by Mari Sillva
-Why do you hurt yourself like that? - He asked pointedly was not a half-hearted man goes straight to the point even if she was going to feel offended or not. -If you do not notice good things about you, no one else will notice. - The bandit cleared his throat to ease the sudden tension between them, which was palpable. Jesse looked away, embarrassed at his realization.
-I do not hurt me, sir I just do not delude myself! - She tightened her arms around her legs, the subject making her feel trapped.
-You're doing it again, - he grunted irritably.
- Doing what? - She asked, confused, more than usual.
- Acting like a stupid teenager! It was unnecessarily thick. I can smell your innocence from afar. -She preferred not to think about what Blade meant by that, but deep down she knew all too well.
-I'm no saint, Mr. Maldonado! It might not be, though, it came quite close. I stole it once! - She confessed, astonished if she had no way for a policeman, much less for a thief.
-And what did you steal? - he folded his arms across his muscles.
Jesse noticed that on the left arm, above the elbow, there was a tattoo of the face of a very pretty woman laughing spontaneously, she asked herself:
Who would she be certain someone very special to deserve to be engraved his untouchable body. Blade frowned, really curious to know what an angel would steal.
-I went to visit my grandmother's grave. - Blade thought It was worse than he had ever stolen dead people before. -I realized that the rich families' tombs had more flowers than the poor ones, I shared the ones I had taken with my grandmother with them, but they were very tombs so ...- she paused as if to tell that he killed a priest or worse. Out of the corner of her eye he noticed how relaxed he seemed to be at that moment, he had lain his body on the bed, leaning in better to hear her, his shoulders seemed broader in that position, a body that would fit well into any clothing. -I asked permission for the dead man if I could get some flowers for the colleague on the side, I explained straight that he would not feel abandoned. Then I got some, I thought I would not mind having many, but I left the most beautiful ones - she said as if the deceased cared. Now besides being silly, he is going to think I'm crazy for talking to the dead. -She tortured herself mentally, she hated when people looked at her as if she were the strangest person in the world.
-You did not steal, since you asked for it before, - he said, obviously, in an attempt to lessen the eminent guilt in her eyes.
-It was not what their family thought later, sir, or my father when he took me to each one's house to apologize. At the time I was only ten years old. - She shrugged as she remembered, and he realized she did it when she was afraid. - Aside from picking up, I was grounded for two weeks, -she added in a strained voice.
- Blade! - The deep voice echoed in place, the most sensual thing in the world, at least it was for Carter. - That's my name, not "sir"! - sounded more like a warning than a statement. The outlaw had been bothered by the formality with which the girl referred to him, the age difference between them was visible, but not so much for her to talk to him as if he were an old man.
-As I was saying, Blade ... - he swallowed hard at the sound of his name in that sweet voice, never to hear. - Knowledge is completely different from wisdom after all this anyone can acquire through good courses and specializations in various areas, now the trick is to have the discernment to know how to use it wisely and in a useful way for themselves and especially for others – explained. she said, delicately removing a stubborn bundle that insisted on falling on the fragile face, a gesture so simple, only tempting for a certain hunter whose eyes were furious like a hawk catching every movement of the prey.
She was attractive and fragile, a dangerous combination for Maldonado. That scene was really like putting Little Red Riding Hood in front of the Bad Wolf, where its only thought was to devour her as fiercely and pleasantly as possible.
-Be careful not to confuse modesty with self-pity.
Jesse looked at him, noticing his wide back, only part of his body where there were no tattoos, he wanted to ask why, but he did not. He continued to stare at the bandit's attractive body who was at the moment had his eyes wandering elsewhere in the room, wondering why he was still having that weird conversation with a cop, his family's enemy. The situation was only worse because Maldonado had not seen the girl's surname in the uniform, that part, thanks to the good God, had been torn. So she was not aware that she was, precisely, the daughter of one of the cops involved in the death of her parents. She could consider herself a lucky girl.
-Victims do not suit anyone, - he added in that thick infernal voice that made the researcher feel as if butterflies had flown in her stomach, her hands sweating, and her breaths out of breath.
They stared at each other for a while, a silence of untutored words lingering in the air. Until Blade's phone rang, saving her from that bizarre situation. He rose sensuously, giving a glimpse of his beautiful backs you could see perfectly the tip of Calvin Klein underwear box appearing on the waistband of the same brand. Blade always made a point of the best, had no stomach for mediocrity and did not save when it came to pleasing himself. He walked with his iPhone 7, silver, very thin and with the drawing of a bitten apple, back an ear to the big glass window, watched the view while watching the person on the other side of the line.
-You do not know who we meet by chance at a nightclub, Blade. - We're just waiting to give you a good lesson in this X9 by Otávio Colins. He'll have to tell you who paid him to set that ambush for you. We're taking him to that old cosmetics factory out of town. -It was Julius they had managed to get the man he had set up for the police to pick up Maldonado. Now the poor bastard was lost in their hands. Moved with one, got a problem with everyone.
-I'm coming. - He answered only in a scary tone, hanging on his face as usual. His eyes were gray, reflecting on the bad things in his mind.
