“I’m watching you, Hawk,” he grits out.
“Ditto,” I say quietly. And the first opportunity I get, I’m going to ram my Beretta up his ass.
“Joe,” Frank says in what seems to be a warning. The thug clamps his mouth shut.
I turn and leave with the two guards following close behind.
When Frank’s door closes behind the three of us, Joe grabs my arm. “You might have fooled him, but you didn’t fool me.”
I grab Joe’s wrist, turn out of his hold, pin his arm behind him, and have his front crushed against the wall with his face smashed against it. My gun is pulled on the other guy, pressed to his forehead, just in case he gets any ideas.
“Go ahead and do that again. I want you to,” I whisper in his ear. “Because I want to cut off your balls with you tied to a chair and leave you there to bleed out nice and slow.” I tug on his arm, almost dislocating it. “We clear?”
“Fuck you!” he grits out.
I look at his partner over the barrel of my gun. “Understand?”
“Yeah, completely,” he sneers.
“Good,” I let him go.
I throw open the door as I shove my gun in the waistband of my pants with the two shirts gripped tightly in my other hand.
That shit was the easy part of the night. Facing Jo is going to royally suck.
CHAPTER 10
Hawk
Castillo’s got the sheep in here trained well. No one in the bar steps out of line, the only one I’ve seen that came close was the kid they kicked out who was sitting on his ass in the dirt outside the first time I came in. He hasn’t been back.
He was screaming a whole lot about something. Be nice to know what that something was.
What I have noticed is that there is a lot of mingling happening. The foxes are cozy with the chickens, and the sharks are swimming with the fish. There’s a motorcycle club at one pool table and some truckers at another. At tables throughout the room all of them huddle together, bikers, business men, sailors, and rig drivers chit-chatting like they’re running into each other at the local Walmart in the frozen food aisle.
There are a lot of business transactions that take place here. Castillo’s words repeat in my head.
Whatever the business is, it involves everyone. The whole damn town is one huge network. The usual illegal sources of income would be drugs and weapons running, and the new big-ticket item is human trafficking, if you can get away with it. But this shit is something else. Having a few people on the payroll is normal, like a government official and some cops. But everyone? I’ve never seen anything like it on American soil.
One if by land, two if by sea. Seems to fit.
The only one not happy, the only person that appears to be an outsider is Jo, and she said this was her bar. I think it’s safe to say she is not the one in charge. I just left the self-imposed ruler. The question is, how does she fit in? Is it because of the bar? Personally, my gut tells me no, but professionally, I can’t forget everyone is a suspect. All of Castillo’s henchmen haven’t bothered with her since that first night, and from what I can tell, she has no love loss for them either. It appears I now fall within that category as well.
She looks extra furious.
She won’t even look at me, and when she does she has personified the saying, ‘If Looks Could Kill,’ because I’d be dead. I’d say she’s not happy I’m wearing this shirt.
Don’t worry, sweetheart, I have a feeling some of this is for you.
The few times our eyes have locked, she flung a bottle into the trash can with everything she’s got, it made even me cringe. When I walked behind the bar to put my things there, I was half expecting her to add them to the broken bottles.
I bet she’d try to beat my ass right now if she could. The visual makes me grin and my body pulse.
“Welcome aboard.” Bo and his attempts at being my buddy.
Piece of shit. He’s still got an ass kicking coming to him for handling Jo like that, and acting like some privileged little shit.
“Yeah,” I force out the response.
“I knew you’d fit in. What’d you tell the boss you do?”
I just look at him. Are you kidding me? “I kill people.” I tell him what I said.
He laughs, he laughs so hard, he’s bent over at the middle. “Oh, my God, you are the funniest guy I’ve ever met.”
Jesus, I cannot babysit this peckerhead every night.
Pulling himself together, he stands like he’s going to hang around awhile. Great. “What do you think about the place, you know, aside from the job?”
I stare straight ahead and ignore him. He’s like a damn puppy, if you feed him, he’ll never leave.
