Chapter Fifty-Three
The Sound Of Bone Obliterating Into Thousands Of Bits
Everything was blurry from her life force almost being gone. She couldn’t see it, but she could feel something change. The pressure of the man on her stomach was gone, the tightness around her throat released, and the numbness on her body started to wear off.
“Lake.” Amo gently shook her chin.
Lake blinked up at him before she quickly sat up, grabbing at her throat.
“You okay? Where are the girls?” Amo asked, helping her sit up straight.
“Yes, I’m fine. I’m fine! They’re in the bathroom.” She spoke hoarsely. All she wanted was for him to make sure they were okay.
When he moved away from her vision, she was finally able to take in her surroundings. Nero was already at the bathroom door, kicking it free. Amo was right behind him, going in. Her eyes moved over and terror filled her at watching Vincent violently punch the man to a pulp, a small pool of blood already forming around his head.
Her gaze dashed over to see Lucca running up the stairs.
“Don’t you dare kill that fucker.” Lucca pulled a fighting Vincent off.
His wild eyes finally met hers, sending a shiver down her spine. As he walked closer to her, Vincent’s appearance slowly softened.
He dropped to his knees in front of her. “Baby, please don’t be afraid of me.”
Tears flooded her eyes, the horror of what she had gone through finally taking its toll.
His warm embrace circled her, and she melted against his skin. Lake was finally safe.
Hearing footsteps again, a man dressed in a suit she hadn’t seen before came up the stairs holding a bat. “Fuck, man. He got Al. They should be cleaning him up no…” His voice trailed off when he saw the scene with all the girls.
Lucca took the bat out of his hands. “Thanks, Sal.” Then he crashed it down over the leg of the man lying on the floor.
The sound of bone obliterating into thousands of bits was the worst sound imaginable. She held her hands over her ears, trying to drown out the noise as she stuck her face harder into Vincent’s chest.
“Enough!” Vincent yelled.
Lucca smashed the bat over his other leg.
“Fuck! That’s enough!” Amo was the one to yell that time.
Lucca reared the bat back one more time but stopped midair, his attention going to the scene in the bathroom.
Lake peeked her head out to see Elle in the same position as her, though in Nero’s arms. Adalyn was standing, dried tears on her face and her jaw almost to the ground. Chloe was still in the bathtub with a blank stare on her face as she watched Lucca with the bat in his hands.
Lucca squeezed the neck of the bat.
She barely managed to turn her head back away before the sound of bone crushing greeted her ears one last time. Not until the sound of the bat hitting the ground did she look up again.
Lucca inhaled deeply, using both of his hands to slick back the loose strands of his long, black/brown hair, which had fallen around his face. “Now, that’s fucking enough.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat, wondering how many nightmares she was going to have of him. The Boogieman. Lake had heard Elle refer to him as the boogieman, taking the nickname as a joke at first, but right then she fully understood that, in fact, it wasn’t a fucking joke at all.
Adalyn was the first one to move. She took small and very slow steps until she was finally past Lucca then ran over to Lake as fast as she could. She plopped down beside them, taking Lake into one of her death grips of a hug.
Vincent hugged them together, placing a kiss on each of their heads.
Adalyn started to tear up again, breaking the hug to gently shake Lake. “I should kill you for what you did!”
Everyone went silent, looking at her.
“What did she do?” Vincent asked what was on everyone’s minds.
Don’t tell him! she pleaded with her eyes.
“She got us to get down in the bathroom but decided to go all badass and leave, locking us in.” Adalyn hugged her tightly again.
Dammit, Adalyn.
Lake hugged her friend back. She was glad the last memory of her crying, trying to escape the bathtub, wasn’t going to be her last.
Elle, who was trying to bring Chloe to life, stood and went into the bedroom yet stopped to stare at Lucca who was smoking a cigarette.
“Don’t think about telling me to put it out. You have no fucking clue how many flights of stairs I just ran up.” Lucca’s voice was cold.
“I wasn’t.” Elle quickly ran past him, exactly how Adalyn had, then repeated the same thing by plopping down to give Lake a hug. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Lake hugged her back, knowing she was thanking her more for saving Chloe’s life than her own. “You’re welcome.”
After Elle got up to head back to the bathroom. Lake looked at Vincent. It was written all over his face that he didn’t like how she had risked her life.
Finally, Amo and Elle managed to get Chloe out of the bathtub.
“Let’s get you home.” Amo took his jacket off, draping it over her shoulders, careful not to touch her.
Chloe clutched the jacket to her as she started walking with Amo.
She saw the silent ‘thank you’ Amo had given her. She saw the terrified look in Chloe’s eyes as she passed Lucca. She saw Lucca’s fury staring back.
Amo and Lucca were two different people battling for one broken girl. Amo changed around Chloe, becoming a better man. Lucca, however, wasn’t going to change, showing her exactly the man he was.
“Sal, will you take Adalyn home?” Vincent asked, trying to break the tension in the air.
“Sure,” he answered.
Adalyn gave Lake and Vincent one last hug before getting up. “Um, is he dead?” she asked, pointing at the elephant in the room.
Lucca threw his cigarette butt on top of him. “No, I need him alive.”
That’s not creepy at all…
Adalyn grimaced. “A ‘no’ would have been fine.” Then she quickly ran away.
Sal laughed, following behind her.
Vincent then got up off the floor, helping Lake up with him.
“Did he say anything?” Lucca asked, flicking out his Zippo to light the end of another cigarette between his teeth.
Lake took a moment, thinking back. “He just asked where she was.”
“Maria was going to come, but she got sick,” Nero revealed to Lucca, information he had learned from Elle just a little bit before.
That was exactly who Lake had thought the intruder was talking about. She and Elle were new girlfriends to soldiers. No one would dare to piss on the mafia’s front door steps for them.
Lucca took a long hit. “I’ll clean this fucker up.”
“Oh, there’s a gun in the closet,” she pointed out.
Vincent growled, taking her hand. “Let me know if that motherfucker talks.”
Smoke filled the air as Lucca exhaled. “He will.”
Lake tried not to think about whether the man deserved what was coming to him as they all walked down the steps. No one deserves Lucca’s brutality.
Going out the broken front door and to Vincent’s beside it, she started to go inside when Nero stopped her, pulling her into a tight embrace. “Thank you for keeping her safe.”
“You’re welcome, Nero.” She hugged him back once the shock wore off.
“See you tomorrow, Elle?” She smiled at her.
Elle smiled back. “Ye—”
“Don’t push it,” Nero told her, taking Elle’s hand and going back down the hallway in a hurry. “She’ll be busy.”