by Ada Scott
One week ago I wouldn’t have cared as much about meeting Jace Barlow. Part of me would have welcomed it, the chance to avoid the so-called life that was laid out in front of me.
It was cruel to be placed in Barlow’s hands so soon after finding a man I wanted to wake up for each morning. It was crazy to be placed there by the same man and his sense of duty, but here we were. He was taking off his helmet and hanging it on the handlebar.
Eric leaned the bike on its stand and stepped off, picking up the mysterious briefcase that had been balanced in front of him on this last leg of our journey. I stayed still. My arms and legs suddenly felt too heavy to lift, even heavier than when I had been walking towards those posts in The Smoke Devils’ HQ. He took my helmet off and rested it on the seat in front of me.
“We made it,” he said.
I shrugged.
“You’re going to live, Eliana, and it’s going to be very different to how it was before. This is the last thing we need to do, and then the job is done.”
“What if he kills me, or locks me up forever?” I whispered. “What if my dad wasn’t just involved? What if he killed Jace’s parents?”
Eric put his hand on my shoulder and spoke gently. “If that’s the case, then his business still isn’t with you. I’ve been thinking about it since we got the briefcase back, and… uh… no offence, but I think maybe Jace and the rest of the world has overestimated how much you mean to Vito.”
I blushed. Of course, now there was no hiding the shame of my father’s disdain for me behind closed doors. He was the only parent I had ever known, and the one who was supposed to love me the most, but he had nothing but contempt for me.
A sudden thought crossed my mind and almost crushed my heart under the heel of its boot. What if my dad was right about me? What if I was really as stupid and worthless as he said?
Was the whole world working on some higher level that I was too simple to grasp? Did Eric break into our house and immediately recognize me for the lonely, stupid girl that I was and know exactly how to handle me to get me to cooperate and do what he wanted to get his precious job done?
Was this last week a lie from start to finish? Was I some easy fun for him to pass the time while he delivered me to his boss? Who cared if I got pregnant because I’d be dead in a few days anyway?
Each question squeezed my heart more painfully as it fluttered with increasing fear and uncertainty. My hands started shaking and a very academic voice in my head said I was displaying every sign of an oncoming panic attack.
A tear fell. No matter what Jace might do to me, the thought that what I felt between Eric and me was a lie hurt more than anything else.
He lifted my chin, forcing me to look him in the eye. “You lived with Vito in your life for twenty years, you can make it through this. If Jace doesn’t kill him, I will. I promise you that, because nobody who lays a hand on you in anger will go unpunished.” He took a deep breath. “That includes Jace Barlow, because you are mine.”
Looking through the windows to his soul, it was impossible to deny his love. If only I could spend my entire life, or at least the next hour, looking there and there alone.
“D-do you need… to put the handcuffs back on?” I asked.
“I don’t have any.”
“Oh.”
“Let’s go.”
Eric helped me off the bike and kept me moving in the direction of the elevator with his free hand on the small of my back. The doors opened shortly after he pressed the button and we stepped inside.
He pressed the button for the top floor on the most technologically advanced elevator control panel I’d ever seen and bent down slightly when a screen lit up, showing some guy in a suit.
“What’s the password?”
“Go fuck yourself, Stefano.”
Stefano tsk-tsked as the elevator started moving. “We gotta get a better password. You look like shit, Eric, and you’re late. What happened?”
“I’ll tell you about it some other time. In a nutshell, it wasn’t smooth sailing.”
“Alright, see you in a few.”
“Yep.”
The screen went blank and Eric straightened up again, putting his hand on the small of my back once more. The numbers above the door were counting up, but it felt more like my life was counting down.
When we finally arrived, the doors slid open and we were greeted by the surreal sight of several armed men in suits crowded around the elevator. Barlow’s men.
One of them, sitting behind a desk, was the man from the screen in the elevator. He gave us a short wave that Eric returned.
I had my arms wrapped protectively around my stomach, wondering which, if any, of these guys had been given the instruction to gun me down. I shrank away from any that we passed too closely by, until we were through most of them, and at one end of a long, narrow, hallway with a huge gun installed at the other end, pointing right at us.
It looked like an anti-aircraft gun or a missile defense system or something. It might have been able to chop the building in half if it got going, let alone the two of us. Eric turned his head in the direction of Stefano, who called out.
“All the way to the end, stairs on the right. He’s on the next level up.”
Eric nodded and I felt the pressure on my lower back again. To my disbelief, my legs kept moving. One foot landed in front of the other, even though I felt numb.
When I inevitably stumbled, Eric’s arm curled around me in a flash. One of the men behind us chuckled and although I didn’t see the expression on Eric’s face, the look he shot him was severe enough to cut the laughter off sharply.
“Keep going.”
With the crowd behind us silenced, the only noise left was my heart, my breath, and our footsteps. We crossed the length of the hallway and stepped to the right, out of the path of that insane piece of weaponry, seeing the door for the stairs immediately.
Eric had to help me a lot to get up the stairs. Every breath I took didn’t seem to give me enough oxygen to work with, and every inhalation became quicker and more shallow than the one before. This was what it must have felt like to climb the gallows.
