by T M Kelly
His comment about trust threw me off. Never once did I go against my family, growing up. Dad just hated that I was more into fighting and less inclined to go to college. In my mind, that was the only issue between us. Well, until he approached me recently about paying him back for all the money he’d spent on me growing up. Which I knew was absurd.
My hands were now on my lap. I could tell the rope was tied differently this time and forced me to have my arms crossed in front. Moving my arms up and down, I inspected the knots. A little shimmer of hope sprouted up the moment I noticed the knots were loose. There was a possibility I could work my hands free, but it would take a little time. The way they tied the rope made it possible for me to reach forward and eat. The assholes didn’t realize they also made it easier for me to escape.
“Okay, let’s eat.” Mason placed a small table in front of me. There was a plate with what looked like mashed potatoes, ground beef, and a few cooked carrots.
“A meal fit for a king,” I said in a harsh tone. “What, no silverware?”
“Caveman-style eating,” Brooks said under his breath.
“You don’t need utensils. Just eat up. I need to be somewhere.” Mason was typing something into his phone and pacing the length of the room.
“Well, at least we get to enjoy something from all the food groups.” I reached forward and dug my fingers down in the mashed potatoes. Before I shoved it into my mouth, I inspected the surface. “Is that an ant?” I took a closer look. “You mixed ants in our food?” I threw the shit back down on my plate.
“You needed the protein.” Mason shrugged and continued to try to look busy.
I dropped my hands to my lap. The rope was wrapped around my wrists in a figure eight. As I tried to pull one end up, I kept a close watch on my brother in the corner of my eye.
“Charlie,” Brooks whispered. “Don’t do it.”
I ignored his pleas. Had the assholes already managed to break my boyfriend? I knew he was stronger than what his words conveyed. I just needed to give him hope. Glancing in my brother’s direction to see which way he was facing, I lifted my wrist up and tried to use my teeth to free the knot. It took me what felt like thirty minutes, but was only a few minutes to loosen the rope enough to where I could slide my wrists out.
“Seriously C, you don’t want to do this.”
Brooks’s demeanor caught me off guard. “When did you become negative Nelly?”
“When two men decided to tie me up and use me as a heavy bag.”
I tried to move past his words. If I thought about what he said, it would show weakness. We couldn’t afford to be weak right now. My brother was only inches away from me with his back turned in my direction. I took the opening he offered and stood up quickly. When I attempted to lunge forward, my body dropped to the ground.
“Boss, are you okay?” I could hear from above me.
“That bitch.” My brother sounded pissed. “Thought you could double-cross me. You won’t win, Charlotte. Just give up and let Dad have what he wants.”
It felt like a brick had been bashed into my head. Reaching back, I could feel liquid of some kind. As I looked at my hand, there was blood dripping off my fingers. Brooks called for me, but I didn’t have the strength to say I was going to be okay. I understood now why Brooks was so unsure; they were not going to let us out of here alive.
“Hey.” I felt a hand cup my cheek. “Charlie, wake up.” I could hear someone talking to me but didn’t have the strength to respond. “Fuck, sunshine, you need to wake up.”
I shoved my eyelids open, but everything was out of focus. “Where am I?” I whispered.
“Oh, thank fuck,” Brooks said and bent to kiss my lips.
Brooks was beside me. I wanted to jump up and down but didn’t have the energy. “My head feels like an anvil was dropped on it.”
“Close,” he said and tucked his arm under my body. “It was the butt of a gun.”
As everything started to come into focus, I could see that Brooks had more cuts and bruises. “Your face.” I reached up to touch him, but he pulled away. “Is it my fault?”
I slowly moved my body to a sitting position and pushed back to lean against the cool brick wall. We were in the small six by eight room again. This time they allowed us to be together. I wonder what changed?
“Charlie, don’t do that again.”
“Do what?” I placed my hand on the right side of my head. The pain was almost unbearable. “Try to escape and get the fuck out of this mess?”
He leaned over and kissed my temple. “Let’s think this through together.”
“How the hell did you convince them to let us stay together?”
“It was your brother’s idea.”
That took me by surprise. “Mason showed compassion? Is that possible?”
With his good arm, he tugged me closer to his body. “Well, I wouldn’t say that.”
I rested my head on his shoulder. “I feel like my head may split in two.” There was no doubt in my mind I had a serious concussion. The problem was, we were in a cell in the middle of nowhere land. I had to figure this one out on my own. I was thankful Brooks was near me.
“I saw two more doors as we headed back to this room,” he said and rested his head on mine.
“You did,” I said and avoided lifting my head.
“The one asshole that was watching you”—Brooks reached for my hand—“he entered the hallway through one of the mystery doors. I could see a stairwell and bright lights.”
“Think we’re in a house?” I laced my fingers with his. “It’s not like we were that far from civilization when they found us.”
“I think so.”
“So what now?”
“Let’s get you feeling better first. Then talk about a plan to get us the fuck out of here.”
“I vote we talk about getting out of here now.”
