Travel mug in hand, Sammi was ready to get dressed and start her day. She headed for the bedroom, but Eli intentionally blocked the doorway with his body.
“So, where were you?” Eli asked, burning a hole through her with his eyes.
“The hospital,” Sammi lied casually.
“Why didn’t Johnson turn you in?”
“How would I know?”
“You’re wearing his shirt.”
Shit! Sammi looked down and her face fell as she realized that she was still wearing the clothes Johnson had given her. She suddenly felt extremely exposed and pushed past Eli, rushing into the bedroom closet to change.
“Answer the question,” Eli snarled.
He had followed Sammi and was now standing right outside of the narrow opening to the walk-in closet with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Sammi knew she had screwed up and was beginning to panic over her careless mistake.
“He didn’t turn us in because you guys got away with the money,” Sammi explained, trying to sound calm as she changed into a pair of jeans and a grey tank top.
“So now you’re buddy-buddy with cop boy?”
“No! Look, Eli, he just took me to the hospital because I was shot twice. Once by you, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“That’s true. I’m sorry. Can I see it?”
The rage in Eli’s eyes had disappeared so Sammi started to relax. She slowly rolled up the bottom of her tank top to reveal the worse of her two bullet wounds. Eli’s eyes widened as he stared at the gory injury and approached his girlfriend. He stood next to her on the side of the wound and wrapped one arm around her waist from behind. Resting his head on her shoulder, he gently placed his free hand over her stitches.
Without warning, Eli dug two fingers into the wound and ripped the stitches out all at once. Sammi shrieked in pain and tried to push him away, but his other arm was still hooked around her waist and keeping her in place. Blinded by the unbelievable agony, Sammi fainted and her limp body fell against Eli’s chest.
“You didn’t go to the fucking hospital,” Eli growled in Sammi’s ear as she began to come to. Then he dragged her somewhat conscious body out of the closet and tossed her onto the bed.
“Get off of me!” Sammi screamed through the excess saliva in her throat as Eli climbed on top of her.
“Shut up!” Eli hollered and punched her hard in the face, his left fist connecting with her right eye socket.
Dazed, Sammi lay there whimpering, her mind on the now gaping wound on her side. It was wet and sticky with the blood flowing from the torn flesh. Sick from the picture in her imagination and the true pain of it, Sammi rolled over onto her side and vomited onto the comforter.
Eli forced Sammi onto her back again and she could feel his large, rough hands on her side. It took her a minute to realize that he was re-stitching her gunshot wound. She stopped fighting but continued whimpering as tears rolled down her face in rivers.
“Those stitches were done by an amateur. You didn’t go to no fucking hospital,” Eli grunted as he finished bandaging up the new stitches.
By this point, Sammi knew that nothing she said was going to help her. She rolled over onto her side, away from Eli and away from her puke, but Eli lied down next to her and held her in his arms as her entire body convulsed with her heavy sobs.
“I’m sorry, baby, but you know how jealous I get. Just tell me what happened,” Eli said calmly, gently pushing Sammi’s hair behind her ear.
Sammi hesitated. She was going to seal her fate no matter what she told him. Growing impatient, Eli gave her hair a quick tug to hurry her up.
“I…I woke up in the cop’s apartment, he made sure that my wounds stopped bleeding, and I tried to leave. But he had seen my bruises and made me agree to spend the night away from you,” Sammi explained, still choking on tears.
“So, he saw you naked?” Eli asked, his voice deep with anger from already knowing the answer to his question.
“I guess,” Sammi whispered, her voice shaking from fear.
Eli’s grip tightened on her hair and he yanked her head back, forcing Sammi to look at him. Sammi didn’t fight him but tried to hold some composure, telling herself that he wasn’t going to kill her.
“Did he touch you?” Eli hissed, his face as close to Sammi’s as possible without touching.
“I don’t know. I wasn’t conscious,” Sammi told him through gritted teeth.
