MERCS
The car pulls up onto the street I told Raoul to head to. I didn’t say where we were going, just that I would tell him when to stop. Effa sits next to me casually still, utterly unaware of my idea as she gazes out the window trying to guess where we’re going.
I sit on my cell searching for just the right thing, and as I find the exact thing I’m looking for, a text comes through on my cell. I look up to Effa to see if she’s looking, but she’s too wrapped up in the drive to look at me as I glance at the name on the screen—Hex.
Taking a deep breath, I open the message as my stomach churns in dread.
Hex: Time’s up, son!
Three simple words, that’s all it takes to send a wave of fucking fear into me. I clear my throat and clear the message as I swallow hard trying to gather my thoughts. I’m in debt, big time, to a damn bookie and I owe him so much money I can never pay him back what’s owed. Hex turned down my request to pay him back by installments, and now it looks like it’s coming back to bite me firmly in the ass. I’ll have to set up a meeting with him, alone, to see if I can deal with the situation, but I don’t see this ending well for me whichever way it goes.
I went into it with good intentions. I gambled once with good reason. Now, Hex will come after me. I need to tell Effa. I’ve kept this secret from her for far too long. But I know she’ll be ashamed of me. Disappointed. Maybe even annoyed. A gambling debt is bad news, and I don’t know that she’ll fully understand me keeping this from her. Especially, after everything we’ve been through. Her number one rule in our relationship is being open and honest, and I’ve tried but not with this, and hiding this shit from her might just be the one thing that breaks us. This might be my undoing. From her, from my family, from everyone I hold dear.
Fuck!
“Are we getting close?” Raoul calls out from the front, breaking me from my rambling thoughts and bringing me back into the moment. I look to Effa who turns to me and smiles, her beautiful smile that always takes my breath away.
I can’t tell her, not yet.
I’ll do what I came to do right now, and then I’ll tell her. So at least I’ll be connected to her in this way if all goes to shit after I tell her about Hex.
“We’re close. It’s the store on the corner up here on the right.”
Raoul drives to the corner as Effa peers out the window looking for a clue as to where I’m taking her. She gasps and chuckles. “Tattoos?” she asks, her head snapping around to look at me as her smile forms wide on her face.
I grin and swallow hard, pulling up the picture I had in mind and show it to her on the screen. “I had this in mind for both of us. If you like it?”
She doesn’t look at it but continues looking at me. “Matching tattoos?” she asks.
I nod and gesture for her to look at the design. She grins widely and finally looks down at the screen. Her eyes light up as she stares down at the music inspired pulse beat. It’s the line of a pulse that turns into a treble clef, then a big beat of a pulse, then a music note, and then ends the pulse.
Swallowing hard, I look at her and smile. “To me this represents us. The music flows through us like a pulse, it’s in our hearts, both of us. It’s what brought us together. But the pulse also represents our hearts pulsing together, beating for each other. Belonging to each other.”
She looks up to me, her eyes glistening, tears threatening to break over her eyelids as she sniffs and slides closer to me, her bottom lip quivering as she shakes her head. “Kaden… I love you.”
My heart swells as I rush forward, grabbing the back of her head and forcing my lips to hers. A fire ignites inside of me knowing that I love her too. I love her with all that I have. She’s the only woman I can ever see my life worth living for.
She’s the reason I breathe.
I kiss her so full of passion, so full of need, so full of hunger that my cock begins to grow in my pants. Her tongue dances along with mine as her hands press against my chest, her fingers digging in deeply needing to feel me.
I pull back from her, breaking the kiss. She looks at me as she swallows hard, but I bring my hand up and caress her cheek tenderly. Her eyebrows soften, and I smile at her shaking my head in disbelief. “Effa, I fucking love you, too.”
She exhales, and I lean in pressing my lips to hers once more. She giggles as Raoul clears his throat making us both look to him in the front of the car. “While this is lovely and everything, shall I see if it’s okay to get out of the car?” he asks.
“Yes. Sorry, Raoul. Of course, go ahead,” she offers looking to me and grimacing slightly as Raoul gets out of the car, then shuts his door with more force than necessary.
