SAVAGE POET: A Dark, New Adult and College Romance

by Jax Hart

  I totally roll my closed eyes. Stuck in my own body, listening to Johnny’s self-talk is hell. Is he high right now? Did he just ramble some shit about Red donating her blood for me? Is it true? Because I’ll bet, I’m hard thinking about how sexy AF that is. The drugs lull me back into a sleep of sorts. I’m not sure if minutes or days have passed when I hear her talking to me, begging me to come back and apologizing for what she’s about to do?

  What are you about to do, Red? Kill Johnny because he’s driving me nuts, too.

  I smell the perfume from her skin, feel the tickle of her hair as she leans over me… I can’t breathe. What the fuck? Is Red smothering me with a pillow? “It’ll be easier this way. I can’t take you down without taking myself down, too.”

  “Romina!” Johnny’s here. He’s going to save me.

  “Sorry. I was just kissing him goodbye.”

  What? That was her lips? Damn they are over-sedating me.

  “How did this happen, Johnny? I don’t understand.”

  “Roque found out one of the guys was FBI posing as a worker on the island. He wanted to take him with us to find out what Intel that had on our operation, but the guy fired at Roque. Roque fired back on pure instinct.”

  “What happened to the agent?”

  “We took care of him.”

  “I see.”

  “Where are you going?”

  Yeah, where are you going?

  “For coffee.”

  “Bring me back one.”

  “Would you really drink it, Johnny? I know you hate me. I hate you, too.”

  “Ah, you’re just jealous of our bromance. You always left him, while I never did.”

  “What a cute couple you make. Do you enjoy sucking up to his ass?”

  He laughs as she walks out. Johnny is back. Just knowing his girl is alive has brought him back. I let the drugs do their thing and go back to the void.

  Am I in heaven? The light is so bright, I can’t see.

  “Roque? Can you hear me? Hello?” Johnny’s face comes into view. He’s hovering over me again.

  “Get out of my face. Fuckface.”

  He grins. “Welcome, back.”

  “Where’s Red?”

  “Locked up. I caught her with the FBI. She was singing like a bird. She never saw me until I had her in the back of my trunk.”

  “Red? She turned? On me?”

  “I know it hurts like a bitch. I’ve been there. But I’m not stealing her. She’s all yours to deal with. Just rest up and get better.”

  I squint, attempting to hide the pain. “Shut the damn lights off. I’ve been out for what a few days?”

  “Try about a week.”

  I try to jack-knife, and my arms feel numb as I try to lift them to rip the IV and monitors from me.

  “Whoa. Easy there, killer.” Johnny pushes me back down.

  Nurses and doctors all rush in. Everyone seems pleased that I’m awake. I was always awake; I just couldn’t move.

  As they poke and prod me, I conjure all the ways I’m going to punish her.

  18

  Roque & Chloe

  A week later…

  My fists clenched in my pocket. Adrenalin ran like wildfire in my veins as my eyes swept her from head-to-toe. I don’t speak as I slowly walk forward, flicking my wrist to indicate to my men that I wanted to be alone.

  “No one will save you,” I rasp, cutting the distance between us. She finally lifted her eyes.

  I smirked. “I’ve broken you.” But she couldn’t utter a word. Not with the thick piece of rope between those plump lips. Lips that I once dreamed of.

  Cherished.

  Loved.

  But I’ll never let my heart trip and fall again.

  But as my fingers stroke her soft cheek and her heaving breaths make her breasts bounce, part of me wonders what could have been. A thousand “if only’s” have me punching the wall above her head showering her in a layer of sheetrock.

  I yank the rope from her mouth and press my bleeding knuckles to her lips, painting them red.

  “Never.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You’ll never break me.”

  I rock back on my heels studying the pathetic form at my feet. Was she serious? I’d taken everything from her a man could. But I guess it wasn’t enough. Maybe the two of us were meant to break one another. Because I damn near lost everything I maimed and killed for. Rank. Power. Respect.

  “Fine. Instead of the queen I treated you as…you can be my little whore.”

  “No.”

  She jerked her face from my hand.

  “Yes, bella. Before you betrayed me, I was ready to put my ring here….,” I grab her left hand, “and my seed here….” I rubbed her starving belly. “I bet you miss it already?” I breath. “My cock filling you so full.”

  Her eyes betrayed her. My words painted a picture of what could have been. But her family roots ran just as deep as mine. In our world vengeance trumps all. She made her choice, the fallout is all on her. She bites her lip. The sight of my crimson blood on her tongue has me hard as fuck.

  My hands make quick work of my belt. I stroke myself from root to tip inches from her. She shrinks back but there’s nowhere to go. Her bare back scrapes against the wall.

  “I never loved you,” she spits, straightening her spine.

  The devil in me rises. Fuck her. My family and this whole fucking world. I have everything. Everything a man alive could want. I will have her love. No matter how long it takes. I. Will. Have. Her. Heart. Just so I can smash it to pieces, leaving it shattered at my feet.

  I could shove my cock in her mouth. It’d be easy. But I don’t. My fingers grab her by the chin. “Open your eyes. Look at me.” I command.

