Bloodbath

by K. A. Merikan

  Chapter 14 - Mark

  Mark was binge-watching a very shouty TV drama with Charlotte tucked under his arm while they sat on his bed. She barely spoke any Spanish, so he translated some of it for her, but they still came up with alternative conversations and put them into the characters’ mouths. It was the perfect pastime. Mark could turn off his brain and enjoy the scent of Charlotte’s freshly washed skin, kiss her, and run his hands over her arms, amazed how soft she was. Her hair was so fair it was barely visible on her arms, so unlike his own dusky skin with black hairs all over.

  In this room, they remained untouched by anything that happened beyond the door, they could be themselves—two people in love. He still had to work out how to get her to safety, but he was confident Domenico and Seth would come up with a good plan. And Dana was here too, so she’d have to listen to Domenico’s orders. It would all be fine in the end.

  The knock on the door made Charlotte frantically slide off Mark’s lap and rush through the open door to the cell. It became routine by now, and since they were barely ever visited by anyone, Mark wasn’t all that bothered by the sudden dash. He closed the cell on his way to the door, and walked over to the entrance.

  He couldn’t help but be slightly annoyed by the visitor, since he was slowly getting ready to have sex again, but the sight of Seth and Domenico made him stiffen.

  “Hi?”

  Domenico nodded at him and pushed inside, looking above Mark’s head, at the cell. “How are you coping with being alone all the time?” he asked in Italian.

  Mark took a few steps back to let them in and shrugged. “I watch a lot of TV.” As soon as he said it, guilt started trickling into his stomach. It’d been a few days, and he still hadn’t made an effort to go out and talk to Domenico about what was happening between him and Charlotte. He really wanted to, but no time felt right.

  Just like now. If Domenico and Seth came here, it likely meant they needed his assistance, not more things to worry about.

  Seth locked the door while Domenico walked up to the coffee table and picked up the remote. “You don’t speak to her at all? Isn’t she interested?” he asked.

  Both Domenico and Seth had a whole bunch of tiny scratches on their skin, and their clothes were damp, jeans dirty as if they’d kneeled in mud.

  Mark glanced toward Charlotte who seemed so frail when backed into a corner on her bed, cautiously watching the two men who spoke in a language she didn’t understand. She was terrified every single time someone came over. Mark wanted to hug her already. “I… No. I mean, we talk. It would be difficult not to.”

  Domenico exhaled and looked at Charlotte as well. “Are you comfortable? Is he not a bother to you?” he asked in English, and she flinched, alarmed that someone new was paying attention to her.

  Mark took a step back and stood between Domenico and the cell. No, between Domenico and Charlotte. Just in case. He didn’t know in case of what, but his instincts were on high alert. What if Dom had come to take her away on Samuel Moreno’s orders?

  “No,” Charlotte said in a trembling voice. “He’s been very kind to me.”

  “Did he take your virginity?” asked Domenico, and it was such a shocking question that for a moment Mark wasn’t sure if he heard right.

  Charlotte seemed to have shrunken on the bed, her blue eyes wide open.

  Mark’s face burned, and so did his lungs when he tried to breathe. He tried to catch Seth’s gaze, but the traitor wouldn’t look at him, pretending that he was checking the time on his watch. “Why would you ask her that?” There was still hope that Seth kept the truth to himself, like he’d promised, and this was just one of Domenico’s inappropriate jokes. Or worse. A test. “What’s with all the scratches on you two?” he asked, hoping that changing the topic could work in his favor, but his voice was drowned by the sounds of a melodramatic scene on TV when Domenico put the volume up.

  The remote flew toward the armchair in a perfect arch, but Mark wouldn’t see it fall to the seat. Domenico grabbed his T-shirt and twisted it so hard the fabric formed a knot against Mark’s throat, making him choke. The push that came next sent Mark into the wall so hard his brain rattled when he hit himself on the back of his head.

  “You’re fucking her behind our back. Be a man for once and admit the truth to my face.”

  Mark yelped at first, but then fought to compose himself when he realized Charlotte was watching. “I’m sorry!” he switched to Italian despite not being as fluent in it as he’d have wished to. He turned his face to Seth while keeping Dom’s movements in the corner of his eye in case another charge was coming at him. “Why did you tell him? I said I’d do it myself!”

