I loved the escape I had in this private oasis.
The time I had here was gone for now, but I would return and be one step closer to my end goal.
Opening my email, I saw his latest contact, and immediately I smirked. Oh yes, Charles Beacon, I did love to watch a powerful man lose control.
You’re starting a war, Monroe. One you won’t win!
That was the latest subject line. Just like the previous hundred, I didn’t reply.
It rather surprised me the man took this long to realize I indeed started a war with him.
Based on that email, he still hadn’t figured it all out yet.
Even fucking better.
Shutting down the computer, I went to my room where I didn’t bother to make the bed this morning. The comforter was still twisted from a night where Enissa tried her best to resist me and once again failed. While I hadn’t fucked her yet, I had pleasured her body in every possible way night after night and sometimes in the morning as well. Did I want to fuck her? Yes, I could imagine the way her pussy would grip my cock. But I wouldn’t fuck her until this was over.
Her body. Fuck, her body was a temple, and I planned to worship it again really soon. Craving her like a drug, I moved to the window and looked down to the beach below my house. She was laying out on the white sands in her black bikini. It wasn’t overly revealing, but a two-piece nonetheless. Her hair was in a messy knot on top of her head, and her sunglasses covered her eyes that called to me like a pirate looking to the night’s sky to follow a star. Already, I missed the way she looked at me.
On a sigh, I stepped away from the window before she caught me admiring her and moved to the shower. Getting out, I put on my charcoal gray suit with Ellen Sue’s favorite tie. It was black and at the very bottom was a fleur-de-lis that she bought for me the first time we traveled to New Orleans together. Behind my vest and sports coat no one could see the decoration, but it was like having a piece of her with me when I wore this tie.
One day, maybe Ellen Sue and I could return to the Big Easy and take Enissa with us. As much as she loved her coffee, she would enjoy breakfast at Café Du Monde with the beignets and Community Coffee Chicory blend. Yes, when this was over I would take both of them to a city full of life.
With my suit on, I slipped on the loafers that I hated and headed downstairs. Case had arrived, and I gave him a quick brief on my itinerary. As for his job here, he knew what my expectations were.
I had my briefcase packed and was getting ready to leave when Enissa came into the house through the kitchen.
Her eyes were wide as she saw the two strangers. Then she looked at me. I rolled my shoulders back, still adjusting to life back in a suit.
“Enissa, I have to leave. This is Case. He’s here to keep watch, and Ellen Sue is here for whatever you need.”
“You’re leaving me?”
Her tone wasn’t desperate or fearful, but there was this edge of alarm and even maybe a trace of sadness or disappointment.
“I have business.”
She threw her hands up in the air. “What kind of game is Beacon playing? First, you’re the one to break me. Now you go from guy next door to schmuck in a suit who has business. My agreement is with Beacon. The games need to stop. There are lives on the line.” While I gave Case a rundown on my situation with Beacon, Ellen Sue only knew I had an agreement of sorts concerning Enissa. I decided to leave it to her as to what she shared or didn’t.
“I assure you no one is playing games with you. My business is not your business. Now I must go,” I told her with a cold edge to my tone. “As for your agreement, that is your business, Enissa, and not the others in this room, so if I were you, I would refrain from sharing since the man who pays these two doesn’t pay them to care for your situation.”
On those words, I departed.
Was I dick?
Absolutely.
Did Case and Ellen Sue know about Beacon and the arrangement Enissa had? Not a single clue as to the true details or what was really going on here. Everything I shared was basics. They got paid to protect my assets, and Enissa was an asset.
While I had to admit there were things about her that intrigued me, and I cared far more than I should for the female in my bed, in the end she was part of the plan. I had to keep my eye on the end game. I had to be diligent in my next steps.
Enissa was right; there were lives on the line, after all.
Lives I was going to make sure survived even if I had to buy every piece of real estate on the board in this Monopoly game of life. Because in money there was power.
Money, I had.
Power, I had.
Beacon had no clue the war I was planning to wage.
The next move was mine to make. Getting on the plane and heading back to Pennsylvania, I was another step closer to having everything I wanted in this and maybe even more.
15
Enissa
“Darlin’, come and have a seat at the island, and I’ll get you something to eat.”
My body jolted as an arm went around my shoulders, my eyes still focused on the closed door. He’d left me. With these people I didn’t know. Why would he do that? Leave me with strangers while he went wherever dressed like a well put together businessman.
Garrett said he would take care of me. Then he just up and left?
The bitterness of betrayal cut me deep. Insecurity washed over me. Where was he going? To be with his family? Was I nothing more than a toy that kept him warm at night?
I stepped out of the woman’s embrace and tried to give her a soft smile. It was false, but I gave it my best shot. After all, I didn’t know what would come next. Was Beacon on his way now?
“I’m good. I just had a sandwich a little while ago, but thank you.” The woman was older and grandmotherly type. She had this Southern charm about her. Her light blonde hair had gray streaks in it. Her complexion was soft and not overly wrinkled, but definitely a face that shared years of smiles. What caught me was her eyes. They were kind and dare I say gentle?
