by Coralee June
I nodded numbly.
“Good girl. I’m gonna take you home now. The basement hasn’t been the same without you.”
Bile rushed up my throat, but his hand was still clamped over my mouth, so I was forced to hold the acid on my tongue and swallow it back down. It was like my brain shut down, because he started leading me forward through the room, and everyone’s eyes were on the games, so no one paid the least bit of attention to us. He simply looked like he was escorting me forward, the gun concealed to appear like it was his hand on my lower back.
When he saw that Bonham was still standing there, speaking to the chief of police, Eddie made a detour from the elevators and managed to sneak behind the bar to a supply closet and shove me inside. I fell against the shelf, barely able to catch myself before Eddie was there, looming over me. I closed my eyes tight, trying to make the vision go away. Not again. I couldn’t do this again.
Eddie finally took the toothpick out of his mouth and leered at me. “You think you could hide from me, Nomar? You belong to the Macon Mob.”
“I don’t belong to anyone.” It felt good to fight back, felt good to spill my own power from my lips.
“That brand on your shoulder says otherwise.”
I swallowed hard. “What are you going to do? I won’t leave with you. I’ll scream. I’ll fight.”
“You struggle, and my men will open fire on the club upstairs. Dozens will die because of you. You want that on your conscience?”
I tried to gauge if there was any merit to his threat, and all that greeted me was an empty stare holding a firm promise to do exactly as he said. I hated him. I hated him so much that I was consumed with it.
“This is what’s gonna happen. We’re gonna wait for pretty boy out there to move, and then you’re coming with me. If you don’t behave, I’ll go through on my promise. You know I will. All those innocent people upstairs, gone,” he said with a snap of his fingers.
“Godfrey won’t let you take me again.”
He laughed. “Let me fill you in on a little secret, darlin’. That boy was tasked with the job to kill you. That’s why he’s here tonight.”
My eyes widened, and my mouth dropped open. “N-no…He wouldn’t...”
I shook my head in denial, my entire body trembling, but Eddie nodded. “Oh, yes. Tell me, what do you think he’d rather give up? His family and friends? Or the used-up gangster’s daughter?”
Tears streamed down my face as terror shook me. Was it true?
I didn’t know. My world was too loud, too fast. I couldn’t think, and every time I trembled, it stole more of my breath away. Eddie relished in my panic, and he took a step forward. I automatically took a step back, my body pressing into the shelves behind me.
No. No. No. Not again. Not this time. I wasn’t the same damn girl that bent until she broke back in the basement. I was stronger now. I had a plan. I had a goal. Eddie was going to die. The new information about Godfrey cut like a knife, but I’d survive. I’d always fucking survive. I forced myself to take a breath, and I stared him down. Eddie saw the steely resolve in me, and his eyes narrowed.
As if to throw me off, he reached up like he was going to rub his meaty finger down my cheek, but the door behind him suddenly swung open, and as soon as he turned around, Godfrey’s fist was there. I heard a shattering noise, and I instinctually ducked as glass exploded across Eddie’s head and showered over us. Godfrey held the smashed bottle of liquor, ready to swing again, but Eddie went down.
Eddie fell hard to the floor, dazed, and Godfrey reached for me. “Come on!”
I hesitated for only a second before taking his hand. At least this was the devil I knew. He hauled me over Eddie’s form and yanked me out of the closet. We rushed out, and I saw Luis shut the door behind us, while Bonham was still positioned at the elevators.
The four of us ducked inside, and Luis pressed the buttons as soon as we were clear. There was already a commotion from where we’d come, and I watched in horror as Eddie came storming out, four men in suits following him. They spotted us, and Eddie pointed right at us with a promise of death.
The elevator doors snapped shut, and my stomach lurched as it started to ascend. I started to hyperventilate, unable to get a breath of air in my collapsing chest. Everything that came out was like a wheeze. Eddie had looked at me. He’d looked at me the way he’d looked at me dozens of times before. Like I was a thing instead of a person. I should’ve just told my dad everything I could and let him handle it. I was a stupid, naive girl trying to play with bad men who would always beat me. I needed to get out—to get as far away from Eddie and Godfrey as possible.