  “You took damn long to do that. How dare you even ask him to lie to me too?” Domenico asked, pushing at Mark’s chest again, and it was so clear who was under whose thumb that Mark wouldn’t even dare to look Charlotte’s way. Why was he such a weakling despite having trained so hard?

  Seth groaned and shook his head, crossing his arms on his chest. “I gave you as much time as I could.”

  Mark looked back at Dom in resignation. Anxiety was replaced by a dull sense of shame. “I just wanted it all to work out. I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

  “But you didn’t. You betrayed us. You betrayed us for a teenage girl,” hissed Domenico and pulled Mark across the room, toward the bars, tugging so hard the shirt started ripping.

  Panic set in to join guilt. “She’s not just anyone.” Mark looked into Charlotte’s terrified eyes, and he wanted to hold her so badly that not being able to physically hurt him. He grabbed Dom’s arms, trying to loosen the firm grip so close to his throat. “I didn’t betray you! I wouldn’t! It’s different!”

  “No?” Domenico’s lips were so tense they looked like they might break, revealing even more teeth. “She’s Raul Moreno’s. If someone finds out, we’re all as good as dead. I trusted you with her. And you haven’t even told me you’re a cunt-diver?”

  Even Mark’s ears went hot at that comment. “That’s exactly why! You talk shit about women all the time! And she’s sweet, and lovely, and so pretty, and so kind, and you wouldn’t understand.” It was all becoming too much, but Mark bit the inside of his cheek. He wouldn’t cry in front of Charlotte. He was here to protect her. “And I was very discreet,” he mumbled in the end.

  Domenico glared at Charlotte, and her shriek was like a stab straight into Mark’s gut. “I bet her cunt will be very discreet when she doesn’t bleed with Moreno. What were you thinking? You’re not a knight in shining armor. You’re a thug, like everyone else here,” hissed Domenico and pushed Mark away from the bars with so much strength Mark fell at the armchair.

  He didn’t look up at Dom this time, the words hitting him like a hammer. “Not all women bleed when they do it for the first time…” He’d read that somewhere, but even saying it to Domenico felt like digging himself a grave.

  “That’s not the point, Mark,” Seth said, irritated. Did he have to butt in now? Hadn’t he done enough damage?

  “Interesting.” Domenico glanced at Charlotte, who backed away into the bathroom part of her cell and hid behind the curtain. “So she’s pre-loved? Just wait until Moreno finds out. He is going to gut all three of us and make his whole entourage have his way with her. Very fucking smart.”

  Mark snapped his head up, staring at Domenico with blood going cold in his veins. He gathered the courage to get up from the armchair. “No. No, he can’t find out. We need to get her out of here. I know that if someone can do it, you can…”

  Domenico smacked Mark’s face so hard it almost felt like Mark’s jaw locked. “Don’t you try this on me, you little shit. If you plan to manipulate people, at least learn how to go about it first.”

  Mark hung his head in shame and held his cheek. There had to be a way to penetrate Domenico’s armor. Maybe if Seth tried to convince him... “Please. She doesn’t deserve it. She’s got a normal family. They won’t be able to save her. I’ve come up with a few di
fferent plans we could use.”

  Domenico looked at him as if he was expecting a punchline, so Mark decided to consider it encouragement.

  “So, one is that we could smuggle her out with the trash van—”

  “You watch too many sitcoms,” said Domenico, but even now he wasn’t smiling. In fact, it felt like he didn’t want his gaze to take Mark in, as if he was so disgusted by what he found out that he only saw Mark as a liability. Did he now regret saving Mark from the people smugglers all that time ago?

  Mark’s stomach clenched, making him more nauseated by the second. He hated being a disappointment after all that Dom had done for him. “I’m sorry.” He had to bite his cheek again and take a deep breath to stop his voice from breaking. “But there must be something we can do before the Morenos arrive.”

  Domenico smirked, and his eyes were so cold Mark could sense his chest freezing from that icy blow. “The Morenos are already here. If you really wanted to help her, you wouldn’t be spending so much time between her legs. You would have talked to me. You just wanted to fuck a pretty girl, who couldn’t say no to you, because she’s trapped. Some prince on a white horse.”

