Chapter Thirty-One

Layla

Considering that I’d been kidnapped, tied to a chair, and beaten, I felt surprisingly calm. Fearless almost, in fact. Maybe it was because I’d spent the past hour thinking about my own mortality, about how much lower Dad would sink once I was gone. About the fact that I’d be dead in the morning and by evening Eamon would likely have someone else sucking his dick.

Neither thought was very helpful as I sat alone in the dark motel room, but as far as I’d come in my life, it turned out, I was no different than generations of women who cared about the men in their lives more than they did about themselves.

It was a pathetic thing to figure out about myself when I had less than an hour to live, but at least I wouldn’t die lying to myself.

The knob on the outside door turned and I dropped my head so it hung limp like I was sleeping. If the sweaty goon meant to do more than kill me, I’d have to catch him by surprise if I stood a chance in hell of getting out of this mess alive. A chance that grew slimmer by the minute.

“Wake up!” he barked.

I stayed where I was, slowly counting to four on every inhale and exhale to mimic the deep breathing associated with being asleep.

“Hey, I said wake up!”

He kicked my chair and I couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped at the impact.

Another laugh sounded, from a new voice.

“Damn, that Eamon Connelly has excellent taste in women, she is one fine piece of ass.”

“Hands off, Angelo. Remember Lorenzo’s orders.”

“Chill, Rico. I’m just having a little fun. You havin’ fun sweetheart?”

The other guy sounded slick and arrogant, like someone who rarely had to face the consequences of his action.

“I’m talking to you, bitch,” he said and his voice filled me with revulsion.

“There’s only one bitch in here and I’m looking right at him.” Okay, it wasn’t my smartest move but at that point I didn’t have much to lose anyway.

The other man, Angelo, lunged forward but the sweaty guy, Rico, grabbed at him and his thick black hair fell over one eye.

“Just give me five minutes alone with this bitch, Rico. Five minutes and I’ll teach her how she’s supposed to talk to a man.”

I snorted a laugh. “If you find any men let me know.” Okay, now I’d gone batshit nuts.

Angelo slipped free of Rico’s sweaty grasp, raised his hand and lowered a backhand on the same damn cheek Rico had hit earlier. It hurt like a son of a bitch but I only let out a small groan, refusing to give him the satisfaction.

“Good thing you’re wearing your mother’s best jewelry or I might have thought it was a bitch hitting me.”

He lunged again but Rico stepped between us, which I was grateful for since a small stream of blood trickled down the side of my throbbing face.

“Cool it, Angelo,” Rico hissed, “or I’ll knock you the fuck out.”

“Yeah on whose authority?”

Rico’s shoulders straightened and he spit out, “Lorenzo’s. He has a plan so don’t fuck it up. Or do and you’ll be the one paying the price, not me.”

The phone in Rico’s hand, my phone, rang, startling us all. But it ended the fight when Angelo snatched it away.

“Eamon Connelly, what a surprise.”

Eamon? Why was he calling when he was supposed to show up in twenty or thirty minutes? The answer stared me right in the face even as I refused to believe it. He wasn’t coming and I was definitely going to die tonight.

My eyes were glued to Angelo’s frowning face in search of any information I could get about my fate.

“What the fuck do you mean you’re not coming? You don’t show up and your bitch is dead.”

Whatever he said, I couldn’t hear and for that much I was glad.

“No, meet us at The Kinky Elephant.”

The rest of the conversation was lost to me and I hadn’t decided if it was good or bad when Angelo tossed my phone across the room.

“That motherfucker! If he thinks he can disrespect me and my family, he’s got another fucking thing coming!”

“Think.”

Angelo glared at me. “What the fuck did you just say to me, bitch?”

“I said think. The phrase is ‘another think coming’, not another thing, Einstein.”

He lunged again and Rico was there once again.

“Enough, Angelo! What did he say?”

“The fucker said he wasn’t coming. That he’d catch up with you another time.”

Angelo peeked around Rico and grinned. “Too bad for you sweetheart, because I’ve got serious plans for that hot little body.”

“Fuck!” Rico said and he began to pace, acting as a barrier between me and Angelo the psychopath.

“We’ll just have to dump her body, bloody and beaten, on his fucking doorstep,” Angelo suggested with a disgusting sneer.

“No. He’s coming, I know it.” Rico stopped pacing and looked from me to Angelo. “He’s coming here.”

Eamon was coming here? For me?

Angelo laughed. “Even better. With all the men we have, he’ll be dead before he even makes it to the door. You weren’t dumb enough to tell him where you are, were you?”

Rico gave him a dirty look. “I’m not the fuckup here, Angelo so no, I didn’t tell him a goddamn thing.”

“Then why are you so sure he’s coming here?”

Angelo’s expression went from laughing and carefree to deadly serious. “You’re not trying to screw over my family are you? Because you know what we do to rats.”

“I don’t owe your family a fucking thing, Angelo. You pay for a service and I provide it. Letting you and your fucking nephew tag along wasn’t part of the deal, so next time you threaten me, I’ll drive a nail through both of your fucking eyes.”

A long tense moment passed between the men, a silent pissing contest where Rico seemed to emerge as the winner.

“Whatever,” Angelo grumbled and stormed out of the motel room, slamming the door behind him.

Rico let out a sigh and turned to face me, pointing a big meaty finger at my face. “Don’t try to kick or bite me. I won’t kill you but I will make you hurt. Got it?”

I nodded, my mouth instantly dry.

“Good.”

When Rico stepped behind me and hoisted me and the chair in the air, I took the opportunity to look around the room in search of a weapon or another escape. My gaze fell on a plain white shower curtain. So I’d found the bathroom.

“Kind of hard to go to the bathroom with my arms tied to the chair.”

Rico grunted a laugh. “If you have to piss, hold it or don’t, but you’re not getting out of that chair.”

He gave me one last angry look, turned out the light and slammed the door behind him.

A second too late I found my voice. “Hey! Where are you going? You can’t leave me in…” the sound of another door opening and shutting, taking the last of my hope with it. “… here.”

Then I heard voices outside. Male voices. Talking so quietly I couldn’t make out the words.

Wait. What was that? A window sliding open? A startled gasp flew out of me, because Rico had left me in darkness. What now? Or more likely, who now? I wanted to call out for help, but fear had lodged in my throat and stopped me. What if Angelo had decided he didn’t care what Rico’s orders were and had come back for me? I decided to stay as quiet as possible, trying to hear what was happening.

I held my breath, listening carefully as wood scraped against wood and the bathroom window opened, letting more night sounds inside.

Then a grunt, along with a crashing noise came from behind the closed shower curtain, and I sucked in a silent scream and waited for my fate to unfold.