Dealing with the Devil

by M. E. Clayton

  “Well, I heard Hugh was put on leave, pending the investigation.” She looked relieved. “I can’t say I’m upset about it either.”

  “I hear you,” I replied. “Though he never hit on me, someone like that doesn’t need to be in a position of power.”

  Kim let out choked laugh. “Oh, my God, could you imagine if he had hit on you? Your new boyfriend would have probably flayed him alive.”

  I thought about that, but Cassius didn’t strike me as hotheaded. He struck me as the calculating type. I mean, if was going to flay anyone alive, it would have been Alvin Fischer, right?

  “I doubt he’d be back,” I said, half-agreeing.

  “No shit,” she remarked as we came upon her car.

  I looked down as I reached for the door handle, and that’s when the unthinkable happened.

  The problem with complacency was that it wasn’t always a matter of complacency. It was five in the evening. Though beginning to set, the sun was still out. We were not far from the restaurant. We had walked together. We were doing something we’ve done a million times before.

  This wasn’t a ten at night, shadows lurking everywhere, creepers lingering in the alley type of situation. Of course, if it were dark outside, we’d have been more vigilant. Of course, we would have stayed underneath the streetlights. Of course, we would have been better prepared.

  But it was goddamn five in the evening.

  My head immediately snapped up when I heard Kim’s shocked cries, and I was just in time to see her body slump against the driver’s side door before sliding into a heap on the ground.

  Racing around the car to get to her, I was brought up short as arms of steel wrapped around me, slamming me back in a hold I knew wasn’t good.

  “Shhhhh,” said a voice I prayed I’d never have to hear again. “If you want her to live, I suggest you come with me quietly and willingly.”

  “Live? Wh-”

  Just then, I saw some guy I’d never seen before, stand over where Kim’s body had fallen, a gun pointed towards the ground. His dark eyes weren’t even looking down at her. They weren’t looking at me, either. They were looking at the man standing behind me. They were waiting for his signal. Whoever this guy was, I was positive he would shoot Kim if given the order.

  In this moment, I became that stupid, stupid, stupid person in the movies who didn’t scream out. That stupid character who didn’t fight. The idiot who agreed to go with the villain.

  Because I knew he would shoot Kim, who was knocked out, defenseless on the ground.

  I knew it.

  “Don’t hurt her,” I demanded. “I’ll…just don’t hurt her.”

  “Now, that all depends on you, Devi,” Alvin said. “Get fucking moving, or I’ll have Baker put a bullet in her head.” Taking a compliant step, he stopped me. “I’m not fucking stupid,” he snarled. “Drop your fucking purse. You think I’m going to let Sire find us before I’m done with you?” I felt the strap of my purse wrenched from my shoulder, and I loosened my grip, letting it slide to the ground.

  “Is Kim going to be alright?” I asked, scared to death for her.

  “She’ll have a headache, but she’ll live,” he returned, cold, like the asshole he was.

  Without another word, I followed Alvin to a black truck that had dark tinted windows. He opened the door for me, and I got in and fastened my seatbelt. My head turned, I could see Baker with his gun still positioned over Kim’s body.

  Alvin got into the truck, and soon, we were pulling out of The Opera’s parking lot. And all this took place in only a matter of minutes. The longest minutes of my life, but also the quickest. Fast enough, that we were out of the parking lot before anyone had come out from the restaurant or any pedestrians had been able to glance over and see what was happening.

  Two blocks down the road, I watched for red lights. There was no way that Baker guy was still in the parking lot. It was too much of a risk to still be there. So, all I needed was for a red traffic light to hit us. I could jump out of the truck and run back to The Opera and get Kim some help.

  Trying to distract him, I said, “He’s going to kill you when he finds you.”

  “Probably,” Alvin agreed. “But not before I’ve gotten a taste of his woman.”