  “No.”

  “Do it. Or I’ll fuck your face.”

  “You wouldn’t. I know you, Roque. You’re ruthless in everything you do until it comes to women. You’d never force one.”

  “Exception is my new pet name for you, bella. Because you just became one.”

  With that promise, the head of my throbbing cock meets her trembling lips. Soon. Both my seed and my blood drips from her mouth. Satisfied, I grunt feeling the last shudder roll through me as my own seed glistens in the moonlight from where it landed on her lips. She betrayed me while I was at my weakest, practically at death’s door. She brought me back. It was her voice I heard while hooked up to beeping machines. Her soul kept me tethered to this Earth, this life. What a fool I was. Johnny was right. She never loved me. Not like I loved her. Her love was never real. All this time I wasted on a damn fantasy on some asinine belief that we were fated since that day in Palermo.

  What a fucking fool. Never again. I’ll never love her again. But my revenge will be to make her beg for the days when I did. I’ll break her every day until I leave this Earth for good. I need some space from her before I do something stupid like break her body.

  I turn on my heel not even sparing her one more glance. The door slams so hard my own ears cringe. I lock the door using a special code so not even my own men can get in. My fingers find the spot on my chest where the bullet ripped through me. She did more damage to my heart than an entire clip could. I take the stairs, marching up to the penthouse floor. Soon after I bought my place here in Chicago, I bought out the five floors under me for security. I tucked Romina into an empty apartment right under my own nose.

  As soon as I enter my penthouse, I go for the safe. My bloodied hands find her journals then mine. I grab a bottle of vodka, my lighter and add some kindling into the fireplace. I douse the wood with alcohol then light it. In my hands is all the love. All the passion recorded over the years in my blue ink.

  It feels heavy.

  I let it go.

  “Roque? What are you doing?’

  “CHLOE?!” I spin, finding my tiny blonde baby doll inches from me. She throws herself into my arms.

  “I’m so mad at you! You were shot and never told me? Never called?!”


  “How did you get here?”

  “I flew commercial.”

  “You need to go back to school.” A piece of kindling snaps, drawing her attention to the fire.

  “No!!!” She lets me go, using the poker to push my diary from the flames. The edges smoke.

  “Why?”

  I shrug. “It was time to let it go. You shouldn’t be here.”

  “Where else would I be? You could have at least called and let me know you are okay.”

  “But I’m not okay, Chloe.” I whisper watching the flames. My heart is shredded—bleeding out. I didn’t die on the island but I’m dying right here. Right now. I close my eyes; my hands grip the mantle as a shudder rips through me. The next thing I know—my face is wet. She did it. Broke me. Took me down and she didn’t need the wire for the feds. All it took was four words. I never loved you.

  “Oh, Roque.” Chloe’s slim arms come around me. I hug her back, letting my anguished cries out. I weep in her embrace, letting her comfort me. “It’ll be okay. Whatever it is. We’ll get through it together. You have me now.”

  “I-I failed you.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You asked me to get you Romina for your mother.” I reach into my pocket, taking out the flawless eight-carat cushion cut ruby set in platinum. It catches the light from the fire. Shrugging, I toss it to the flames. I pick up Romina’s journals, but Chloe puts a hand on my arm. “Those aren’t your words to burn.”

  “It’s all fiction.”

  She sighs, taking the books from me. Then she goes to the wet bar and douses my fire with ice and water. “We’ll save the ring later. First, we need to salvage the ending to this love story.”

  “Impossible.”

  She rolls her eyes. She has the nerve to roll her damn eyes as she goes back to the wet bar and dampens a cloth before coming back to me and dabbing my busted knuckles. “What happened after she found me in Switzerland?”

  I suck in a breath. “She traded her freedom for mine. Cut a deal with the Feds to turn me in. She seduced the shit out of me in Miami, found me on death’s door in the Bahamas and saved my life just to crush it.”

  “How?”

  “She gave me her blood. My body soaked it up, her life gave me life. Then she recorded me confessing to killing an undercover agent during a raid. Only I was the bad guy raiding the other bad guy.”

  Chloe takes my hand, leading me to the couch, then she fixes me a scotch, neat. “What were you doing in the Bahamas, again?”

  “Saving lost, little girls.”

  “Like me?”

  “You, if I hadn’t come along.” She sucks in a deep breath.

  “And where does Romina fit in all of this?”

  “She believed I was involved. She actually thought trafficking was part of my business and agreed to find evidence on me.”

  Chloe’s brow wrinkles. “I can’t believe that. Why would she ever believe you could be capable of doing something like that?”

  “You’ve read our story. I guess it is a believable plot twist. After all I did kill her once.”

  “I’m so sorry. I’d never believe you capable of that, Roque.”

  “I know. You’re my girl, Chloe… my family. Shit, I’m going to cry again. If you tell anyone you’ve seen me cry, I might have to kill you.”

  She smacks my arm. “That’s what makes you so special, Roque. You feel so much. Your feelings and emotions run deeper than you ever admit to yourself. It’s good to let it out. You’ll feel better after.”

