by M Dauphin
You should be scared, fucker.
"That was only ten minutes," he says when the three of us make it to the office. "You told me fifteen."
"Jasper here has something he needs to talk to you about," I manage, holding back the anger. Ben looks over at Jasper who's poured us all a drink.
"I put arsenic in one of these glasses, may the best man win." He lifts his glass and downs the drink.
Ben's eyes shoot to me and we place our glasses on the desk.
"Ben, we have a small issue, with Megan."
"Is everything okay? I told her she needs to do what you say in order to get the debt paid off. It's been long enough I would think. What's she done wrong?"
"She hasn't done anything wrong. She's actually a compliant little bird. It's you. You're the problem. You can drink the drink." He points to the glass. "And take care of all my issues right this minute."
"He wouldn't poison you here. Too much to clean up with all the vomiting blood and shit. He'd never want those stains on the hardwood." I slide Ben's drink over to him, then pick mine up. "Drink up." The cool liquid slides down my throat and I watch as Ben eyes the drink.
"Why am I your problem? I'm doing as you ask. Small amounts a day, not trying to get her to leave. What did I do?" Poor kid's clueless. Either that or he's smart enough to know what he did was wrong.
"How would you like if I came to your house and fucked your prisoner!" Jasper belts out, throwing his hand in the air.
I watch Ben's eyebrows shoot up at Jasper's stupid question.
"We don't keep prisoners, Jasper. It's inhumane." He manages a slight grin but his attitude pisses Jasper off even more than he already has.
"That woman." He points toward the door. "That's inhumane. Anyway, potato-potāto." He waves his hand. "Stop fucking her. She's not your wife. Not your girlfriend. She's no one to you until she's out of my kingdom! Don't touch her. Don't look at her. Don't even talk to her."
"He's here every day, Jasper." I huff, walking across the room, and lean back on the desk. "You gave the Vigs rights to visit her daily. You can't tell them not to talk to her or look at her, that's just fucking crazy." I roll my eyes at him.
He growls and walks across the room toward Ben, grabbing him by the throat so quickly I jump, but before I throw Jasper off I let him have his moment. Ben's hands wrap around Jasper's forearm, and I can see Jasper's not applying pressure, but the man's fucking lost it.
"Stay off my fucking bird until she is off the premises!" he screams and I can see the vein in his neck bulging while he tries to refrain from choking him. "You are not allowed to fuck anything in my fucking house, you disrespectful little cunt! What kind of man comes into another man's house and fucks his property?" he bellows. "You're allowed to see your precious fiancé, but if you touch her again, I will make sure you can't touch your own chode for the rest of eternity!"
I have to hold back a snort and clear my throat before I head over to the two of them.
"Alright, boss," I grunt, pulling him off Ben. "I think you've made the kid piss himself enough today." I nod at Ben whose eyes are wide with fear. "I think he's got the point."
"I'm so sorry, Jasper. I'm sor—" he clears his throat and backs away from him. "I'm sorry, Jasper. I should have taken your feelings into consideration. I wasn't aware..." He trails off and his eyes flick from Jaspers to the hallway leading to the basement. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
I hear Jasper start to growl, and before he can murder this kid I take him and escort him towards the door.
"Jasper has no feelings, Ben." I open the door wide, making sure to slam it hard behind him as he scurries out to the waiting car.
Taking a deep breath, I walk back into the office where I'm met with a seething Jasper.
"You need to go cool the fuck off, man." I walk straight to the whiskey and pour another glass.
"He fucked her, Ace!" Spit sprays from his mouth and if it were humanly possible, smoke would come from his ears. "He fucked my fucking bird!"
A chuckle escapes me, because at this point in time it's either that or beating him until he understands who she belongs to. He's starting to forget his place here.
"I think you've forgotten one major thing, Jasper," I growl, storming over to him. "She's not your fucking bird. She will never be your fucking bird. You need to stop watching her, stop worrying about her, stop fucking thinking about her. Are we clear on this?"
"We're fucking clear." He pushes past me and is out the door before I can say anything more on the subject.