“I won’t go with him,” I said, and I didn’t even recognize my own voice. I was clawing at the edges of my turmoil, determined to stay strong and not get pulled under, but there was no way in hell I could go with Eddie again. “I can’t go with him again. I won’t. Just kill me, please,” I told him, my face a mess of tears and sweat. If he had to kill me or else get everyone else in his life killed, then I wanted him to get it over with. It was better than the alternative of being back in Eddie’s clutches. “Just fucking kill me already!”
Godfrey came up and tugged me against him. “Princess, stop.”
“Get her relaxed, or we can’t go up,” Luis said, pressing the stop button on the elevator.
Now we were stuck, and my panic just soared higher. I didn’t think. I just launched myself at the controls, trying to get to the button, but Luis blocked me. I slapped him across the face and screamed. Luis tried to say something, but I was too far gone to comprehend his words. All I knew was that I was trapped, and Eddie was going to get me if we didn’t hurry.
“Rachel! Princess, you have to stop!”
My screams tapered off into pleading. I looked up at Godfrey through blurry eyes. “He told me you’re here to kill me. Just do it. Please. Kill me so I don’t have to go with him again.”
“Jesus.” Godfrey spun me around and cupped my face, tilting my head up. “Look at me.” I shook my head, my eyes screwed shut, but he shook me slightly. “Look at me,” he repeated insistently.
I wrenched open my eyes and stared at him through wet lashes. “Good girl,” he cooed quietly, his thumbs swiping across my wet cheeks like he could wipe away the pain. “I’m not gonna hurt you, princess. You’re okay. I’ve got you. That motherfucker isn’t going to touch you again. Ever. You hear me?”
I saw the truth in his eyes. His eyes were always his tell. I nodded numbly.
“Good. Luis is going to press the button so we can get out of here, but we need you to be calm. If you’re panicking and screaming, everyone in the club up there will see you. So calm down. Breathe. I got you.”
Staring into Godfrey’s icy eyes, I started breathing in and out, matching his inhales and exhales. When he was convinced I was calm enough, Godfrey nodded, but Luis looked over at Bonham.
Bonham was busy punching keys in on his phone, his face screwed up in concentration. “One more minute. The cops just arrived four minutes ago.”
Godfrey didn’t let go of my face, and I kept my eyes on him like he was my anchor. “He isn’t gonna hurt you. Not ever again... We’re gonna hurt him.”
“Now,” Bonham said.
Immediately, Luis pressed the button to get us moving again.
“Rogue is waiting in the car. Eddie’s guys left as soon as they saw the cops I called out front,” Bonham said.
“Good.”
The elevator doors dinged open, and the three guys kept me in the middle as they walked. Godfrey stayed on my right, Bonham behind me, and Luis in front. We picked up a fourth guy as we went, who Godfrey greeted with a nod. “Clay.”
“Fucking Heirs always making messes,” Clay said, coming up to walk on my left. He had dark skin and black hair and an open, nice face. When his brown eyes fell on me, they softened. “Hey. We got you. The Heirs are assholes, but they take care of their people.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I jus
t let the four of them lead me from the club into Rogue Kelly’s waiting SUV. As soon as we were inside, Godfrey pulled me onto his lap, and I rested my head against his chest, trying to drown out everything that had happened by listening to the steady drum of his heart. The guys spoke in low murmurs around me as the car moved, but I didn’t hear anything. Soon, exhaustion from my intense panic and adrenaline overtook me, and I fell asleep in Godfrey’s arms.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Godfrey
I was going to kill him. I knew just how I was going to do it, too. I’d start by breaking every damn bone in his hand for touching what was mine. Anger and the need for revenge poked and prodded at me. Beating his ass wasn’t enough, and if I would’ve had more time, I would have taken the shards from that broken bottle and dug them into his eyes back in the storage closet. The only thing that kept me sane was the trembling beautiful mess clutching my hand like a lifeline.
