Struggling with his slipping control, he couldn’t answer. He couldn’t even turn around to look at him. He was ready to lose it at any moment. He acknowledged him by one simple nod. Dominick pointed at him with the beer can still in his hand. “We’ll stop by your place tomorrow to pick up your shit, a’right?”
He guzzled his beer then tossed the empty can under the sink. “I’ve had enough of this shit for one day. I’m racking out. Don’t try to run or something stupid like that. You’ll just set off the alarm, and it’s annoying as hell. So don’t do it or all bets are off.” The detective must’ve believed Giddeon wouldn’t run, because his statement was made without any passionate threats and in passing.
Giddeon finally turned, yelling out after him as he walked down the hall, “I’m not going anywhere, not until my business is finally finished.
They headed over to Giddeon’s apartment building first thing the next morning, to pick up some of his stuff. Giddeon shuffled down the cement steps to his basement apartment. He always chose places on or around ground level. There had to be several exit points available… just in case. It had become an obsessive necessity after the death of his parents. He glanced down as he pulled out the key from his borrowed pants pocket.
With the correct key in hand, Giddeon glanced up, noticing for the first time that the front door was opened a crack. The wooden frame by the lock had been damaged. “FUCK!” he whisper-shouted, thinking how Karma’s a bitch and was catching up to him fast after the terrible things he’d done to others. Innocent people like Ellora. Dominick stepped forward and unholstered his gun.
He scolded Giddeon through a strained whispered voice that Dominick tried hard to keep low. “Keep your voice down. We don’t know if someone is still in there. Now, get behind me so I can clear the apartment first.”
“Give me back my dagger, Detective. I don’t know what’s in there. I’m not going in unprotected.” Dominick gave him an apprehensive ‘no way in hell’ look.
“Listen, I’m not going to use it on anyone, okay. I just… need it back. It has significant value to me. I won’t hurt anyone until I find Dalton, all right?”
Dominick shot him a hard glare as he reached into his side cargo pocket. He handed over his dagger, but at the last minute, he hesitated and pulled back. “You’re not going to kill him, either. I want the satisfaction of watching him slowly rot in prison. Understand?”
Yeah right, Giddeon thought to himself. “Sure, Detective. I won’t kill him.” He raised both hands in a peaceful gesture, mimicking a scout’s honor, trying hard to placate him. “I already told you… I have an agenda. I help you, you help me, right? Well, I’ll really need your help when this is all over. Okay?”
Dominick offered up a half-crooked grin and nodded in response, handing over the dagger. Immediately, a calm relief settled over Giddeon. He had just been thrown his life line. This piece was his only link to a violent past. It was a reminder of what he had to do. What he needed to do.
Giddeon kicked his door noisily. It bounced off the wall, leaving a big door knob sized dent. Ignoring Dominick’s order to stand behind him, Giddeon plowed right through, marching right in. No fear. Never any fear.
Dominick rushed in behind him, cursing the whole way because of Giddeon’s careless stunt. “Stupid asshole. Why don’t you just announce to the world that we’re coming in?”
The agitated man stood in what used to be his front room. Half empty, wiped clean, abandoned. “Shit! He’s erasing me,” Giddeon shouted. Anger bubbled up inside him at the realization. He turned and ran down the hallway to the last room, bursting through his bedroom door. He was taken aback, as there was nothing much left behind. What little remained was trashed or broken. No furniture was left behind. Shouting out in frustration, he unleashed his growing fury on the wall closest to him. His fists connected in a flurry, leaving big gaping holes in the sheetrock.
After enough time passed, Giddeon was able to get himself back under control and calm down. He started searching through the rubble left in his closet. He was able to find a couple pairs of pants, a shirt, and a few pairs of boxers—dirty, but intact. Shoving his belongings in a plastic grocery bag he found close by, he headed back out to the living room to join Dominick. He found him kneeling on the ground, where his end table used to be, just staring at something.
Giddeon walked up behind him, glancing over his shoulder. “Looks like I’m going to be rooming with you for a little while longer.”
Dominick held up one hand with an object dangling from it. “Hey, man, I found these. They’re in pretty good shape… You want ‘em?” He held up faded, black wooden beads and passed them over.
