I touch the door.
Then I hear another voice.
“What the hell is going on here, Davidson?”
It’s Declan’s voice.
“That missing girl… she’s here,” Davidson says.
“No, she’s not,” Mama Dae says.
“Wait a second,” Declan says. “Are you sure about that?”
“Yes,” both Davidson and Mama Dae say.
“You know, this is my case,” Declan says. “I’ve been tracking Jolie since it was reported she was missing.”
“I was going to look around for a minute,” Davidson says.
“I’ll look around,” Declan says. “This is my goddamn case. You stand in the kitchen with the nice, young lady.”
Mama Dae laughs. “I’m making some sauce. Mind if I keep stirring?”
“Go right ahead,” Declan says.
They’re acting like they don’t know each other.
Declan has a plan.
And that means I’m going to be stuck in the basement.
But for how long?
I hear the footsteps above me spread out.
It gets quiet and I don’t like the quietness.
When I hear the sound of the basement door shutting, my heart climbs into my throat. I regret my thoughts about the quiet.
I’m so screwed…
If that cop finds me in this room, it’ll make it look like Mama Dae kidnapped me. Which isn’t true at all. But even still…
My teeth chatter.
I cover my mouth and wait.
I can hear the cop outside the door, shuffling around.
He lets out a few whistles.
I see the light of his flashlight barely show under the door of the room I’m in.
Then comes the doorknob jiggle.
I tense up.
Any decent cop is going to want to know why a room is locked, right?
The cop knocks on the door.
“Open the door, Jolie.”
Jolie…
I hurry to the door and unlock it.
I step back as the door opens and Declan is there.
He steps into the room and shuts the door behind him.
“Where’s the other cop?” I ask.
“Searching for a ghost,” Declan says. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay,” I say. “I promise I’m okay. This is all my fault. I didn’t-”
“Yeah, it is your damn fault,” Declan says.
He keeps close to the door while I keep backing up.
I have no idea what’s going to happen next.
He reaches back and grabs the doorknob again. “What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking I needed a walk,” I say. “I needed to get out of here for a second. I didn’t realize someone would recognize me. I thought this was supposed to be quiet. Is my name and face everywhere now?”
Declan clenches his jaw tight.
He looks up.
He looks around at the room.
“Just stay here,” he says to me. “You’ll hear me and Davidson leave. Then wait a minute and leave the room. Can you do that?”
“Yes,” I say.
“This is a fucking disaster now,” Declan says.
He rips open the door and looks back at me.
I’m scared out of my mind.
Each time I think I know enough about this world to remain calm, something happens. Something that reminds me just how wild and deadly this life is.
Declan shuts the door and goes back up the steps.
He does this in a hurry.
I hear the muffled sound of his voice yell ‘Davidson! Hurry!’
Then there’s more footsteps right above my head.
“Did you find someone in the basement?” Mama Dae asks with a laugh.
“No, ma’am,” Declan says.
“I didn’t get upstairs yet,” Davidson says.
“This place is clean,” Declan says. “Just got another tip she was seen down near Worf Park. Let’s go.”
They leave the house.
I sigh with relief and feel like my legs are going to give out.
I wait for the longest minute of my life to pass before I leave the room.
As I walk up the basement steps, I begin to wonder what’s going to happen now. Mama Dae is apparently staging this kidnapping as a favor to me. Which means she doesn’t need me around. I’m disposable. And there’s probably fifty ways Mama Dae could get rid of me without Mac knowing.
I open the basement door and walk through the house toward the kitchen.
When I spot Mama Dae, she’s standing at her pot of sauce, still stirring.
She looks peaceful.
But we all know that means nothing.
She’s stirring the sauce with her left hand.
Her right hand is in the pouch in her apron.
And you know what she keeps in that apron, right?
The thought of being shot by Mama Dae makes me want to throw up.
Before meeting Mac… I would have been running and crying.
Now, I can at least face whatever is about to happen.
“Mama Dae…”
She looks at me.
She looks at the sauce.
Then she makes a move toward me.
I freeze and watch a spoon coming toward me.
“Taste this,” she says.
The spoon hits my lips and I open my mouth.
The sauce burns my tongue and my eyes fill with water.
I taste the sauce and swallow it.
I nod.
“What do you think?” she asks.
“It’s good,” I say. “Really good.”
Mama Dae walks to the pot of sauce and tastes it herself.
She smacks her lips together.
“It’s getting there,” she says.
She puts the spoon down and then faces me.
I’m still frozen in place.
She moves toward me again and this time… she hugs me.
I’m taller than her.
I could put my chin on the top of her head if I wanted to.
But I don’t.
My arms are at my sides.
And Mama Dae is full on hugging me.
“Oh, Jolie,” she whispers. “You just wanted to go for a walk. You just wanted to get some fresh air. You just wanted to feel like you were part of the world again.”
