by T. L Smith
“Don’t touch her, only to contain her until I get there.”
“Right.” And then he hangs up.
It takes five more minutes until we arrive at her place, and when we do, Ace is standing out the front with his leg kicked back on the wall as he scrolls through his phone.
He stands up straight when I step over to him, looks behind him to the door that’s shut and shakes his head.
“Where is she?” I ask, checking around.
“She left.”
“How?”
“She took Benny’s car.”
I smile. Good! Because that car has a tracker on it.
“You’ve tracked her already, I hope?”
Ace shows me the screen, the blip shows she’s paused at a warehouse not that far from here. “Seems she’s stopped. Should we pay her a visit?”
“Yes, but first…” Opening the door, I see Gabe lying with a pool of blood around his head. “She did this?”
Ace nods. “Checked the security camera footage myself… camera’s just over there.” He points to a shitty looking convenience store. “Seems only Isadora and Gabe were here at the time. It had to be her.”
“Fuck.”
“Yep, who would have thought?” Ace states out loud, but you can tell he actually meant to keep it to himself.
“You need to run a background check, make it as deep as you can. She’s been hiding something. I want to know what it is, and I want to know now.”
“You got it, boss.”
I fell asleep next to her and didn’t think she was capable of this. I liked her, I liked her a lot, and that is very unlike me. Maybe it’s the crazy I attract because I’m fucking crazy. I step away as Ace calls the cleaners and I call her.
I’m surprised when she answers.
“Jasper.” Her voice sounds off.
“Isadora,” I breathe into the phone. “You’ve been a bad girl, it seems.”
“So, it seems,” she says right back at me.
“You know you can’t hide from me, right?”
“Oh, but I’m not hiding. I’m currently staring at Carter. Maybe you should say goodbye to him, while you still can.”
“Isadora…”
“It makes me crave you when you say my name like that.”
“Where are you?”
“You don’t know where your men are? Carter was easy to find, and you idiots helped my cause.”
“And what cause is that?” I slide in the car as the cleaners arrive to get rid of Gabe’s body and remove any trace of the murder taking place. I don’t want this to come back on us.
“You still haven’t worked it out yet, Jasper? I heard you’re smart. What’s happening?” I run my hand through my hair. “Are you planning all the ways you want to fuck the truth from me, Jasper? Or, all the ways you can kill me?” she asks. I hear the soft sound of music coming through the speaker of the phone.
“Bit of both,” I tell her honestly.
“I bet you’re wishing you kept me tied to the bed right now,” she says as the music becomes louder.
“I do.”
“Carter, say hey to Jasper.”
“Hey, boss.” I hear Carter’s voice and turn to Ace, while covering the speaker of the phone. “Call Carter, right now.”
“Jasper, do you think what you do is okay?” she asks quietly. “That taking lives which aren’t yours to take… that it’s okay?”
“Yes, I can do what I want, when I want.”
“So, maybe I can, too. Have you thought of that?”
“Boss, hurry up,” Carter yells out in the background.
“I wonder if he knows about Hemlock,” she whispers.
“Don’t you dare,” I seethe.
“Carter, tell Jasper what drink you just had?”
“Just a beer, boss,” he yells.
“Put him on the phone.”
She laughs. Shit! I want to spank her, fuck her, kill her and I want to do it all at the same time.
“He’s funny, Carter. Did you know your boss is funny?”
“There’s no going back from this, Isadora,” I warn.
“Oh, I know, Jasper. And to think I like you.”
“You do? And I like you, Isadora. That’s why it’s going to kill me to have to kill you.”
She laughs maniacally into the phone. “You can try, Jasper. But you will come to find I am hard to kill.” She hangs up on me and I look to Ace.
“No answer, boss.”
“Fuck.”
Seems I say that a lot when it involves Isadora—a lot more than I care to admit.
She’s going to be hard to kill, but she’s signed her own death warrant. And killing my men, yeah, that’s not going to be tolerated, for any reason.
16
Isadora
“He likes you, you know,” Carter says, while chugging down his drink. I have to look away as I like him too, and when I do my eyes avert to my phone which is ringing.
And one guess who it might be? Yes, Jasper.
“Does he?”
“Oh, yes, and he doesn’t like anyone. Not even me. And I’m his second in command.” He chuckles taking another swallow. “He didn’t want to let Mack in the family…” he talks about the dude I killed first, “… but I ended up talking Jasper into it.”
Mack needed to die, so I don’t feel one bit of guilt over the part I took in taking his life. Mack was fucked-up in more ways than one anyway.
“Mack was your brother?”
Carter nods. “Yep, he was fucked-up. Always had been. But we gave him purpose, and that helped him a little, even if Jasper hated him.”
“Jasper hated Mack?” I ask.
“Yep. But we were born into this, the same way Jasper was. We’re family after all, and despite what happened we love him, and the respect we hold for him is above the rest. It’s part of the reason we follow him with no questions asked. Ever.”
“What did he do?”
“You heard of his father?” he asks, taking another sip of his beer.
“He told me some things.” I tell him the truth.
Carter looks me over. I’m still wearing jeans and a jacket, though I did lose the beanie. “He told you about him?”