Giddeon sank to his knees and closed his eyes, thankful that they hadn’t been ruined. “Yes. I do.” Carefully taking them from the detective’s hands, he looked over them like they were the most precious treasure ever found.
“These were my mother’s.” He caressed the beautifully carved beads fondly in the palm of his hand. “She carried these with her everywhere. She went to mass every Wednesday and Sunday. This is the only thing I have left that belonged to her.” The last sentence made it past his lips in a hushed whisper. He placed a gentle kiss on the precious heirloom, rose to his feet, and looked over to Dominick, who had wandered into the kitchen.
A renewed sense of vengeance helped to once again clear his vision. “All right. Let’s get the hell outta here.” Giving one more loving kiss on his mother’s rosary, Giddeon placed it around his neck and walked out of his past and into a more purposeful future. He had to keep focused. He would get his revenge… or die trying.
“So, what’s up, Dom? What’re we doing? What’s the plan?” The car ride had been a silent one after leaving Giddeon’s place. Curiosity got the better of him, which opened him up a little bit. They were headed inside Saint Joseph’s Hospital. The last time he was in there, he was following Dalton’s orders to shadow the detective and report back to him. His thoughts about what went down in the recent past, and how much things had changed, must’ve slowed his pace.
He jogged to get in step with Dominick as he passed through the hospital’s double doors. “I’ve got a couple questions to ask my girl. She helped me out a lot when I was trying to locate Ellora.” Giddeon knew a few of the nurses caught him the night he snuck into Ellora’s room as she recovered from his attack. A wave of guilt crashed over him as visions of her terrified expression drifted into his head. He would’ve finished her off right there, too, had it not been for all the chaos happening right outside her room.
There were just too many people around. He wouldn’t have been able to enjoy himself in the process. Thinking back on it now, he was glad she lived. There were brief moments in Portree where he empathized with Ellora, knowing full well what was waiting for her back in Syracuse, for what he was planning to put her through… for what he’d already done to her.
Because of his blind loyalty for Dalton, he’d killed her parents. He ripped them out of her life, just as someone ripped his parents out of his life. She didn’t deserve it, either. She didn’t deserve any of it.
Giddeon shrunk in on himself as self-loathing took over. He was the biggest piece of shit garbage that ever walked the earth. Giddeon literally turned into the thing he hated most, the very monsters he was hunting down. Shaking off his self-hatred, he quickened his pace. What’s done was done. Knowing what he did now, Giddeon would’ve changed things if he could. But, like always, he was too late.
“This should be interesting. I wonder what they’ll think of our partnership? Good and evil unite forces to defeat a common enemy… Stay tuned.”
Giddeon smirked as Dominick looked back with a humorless sideways glance. “What, partner? Sick of me already?”
Dominick just shook his head, mumbling, “I love you about as much as a hemorrhoid on a hot day!”
Giddeon nodded, rubbing his chin. “That much, huh? Wow, that’s a step up, Detective. I’m flattered.”
They walked up to
the registration desk. Dominick approached a young lady as Giddeon turned, taking in his surroundings. The waiting room was packed with a diverse group of anxious patients—some sick, some bleeding, and others laid out on stretchers. A few more rolled in on wheelchairs. The smell of blood and sickness wafted around the room, while the powerful odor of bleach competed to mask the offending odors. He had always loved the sounds, smells, and general atmosphere inside hospitals. Giddeon glanced over his shoulder at Dominick, whose back faced him, blocking his view of the woman behind the counter.
After a while, it sounded like she was giving him a hard time. “Where is Vicky? Isn’t she supposed to be working today? I need you to tell me where I can find her. It’s extremely important.” His questions poured out of his mouth in rapid succession. “Listen, Sir… Vicky is not here, nor will she be anytime soon. So, how can I help you?”
Her attitude had Giddeon snapping his head back. He had to tamp down the stirring beast within before he approached her. Stalking up alongside his oddly matched partner, Giddeon readied himself to rip the person a new one. Instead, he was met by the most stunning creature he had ever laid his eyes on, with the cutest scowl pointed right at him, which threw him completely off guard.