He placed his palm over the side of my face. “Charlie—”
I regretted the moment I lifted my head too quickly. “No, don’t say it. Not here.” If he wanted to confess his love to me, we were going to do that on the other side of this mess. Not when I was on the verge of vomiting from the pain and losing hope we would get out of here alive.
19
Brooks marked on the brick wall with a rock each day we had been held. It was now day five. I was finally feeling better. Well, my head at least didn’t feel like it would explode. I was worried about the long-term effects from not receiving medical attention after being hit over the head. Something I had to stop freaking out about because it didn’t matter now. The only thing we needed to focus on was our escape plan.
After dinner was passed under the door last night, we both sat and talked more about how to get the fuck out. I was hopeful my brother would approach us again with another deal. Brooks wasn’t feeling as positive. I figured Mason would give us a week to sit in the hell hole. After the week, he probably thought we would cave and give him my bank account number. Unfortunately, he and my father were going to be sorely disappointed.
“When we get home”—I held up some mashed potatoes on my index finger—“I never want to look at potatoes, burger, or carrots again.”
He held up his finger. “I can pinky swear on that one. Like even a burger on the grill makes me gag.”
There was commotion on the other side of the door which caused us both to sit up. I heard the normal two clicks and then a pull. “Looks like they’re going to talk to us sooner than we thought?”
“Maybe because of our good behavior.” He laughed and leaned his back against the wall.
We sat there, waiting as they opened the door slowly. The first asshole who loved to hurt me stepped into the room. “Put your hands out.”
“No hi or how are you doing?” I had a problem with being a smart-ass sometimes.
Brooks and I had a feeling there were only two or three men on the property. Which meant they had no fighting chance against us. I kept my cool and held out my hands. My hea
d was not one hundred percent, but I had to get my big girl panties on for this adventure. If my best friend could fight with a broken jaw, I could fight for our survival with a head injury.
“Funny,” the guy said and bent down at the same time as the other guy to tie our wrists together. “We figured you may want to get out of this room. Have dinner somewh—”
Before my favorite asshole could finish his sentence, I had pulled him down into a headlock. He tried to fight me, but I had my one arm wrapped around the front of his neck and my other arm looped around to the back of his neck. I was done fucking around. This guy needed to go down by submission and immediately. His hands were flailing and then they stopped. The moment he stopped fighting, I dropped back down to the floor and fell against the wall.
Brooks was having a tougher time getting asshole number two into a submission hold. They were grappling on the floor for several long minutes. Somehow the guy managed to take control and loom over Brooks, attempting to punch him. I jumped up, twisted in a circle and landed a perfect high kick on the guy’s jaw. He fell back immediately.
“Think we should leave eating instructions, because here’s hoping his jaw’s broken,” I teased and helped Brooks up. “Hell, we all became pro’s when poor Lily was recovering.”
“Nah, let him figure it out on his own.”
We kept our hands clasped together and ran out of the room. “How is it possible they are the only ones watching this place?”
“Your family got cocky and didn’t take your fighting skills into consideration.”
“They’ll regret that decision.”
Brooks pulled us toward the door he had been talking about for the last several days. There was a stairwell behind the door, and it looked like it led to the outside just as he’d described. The moment we were outside, I stopped when my feet hit the grass. “Wait.” My instincts kicked in, and I knew we weren’t alone. “We need to take cover.”
“What? How do you know that?”
Right as I was about to say something, a bullet whizzed by my face. I pointed in the direction of where it came. “I’m going to take a shot in the dark and say that way.” Brooks pulled me down to the ground and tried to use himself as a human shield. “Hey,” I mumbled from below him.
“We need to find some place to hide.”
“You need to get off of me.” As he pushed up, another bullet was shot in our direction and this time grazed my thigh. “Fuck me.” I was done with this bullshit. “My father wants a war, I’ll give him a war.”
“Should I be scared?” he said and grabbed my hand.
“No, but my father should be.”
20
We both jumped behind a large oak tree. Brooks tore off the bottom of his shirt to wrap around my leg. “So about your dad,” he said and knotted the fabric together tightly. “Did you know about the whole gangster-style approach when he wants something?”
It was hard not to laugh. I sat there for a moment and thought about my life before I left my parents’ house. Never once did I see any actions that showed my father’s mob mentality. I knew he had a temper but not to this extent. The part I was still struggling to compute in my brain was my brother. I never expected Mason to fall in line with my father to this extent.
“No,” I finally said and pushed my back against the tree. “He’s an asshole, sure. But capture, almost starve, and attempt to murder one of his daughters? That is a whole separate can of worms.” I held my hand up the moment I heard twigs cracking. “Someone is walking this way.”
Brooks cautiously peeked around the tree. “Four guys, all with guns. One is your brother.”
“My training in the octagon never prepared me for this.” I massaged my temples feeling the onset of another lovely headache. “Lily’s father never even taught us how to fight someone with a gun.”
“Charlotte, give up. You know you’re surrounded.” Mason’s voice echoed loudly.
“C, last time I checked, you don’t give up on anything,” Brooks whispered.
Give up? Fuck that. Yeah, that option wasn’t even in my vocabulary. I was struggling to think, but we needed to get out of this mess. Too much was happening all at once. I knew my money helped pay my bills, but it wasn’t the root of my happiness. My father obviously planned to take extreme lengths to push his own daughter away and ride off into the sunset with money that was never his.
