by J. L. Drake
Her breathing picked up, her chest rose and fell, which refocused my attention on her sexy breasts. I dove down and ran my tongue between them, sucking to draw the skin inward.
“Lex!” Will barked from the hallway. “Where the fuck are you?”
She tensed, and I could see she was slapped back to reality. She fought down her desire, and I could see her pulling in.
“Stop!” She rubbed her red lips madly. “Don’t screw with my head. You’ve done that enough for one lifetime!”
“I’m not trying to confuse you. I’m trying to remind you what we could be.”
“I don’t want you to!” she nearly yelled through a whisper, pushing me away so she could fix her clothes.
“Lexi!” Will was on the other side of the door…if only he knew we were still in there. “Where is that little cunt?”
The doorknob started to jiggle, and Lexi pushed me back behind some boxes.
“Keith, don’t say a friggin’ word.”
She twisted her skirt in place before she pulled the door open.
“Where the flying fuck have you been?” Will screamed at her.
“Locked inside that room. Thanks for caring, asshole.”
“Get your ass up front. Too many customers for me to handle.”
“What, you can’t handle a few orders?” she tossed back, leaving me spinning.
CHAPTER NINE
Once I knew they were gone, I hurried out to the hallway and acted like I was checking the rooms.
Elliot glanced at me as he tossed some dirty ice water out the back door.
“She okay?”
I nodded but kept moving back to the bar, where I came face to face with a hyped up Antonio and his men.
“How was it?” Lexi asked as she picked up an empty glass. Her cheeks still had some pink to them. She avoided all eye contact with me and acted like I wasn’t there at all.
Antonio grabbed her hips and backed her into him. She leaned against him, moving her hips provocatively.
“Go get naked and wait for me in position.”
She leaned back and gave him a kiss. I couldn’t lie; that bothered me.
“Actually, I haven’t finished helping Will. I got locked—”
“Did I ask?” His hand roughly grabbed her chin so she would look at him. “I don’t like to repeat myself, Lexi.”
It took everything in my body not to snap his neck in two. My hands nearly shook with the need to kill.
With a snap of his fingers, a man came forward and placed three oval pills on the table and smashed them down to dust with the butt of his gun. Sprinkling them into a spare drink, he handed it to him and stepped back.
Gordon glanced at me, then back at Lexi.
“Drink,” Antonio ordered, shoving the laced rum and Coke in Lexi’s hand before he let her go. “Now.”
She tipped the cup back, downing the entire thing. “Fun times, hey, boys?” she cheered as she slammed the empty glass down.
A flash of white caught my eye, and I saw Elliot across the room watching with a horrified expression. This was the first time I really hated her brother. He was, after all, the one who got her into this fucked up mess. If he had just been a man and helped his sister when she was hurting, like most siblings who lost their parents would do, they wouldn’t have been here right now. Instead, he thought only about himself and acted like an idiot. Then chased some pussy right into the Almas Perdidas’ cesspool, taking Lexi with him.
“Move.” Antonio shoved her forward, using her elbow. “Go, before that shit kicks in.”
“I’m going.” She kissed him before she left again, avoiding all eye contact with me.
The minute I could, I quickly fired off a text to Clark.
Ten painful minutes later, I got the distraction I hoped for. Two heavily made up hookers came strolling in, looking to make a few bucks. This caught Antonio’s attention. I waited for him to disappear into a random bedroom before I made my move. I couldn’t help but feel happy for them. They sure as hell weren’t going to get sex tonight.
I found Lexi in her room, wearing only her thong and a t-shirt. Pulling her skirt back on, I grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around her, then gathered her in my arms. Just as I was about to leave, I caught sight of the little wooden box I sent her from my first tour. It may not have meant much to anyone else, but it gave me a glimmer of hope knowing she kept it all these years. I hurried out the door and down to the last bedroom near the exit door.