  I shook my head. It didn’t make any sense. I glanced over at him, and he didn’t look bothered at all. “I don’t understand,” I said because I really didn’t. “You’re willing to die for…for sex?” There had to be more to all this. There just had to be. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I didn’t appreciate your boyfriend threatening me, Devi,” he replied. “I don’t care how much money he has or how powerful he is on the streets. Nobody threatens Alvin Fischer.”

  “So, all this is for the sake of your pride?”

  He glanced my way, his smirk a slimy and evil one. “Ruining you is a bonus,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to fuck you, Devi.” I turned away from him and went back to waiting for a red light. “Ever since the first time your brother let it slip that he had a sister who worked at The Opera. I’d gone in there to eat and do a little homework on my newest fish, and there you were.”

  Before I could comment on that, Alvin took a left, heading towards the freeway on-ramp. If he got onto the freeway, there’d be no red lights. “Where…where are you taking me?”

  “Like I said, I want to make sure I have plenty of time with you before Sire shows up to get you back.”

  “You’re a fool,” I remarked as I looked around frantically for a possible escape. I wasn’t worried about breaking an arm or leg jumping from the car. I was more worried about getting run over by oncoming traffic once I jumped. I wanted to be the hero of my own story, but I didn’t want to die trying to be.

  When Alvin crossed a double-yellow line to merge illegally onto the lane leading to the on-ramp, I knew I was screwed. I had no choice but to wait it out until we got to where we were going. But wherever we ended up, one thing was for certain; Alvin was going to have the fight of his life on his hands. He was going to have to knock me out before I’d stop fighting. And if that happened, well, it’d be a blessing to be unconscious for whatever he had in mind.

  “You can let me out, and-”

  Alvin laughed. “Let you out?” He laughed again like there was genuine humor in all this. “Do you honestly think letting you go is going to keep Cassius Sire from coming after me?” He shook his head, glanced at me for a quick second, then focused his eyes back on the road. “Only one of us is going to make it out of this alive, Devi. And I knew it when I went after you.”

  “And yet, you still came after me, knowing that?”

  “I told you already. I don’t like being threatened.”

  Nothing further was said as Alvin finally hit an off-ramp, only to drive us farther away from the city. We were headed into country territory, and I knew I was going to have to keep my wits about me if I was going to get out of this. While I had no problem with Cassius saving me, I wasn’t going to count on it.

  Sometimes, you had to save your own damn self.

  Chapter 15

  Cassius~

  I’ve killed people before. I’ve even tortured the more stubborn ones a bit before finally putting them out of their misery. I’ve done a lot of things in my life, and always with a steady hand because it’s always been just business.

  But not this time.

  This time it was more than business.

  It was everything.

  Finishing up a lot of shit I had neglected the past couple of days, I had been at The Tenor with Xavier and Atticus, going over everything that needed my attention. With Xavier and Atticus being as good as they were at their jobs, there hadn’t been much that needed my attention, but I liked being aware of everything that went on with my business, on and off the books.

  However, nearly done, Xavier had gotten a call from Denny, a member of our kitchen staff at The Opera, that he’d found Kimberly Alba knocked out by her car when he’d gone out to d
ump the trash. According to Denny, he had noticed Kim’s car still in the parking lot when he’d extended his trash trip to a smoke break and had got to strolling the parking lot. Wondering why her car was still there when he knew she was already off shift, he went to check on her car, thinking it broke down, when he saw a purse near one of the back tires. And when he made his way around the car, that’s when he saw Kim’s unconscious body lying on the ground.

  Denny had checked her pulse, and with a strong beat against his fingertips, he called 911. When he had noticed Kim’s purse entangled around her arm, he had quickly gone back around the car to check on the other purse. Finding Devi’s driver’s license in it, but no Devi, that’s when he had run back into the restaurant, called for help, and ran back outside to wait with Kim.

  The call to Xavier had come moments later.

  And now, I was tearing Alvin Fischer’s store apart, two of his guys knocked out, while Xavier was scouring the South Side, Atticus was scouring the West Side, and Keith was scouring the North Side of Rockford. I’d taken the East Side since it was his stomping grounds.