I swallow hard.
I’m ready to cry.
She gets it.
She understands it.
I feel suddenly safe.
I want to hug Mama Dae back.
But her hug is so tight around me, I can’t move my arms.
So I just enjoy the hug.
And of course, me being me, I start to think about her… what she’s going through. She has to know something is off about herself. She has to…
Mama Dae squeezes me tighter. “If you ever do that again, Jolie, then I swear on my life… that room you were just in? That will be the last room you ever take a breath in.”
Mama Dae breaks the hug and walks back to her pot of sauce.
I turn and walk away.
Every part of my body is shivering with fear.
And yet there’s a deep anger raging inside me.
Maybe I would have been better off getting caught by the real police.
I hear the sound of Mac’s voice before I get to the top of the stairs.
“Where is she? Is she okay? What the fuck happened?”
Mac’s yelling as he runs through the house.
Mama Dae yells for Mac.
He’s at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at me.
All that fear and anger I feel is colliding inside me.
Mac climbs the stairs.
I can’t tell what he's thinking or feeling.
Or what he’s going to do.
When he gets to the top of the stairs, he stops.
If I wanted to push him, he’d go down the stairs and get hurt.
Part of me
is really thinking about it. About hurting Mac.
Hurting the guy I’m in love with.
What I don’t love is his life. I want to take his life away… not his heart… but his life… this life…
“Jolie… what were you-”
I swing my right hand and slap Mac across the face.
In a way, I’ve wanted to do that from the day I met him.
I cup my hands to my face and jump back.
My eyes fill with tears.
I think I’m going a little bit insane.
Mac flexes his jaw.
He looks at the floor.
There’s a few seconds between us of dead silence.
Then he slowly lifts his gaze.
Our eyes lock together.
I realize this is our forever battle.
Me secretly wanting to get him out of his life.
Him wanting to pull me closer to him inside his life.
Mac moves toward me again.
His hands grab my waist and he pulls me close to him.
He kisses me.
A quick kiss, but enough that I end up kissing the air between us because I want more.
So he kisses me again.
I grab at his face this time, keeping him near me, kissing me.
I move to my toes.
Our tongues touch.
Lightning pops through my entire body.
A tingling feeling attacks me head to toe.
His hands slide around to my lower back and down to my ass.
He cups and lifts me.
I wrap my legs around him.
That’s a part of me that has no idea what I’m doing… but in reality, I know exactly what the fuck I’m doing.
I’m chasing my own pain and fear away.
Just like the crew does with booze and violence.
Just like the people do that buy stuff from Mac.
It’s the same thing, just a different way.
And I really don’t care.
Mac kisses me harder as he walks us to the bedroom.
He slams the door shut behind us and takes me right to the bed.
When I hit the soft covers, his hands lift my shirt.
I quickly put my hands over my head and arch my back, biting my lip, giving myself to him.
His lips touch just above my belly button.
His bad boy tongue flickers against my skin and he kisses up and up and up…
He takes my shirt off and leaves it on the bed.
His mouth moves over my bra and he growls.
As fast as he took my shirt off is as fast as he unclasps my bra.
When his hands move over my chest, I groan.
His mouth touches my stomach again.
His hands squeeze my chest.
Not too hard, but hard enough to remind me just how strong he is.
His fingertips flirt with my nipples, one by one, and then his hands move down to the button on my jeans.
I lower my back to the bed and look down at Mac.
The devil staring up at me.
Near what used to be my innocence.
The look in his eyes…
I lick my lips as his hands pull at my jeans and panties at the same time.
I lift my lower half off the bed and all my clothes are gone.
Tossed between the bed and the floor.
Mac kisses me at my inner thigh making me suck in a breath and I hold it.
He teases me down there with his lips and tongue, taking a break to take his shirt off.
He then kisses up my body, making a straight line while he takes his jeans off.
His hands slide around my body and he pulls me against his hard and warm skin.
The muscle… ohmygod…
He’s so cut and toned, it’s almost unfair.
Mac moves me to the top of the bed.
He moves the top cover down so he can pull it over us.
Now I’m smothered by Mac.
All I can breath and taste is him.
His skin.
His breath.
Our kisses.
The heat between our bodies.
He lowers himself down to me… in me…
I bite my lip again and shut my eyes.
I’m living in hell, but at least I can still feel heaven.
9
MAC
She faces the wall.
My fingertips slide down her arm. Then I move my fingertips to her hip. That’s my second favorite curve on her body. You can guess the first one.
I slide my fingertips down her leg until she wiggles.
So I know exactly where she’s ticklish now.
Her hair is sprawled out on the pillow.
I purposely dip my nose down to her hair and take a breath.
Yeah, I’m smelling her hair.
Smelling her fucking hair.
I’m so far in outer space with Jolie, I’m in a different galaxy.
I move my hand from her body because I know I have about thirty seconds before I get hard again. And if that happens, we’re never going to talk.