***
I'm sitting at the kitchen table watching Katy finish up her lessons with Bronson when Jasper storms in. It's been a week of watching him mope around the house. A week of fucking Megan whenever I feel like. A week of quiet.
But quiet isn't always good in this line of work.
"Luke," he blurts.
I narrow my eyes at him, then flick them back to Bronson and Katy.
"Hey, I'll be back in a little bit, alright?" I stand and nod for Jasper to follow me to the office, and close the door behind us.
"What?"
"Megan is not marrying a Vig. This arrangement has to be stopped. Do you really think she wants to marry that man?" I don't like the concern in his tone.
There isn't an ounce of concern in Jasper's body, so what's he up to?
"Right," I cautiously reply. "And how do you suppose we go about this? We need this alliance with the Vigs, Jasper. We can't just go around cracking skulls until we get our way."
"Vig has always been a reasonable man. You fucking shot him and he didn't have you killed, only maimed." He chuckles and stares off like it was a fond memory.
Jasper doesn't realize I was shot by Megan and Vig never actually retaliated. Semantics.
"We go talk to Vig. We can buy the little whore from him. If there's anything the Vigs like more than women, it's money."
"I thought I told you to stop thinking about her, Jasper?" I sigh. I mean, he may have a point... they love their money, but the fact that he's been obsessing over this for weeks now is unnerving. "You just can't stop, can you?"
"Ok, Ace. Fine." He walks to the door. "Then I think we should let her go now. There's no reason to hold her here. She's not actually paying off a debt. Give her to the Vigs and be done with this game!"
"Hold the fucking phone, since when do you call the shots around here? She's not going anywhere, Jasper. She belongs here," I growl. "Shut the goddamned door."
"Then listen to what I'm telling you!" He storms me but doesn't touch me. "We go talk to Vig, buy her freedom and be done with this fucking bullshit. I call the shots when I'm tired of playing the part of the warden, Ace. I'm the one that has her prisoner. Not you."
"To the people outside these walls, yes, Jasper! There's never been a point in time when you've called the shots! What makes you think I'm going to let you start doing so now? And when it involves her? No. My house, my fucking empire, my fucking rules. You don't agree, I have a very simple way of taking care of that." Narrowing my eyes at him, I curse under my breath. "You're fucking right though, and I hate it. Maybe we can buy her freedom."
"Now you're thinking." He pats my cheek and I push him away.
"Stop being creepy." I roll my eyes as he grins at me. "Make the call, we'll head over there tonight."
"Get your dancing shoes on." He winks at me and walks out of the room.
He's lost his damn mind. He's so hot and cold lately, one minute wanting to murder everyone and the next cracking smartass jokes. He has to be on something. That's the only logical explanation!
After Katy leaves for the day, Bronson and I have dinner out back so he can play on the playset before bedtime. We've finally gotten a routine down, just the two of us, but tonight I have a little surprise for him.
Solely out of need.
"Hey, Buddy, come over here," I yell, watching him fall down from the monkey bars.
I try my hardest not to show the anxiety pulsing through
my body, praying he doesn't break a bone, but he lands on his feet no problem before jogging over to me.
"Yeah?"
"Do you want to have a sleepover with mommy tonight?"
The minute the words leave my mouth his face brightens and the smile he gets is brighter than any one before.
"Really?"
"Absolutely. Let's go inside and grab your things. I'm sure she'll be happy to hang out with you."
"I want her to come outside with us," he pouts, following me inside.
"I know, man. One day soon she will. I promise."
I thought she'd be upset that I was locking them both down there tonight, but she was more happy to see Bronson than anything. He has his watch if he needs to get ahold of me and we shouldn't be gone too long tonight.
Megan doesn't know I'm leaving the house. All I told her was he wanted to stay with her. She doesn't need to know what business I conduct.
I slide into the driver’s seat, sighing as that rush comes over me again. It's been a while since my last kill and even though we aren't going out for one tonight, this feeling of power and business always has me on a high.
When Jasper slams the passenger door he looks more than ready for what's about to go down.