I should have fucking known that Eddie was Pick. Should have known that the man wanting her dead was the man that already nearly killed her. Before, I’d just wanted Eddie dead because he was a threat. But now that I knew he was Pick? That made things personal.
I held her while Rogue drove, staring out of the window as my mind whirled. We glided across the Savannah streets with ease, the guys talking quietly so as not to wake her. We drove for a long time, Rogue using all his tricks to make sure we weren’t followed. I thought she was still asleep, so when she pushed away from my chest and scooted over to the middle seat, it startled me. “Don’t,” she reprimanded me.
I frowned. “Don’t what? Hold you?”
“Yes.”
“Why the fuck not?”
“Don’t pretend you care; I don’t want your lies. And don’t start treating me like a victim, because I don’t want your pity, either. I preferred you when you hated me, Godfrey.”
I wanted to touch her. I wanted to reach across the seat and haul her back into my lap again, but I stopped myself. “I never hated you, Princess,” I replied. What I did hate was that I wanted her so damn bad it hurt to breathe. I hated that my fucked up family and a gang war was standing between us.
Her knee bounced up and down as Rogue finally pulled up into the driveway of the out-of-town safe house that Rocco gave us the address to. There was a shit ton of security out front since Bonham had already contacted her father. “Was your dad in town?” I asked.
Rachel shook her head. “No. He had to leave for a meeting in Atlanta. It’s how I snuck out so easily.”
The car came to a stop, and Rogue looked over his shoulder at me. “You go inside. We’ll talk to security and make sure Rocco gets his ass home.”
“Is it safe here?” Rachel asked, her voice sounding strong and steady.
Luis leaned forward from his spot in the third row while Bonham nodded from the passenger seat. “Yeah. Rocco said it’s clean, and from what I’ve been able to hack, Eddie’s people don’t know about this place.”
Yet. The word hung in the air between us.
“You take her inside,” Rogue said. “We’ll handle shit out here and with Rocco.”
I nodded and pushed open the door and got out of the car, grabbing Rachel’s hand as soon as she was out. Rocco’s men surrounded us, guns drawn and eyes outward as they escorted us to the front door.
One of the guards opened the front door, and two men were already stationed inside. The space was small, but two stories, everything looking like it hadn’t been updated since the seventies, complete with green shag carpeting, paisley wallpaper, and felt pictures hanging on the walls.
I nodded to the guys stationed inside and led her upstairs to the first bedroom we came across. The bed looked new, with plain white sheets, and there was a bag of generic folded clothes waiting on the dresser, along with a connected bathroom off to the left.
As soon as I closed the door behind us, she started stripping out of her shoes as she walked. With her feet free of the heels, she plopped down on the bed and laid on her back, with her feet hanging over the edge. I watched the curves of her breasts rise and fall with each steady breath. I shuffled uneasily on my feet. This was uncharted territory. I was good at challenging her, riling her up so that she had the anger she needed to fight off her demons, but I wasn’t so good at the mushy stuff.
“Did it feel good?” she asked finally while staring up at the rotating ceiling fan above her.
I didn’t quite understand her. “Did what feel good?”
“Hitting him.”
I debated on my answer for a moment before moving over to sit beside her on the mattress. The moment I sat down, she dipped closer to me and, like a damn pussy, my breath hitched when her thigh touched mine. I wanted to soothe this girl. I wanted to erase all the pain on her skin and replace the marks he’d left, with licks of pleasure from my own mouth. I wanted to let her use me up. I wanted to ease her back into a mindset that made her feel powerful again. She wanted that. I could see it in the way her face had hardened.
“It felt damn good. I could feel the shards of glass digging into his skin,” I replied before laying back beside her. I watched the ceiling fan travel it’s endless orbit, feeling like it was some damn metaphor for my life lately. I was constantly spinning, like a dog chasing his damn tail.
“Pi—Eddie, he works with your dad?” she asked before lifting her arms up and resting them behind her head.
