by Ally Vance
“No,” I retorted, “But I do kiss my brother with it.” Grinning, I blew him a kiss to prove my point.
He laughed openly. “Well?” I asked, not letting him get away with not answering, because if he didn’t want to do this anymore, then we wouldn’t. It would hurt like hell, but we could just walk away and never mention it again – if that is what he needed.
“Of course not. What gave you that impression?” Sitting up, he asked as he pulled me on his lap.
“I can tell something is on your mind. I don’t have a lot of experience with boys, but if you were just talking about me living with you because it was the heat of the moment, and now you are trying to figure out how to not take me back to Vegas with you, I will understand.” It would be like a fucking knife to my heart, but I would eventually make myself understand.
He looked really upset for a moment. “Well the truth is, we won’t be going back to my place to live.”
I was nodding my head on the outside and my heart was cracking on the inside. Of course he wouldn’t want to live with me, why would he?
“There is some bad shit that happened right before I came here,” he continued. “I need to get away from there. We will go somewhere else.”
My head shot up, he does want to be with me. I felt like the breath had been knocked out of me. I had a bad habit of always waiting for the worst-case scenario.
With my arms wrapped around him, I whispered, “I love you so much, big brother.”
“I love you too, baby girl.”
Laying back down, we drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 9
Pugsy and Mick
“I can’t wait to smash this little shit’s head in.” Pugsy was saying.
Mick agreed. “How fucking brainless do you have to be to take out one of our men? Did he really think he could get away with it?”
Pugsy answered, “That’s girl’s pussy must be made of gold. Boss says he never even heard of this guy before this. He figures that was his woman, and the idiot was trying to protect her.”
“Poor Damon paid the price for love,” Mick said with disgust on his face.
“I hope he has gotten it in enough, because when we get ahold of the two of them, it isn’t going to be butterflies and rainbows.” Pugsy laughed.
“How long?” Mick asked, anxious for payback of his brother.
“Five minutes.”
Rick
I stirred awake from a noise. A shatter of glass or something. Not wanting to wake Stacia up, I slipped out of bed to investigate it. Might be my parents back home early so it would be good anyway for them not to see me in her bed. Damn that would be an awkward explanation.
Walking quietly down the padded steps, reaching the bottom, I was getting ready to turn on the light, when I was sucker punched in the face, knocking me on my ass to the floor.
Shaking my head, I looked up to see two mammoth sized men staring down at me. I couldn’t make their faces out because of the darkness. The had to be Little Mike’s men. Who else would do this?
“What do you want?” I said, sounding dejected. Not that I didn’t already know.
The piggish one laughed. “Oh, he wants to know what we want, Mick. Well, we will let you know, as soon as Marva joins us.” With that, he starts bellowing the name Marva up the stairs.
“Who is Marva?” I was genuinely bewildered. That earned me a second punch, this one to my gut.
Lifting me up so I was looking eye level to him, the one piggy called Mick said, “The cunt you killed my brother over. We know she is here with you. You both disappeared at the same time.”
“I swear, I did not know that woman, or any Marva,” I sputtered, still trying to catch my breath.
“Wait, Pugsy,” Mick said, looking at the other man. “He is saying he killed my brother for the hell of it.”
Mick roared and slammed me on the floor, smashing my head several times. As my head throbbed in immense pain, I finally succumbed to the darkness.
Chapter 10
Detective Laura Fleursy
Taking down a mob boss was never easy. Especially when you had one viable witness, and one in the wind. You were fighting against the clock to find him before he did.
We were able to link Miles Porter to Mike Lairs, a.k.a Little Mike, so now I had him for questioning. Little snake was already trying to cut a deal. No loyalty among thieves, I guess.
“You have to give me protection.” He was whining.
“I don’t have to give you anything. If your tip on Rick Sullivan is good, then you have a bargaining chip. If we find a corpse, you are going down with the rest of them,” I said. I meant it, too. This guy got caught up in something he never meant to.
When the woman, Marva Peters, showed up at the precinct broken and bruised, she told me a grandiose story I almost didn’t believe. Until I found the blood in the alley. Little Mike and his men had already collected the body. If we hadn’t found the blood evidence, and the DNA under her nails, we may have not believed her.
Searching for any evidence was not easy. He was always a step ahead of me. I finally caught a break when the casino in front of the alley had a backup security tape. I now had a face to put with my would-be savior.
Now I just had to find him before he disappeared for good.
Chapter 11
Stacia
I woke up to an empty bed. Rolling over, I stretched, climbing out of bed, then grabbed my clothes. Going to the bathroom, I smiled at how nice and achy my body felt. I was so eternally happy. After washing my face and brushing my teeth, I pulled my hair back into a simple ponytail.
Humming, I walked down the steps. I was distracted by my thoughts, didn’t hear the men’s voices until one grabbed my arm.
“Who do we have here? I thought Marva wasn’t here?” The dark haired scary looking man who held my arm said.