"Just a talk, Jasper. We're just going there to talk and offer the money. Nothing else." I have to keep reminding him of this because he's liable to kill everyone in that place if I let him.
It's like he's finally gone off the deep end.
"Just a talk, Ace," he says, sliding his favorite pair of brass knuckles onto his right hand.
"The fuck are those for? Jasper, talking doesn't involve brass knuckles! Take that shit off!"
"Jewelry, Lucas." He smirks over at me before rubbing them over his shirt as if he's polishing the fucking thing!
"Jesus Christ," I mutter, turning up the radio.
I'm fucking happy he's on my side. Jasper is a force to be reckoned with.
By the time we get to the Vig’s it's pitch black outside. The lone light on the outside of the massive warehouse shines down on the driveway, and the minute we park, the door flies open.
"Showtime," Jasper slides out of the car, sauntering toward the doorman like we're entering a nightclub. "Kip," He kisses Kip's cheek and makes the kid fumble, making Jasper laugh. "Take me to Vig."
I follow them inside quietly, keeping my few steps behind as I'm supposed to, taking in every guard in this building. It's like they don't trust us or something. I mean the last time I was here I did shoot Vig in the knee.
When we make it to Vig's office Jasper and I wait at the door while Kip goes in. I feel the nerves running through my system over this damn meeting.
What if he refuses? This could be it. If he refuses to accept, Jasper's going to lose it and the alliance with the Vig family will be broken, no doubt about it. Add to that chaos the fact that if he refuses, Megan will most definitely be leaving my life to become the wife of another man, and the seriousness of this meeting is sitting heavy on my chest.
"He's ready for you," Kip says, opening the door wide for us.
The office smells like stale cigar smoke and is poorly lit with a few table lamps. The puffs of smoke from Vig's current cigar are hanging like clouds in the dim light.
"Jasper." Vig nods, letting out a puff of smoke. "Ace. What's this sudden meeting about? You two ready to hand over what belongs to me?" He sets his cigar down on the desk and smiles at us, my fists clench at my side and Jasper's body goes rigid with tension. "Well, come on, have a seat. You two look completely wore out. I bet you need that girl off your hands. That what you're here for?"
Jasper barks out a laugh and his hand slaps Vig's desk. "Not exactly, Vig. Not. Exactly." Jasper looks over at me and glances down at the gun in my holster.
I give a quick shake of my head and look around the room. There's at least two men in the room with us, all equipped with enough firearms to take us down in seconds. I knew he'd be prepared for us, being our last meeting here didn't end on the nicest terms.
"Ace, show this man why we're here." When he looks back at me, I stare at him like he's lost it. "Pull out your fucking gun and let's get business conducted."
The second he says gun, the two men Vig has in the shadows comes out and their guns are on us.
"Jasper, we talked about this. You said no violence. I'm not fucking pulling the gun, that's not why we're here right now." I stand tall, rigid, with guns aimed at us both.
I knew he was up to something when he put on the brass knuckles in the car, but I never thought he'd be as crazy to try something on this level in front of all of Vigs' men.
"My bad." Jasper's hands go up and he steps away from the desk. "Gentlemen, I apologize. I get a little trigger happy. Meet my trigger. Ace." He gestures to me and I sigh at his antics.
The man is high. He's definitely on something.
"Boys." Vig stands. "I think the business that needs to happen here tonight is better done in confidence. Why don't you two step outside in the hall. I don't think we have to worry about having another incident on our hands like last time." He motions for his men to leave and watches me carefully as I hand over my gun to his guards as they leave, solely to let it be known to Jasper that we aren't here to kill. As they leave and close the door behind them, I make it a point to lock it just in case Jasper loses his shit.
As I step back in front of Vig's desk, Jasper's eyes go from me to him and he springs at the old man, grabbing the collar of his shirt and starts screaming like a mad man.
"Ahhhh! Ahhhhh!" He's shaking him, screaming in his face then starts to bark like a dog.
I reach for my gun, regretting handing it over. I need it against Jasper at this point!