Suddenly, Eli’s body was vibrating with rage and Sammi couldn’t find the man she loved in his own eyes anymore. Before things could escalate, there was a knock on the apartment door. Eli broke free from his fury and shoved Sammi away from him.
“You’re pathetic. Go clean yourself up,” Eli snapped and went to answer the door.
*
Sammi lay still for a minute, gathering herself, then dragged herself off the bed and stumbled into the bathroom. One look in the mirror and she crumpled to the floor, sobbing. Her face was puffy from crying, which only accentuated her brand new, shiny black eye. Eli had never hit her face before; he knew better. Things had gone too far this time and Sammi finally feared for her life.
When Sammi was able to finally stop crying, she grabbed onto the sink and pulled herself back onto her feet. She turned the shower on as hot as it would go and waited for it to heat up. Before undressing, she spotted her shoes from the previous day out of the corner of her eye. Tucked inside her left boot was the card Mack Johnson had given her with his phone number on it.
Sammi went back into the bedroom, keeping an eye out for Eli, and grabbed her cellphone from the nightstand before locking herself in the bathroom. It took her awhile to be able to dial the number as her hands were shaking so violently.
“This is Lieutenant Johnson,” the police officer answered, and was greeted by a sigh of relief.
“Johnson? It’s…it’s Samantha,” Sammi choked out. She hadn’t even realized she was crying again.
“Sammi? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
Sammi paused and thought about what she was doing. There was no way this was a good idea. Somebody that she cared about was going to get hurt if Johnson showed up at the apartment.
“Sammi, are you in danger?” Johnson tried again.
“I’m fine. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have called,” Sammi told him, trying to make herself sound calm.
“I will be right there,” Johnson replied. He spoke slowly so that Sammi would understand, hoping his words eased her fear.
Before Sammi could tell Johnson not to come, he had hung up. Wanting to be ready to run when he arrived, Sammi turned off the shower and then locked herself in the closet to gather a few things. It wasn’t even two minutes later before Eli kicked in the closet door.
“Who the fuck were you just talking to?” Eli screamed at the scared girl on the floor of the closet.
“No one!” Sammi yelled back at him and tried darting past him to get herself out of the closet.
But Eli had found Johnson’s card on the bathroom sink and was now holding it up for Sammi to look at. She ducked under his raised arm, but he was faster and managed to grab a fistful of her hair. Caught by surprise, Sammi fell backwards and Eli wasn’t able to catch her before she hit the floor. Eli knelt on the floor over his girlfriend and wrapped both large hands around her slender neck.
“You think you can just have me arrested and then go live happily ever after with your new cop buddy?” Eli grunted as he started squeezing. “Well, you’re wrong! You’re mine and you’ll die before I ever give you up!”
Spit flew from Eli’s lips as he taunted his helpless girlfriend. Sammi made a desperate attempt to pry Eli’s hands from her neck but she couldn’t even get her own hands around his massive, muscular wrists. Eli continued to tighten his grip even after Sammi stopped struggling, but he hardly noticed when she finally blacked out.
Chapter Four
Home Movies
Four years previously, Sammi had just arrived at an underground bar in New York City w
ith her best friend, Kodi. They had just been evicted from their shithole apartment and were looking to drink their misery away. They sat at the bar and each ordered their drink of choice as every head in the joint turned to look at the stunning blonde with her endlessly long hair tied up in a high, tight ponytail. Her piercing blue eyes shot ice crystals into the heart of every man she caught staring. Kodi, also a blonde, was just as gorgeous as her counterpart, but she wasn’t comfortable flaunting it and tended to keep her head down around people she didn’t know.
Kodi and Sammi had been friends since grade school, growing up together with limited adult guidance. Sammi’s father had left her mother before she was even born, and her mother spent all her time chasing the attention of men. Kodi’s mother had died when Kodi was just four years old, and her father had become a full-time alcoholic. The two friends relied on each other for everything, whether it be money for food in order to survive or the support and understanding that they had never received from their parental figures.
