VICIOUS MEN: THE COMPLETE VICIOUS CITY COLLECTION

by Renard, Loki

  And then my phone rings.

  Kitty

  “Where is he going?”

  Mark is standing behind me as I watch Vicious walk out the front door and back into his car. I was so sure that he was going to come and get me, that he’d take me back and we’d… I don’t know. Probably fight and fuck, in that order.

  But his car is pulling away. He’s…. leaving me here?

  “What’s going on?”

  Mark gives a little shrug. “I don’t know.”

  “He came for me…”

  “I don’t know, Kitty.”

  I push past him and leave the room, running down the stairs. I’m hoping to get to Vicious’ car before he pulls away. He can’t leave me. He just can’t. That’s not what’s supposed to happen. He’s supposed to chase me to the end of the earth, and then he’s supposed to punish me, and we’re supposed to make up, and…

  I hit the bottom of the stairs and run straight into Angelo Vitali’s chest.

  “And where do you think you’re going?” He grabs my arms and holds me still though I try to push past him. It’s useless.

  “I saw Vicious here. I’m going to see him.”

  “Oh no you’re not. You’re going back upstairs.”

  “No!” I try to bite down on Angelo’s hand, but he’s ready for that. He turns me around and takes hard hold of the back of my neck, squeezing enough to get my attention. “You’re much smaller than my boys,” he growls into my ear from behind. “And you’re much softer skinned. Don’t push me, Kitty. Go upstairs.”

  “But why did he leave me? Why didn’t he take me?”

  Angelo turns me back around to face him. “You have waged all out war against him. You were looking for highly dangerous materials to use against him. Why would he take you?”

  My jaw drops. “I was just trying to show him what it felt like to be lied to and to have your whole world fucked up. I wasn’t waging war.”

  “Kitty, you’ve been more dangerous to Vicious’ operation than you realize. You’ve made him vulnerable in ways he may not be able to recover from. There are other organizations smelling blood. I understand his CIA handler is no longer working with him.”

  “Slick isn’t working with him? Why?”

  “I don’t know, girl. What I do know is that you’ve caused more trouble than you think. You don’t need nuclear waste to be toxic.”

  His words are harsh enough to bring tears to my eyes.

  I turn and run up the stairs and throw myself onto the bed which is not mine. Vicious left me here. He left me, and I don’t blame him. What else could he do?

  I’m sobbing so hard I don’t hear the footsteps coming up the stairs.

  “Kitty?”

  It’s Vicious’ voice. I look up from the bed and I see him standing in the doorway. I can’t believe it. He’s the most handsome man in the world. Those bright green eyes, that dark hair, that face so refined and brutal all at once. I push up from the bed and I run to him.

  “I thought you’d gone! Angelo said you were leaving me behind.”

  Vicious wraps me in his arms and hugs me tight. I can’t believe this is happening. I have missed this so fucking badly. I have denied us both the one thing we need, because

  “You are so much trouble, but I’m never going to leave you,” he murmurs. “I do have to go though, and I can’t take you right now. I just got a call to tell me there’s been a raid on my property. There’s a lot going on.”

  Fuck. That’s my fault. I know it is.

  “I’m sorry. This isn’t what I meant to happen.”

  “We will talk about that another time.” He pulls back and looks down at me. “Seriously. Kitty. Nuclear waste?”

  “I don’t fucking know,” I whimper. “It seemed like a good idea.”

  “Your idea of a good idea is…” he shakes his head.

  “Why isn’t Slick helping you anymore?” I change the subject just a little.

  “Blaze is having a baby. He’s taking an extended leave with her.”

  “What!? Oh my god! I have to go see her.”

  “You’re not going anywhere,” he says firmly. “You’ve ended up in one of the very few places I’d consider you to be safe, aside from with me.”

  “I’m not safe here. Angelo and Bobby…”

  “Kitty, I have to go,” he says, kissing me. “I’ll be back, and when I am, your ass is going to pay. Try to be good, okay?”

  “O..kay..”

  Just like that, he’s gone.

  13

  Kitty

  I did this to myself. I know that. And I did it to Vicious too. But I can’t help feeling sorry for myself. This isn’t what I wanted to happen. I’m not sure what I wanted, some dramatic reunion in which Vicious apologized for everything and we lived happily ever after. Instead, I’ve messed with him, and in doing so, I messed with myself. Now he’s away cleaning up the mess I made, and I’m stuck here, with men I barely know who will hurt me if they want to.

  I wake up sore. Very sore. Angelo was brutal when he whipped me, and I shudder to think what he’ll do if I am left here very long. I really hope Vicious can fix what I fucked up.

  “Come down for breakfast,” Mark says, putting his head in the door.

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “Come down anyway.”

  I do as I’m told, still wearing the same clothing I wore yesterday. I’d like a shower, but there’s no time. I’ve been ordered down to the fine dining room with its high ceilings and fancy fittings which make me feel like something the cat dragged in.

  Angelo is at breakfast already, as is Bobby. Mark is just taking his seat, and a servant is spooning eggs onto his plate. This place is fully catered, like a hotel for evil.

  “Have a seat,” Angelo invites me. “Unless you’d rather stand.”

  I would rather stand, as it happens. I’m pretty sure putting my ass on one of those hard wood chairs would suck, and my life sucks enough as it is.

  “Yeah, I thought so,” Bobby smirks at me. “Not so tough now, huh.”