I found Elliot listening to his headphones on the bed. “Get out.” He jumped up at my clipped tone and made room for his sister. “I need you to make sure Antonio doesn’t come looking for her tonight.”
“Antonio sure as hell won’t listen to me. I’m on his radar.”
“Why?” I asked. I wanted some god damn answers. I carefully fixed the covers around her limp body. “Why, Elliot?”
“I broke a rule.”
Rules. I could understand that. One of the main things I loved about living at Shadows were the rules. They were set in place for a reason and were meant to be followed. They were for our safely—for the protection of everyone and everything. Keeping the location of the safe house a secret depended on everyone following those rules. Cole was extremely strict that we followed them, or there were immediate consequences. The worst punishment was the peak. Duty at the peak wouldn’t harm you, but it was hellishly cold and miserable.
“Which was?”
His hands went to the top of his head as he squeezed his eyes shut. I could actually hear him grinding his teeth.
“I…” He tried to go on, and I could see the battle he was fighting. Saliva pooled in the corners of his mouth as his hands trembled under the pressure. “It was bad.” His haunted eyes found mine. “These guys make the Devil’s Reach gang look like pussies.”
I wanted to correct him—there was nothing worse than the DR, but I wasn’t about to interrupt.
He stood, jerked open a drawer, and removed a bottle of vodka.
“Want some?
“No.” I waited.
Pouring a triple, he held it between his tattooed fingers and stared at the mix of colored numbers on each one as if seeing them for the first time.
Once he seemed to regain control, he rubbed his thigh and nodded to himself as if to make amends with his fears. I respected that. It meant he still had some rational thinking going on inside. They hadn’t completely broken him yet.
“I slept with Antonio’s cousin. I didn’t know, and she sure as hell didn’t tell me who she was. Later, she wanted more from me and I said no. So, she told him. Told him a completely different version, that is.”
“Yeah, that would piss him off.”
“That, and Lexi tried to side with me.” His eyes flinched. “Despite what you think…” He cleared his throat and his voice became stronger. “I never wanted her here, you know. I was lost and out of control. She begged me to come home, but I didn’t feel home was home anymore. I didn’t really fit anywhere. I didn’t realize how far gone she was either. I mean, I knew she was hurting too, but what the hell could I do? I was a mess.”
I had to grit my teeth not to punch him in the face. I needed to let him talk it out.
“Then when she got involved with Juan, things were different.” He paused to look at his sister’s pale face. Her chest barely moved from the heavy dose of Vicodin.
“He was nice to her at first, but then he started beating on her. Only a little, but…must be a family trait. I tried to jump in the first time, but they only beat me worse. I tried to talk her out of hanging out at the clubhouse so much. We still had our parents’ house then. Wasn’t till two years ago we had to sell it. She was real sad when we let it go. She looked at a couple of apartments, and I thought she had decided on one, but she just started staying with Juan. Now, with Antonio, she’s here full time and things are worse.” He rubbed his sweaty lip. “Juan never told Antonio that you and her dated for so long. Those two are always butting heads, and he didn�
��t want Antonio to make jabs at him about it.” He took a drink, and downed about half of it. “Although Antonio knew anyway, he seems to know everything. It’s a small town.” He made a wry face. “Place like this is the shits for anyone, but she stayed. Her decision, right?”
So Lexi hadn’t told him about the possibility that the gang was behind their parents’ murder. That was interesting.
“Man, that girl can flip from the old Lexi to someone completely different. I hardly know her anymore.” As he leaned forward, he said, “They’ve threatened to kill me if she doesn’t do what she’s told. They’ve got us both with a noose around our necks, and since she’s moved in full time, it just gets tighter. They mean it, too, Keith. Once you’re in, you’re in.”
Jesus Christ, what a fucking coward!
“What happened to Juan?” I wanted as much information as possible so I knew what I was dealing with.