“That he killed him.”
Carter’s mouth opens, obviously not quite believing that Jasper confided in me. “He did. But he doesn’t talk about it.”
“Why not?”
“He idolized him. He was his father. At the beginning, his father protected him from his mother.”
“But he killed her, too,” I say remembering his conversation.
“Fuck! How are you here with me, if he likes you this much?” he asks.
I shrug, not answering that question.
“Well, I should stop drinking. My mouth tends to shoot off and I tell too much when I do.”
I wave the bartender over and order four shots. “Jasper’s coming here. So, let’s have some fun before the boss arrives. Agreed?”
Carter nods his head.
It takes six more shots before he starts speaking again.
“Did you know his mother?” I’m a little drunk myself, probably not the best idea because I won’t be on my game, but I need to get him talking and if I have to go shot for shot then I will do it.
“Yeah, she was a real piece of work,” Carter spits. “That bitch tortured him. You’ve seen his back, right?” I nod. “Well, that little piece of artwork was all her.”
“Shit.”
Carter nods. “Damn right, shit! That bitch was crazy.” He chuckles.
“And his dad protected him?” I ask, confused as to why anyone would hurt someone they love so much.
“Until he was thirteen.” He shudders. “Then his father, well… he stopped caring. Left his mother and Jasper. He would only come around Jasper when he had people to kill, so he used him for that… you know, to carry out the kills.”
“When was his first kill?”
“Fourteen.” Carter slaps the bar with his ha
nd and the bartender walks over and pours us both another shot. I don’t drink it, so Carter drinks mine as well. “Yep, that’s some fucked-up shit. Right? His father lost his shit, too. The taste of power and money became so much, and so completely ingrained in him, that when Jasper turned eighteen he put a bullet through his father’s skull in the mansion. It’s why he built that place out back to live in. He hates that fucking mansion and his father’s room.”
“I have to go.” I stand, but I start swaying.
Shit! I knew drinking was a bad idea.
“Oh look, Jasper’s here.”
I freeze as I slide Carter’s phone back into his pocket and walk out the back. Just before I reach the door a hand touches my hip and pulls me back.
“Darling, you aren’t running from me, are you?” I spin in his grasp and reach up to kiss his lips, and for some reason he lets me. He even kisses me back. It’s soft and hard all rolled into one.
“Jasper,” I say his name and I bet he can taste all my bad choices.
“Isadora…” he breathes, pulling away from my lips, “… you’ve been a bad, bad girl. Haven’t you?” He looks down and realizes why I kissed him, I have a knife in my hand directed at his crotch. “Isadora, you may get to leave. But I will find you.”
“I’m counting on it, Jasper.” Leaning in again, I kiss his lips then pull away lifting the knife from his cock and smiling.
I slip out the back door and run as fast as I can. It takes me close to an hour to get back to my uncle—my feet are hurting and my head’s thumping in pain.
“You’re drunk.” My uncle shakes his head as I wobble on not so very straight legs. Pretty sure I may have ran into a few bushes along the way too.
“No.”
“Let me guess, you didn’t kill the other one?”
“No.”
My uncle huffs loudly, walking past me and shutting the door behind me. “You need to get rid of this car, for all you know they’ve already tracked it.”
“Yeah, I will.” I crawl onto a mattress on the floor in his office and crash.
“Fuck, you’re so beautiful.”
I jump and sit bolt upright on the mattress. Jasper is standing over me and looking directly at me. I slide my hand under the pillow and come into contact with my knife.
“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” He nods to the pillow, indicating the knife I now have firmly gripped in my hand.
“Where is he?”
“Do you mean that man who tried to stop me from coming in?” He looks behind him and pulls out the office chair. He takes a seat and rests his gun which is firmly grasped in his hand on his lap.
How is it possible for him to look this good? It’s totally unfair actually, especially when I know I look like shit.
“Yes.” Fucking hell, he better not have hurt my uncle, he’s the only family I have left in this world considering this bastard and his family took mine away from me.
Jasper taps the gun on his knee, then he bites his lip, the one with the scar, and I remember how good he tasted last night. Before he says another word the door opens and Carter steps in, looking as bad as I feel, he cringes when he sees me.
“Boss.” I can now hear the grunting of my uncle as the door is wide open. “This bastard is strong and he’s not talking.” Carter shuts the door, leaving us to ourselves.
“You played me well. Too damn well. I knew there was something up with you, I just couldn’t put my finger on it. Who would have thought a girl who works at a strip club could be on a big vendetta. You truly are remarkable. We could’ve been a great team…” he chuckles, “… we could’ve ruled the fucking world.” Jasper stands and my heart jumps a beat.
“It would never have worked, Jasper. You kill for the fun of it. What normal person does that?”
He cracks his neck from side to side, closing his eyes as he rolls his shoulders. “I’m meant to kill you. I should kill you on the spot, right here, right now. I’ve done it before. Carter told you about my father, he tells me everything, but what he didn’t tell you was how I killed my mother.” He drops to a squatting position so we’re at eye-level. “Would you like to know?” I shake my head in answer but he continues anyway with, “Too bad.”