Who was Marva, I wondered. Too shaken up by these men to speak, I looked over at Rick and saw his condition. His left eye was swollen and his face was bloody. They had him tied to a chair.
“Rick," I cried.
“This isn’t Marva,” The fat guy said, showing the man a picture from his phone.
“Who are you?” He asked, shaking me, making me stumble.
“Leave her alone,” Rick mumbled.
The dark-haired guy dragged me over to my brother, started to hit him again. “Wait,” I screamed, finally getting my voice back, “I’m his sister. Please don’t hurt him anymore.” I cried, struggling to get away.
The guy looked at me hungrily. “Well, sis, I think we can have some fun with you.” He grinned.
“NO,” Rick yelled, “She has nothing to do with this, you bastards. Leave her alone.”
The fat guy smashed him in the face. Rick cried out in pain.
“No.” I cried. I was trembling in the other man’s hands. Scared of what they were going to do to me, but honestly more scared of what they would do to Rick if I didn’t go along with them.
“Please don’t hit him again. I will do whatever you want.” With tears streaming down my face, I looked at my brother and hoped like hell he would forgive me.
“Good girl.” Dark-hair said. Rick looked at me, helpless. He mouthed he was sorry.
“Take your shirt off,” the guy said to me, releasing my arm but training his gun on me. I lifted my tee up, stripping it off. I hadn’t put a bra on so my boobs flopped free.
I stood there, not knowing what to do. I kept my eyes on Rick. I was afraid I would fall on my shaky legs if I didn’t have something solid to focus on. I didn’t understand what was going on, I should’ve questioned him more when he said something bad had happened, but I was so caught up in my own fantasy land. I was so stupid and naïve.
Chapter 12
Rick
Fuck, it was killing me watching them handle her. The fat man was fondling her and slobbering all over her nipples. I could see her lip quivering, but she kept her eyes on mine. I wanted to turn my head, but it was the least I could do
, be her rock during this, while she took the brunt of my fuck up.
All because I was trying to save a woman, I put my sister—my now lover—at risk. If I could turn back time, this was definitely one of those should’ve, would’ve, could’ve situations. My attention came back when I heard Stacia yelp in pain from the one holding the gun twisting her nipple with his other hand.
I couldn’t take it anymore. They were talking about fucking her ass while the other one face fucked her. She looked petrified, trying to squirm away from their groping hands. Just as I started to rock my chair back and forth, I heard a bang at the front of the house.
The man with the gun grabbed Stacia, aimed his gun at me, took a shot, then dragged her out toward the kitchen area as the fat one barreled straight toward the front of the house where the noise occurred.
My first thought was please don’t be my parents. Then it hit me. Dark-hair shot me and took Stacia. “Stacia,” I yelled, hoping she would respond and I would know she was OK.
Then all hell broke loose. Guns started shooting, men were shouting. I managed to wiggle the chair enough it landed sideways on the floor. Dark tried to use me as target practice, putting a bullet through my leg.
Finally, a man in a police uniform rushed over to me with his gun still drawn. “I have a hostage with multiple gunshot wounds,” he said into his walkie.
A hostage? “Did you find a female – um – hostage?” I asked.
“We have the shooter,” I heard another voice crackle.
“No, wait,” I tried to say. He ignored me as he walked around to secure the room.
A more professional looking female came toward him with a man who looked like he was an EMT. She approached me. “Rick Sullivan?”
“Yes,” I winced as the man applied pressure to my wound then tried to clean off my swollen face while another person untied my restraints.
“My name is Detective Laura Fleursy. I’m glad to relatively find you in one piece.” She looked me up and down, jotting down notes; probably about my general condition.
“Detective,” I tried to say.
“Try to stay calm, Mr. Sullivan. You are safe now. I will answer all your questions when we get you to the hospital.”
She wasn’t listening to me. Why wouldn’t anyone fucking listen? “There is another one,” I yelled.
Her head snapped up. “Another what?”
“Another man with a gun and he left out the back with my sister. He was the one who shot me,” I said, frustrated as hell that it took this fucking long to get her to understand.
Her face took on a stern look. “Listen up, we have a partner who has another hostage He is armed and dangerous. Check the entire house, go out back. Their vehicle is here so they couldn’t have gotten far.”
I jumped up and started toward the kitchen, a wave of nausea hitting me. A mammoth of a police officer stopped me. “Sit down, Sir.” His deep baritone only served to piss me off more. Dark-hair could’ve already killed Stacia. That thought tore at my heart.
“I need to look for my sister.” I tried to stand up to push past him.
He was like a brick wall I couldn’t budge. “We will find her, Sir. The best thing you can do is sit down and let the medics take care of you so you can be alive for her when we bring her back.”
This fucking sucked. I couldn’t lose her now that I just really found her. Trying not to pass out from the pain, all I could think was, I failed her.
Chapter 13
Stacia
I was cold. We were down in our basement, this guy holding a gun on me, and me with only a pair of shorts on. He assured me if I opened my mouth and alerted the people upstairs that we were down there, he would blow a hole through me.