- Will leave? - Jesse asked, biting her lower lip, she was afraid of being alone.
- It's none of your business! - It was rude he hated it when they invaded your space!
- Sorry! - she asked in a tearful voice.
- What a hell! Could you stop apologizing all the time? It irritates me deeply. - His voice was less altered, but enough to hurt her.
-I'm going to stop, I'm sorry ... - She stopped before finishing the sentence. He cleared some profanity in protest, her innocent way is annoying.
- Do not worry, I'll be back soon! - He reassured her. -I'll take you home as soon as the day clears, - he concluded.
- Will go out with your friends? - she asked the question without thinking of repenting soon after. In the fact she wanted to know if it was with a woman.
- People without character do not have friends, have accomplices! - he said as he took the two pistols he was leaning on the small corner table and placed them at his waist.-Do not touch anything, or bether do not get out of bed until I arrived. Not asked, ordered!
She just nodded, she had no choice. And so Blade disappeared through the door. After flipping back and forth on the bed for forty-five minutes, Jesse thought it would not be a problem if she went to the kitchen to drink a glass of water, it would not take her five minutes to make the round trip without touching nothing that was breakable, most expensive. With no difficulty she took the huge blanket from above her body, closed her eyes to inhale the good smell of the bandit's perfume that came out from under him, the aroma took over his nostrils leaving her in a trance. Besides beautiful, charming and mysterious, it was clean and scented, very much indeed. He pulled on the shirt he was wearing in the futile attempt not to show what he should not, was not sure that he was really alone in the house.
She put her right foot on the ground first for luck she did not know what was waiting for her from then on. She shuddered when the two small feet touched the cold ground, grimaced not to speak a word, it was too right to utter unholy things. She stepped slowly behind the other until he reached the two doors beside the large glass window. Cu
rious as she was she could not resist and had to check where the left door would take. Then she unlocked it, feeling the icy wind of the night touch her face, a wonderful sense of freedom. It did not take long to reach a terrace, with what remained of the beautiful garden that predominated in that place one day. Jesse saw earthen vessels everywhere, some broken at the edges due to the effect of time and the lack of care.
-What's the use of having a terrace of this size if you do not make use of it? - Jesse wondered aloud, outraged. Her house did not have as much space as that, but what little Maria Joaquin had in the yard, capricious as she was, made a great use of every feeling, besides the verdant lawn that she cultivated with the greatest zeal in the world. There were small flower beds displaying flowers of all species and colors, which perfumed the air. Jesse closed his eyes to remember the smell, found the scent of nature inspiring. Then she walked very carefully among the wreckage on the floor, really a mess. Arriving at the edge sof the terrace, she took a small sweep around the house, there was no light nearby, it was pitch black. From far, far away, she saw the lights of Los Angeles, as small as a huge army of shining fireflies. She took a deep breath, thinking how good it would be to be able to live in a place like that, away from everything, especially people. She was not very sociable she preferred to live in solitude. She had been too hurt in life, very much. Many of these wounds came from home, it was not easy to have a major as a father, especially as his boss, he was cruel at the time of punishment the marks on the girl's body were proof of that. But the worst marks were those left in the soul, when, out of cowardice, he had repeatedly told her that she should have died at birth, so as not to have given him so much pain. She was not sure how long she had been admiring the view, which was to spend only five minutes looking for the kitchen and drinking a glass of water she had spent hours lost in her thoughts.
Meanwhile, across the city, Maldonado was poisoned with rage at the old cosmetics factory, which he closed because he had caught fire, killing all the burned employees alive. It was far away and shrouded by shrubs and creepers. Probably the property was long abandoned and at night it was a scary place. They even said it was haunted, really scary. At least for the Fearless group, three of the members were waiting for him with the traitor standing beside them with their hands tied back. The Chinese held him steadily, while Stephen had one of his old pistols pointed at him, since Julius was hanging on the cell phone giving a scold at Bobbi for having forgotten to take one of the twenty vitamins, each responsible for helping the development of a part different from the body, that forced the poor boy since he had been a boy. Now the young man was practicing as a Washington resident lawyer, along with his best friend Maxmilian, son of John Thompson, Chief Judge of the Forum. Blade did not like the fact that his younger brother moved to another city and would like even less when he knew he was in love with Max's younger sister, only sixteen. Worst of all would be when the judge found out that his daughter, who still treated as a baby, was also in love with the boy, six years her senior.
-Please, do not kill me I have two young children to raise - pleaded Otávio Collins as soon as he saw Blade coming toward him as if that might add up. He was a traitor, no matter what. Someone had paid him to deliver Maldonado's head to the cops, and the Outlaw Man would not leave without knowing who, even if he had to break every bone in his body to figure it out.
- Each one with their problems! - Maldonado exclaimed, politely, passing him without any kindness, grabbing him by the throat and dragging him into the factory. He did not have the patience, not the time to torture people if he did not have to take that information from him. He would have shot him right in the middle of his forehead as soon as he arrived.
- You're welcome, Blade! - Julius snorted wryly as he passed them as if they were not even there.
