Vera narrowed her eyes and for a moment I thought I had her. I thought she understood the danger I posed to her. Instead, she shoved her hand down my pants and gripped my cock. “Don’t call me girl.”
I was lost.
I snaked my other hand around and furiously grabbed her by the neck, pulling her in for a kiss. No more waiting, I was going to taste her. When her lips crushed against mine, I let out a frustrated and pent up growl. She tasted like raspberries. How the fuck did she taste like raspberries?
I needed more.
I thrust my tongue into her mouth, warring with hers, letting her know in no uncertain terms that she belonged to me. With her hand still wrapped around my cock (like it would be forever if I had any say about it) I started to step forward. We moved together, our tongues tied, and I pushed Vera up against the hallway wall. Her small hands came out of my pants and started undoing the buttons. In an instant my cock was free and I spun her around so she couldn’t see me.
I hadn’t been naked with a woman since the accident. I’d fucked of course, but none of them had seen me.
“I want to see you, Charlie.” Vera reached around her back, grabbing my cock.
I groaned. “No.” I pushed her harder into the wall, ripping off her panties, my cock finding her entrance. In one rough push I was inside of her. She was warm, wet, and wanting. Her pussy tightened around my cock and it took all my strength not to come right then like a fucking boy. Vera fought against me, struggling to get free from my hold. I’d be a fucker if I didn’t admit her struggling made me harder.
“This is what you wanted, Vera,” I growled into her ear. “You wanted me. I’m damaged. I’m rough. I don’t play nice. I don’t ask for permission.” I fucked into her, even as she fought against me. I felt her pussy tighten, I heard her breathing grow labored. She was going to come. I was going to rip that orgasm out of her whether she wanted me to or not.
I reached an arm around, laying my palm flat on her stomach. Slowly, I trailed my fingers down until they were buried in her pussy. As I pounded into her, my fingers played against her clit. Her fighting ceased and she melted into me. For a few seconds of bliss, Vera gave herself up completely. My name left her lips in a whisper.
As she settled down, I prepared for my own undoing, but Vera elbowed me in the abdomen. I let go of her briefly, giving her just enough time to wiggle out from under me. I turned to see her, cheeks flushed from the orgasm, hair a mess, and still naked from the waist down.
She was beautiful.
“You are not that man,” she accused. “That’s who you pretend to be.” Vera hurriedly grabbed her clothes and began dressing. She reached for my shirt and threw it over the lingerie.
“Who am I then?” I took a step to Vera when I noticed her gaze drop to my leg. “This?” I grabbed my prosthetic. “This is what you want to see?”
Vera glared, her gaze returning to me. “I don’t care about your leg.”
“Don’t fucking lie to me,” I growled.
“I’m the liar?” Vera laughed but the sound didn’t reach her eyes. “You’re the one who keeps saying the only reason I can’t leave is because I’m not ready, but we both know that’s a lie. It’s you who isn’t ready, Charlie. You’re not ready!”
“Then leave, girl! Get the fuck out!” I took a harsh step toward Vera, gesturing like a madman. She stumbled back, fear and anger in her eyes.
“You don’t mean that,” Vera whispered.
“Get the fuck out if you want to go so badly!” I threw my hand out to point at the door just as Vera took a step toward me. My hand collided with her cheek and I knew I’d hurt her. Tears welled in her eyes. She turned and ran, thrusting the front door open. The wood smacked against the wall. I opened my mouth to call after her but nothing came out.
Maybe it was better she ran.
7
VERA
I was about three miles down the road before my actions started to resonate in my mind. I was in the middle of nowhere with no cash and no cellphone. I didn’t have any shoes and was only wearing a baggie t-shirt. My situation was really lookin’ bleak.
“Shit.” I kicked a loose rock, feelin’ frustrated. How had all of this happened to me? All I wanted to do was leave Louisiana and start over. I wanted a new life. I wanted adventure. Was that so much to ask? I thought back to Charlie and the way I’d felt when I was with him.
The thought was almost enough to make me turn around. He hadn’t meant to hit me. I knew that by the way he’d looked when his hand hit my cheek. I’d been hit by men before. I’d been hit by lovers before. Their faces didn’t look a thing like Charlie’s.
