Five

 

Liv

 

Time went on with very little comfort. I had been blindfolded forever at this rate. My body was already sore from the plane ride, and now it was aching with every bump in the road. My arms were numb, but that was already established a whole lifetime ago. I fidgeted relentlessly, before I decided to lay on my side and close my eyes.

Throughout, droplets of water fell over my head and face by Green Eyes. He put the bottle to my lips at some point, and I sipped a little. I hated to admit how much it helped. I hated even more that I felt a shred of gratefulness toward him.

So fucked up.

Finally, the car came to a slow stop. The engine followed, and then the doors flew open from both sides. I waited, anticipation coiled inside of me. I forced myself up, ungluing myself from the leather seats.

“I got you,” whispered Green Eyes, sliding his arms around my waist.

I was too weak to move on my own, much less squirm from his hold. He practically carried me out of the car and set me down. I felt cool mud beneath my bare feet. There was little breeze, but it was better out here than being suffocated in that stale car.

“Walk forward,” he directed me, and I did.

I peered down from the blindfold, seeing a tiny slit between my nose and cheek. I could just make out my puffy dress, feet and the mud I was trying to wade with surprising effort through.

We didn’t walk far when Green Eyes yelled, “Approaching! Open the gates.”

I heard something unlatch followed by the creak of what must have been the gate. Immediately, I slowed my steps, feeling a sudden wave of trepidation wash over me. I was walking into the unknown, no idea what was awaiting me on the other side.

He tugged me forward, not harshly but firmly. I reluctantly followed. I tried not to panic, but the unknown was a terrifying thing. The sound of music hit me, growing louder as we moved toward it. Rap music in the middle of the jungle. The lyrics familiar.

“Cause ain’t no such thing as halfway crooks

Scared to death, scared to look, they shook

Cause ain’t so such thing as halfway crooks,

Some get shot, locked down, turn nuns,

Cowardly hearts and straight up shook ones, shook ones

He ain’t a crook son, he’s just a shook one”

Shook ones by Mobb Deep. The boys from Riptide Estate used to listen to this when they pretended they were gangsters. I had a strong feeling these guys were the real deal. A shiver ran down my spine. More resistance in my legs as we plodded forward. I heard voices but they quieted as we moved closer.

“Yo, Reaper!” Green Eyes called. “Delivery! Entregar, isn’t that the fucking word? I don’t know the fucking word.”

We stopped moving, and he let go of my arm. For a long moment, I just stood there, not knowing who was around me, or how many there were. More concerning was feeling like I was completely alone and knowing I wasn’t.

Then… slow, heavy footsteps approached us. My breathing hiked as I caught a pair of black boots through the crack in the blindfold stopping right in front of me. The music felt muffled as the blood rushed through my ears. Anticipation was worse when it collided with fear.

I felt a hand grab at my blindfold. Now I was swallowing. Fingers dug beneath the edges, and then the blindfold was torn off me in one swift move.

He ain’t a crook son, he’s just a shook one

I was the shook one for sure.

I blinked rapidly, letting my eyes adjust to the light and the giant figure standing in front of me. All blurred, he looked like a massive collision of green and black. When my sight settled, my heart climbed my throat, depriving me of all air.

Boss.

This… was Boss.

And he wasn’t a weedy man at all.

Jesus Christ Almighty, the man was easily over six feet tall, wide and solid as a fucking wall. His hair was raven black and loosely tied back. His skin was deeply tanned, nearing bronze. He was wearing a tight black tank that stretched across his vast chest and rippled stomach. His arms were covered in black tattoos and deep scars, some silvery, others pink and new. And surprisingly, his physique wasn’t the most threatening part about him. It was his gaze. His eyes were dark, almost black, and so scarily deep and focused. They were predator eyes. And the second they hit my face, I was the prey, a bird in front of a tiger about to play with its food.

Jesus, I had to breathe.

I was so fucking fucked.

What was wrong with me to have thought so lightly of the man in the first place? I was wrong to have likened him to the stuffy men I had seen all my life, who had never so much as dared to strike at the daughter of such a powerful man. I was in a different world now, with very different men.

Expressionless, his eyes flickered from my face to my body. I was suddenly glad to be wearing this ridiculous dress. It felt like a good enough barrier now, except for the fact he didn’t look at me the way Green Eyes had back at the plane. Actually, there was nothing wanting whatsoever there.

I felt like a piece of inventory.

Admittedly, it wasn’t what I was used to. I’d learned from shit experiences that most of the men in this sort of life were deprived of most morals when it came to women. They looked at you with an agenda behind their gaze. Either you fulfilled some necessary function – like being on the other end of their dick – or you were cast aside for some other goal in mind.

And he wasn’t looking at me like I was either. That was what unsettled me. There was…nothing in his face I could read. The indifference was startling. It threw me for a loop because I was usually so good at discerning people. I could easily catch the slightest shadow of a feeling there in the depths of someone’s eyes, and I got nothing – nothing – at all from him.

When his eyes hit mine, I shivered involuntarily. It was a crazy thing to admit – that I shivered at the attention of a man, but man, I fucking did. I shivered because the coldness there in his expression was unlike anything I’d ever seen, and it terrified me.

I didn’t like this. I didn’t like it at all.

If this was the man that ordered my abduction, he didn’t look one bit happy that his delivery had made it. After a quick look over, he looked away from me and at Green Eyes. Looking almost bored, he nodded once at him and turned his large back to me, like I was an item in passing that required no more needed attention. I should have felt relief, but mostly, I was gobsmacked.

What purpose was I?

What did they want from me?

Why dismiss me with a nod?

Why look straight through me?

I’d travelled days to get here. My body was broken. My life was in this man’s hands, and he simply greeted it with a nod?!

YOUR DELIVERY MADE IT, GODDAMMIT!

I wanted to scream that. I wanted him to know that I was a living, breathing thing and I was at his fucking mercy! But clearly that meant nothing. Nothing at all.

The blindfold came back on, and I was taken away.