And, again, here I am… fucking Jolie… and I would rather talk than fuck?
I press my lips to her shoulder and kiss her.
I move from the bed and find my jeans.
Then I find a cigarette.
I light it and open the window a little.
My eyes never leave Jolie though.
She slowly rolls to her back and looks at me.
The sheets are just above her chest.
Cleavage is a beautiful thing… but sheet cleavage is even better.
Jolie bites her lips and stares at me.
“What happened today, sweetie?”
She swallows hard and shuts her eyes.
A few seconds later, a tear moves from her eye down her cheek.
I move back to the bed and lean down and wipe the tear away.
“Talk to me, sweetie,” I whisper. “I did not expect that call…”
“Call?” Jolie asks.
“Yeah. Declan called me. Said you were out walking around and got caught.”
She shut her eyes again and shakes her head. “I’m so stupid, Mac.”
“You’re not stupid, Jolie. What’s done is done.”
She looks at me. “It just… it just got to me. And I thought I could do it. So I walked around the block. I was only going to do it once. But I didn’t stop at one time. And then I smelled something. So I went down to that corner place.”
“You went inside?” I ask.
“Yeah,” Jolie says. “I was fine too. Nobody even looked at me. I grabbed a sandwich and took it to the counter. Then a man touched me and…”
I take a long drag off my cigarette. “A man?”
“Yeah,” she says. “He started freaking out about me. That I was the kidnapped girl. And I panicked. I took off running. He chased after me. I made it, I don’t know, a block or so and then he stopped chasing me. So I came back here. But it was too late. There were sirens. The cops were coming. And Mama Dae…” Jolie takes a breath. “I was in the basement, Mac. I was in that room…”
I turn my head and look out the window.
Fuck.
Of course Mama would make her go down there.
Why not, right?
It was a form of punishment.
Because Mama would never physically hurt Jolie. At least, not at that moment.
“Mac, what is that room?” Jolie asks.
“Doesn’t matter,” I say. “What happened after you were in that room?”
“I heard a cop’s voice,” she says. “Then Declan showed up. He took control of everything. He came down into the basement and saw me. Then he made up a lie to get him and the other cop out of the house. I’m so sorry, Mac. I didn’t… I mean, of course I knew what could happen. I just couldn’t take it anymore. I’m really starting to feel kidnapped now…”
She sucks in a breath.
I take one more drag of my cigarette and then smash it against the window
sill before flicking it out the window.
I sit down on the bed with my back to her.
She touches my back.
And, damn, there’s nothing like that feeling.
Jolie touching me.
It’s like this reminder that life can be good and life can have a purpose.
It’s all in love bullshit kind of stuff to think about, but that’s where I’m at.
“I get it, sweetie,” I say. “I really do. And we are getting there with everything. I talked to the guys about Mama and we all know something is wrong. I mean, it’s just me, Les, and Taz. We know it. We see it. We can’t do anything about it right now. I’m going to make it all work.”
“I know that, Mac. I wasn’t trying to run away. I was just…”
I turn a little.
I touch her face with my left hand.
“Mac… I thought it was okay. I thought even if someone saw me, so what? Right? As long as it wasn’t my parents…” She shakes her head. “If everyone thinks I’m kidnapped, how does this work?”
“That’s the thing, Jolie… we have it all worked out. You could walk around and not be seen. You’re right.”
“Then how did…”
She stops talking and sits up in the bed.
The blanket falls down her chest and I grit my teeth.
Jolie hurries to cover herself.
“Mac…”
I nod at her. “Yeah…”
“So that man…”
“I have no clue who it is,” I say to her. I stroke her cheek. “But he wasn’t supposed to know who you were.”
“Was he the same man from my apartment?” Jolie asks.
“You can answer that better than me.”
“I don’t know. I didn’t get a good a look at him. I was scared. I just wanted to run. I wanted to get out of there, you know?”
“I’m glad you did, sweetie,” I say.
“I feel sick again, Mac.”
I pull her toward me and hug her.
I hold her in the bed.
She’s sitting up, her face against my chest.
Everything about the way we’re positioned and mostly naked makes me want to kiss her and fuck her again.
But at the same time, I just want to hold her.
I want her to feel safe in my arms. And safe in my life.
“I swear to you, Jolie, I’m going to figure this all out,” I whisper. “I know you staying here is hard. So let’s work something out.”
Jolie moves away from me, clutching the covers to her chest still. “Working something out? How?”
“All we want to do is figure out exactly what’s going on with your father,” I say. “And to make sure you’re safe. Because you’re obviously not. Something is going on. Maybe that guy that recognized you was sent there on purpose. By your father. By the people who work with or for him. That’s why you’re here, sweetie. This place is safe. I know it doesn’t always feel that way.”
Mess Us Up (Brooks Crest Book 3) Page 8