“It’s the best place around,” he continues. “We’ve got a pretty sweet deal, we get to hang around here all night, get paid a bunch of money for it, and even get some fringe benefits,” he slaps the cocktail waitress’ ass as she walks by. She turns to face him with a dick sucking smile. “Comes with the job,” he laughs.
Seems like a lot of women have that expression on their faces. Women have gone from one man’s lap to another like it’s musical chairs. Some women only dance, others sit like good little sluts waiting for an order. The short time I’ve been standing here, I’ve watched some men take women outside, probably to get blown. Then there’s the little toy with the old perv, Taylor.
Club whores.
My eyes shift to Jo. She’s glaring at me, her eyes accusing me as if I were the douche.
“What about Jo?” I hate myself for asking, but I have to.
“She’s off limits,” Bo’s tone has grown serious.
“Really? She belong to someone?” It seems since I came in here I can’t shut my mouth.
“Can’t say for sure,” he’s a little hesitant. “But boss says no one touches her.”
I turn my hardened face to his. “You did.”
He has the brains to look like he got caught breaking the rules because apparently he did. “I didn’t mean anything by it. Sometimes she gets out of line and needs to be reminded of her place,” he snaps.
I want to ask Bo exactly what Jo’s place is, but I don’t. I know I’ve pushed it enough; any more honesty will not end well. For him.
Castillo the scumbag says Jo’s off limits. Why?
Bo does not like the idea of Castillo finding out he manhandled her. Bo’s not going to like it when I show him how much I didn’t either.
A flash of a pissed off woman passing in front of me gets my attention. Jo is heading toward the DJ booth.
“Well, holy shit!” Bo exclaims. “She’s never done this before. Something must have really set her off tonight,” Bo laughs.
I watch as Jo marches through the crowd and straight up on stage.
“I’ll be damned,” Bo crosses his arms across his chest, “I think she’s either going to try to shut the whole thing down, or she’s going to sing.”
I narrow my eyes at her and the DJ caught up in a heated discussion as I try to figure out what she’s up to. The feminine black man looks smug, grinning from ear to ear. Jo is still furious.
“Lawd have mercy all you beautiful people, do I have a surprise for you!” the DJ’s lyrical voice comes over the PA. Everyone in the entire place actually stops what they’re doing and turns their attention to the stage. These people definitely take their karaoke very seriously. “My girl, (he draws it out), Miss JoEllen McAfferty herself is going to perform for us tonight, aren’t you lucky?” Jo glares at him. “Yes, girl, you perform, you do not sing. Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for Jo, it’s been a long time coming. This little songbird wants to fly,” I swear his eyes are on me. “Y’all hear me?”
Yeah, I fucking hear you.
The music lowers and the lights dim. It’s so quiet in the bar you can hear the rustling of clothes as people situate themselves, then the scratching rift of a guitar breaks through the silence. A light explodes on Jo, and I’m fucking lost from there. Everything she
keeps locked up inside her, all the passion, the sensuality, all the promises of things she never gives away is laid bare in her expression, and it grips me right in the goddamn chest. When she starts to hum, the intoxicating sound of her voice captivates me. It’s sex, heroin, whiskey, and black magic all rolled together and shoots straight into my veins.
She begins, “Mississippi in the middle of a dry spell. Kenny Rogers on the Victrola up high…”
Oh, shit…! My entire body reacts to the sound of the sensuality of her voice.
“Well, damn, who knew she sounded like that?” Bo lets out a surprised laugh still standing next to me.
I did. Because there’s no way she’d sound any other way. That’s her soul, her heart, every damn thing in her body. It’s her, and it put a chokehold on me.
Her eyes are closed, there’s no one else in here except her. She’s not singing for anyone but herself. Her voice is powerful, but there’s a lingering sadness behind it’s intensity. It’s full of passion, but it’s lonely.
And that makes my dead heart have a goddamn seizure.
The guilt I’d felt earlier comes back and slams into me like a freight train, hearing the sadness in her voice rips me apart. But then when she really starts to belt it out, I feel like she’s going to kick my ass, and that gives me hope that she will understand.