She gazes back at me and smiles, her look full of contentment, and I know how she feels. She stares into my eyes, and I caress her cheek. It feels like I’m looking at her for the first time, but also like I can see the rest of our lives together, and fuck if our life doesn’t look spectacular.
Bang. Bang.
A hard knock on the window breaks my trance, and I look out to see Raoul standing at the door, and I chuckle.
“Time to go,” I suggest, and Effa nods and spins opening the door. She slides out of the car, and I follow as we head into the tattoo parlor.
Two hours later, we have matching tattoos on our left inner wrists, and we’re bandaged up and ready to head back to the Langham Hotel on Fifth Avenue. My arm is wrapped around Effa’s shoulder as Raoul walks us out of the parlor and toward the waiting car. We have to walk down an alleyway, and being the middle of the night, it’s dimly lit, but things look fine. The crunch of decaying leaves underfoot as we trek the alley brings sounds of the end of Autumn. Effa shudders against me as I wrap myself around her. She’s wearing her leather dress from the show, her thigh high boots and a jacket I gave her, but she must be freezing as the weather is brisk.
“C’mon, let’s get you back in the car before you catch a cold,” I demand as we rush down the long alley toward the waiting car.
But as I look up, Raoul halts us. He stands stock still, his arms holding Effa back protectively as I glance forward to see five men standing ahead of us, three of them holding baseball bats. I grip onto Effa tighter and swallow hard as Raoul turns his chin up in defiance at all the men. A cold sweat runs over me as I look at the other two who are not holding baseball bats to see their hands shrouded in knuckle dusters.
Fuck!
“Whatever you want, it’s best if you turn around and walk away,” Raoul calls out as my breathing escalates while holding onto Effa tightly as Raoul stands guard in front of us.
The man in the middle steps forward, he’s older than the others. A scar running down his right cheek into the crook of his mouth as he smiles a toothless smile. His gangster styled hat sitting half crooked on his head making me think this guy is some sort of big league, and then it hits me as his eyes zero in on mine. I exhale as a shudder runs down my spine and my stomach churns.
Time’s up.
He chuckles shaking his head, his men stepping closer as Effa tightens her grip on me in utter fear. “Now, now. No need for you or the girl to get hurt in this, if you play it cool, big man. We’re only after the one person.” His voice is deeply disturbing, and even though I’ve never met him in person, seeing him here like this is intimidating.
Raoul takes a small step forward, and I huff shaking my head. “How did you find me, Hex?” I blurt out.
Raoul turns his head looking at me as Effa tenses beside me, her face dropping in confusion.
Hex takes a step forward, his baseball bat moving up in one hand and dropping into his other like it’s the most natural thing to do, but the simple movement is as threatening as hell. “You think Sportshark is just a gambling app, Mercs?” He chuckles. “No. It tracks your text messages, taps your phone calls and tracks your location. I know where you’ve been the entire time you’ve been linked with me.”
Effa stiffens as she slowly detaches from my grip. She furrows her brows with the most prominent frown I’ve ever seen from her. I know that fucking look. She’s hurt. She’s wondering how I could have hidden something like this from her. And right now I’m wondering why myself. Because she’s in danger, and it’s all my fucking fault.
“I owe you the money, Hex. So let Raoul and Effa go. Do with me what you want, but don’t bring them into this.”
Effa gasps shaking her head as she slides back up against me. “No,” she murmurs, and I glare at her as Hex bursts out laughing making us both turn to look at him.
“This is lovely and all. Seeing you with your gal. Watching as she realizes you have this big secret you’ve been keeping from her. The kicker to all this, boys…” he chuckles loudly and waves his hands around, “… she wants to protect you anyway. It’s sweet… really it is, but she’d be best stepping aside and letting us do what we came here to do.”
My muscles all clench as I look into Hex’s dark, ominous eyes as they bore down on me. He steps closer, his four men trailing either side of him. I turn to Raoul and shove Effa toward him as she squeals at my force. “Get her out of here.” I rush the words out of my mouth.
Raoul winces, taking hold of her tightly as she shakes her head and begins to cry. “Kaden, no!”