  “Tell that to the wall, I punched three holes in.”

  “Where is she?”

  I look away. “You need to get back to school. I’m paying a shit-ton of tuition. I expect high marks.”

  “Now you’re back to being the tough guy?”

  “Sure am, squirt.”

  “Where’s Johnny? And all the guys you usually have around the building?”

  “I gave them the night off.”

  “Ok, what gives? What is going on? You just got shot, look like your skin is tinted a light shade of gray, and you have no nurse or security?”

  “I’m invincible, remember?”

  “Cut the shit.”

  “Go back to school!”

  “Argh! You’re so impossible!” She angrily “fluffs” a pillow by punching it.

  “Are you going to tell me what happened between you and Romina?” I remember the way I left her naked and chained below us wearing nothing but what I left behind.

  “No.”

  She punches the pillow again. “Did you…?”

  “No. Killing her would be the end of what’s left of me.”

  I sigh, not able to stay here. If I do—I’ll just end up back downstairs. Romina’s a dangerous drug. I might end up actually hurting her again because my emotions are so out of control. I’ll pay her a visit after I go for a walk and cool off.

  “I need to leave. I have business. You can’t stay here alone.”

  “I’m too tired to get back on another plane. I just wanted to check that you were in fact still alive. It would really suck if you weren’t. I’d be back in the system.”

  “Never. Dare and Shi agreed to be your legal guardians if that were to happen.”

  “Really?”

  “I’ll always look after you, squirt. Even if something happens to me.” This time Chloe’s the one choking on a sob as I pull her in for a tight hug. “Go take a shower and catch up on some rest. I’ll call your school and explain that you’ll be back in a few days. I’ll get the jet ready to fly you. No more commercial. That’s not good enough for my baby girl.”

  “Where are you going?”

  I get up. “To find the agent who threatened Red and deal with him. He showed her pictures of me with sex slaves, but he twisted the truth. His informant knew I never touched them. The informant also could’ve done the right thing when my syndicate raided the place. I was there to free them, but he sent texts saying I was there to steal them for my own profits. No matter what I do, someone is always working against me.”

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  I shrug. “Collateral damage of the life I chose to live is not your worry, squirt. I’ve come back from worse. This time will be no different. Will you be okay staying here overnight by yourself?”

  “Please. You have more security than a sitting president.”

  “True. My building is secure and surrounded. I expect your ass back in the classroom by the end of the week, understood?”

  “Yes, sir. But I expect you to answer my calls and respond to my texts, no matter what. Ok?”

  My lips quirk. “Deal.”

  I wait until Chloe shuffles off to her room before finishing my drink. I need a hot shower and a fresh suit. I’m going to break that fucker’s face. Whoever it was who turned Romina against me and convinced her I really was the monster in the dark, is going to pay. I have her phones. When everything is in place, I’ll make contact. My team is already on the hunt. With Johnny’s family contacts in New York, it wasn’t hard to track down that the agent is part of the D.C. Bureau. All I need now is a name. I pick up Romina’s phone from her bag. It’s locked. Protected by her fingerprint. I smirk. My shower can wait, getting into her phone can’t. Whistling, I place it in my pocket and exit the penthouse.

  19

  Chloe

  It’s pretty dumb to spy on your super-villain adopted dad, but I just knew he was up to something. I went into my room, turned the shower on and got dressed into black workout pants and a matching top. I put my hair up under a baseball cap and armed with nothing else but my phone, hid inside the kitchen pantry with the door slightly cracked.

  He was grinning and whistling as he left. I decided to wait ten minutes to make sure he was in the garage before I began snooping. I know he has a control room somewhere in this building loaded with cameras. Roque is kind of like God; he has eyes and ears on everything.

  Just as I’m about to leave my hiding sp
ot, he shoots me a text:

  Roque: Mrs. Fritz will be there in fifteen minutes to stay with you until you go back to Europe.

  Me: I don’t need a babysitter.

  Roque: You’re underage. I’ll go to jail for neglect if I leave you alone.

  Me: That would be funny if that of all things is what they get you for.

  Roque: Go to bed.

  Me: I was trying to…

  As I was texting Roque back, I hear Mrs. Fritz knocking on the penthouse door. I turn the handle to open the pantry door when there’s a huge boom. The kitchen walls shake. I peer out the pantry door seeing debris spread and a bit of smoke.

  “We have a search warrant, Salvatore. We’re coming in. Put your arms up or we’ll shoot!”

  I’m trapped. Terrified. I clap my hand over my mouth as one of the agents picks up the charred pages of Roque’s diary. All of his secret words; his stolen thoughts are there. The edges are burned but the heart of his soul is still there. I checked.

  “The bedrooms are clear. No one’s home.”

  “Boss, there’s enough here for an arrest warrant, maybe a conviction. He left his damn diary!”

  “Check out this one. It’s written by a woman. There are years of information on this guy. The stupid fuck just handed himself over on a platter in his own words, no less.”

  “Check his office again. If he’s stupid enough to leave this out in plain sight, there must be more. Grab his computers.”