Whatever I’m doing here is for her too. It’s got to be.
Her body moves languidly, swaying gently, like it’s only for her lover and him alone. My jaw clenches and my hands curl into fists dying to go up there and take her, touch her, feel her. My mouth waters, hungry to taste her, kiss her, possess her. My entire body pulsates dying to feel her pressed against me.
She could be my death and my destruction.
Jo’s voice is a drug seeping through my veins burning a trail through me.
Even in the darkness, the opening door that leads to the back offices catches my attention, and look who’s come out for the show. Mr. Frank Castillo himself. This one instant of complete raw honesty in Castillo’s expression tells me a whole lot of Jo’s situation.
He’s fucking furious. He wants to drag her off the stage.
That motherfucker thinks Jo belongs to him, it’s written all over his face. The fact she’s up there revealing the passionate woman she is, the one I bet he doesn’t have but wants, pisses him the hell off. When he glances in my direction, I know exactly what he’s thinking.
He’s thinking what I am. Jo has never gone up there and done what she loves, what she was born to do. The fact I showed up and she’s up there says only one thing. Maybe I’m a presumptuous prick, but that’s too big of a coincidence.
She’s up there because of me.
“I’d bet she’d be a real good fuck,” I hear Bo sneer beside me.
Oh, no, the fuck he didn’t.
I don’t even think about it. My hand is wrapped around his throat and I’m slamming his head against the wall before he takes his next breath.
“If you ever talk like that about her again, I will kill you,” my tone is a steely whisper.
His face is bright red as he tries to choke out some bullshit I don’t give two fucks about.
“What is going on here?!” Castillo’s angry voice beside us breaks into my rage.
I slam Bo against the wall one more time. “He said he thought Jo would be a real good fuck.”
It’s the truth.
“I see,” Castillo’s eyes are boring into me. He knows why I’m furious about that. However, my little outburst isn’t making me completely stupid. I know I can’t screw everything up on my first night. The trick is to use everything to your advantage. This situation makes my job easier.
I might be able to kill Castillo within a week and get this shit over with.
“Yeah, especially after the way he grabbed her.”
That’s also the truth.
“Is that so?” Frank’s attention slides from me to Bo. “Let him go, Hawk.”
I do. I release him like the good dog I’m supposed to be. Bo coughs and gasps and tries to regain some composure since I just cut his balls off in front of everyone.
Bo glares at me, but doesn’t deny what I’ve said. He’d be lying if he did, but he can’t untwist the truth, and that’s what’s bothering him.
“Inside, both of you,” Castillo barks.
He turns and goes back through the door he just exited and heads straight to his room. Joe the bouncer who was stupid enough to put his hands on me before blocks my way.
“We’re going to enjoy showing you how much you just fucked up. Boy,” he leers.
Bo’s pressing against one side of me, Joe’s little bitch who was with him earlier on the other.
“Damn, Hawk,” Bo rasps out. “You just threw me under the bus. Not good.”
The corner of my mouth lifts in a cocky grin. “I think you boys are pissed I just let the boss man know his little bitches don’t exactly do what he says. Seems to me you all fucked up.”
All three of them glare at me as I push past them.
They don’t have shit to say because I’m right. And they’re fucked. I’ve also nailed the lid on having each man in here as my enemy.
I enter the Castillo’s inner sanctum and pass through the door. He’s sitting behind the desk, his face a stone mask. Bo, Joe, and the other bouncer shuffle in behind me when I stop and stand in front of him.
With his eyes fixed on me, Castillo says, “Tell me what happened with Jo, Bo.”
I hear Bo take a tight breath. “Jo was giving me lip, I had to remind her of her place.”
Castillo’s jaw tenses. “What was she complaining about?”
Bo takes another heavy inhale, “That I wasn’t doing my job.”
Castillo tilts his head to the side, his gaze now fixed on Bo. “Were you?”
“Yes. I was talking to Hawk, feeling him out,” Bo replies tightly.