“What about you?” Raoul asks, holding onto Effa fiercely as she struggles against his grip, trying to break free to get back to me, all the while Hex and his men continue their approach.
“Just go! Get her out of here. Now!” I yell.
Raoul doesn’t hesitate, lifting Effa up over his shoulder and taking off with her. Her screams echo down the alley as she calls out my name continuously, but Raoul doesn’t stop, as he rushes past Hex’s men and out the other side. All without being stopped by his men. Luckily.
I take a deep breath, stand taller and swallow hard ready to face them. I don’t know how this is going to go down. All I know is I’m done for. My body shakes, but I don’t let them see the fear in my eyes. Hex steps up right in front of me and smiles, bringing the bat up to rest on his shoulder.
I glance at it and then back to his face. He sighs and clicks his tongue to the roof of his mouth as he shakes his head. “You know, son, this all could have been dealt with. Easily. You have a millionaire girlfriend. She could have paid off your debt. We could have wiped the slate clean. Ended your Sportshark membership and gone our separate ways. But no. You couldn’t find a way to pay your debt in time. News flash, Mercs. Luck is not on your side, son. And now… now you have to be taught a fucking lesson. Now, you need to be shown that you need to pay your debts on time.”
He nods his head, and the two guys sans bats step up beside me. Clenching my jaw tight, I take a deep breath to ready myself, but before I can prepare for anything a fist slams into the back of my head, the metal of the brass knuckles connecting with my skull and cracking open my skin as I drop to my knees.
My vision instantly goes blurry, as a sharp pain rips through my skull. I groan placing my hands on the ground taking a second to breathe, but before I can catch my breath another slam of brass knuckles jams into my right cheek, making me fall over onto my left side. I groan as I spit out a line of blood with a cough.
The pain searing through my head is harsh, and I open my eyes just in time to see a baseball bat slamming down into my ribcage. I have no time to react as the bat hits hard and fast. The unmistakable sound echoes through the alley as I let out a loud gasp filled moan rolling onto my stomach. Another hit straight in the middle of my back.
I bring my legs up as another man comes in and slams his bat down on my thigh. I yell out in pain rolling onto my back as a wave of bats pound into my stomach, one after the other. I don’t have time to move, to breathe, to react, to think, as the strikes keep coming.
My body’s on fire as I try to scrunch into a ball for protection, but I can’t seem to move anything. I can’t protect myself or even get a fucking punch in, as another harder jab lands in the middle of my face, the knuckles slamming into my nose. The unmistakable sound of crunching follows as a red-hot pains engulfs my head.
Instantly, I feel like I’m drowning as a thick liquid invades my throat and I can’t find the strength to roll on my side and expel the blood threatening to overwhelm me.
“Enough!” And suddenly the assault stops.
I groan laying on my left side, my body quivering in an unmistakable broken mess as I lay on the ground in the alley fading in and out of consciousness. The last thing I see is Hex’s face staring down at me as he wipes his hands with a white cloth.
“You will pay me back, Mercs, or next time this won’t happen to you… it will happen to Effa and that little baby sister of yours. She’s so fragile, she’d break easily I’m sure. I’d take great pleasure in watching her snap and shatter under my fingers. Just know, now, the price has doubled. You need to have that pretty little rock star pay me, and pay me soon or it will triple.”
My body tenses wanting to at least get one punch in, just one hit to his ugly fucked up face for talking about my girls like that. I groan out loud at the fact that I can’t get my body to work in conjunction with my mind, as he turns and starts to walk away with his men.
Laying here on the cold ground, shivering from my injuries as I gasp for air, I wonder how it got to this.
I could have prevented it.
I should have been honest with Effa and told her the truth.
I’ve put her in fucking danger.
I wonder if Raoul got Effa to safety in time, or is Hex heading off for Effa right now?
The thought terrifies me. So I pull my body up, but shooting pain radiates through my torso so extreme that I scream out. Blackness hits my vision, and I can’t see anything as all the air is knocked from my lungs and I collapse to the ground, my head hitting the concrete hard, as everything fades into absolutely nothing.