The Leverager

by C. L Masonite

  Dear mystery guy Mr. Leverager,

  I would like to enjoy employ your services to assist me to scratch an itch with a personal issue.

  If you find me tempting suitable, please hunt track me down.

  Please do, Kind regards, Emerson Monsoon

  I giggled, putting my hand in front of my mouth as my body wracked with laughter. I was soooo drunk, and was beginning to feel a bit dizzy. Phase two now complete…now I had to complete phase three.

  I lifted my hand as I’d seen them do in the movies and tried to signal the bartender but failed. Then I realized I was missing the key ingredient—money. I slipped a hand inside my pocket and picked out a five—that would do. I lifted my hand and waved it in the air, then felt it being ripped out of my grasp.

  Some asshole had stolen it! I looked behind me and didn’t see any likely would-be-thief. I pulled out another five, this time waving it in front of me. I finally caught the eye of a sexy bartender.

  “What would you like?”

  “Can I please get a Molotov cocktail?” I asked, wanting to laugh at how stupid I sounded.

  “What? This is a fine establishment, we don’t serve that here,” he replied with raised eyebrows.

  “Sorry, he’s new,” another bartender intruded, waving him away.

  My mouth fell open is disbelief, maybe Tasha was onto something, or the guy was having me on. “Um . . . great, well, can I also get ten shots of tequila with that,” I replied, pulling out more money and handed him the note along with it.

  “Sure thing, sweetheart,” he sang, suavely slipping the note somewhere out of sight.

  I wiped the sweat from the back of my neck. The heat was really beginning to get to me, but I did owe Laurina that shot. I thanked him once he fulfilled the order and stumbled through the crowd, back over to where I’d last left the girls.

  “I’m no tall drink of cold water, but I still come bearing gifts,” I sang. The girls all thanked me and grabbed two each, except for Tasha.

  “Well? Was I right?” Tasha asked, practically frothing at the mouth for vindication.

  “The bartender took my note, I don’t know if he’s in league with the Leverager guy though,” I said, still unconvinced. “Take some shots, it will help with the nerves. If he is real, then he might be answering your call tonight,” I winked, and then downed one shot.

  God that was terrible, so terrible I decided to down my other shot. “Here, take the tray, too,” I drunkenly slurred, making sure Tasha had both hands on it before I let it go.

  I wandered over to Laurina, almost deciding to stop when I saw her boyfriend was next to her. But screw his weirdness, she was my friend. “Hey, Laurina, you were right…getting drunk is fun,” I giggled.

  “I know, right!” she slurred back, her eyes all dazed.

  “Come on, Rina, you’re wasted…it’s time for us to go home,” Lukas said, ignoring me.

  “Only if Em-er-son comes, too,” she hiccupped, “And eve–everyone else here, too. We can have another party at home!” she yelled

  “Wouldn’t you prefer a party of two—just us two,” he countered.

  She licked her lips, and I knew she was gone, lost in his trance.

  He hoisted her up over his shoulder and looked at me, thinking carefully for a second. “Look, if you’re going to be Laurina’s new friend you better be a good one to her. She’s surrounded by people who act as if they’re her friends but all they do is use her. She doesn’t have a single, good, dependable one. Her dad was a soldier, he died overseas recently, and she’s been having a tough time of it. That’s what made her want to be a trauma nurse. So, if you can’t be a good friend, then you better stay far away,” he delivered ruthlessly.

  I looked down, now understanding why she’d looked so sad before when I had saluted her. “I get it, I do, I lost someone recently, too. The pain never goes away,” I replied sadly. I looked up to see how he would take what I’d revealed but he wasn’t there any longer, and with him he’d taken away my ride home, too.

  The room began to spin sickeningly around me. The pills and all the alcohol were finally catching up with me. God, I was going to pass out. I couldn’t leave myself vulnerable to attack again.

  I looked over where the girls were and knew I wouldn’t make it over to them in time. Seeing a VIP booth close by with its door wide open, signaling its availability, I stumbled in there. No one was in there, thank God! I almost cried when I saw that the door had a lock. I closed and locked it. Then I fell on the couch, my eyes closing as the world around me faded away . . .

