Chapter Sixteen
Mara
The sound of the waves had almost lulled me to sleep. I reached out and grabbed the cold margarita the waiter had just brought me moments before.
I closed my eyes and took a sip. A smile spread across my face as something darkened the sun. I knew before I looked who was eclipsing the light.
“It took you long enough,” I said.
“Six months. That’s how long I’ve been on the run looking for you. Six months of searching while constantly looking over my shoulder for men who want to kill me,” Salvatore said. “I’m tired.” He sounded spent.
“Sit down. We’ll get you a margarita. The bartender here is amazing,” I said. “You want to try it?” I offered him my drink, but Salvatore just glared at me.
“No, I don’t want your drink. I came for my half of the money.”
“That’s not why you’re here,” I said casually. “But you’re in my light.”
“Mara, you left me with nothing. I could have died,” he said.
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic. I didn’t leave you with nothing. You had the gold, and I sent you another transfer a few hours later.”
“What the fuck, Mara? Is this a game?” He finally sat down on the beach chair next to me. “You did send me a little more money that night, but it and the gold have barely been enough to get me here.”
“But it did get you here,” I said and smiled.
“That’s what you wanted,” he said flatly. “This has been a game for you the whole time.” I watched as the realization hit him. He was there because he’d played right into my hand. “You wanted me to come after you.”
Salvatore stood back up. He reached down, wrapped his hand around my arm, and dragged me to my feet. I had to stifle a moan. I’d been longing to feel his touch for months. It was rough, and I still liked it.
“You fucked me, Mara,” he growled as I was lifted to the point where I had to stand on my toes to keep my feet on the ground.
“You liked it,” I said and pressed my body against his. “If you want what’s yours, take it,” I taunted.
“This isn’t a game,” Salvatore said, but he didn’t push me away.
“Not anymore. You’re at the end.”
“I want my money, Mara. I need for this to all be over. Give me my half of the ransom so I can go,” he said.
“You still want to leave?” If I believed him, I’d have been disappointed. “I have a better idea, Sal.”
“What’s that?”
By that time, he had both hands wrapped around my arms. Salvatore held me tight there. His eyes burned with fury.
“Stay with me. We’re safe here, and it’s beautiful. But if you don’t like this country, we’ll pick another.”
“You have to be joking, Mara. You’re a monster.”
“You are too, but I love that about you.” I watched his face soften a bit at my words. I struck a chord in him.
“I can’t argue with that, but it’s you that brings out the worst in me. If I stay with you, we’ll just end up ruining each other,” he said as his hand slid down my body and his arms encircled my waist.
“Of course we will. That’s what people like us do, but it sure will be fun getting there.”
He kissed me hard, but it was brief. It felt like a test. I knew what he was doing. Salvatore wanted to see if after everything he’d been through, he still felt the same way. I felt his cock stir against my stomach. He still felt the same way.
“Alright, crazy bitch, let’s do this. Till death do us part,” he said with an impish smile.
“You’re an asshole,” I said as he laced his fingers between mine and we turned to walk down the beach.
“I love you too, Mara, and even though it will probably kill me, I have a feeling I always will.”
***
Her eyes are purple?
Great line??
LMAO.
When a character speaks through more than one paragraph in a row, opening quotation marks are needed at the beginning of each new paragraph, with a closing quotation mark placed at the end of only the final paragraph.
Watching what?
Spelling includes a hyphen per Merriam-Webster.
When used as a direction (we south on I-45), it’s not capitalized, but is when talking about it as a region.
Not sure but shouldn’t it be capitalized since the word is being used to describe the organization?
Dropped the comma because no pause needed here.
This is one of my favorite words. There’s just something about it that’s fun. Yeah, I’m strange.
Per Merriam-Webster (MW), the shortened version of until has two ‘l’s.
You mentioned earlier that it was a handcrafted, rustic chair.
LOL She is a feisty girl.
He’d (he had) suggests the father had already chosen Mara’s husband. Even if he has, there’s no way Salvatore would know at this time.
Love this line.
Should readers know what this is? Special email? VSP? Dark Web?
A comma slows the sentence down with a pause. Tense moment so you probably don’t want things to slow down at this point.
Just checking to make sure this isn’t supposed to be the silent dark.
I’m guessing a sex scene will be included below?
Correct spelling per Merriam-Webster.
Changed spelling to maintain consistency with how the word appeared in previous paragraph.
Seems like he’d fall down the stairs and then crumple to the ground.
Changed slightly. Airport was used four times in two paragraphs. This one was the easiest to lose without having to do much rewriting.
LOL Love this part.