Charlie was dark and dangerous, but he was something else too. He was my missing piece. He filled the hole inside me. Sex with Charlie had been metamorphic. He’d given me an orgasm in minutes, and the orgasm he’d given me had completely transformed my being. Life without Charlie seemed like being a butterfly that wanted to go back to being a caterpillar.
I turned around, looking back at the way I’d come. Would he want me back? I’d left so angrily. I watched the horizon, wonderin’ about my options. A lone truck appeared, steadily getting closer. The massive vehicle got closer and closer and I expected it to keep going, but it stopped.
The engine was still roaring when the side door opened, revealing a man with a long unkempt beard and beady eyes.
“Hey little lady, need a ride?” I surveyed the trucker. He seemed harmless enough. Worst thing he would do was make me blow him. Charlie’s face popped into my head unbidden. Before Charlie, I hadn’t given myself much value. A blowjob here, a blowjob there, who cares. If someone took it without asking, not a big deal.
Charlie made me see how wrong that was.
Charlie made me see a lot of things.
I glared at the trucker and put my hands on my hips. “What’s it to you?”
“Nothin’,” the trucker responded. “It’s rainy and wet out, tryin’ to do a good deed.” I stared down the long, windy black road. If I didn’t get in, I may as well have signed my death warrant.
“Fine.” I lifted my foot to the ledge, grabbed the handle, and climbed in. The trucker smiled at me before putting his foot on the gas.
“Zero’s sure gonna be happy when he sees what I’ve found.” I opened my mouth in silent shock, prepared to fight, but it was too late. The trucker hit me over the head and everything went black.
* * *
No.
I refused to accept it.
It could not be happening.
No.
Not again.
I buried my head in my hands. The headache, the horrible pounding from where the trucker had knocked me out, was nothing compared to the utter despair I felt. I saw the gray walls, the dirty mattress, and I knew instantly what had happened.
I’d traded in love for cataclysm. I didn’t need to lift my head and look to know who it was. I recognized the stench. I recognized the footfalls. I recognized everything. The room was slightly different, but the feeling had been burned into my head only weeks before. It would stay there forever.
“Welcome home, cunt.”
8
CHARLIE
Shit.
Shit. Fuck. Shit. Goddamn, motherfucking cunt, motherfucking shit.
I’d lost her.
I screamed, barreling my fist into the wall and making a large dent in the plaster. I should have run after her right away. By the time I’d gone it was too late.
I’m a goddamn motherfucking idiot.
He has her.
I fucking knew he had her, because the fucking trucker that had taken her had told me so. After looking through the security footage of all the gas stations within a ten-mile radius, I found the trucker that had taken Vera.
He squealed like a fucking pig. Too bad his squeals didn’t know shit about where Cruz Zeros was hiding.
“I don’t know shit, man!” the trucker had said, coughing up blood. “It’s all over the ground! Said he’d pay big mone
y if we brought his bitch back alive so he could fuck her one last time before—” I punched him across the face when he said that and after that he was useless. I put a bullet in his skull and threw him in the river for the gators to eat.
The only good information I’d gotten from him was that Zero had had a bounty out on Vera and wanted her alive so he could kill her himself. Of course I checked his old spot out, but Cruz Zeros had enough brains to move, unfortunately. I’d told Vera Cruz was looking for her, but it had been a lie, a trick to get her to stay. I didn’t believe that fucker would actually try and get her back.
I’d underestimated him.
And now I was paying for it.
I sat in my office, contemplating what to do. There really was only one option left. I picked up my phone and dialed the number.
“What?” His low, menacing growl was unmistakable. Seven was not a man you disturbed unless you absolutely had no choice. It was like waking a dragon. The dragon didn’t care what it burned; the fire blazed indiscriminately.
“It’s Charlie.”
“I know who the fuck this is,” Seven snarled. “You think everyone has this number?”
“I need your help.” There was a long pause on the line. I knew Seven hadn’t hung up, he just wanted me to squirm. Seven was nice like that.