  “SO, WHO IS going to be our next client, boss?” Mikhail asked with boredom. We were all sitting in the security room that spanned across all three levels of the club, giving us a view of everything that was going down.

  “I don’t know, I haven’t chosen one yet,” I responded honestly, feeling exhausted.

  “Lay off him,” Jarek ordered, “we might get some good candidates in tonight.”

  “You should probably also lay off the whiskey, too,” Sev added.

  “What’s been eating at you?” I asked Mikhail before he could bite Sev’s head off.

  “What do you mean?” he asked, his face going blank.

  “You’ve started drinking again and been all on edge for the past couple of weeks. I never thought you were doing this for the thrill, but now you’ve got me second guessing,” I pushed, wanting to make him angry so he’d tell me what was up.

  “Screw you!” Mikhail swore, his glass of whiskey breaking in his hand. Sev went to go to him, but Jarek pushed him back.

  “You didn’t answer me. Is that why you’re here, Mikhail? Did you enjoy going back to the mob, thrilling in the risk of exposure? Because if you’re just here for a thrill, then you put us all at risk, not just yourself,” I yelled.

  “No, I’m not here for a thrill,” Mikhail replied, seeing he’d been played. All the anger drained from him. “I’m sorry. I lied to you all, I didn’t get out of the Valentijin mob with the girl without getting caught,” he admitted.

  “What? Who caught you?” I barked out.

  “Nikolai did. He drew out his gun and put it against my forehead. He told me to fall to my knees, but I didn’t. There was no one else there, just me, him, and the girl. I wouldn’t. He told me I was foolish to come back. I heard the sound of his finger pressing down on the trigger; I thought I’d die there, in the place I hated most in the world. I closed my eyes and waited, and when nothing happened he started laughing at me. He told me that he was playing with me, that he couldn’t kill me because we were family, and then he let me go,” Mikhail whispered forlornly.

  “Maybe he let me go because he’s been trying to protect me all along. Maybe he wanted to leave the mob with me but he couldn’t so he did the next best thing, he got me out by exiling me,” Mikhail theorized with wild eyes.

  “Mikhail, you can’t trust him,” I warned. “He did all that to play with your head. If he did do all of that to keep you safe then that’s his only redeeming act, but it doesn’t excuse him from all the blood that he’s shed. He may not pull the trigger all the time, but he calls the shots; the blood is as good as on his hands. If you’re right, then you still have to stay away from him, for him and yourself,” I urged.

  “He’s right,” Jarek confirmed gruffly. He was the largest out of us all, and for the time he’d been with us I’d never seen him more serious. He was usually the jokester, the one who brought some light to our darkness.

  “I’ve hated him for so long,” Mikhail admitted brokenly.

  “Sev, stitch him up. Jarek, get some coffee into him then take him to the mats, he needs to get the anger out,” I ordered then turned to Mikhail, “You have to let it go, you’re letting it consume you. You own your anger, Mikhail, you never let it own you. Take some time off…and until you get yourself in order, I don’t want to see you.”

  “No, that’s not fair!” Mikhail objected.

  “What I said stands; don’t go against me, you
know what I’m saying is right,” I replied, standing firm. I wouldn’t budge, not on this.

  “Come on, Mikhail,” Sev urged gently, putting a hand behind his back, leading him out. Jarek followed, giving me a nod, and I knew Mikhail was in good hands. Sev would fix him up and Jarek would push him to his breaking point and then he’d go out like a light.

  I rubbed my temple, hating that Mikhail hadn’t felt that he could confide in any one of us, without me having to push him. He’d always been there for me, so I’d be there for him. I took a look at the security feeds, and stopped when I saw a girl stumble into one of the VIP rooms. I tracked her progress into the room up until she fell onto the couch, passing out.

  “Helvete,” I cursed. She better be passed out from being drunk and nothing else. The last thing I needed right now was a girl overdosing in my club. I took the master key with me.