  There was no doubt in my mind that Alvin took her. Who else would? Sure, there’d be a chance that Keith was tangled up with other bad people, but when I had called him to tell him his sister was missing, he’d lost his shit, swearing on his life that Alvin was his only hookup. And like me, his mind had immediately gone to Fischer for this.

  A loud gasp had me turning with my gun raised. The clerk from Saturday was standing in the doorway, gaping at the mess I’d made and the two unconscious bodies on the floor. When her wide eyes met mine, I did the one thing I’ve never done in my life.

  I threatened a female.

  “Tell me where Alvin would take her,” I demanded. “If you think I won’t kill you, you’re wrong.”

  She started trembling. “I…I…”

  “Where would Alvin take someone for privacy?”

  Tears started streaming down her face, her body still shaking. “He’s…he’s…”

  “He’s what?!”

  “He’s got a…a pl…place out on…on Steele Canyon Road,” she sputtered. “It’s…it’s an old, abandoned farmhouse.”

  She barely managed to get out of the way as I raced past her. I hated taking the time to do it, but once in my car, I sent a text to Atticus, Xavier, and Keith, telling them I was on my way to Steele Canyon Road.

  I took off, speeding and breaking all kinds of traffic laws, but I didn’t care. My only hope was that I’d catch a cop’s attention and I could lead them to Fischer. If not, I had no problem handling him on my own. In fact, I’d prefer it. However, letting the cops take him off my hands was better for everyone involved. Murder was not how I had planned to start my relationship with Devi.

  Getting on the freeway, I hadn’t caught any law enforcement attention, and the irony wasn’t lost on me. I spent my days and nights making sure not to end up on their radar because of all the underground shit I had my fingers in, and the one time I wouldn’t mind having their attention or help, not a motherfucker in sight, no matter how fast I was driving.

  There was also the possibility that I might not be the first person to get to Steele Canyon Road. Even if Atticus and Xavier didn’t feel obligated to me, I knew Keith was making fast time.

  He might be a loser, but he loved his sister.

  Weaving my way through traffic, what ifs tried to invade my mind, but I did my best to push them back. I couldn’t afford to let the cruel possibilities suck me under. Devi needed me clear headed for whatever she was going through.

  Taking the twenty-fifth avenue offramp, I was able to clear the overpass without any traffic. Speeding my way past some open farmland, it was another seven miles before I’d hit Steele Canyon Road. And even though seven miles wasn’t shit when you were driving a hundred miles per hour, it felt like a million miles away, considering the circumstances.

  There was also the fact that I had stupidly raced out of the store without asking for better directions. Once I hit Steele Canyon Road, I had no idea if I was supposed to go left or fucking right. And any wasted time in the wrong direction was something I couldn’t afford.

  Something Devi couldn’t afford.

  Just then, my phone rang, and hands-free laws could suck my dick. I grabbed it from the console and saw that it was Atty. “Yeah?”

  “Where are you?”

  “Going east on Railbank road,” I told him.

  “I’m a few minutes out, but that’s because I stopped and pulled up the landscape on Steele Canyon,” he replied. “There are three abandoned warehouses, but they’re all north of the crossroad. So, turn right when you hit Steele Canyon.”

  The audible breath I released filled my Ferrari and could be heard through the phone. “I owe you, Atty.”

  “Fuck off,” came his immediate reply, and I couldn’t help my smirk.

  When I had called him and Xavier on Sunday, to tell them I was going to be otherwise occupied through Monday, I had told them both that I was with Devi. I hadn’t told them the details about fucking her all day and night, but they had gotten the message loud and clear; Devi was officially mine. And that meant she mattered to them, even if they haven’t officially met her yet. So, I wasn’t surprised when Atty told me to fuck off.

  “I love you, too,” I replied like an asshole.

  Atticus chose to ignore my smartass remark, and said, “I’ll call Xavier and Keith with what I have, and we’ll be right behind you, Cass.”

