by Lyssa Cole
“Bree, listen, it isn’t what it looks like. We aren’t a thing, we never were.”
“Then why is she looking for you? Why is she here? Did you sleep with her before?”
His eyes looked down at me sadly and I already knew the answer. He did. I felt my heart break. Even if it was in the past, it still hurt because of who she was. And I know Drake didn’t know that, but I did. And it hurt like fucking hell. I felt like I was being stabbed several times and I staggered backwards, shaking my head in denial.
“No, no, no. Please no,” I choked out, my tears falling uncontrollably now.
Drake moved in front of me quickly, grabbing my hands and pulling me close to him. “Listen, Bree. It was a long time ago, almost five years now.”
My mind felt confused, trying to process this information. “Then why is she still trying to contact you?”
His eyes closed and he looked away. I pulled away from him. It’s bad, I know it must be bad. I backed up, afraid to hear what he was going to tell me. Drake sighed, his whole body looking defeated. “It’s complicated, Bree. You just have to trust me.”
I couldn’t believe him. He wasn’t even going to fucking tell me? Was he serious? “What? You can’t enlighten me about what is going on? You know, fuck this. I don’t have time for this. This is why I told Julie and everyone else, I didn’t want love again.” My words kept tumbling out as I kept backing away from him, wanting, no needing the space away from him. “Love just fucks everything up. EVERYTHING!” I screamed, my crying reaching hysteria now.
And then I turn and walked away, never once looking back. Drake didn’t follow me, but I felt his eyes burning a hole through me the entire way.
Drake
As I watched her walk away, my body filled with shame and disappointment. It was my fucking fault. I did this. I fucked everything up. She wasn’t ready to know the truth yet. Besides, I had to make sure we were safe. Then I would be able to tell her. I had to get Alana out of here too. I can’t believe she found me. How in the fuck did that happen?
My suspicions must have been true. I’ve been watched. I should have gotten rid of the bitch a lot sooner than I had planned to. Or else she’s lying to get her dues from me and it was Kyle who gave her the information.
I made sure this new location was completely hidden, changing my phone and address. I needed to be rid of her already. I had given her enough money already and she kept coming back wanting more. I was starting to think she was complete bullshit and had no ties to the mafia whatsoever.
I turned and saw Kyle carrying Alana to his car, placing her inside. That fucking bitch. I was ready to strangle her. To do anything to get rid of her. My fists clenched and I walked away, heading back to my apartment to sort my head out. I had to fix this shit. The memories began flooding back to that time when I was in Hawaii…
The plane had just landed and I was feeling very anxious, wanting to get this job done so I could get my payout and start my life over. Paying my debt off was what I needed to do badly now. I was drowning in it and I was never going to make myself a life with it hanging over my head. I wanted to go back to the town I was born in…I had lived there for a year or so during my traveling time and it was the place that made a mark on my heart. There was just something about it that drew me in. I remembered living there as a child and even attending Kindergarten at the local elementary school. There had been a gorgeous girl with light brown hair, a dirty blonde almost, and the most gorgeous eyes I have ever seen. I felt myself pulled to her and now I knew why-it had been Bree. Bree was that little girl in my class. I lived there until I was about six years old or so, that was until my father began moving us around the country like fucking pieces of furniture. It felt like we constantly moved. It was a fucked up childhood I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I knew all along my father was into shady deals. I just never knew how fucking shady. I didn’t find out until he went to jail when I was nineteen. And that’s when I took off because my mother had already left us.
My two older sisters were long gone, so it was only Victoria and I left. She was going to college in Colorado in September and when my father went to jail in July, we packed our shit and headed there early. I found us a place to stay and when she was settled into college in September, I was going to take off, traveling the world. And travel I did. I went crazy, maxing out all of my parent’s credit cards. My grandmother and mother had run off with all of my father’s drug lord money so why couldn’t I use their credit cards? They left them in the house so I took them. But I also destroyed my own finances, spending the money my father had set aside for me, his one nice gesture to us, and maxing out all of my own credit cards. I also had a car that I stopped paying on which got repossessed along with money I would just spend like crazy as I traveled. My debt racked up higher and higher and I knew I was in over my head but I couldn’t stop. I drank and did drugs, lost myself in women, and drowned out the pain of the childhood I had, the loss of my family as we were all split up now, Quinn’s departure hurting me the most. She was the second oldest and we were always close.
My father, Roger Conner, was one of the biggest drug smugglers in the country. Cocaine and marijuana were his specialties. So of course he had enemies. And when he went to jail, he had unfinished business. A rival mafia from Hawaii. They kept bothering my sisters, sending out his men to watch them, harass them whenever they would feel like it. His name was Victor Palmer and I wanted him dead more than anything. He caused trouble for long as I could remember and he only kept up his torment, even sending hits to my dad through his connections in the prisons. I didn’t give a fuck what my father got handed to him but I did want my sisters to be protected. When I got offered a job to kill him, the leader of his own mafia, for a payout of ten million dollars, how in the fuck could I say no? I mean, I knew it was wrong but I would be showing them it was time to back the fuck off. Along with an eye for an eye. My father was in prison for the rest of his life which was just as bad as death in my opinion.