Sammi was still sipping on her first drink about twenty minutes later when she saw him walk through the door. He was laughing with a group of friends, but he stopped as soon as his gaze met Sammi’s. Unable to look away, he broke free from his herd and made his way directly over to the breathtaking blonde, who smiled as the handsome stranger took a seat next to her.
“Hi, I’m Eli. May I steal your attention for a bit?” Mr. Gorgeous said with the sweetest smile.
“My name’s Sammi and I drink tequila,” Sammi responded, exuding confidence.
“Fair enough,” Eli laughed and ordered two shots of Patrón.
As he talked to Sammi, Eli learned quickly that she was not particularly seeking his attention. She showed just enough interest in him to keep him next to her, but she brushed off all his advances, which was unlike every other girl he had ever met in a bar before. Intrigued, he wanted nothing more than to keep this mythical creature in his life.
An hour later, Kodi was annoyed with her best friend for ignoring her all night and finally pulled Sammi away from her new suitor. She’d only been able to buy one drink and she didn’t have attractive men buying shots for her like Sammi did. Although the mechanics of the evening were typical, the guy was not. Most guys who were even brave enough to sit next to Sammi usually burned out with their small talk and walked away within minutes with their tails tucked between their legs. Kodi had never seen anyone even make it to a second round of drinks with Sammi.
The bar was small and crowded so the girls had to elbow their way through people to get to the tiny one-stall bathroom in the back. The stall was occupied so the girls waited for the woman to finish and vacate the room before speaking.
“Who is that guy and when can we leave?” Kodi asked, very aware of how much she sounded like a bratty little kid.
“His name is Eli and he might be the answer to all our problems,” Sammi told her best friend with confidence.
“Should I even ask?” Kodi replied with caution.
“He said we could stay with him for a while and he has a way for us to never have to worry about money again,” Sammi explained.
“I don’t like the sound of this, Sammi. Can’t we just get out of here?”
“And go where? We’re homeless, remember? We don’t really have any other choices right now.”
And Sammi was right; they didn’t have another choice. So that night, Eli led the two pretty girls to his tiny apartment that he already shared with his sister and her boyfriend. This would be the same apartment where Sammi would suffer this near-death flashback.
*
Kodi had been right to have reservations about Eli, as it only took two weeks for the newly formed group of friends to pull off their first small robbery. Sammi dove right into the new lifestyle and proved to have a skill for planning flawless heists. She enjoyed the feeling of being good at something for once in her life and chose to ignore Kodi’s lack of enthusiasm for breaking the law, or maybe it was just a distrust of Eli and his followers.
Unfortunately, Kodi had taken a bit of a backseat to Eli anyway as Sammi and Eli became grossly inseparable. The girls were still best friends and Kodi would never turn her back on Sammi, but Sammi was in love for the first time in her life and Eli was the center of her world. Eventually, the lovebirds wanted their alone time and the team had made enough money for everyone else to move out.
It wasn’t until the others had moved out that Eli took Sammi out on a real first date. He took her to a tiny, unassuming Italian restaurant located off the beaten path on the outskirts of New York City. Sammi found Eli’s choice of date a little strange because they were the only two customers in the place, and Sammi had never shown a fondness for Italian food.
About halfway through their meal, a single older gentleman arrived and sat at a table behind Sammi and Eli, facing the front window. The rather tall man placed his order in a hushed, impatient tone, keeping his head down but his presence known. Sammi made a joke about him being in the mob, but Eli didn’t laugh.
“Come on, I want to introduce you,” Eli said, somewhat business-like with a hint of nerves as he stood up from the table after they had finished eating.
Sammi’s eyes were unusually wide with confusion as she also stood up and proceeded to take her boyfriend’s extended hand. Eli led her over to the only other occupied table and stopped in front of the intimidating man. Sammi clung to her lover’s arm, attempting to disappear behind him.
“Mr. Nardino, this is Sammi, the one I’ve been telling you about,” Eli said, trying to bring his girlfriend forward.