  Mark turned his face away from the bars, in case Charlotte chose to peek out from behind the shower curtain. He was ashamed of the two fat tears rolling down his cheeks, but now that they’d been laid bare like this, he was even more ashamed of his own actions.

  “They’re here?” he whispered, as his brain desperately searched for a way out, but there was none. Just like this room had no windows, there was no other way out for Charlotte than through the door that led her into this cage.

  “Yes. They’ll probably come over to inspect the goods later today,” Domenico said coolly. “If something even worse happens to her now, it will be all your fault. You lied to her and made her trust you, and now she’s even worse off than she was when we first came here.”

  Mark covered his head with his arms, unable to think straight with the onslaught of Domenico’s words. But it was true. It was all true. He was a monster like everyone else here, and he hadn’t deserved the sweet moments in her arms. He’d stolen them.

  “Will they hurt her?” he whispered, trying to breathe so that he wouldn’t cry anymore. Only babies cried, and he was a man. He needed to take responsibility for his actions.

  Domenico shrugged. “I don’t know, Mark. Will they?” he asked, drilling holes in Mark’s flesh with the sharp, unforgiving gaze.

  There was no escaping the truth. This was the world he lived in. He’d chosen it all those months ago, so despite the tears in his eyes, he met Domenico’s gaze. “They will,” he said in a raspy voice, because his throat kept clenching.

  Domenico grabbed Mark’s arm, but it wasn’t painful this time, just a steady grip to lead Mark to the armchair. He made his knees keep him up instead of folding under him like overcooked noodles, but the truth that he’d been pushing away all this time now hit him like a high-speed train.

  “That’s right. That is why you weren’t meant to bond with her. This is not a game, Mark. People die over things like this. You heard our other friend”—Domenico said, clearly not wanting to mention Miguel’s name—”Moreno boils people alive. What were you thinking? I thought you’d have grown up since we took you in. You were starting to act like a man.”

  Mark took a deep breath that felt like inhaling acid fumes. “I couldn’t bear seeing her cry,” he confessed, embarrassed that Dom would see his weakness, but it was too late to pretend that it wasn’t there. The time spent in the bubble of this room somehow made the world outside seem not as real.

  Domenico exhaled and nodded at Seth, who slowly joined them and sat on the coffee table. The daunting sense of failure clutched at Mark’s muscles, refusing to let go. He’d fucked up so bad. Domenico was right. About everything.

  Dom sighed and folded both his hands at the top of his head. “Since when did you have this problem? Since when did you start being interested in girls? Did she seduce you somehow?”

  He was not right about everything, then.

  Mark glanced to Seth, unsure where to go with it, but he got nothing. “I… huh? I mean… She’s the first girl I’ve ever been with. Girls are much more complicated than guys.”

  Domenico looked at Seth and chuckled, as if expecting him to share the same convoluted opinion. “Are you kidding me? I don’t know how to sew, but that doesn’t mean it’s complicated. They pretend shit to have men do their bidding. Like our sweet blonde friend does with the big boss,” he said, referring to Dana.

  “She’s evil. She’s nothing like… her.” Mark didn’t want to say Charlotte’s name either, even though she must have known they were talking about her.

  Domenico grinned, but then his smile waned, as if something forcibly wiped it off. “You did use condoms, didn’t you?”

  Mark drifted off with his gaze.

  Seth hissed at him. “Jesus Christ, Mark!”

  “What? I only had a few, and if I’d asked for more, you’d have asked what I needed them for. And she said she was on her nonfertile days anyway.”

  Domenico growled. “That’s what they always say, and once they’re pregnant, they have you by the balls with those tiny fucking hands. Just look at the big boss and you-know-who.” He got to his feet and kicked over a stack of books.

  Mark crossed his arms on his chest and glanced to the shower. Domenico had no idea what he was talking about. “She’s not like that.” And yet, Mark needed to stop being so soft about her. If Domenico was right about those things he said, Mark wasn’t a good guy at all, and maybe he had to suck it up and live up to what he really was.