  “Raul, can you take control of the security room? I need to duck out and check on something,” I asked the man standing guard outside the room.

  “Of course, boss,” he replied, gesturing to another man to take his post.

  I took an elevator down to the bottom floor and made my way through the crowd. I wanted to run to the door, but I didn’t want to alarm anyone. Finally, I made my way to the room she was in and unlocked the door.

  My hand went to her throat, and I sighed as I felt a steady pulse. Her eyes opened momentarily, treating me to the richest shade of ebony I’d ever seen and at the same time a smile so sweet my breath caught in my throat.

  “Am I hallucinating?” she murmured more to herself than me.

  “No, you’re not,” I whispered back in amusement.

  “Shh. I can sleep here and no one will hear me,” she whispered.

  “Why would you be worried about someone hearing you?” I replied, moving a couple of stray hairs from her cheek.

  “Because I’m loud,” she mumbled.

  “You snore? That’s disappointing,” I chuckled, she looked angelic but for the fact that she was wearing dark colors. Maybe she was more of a fallen angel I smirked to myself, after all she was in The Den of Iniquity.

  “No,” she mumbled cryptically. She was a riddle wrapped up in a goddamn tantalizing mystery that I wanted to unravel.

  “If you don’t snore then what are you afraid of?” I gently persisted.

  “Shh! Sleep,” she objected.

  “Just one more question, I promise. Did you take anything other than the potent alcohol I can smell on your breath?”

  “Pills. Prescribed ones. Two of them,” she breathed.

  “You probably weren’t supposed to mix them together with alcohol Älskling,” I admonished. But like a typical female she wasn’t listening any longer, her breath had evened out and she was back asleep.

  Seeing her purse next to her, I rifled through it and found her ID and laughed to myself as I read her name, finally putting a face to the name that had been branded in my memory. What were the chances? I then found a crinkled letter containing her dorm room details. Rookie error.

  I made a quick call to a hotel nearby and booked a room. Then I dialed Jarek’s number.

  “Hey, are you still with Sev?” I asked.

  “Yep, we just put Mikhail to bed, I read him a bedtime story, too,” he chuckled.

  “I hope you acted out the characters in different voices, he loves that,” I laughed. “On a more serious note, can you put me on speaker? I have a mission for you two.”

  “Sure, boss, one sec . . . done,” he answered.

  “Thanks, okay, Jarek, I need you to break into a girl’s room for me. She took a couple pills, Sev, I need you to see what kind and if I should be too worried that she’s mixed them with copious amounts of alcohol.”

  “Mikhail would be unhappy that he’s missing out…he’s out cold” Jarek replied, “I’ll be sure to tease him about it tomorrow. Send me the details.”

  “I’ll check out the pills and give you a call back,” Sev replied.

  “Thanks, I’ll text you her address and catch you guys later,” I responded, ending the call.

  I lifted her up, one hand banded across her waist and the other supporting her neck to keep her from injuring herself. Her warm weight was comforting. But those scars she had on her neck and jaw weren’t. Even more so, I took that as a further reason to treat her as precious cargo. Whether she liked it or not, until she was fully conscious she was under my command and control, and I’d make sure no harm came to her. I couldn’t leave her to wake up alone wondering what had happened to her in the time that she was passed out.

  I took her through the back entrance, wanting as little eyes on us as possible. I strapped her into the passenger seat beside me and drove to the hotel. I kept her in the car as I collected the room pass, then drove around the back and went through the employees’ entry. I was thankful that there wasn’t anyone around at this time of the night. I placed her on her side in the king size bed to aid with her breathing and sat in a chair opposite, feeling anxious.

  Fifteen minutes later the call that I was waiting on came.

  “You didn’t tell us whose room it was,” Sev’s voice announced with interest. “Her name was on the prescription bottle. Are you moving up the timeline?”

  “Yes, due to unforeseen circumstances. Judging by the fact that you don’t sound panicked, is it safe to assume that she’s going to be alright?”