“Hello, Sammi, it’s nice to meet you,” Nardino responded, placing his silverware down on his plate and offering a hand out to Sammi.
Sammi shook the man’s hand out of politeness, but she remained silent. Eli had never mentioned this man to her before.
“Sammi, this is Frank Nardino. He has a lot of connections and may be able to benefit our work,” Eli finished the introductions.
Sammi still didn’t have anything to say. She found it a little forward of Eli to be telling people about their ‘work.’ And there wasn’t a single aspect of Mr. Nardino that screamed ‘trustworthy.’
Eli was clearly annoyed at his girlfriend for being rude by not speaking as he ushered Sammi along and told her to wait outside for him. Sammi started to leave the restaurant but ducked behind a half-wall at the front of the restaurant to hear what other incriminating information Eli was sharing with this man.
“Sorry about that,” Eli tried shrugging off his embarrassment, visibly desperate to impress this man.
“No worries. I wouldn’t mind a date with that, if you know what I mean,” Nardino replied, straight-faced.
Eli nodded with a smirk while Sammi’s entire face reddened and burned from within. Before the two men could continue with their crude conversation, a swarm of cops burst through the front door led by their highest ranking. All guns were raised in the direction of Eli and Nardino. Eli put his hands up in surrender, but Nardino sat back in his chair and raised an eyebrow at the head cop.
“Frank Nardino, you are under arrest,” the policeman announced as he pushed past Eli and grabbed Nardino up by his arm.
“What are the charges, Sarge?” Nardino spat at him, seemingly familiar with this particular officer.
“Being an all-around scumbag,” the Sergeant shot right back at him.
A few cops laughed at their leader’s smart-mouth wit as they cleared a path for him to bring their suspect through. The Sergeant recited Nardino’s rights and listed his charges of burglary, arson, rape, and murder as he walked him out of the building. As they passed Sammi’s hiding place, both men made eye contact with her. She quickly looked away and caught a glimpse of the cop’s name badge: Sgt. Johnson.
*
Back at their apartment, Eli sat down in front of the television without a word so Sammi stormed into the bedroom and slammed the door behind her. They hadn’t spoken a single word to each other since they left the
restaurant and neither understood why the other was mad.
Sammi couldn’t let go of the way Nardino had talked about her and how Eli had allowed him. She had never told Eli, but her mom’s boyfriends had shown inappropriate interest in her since she had turned thirteen years old up until she ran away at seventeen. Her mother had pretended not to know what was going on in her daughter’s bedroom while her boyfriend of the month was supposed to be ‘helping Sammi with homework’ or ‘teaching her how to play guitar.’ When Sammi tried to reach out for help, her mother blamed her for being too pretty. Sammi had spent years burying this trauma and refusing to allow a man to have any kind of control over her. Eli was the first man who had been able to break through a layer of her emotionally scarred walls.
Having struggled with these emotions before, Sammi knew just how to block out the images inside her head. She slipped into the shower and let the steaming hot water flow over her trembling body. Without dwelling on it, she took a blade out of Eli’s razor and pressed it to her wrist. The sharp edge stung as it bit into her milky pale flesh. She stared absentmindedly at the contrasting dark red sneaking out from under her skin in thick droplets. She kept her unblinking eyes on her wrist as she made another cut, this one just a little deeper.
It was peacefulness that washed over Sammi as she watched her blood mix with the shower water and creep down the drain. She released a heavy sigh, reveling in this feeling of control.
By this point, Eli had entered the bedroom only to hear deep sobs coming from the bathroom. He let himself in, calling out to his girlfriend and asking if she was okay. He could see her outline through the shower curtain, and she seemed to be hunched slightly forward, holding one of her arms with the other. After three attempts to check on her went ignored, he threw back the curtain and froze.
The floor of the shower was covered in blood and there were a few splatters of it up the walls. Eli could see that it was coming from the arm that Sammi was holding, but he couldn’t understand why. After a few seconds, the water became clearer and Eli finally saw the razorblade on the shower floor.
Love Against the Law Page 3