This insanity goes on for minutes before all goes quiet and Jasper takes a few steps back then maniacally starts to laugh. I stare in confusion and embarrassment while Vig stares at him in horror.
"What the fuck, Jasper?" I watch Jasper as he continues to laugh at this man who's now grasping his chest, skin gone grey. "Holy shit, Jasper, shut the fuck up!" I reach over to Vig, watching his eyes fly open in horror as he gasps his last breath before falling to the floor, hitting the desk on the way down and scattering papers across the floor.
Holy fuck.
I rush to him and lean down, checking his pulse and find nothing. Fuck.
After three attempts to resuscitate him, I have no luck and am staring down at his body as Jasper laughs from the corner.
"What the fuck, Jasper! Jesus Christ, you killed him!" I turn and glare at him, his eyes flicking form me to Vig.
His laughing stops. "Fat old bastard," he mutters. "It was a heart attack, Ace. No need to panic. Buy me some time with his boys though, will ya?" He walks over to Vig's desk before pulling gloves from his pocket and starts to mess around on his computer.
I rush around the desk to stop him until I notice he's altering the video footage of the last five minutes.
"How the hell did you learn to do that?" I mutter in disbelief as I watch him fix the loop of the camera to not include any of the outburst. Jesus, if he can do this what else can he do that I didn't know about?
All it takes is some clicks and a few minutes and he has all of the screens in the back of the room playing the clip like it was any normal heart attack and not brought on by Jasper's fucking psycho behavior.
"Done yet?" I look at Vig's body and for the first time I'm actually angry about causing a death.
Fuck me, this wasn't supposed to go down this way. This wasn't supposed to happen! Jasper is all giddy that Vig's gone, but he doesn't see the bigger picture. B.K dying means shit to us!
Ben's not going anywhere. We still owe Megan to Ben.
"Done." He clicks the screens off and wipes everything in the surrounding area clean, then starts yelling.
"Vig! Vig, wake up, man!" He starts checking his pulse and waves me on. "Go, get help!"
Jesus, he's a good actor. Scary, almost. I paste on my somber face, eyes wide, and swing
the door open.
"Help!" I blurt to the guards standing outside the door. "I think he had a heart attack!"
When I see Ben, a smile fills my face. I haven't seen or heard from him in a week, which is extremely unusual. His hands are in the pockets of a slim fitting black pair of slacks and he's wearing a black suit coat this evening. He doesn't have food tonight, which is unusual when he comes this late. There are no gifts in his hands, like usual. Not that I expect them, but the type of man he is, he's always bringing me things.
"Ben," I coo his name in the most un-Megan way possible and stand, placing my hands on his shoulders.
The man's attractive. Put him in a suit and the urge to take it off him is heavy.
"Megan." He sighs, gently removing my hands from him and walking past me to sit on the bed.
Okay, well, that isn't like him. Turning around and crossing my arms over my chest, I look down at him and finally notice his face looks flushed and his eyes seem red.
"Ben." I carefully sit next to him and place my hand on his thigh. "Where've you been? You feeling okay?"
He looks maybe like he's getting sick. He looks at my hand resting on his thigh and sighs again, then stands and shoves his hands in his pocket and clears his throat.
"I um..." He looks at me and shakes his head. "Listen, I'm sorry it's been so long since I've been here, love. I should have come sooner. My dad...he died last week." He sighs again and sits back on the bed next to me.
"Oh, Ben."
His stance says don't touch me, so I don't. Even if I want to comfort the man, I'm not going to overstep any boundaries.
"I'm so sorry, honey." I reach to console him with a touch, but pull my hand away.
He watches my hesitation and reaches over, taking my hand in his, and bringing it to his lips for a gentle kiss.
"It's fine. He's in a better place now." He closes his eyes, my hand still close to his lips, and takes a deep breath. "I just don't know what I'm going to do without him. I'm not ready for this."
I don't know the last time I've had to comfort someone in a situation like this. But, similar to the last time, it's faked, but I actually am sad for Ben. He's not like the others.