The curious man halted his movements abruptly. Inconveniently, his tongue was completely tied. This was all new to him. He always had a smart mouth ready and waiting to talk shit… until right then. Giddeon slowly stepped closer to the desk, needing to get closer to her.
This woman’s eyes were very unique—a brilliant, tropical, ocean blue with a darker blue ring around the irises. They drew him in, and he was now staring powerlessly at her. She had sharp cheek bones that jutted out perfectly, like a carved sculpture of a goddess come to life. She was definitely rocking an ethereal, otherworldly look. Her irresistibly full, soft looking lips were shaped like Cupid’s bow. And that hair… golden, shimmering and silky. The gleaming strands must have been spun from pure gold. She wore it in a high pony tail, hanging long and curling at the ends.
Giddeon’s fingers itched to pull out the elastic and watch as her hair cascaded down around her shoulders, as he imagined it would probably do. A gravel-rough voice brought the man down and out of the clouds that he was hovering in, when Dominick loudly coughed, clearing his throat. He jabbed him hard with his elbow, snapping the day-dreamer out of his momentary haze.
Ummm… okay. This man is straight up staring at me. Scratch that. He looks as though he’s trying to use mind control on me, Eva thought to herself. Geez, if looks could kill, she’d be six feet under. The way his stone-faced, black eyes bore into her, looked like he could crush her skull with the power of his mind alone. Scary stuff.
“Um, excuse me… What are you staring at?” The dark stranger didn’t answer back, just stared. Oddly enough, his expression seemed to transform the longer he stared. Eva’s cheeks flushed as his eyes roved over her, slow and deliberate, from the top of her head to the soles of her feet and back again. The cryptic man made no attempt to hide his obvious study.
How would she describe this man…? Dark. Definitely handsome in the dangerous bad-boy kinda way, but disturbing at the same time. His eyes, at first glance, looked midnight black, but obviously were a very dark brown. They were large and alarming, unsettling to her at first. They were lined with equally dark brows and lashes to match. His floppy, just-out-of-bed mess of black hair added to his sinister appearance.
He had a lot of elaborate tattoos peeking out of the collar and sleeves of his t-shirt, weaving down both arms into full sleeves. Talons seemed to claw their way up his neck, accentuating a large, jagged scar that ran horizontally across his neck. As she continued her assessment of his appearance, she noticed that he had another jagged scar running through his eyebrow, but it was well hidden.
This man looked like he’d battled his way out of hell… and prevailed. If she looked past all those things, his lean toned physique and facial bone structure were flawless. After a minute of their mutual staring contest, Eva looked at the man next to him… and shrugged. His closely cropped cut and aviator sunglasses screamed cop. “What’s this guy’s problem, huh?” The cop looking guy cleared his throat and nudged the dark man with his elbow. Eva crossed her arms over her chest and waited as he blinked several times. When she was sure he was mentally all there, she placed her hands on her hips, asking, yet again, “What’s your problem? What are you looking at?”
The man’s legs forged a path toward the girl, his eyes narrowing their attention on her. He lifted the corner of his lip in a lopsided grin which looked both sinister and cocky.
Great. He’s playing with me and obviously thinks it’s amusing, she grumbled to herself.
“An angel.”
His voice did funny things in the pit of her stomach. It was both a soft whisper and a deep raspy growl. She didn’t like it... Because she liked it.
“Don’t call me that.” Eva’s voice came out harsher than she wanted it to sound. She watched him carefully as his eyes slowly dragged their way down to her name tag that rested just above her left breast. He raised a challenging brow. “Name tag says Ev-Angel-ina.” He dragged out the syllables, purposefully separating “angel” just to make his point.
Eva rolled her eyes, heavy on the attitude. “Only my grandparents call me that. Since you aren’t… call me Eva… P L E A S E.” She forced out the please, her tone dripping with annoyance.
The cop, obviously tired of their banter back and forth, shook his head in agitation. “Listen, I need to ask her some questions. She was helping me with a case not too long ago.”