As part of the deal, a message would be sent to the mafia that we were even now and to leave my family alone. I tossed and turned this offer over and over in my head for a week straight and when I finally had to give an answer, I just knew what I had to do. There was no question. Once I landed in Hawaii, I carried out the perfectly crafted plan I was trained on over the past two weeks. When I had agreed to the hit, I was taken into hiding, going into an underground compound. The men I was working for were my father’s men, wanting to take down the man that took down their leader. They trained me on the plan they had thought of, each detail covered. There was always a chance things could go awry, but I was pretty confident.
Victor was due to attend a rooftop party on a warm Saturday night on the main island and I was to be two roofs over, lining up the shot to his head. My father’s men made sure there were no cameras, planning out exactly which roof I could lie on, and when to get the best shot based on the people that were going to be swarming around. The time had finally come. I aimed and waited for the signal. When the signal came from my head piece, I pulled the trigger, the shot ringing through the air. Victor fell to the ground in a heap and mass pandemonium happened. People fled the scene in every direction and I just laid there and watched as his so carefully kept together mafia fell completely apart.
But what happened next was my downfall. After the party had cleared out and the police were investigating the scene, I was able to sneak out. It was early morning by the time everything was done, my back aching from laying down on that roof for many hours. I stumbled my way to the nearest bar, buzzing with thoughts and emotions I couldn’t handle right now. I couldn’t believe I had killed him, that he was finally dead, and that I was going to be set with money for a while.
Once inside the bar, I slid into a stool, ordering shot after shot of tequila. I wanted to get wasted, to deal with whatever shit I had to deal with tomorrow. Next thing I knew a gorgeous Hawaiian girl was flirting with me, touching my arm, laughing at everything I said.
My drunken state took over and I took her back to my hotel room, and we ended up fucking until we passed out together.
When I woke up the next day, it was mid-afternoon and I felt like complete hungover shit. I staggered to the bathroom, getting sick in the toilet several times. Drinking water and brushing my teeth made me feel better but all I wanted to do was sleep and get rid of the girl in my bed. I came out of the bathroom and she was sitting on the bed, dressed with her legs crossed. She didn’t even look hungover though I could’ve swore she was drunk too. She told me she saw me kill Victor. She said she watched me enter the building, as she just happened to be sitting across the street at an angle where you could see the back of the building where I snuck in. I had a hard time believing her as the men had mapped everything out so carefully, testing every sight line. But she continued by saying she followed me into the building after waiting an hour, and saw me on the roof with the gun. Seeing me shoot Victor caused her to run and she bided her time and waited for me to come down. She entered the bar without me noticing and appeared to sit beside me like she had already been there. It was all a ploy-she fucking seduced me to get close to me to then tell me she saw my crime and wanted something to keep her mouth shut.
“Killing Victor Palmer is pretty fucking ballsy, if I do say so myself.” Alana murmured. “I’m pleased to have met the man who was actually able to carry it out successfully.”
“What do you want from me?” I growled at her, anger pulsing through me.
“You must be getting a reward am I right? Or should I just go tell Victor’s men what I saw and who they need to kill?”
I clenched my fists, taking deep breaths, trying to control my temper. Fuck this manipulative conniving bitch. “Fuck you. You don’t have the balls to go tell them something. They would probably kill you just for knowing some type of information.”
Alana shook her head, as she smirked at me. “My father is in that mafia, Drake. All it takes is one simple phone call…” She got out her phone and pulled up her father’s profile.
“Wait,” I held my hands up in surrender. “What do you want?”
“I want a part of your reward. A reward to me for keeping a secret for you.”
I sighed. “Fine, you can have a grand.”
Alana laughed evilly, “A grand, Drake? Are you fucking kidding me? I know the payout must be huge; I’m not stupid. More like you send me a grand a month.”
“What?” I snapped, my mouth hanging open. There was no way I was fucking doing that. “I am not getting enough to be able to give you that. How about we just settle on an amount?”
Her eyes darkened a bit. Boy was she an evil fucking bitch. “Fine, but it better be a good offer.”
After arguing back and forth for a half an hour, we settled on me giving her a quarter of a million dollars as I told her I was only getting a million. Alana finally agreed and we parted ways but not for long. She insisted on exchanging phone numbers and I knew I was going to end up hearing from her again. Sure enough, she called me every six months or so, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, wanting more money or she was going to spill the beans. I had been able to pay off all my debt and I had been living in New York, studying Culinary Arts, before moving back to where I was born. I stayed in New York for five years before heading home, as I studied for four years and then did an internship at the Marriott Hotel in New York city for another year. I paid for school in full and was able to attend school without working a job as my money was carrying me through. I had plenty but Alana kept wanting more. It pissed me off more and more every time I talked to her. Plus, she kept putting a bug in my ear that people were watching me.
She told me she had spoken to her father and he had said they had been getting a lot of tips, anonymous and the like, of who killed Victor. They had their eyes everywhere and they were going to get their revenge. Her words filled me with anxiety and paranoia. I couldn’t help but constantly look over my shoulder.
