by Tia Lewis
At the same time, I was also a man who could hardly sit up. I wasn’t exactly going to take his woman right then and there no matter how much that I wanted to.
She picked up a larger strip of the torn sheets and wrapped it around my chest, under my armpit and around over my shoulder. She tied it tight against the wound in my back, pressing against my shoulder blade and slowing down the flow of blood. She repeated those steps a few times until my stab wounds were covered.
“That’s all that I can do for now,” she said. “But if we don’t get you to the emergency room, you’ll...”
“Can’t go to a hospital,” I breathed. “I’ll be arrested the second that I walk in.”
“So, what do we do then?”
“My Fixer,” I grunted. “But first we have to get to...”
“The car,” Tess interrupted.
I nodded.
Her gaze moved from me to Zharkov’s lifeless body lying on the marble floor in a pool of blood with a deep gash in his neck.
“What shall we do about him?”
“Let him fucking rot.” I gritted my teeth and lifted my arms. “I think that I’m starting to black out again. It’s time to go.”
The abyss appeared but then receded once again. Kevin withdrew his arms and waved goodbye as the dark hole disappeared altogether.
I might join you yet, brother, I thought. Don’t worry.
I could see Kevin shake his head. You better not, he said. You better goddamn not! I saw my little brother stomp his feet and shake his head furiously.
Tess gripped my hands and grunted. There was more life in me now, or maybe it was just the life that was still in me that I wanted to keep so badly. The bandages pressed reassuringly into my body, and I could feel that they were already soaked in blood.
The one on my face was heavy with moisture, the one on my back was damp, and the ones on my forearms were wet, too, but it was better than the alternative. I did not know if they were wet from perspiration or from the onset of infection. If it was the latter, I was in deep trouble. Tess heaved, and I forced some strength into my legs, and with a thousand aches and pains, I finally rose to my feet.
My chest became less tight now that I was standing again. I took in a deep breath, oxygen rushing to my head, giving me another burst of life at least for the time being.
“You okay?” She asked me the question like she was afraid of how I would respond.
“Yes,” I took a deep breath. “It’s my chest that hurts the most.”
“Well, let’s get going.”
“I hope that you weren’t just with me for my looks,” I laughed grimly. “This scar on my face is gonna be a big one, and I think that it’s going to be there for the long run.”
“You’re a hitman, baby,” Tess said. “I’d be worried if you didn’t have any scars.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right.”
18
“What the hell happened here!” Tess said, looking at the corpse of the deceased Russian draped over the couch.
I limped past the TV, the glass table and headed to the large hallway which led to the main elevator. I stopped in front of the servant’s hallway and looked back. Tess’ gaze was wide and fixed on the dead Russian.
“They called him Boris,” she murmured. “He was one of the mean ones. When Zharkov was out, he’d come to me and call me names. He couldn’t touch me because Zharkov didn’t like to share his women. But he’d say such dreadful things and I would cry about them afterward. I remember, he seemed like the toughest man I’d ever met. And now look, he’s just… dead. It’s strange, isn’t it? How somebody so cruel and terrifying can be alive one second and dead the next like this... I mean, look at him! He might as well be a sack of potatoes, the way he’s slumped like that!”
“Tess, I see him,” I said. “He won’t be saying cruel things anymore. Believe that.”
“Shit!”
“What?” I asked.
She waved a hand over her body—her naked body. “I can’t go outside like this!” Suddenly, her mouth twisted upward and she let out something close to a giggle. It was pained, forced, but then her mouth opened and she started to laugh like she’d just heard a funny joke. “Look at us!” she chuckled. “We’re so comfortable around each other now, we don’t even realize I’m naked and still wearing the collar that Zharkov put on me!”