At last he said, “What did you do?”
I retold the story of Vera to Seven. The further into the details I got, the more like a shithead I felt. Seven didn’t make it any easier.
“You can’t handle a fucking small-town drug dealer?” Seven scoffed.
“I got too close,” I explained. “I let myself be clouded by emotions.”
Seven laughed bitterly. “First Vic and now you. Are they putting something in the vaginas down there?”
“Are you gonna come bail me out or what?” I growled.
“I’ll be there tomorrow. Don’t fuck anything up in the mean time.”
* * *
Seven was a beast of a man, tatted out from head to foot with a smattering of scars. Him and his crew were called The Boogiemen, because they went bump in the night and you never saw them coming. One minute you were alive and the next you were dead. They slid away without a trace.
To be a Boogieman you had to be ruthless. You had to be soulless. You had to be utterly blackened. I was a bad man, I did things the devil would balk at, but I ruminated on my sins. I acknowledged my evil. Seven reveled in his. At the moment, I was grateful for that, because to have a Boogieman on your side meant everyone should run and hide. It meant I had a chance at getting Vera back.
“So this cunt made of gold or what?” Seven asked, leaning on the side of his car. The McLaren was out of place in the swamp and brought attention, but Seven wasn’t one to worry about drawing attention. He knew anyone who tried to fuck with him wouldn’t live to regret it.
“Something like that,” I responded. Seven was acting friendly, but I knew better than to think him a friend. He dealt in favors and blood, and I was going to owe him one of each. If I could help it, I would rescue Vera and leave her out of it. If I could help it, I would use Seven without him meeting Vera.
“Well hop in.” Seven got in the McLaren and I followed suit. He peeled out of the gas station we’d agreed to meet at and we were zooming down the highway before I even shut the door. The car was so smooth against the ground, I barely even noticed how fast Seven was going.
“What’s the plan?” I asked.
“Get the girl and kill the guy.” Seven paused. “Maybe I get a po’boy afterwards, I haven’t decided.”
“Will you take this fucking seriously?”
“This isn’t fucking Algiers—fuck, do you remember Algiers? Goddamn nightmare…” Seven made a hard left onto a dirt road. Many people would cringe at the mere thought of bringing a McLaren on a dirt road, but no one was like Seven.
“Anyway.” Seven turned to me. “We’re in Louisiana hunting a fucking small-time drug dealer. It took Ghost five fucking minutes to find the guy.” Ghost was another Boogieman, a member of Seven’s crew. You wouldn’t want to know the reason they called him Ghost.
I punched the dashboard, sick of Seven’s shit. “I told you, I’m not thinking clearly.”
“No shit,” Seven said. “It isn’t the chick. You haven’t thought clearly since the day you lost that leg.”
“Fuck you,” I growled.
“No thanks,” Seven replied sardonically as he pulled the car to a stop outside an abandoned house. With a rusted tin roof and rotted wooden siding, it looked like it hadn’t been inhabited in years. It was the only place for miles. “Your girl is in there.”
9
CHARLIE
It could have been an easy in and out job, just like the first time, but Seven made it clear that wasn’t worth his time. He wanted action. He wanted blood. So we went in the front door (if you could call a bunch of scrap metal welded together a door) guns blazing.
The first two “guards” went down easy. They were sitting at a plastic table playing cards and didn’t see the bullets coming. After that our presence was known. For a small house, it was packed pretty heavily with assholes. I counted ten men I had to take out; I wasn’t sure what Seven’s body count was.
There was still no sign of Cruz Zeros. We advanced to the last room, guns still drawn. When I heard her voice, I lost my shit.
“No!” Vera called out. “I won’t let you do this!” I kicked open the door and saw red at the sight: Zeros holding Vera, a knife to her neck.
“Charlie, leave!” Vera shot me a nervous glance. “This is what he wants!”
“Finally,” Seven said. “Shit’s getting interesting.”
“Put the fucking knife down,” I growled, gun aimed at his skull.
“No way man,” Zeros said. “She’s my ticket outta here.” The sound of a gunshot had me scrambling. Zeros went down and so did Vera. I rushed to her.