“My dad likes to help criminals get away with their crimes.”
“Makes sense,” she mumbled. “Are we gonna talk about how you’re supposed to kill me? Should I be worried that we’re alone?”
Guilt slashed through me in waves. How could I possibly explain the predicament that I was in? I’d never hurt Rachel Nomar, not without killing myself first. The idea of seeing her lifeless eyes gutted me. Doing Eddie’s bidding was never the plan, but I wasn’t exactly blameless, either.
I wanted to be able to reassure her that I had nothing to do with my father’s business, but I couldn’t. It was eating me up inside to know that I was helping him get people like Eddie off the hook. I didn’t have much of a choice, the ceiling fan above me kept spinning in that same spot, moving a lot without ever going anywhere, and I wasn’t any better.
“I never would’ve done it. I’ve been trying to buy us time so I could figure this all out. I’m going to have my father killed, and your father was supposed to take care of Eddie,” I confessed. “But until that happened, it wasn’t safe. That’s why I pushed you away. He takes anyone I care about and uses them against me. Going against him is a death sentence, and I didn’t want anyone else to be used as leverage. I didn’t want to hurt you. I sure as fuck wasn’t going to kill you.”
She was still silent, her chest going up and down, up and down. Say something, dammit.
“I understand. Thanks, by the way. For not killing me.” Her words were dripping with sarcasm, and I wanted to hold her face in my hands and make her see that I’d rather cut out my heart than end her. I wasn’t sure when I fell for her, but I fell fucking hard.
“I care about you, Rachel. If you believe nothing else I say, believe that.”
“You don’t care about me, Godfrey,” she said with a sigh. I could have groaned with how self-deprecating it sounded.
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
She didn’t respond for a long time, just flipped on her side and stared lovingly at me, tracing my lips with her eyes. “Because if I admit that you care about me, then that means all bets are off. I’d fall in love with you, and then that’d be it. I’m not ready to think you actually care, ’cause then that would mean I’d have to go ahead and forgive you for breaking my heart. It’s easier to live in the lie of hate than it is to admit the truth of love.”
“That’s some fucked up logic, princess.”
“I’m a fucked up girl, God.”
I shifted to face her, lifting my palm to cup her cheek. “Want me to lie to you and say how much I hate you?” I asked with a cheeky smirk. With every
second we spent talking together, I saw the light returning to her eyes. My girl was coming back—the girl that fought for herself and guarded the broken pieces of her life with everything she had. I saw the girl that confronted her issues and demanded vengeance.
She watched my face as I stroked her cheek tenderly. When I licked my lips, her eyes darted down to watch the movement. “Yeah,” she replied. “I want you to lie to me,” she said huskily.
“Fuck, I hate you,” I rasped before leaning close and lightly kissing her glossy lips, tasting the cherry flavor that coated them. It wasn’t about sex or challenge. I just loved her so fucking much in that moment, no matter what words she wanted to hear. I’d show her in my actions what I really felt. When I pulled away, she tried to follow my lips, but I leaned back. “No, princess. Not now.”
Even I knew she was too vulnerable. Too raw. I wasn’t going to take advantage of her.
She sat up on her elbows and looked at me. I mean really looked at me. “It’s not about him. I’m done letting him come between the things that I want. He’s not here in this room with us. It’s just you and me,” she said quietly, her blue eyes so open and loving that I couldn’t fucking bear it. “And I hate you too, Godfrey Taylor. So, so much.”
She rolled her body on top of mine so our faces were only an inch apart. My hands flew up to grip her by the hips, and I tried not to move them down to her ass where her little black dress had ridden up. She started nipping at my lips and jaw, trying her damnedest to make me lose my resolve.
“Come on, God. Lie to me. Forget me. Leave me. Hate me.” She punctuated every command with a bite and a dart of her tongue against my neck. She kept repeating her demands, over and over again in my ear. Lie to me, hate me, forget me, leave me—but what she was really saying was don’t.