I watched her for a few moments, her face scrunched up with laughter, the sound of it foreign in this deathly room. And then I found my lips were turning, my mouth was opening, and I grunted. The grunt lengthened, and laughter sneaked into it. I began chuckling as she giggled, and pretty soon the two of us were staring at each other—the bloody mummy staring at the naked woman, laughing like lunatics. The corpse of the Russian draped between us like he was a tablecloth and we were sitting across from each other at a gourmet meal, having a good old chuckle, and not a few wrong steps from death. I laughed until the wound in my shoulder tore, my chest contracted and I let out a scream.
“Fuck!” I stumbled forward, breathing through gritted teeth. “Go and get some clothes,” I said.
Tess’ laughter died.
She turned and was about to take a step back toward the bedroom when she let out a squeak.
“I don’t think I can go back in there on my own,” she said. “I know it’s stupid, but I keep thinking that Zharkov is not really dead. What if I go back in there, he wakes up and starts attacking me—again? What will I do?”
I doubt that’s going to happen,” I said, leaning my hand against the wall. “But let’s get it done. We don’t have much time.”
I pushed away from the wall—the wounds burning, my head swarming—and limped back to where Tess stood. Together we walked down the hallway and back into the bedroom. Tess ran across the room to the bed and knelt down. She reached under the bed and began pulling out lacy dresses which were all skimpy and very low-cut—the exact type of dress an unimaginative pimp dresses his women in.
I stood beside Zharkov and looked down at him. “Didn’t think it would happen, did you?” I said. “Didn’t believe that you’d lose, huh? You go to remember, fat fuck, I was driven by something damn fiercer than you. You just wanted a little bit of power over a pretty girl. You wanted a sexy woman, and that was all. That’s what you were fighting for. I get it. I was the same, once. But I wasn’t fighting for that when I crashed in here. I was fighting for someone who actually makes me fucking feel something, I was fighting for someone who I can’t imagine living without. Trust me when I say, I never thought I would be saying those words. But it’s true. I met Tess a damn week ago, and now if I had to live without her, I’d tool up and hunt down every goddamn one of your men. All of them would end their lives looking down the barrel of my guns. I would leave a fucking trail of them all the way to the gates of Hell. I would kill them all just for the sake of it if she were dead. Because I finally found someone who I care about and who cares for me. Someone who I…”
“I love you, too,” Tess said.
I froze. It was like she had just appeared next to me. Now she was looking up at me, her bright blue eyes blazing, her lips pouting. She wore a red dress which hugged her petite body, and a red bra and panties. On her feet, she wore red high heels but she still her five feet four frame was no match to my tall height. She looked up at me expectantly, like she was thinking I was going to say something. But I had spoken without thinking, and now I was back in the room. I suddenly remembered who I was.
She lifted her hand and touched the unscarred side of my face, her touch tender, soft.
“I love you, Liam,” she said. “You came back. You had your money. You could’ve run. But you came back, and you saved me… again.”
I nodded shortly. “Yeah,” I grunted, turning, because looking at her was making me feel something so strong I thought if I gave into it I would be kicked clean off my feet.
“You’re not going to be needing this ever again,” I said as I tore the collar from neck being gentle not to
hurt her.
“Thanks,” Tess forced a smile, rubbing her neck.
I grabbed Tess’ hand and limped back down the hallway, past the Russian corpse, and toward the servant’s elevator.
“The maid is going to have a surprise,”
“I know,” Tess said seriously. “I wish we could save her from having to see it.”
I pressed the elevator button, it beeped, and the elevator started to whine and crack. The button was left with a bloody smear, but there was nothing I could do to stop the police from knowing I was here. I couldn’t bleach this place up, couldn’t hide the corpses, couldn’t cover my tracks. I would just have to run, that was all.
“She’ll get over it,” I said. “People have gotten over a hell of a lot worse.”
“Are you talking about me, or you?”
“Both, neither.” I shrugged, which was a damn mistake because my shoulder seared with burning pain. “Maybe we’ve had some bad shit happen, but some people have had it worse. There’re always people who’ve had it worse.”