He stands, and begins pacing the room. Back and forth. He doesn’t pay me much attention, he’s too lost in his own head. I know if I move he’ll kill me. It’s what men like him are made to do. It’s what he was born to do. He is his father’s son after all.
“She was beautiful, did you know that? So fucking beautiful. It was hard to stay angry at her when she smiled, it made me think I was the most important person in the room.” His eyes take on that faraway look as if he’s seeing her standing here, right now, in this room with us. “She reminds me of you, actually. Your beauty could rival hers. And trust me when I say, not many could. It’s how she got my father, the most powerful man in the world, to fall in love and impregnate her so she could trap him.” He pauses. “You see, I was never what she wanted. I was simply the means to hold Father. She wanted power. She wanted money. Both of which my father had. What she didn’t expect was for him to love me in ways she couldn’t. And in the end he loved me more than her. Even as I put the gun to his head, he told me that.”
“I’m sorry,” I say when he pauses for a long time, the silence is deafening.
“Don’t be. He deserved to die. It was his time. He’d out-lived, and out-killed more than he deserved.”
A loud bang comes on the door. Jasper turns to pull it open but only halfway. He looks back to me and smiles. “Take him to my house.” Then he shuts the door again.
Turning around to face me, he slides his gun into the back of his pants. “I’m not going to lie, I loved my father. Even with all the bad things he did, I still loved him, as much as you’re trained to love someone, and in his own way I know he loved me, too. Love… it’s a fickle bitch, isn’t it? We kill those we love. I’ve killed two people I loved and I probably could have loved you, too, Isadora. Yet, now, it’s my turn to kill you. It seems like that’s what life wants from me… to kill those I love.”
His words shock me, they can’t be true.
He doesn’t care for me, does he?
I thought I was just another plaything to warm his bed.
It seems I’m mistaken.
Standing, I walk over, careful to not touch him, and when I’m in front of him I attempt to stand as tall as I can muster. “Why must you be the devil, it’s very unfair.”
Jasper touches a stray piece of my hair and pushes it behind my ear. “She smiled at me, did I tell you that? As I put the gun to her head, she smiled her beautiful smile. It was dazzling. I told her I loved her before I pulled the trigger. She told me she didn’t love me. It was bittersweet. Almost poetic. Now tell me, Isadora…” he holds the back of my neck in place as his lips come close and he whispers, “… how yours died.”
I say nothing, no words can escape my lips.
He knows.
He knows exactly who I am.
That means he also knows who killed my parents.
I start shaking my head back and forth, but he doesn’t let me go, keeping me firmly in place. “Jasper.” It’s a plea, for what I don’t know, but his name leaves my lips nonetheless.
“Do you think you could have loved me?” he asks as his lips brush mine.
I give him the answer he wants to hear. “No.” I say it with enough conviction that even I might believe it. He slams his lips onto mine and demands for me to open my mouth. I let him in, and kiss him passionately because I know this will be our last kiss, our last embrace. His hand moves and I feel something sharp at the base of my neck, I pull back as it pricks me, and notice there’s a needle in his hand.
“Don’t worry,” he whispers. “It’s not Hemlock, but it will make you pass out.”
My head becomes dizzy and before I can fall he catches me and picks me up bridal style. “You might just be my toughest kill yet, Isadora.”
I shou
ld have run when I had the chance, but I couldn’t, and now here I am in the arms of a man who wants to kill me, one who’s as complex as my feelings.
And that's the last thing I remember before my eyes become too heavy and close.
17
Jasper
Her eyelashes are long, she makes soft sounds as she lays on my lap.
“Boss.” Ace turns around from the front seat, looks down at her and back to me. “Do you plan to kill her?”
I know he likes her. Let’s face it she’s easy to like. I run my fingers through her hair as we come to stop at the front of the mansion. I don’t use the damn mansion, I can’t. My men occupy it, every inch of it, except his room. That was the room where I took his life, and now it’s a testimonial to everything he was. I haven’t been in there since the day he died, but as I walk the stairs with Isadora in my arms I know that’s the place she needs to be.
“Boss, are you sure?” There’s no point answering him, I’ve made up my mind and once it’s made up it’s difficult to shift. That’s why I still haven’t decided if I plan to take her life, or to keep her locked away so I can see her and do to her anything I like at any time.
“The uncle’s making noise,” Carter says rounding the corner.
“Let him.” I chuckle. “It’s going to be fun to watch that bastard squirm.”
Isadora starts moving in my arms as Carter opens the door to that room. With her in my arms I kick the door shut behind me, so it’s just us.
The sheets have been changed, but the room remains the same. It’s like he’s downstairs and I’m sneaking into his room to do something completely disobedient—like I am a child again. Walking to the bed, I lay her on the thick mattress. She turns over, rolls into a ball and snores softly. Getting up, I take off my shirt and reach for the ties I know are still in the drawer. Taking one hand at a time, I fasten her to the bed, so her arms are spread and her face looks upward. She starts to stir, when I knot the tie around her feet. She’s now tied and bound like a starfish.
Walking around the bed, I touch her face by running my finger down the side of her cheek, waiting for her to rouse.