I finally decided I had had enough. I was going to be broke if I kept letting her talk me into giving her more money. I decided to disappear. As soon as I was ready to move, I changed my phone number and erased any sign of having lived in New York. I made sure she had no idea where I was going, using some of my father’s men to help, and then I bolted, never looking back.
But the fear and paranoia-those fuckers followed me. I knew it would only be a matter of time before she found me again. I had once tried to change my number while in New York and she showed up outside of one of my classes at school, demanding to know why. Granted, she knew my location then but she had her ways to find out anything she wanted to. And I wasn’t stupid enough to think any less. It was only a matter of time.
Alana showing up here rocked me to my core. I had been worried that it was going to happen, but then when it actually did happen, I was not prepared. It had only been two months and the fucking bitch already found me. How was I ever going to get away from her?
Now Bree, my beautiful Bree was pissed and hurt by me, and I didn’t know what to do. I felt lost and sad, wishing I could turn back time. If I had never done that hit, I wouldn’t be in this situation. I could have come back here free and clear without any danger lurking. But then I wouldn’t have been clear of debt, or have had an education, or any type of financial status. Unless another miracle had happened.
How was I ever going to fix this fucked up mess? Bree wasn’t going to trust me anymore. I had to get Alana out of here. I was done with her blackmailing me. It was time for her to get taken care of with help from my father’s men. And then I had to get Bree back if it was the last thing I did.
Chapter Seventeen
I didn’t come out of my apartment for a week. Julie and Liz ran the bakery. They told me Drake showed up, did his job, then left without saying a word to them. Julie tried to come over, to shake me out of what I was feeling, but she couldn’t. I was beyond hurt and most of all ashamed of myself. I should have known. Love always gets you hurt.
I didn’t want to let love in and I did exactly that. Blame washed over me as it was my fault, my fault for letting myself get caught up in Drake. It fucked me over once, shame on it, but now it was fucking me over again and it was shame on me. I should’ve known better but I couldn’t help but fall under his spell. His touch had branded me for life. I would always be lonely now. I was never going to find someone that could compare to Drake.
Julie kept pleading me with me to just talk to Drake but what good would it do? I didn’t want to know how he was involved with that slut. It would only hurt me more. When Drake wouldn’t even admit to me the story, but just told me things were complicated, I was beyond hurt. He couldn’t even trust me enough to tell me. I just had a feeling whatever it was was bad. That fucking slut was no good. And now she was back in town parading around with Kyle. When really she wanted to see Drake. What was her deal anyway?
My mind was so confused as it swirled with all the possibilities. I know Drake had slept with Alana way before me, even before she was with Kyle, but why does she have to stay in his life? That was killing me the most. What does she have over him? And why was Kyle giving her the time of day when he said he wanted to work it out so bad with me again?
I felt like screaming. I needed to get out of this God damn apartment before I exploded. I decided to drive to the beach, our beach, to just walk and clear my head. I needed air. I needed to get the fuck away from it all.
Alana
This town wasn’t anything but boring. Boring people with nothing to do except work and go home. There wasn’t even a good place to go hang out or find a hot guy to fuck. I couldn’t wait to get back home, the island calling my name. But first, I needed money. My father kept giving me less and less, telling me it was time to find a man to support my ass. And I was only getting money if I kept my virginity intact. But that was another secret no one needed to know.
Drake was starting to doubt my story. Only so many lies can be spun before that web starts to unravel. I just had to kee
p playing that the mafia was watching him.
Drake was a stupid fuck. Paranoid because of the crime he committed. I was lucky enough to see him slip into the building that fateful day, as I was on my way into the party. I decided to check it out and sure enough, delicious blackmail came my way. I wasn’t going to say anything to them; I could fucking care less. I don’t want to be involved in any of their shit. I just take my allowance and l live my life.
Now I need to keep Drake under my thumb and not let that little fucking bitch Bree get in my way. But I also had pussy Kyle to deal with. He sucked in bed and needed to get off my ass. Right now, he was my ticket to Drake.
I needed to find a beach around here; this part of the country sucks.
It was a late Sunday morning, exactly a week after everything went down. I had to go into work tomorrow because there were things I needed to take care of. Julie and Liz could only carry me so far. They said as far as food and sales went everything was running smoothly but of course, there was the business side of things that needed to be dealt with.
When I arrived on the beach, the memories came flooding back of Drake and I’s good times here. Zip lining, strawberries, wine…. fuck. My eyes filled with tears. Maybe this was a bad idea. I should have gone to any other beach than this one. Fuck it, I was already here. I forced myself out of the car and began walking the shoreline. The air was cool down here and I loved the smell of the salt and sand.
Maybe I should just hear Drake out. I had no idea what he was going to say. It could be something not so bad after all. I sighed, my mind going into overdrive as my emotions took over. I stopped and stared at the ocean, willing it to give me answers. This was why love sucks. It was so amazingly good and then it just fucks you right the fuck over. I should have listened to myself and stayed away. But Drake made me feel so good…so complete…
I looked up as I swore I heard someone calling my name. My eyes scanned around me but I didn’t see anyone.