Elliot leaned back and kicked his feet up on the table, taking a moment. “Antonio wanted Lexi, and the only way he could make his move on her was if his brother was gone. So, about nine months ago, he planted some evidence and even testified against him on a murder charge. Juan got fifteen to life. The next day, Lexi was moved into Antonio’s room, and now she belongs to him. Minus the sharing. Antonio, for whatever reason, won’t share her. That just makes her more of a target to some guys.”
“Will?”
“Yeah, that asshole!” He jerked his hand and sloshed some vodka onto his pants.
I cleared my throat, not wanting to think about Will and Lexi.
“Go on.”
“She, umm…” He paused and shifted like he was suddenly uncomfortable. “She had this plan one time. Antonio was away, and she called him told him she was real sick and complained of bad stomach pains, and Antonio told her I could take her to the doctor. We’re not really supposed to leave together, but like I said, things are different now, but because he was away, he gave her permission. That’s when she got an IUD put in.”
I nodded, knowing what that meant. When Three got hers, I had to hear all about it. The joys of living with five women. Birth control wasn’t a taboo subject in my house.
“Antonio doesn’t know. Not that he would care, but Lexi did. She actually considered getting her tubes tied just so, you know, it couldn’t happen. The doctor talked her out of it, saying it was risky if she ever wanted kids later on.” He looked at me with red eyes. “I helped convince her not to. I didn’t want my sister to lose the chance if she ever changed her mind. Obviously, she wasn’t worried about Antonio, but he normally does share, so…” He held my stare, trying to convince me he had actually done something to help her. His eyes shifted from one of mine to the other, searching for something I wasn’t going to give him.
“Good luck getting through to her, Keith. Part of her died years ago after you left. No joke, she wouldn’t let any of us speak your name in the house after that. She was so damaged by what you did, she just turned that part of herself off. The old Lexi is gone, mostly, and she isn’t going to listen to either of us.”
I knew he was trying to deflect his lack of effort to help Lexi onto me, and as much as it hurt to hear, I didn’t want to go there right now.
“Elliot, I have to ask you something.” I needed to keep him talking. There was still something I wasn’t getting here.
He nodded and made an attempt to cover his sister a little better with the blanket.
“Antonio mentioned you did something to lead him to believe you aren’t trustworthy. What was that?”
His jaw ticked. He hesitated, then turned and shrugged. “Besides the mix-up with his cousin, he just doesn’t like me defending my sister. I think he’s jealous of our relationship. Other than that, I don’t know.”
The thing about Elliot was he was pretty easy to read. I was sure he was lying to me, and he was definitely hiding something.
We sat together in silence, me absorbing what I heard, and Elliot enjoying his shoulder to lean on. There was a time Elliot and I had been close. There was something about him, though, that I never liked. But he was Lexi’s brother, and she adored him, so I made the effort. He’d always had a bit of a reckless side. This time it had gotten him into the kind of trouble that was only going to get more dangerous as time moved on, and he was taking Lexi right along with him.
Elliot started to talk again.
“When Antonio realized Lexi was great with numbers, he started letting her work on the books. She’s proved she’s trustworthy and she can be useful to him. He doesn’t like me, well, because, I ahh…stepped over the line by sleeping with his cousin. Lexi tried to defend me, and he didn’t like that at all. Now he’s questioning her loyalty. He’s pissed at her, and that’s why he’s making her work the bar with Will.” He closed his eyes for a second. “Now the only time she’s allowed to leave on her own is every Thursday, when she goes to visit our parents’ grave, or when she’s sent out on errands. At first they’d follow her to make sure she wasn’t lying about where she went, but she wasn’t. Lexi is too scared to run off.”
“How did you get into the gang, Elliot?”
His face flinched, again indicating he was about to lie. “I fell into this place through Antonio’s cousin. She really is pretty. Later I became close with his uncle when I got four months at the county jail for taking the heat for a marijuana charge. They found it in his car. It was a tradeoff, and anything was better than having to do their initiation.” He put a hand over his heart. “I wouldn’t have been able to murder someone for no reason.” He paused like he wanted to say something, but stopped himself. Much like his sister did.
