Motherfucker! I bend down next to him. “Fuck with her how?” I ask gripping his blond tips.
He looks up at me, his gray eyes puffy. His dingy teeth covered red with blood that drips down the side of his lips. “They didn’t say …”
I rip his head back, and his mouth opens wide but no scream comes out this time. My nostrils flare and I’m tired of this fucking game. “I’ll rephrase the question. What were you planning to do to her?” I demand.
I watch his neck work as he tries to swallow, which is kinda hard for him to do with his neck yanked back at this angle. “I wasn’t gonna kill her. I promise,” he all but sobs. “Just cut her up a little bit …”
“Fucking bastard.” I spit in his face. “And then what?” They had cut her top off. They were going to do more than cut her up. They were going to destroy her. That thought has me bringing my other hand and wrapping it around his neck.
I smile when I feel his pulse race under my hand. You had better be scared, you son of a bitch. “Leave her on the back porch for you to find her in the morning,” he rasps.
I let go of his neck and with my hand that’s still in his hair, I shove his face down to the floor as I growl like a fucking beast. They were going to leave her on the back porch like fucking trash to be picked up, like a wounded dog left to be found. I’ll show him how you treat trash, all right. He rolls onto his back with a dazed look in his eyes. “Thanks for the cooperation. I’ll now answer your question. Your friend is dead! I shot him!” He whimpers. “But I’m gonna let you live,” I say, and he moans this times in pain. I wish Taylor were here to see it. To see how easily he cracked. “But we’re not done …” I stand and look down on him. “First, I’m going to break your jaw so you can’t go and run your mouth, and then your other arm.” I shrug carelessly. “Maybe both of your legs.” He cries out at that. “Once you’re released from the hospital, you’re going to jail.”
I sit in my office by myself as I go over what happened tonight. Shit just keeps getting deeper and deeper. Taylor had ended … whatever the hell we were doing, and she had every right to. I haven’t been honest with her. Then, of course, Rachel had to go and run her mouth about what she and I have done, and it just caused even more fucking problems. I’ll never forget the look on her face when I told her that Rachel was different. It hurt her to think I could hold Rachel on a higher level than her, no matter how untrue it was. I was just mad at Taylor. Mad at her for not listening to me. For not trusting me. Now, I see why she didn’t.
A ringing sound gets my attention. I look down at the bottom drawer of my desk. I dig the keys out of my pocket, unlock it, and grab the iPhone lit up withBOSSwritten across it.
“Hello?” I ask with a sigh.
“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?” Jones yells into my ear.
I sit back in my seat, running a hand through my hair. I knew this call was gonna come eventually. “What needed to be done.”
“Case,” he growls. “There are rules for a reason. And you’re ignoring them. All for a piece of ass!”
“I am not,” I defend myself, but he has a point. And he is right. Isn’t he? I would have saved any woman in the position I found Taylor in. Would I have killed one without question? No, I have to admit that was due to the terror I felt when she screamed out in pain. The way my heart had beat in my chest as I watched the blood drip down her exposed chest. I snapped and shot him without thought. He deserved a more torturous death, but I don’t regret it. And the second guy? Would I have brought him back to my place of business, my home, just to beat the truth out of him? Maybe not. I can’t say. But I don’t regret that either.
“I thought I told you to fucking end it when I saw you earlier today? This is not ending it! This is making it worse.”
“You think I fucking had this planned?” I growl. “You think I wanted her to get hurt?” My voice begins to rise. “You think I wanted to fucking kill someone? I did what was right, and if you have a problem with that, then fucking fire me!” I finish with a shout, now standing.
He sighs heavily and takes a few seconds to respond. “I just need to know that when it comes down to it, you can do what must be done.”Click.
I fall down into my seat and take a deep breath as I run a hand over my forehead. He acts as if I have a choice. I knew what I needed to do when I started this job. Get in, get answers, and get out. But can I do that now? I had been one hundred percent honest when I told her she was mine. How do I let her go now? Especially since I now know someone is after her.
Tonight, I felt like she was being taken, ripped from me. I refuse to let someone take away what is mine. And she is mine. How will I be able to walk away myself?
My door opens and in walks Brecken. Blood covers his black security shirt, and he has a bar rag in his hands as he wipes the blood from them. “It’s done.”
“Thanks,” I mumble.
He starts to leave but turns back to face me. “Thigs are getting too deep,” he says softly. “I think it’s time you tell her the truth.”
I shake my head. I’m so tired of people telling me what they think I should do. “She’ll run. And tonight proved that she needs to stay with me at all times.”
He sighs heavily. “What are you doing, Case?” He frowns as he tucks the now bloody bar towel in the back pocket of his jeans. “This isn’t you.”
“If you’re referring to the man I killed tonight, save it. He wasn’t the first guy I killed, and he won’t be the last.”
He frowns. “That’s not what I’m referring to. How far are you going to let this go …”
“I don’t know,” I snap interrupting him. “But when I decide, I’ll make sure you’re the first to know,” I say sarcastically.
“Well, I’ll make sure to say I told you so when it blows up in your face,” he replies just as bitchy as he waltzes out of my office.
After Brecken leaves, I make my way upstairs to my bedroom. Even though she is still asleep, I make sure to be quiet, not wanting to wake her. I pull another bloody shirt up and over my head for the second time tonight as I walk over to my bathroom. Shutting the door behind me, I turn on the shower and let it warm up as I take my jeans and boxers off.
Once ready, I step in and shut the door behind me. I finally wash off the blood that covers my body—some from Taylor and some from the men who attacked her. The memory of that man holding her against her will with a knife against her neck has stained my mind. And it makes me think of Nicole. Was it like that for her? Did she cry out and beg me to save her? How long was she in pain? Is she still alive to this day? So many questions are unanswered. So many things I need to dig to find. I need to be there for Taylor as I should have been for Nicole. And if I tell Taylor the truth, she’ll run.