I thought about hidden cave at the Vibe and the innocent women still there.
“I know. That’s supposed to make you feel better, isn’t it? But it never seems to.”
“It’s because we’re all selfish bastards.”
“This has been a crazy day,” Tess said. “I can honestly say it’s been the most eventful day of my life.”
“Yeah, but at least that gives us something to aim for.”
“Trust me, Liam, sitting around in a café in England isn’t going to be as eventful as this.”
“Course it will, just in other ways.”
Tess smiled. “Hey! You still have you guns right? You know, just in case we’re greeted by the Russians outside?”
“Don’t even think like that.”
“Sorry.” Tess grimaced.
I sighed heavily realizing I didn’t in fact have my pistols with me inside my jeans. They must have slipped out when I was wrestling with Zharkov and I was too dazed to even look for them. However, guns or no guns I still wouldn’t let anyone come close to hurting Tess again.
“Don’t be sorry, sweet thing. Regardless if the Russians are waiting for us outside this hotel or not, they’ll have to go through me to get to you.”
Tes smiled. “You know, I really missed you,” she said. “I want to thank you for coming back.”
“It was a no-brainer and you know what Tess?” I smiled back. “I can say the same. I really missed you too.”
The elevator beeped again, and the double doors opened.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Ready.” Tess noded.
I held her hand tighter and we made our way outside the Belegamo Hotel.
19
A blood trail followed us through the car parking lot, the bright fluorescent lights making it seem purplish and glimmering. I limped toward the door, and Tess clopped along beside me, her heels making a click-click-click on the pavement.
“I really hate high heels,” she murmured.
We stopped when we were at the double doors, which were closed tight. I limped to the wall beside the doors and leaned against it, leaving patches of blood on its surface, a blotchy outline of myself imprinted in red on the concrete. Tess click-clicked over and stood beside me.
“Now what?”
“Now we wait for the doors to open,” I replied.
“It’s still sunny out there, you know.” Tess bit her lip. “You’re going to frighten people. They might call the police. In fact, they probably will call the police.”
I shrugged. “We don’t have any other choice, have we?”
Tess stroked a hand through her blonde hair. When she let it go, it fell in waves around her shoulders.
“What if wait until it’s dark? We’ll just hide in the corner and wait. People hardly interrupt Zharkov when he’s… when it’s happening. And when it’s dark we can sneak to the car, no problem.”
“No problem,” I echoed. “Tess, don’t get optimistic on me. Your plan would be fine if there weren’t corpses up there, but there are. And the second they’re found, police will surround this place. I wish we could just hide in a corner and wait, I really do, but it wouldn’t work. We have to get out of here, daylight or no daylight.”
Tess sighed. “You’re probably right. This is your area of expertise, after all.”
We stayed like that, leaning against the wall, for about fifteen minutes. Neither of us said much. Tess had a distant look in her eyes as if she was going over everything bad that had ever happened to her, reliving it in this car parking lot. I could see she was in pain, but it wasn’t physical pain. It was a kind of pain that I knew little about and was helpless to cure, at least right now, with words alone. Even if I was given the rest of my life and all the resources in the world, I knew it would be damn hard to cure her pain. So, I just leaned against the wall, trying to conserve as much strength as I could, blood dripping down from my body to the ground and pooling in small puddles on the floor.
Finally, the double doors screeched, and daylight entered the car parking. The valet sat behind the wheel of the sleek yellow Ferrari. I pressed myself against the wall, and Tess hid behind me, both of us watching as the car hummed past us and deeper into the parking lot.
“Right, now,” I said, taking her hand and leading her toward the door.
Her hand shook in mine, but she held it tight, and then we ducked under the door and emerged into the daylight. The street was quiet, it was half past four, and I could hardly believe I had been in there for an hour and a half. It had all gone so damn quick, like a blink. As we walked up the ramp toward the street, a man wearing white sweatpants, a flowing white shirt, waddled up the street holding a box of donuts.
