I once was lost …
SYDNEY
Half an hour after Jhay left for work, Sydney heard the taptaptap…tap…taptap of knuckles against wood.
Jeff’s secret knock.
Grinning, she rushed to the front door and swung it open. “What took you so long? I almost thought you weren’t coming.”
“Sorry, I had to—”
“Don’t care,” she muttered, grabbing him by the lapels of his jacket and tugging him across the threshold so she could crush her mouth to his. “I just want you inside me.”
Jeff doffed his jacket. “If you’re always so hungry for my cock, why are you with that bitch?”
Sydney paused, then slapped his face. “Watch your mouth, hey. I love her.”
Jeff’s eyebrow lifted in a sardonic arch. “If this is what you do to the people you love, then I don’t even wanna know what you do to the ones you hate.”
“Just shut up and fuck me.”
With a shrug and a chuckle, Jeff swooped her up and headed over to the couch. Depositing her squirming body, he tugged his dress shirt from out of his pants before crowding down over her.
Reaching down, he grabbed the end of her short little sundress and whipped it over her head, then bit his lip when he found she was wearing nothing underneath. “My God, Syd, you’re so damn hot.”
“And wet,” she whispered back, “and ready.”
As Jeff leaned down to kiss her again, she stopped him with a palm to his chest. “Shit, Jeff. The door. We left it open. Go close it.”
“Too late.”
Both Jeff and Sydney jumped apart at the sound of the unfamiliar voice in the room. Jeff lurched up to his feet and spun around to face the interloper, while Sydney frantically reached for her dress.
Scrambling off the couch, she looked to where the voice had traveled from and saw a tall, devastatingly good-looking man striding over to them in the living room. Despite the situation, Sydney couldn’t help salivating at the sight of that delectable body in worn denims, a black dress shirt, sharp blazer, black boots, and a silver chain with a cross pendant around his neck.
Dirty-blond surfer hair flirted just above his shoulders, tucked messily behind his ears. But it was his eyes that terrified Sydney. They were scarily black, vacant, no sign of life within them, even though he stood before her as a living, breathing male.
Wondering who the hell this man was, and why he was there, Sydney’s heart pounded hard and loud in her chest.
“What the hell are you doing in here, pretty boy?” Jeff demanded, voicing her inner thoughts.
“Wrong question,” the mysterious man said, his voice smooth and slow-paced like motor oil.
Calm as you please, he opened his blazer, pulled out a suppressed gun from his waist, pointed the thing right at Jeff’s forehead, and fired.
Jeff staggered back and dropped sprawled on the couch.
The whole thing happened so smoothly, so quietly, and so easily, that Sydney forgot to scream. Shocked still, she stared open-mouthed at Jeff’s lifeless body, a neat hole in his forehead, not even a drop of blood trickling.
As the reality of what just happened hit her, she began shaking, and she took a step back, opening her mouth to scream bloody murder. But the frightening sight of the gun now pointing right at her mouth made her snap it shut.
“Make a sound and you’ll end up like lover boy there,” Good-Looking Murderer warned. “Don’t make this any messier than it needs to be.”
Sydney nodded her understanding, making sure to remain planted where she was.
Three big, bulky men in black sauntered into the apartment like they owned the place; one carrying a large, red toolbox, and the others carrying electrical equipment. The man with the toolbox stopped, looked at Jeff’s dead body, and then shook his head at Good-Looking Murderer, sending his eyes heavenward.
Good-Looking Murderer shrugged. “Unplanned. He wasn’t supposed to be here. Call Ned for a clean-up. Then go ahead and install the cams.”
Toolbox nodded, pulled out his cellphone and wandered off.
Good-Looking Murderer returned his attention back to Sydney and noticed her gaping down at Jeff’s dead body again.
“Don’t feel sorry for him,” he told her. “He has a girlfriend in Alamo whom he beats every day, and molests her twelve-year-old daughter. She’s afraid to leave him. Now she doesn’t have to.”
Sydney’s eyes widened. How did he know all this? Who was he?
Gesturing with his gun to the tiny sundress Sydney had clutched to her chest, the rest of her body bare, he told her, “Cover yourself.”
Although her hands were trembling the whole time, Sydney had to admit she kind of liked that he didn’t look away from her as she hauled the flimsy piece of material over her head to clothe herself. His stare made her feel confidently sexy.
But this man represented death itself, so no way in hell would she open her mouth or move an inch unless he indicated such.
Once she was covered, he reached inside his jacket pocket, withdrew an envelope, and thrust it to her.
Wary, but without question, she took it.
“That’s a check for half a million dollars,” he said. “You’re gonna pack your things, and you’re gonna leave. There’s a car downstairs waiting to take you to a private jet that will bring you to whatever destination you choose. I don’t care what you do with yourself once you leave this apartment. But what you will not do is try to contact Jhay. In any way.” He paused, and his eyes grew even scarier. “Forget she ever existed. Take the money, move on with your life. If you try to contact her, I will know. I will find you. And I will kill you. Do you believe my words, Sydney?”
Glancing down at the envelope in her hand, Sydney’s eyes stung with tears. She couldn’t leave Jhay. She couldn’t. “I-I can’t. I love her.”
Faster than she could think, he moved in and wrapped his big hand around her throat, cutting off her breath. “Don’t be stupid, girl. I’m giving you the choice between life and death. Anyone with half a brain would choose life. The girl you love doesn’t have a heart. It was ripped away from her. She’s incapable of loving you back. So you’d do best to choose right, because if I don’t kill you, she will.”
The edges of her vision began to burn black, and her eyes grew even wider when he pressed his gun to her temple. “Choose. Now. Life or death?”
As Sydney’s body weakened, knees buckling, she tried to talk some common sense into her half-alive brain. As much as she loved Jhay, she’d only known her for five months. Did she really want to die for her?
In addition, being involved with her was obviously dangerous if strange men could just barge into her apartment and kill people without blinking. On top of that, they were setting up cameras in her goddamn apartment, which meant this was only the beginning of a perilous shit storm.
Did she want to get embroiled in all that?
No.
She didn’t love Jhay enough to die for her. She was no goddamn Bruno Mars. So on that last thought, she forced her answer through the strangulation. “L…ife.”
Instantly he released her, and she stumbled back feebly, gripping her throat and fighting for air. Inhaling, deep, long, loud breaths.
As soon as her blood was oxygenated and she was strong enough to stand, no longer dizzy, she picked up the envelope that had fallen from her hand. Keeping her gaze downcast, not daring to look at Good-Looking Murderer, she power-walked to the bedroom and packed her things at super-speed, ignoring the men wiring up cameras. Even in the bathroom.
Wanting to be anywhere but there, she wheeled her overstuffed suitcase behind her from the bedroom.
Good-Looking Murderer was leaning casually patient and unconcerned against the door frame, and as Sydney wheeled by him, he grabbed her upper arm and stared down at her, those black eyes nothing but bottomless holes in his face. He vocalized nothing, but his stare spoke so deafeningly loud, she winced at the sound: Do not contact Jhay in any way. If you do, I will know. I will find you. And I will kill you. Do you want to die, Sydney?
When she let out a whimper and shook her head “no” to his silent question, he nodded approvingly and let her go.
Sydney all but ran out of there, and sure enough, a black sedan waited for her down in the parking lot.
An old-aged driver came out, took her luggage, and dumped it in the trunk. Sobbing silently, Sydney slid into the back of the car. She didn’t know where she was going yet, but she would be sure it was somewhere far, far away from here.
She loved Jhay. But she loved her life more.