Castillo’s chin dips nominally. “Fair enough. Did you touch Jo?”
“Yes, sir,” Bo replies tightly.
“What did you say to her?” Castillo continues, a sly grin playing on his lips.
“I told her,” Bo begins slowly, “the only reason she’s kept around is she’s nice to look at, and that could change.”
“So, your Jo’s boss now, is that it?” Castillo’s voice is steely. He’s furious.
“No, sir. I just told her what you would want me to.”
“NOW YOU KNOW WHAT I WANT TO SAY?” Castillo bellows from his chair.
“No, no, no sir!” Bo’s practically pissing himself.
Castillo drums his fingers lightly on the desktop, his cold stare fixed on me. I’d love to know what he’s thinking. I bet he’s totally fuming inside, knowing I twisted this shit around, made it play in my favor, but there isn’t a damn thing he can do about it. Then his eyes move from me to Bo, to Joe, then the other guy. He’s questioning them in his mind, wondering what else they’re doing he’s not aware of.
“Get him out of my sight. Take him out back and remind him he’s just a piece of shit I could smash under my shoe. Bo, the next time you speak on my behalf, behave in a way I would construe as inappropriate, I’m going to cut your fucking tongue out and make you eat it! Do we understand each other?”
“Yes, sir,” Bo answers tightly.
Two things Castillo doesn’t like, his power undermined, and people getting close to Jo in any way.
“GET OUT.” Castillo slams his fist down on the desktop.
The four of us move toward the door.
“And Hawk,” I stop and peer at Castillo over my shoulder. “You don’t touch what belongs to me. Unless I say so.”
And there it is, the warning. Was it about Bo or Jo?
“Sure. “
Now I have to decide what to do with it.
CHAPTER 11
Jo
Hawk is working for Frank Castillo.
I’m furious. However, I’m mostly angry at myself.
I thought he was different. I tho
ught he wasn’t a part of this. I thought…
It doesn’t matter what I thought. I was stupid. Everyone turns, they all get seduced by the money and the whores and the power. What really makes me sick is that maybe even so did my dad. He was the one who signed the contract with the devil. If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t be in this hell in the first place.
NO, I can’t believe that. He didn’t know it would end up like this.
I slam the refrigerator door shut, the impact makes the bottles rattle inside. I don’t care, I’m so irate, I feel like breaking every damn thing in the bar. Wreaking a little havoc could be good for the soul. I look up and my eyes land on the DJ equipment. Starting with that.
I caved. After five years of being silent, of keeping everything that has been eating away at me locked up inside, I went up there and opened up. Granted, Hawk doesn’t know anything about me, but I know what I did, and why I did it. It was only a stupid song to everyone else. To me, it was me tearing down the walls I had erected when Castillo taught me my lesson. It was putting aside five years of loneliness and isolation, of pain and fear and paralysis, of breaking out of my imprisonment, even if it was only for three minutes. It was me showing my vulnerabilities. It was finally allowing myself to be a woman who is attracted to a man, something I thought never would happen again.
It was me admitting that I want.
That doesn’t matter either.
I feel like I’m being smothered, like the walls are closing in on me, trapping and suffocating me, like all the shit I’ve barely been keeping together is ready to bury me alive. My body is vibrating, trembling uncontrollably, just like the morning after the lesson. I take a deep breath, square my shoulders, and head for the store room. I have to fill up the gaping hole of my pride and get this avalanche under control before I break. The small space has always been my secret place, even when I was a kid. I’d come in here to hide. Then, since my father died, I was still hiding, but the monsters had become real. Within the solitude of the small windowless room, I was able to break down when I needed to without showing them how they’d gotten to me. This was my safe place where I could drop the bravado and somehow find the strength I’d needed to go back out and fight. Tonight was an entirely different battle. I can feel myself falling apart. It’s all me. No one knows how I feel, nobody knows that I had delusions of a stupid girl. That maybe, just maybe, somebody wouldn’t be a part of all this. That maybe there was hope. That maybe Hawk was different.
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