let Jase go. He gets out of this alive, your men leave him alone and don’t follow him, then I’ll tell you. The decision is yours.”

  “You’re bargaining your life for his?” he asks in disbelief.

  “Yes, that’s what someone does when they’re in love. They’re ready to do everything in their power to save them. Looks like no one ever did that for you. Sucks to be you.”

  “Shut up you fucking bitch!” he yells, getting agitated. Jase glares at me and mouths, ‘What the fuck?’ I mouth ‘trust me’ back. He nods once but doesn’t look pleased at all.

  “Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. What will it be? You’re running out of time.”

  “You think you’re so smart, that you have the upper hand? I could slit his throat and force you to tell me, then your little plan would backfire on you.”

  “Hurt him again and you’ll never know.” I glare at him.

  He paces around us for a couple of minutes before he stops in front of me. “Fine. Where are they? It would be wise not to lie, if you do you’re both dead.”

  “Free him first.”

  If looks could kill I’d be dead, but he undoes Jase’s binds. “He’s free, now tell me.”

  “The Kings’ old warehouse a few miles from the Kenner highway,” I say quietly.

  He walks over to the men who are standing at the back of the warehouse and talks to them.

  “Go.” I look at Jase.

  “Not without you.” He gets up and kneels next to me, trying to undo my binds but he’s barely able to use his right hand because of the blood and pain.

  “Not so fast Sanders.” Slider says knocking him out.

  “You sick fuck! I told you what you guys wanted! You promised you would leave him alone.” I shout as I’m forced to look up at Slider as someone yanks my hair back.

  “Never trust a biker.” He laughs creepily and sits Jase backs in his chair as his men walk out. I soon hear the roaring sound of bikes speeding off into the distance.

  Slider sits us back to back on our chairs and makes sure we are attached tightly. I’m fucking glad we had a backup plan, I’m not sure how much longer Jase can hold up like this.

  A moment later, I feel Jase move behind me and I sigh in relief.

  “I’m sorry,” he says quietly.

  “What for?”

  “It’s my fault you’re stuck in this mess.” He sighs.

  “ Even if I’d have been warned that I’d end up in this situation, I’d have still chosen you. I’ll always choose you no matter what.”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.” We hold each other’s hands behind our backs.

  “I was so scared that I’d never see you again. I just wish it were under other circumstances.”

  “Me too. No matter what at least
we’re together.”

  “I’m not afraid to die. I made my peace.”

  “I’m not afraid to die, either.”

  “We’ll be together, that’s all that matters.

  “Together, forever.” I whisper, desperately not wanting this to be the end.

  CHAPTER 26

  Jason

  Nicole never would have given them their actual location unless it was a trap. I hope it is. I’d pay good money to see Slider’s face if it’s a trap. I chuckle to myself, unable to contain myself as I picture his face when he realizes he’s been played.

  Someone walks over and punches me. “You think this is funny? Wait till we make you watch us torture and kill her in front of you before we kill you. We’ll see if you’re still laughing then.”

  “I know that voice,” she says softly, squeezing my hand.

  “What was that?” the guy asks and walks over to her. I hear her gasp and wonder what she’s looking at.

  “Greg? How could you fucking do this?” she asks, shock lacing her voice.

  “You know that fucker?” I ask in disbelief.

  “Yes, he was my only friend in college. I can’t believe you’d do this to me, to us.”

  “Fuck, Nic. I had no idea it was you,” he says quietly, trying to keep his voice from travelling to our other four guards.

  “You fucking punched me, how could you not see it was me?”

  “I swear I didn’t, I would never hurt you, you know that.” I can’t see them and it’s frustrating the shit out of me.

  “What the hell are you doing with these scumbags?”

  “I remember Levi, I mean Slider from college, he asked me if I wanted to be part of a cool club and well, I didn’t have many friends at the time so I said yes. I hate what I’ve become. This isn’t me, you know me. I just don’t know how to get out alive.”

  “You don’t.” She sighs.

  “That’s what I thought. You know they are never going to let you go.”

  “I know,” she says sadly.

  “I’ll try to help you out as much as I can, might as well go out with a bang.”