  Domenico shook his head. “That’s it, Mark. You like dick, don’t you? So just stick to dick. Less mess, although it’s still beyond me how you’d even be interested in the first place.”

  Mark frowned. Pussy was pretty fucking awesome, as were boobs, so it was him who didn’t get Domenico, but whatever. What did it matter anyway?

  “I get it Mark if you like both,” Seth finally spoke. “Gian’s upset about the whole thing, but if you like some other girl someday, it will be okay. Just not this one.”

  Domenico groaned, but didn’t say anything when Seth poked him. “Yeah. Let’s focus on the now. We can still salvage this, because Daddy Moreno isn’t here yet. It’s just his sons. If we play our cards right, we can minimize the damage.”

  “His sons?” Mark licked his lips, fighting his own brain over keeping secrets. “So, Nero Moreno is here?” When Seth nodded, Mark took a deep breath. There was no way around it. “I might have hit on him a few weeks ago. I didn’t know it was him back then!”

  Domenico closed his eyes and tapped his fingers against his knee, as if he needed a moment to recuperate. “What? What the hell?”

  “You didn’t do anything with him, did you?” Seth asked, horrified.

  “No, no! It was all an accident. We were out with Miguel in El Encanto, and he came over, hitting on us, and he only showed off his tattoos later.”

  Domenico swallowed hard and exchanged a glance with Seth. “Okay. Try not to get in his way. For now, end things with the girl. This can’t continue. I am serious.”

  No matter how much Mark already dreaded telling her, he nodded. He didn’t deserve to put his blood-stained hands on her. He’d done too much damage already. “I will. And as for Nero... I bet he doesn’t even remember me anyway. We only exchanged a few words. I just thought you should know, to plan accordingly.”

  Seth ruffled Mark’s hair, but Mark shrugged it off. He wasn’t a kid, and he was proving it now.

  Domenico nodded. “Good. Let’s stick to this. I need to know how likely it is that I’m gonna end up with a hole in the head. Be good now, and report to us.” He thought for a few moments and had a drink from Mark’s glass. “When you break up with her, make sure to still reassure her, so that she doesn’t push you under the bus.”

  Mark stared at him for a moment. “You mean… lie to her?” His heart was
becoming hollow. He thought telling her the truth would be excruciating, but to lie on top of that?

  Seth slouched with a frown. “We’ve all done shit things here, okay? If you think the world outside of this room is all roses, then you’re mistaken.”

  Mark bristled up. “Don’t you just drink and play volleyball all day?”

  “No, I don’t, you little bastard!” Seth bared his teeth.

  “Don’t argue,” Dom said, putting his arm around Seth’s shoulders, as if he hadn’t been the one to start the fight in the first place. “Let’s stick to the plan. What I am asking you to do, Mark, will minimize the damage. I can’t promise you she will be okay, but she might get the best deal she can if everything works out. It’s not like I don’t have a heart, for fuck’s sake.”

  Seth rubbed his forehead. “And just so you know, we got outed in front of the Morenos, so don’t deny it if anyone asks. Gian is still your cousin though, so stick to that.”

  Mark glanced between them, once again wondering about all the scratches on their arms and even faces. “What happened today?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Seth said. “What matters is that if all goes well, we will be staying here as you-know-whose bodyguards.”

  Domenico grinned. “It’s all going according to plan now.” He petted Seth’s shoulder, hugging him while poor Charlotte was still hiding away in fear, and didn’t even know that Mark has lied to her all along.

  Mark pushed away the tide of emotions that tried to flood him. Those were not for him anymore. “Good.”

  Domenico patted Mark’s slumped shoulder, and the weight of his hand was like a hot poker about to strip away Mark’s skin. “You need to get out more. Eat with us tomorrow. Distract yourself,” he said and slowly pulled Seth to the door.

  Mark didn’t feel like eating, or having fun, or any of it for that matter. He didn’t deserve it just like he didn’t deserve Charlotte. But he wouldn’t disappoint Domenico. He would show him that he could do as he was told. He nodded, but wasn’t able to force a smile to his face, and when they finally closed the door behind them, the silence left in the room was a weight that crushed every inch of Mark’s body.