  “Yep, she just needs to sleep it off, but tomorrow she’s going to be feeling a whole lot worse,” he instructed.

  “Good, maybe she’ll learn. So, what were the pills exactly?” I asked with interest as I gazed down at her.

  “They’re antidepressants, basically used to help with anxiety and nerves, maybe even panic attacks. They’re pretty powerful, and she definitely shouldn’t have taken more than one which I assume that’s what she’s done,” Sev guessed correctly. “So is she our new client?”

  “Why would she be?” I asked, “She has nothing to do with the service we offer.”

  “Raul just sent the photos of the submissions from the club to us. And her name is on one of them,” Sev replied slowly. I hadn’t had a chance to look at my emails.

  “Send it to me,” I ordered brusquely. Rather than going through them all, it would save me time.

  “Jarek hasn’t had the chance to screen her properly though, you’re not prepared for her,” Sev deviated.

  “Sev, send it to me,” I repeated with an ominous tone.

  “Okay, but it reads pretty weird,” he warned, signing off.

  Thirty seconds later my mobile vibrated. I unlocked it and read her submission with a smirk. I was only going to observe her from a safe distance, but now I had a reason not to.

  I OPENED MY eyes groggily. Everything was blurry from sleep. “Ugh,” I groaned in disgust with myself. What the hell had I been thinking last night? My head throbbed brutally. It was no less than I deserved. I had gotten the best sleep for a while though, I conceded.

  I rubbed my irritated eyes, and as everything came into focus my heart stopped. Where the hell was I? My mind flicked back to last night, I remembered passing out in a room, and that room was not the same one that I was in now.

  I pulled back the sheets and sat on the side of the bed, trembling. I looked down at myself, feeling for any bumps, bruises, or wounds. I didn’t feel sore anywhere, and I looked . . . untouched. The relief was so great I doubled over, and began to sob.

  “You’re okay Älskling,” a rich voice spoke from a dark corner in the room.

  “What? That’s not my name. What are you doing here?” I yelled, looking for something that I could use to defend myself.

  He moved out of the shadows where he had been hidden, and I stopped what I was doing—or thinking—or maybe both. The first thing my eyes landed on was the color of his eyes…they were a deep midnight green, full of fire that trailed a blaze across my skin. And then his hair, it was the color of black onyx and came down past his ears and slightly curled.

  �
��I wasn’t calling you by a name, it was an endearment,” he mocked, and the next thing I noticed was how tall he was, with every step closer he took toward me his muscles rippled, awakening my dead libido.

  “I–I don’t care what it was,” I stuttered, actually burning to know what it meant. “Who are you?” I demanded, standing up to face him head on. “And don’t come any closer,” I ordered.

  “I’m not going to hurt you, not after all the effort I’ve put forth to keep you safe,” he replied, and I tried to place his slight accent but I couldn’t.

  “I was passed out in The Den of Iniquity. How did I get here? And exactly where is here?” I asked, feeling relieved when he didn’t come any closer.

  “Do you always court such trouble?” he inquired with a tip of his head.

  “Maybe, what about you? You didn’t have to bring me here, wherever here is,” I parried.

  “Maybe,” he repeated. “It is part of my job description, after all. I’m not here out of some sense of duty to you, I brought you here for myself,” he warned coldly, and I felt his iciness like it was a veritable dagger.

  “For what purpose?” I asked with confusion. I was scared but excited at the same time.

  “To notify you that I’ve read your submission, and I’m interested to know just how you’d like to make use of my services,” he answered, taking one step closer so that we were one foot away from each other. My breath caught, and my hands began to shake. He was the Leverager!

  “Please, don’t come any closer,” I repeated breathlessly. He didn’t move or speak, and I took that as his willingness to comply.

  “I don’t remember making any submission,” I denied hotly.

  “You mean you don’t remember writing this note?” he queried, showing me a photo of it. I burned hotly again this time with mortification, feeling red suffuse my cheeks, as I saw the brazenness of my demand.

  “Okay, so maybe I do remember writing it, but I was drunk, I didn’t mean it,” I swore.