Instead of saying anything, I stood up on shaky legs and stepped around the tree. “Is this really what Dad wanted?” I tried to seem calm but inside was on the verge of peeing my pants from fear. “He supports all this?”
“Dad just likes to get what he wants.”
“No matter the cost?”
I watched Mason drop his handgun a fraction. “Charlotte, you left the family a long time ago.”
“So that’s what this is about. I left so he feels I owe him now?”
“There’s a cost for everything.”
“Even if it involves killing a blood relative.”
He finally dropped his gun to his side. “Would you still be considered a relative after all these years?”
It was like a knife was driven through my heart. His words cut deep. I stood there unsure what to say next. Whatever I said, it didn’t matter. My father or whoever that man was in my father’s body—he’d lost all sense of reality. My dad had let greed and power take over. His family stayed at the bottom of his list of what was important to him.
I tried to let go of those thoughts and focus on the here and now. “Why attack me here? You could’ve just made an easy trip to Las Vegas.” Then it dawned on me. “You bugged my place.”
“You’re always at that damn gym. It was an easy in and out.”
“Attacking us here meant no Lily and less fighters around me.” My father must’ve been planning this for weeks. He found a way to bug my place. Fuck, he probably had a mole at the gym for all I knew. “So, what now?”
“This,” Mason said, and suddenly an arm was wrapped around my neck. I placed my hands on the mystery arm, trying to fight the hold.
“Charlie,” Brooks yelled from beside me.
“Brooks,” I said and finally gave up the fight. My tears I held in fell one after another. I looked right into Mason’s eyes. “This doesn’t involve him. Let him go.”
“Are you going to give us what we want?”
“Yeah, whatever. Just don’t hurt Brooks, please.”
I heard a body fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes. “Charlie, don’t you dare give up.”
“What am I supposed to do? We’re out numbered here.” The guy tightened his grip on my neck, causing me to struggle to take a breath. As I attempted to fight my attacker, I watched my brother approach me.
“You’re out numbered. So let’s just get this over with, Charlotte.” He took the last few steps and was inches from my face. “Account number?”
I tried to see Brooks in my peripheral vision, but he was too far away now. Fuck. Finally, I lifted my eyes to meet Mason. “You’ll regret this.”
“I highly doubt it.”
“Six, five—” Before I could finish the last eight digits, Brooks yelled and then a gun went off, and the guy holding me let go of my neck. I was standing in front Mason, nose to nose. We both glanced at the gun resting at his side. I think my brother knew there was a slim chance he could pull that gun up before I threw a kick in his direction. “What now?” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. I didn’t care about the pain in my leg from the gunshot wound. All I cared about was taking my brother down.
“Finish your account number and I leave.”
“When did you become the second in command in Dad’s mob business?”
“Shit doesn’t come easy. We have to fight for what we want.”
“Or in your case, threaten and kill people.” I looked down and noticed a red beam on the center of my chest. “You’re both sick you know that, right?”
“Numbers?” he said and sounded annoyed.
“
Eight, zero—”
“Really, Charlie,” Brooks yelled again. “You’re going to cave just like that?”
“Brooks, I—”
“I know Lily well enough. I’ve even watched every fight with The Punisher.” Brooks finally came into focus in the corner of my eye. “I seriously doubt he didn’t teach you to tap out when shit seemed too hard.”
I closed my eyes and let my mind wander back. Lily’s father loved training us both. He told us how he looked forward to the day when women would kick ass in an octagon. I could remember the time when he said it may be a man’s world now, but you just wait. The Punisher believed in fighting for what was yours. In this case, here and now, my money, my life, and my pride.
“Did he tell you to fight till the very last second?” Brooks continued.
“Yeah, he did.”
“So what’re you doing?”
I lifted my head. “Letting this man win.”
“It’s time you won the fight, C.”
Before anyone had a chance to register my next move, I threw a punch right in the center of Mason’s jaw. When my brother fell to the ground, I attempted to straddle his body, wanting to lay a few more punches on that shit-eating grin he loved to display.
“We need to bail, sunshine,” Brooks said and reached down to grab Mason’s gun.
As we ran in the opposite direction, there was gunfire going off, but somehow each bullet missed us by a long shot. One of the guys we had just knocked out must have woke up, which meant we needed to hide and fast. There were green trees and rocks in every direction. My instincts told me we were fucked. “Brooks.” I reached for his arm, feeling completely out of breath. “Wait.”
“Baby, we have to keep moving.” My headache was back and my damn leg was throbbing. I was struggling to catch my breath. “Here,” he said and lifted me onto his back. “Let’s find a place to hide for the night.”
I knew Brooks was not any better. He had been nursing a possible fracture for several days now. As a fighter, we’re taught to move past pain and take our mind somewhere else. There’s an end game we’re working toward. That had to be the case with him now; he didn’t care about his forearm. His goal was to care for me. I rested my head on his shoulder, struggling to stay awake. My fucking headache was back and my head felt like it may explode.