When we came through the door on the next floor up, we were brought to another area much like the one outside the elevator below. The only differences were that there was no elevator and instead of some huge cannon at the end of the hallway, there was a door that looked more at home in an office tower.
These guys looked a little more alert than the crew below, maybe because Jace Barlow could come through that door over there with no warning at any moment. Whatever the case, Eric led us down the hallway and knocked on the door.
A voice called us in and Eric pushed the door open to reveal a lavish office that may have once belonged to the CEO of Bridgerscorp Finance or some other high-flying business that used to call this building home. Sitting behind a desk, looking right at us, was the man who may have been responsible for more deaths this millennium than anybody outside of a national government or military command. Jace Barlow.
I groaned under my breath, while Eric marched us into the room and closed the door behind us. No escape.
Leaning against the wall, looking out the window at the city below, was a beautiful dark-haired girl who straightened herself and walked to stand next to Jace as we approached, casually putting her hand on his shoulder. How could she do that?
Jace’s eyes lit up when he saw the briefcase in Eric’s hand. “So that job was tougher than expected, huh?”
“That’s an understatement.”
I tried to disappear behind Eric, hoping for some kind of out-of-sight-out-of-mind effect, and found myself clenching his jacket tightly in my fist. Unfortunately, I was left high and dry when Eric strode forward and placed the case on Jace’s desk, leaving me alone for a few seconds before he came back.
Jace ran his fingers over the case with a smirk, and then his eyes flicked up again. “Your payment will be in your account by the end of the day. After a week li
ke that, you must be pretty exhausted so I won’t take up any more of your time now. We can debrief tomorrow. I’ll arrange a presidential suite for you to stay over the next few days if you want. I’d actually recommend heading back to Port Magnus and lying low for a while rather than staying here though. I haven’t met with the Police Commissioner yet and told him he’s dealing with me instead of the Pirozzis now so things are still kind of chaotic.” His eyes caught mine for a second before I dropped my gaze to the floor. “Eliana, I know you’ve got no reason to trust me, but it was never my intention to take my revenge out on you. My issue is with your father, but having spoken to him I… can see that you can’t be used as leverage like I wanted. Of course, I can’t have you running around loose in the next couple of days either, just in case, but whatever you think about Vito, I’m going to be doing you a favor. I’m pretty sure of that. We’ve prepared a room for you here, and a woman I trust very much has insisted on looking after you. Eric, you remember her, Sarina? She’ll make sure you have everything you need, but if you think you can fight through her you’ll find you’re wrong. In a few days at the most, you’ll be free to go. I-”
“Eliana will be staying with me,” said Eric.
Jace’s eyebrow raised. So did the woman’s.
“There’s no love lost between the two of them. I understand my job was only to deliver her here, but I’ll accept responsibility for her for the next few days. She won’t throw a wrench in the works. It’s on me. I insist.”
Jace scrutinized the two of us quietly. Eric looked back at me and I met his eyes, looking for that reassurance again. He returned his attention to Jace. I saw it dawn on the kingpin’s face when he realized there was something going on between Eric and me. The dark-haired woman saw it too and I could have sworn I saw the hint of a smile on her lips. Didn’t she know that this silent standoff was life and death?
“Alright. It’s on you. There’s already a car waiting for you downstairs. Your suite will be ready by the time you arrive. No booking in, you’ll go in through the celebrity entrance for discretion. I’ll get some food and clothes sent in so you can lie low. It would be best for all concerned if nobody saw and recognized you.”
“Thank you, Jace.” Eric nodded at the woman. “Kendall.”
Jace nodded back and the hint of a smile broke into full-beam from Kendall. “Glad you made it, Eric and… uh… congratulations.”
The criminal kingpin shot a bemused look at her and slipped his arm around her upper thighs. She smiled down at him with such warmth I couldn’t help but crane my neck to keep my eyes on them over my shoulder as Eric led us back towards the door.
This was the most dangerous man in the country? And the two of them were in love? Like, she wasn’t paid to be here, she was in love, love. And he was letting me go? Congratulations?
I’d had many a dream that was less confusing than this. I still hadn’t figured out the trick by the time the door closing behind us cut Jace and Kendall off from my sight.
Eliana
I had every intention of eating some food and taking a shower before falling asleep, I really did. However, the best laid plans of mice and recently abducted Mafia legacy women often work out the same.
After flopping down on the bed to “rest my eyes,” the next thing I knew, it was morning. The first thing I saw was Eric next to me, also lying sideways on top of the covers. His feet, shoes and all, were hanging off the edge just like mine.
I reached out and stroked his cheek, trying to avoid the worst of the cuts and bruises he’d received over the last week. One by one the fears about my future faded away, replaced by images that were so bright, so colorful, they were almost too pretty to think about.
Instead of being Roberto Capon’s wife, dreading every time I saw him, I saw myself in a happy home. Sun shone in the window. I could hear children laughing somewhere, playing. I worried about what Eric was doing, but I ached for him to return. And he always did.
