by Love, B. T.
“I know.”
She hugged her arms across her chest. “I, I want to go home,” she said quietly.
I hated to hear her say those words. I finally was able to tell her the truth of what was happening, the truth to why I had insinuated that we weren’t together. It was all a protection. But it wasn’t enough for her, because now she wanted to leave me and go back home. After all of this, it looked as though I was still losing her in the end.
With a nod I dropped my gaze to the table and picked up the bloody machete, sliding it into its sheath that was fixed onto the side of my pants. “Okay, Scarlett. I’ll take you home.”
“I mean home home.”
I leaned over and pushed Dimitri’s body to the side before yanking my knife out of his stomach. “Yeah, I know what you meant.”
“Good. Because the sooner I get away from this life the better. I don’t want anything to do with anyone here anymore.”
“Even me?” I asked as I wiped the knife against my pant leg and slid it back in my pocket.
She didn’t answer. I wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t know the answer or if it was because she was so emotionally wrecked that she couldn’t’ bring herself to. So instead of saying anything she walked over and stood in front of me. I sighed and stooped down, picking the spectacular woman that she was up and cradling her lovingly in my arms.
I held her tightly and stepped over Dimitri’s lifeless body, taking her outside and passing David’s as well.
“He was tough,” I said as she looked down at him.
“But you got him,” she answered quietly.
“I always do.”
She sucked against me and I welcomed her closeness. “What are you going to do about all of this?” she asked.
“I’ll come back and clean up after I get you back to your dad’s.”
“And the bodies?”
“That’s my problem, Scarlett. You don’t have to worry yourself with it.”
“I’m worried about your wound.”
“Don’t be; it’s not very deep. I’ll be fine.”
I carried her in silence through the woods. All that was going through my mind was ways to keep her with me. It was hard for me to realize that I had turned into a man who actually needed someone, but I did. Scarlett made me happier than I had ever been before, and if I were to lose that feeling it would destroy me. I couldn’t let her leave.
When we reached my car she held on as I took an arm away to open the door, and she let go of me as I placed her gently down on the seat. I went around to my side and got in before starting the loud rumbling engine and staring down at the steering wheel. “I don’t want you to go,” I confessed.
She pulled her knees to her chest and looked down at her dirty feet. “It was going to happen eventually, Troy. You know that.”
I looked up at the clearing ahead of us and shifted the car into drive. “I can pay for you to go to college here.”
“I don’t need your help; it’s time I start taking care of myself. And besides, I don’t want to live here.”
“I make a lot of money, Scarlett. I can do that for you; I want to.”
She dropped her knees and pulled the seatbelt across her chest, buckling it into place. “Just take me home, Troy.”
A heavy sigh escaped me. “Fine,” I huffed. I wasn’t an emotional man, but I was beginning to feel the sense of losing control. I put my foot on the gas and peeled out against the rugged terrain.
She held on tightly to the door handle. “What the hell are you doing!”
“Taking you home,” I said matter-of-factly.
“Troy, knock it off!” I ignored her as I drove onto the dirt road. “I said stop it!” she shrieked.
“I’m just respecting your wishes,” I said as I accelerated.
“You just saved my life back there and now you want me to die this way?”
I slammed on the brakes and turned the wheel, pitching the car sideways, skidding across the dirt and stopping off to the side of the road. “God, you drive me crazy!” I said, looking over at her with wild eyes.
“I drive you crazy?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, you do.”
“And why is that? I’ve never done anything to you!”
“Never done anything to me?” I asked in disbelief. “You came into my life and—”
“I came into my dad and brother’s life,” she corrected me.
“Yeah but everyone including myself told you to stay away from me and you just couldn’t listen.”
“Don’t act like the victim in all of this, Troy. Look at my face; it’s obvious that I’m the victim in this situation.”
“Yeah, and you look like hell right now.” I was never very good with words.
She stared at me like I was an idiot. “I look like hell right now?” she repeated angrily. “How could you say that to me?”
“Because it’s the truth. Your hair’s a mess, there’s blood all over your face . . .”
“Are you kidding me?” she huffed. “You know what? I’m outta here.” she unbuckled her seatbelt and was about to open the door when I stopped her.
“Look at me,” I said calmly, putting my hand to her face and gently turning her head to see me. “Your hair is a mess. There is blood splattered all over your face. You look like hell. And you’re still the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”
She stared blankly back at me. “Is that supposed to be some sort of a compliment or something?”
“It’s supposed to be.” I stroked her cheek with my blood-stained thumb. “I’m not about to let you go back home without me.”
“What, what do you mean? Are you wanting to quit what you do?”
“No. It’s like I’ve said before, this is what I was made to do, Scarlett. But Vladimir has offered to send me other places around the country to do work for him, so I can pretty much go anywhere I want.”
“Vladimir? Vladimir was going to buy me!”
“Vladimir was going to help you,” I corrected her. “He never said anything about buying you; Dimitri did.”
“Well if he wanted to help me that bad he would have given my dad all of the money to save me!”
“I know,” I hushed her gently. “But Vladimir is still a businessman. And he barely has a heart as it is. I’m surprised he even offered your dad what he did.”
Her shoulders slumped as she relaxed her face against my palm; I loved how she still felt comfortable enough to do that. “You would move away from here? From my family?”
“I’ll still be with family,” I said with a faint smile.
She sighed as she smiled back. “You don’t want to be without me?”
I took my hand away from her face and stared down at it. “Look at my hand. Do you see something wrong with this picture?”
“No. I mean, there’s blood on it.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “But there’s something else that’s not on it.”
“Uh, well, do you mean a ring?”
Her comment made me chuckle; she was so sweet. Even though it wasn’t what I was talking about at that exact moment, it was still something I knew I would eventually feel I was missing on my hand when it came to being with her. “Yeah, that’s a good answer,” I said, “but it wasn’t quite what I was thinking. There’s no glove on my hand, Scarlett.”
She looked a little embarrassed as she focused on my hand. “You’re right; I didn’t even notice that you weren’t wearing gloves. Aren’t you worried about covering your tracks?”
“Yeah, I am. But when you’re around I just keep reminding myself that you’ll be leaving me soon and I, I just can’t think straight. Just like when I wrote the wrong name on that letter . . . You’ve got my head all messed up. And I can’t have that; it’s too dangerous for me. So the only thing I know to do is to either send you back home and spend the rest of my life missing you, or keep you with me and move somewhere where we’ll both get what we want, which is our careers and each other.”
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“Is that really what you want?” she asked, her face lit up by a gorgeous smile.
What a journey my life had been when it came to Scarlett Nicoletti. Ever since I had heard she existed I wanted to exact revenge for her and I did, putting an end to Jimmy on her behalf. And then coming to her rescue when Dimitri and David took a hold of her . . . It reminded me how much I took pleasure in saving her. She had been a part of my life since I was a teenager, existing as a memory to Eli and Mitch and as a story in my mind, and when she walked into my life recently she turned my world upside down. To have her in front of me was a dream come true. I was fascinated by her. And now as I looked into the eyes of this woman, I was ready to continue my life with her in it. Because she was everything to me.
I took her hand in mine and brought it to my lips, placing a tender kiss against her soft knuckles, and then I smiled; I was ready to continue our love story. “Baby, I’ve wanted it ever since your finger first touched that doorbell.”
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