What was really going on here?
“Where have you been, Keith? What have you been up to?”
I didn’t plan to answer that. He didn’t have the right to ask, and it came with too many unanswerable questions. Thankfully, I didn’t have to reply. The door slowly opened, and a girl with green hair popped her head inside the room.
“Is she out?”
Feeling like I was missing something, I looked over at Elliot. He shook his head at her.
“Not tonight, Renny.”
Dismissing his comment, she moved into the room, closing the door behind her. I couldn’t believe it when she started to remove her top.
“What the hell is this?” My expression was murderous. Elliot jumped to his feet, then oddly enough, he hesitated.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing as this green-headed chick whipped off her skirt, jumped on the bed, and started to kiss Lexi’s limp lips.
Elliot stood like a statue, watching with a weird expression on his face like he was enjoying it. “What the fuck?” I started for the bed, stopping myself from flinging her against a wall when Elliot shouted.
“Renny, get out!” Elliot jolted out of his trance. “Get the fuck off of her!”
She looked confused as she peeled herself off Lexi.
“What the shit, Elliot? Never bothered you bef—”
“Get out!” he interrupted her, but not before the sickening comment was heard.
I wanted to punch something as my stomach rolled in a violent twist.
“If Antonio finds out—”
“She’s my goddamn twin, you crack whore. I’m protecting her.”
Renny gave him a dirty but confused look before she grabbed her clothes and headed for the door. Oh my God, this had happened before.
“Hey!” She pointed her chin at me. “You wanna BJ or somethin’?”
I stared at her, my head completely thrown by this whole cluster fuck. I started to pick Lexi up, wrapping the pathetically small blanket around her.
“I’m taking her to my parents.” I stood holding her in my arms as Elliot stepped in front of me. “Get out of my way, Elliot.”
“If you take her, they’ll kill her when she comes back. Trust me.” He shifted gears. “She’ll be just as angry at you for taking her out of here as they will.” His face grew pale. “Everything here comes with a consequence. D
on’t risk her life with this. It’s nothing new. Trust me.”
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
He might be right. Shit, I needed to think. I stepped back and tried to shake off my frustration. I slowly put her back on the bed, brushing the hair from her pale face. Oh, Lexi, what am I going to do with you? Taking the cleaner looking corner, I dropped my ass to the floor and closed my tired eyes.
It was going to be a long night, and I wasn’t going anywhere.
***
Lexi
The clouds rolled by at a lazy pace, and my sleepy eyes created shapes and faces. A warm breeze moved over my skin while the ocean pawed at the shoreline. A soft cream colored cotton dress fluttered around my legs. I enjoyed the feeling of it as it flirted with my thighs.
A perfect day. My skin, sun-kissed under the hot rays, reminded me I wasn’t in Boston anymore. A smile crept along my lips when I spotted him wading in the water. His broad shoulders and lean stomach gleamed with water. He was wearing a ball hat, and I almost laughed out loud at the happiness that bubbled up from inside. I lay in my hammock and enjoyed watching him.
“More margarita, miss?” Eddie, my favorite Bajan bartender, leaned down and offered me another.
“Thanks, Eddie.” I always tipped him well. He was the best. I happily sucked on a piece of pineapple, letting the juices mingle with my taste buds.
Keith and I had been planning to go on a trip for some time now, so when we turned twenty-one, we pooled our money, and there we were on a beach down by the Gap in Barbados. We absolutely loved this island. The people were warm and friendly and the food fantastic. We both loved the flying fish, a specialty here.
We had booked a catamaran with our new friends, Clint and Laura. They owned a company that delivered boats around the world. Clint entertained us with many stories of his escapades on the sea. An expert sailor, he also raced boats, and one of his favorites was the Clipper Round the World race. They were locals and took us under their wing right from the start and showed us nothing but a great time. We were extremely fortunate to have met them.