“Evening,” I said, as our met eyes.
“Evening!” the man huffed. “I don’t want any trouble!”
“No,” I said. “Neither do I.”
“Have a nice night,” Tess said.
I ignored the pain that plagued my every movement and walked down the street. At the end of the road, an ice-cream van let out a melodious tune, and kids lined up outside of it, jostling each other, elbowing, screaming to be the first in line. Closer, a greyhound, its fur patchy and its ribs showing through its skin, walked up and down outside of the hotel. One of the valets shouted at in Spanish, but the dog just looked up at him, head tilted, tongue lolling. Even closer, a woman in a pencil skirt, black tights, and a white shirt walked toward us on heels twice as high as Tess’. She froze when she looked up and saw me, blood-covered and swaddled in bandages.
“No trouble?” Liam offered.
“N-no!” she screamed, turning around and sprinting down the street.
The sun was low, the street shadowed and cold, but while I felt the cold breeze on my skin, inside I was burning. Sweat beaded every part of me, mixing with the blood, and all I wanted to do was tear my clothes off and lay on the shadowed sidewalk.
Tess nudged me in the arm. “We have to go,” she whispered, looking down the street at the ice-cream van. “The children over there might see you.”
“I know,” I said, as I limped and trotted across the street, holding Tess’ hands. “The car is about five blocks down.”
“Five blocks? I rather walk barefoot than in these bloody heels!” Tess complained
“Come on.”
About fifteen minutes later, we made our way toward the alley from which I had emerged not that long ago. The alley was just as filth-covered as I had left it, graffiti on the walls, rats tittering and then scattering as the humans approached.
“It’s crazy how in one area it’s affluent area and now look where we are. Some ritzy town this is.”
I limped past the overturned trash cans, filth, grime, and graffiti. The odor of trash swirled around us, mixing with the sweat and the blood. I limped until my shoulder and chest screamed at me to stop. My face was feeling as though the skin could split and peel back at any moment, the cuts in my forearms making
my fingers go number. I limped and wheezed, feeling weaker by the second.
“Yes!” Tess said as the Mustang came into view. “Do you want me to drive?”
“No, I’ll—” I grunted and then collapsed forward, my shoulder wound ripping, my forearms blazing. I stretched out my arms to brace myself and my hands struck the concrete. Gravel bit into my palms, and I pressed into something slimy. My face was half an inch from smashing into the concrete, but I just managed to hold myself up. Then a fresh wave of pain washed over me, and finally I collapsed onto the ground. The bandage on my face had shifted, and gravel and dirt pressed into the open wounds.
“No!” Tess yelled, kneeling down, grazing her knees. “Liam! We made it!” she breathed. “You can’t do this. Not now! Not now! Get up!”
“Kevin...”
“No!” Tess snapped. “Please! Get up!
“Wait for me... brother...”
“Get up!” she snarled. “Wait! Wait!”
Tess leaned down so that her mouth was near my ear, her breath warm, comforting, lulling me to sleep. “Tell me the Fixer’s number,” she said frantically. “Tell me his number, Liam. Tell me his number! Tell me his fucking number!”
There was something damn strange in hearing that English accent swear. If my face weren’t covered in blood and pressing into the dirt, I would’ve laughed. But even though I couldn’t laugh, something about that voice with that word penetrated the darkness. She was too good for me. That was the damn truth. She was pure, clean, caring and I was just a vicious killer. Why was she kneeling here, next to me, trying to help him? Why was she getting herself dirty for me? She could’ve just taken the car, the money and left, gone somewhere far away and never looked back. True, she didn’t have a passport, but this country was a big place, and with the money, there was always a way to leave. She could’ve gone anywhere and been anyone, but instead, she wanted to stay with me. Even after I failed to protect from getting kidnapped again she stayed with me.