  “See you soon,” I said.

  “Don’t get killed,” he returned before hanging up.

  A few minutes later, I was coming up on Steele Canyon Road, and I slowed down just enough not to flip the fuck over as I took a hard right, going north like Atticus said to. Frustration burned bright as I saw nothing but goddamn farmland everywhere. And even after I did get to the first abandoned-looking farmhouse, there was no guarantee that it’ll be the right one.

  It took another five minutes of driving like a lunatic before I spotted the first disastrous farmhouse, and it was easy to see this wasn’t the place. Only two of the walls were still standing, and I imagined Fischer would want privacy for whatever he had planned. And my stomach roiled at the thought because I was pretty sure I knew what he had planned.

  Passing the farmhouse, I hit push down farther on the gas pedal, taking my black Ferrari F60 to over a hundred. Not that it made a difference, but traffic was practically non-existent out here, so the odds of killing myself or some poor, unsuspecting fool dwindled a bit.

  Finally, I came upon the second abandoned farmhouse, and I could see the tail end of a black truck peeking out from behind the building.

  This was it.

  In most cases, I would have been smart about this. I would have circled the property and checked to see how many cars might be in the vicinity. I would have parked my car somewhere secluded and crept my way around the building to see where I could get an edge on the situation.

  But this wasn’t most cases.

  That sonofabitch had Devi in there, and he’s had her for a while. I couldn’t afford the time it took to be smart about this.

  Coming to a screeching halt, I jumped out of the car, not caring that dust was flying everywhere, and ran towards the farmhouse, praying I wasn’t too late.

  God, don’t let me be too late.

  Chapter 16

  Devi~

  I always considered myself a fighter. With all that Keith and I have endured since our parents’ deaths, I always thought getting through those hard times had made us fighters. But this situation has taught me that there’s a difference between being a survivor and a fighter.

  A big one.

  Surviving hard times was different from fighting for your life.

  Surviving hard times was basically getting through the emotionally troubling times in your life. Surviving hard times was the act of maintaining control on your feelings and soldiering through your emotional breakdowns with some semblance of control.
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  Fighting was the physical act of holding your shit together. Fighting was more than enduring some heartbreak or sadness. Fighting was knowing the odds were against you, but not letting that deter you. Fighting was more than surviving the hard times.

  It was actual survival.

  And that’s what I had to do here.

  Fucking fight.

  Once we had hit the countryside, there’d been no stops. Oh, there’d been plenty of stop signs, but no stops. And the two cars we did pass on the road had just waved back at me when I had tried flagging them down.

  Alvin had laughed.

  When he had pulled his truck behind an abandoned farmhouse, that’s when I had gone into fight-mode. I had jumped out of the truck and had run out into the street. He had run after me, of course, and it’d been no contest when he had caught up with me. However, I was proud to say we had both fallen on our asses as I had kicked and screamed and fought against him the entire way back.

  And now, inside the farmhouse, tied to a chair with enough scrapes and bruises to make my body hurt, I wasn’t exactly sure what Alvin was waiting on. Not that I wanted to be attacked, but his caginess was making me more nervous, if you could believe that.

  The abandoned farmhouse looked like you would imagine it to. Cobwebs and dust everywhere. Cracked windows with torn curtains or completely boarded up. Alvin had drug me through the living room to the kitchen, so I didn’t get a good look at anything other than the kitchen, but I imagined the entire place looked like the setting for a horror movie.

  When we had made it to the kitchen, it had taken a powerful right hook to drop me with enough force that it hadn’t been much of a challenge to tie me to the chair. However, as long as I was tied to this stupid chair, rape wasn’t on the menu just yet. Oh, I had no doubt that was his ultimate goal, but he couldn’t rape me while I was sitting down like this with my ankles tied to the chair.

  But when Alvin came to stand next to me, my head jerking backwards as his hand came down to caress my cheek, he made his intentions clear. “You bite my cock, and I will fuck you up, Devi.”