“I’m Ellen Sue,” she told me plain as day. “And it appears my boy didn’t tell you we’d be coming to stay with you for a few days.”
My stomach dropped, and the pit of despair I was in kept growing. A couple of days?
Garrett was going to be gone a couple of days. I sucked in a deep breath. I would be strong. He wouldn’t destroy me. “I’m Enissa.” I looked at the man with his hip against the island. He was tall, like in the extreme basketball player way. Garrett had height, but I was certain this man stood over him. He had dirty blond hair in a military-style haircut and an impeccable suit in all black. There wasn’t a single thing about this man that said kind or gentle to me, unlike the woman in our company.
Intimidating wasn’t even the word to use. He looked like he could break me just by looking at me. A shiver fear went up my spine.
“My Garrett always had eyes for the pretty ones.”
My focus went back to Ellen Sue. Her Garrett? What a random thing. “Are you Garrett’s mother?”
Thinking about the ages between Ellen Sue and Garrett, Ellen Sue would’ve needed to have him later in life. Maybe I should’ve asked if she was her his grandmother, but that would’ve been rude.
Ellen Sue just smiled and moved over to the cabinet, pulling out two mugs and setting them near a full coffee pot. “Garrett is my boy,” was all she answered. Even though I really wanted more of an explanation, I didn’t push. It was her story to tell, and if she didn’t I accepted that.
“And Case? Who are you? The brother?”
To this Case burst out laughing. It was so abrupt that it took me off guard momentarily. The man of stone actually could laugh. Interesting. Although, I didn’t find a single bit of this funny. Who were these people to Garrett? I simply stared at the man, wondering if I would get an explanation of any kind.
“No. I’m just security,” he said after a few moments.
“And you two are here to hang out with me w
hile Garrett goes off on his little adventure?” I raised my hands in question.
Ellen Sue sat a cup of steaming coffee in front of me. “Yes. We get to have the honor of meeting you.”
I’d seriously not consider meeting me an honor.
“Do you have any requests for dinner?” she asked like this was normal for her to be here cooking for me.
My mind was racing. They both were employed by Garrett it seemed. So what did this have to do with my situation with Beacon?
I shook my head. First, I didn’t know what was in the kitchen to prepare, and second I lived a basic life before coming here. Steak and baked potato was a splurge. This fancy stuff Garrett kept making … well, I was rather certain my hips weren’t going to appreciate it much longer if I couldn’t still fit in my jeans.
She looked at Case. “What about you?”
“Chicken fettuccine alfredo with the broccoli florets.”
Well, okay then. Case had no issue with speaking up. Ellen Sue glanced back at me, and I gave her a soft smile. Sounded like dinner would be delicious.
Staring at the ceiling the fan moved around slowly, each turn matching the waves outside. The room was beautiful except when you couldn’t leave it. Then it was more like a prison. At least that was what Case told me after I finished my coffee.
“Today, I need you to stay put. No venturing outside.”
I shook my head. “I go to the beach every day. I mean, I know you haven’t been here, but ask Garrett; he’ll tell you.” I wore my bikini, and I would go to the beach; the last part I only thought rather than said out loud.
“Not today. Orders are you stay inside.”
When I laughed about it and his only response was a scary look, I left and came up to the room, locking the door. If I was condemned to be indoors, I would control who I shared my space with! Was it a tad childish of me, yes, but everything felt so out of control.
Why would Garrett want me to stay inside? While he was here, I spent a lot of time on the beach, in the water, and out on the patio. Now I wasn’t allowed to.
Allowed.
Seriously?
The thing was, Case scared me, and I really didn’t want to find out if he could in fact break me in two. No thank you. I needed to make it through this. Needed to make it through all of this.
Unfortunately, my curiosity was kicking my ass. Where did Garrett go? Was he in trouble? Why I even thought that boggled my mind. I shouldn’t care one bit, so why did I?
My skin actually felt bereft from his touch. As much as I was pissed at him, I also craved him as well.
Just last night his touch made me come alive. Now I laid here feeling a mixture of pissed, freaked, and lonely. Lord help me.
Getting up, I pulled myself together and made my way downstairs.
I felt weird asking the question, but if Garrett were here I’d ask. Therefore, I decided I would do things as I would if he were still here.
“Hey, darlin’. How are you feelin’?” Ellen Sue asked with a wide smile on her face.
“Good. Thank you. Can I call my mom?”
Ellen Sue’s face scrunched in puzzlement for a moment before she evened out her features. “Of course. You go right on ahead.”
I read into her reaction. Maybe it was hope, maybe it was real, but what I saw … meant everything. She didn’t know the arrangement I’d found myself in. She didn’t know that I had to earn my calls to my family. She didn’t know I was selling myself to Beacon.
Because if she did, she wouldn’t be looking at me this way. And considering it had been a week since I talked to my mom, I craved this.
“Thanks,” I said, not skipping a beat, going to the phone and dialing.
“Hello,” my mother answered, and I felt the smile creep on my face.
“Hey, Mom. How are you?”