“Are you hurt?” I touched Vera all over, looking for any imperfections on her perfect skin. She wrapped her arms around my neck, clinging to me. Zeros screamed like a stuck pig; he’d been shot in the thigh. When it was clear that Vera wasn’t hurt, I turned to Seven.
“What the fuck?” I screamed at Seven. “You shot him? He could have killed her!”
Seven gave me a bored look. “I don’t have all day to play hostage. I have tickets to see that new movie everyone is coming in their pants about.” Ignoring Seven, I pulled out my gun, ready to end Cruz’s miserable existence. Seven stayed my hand. “No.”
I let out a frustrated groan, not sure what Seven was up to. “You want to fuck him up a bit first?” I wasn’t in the mood for games. I wanted to take Vera home and get her warm and safe. Whatever fuckery Seven had planned for Cruz, I wanted it over quick.
“No, I want her to shoot him.” Seven shot Vera a wicked grin. It wasn’t a happy smile. Seven didn’t smile, he didn’t laugh, and he didn’t rejoice. What he did do was revel in other’s misery. The expression on his face was more akin to a jack-o-lantern than a human smile.
“What?” Vera exclaimed, clinging to me harder.
“What the fuck are you playing at, Seven?” I barked.
“This whole fucking thing has been…” Seven paused as if looking for the right word. “Not really worth my time. So make it worth my time. I want to see this little doe shoot someone.”
“Fuck off, Seven.” I pulled Vera to her feet, pushing her behind me to shield her from Seven. I knew it was fruitless. Once Seven wanted something, he got it, no matter the cost. Still, I was willing to fight, even if it meant laying down my life.
“Don’t be so goddamn dramatic, Charlie. I just want her to shoot the fucker. He’s gonna die anyway.”
“Oh man!” Both Seven and I turned to look at the whining, whimpering mess on the floor. “Come on, just let me go, I’ll do anything you want.” Seven didn’t even raise a brow. Both of us were so hardened to the pleas of dying men that it may as well have been white noise. I didn’t want that for V
era, though. She was sunshine and life; she didn’t deserve to turn to stone. She didn’t deserve to have Seven snuff out her light.
Ignoring Cruz, I rounded on Seven. “Back the fuck off.” Seven’s face quirked into a small smile. The only time I saw Seven smile was when he was about to kill. Nevertheless, I pressed on. “It’s over. I’m taking Vera and you won’t see us again.”
“Sure you want to play it like that?” His voice was deathly quiet, like the whisper of a storm before it broke.
Making sure Vera was still behind me, I stepped up. When I’d called Seven for help, I’d known he was unpredictable. Still, I had been willing to risk it. Without him I wouldn’t have found Vera in time. Sure, I would have found her eventually, but it might’ve been too late. I didn’t have the resources he had. He had The Boogiemen and together they were unstoppable. Without his help, I probably would have found a body.
“Vera.” I said her name, keeping my eyes trained on Seven. “Run.” Seven laughed, the sound cold and lifeless.
“No,” Vera said against my back. “No, I’ll do it.”
“Ah,” Seven said, peering around me at Vera. “The little doe wants to be a wolf.”
“Fuck you,” Vera spat. Turning to me she said, “I’ll do it.” There was terror and urgency in her eyes, but there was also determination. I didn’t have time to think about how I’d put her in this position. I didn’t have time to wonder if she’d have been better off if I’d have taken the exit and put her on the plane. There was no time for regrets or what-ifs. There was only now.
Reluctantly, I pulled out my .45 and placed it in her palm.
“Do you know what to do?” I asked quietly as she weighed the gun in her palm.
“What the fuck is this?” Cruz screamed, outraged. “Are you shitting me? Don’t shoot me baby. Don’t you remember the times we had? I love you!”
Vera’s eyes narrowed at Cruz’s outburst. She lifted the gun and I watched her face for any sign of doubt or distress. I saw something in her eyes, but it wasn’t fear. In her hazel glare was the same cool calculation and sure determination that had lodged itself in my soul. It was the look of a killer.
Tied: Owned 2.5 Page 4