He could have just said good night, - he thought, hurt, he had the butter-soft heart out of the fridge in the summer.
-You do not seem to know Maldonado! - Li took a deep breath in frustration. After so many years together he got used to the distant way of it.
- Let's go! I do not have all night. -Stephen growled without patience, as usual, going in the same direction as Blade followed by the other two. He was in a bad mood from last night's nightmare, not knowing that the dream was a warning that the memories of the past that he was trying so hard to escape were closer than he had imagined, a few miles away...
-You have two choices. - Blade announced in a frightening way, trapping Otavio's hands over his head in an iron barrel, using a rope that no one had any idea where he had taken since he had not arrived with her. - But at the end of the two will end up dead!!!
The poor man of medium height had beads of sweat running down a river through the square face of rustic features, had nobody full of muscles, but enough to catch the women's attention as he passed the street. He was dark-haired, with badly cut hair, chops, and a thick, sixties-tipped mustache, old-fashioned clothes also reminisced. Especially because they had glaring colors, a red shirt with a fire-colored jacket over them, wide-open jeans, and a thin-tipped shoe with a small leap behind, all very strange. He seemed to have been abducted from one of those Saturday night ballads, only John Travolta was missing at any moment.
-Since I'm going to die, I will not say anything! You can torture me any way you want, you son of a bitch, bad blood from hell!
If he had not pissed in her pants, they would even believe in all that courage. They were in a dirty, cold place, through the broken cabinets and what was left of a table in the center it was probably an old office. The walls full of mold and fungus, Julius did not stop sneezing, he was allergic.
- That's what we'll see! -Wicked Blade roared.
Chapter 5
-Dead people do not talk, Blade! If he continues at that rate, the guy will end up dying, -Julius snorted, horrified, he did not like to participate in these rituals of torture, his stomach was wrapped trying to walk on tiptoe like a ballerina not to touch his teeth that Maldonado had ripped out one by one, and the pools of blood strewn across the floor.
-Let him do his work in peace, if he can´t bear it, he asks to leave, - Stephen snapped irritably, he did not have enough patience at the moment for Julius's coolness.
Li, meanwhile, remained silent, sitting on an old box with a high-end 3D micro camera with a high-resolution 3D image, recording everything with his eyes sparkling. He loved to see the partner in action. He had pounded Otávio's face so much that it was unrecognizable, and he could not see the honey-colored eyes under so much swelling.
-I want names. - Blade commanded, his face close to his, the poor man no longer able to stand, hung, dangling like a bell. The iron object lining Maldonado's fingers dripped blood, the English punch was half-crooked from working so late that morning.
-You're going to fuck yourself, damn you, - he said with much difficulty, much too much for those who had just lost all their teeth.
- Wrong answer!
Maldonado righted his posture, tilting his right arm backwards, placing all his strength on it, and with only one blow he broke the man's leg in the middle, leaving him with an exposed fracture. The agonizing cry was scary echoing everywhere. Not finding enough what he did, he repeated the process with the other leg and yet completed with a well-punched punch from Otávio's stomach, making the blood spurt like Niagara Falls in rainy season.
- Okay, I'll say it! - Octavio finally surrendered.
-I'm listening, - he said quietly, folding his arms over his handsome chest.
- It was the cops! - Blade's eyes widened in surprise, not frightened. He thought he was some enemy of the world of crime, he had many. -You're screwed, man all the bad guys are after you, it's was walking gold pile. - A police chief is offering a millionaire reward for your head, sooner or later they'll get you and I want to see this cabin scene, drinking whiskey with ice. He let out a Machiavellian laugh.
-Only if it's the fifth of the hells! - Blade shot him right in the middle of his forehead, spre
ading his brains all over the place.
- Wow! Now that the thing was getting good - Li argued, saddened by the end of the -Show of Horrors.
- Stop being a masochist, China! - Julius slapped him on the back of his neck.
-I'll send the laundry bill to you, Blade. -This is the third time I've dirty my coat with somebody's brains. -Stephen made a profanation by taking out the piece before they left, they would have to disappear into the body.
When Jesse finally realized the time he was on the terrace, she made her way back to the room in a hurry, only to once again let her curiosity speak louder and left thinking about taking a closer look at the house. Carefully she opened the door to see if the owner had arrived, and noticing that he had not, she set off on a short tour of the long corridor with the dark wood floor, which, as she stepped, let out a creaking. It was built strategically by Blade's father to announce some unwanted intruder when they were sleeping.
Mr. Maldonado became an astute fox when it came to protecting his family. As soon as he reached the top of the stairs he raised her hands over her perplexed lips to see how luxurious the house was, antique model furniture, rustic. The living room was spacious, boasting large glass windows there were no curtains, after all, there were no neighbors to "blind" your life. It overlooked the immense mountains all around, with a small forest around it.
Just like in the bedroom, the walls were beeped in a tone of dark blue. Weird, horrible she thought. In the center, a red-blooded sofa lined with soft material of two places, accompanied by two armchairs in the same color in front of the fireplace. Inside was a pile of very well assembled logs on the floor a furry beige rug, probably to lie on it taking advantage of the heat of the fire.