Eva pointed an accusing finger at him. “Oh, so you’re the one she risked her life helping, huh? Yeah. She spoke about you before she slipped into a coma. Nice job, dude.”
The cop’s face snapped up in surprise, reddening at this news. “Did… did you just say she’s in a coma?” Eva took her hand off her hip and crossed them again, nodding slowly.
Dominick turned his head, giving his dark partner an eerily icy glare. The dark man lifted his hands and laughed at him, not fazed by the look at all. “Whoa, don’t look at me like that, Detective… Wasn’t me. Didn’t do it.”
Eva couldn’t help but wonder why he would think the man he came in with would have anything to do with it. Yup. He was definitely a dangerous man, all right. One she better stay away from. An arctic chill crawled up her spine, leaving goosebumps to follow, as she watched him. And it wasn’t from fear.
Yes. Eva was one of those women who were helplessly and instantly drawn to bad boys. But, this man… was different somehow. He wasn’t faking it like most guys did. There was something sinister hidden deep down inside of him. God help her, she was immediately attracted to him.
Both men now stood by, waiting for her to say something, showing their growing annoyance with her lack of cooperation. The dark one blew out an exaggerated breath and leaned over the small desk. Eva wasn’t sure how he did it, but his expression flickered along with the dull lighting overhead. A shadow passed over him, morphing his previously blatant flirtation to a bone-chilling, cold, and murderous glare. Charles Manson himself would’ve been impressed with it. His disdainful malice and offensive stance as he towered over her with clenched fists implied his attempt to intimidate her.
Nope! You don’t scare me, my dark stallion. Think again, Eva thought to herself. Lifting up the counter partition, she passed through and marched directly into his space, undeterred by his menacing presence. Cocking her head to the side, Eva defiantly glowered right back at him.
The dark stranger must be used to scaring men and women alike, because he appeared shocked for a fleeting moment at her in-your-face challenge. Determination grew inside of him as he bent down over her, pointing a finger in her chest. With a harsh whisper, he threatened, “Where. Is. The. Girl? If you don’t tell me quickly, I will go out of my way to make sure you regret that decision.”
“Oooooh, really?” Eva laughed long and hard. Who did this guy think he was? “Hone
y, please. I work the addiction wing and head up the anger management support group.” Straightening her spine with outrage, she stood up on tip-toes and jabbed her finger in his chest, mimicking him. The moment her hand touched him, the man hissed through tightly clenched teeth. At the point of contact, his dark expression was shaken clean like an etch-a-sketch. A ghost of a smile threatened to appear.
“I have seen and heard more despicably horrific nightmares than you could ever possibly imagine up in that tiny, useless brain of yours. If you’re trying to scare me, you’d better think again. Or try harder at it. Either way, I. Am. Not. Scared. Of. You.”
Eva glanced over at his stunned partner. “What’s with this guy? Does he always act like this?” Not knowing what else to do in this unexpected altercation, Dominick eyed the pair and nodded exasperatedly. “Oh, okay. That explains everything… You’re just an incredible dickhead. Well, that’s too bad. There’s no cure for that.” The feisty girl lifted her head in defiance, daring him to say something else.
Both men’s eyes widened at hearing the foul, crass language coming from the beautiful, petite girl. The cop looked her over, then his eyes drifted to his dark partner and took in his surprise. Giddeon wasn’t the sort of man who became tongue-tied easily, and Dominick was entertained by his dumbstruck appearance. Dominick belted out a laugh that captured the attention of the rest of the waiting room, who all whipped their heads around in their direction. “I love this girl. She’s not afraid of you and won’t take any of your shit, Giddeon.”
Unable to help herself, Eva laughed right along with him, loving the sound of his infectious cackling. “Giddeon, huh?” Eva tested out the name over and over inside her head and decided that she liked the way it rolled off her tongue. He nodded once, relaxing his stance a few fractions as the tension eased in the small space around them.
Eva studied Giddeon once more and bit her lip. “The mighty destroyer… Well, that name definitely suits you.” Eva was big into name meanings. His was biblical and definitely fit his demeanor. Giddeon kept on nodding and smirked at her ruthlessly.
Beyond Redemption (Marked Series Book 2) Page 4