We were crouched in the vegetable cellar. It smelled moldy. I didn’t think I had ever been in here before. When I was younger, it scared me. Then, when I got older, there wasn’t any reason to go in it. I was shaking more from the worry of Rick getting shot. I hadn’t been able to see where the bullet hit him. I was so scared.
“Here,” Hissed Dark-hair. He handed me his shirt, thinking I was shivering because I didn’t have one on. I hated to smell like him, but I was happy to cover up. The way he leered at me gave me the skeeves.
He slammed me against the wall, slapped his hand over my mouth, whispered me to shush when he heard them coming down the rickety basement steps. He must’ve noticed the stairs outside of the house that led down into the house, and he thought that was an entrance outside. My father had bricked that entrance up when he found a homeless person in our basement.
He knew he was stuck, but he had an ace in the hole. He had me. When the doorknob started to turn, he pointed the gun at my head, then pulled a second one from the leg of his pants and turned us around so we were facing the door. The unlucky police officer that opened the door was shot in the face. I screamed, it was the most awful sight I had ever seen.
Other officers swarmed to the door with their guns out. “Come out now and we won’t shoot you,” a deep baritone said.
“I’m thinking you won’t shoot me, anyway. I have something better than a lead vest. I have a human shield.” He said confidently.
Walking me forward, we walked over the dead officer, toward the steps backwards so I was always in front of the cops.
“Now, call your buddies upstairs, tell them if anyone tries anything, I will blow her head off.” He ordered the cops. My legs were like Jell-o, I could barely stay on them. Sobbing, I begged him to let me go. As we got to the top step, I heard the sweetest sound I had ever heard. Rick was yelling at someone he wasn’t going to the hospital until I was safe.
The police gave him a wide berth but kept their guns on him. “You know how this ends. Give up now, let her go, save your life. Little Mike doesn’t care about you.” Detective Fleursy tried to reason with him.
“Fuck you, bitch.” He spit at her feet. She kept the same calm expression, never moving.
“Well, that can’t happen if you are dead. I’m not into necrophilia.”
He looked at her, shaking his head. “Oh, you’re a funny bitch.”
She shrugged. “I try.” Trying to keep him in conversation.
“It’s too bad I have to leave, or I would show you what you’re missing.” He smiled a crooked smile at her.
I kept inching further and further away. He realized it, snapped me back against him, backing me out the door into the back yard.
“Do you have a boyfriend?” He mumbled in my ear.
“What?” I was confused. What difference did that make?
“A boyfriend. Do you have one?”
“Um, yeah, I guess.”
“You guess? A hot little ticket like you and you don’t know?” He said as we were walking sideways now so he could watch the alley as well as the kitchen door.
“I mean yes. It’s a brand-new relationship.” I could feel my face flush.
“Well before you think about running off or doing anything stupid, think of the last time you saw his face. Hell, the last time you had his cock, if you want to. Because you will never see him again. Be smart, and you will get out of here in one piece. Understand?”
“Yes.” And I did understand. Now that I knew Rick was alive, all I cared about was getting back into his arms.
“OK, what the pigs don’t know is, we had a contingency plan with a back-up car and extra guns hidden in the alley. So, we run for that, both of us get in,” He was explaining, “Then, when I’m positive no one is following me, I will let you go. You can call a cab or something. “
I looked at him like he was crazy. I could describe him, I could tell them the model and make of the car, I could tell them so many things, would he really let me go?
He seemed like he was so sure. I tried to erase Rick being shot from my mind, and then that poor police officer. I wondered if he had a family, kids, a wife? I started crying again. He growled and shoved me a little harder.
Crack, Crack.
I fell to the groun
d from his body weight. I didn’t know what was going on. All I knew was he was crushing me and I was scared to move.
There were voices everywhere. Finally, someone lifted the weight off of me. An officer and a paramedic got to me first. Checking me over, I looked up at the kitchen doorway to see my lover standing there. His leg was wrapped in a pretty bulky wrap.
He hobbled his way to me, reaching me as I threw myself into his arms. His poor face was beaten and swollen. “I love you so much,” I whispered in his ear.
“I love you too, baby girl.”
The detective came out, thinking the brother and sister were happy each other were alive. “Stacia, I need you to come to the precinct with me, then you can meet up with your brother at the hospital.”
“No!” We both said in unison.
“I will not be separated from him again. You can either question me at the hospital or wait until Rick gets out and we will both meet you at the precinct.”
Chapter 14
Detective Fleursy
I knew there was no use fighting a losing battle. It was nice seeing a close family, but it was going to cost the department a shit-ton of money for protection detail on these two. All I could do was smile and say I would meet them both at the hospital.
Stacia did tell us about the back-up plan the two men had. We were able to secure the other vehicle and weapons. They were, of course, wiped clean.
Why he was smart enough to use the girl as a human shield, but not smart enough to take the snipers into account, I would never find out now. He never once raised his eyes to check. Chuckling, I thought, Isn’t that bad guy 101?
