JETT
“Boss?” one of my men came into the room. Ever since I had kidnapped Ebony the first time, York had convinced me to allow at least two men to know of my location at all times. His name was Rick, and I liked him because he was ruthless, just like I’d been at his age. The only thing that worried me was I knew he had no one he cared for, no one I could threaten if he ever got out of line. It made him a dangerous man.
“Rick…”
“You sure you don’t want us around?”
I looked out at the porch where Ebony sat drawing something on her sketchpad. She hadn’t tried to escape which impressed me. Her nerves had left when she saw I wasn’t going to hurt her. But why wouldn’t I hurt her? Why did I care when her family was trying to kill her? I knew she couldn’t be used as leverage in the war with Giordy, but I couldn’t let her leave. I just couldn’t.
“I am sure. Head back to the office. Come back only if you must. I won’t be long.”
He nodded taking York back to the city with him. I had to try to figure out why I didn’t want to kill her. Why I chose to protect her. Never had I wanted someone else around. I was a dangerous man, everyone knew that and kept their distance which suited me just fine.
Why then were those black eyes so enthralling to me?
I walked outside taking a seat on the porch rail opposite her. She didn’t look up at me or even acknowledge my presence.
“What are you drawing?”
She didn’t break from her drawing, nor did she look up. I waited rather impatiently for her to answer.
“Why am I here?”
“Do you always answer a question with a question?” I countered.
“Do you always avoid answering them?”
I let her infuriating questions go wondering why in the hell I left my gun inside. Putting a bullet between her eyes right now would make me feel a hell of a lot better.
“What does Giordy want?”
She sighed, finally looking up at me. She held up the sketchbook where I could see she’d drawn the words ‘Fuck You’ in cursive surrounded by flowers and skulls. I remembered her tattoo on her foot and wondered what her obsession with skulls was.
“Charming.”
We were silent while I debated the effort it would take to go inside and finish her off once and for all—get my life back to the way it was. I watched her as she continued to draw. Oddly, she was calm even though her situation wasn’t a relaxing one.
“Why do you kill?”
The question came out of nowhere, and I searched her eyes for a key as to why she had asked it. It seemed like she was genuinely interested, which I didn’t understand.
“I enjoy it. I love seeing the life slip out of people’s eyes.”
She went back to drawing. “What made you that way?”
“It’s just who I am.”
We sat in silence until I could no longer tolerate it. “What is Giordy planning?”
“Why don’t you kidnap Darla? She’s closer to him, and she’ll know how to sing like a little rat. I’ve only been back in their lives for two days.”
“You sound happy about it,” I sarcastically retorted. “Why do you hate him so much?”
She sighed, stopping her drawing again. “I don’t. Truth is, I couldn’t give one damn about my mother’s side of the family.”
The confession had me grinning. What had her mother done to her to make her so angry? Could it have anything to do with the brokenness inside of her, the part of her I had wanted to see all along?
“And your father?”
“Rotting in prison.”
That piqued my interest. “What for?”
“Killing people.”
I waited a little bit until I asked her what I’d wanted to know since I met her. “Do I scare you?”
“Yeah, at times you do. But right now, you don’t.”
Simple, concise answer. Her breathing was normal which told me she wasn’t lying.
“Why haven’t you tried to escape?”
“And go where?” She stood up, taking her sketchpad with her. As she headed inside, I called out her name. Ebony turned around to look at me, those eyes boring into mine.
“Have you ever wanted to kill someone?”
“Of course.”
“Why don’t you?”
She took a deep breath as if this conversation was boring her. “Because I’m human.”
With that, she walked inside. If anyone else had said that to me, I would have shot them.
Jesus, why had I asked her that?
I didn’t ask people questions. What the hell was I doing?