My life could have the kind of passion that Romeo and Juliet would be envious of. In the bedroom, or wherever the mood struck us, Eric would dominate me like no other man could, fuck me hard until I screamed for mercy from the relentless ecstasy. He’d make me his slut and I’d love it.
Despite all that, after we used each other for all the pleasure we could, we’d still respect each other in the morning. He wouldn’t tell me I was a stupid bitch for wanting to study medicine. He wouldn’t even merely allow it. He’d encourage and support me. He’d be proud of me. He’d tell them all that I was his girl. I was special to him. We were special to each other and there was nobody like us in the whole world.
I took a breath so deep I thought I might burst, and my toes curled in my shoes. A tear tickled the bridge of my nose and I hurriedly wiped it away. I never thought tears of happiness were a real thing.
When I sat up, I almost groaned at the aches and pains in my muscles, especially where my father had punched me, but managed to keep it in so as not to wake Eric. I quietly kicked my shoes off and then leaned down to peel my socks off, noticing the dents the elastic had made in my skin.
I went to the bathroom and the huge Jacuzzi-style bathtub caught my eye. After sneaking back into the room to grab some fruit and a bottle of water from the spread that had been laid out for us, I returned to the bathroom and closed the door before turning on the taps.
Due to the almost criminal amount of bubble bath I poured in, it was soon impossible to eyeball exactly how high the water level was, but I figured it out and sighed contentedly when I slipped in. I had to dig a little crater into the bubbles so I could breathe, but that was a small price to pay.
It must have been half an hour later, and the water jets shooting against me back may have left me dopey-faced with a little bit of drool coming out of the corner of my mouth, when Eric opened the bathroom door.
“Eliana, you in there?”
I raised my hand over the bubbles and then swished some away so that I could see him. He was undressing, and I sat back to enjoy the show.
The various cuts and bruises almost flowed into his existing tattoos, like pain was a part of the tapestry of his life anyway. He paused when he was about to take down his pants and I spun my finger around in the air to gesture for him to continue.
Even unaroused, the inches of cock revealed by the retreating clothes held promises of size, power and pleasure that would have been obvious even if I hadn’t experienced it for myself. Just seeing it made me want to get on my knees in front of him, but he headed straight for the shower.
Eric groaned over the sound of running water. “Oh holy fuck that feels good.”
“I know, right?”
The sound of vigorous scrubbing and hair-washing came from the shower while the hot water pouring on him added to the steam in the room. When he came out he looked much more alert.
I watched him dry himself and then wrap the towel around his waist. Such a shame. He came over and knelt by the bath, leaning over to give me a kiss.
His eyes glanced over to the side of the bath and he reached in that direction. When his hand returned into view I saw he had one of the strawberries I’d grabbed and promptly forgotten about.
Eric lowered it to my lips and I used my tongue to help guide it into my mouth before biting off a delicious juicy chunk of it. I smiled up at him after I swallowed.
“I could get used to this,” I said.
“Me too. Hey, every second I’m not getting shot at is a bonus for me.”
Eric fed the two of us strawberries and grapes until the edge was taken off my hunger, and he especially liked the little show I made out of the banana. I was a little confused when he curled one hand around the back of my neck and pushed down on my shoulder, but went with it until everything but my face was submerged.
He ran his fingers through my hair, getting it good and soaked, before pulling me up again. Using one of the high-end shampoos set out next to the bath, he poured it on and massaged it in, making sure to work it in right
to the tips before dunking me again.
It took him a long time to rinse it out, but since it was like getting a head massage while floating in water and bubbles, that was no great burden to endure. When he pulled me out again, he asked me a question but I couldn’t hear him because of the water in my ears. I tilted my head to each side and shook.
“Huh?”
“I said, would you say you have fine or full-bodied hair?” he said, looking at a bottle of conditioner.
“Thick… uh… full-bodied. All the better for pulling.” I smiled.
Eric smiled too, then set one bottle down and picked up another. “This will nourish and repair with the natural goodness of Jojoba.”
“Um. Sure.”
He poured the conditioner on my head and massaged it in, but I resisted when he tried to push me down again.
“Is there a complementary comb in here? I need to get the knots out.”
“Now?”
“Trust me, it’s easier.”
Eric shrugged. “A buzz-cut is so much more practical.”
“Not for pulling.”
“Touché.”
He looked on some shelves and in drawers and cupboards until he found a comb, then slowly worked his way around my head while I sat up and hugged my knees. The teeth of the comb felt so good on my scalp, another dimension to the head massage.
After all those days and nights of fucking, fighting, fleeing, sleeping in cars and wearing helmets, there was a lot of work for him to do. Finally, when the comb was gliding through my hair, he dunked me again and used his fingers to rinse out the conditioner.
“This is the best bath I’ve ever had in my entire life,” I said when I came up again.
“Fuck you look sexy,” he replied.
I smiled. “Oh really?”
“Oh yeah.”
He reached into the bubble bath while I reached out. I touched his abs with the back of my fingers, so I wouldn’t catch any of this cuts painfully, and I felt his hand in the warm water, stroking my breasts and then reaching lower, over my stomach, until his fingers were between my legs.