“Oh, Enissa! I’m so happy you called! How are you?” she asked instead of answering my question. I knew the drill. I answered first then she would tell me about her. She was the mother who always put me first, and I knew this entire situation was killing her.
“I’m good. Everything is good.”
“Everything? What does he have you doing? What’s going on?” She started bombarding me with questions. Ones I really couldn’t answer. One, I didn’t really know where I was, just on a beach where the weather was beautiful. And the he she was referring to was not Garrett, so reality was as far as Beacon and my arrangement was concerned, I didn’t know what I was doing.
Not only that, I had an audience in Ellen Sue and Case. So I wasn’t about to pour it all out.
“Don’t worry about me, Momma. How’s treatment going?”
Mom sighed on the other end. She knew the rules just as much as I did. I couldn’t tell her where I was. It was part of the agreement too. But considering I thought we’d be in California, I was wrong on that account. “Good. Really good. My numbers are where they want them.” The numbers were her blood, white cells and platelets. The doctors wanted those numbers to be as low as possible which meant they were being killed from her body. “The chemo has been rough this week, and it’s showing me all of its effects, but I won’t let it get me down.”
She’d always been so upbeat and positive. It was something I loved about her. She saw the good in everything, even when it was a hard thing to do. She kept on smiling. Even when the hard times came, she’d always pull through on the other side.
“Good. That’s good. How’s the donation going?”
“That’s not so good.” Her voice turned a bit somber, and I wished I was there to wrap my arms around her and hug her tight. “They haven’t found a one-hundred percent match, but they are still looking and holding out hope.”
“I can do the match again, Mom. I know we tried before, but maybe the test was wrong.” I sounded pathetic, but I would do anything I could to save my mom.
There was rustling on the other side of the phone before she came back. “Docs said you can’t be the donor because you have half of your father’s genes. We talked about that, baby girl. It would be ideal to have siblings, because that is the highest probability of matching. Since Ronnie died and Lisa won’t talk to me, I have no one else.”
Even though this was nothing new to me, it still cut deep. Lisa could be a match for my mom. She could save her life, yet Lisa wouldn’t even go get tested to see if it were possible. It made me hate her all the more. Who would do that to their sister? Flesh and blood? Yes, Lisa didn’t like my mother, but that was no reason to hold someone’s life in their hands.
“Do they think they’ll be able to find someone?” This was a deep fear of mine, that there wouldn’t be anyone who would match my mother. It was something else in this damn scenario I had zero control over.
“They’re hopeful. They say that a match could be from someone around the globe. How all that works, I’m not sure, but they are working on it. I need the new stem cells sooner rather than later.”
“I thought you needed bone marrow?” This puzzled me. I’d Googled more times than I could count. The problem with doing that, some things were right and a lot of it was wrong. The doctor even told us not to look on the web, but it was hard not to when it was at the tip of your fingers.
“The stem cells make up the bone marrow.”
I leaned against the wall wishing like crazy I could help my mom by giving her mine. I mean hell, I came from her body. I should be able to donate. Why was science so tricky?
Since I wasn’t a doctor and had no medical training what-so-ever, I needed to listen to the doctors. That was the whole purpose of this situation I got in the first place. Getting my mother great medical care. Thing was, if they couldn’t find a donor the great medical care wouldn’t work. It was a very double-edged sword.
“Okay. Whatever you say.”
I heard my mother’s chuckle on the other end, making me smile. I missed that sound. I missed everything about home.
“So what’s next for you?” I asked.
“Right now we
just wait for the chemo to kill my cells. I’ll have another bone marrow test next week, and it’ll tell us where to go from there.”
“I miss you,” I whispered, and then I heard my mother sniffle.
Damn, I hated it when she cried. I always wanted to fix it and make her better.
“Miss you too, baby girl.”
I felt the tear slide from the corner of my eye.
I missed everything right now, absolutely everything.
16
Garrett
I leaned back in my chair waiting.
The lighter sat on my desk. This reminder of what four determined young men could accomplish when push came to shove sat proudly in front of me. Thinking about the day it all changed didn’t hurt anymore. The guilt I kept waiting to feel, never came. Instead, I found more determination with every memory to succeed. My mind fell down into the depths of my own personal hell. I couldn’t turn off the memory as hard as I tried.
My arms cried out in agony in the precarious position Amos had me in. My legs were spread wide, and my arms the same; I heard the position called spread eagle once. He had me tied to the cross-ties in the barn where we shoed the horses. My fingertips were numb because I had been in this position so long the blood had long ago drained from my extremities. This wasn’t the first time he beat me like this, and I knew it wouldn’t be the last.
“Told you to stay outta my shit. Had to stick your nose in it,” he muttered before the whistling noise of the whip crackled in the air.
The sting came first. Then the burn as the leather cut deep into my flesh. The blood poured out of me and down the other marks. My legs trembled uncontrollably. They gave way. I couldn’t hold in the cry that escaped. My shoulders popped trying to hold my body up. Every part of me hurt. Even the hairs on my head were agony with every strand that moved.
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