  On second thought, maybe I will sit.

  That turns out to be just as bad a decision as it seemed to be when I first made it. My ass starts to ache as soon as I put weight on it, but I can’t let anyone see that. Angelo is talking. I try to listen.

  “Some rules,” he says. “You will not leave the house without permission. You will do as you are told while you are in this house, and you will follow instructions given by myself or Mark. You will avoid Bobby in so far as it is possible.”

  “No problem.”

  I’m not going to argue with him. I’m not going to do a damn thing that will extend my stay here. I’m going to keep away from Angelo, I’m going to be good, and I’m going to wait for Vicious to come for me.

  * * *

  The rest of the day sees me doing chores. Evidently, Angelo believes labor is the key to a rehabilitated soul. Or maybe he just really likes having his leaves swept up.

  I think as I work, wondering where I went wrong. Was it when I was born? Or sometime after that? If so, when? When I decided crime did pay? When I met Rollo? When I was turned into a walking talking spy satellite? There are hundreds of points of chaos in my life, and it is impossible to pick just one of them.

  “You’re fucked.”

  I turn around to see Bobby leaning up against a pillar, pulling at his vape pen. He’s the most mysterious of these men, so young and so bitter, so brutal in his every word and thought. I wonder what happened to him to make him this way.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean Vicious is probably going to end up dead or in prison because of you, and then you’ll be left with us. Angelo has no use for a woman.”

  “Yeah. I get it. He’s gay. You’re all gay. So?”

  “So he’s going to get bored of you pretty soon. Just like Vicious did. Except he won’t be able to fuck you, so I guess we’re going to have to find some other way to dispose of you. Maybe we’ll sell you to men who do
like pussy.”

  “You’re a fucking dick.”

  Bobby smirks.

  I know he’s trying to mess with me. I know he doesn’t like me here. This is a closed system, a world where other people rarely intrude - especially not women. But this wasn’t my choice, and I’m not going to be bullied.

  “Don’t like it? What are you going to do? Get some nuclear waste?” He laughs at me.

  “Oh fuck off, just because you’re too scared to ever cross Angelo,” I snap back. “You’re jealous I have some balls. Angelo took yours long ago, didn’t he.”

  In an instant, Bobby is next to me, looking down at me with those black eyes of his. “If you were a guy, you’d be getting beaten senseless. That would shut you up.”

  “I’m not the one who started this pissing match. Why don’t you shut up.”

  “What are you kids doing?”

  Mark strolls up at just about the right moment. I don’t know what Bobby was going to do to me, probably nothing, but I can sense the violence in him.

  “Nothing,” Bobby says, turning away from me.

  “Angelo wants to see you,” Mark tells him. “Something about being told to leave Kitty alone.”

  With a soft curse, Bobby heads inside.

  I watch him go, feeling no small measure of satisfaction.

  “How much trouble is he in?” I hope it’s a lot.

  Mark smiles. “He’s always in trouble, varying degrees of it.”

  “Can’t relate to that.”

  “Uh huh, sure you can’t,” Mark says. “You were both told to stay away from each other.”

  I realize I’m not the only one in trouble. Mark’s looking at me with that firm gaze, his big muscular arms crossed over his chest. He’s a really good looking guy, and even if he isn’t interested in me that way, I can’t help but respond to him.

  “He came and found me. I was just doing my work. See… sweeping!” I swish at the ground with my brush.

  “Mhm. Next time you see him, you go and find Angelo or I. Otherwise, I’m going to have your butt over my knee.”

  I feel myself blushing. I hate the way I now react to threats of punishment. Vicious has primed me, and now Mark’s stern warning makes me tingle and miss Vicious all the more. I would never admit it, not to anyone, but I kind of want to be spanked. Angelo’s belt made me sore, but it settled me too. Now, the idea of Mark’s big hand on my ass makes me feel the kind of heat I shouldn’t be feeling. Jesus, I need Vicious back, and now.

  “Go on,” he says. “Go to your room. You can stay there until dinner time.”

  I do as I’m told, and end up napping. There’s nothing else to do in this well-presented prison. I should be grateful, I guess. It could be a whole lot worse. I could be in an actual prison. I could be in some warehouse having my head sawn open. As long as I avoid Angelo and Bobby, I might actually get out of this place relatively unscathed.

  How hard can behaving myself actually be? I was a normal person once. I didn’t constantly break the law and get myself into trouble. Okay, I mean, maybe I broke the law, but I did it in a quiet way where I didn’t get caught most of the time. I just need to go back to being that way.

  * * *

  SMACK!

  A slap to my butt wakes me up from my light nap. It’s Mark.

  “Phone for you,” he says, handing me a chunk of plastic which might have qualified as a new phone sometime in the late nineties. I don’t know how it still works, but apparently it does

  “Vicious?”

  “Hello, Kitty,” he purrs down the line. “Are you being a good girl?”

  “I’m trying,” I answer honestly.

  “Good. This is going to take some time. You wouldn’t believe this, but a federal investigation has been opened into one of my associates attempting to access radioactive materials.”

  Why didn’t I listen to Chad when he told me I was going too far? Because I was having too much fun, that’s why. Because I thought I could do anything, that I’d become untouchable. I was so damn wrong.

  “Fuck, I am sorry.”

  “I know you are,” he says. “I’m sure your current accommodations are only serving to make you even sorrier. It’s going to take some time to sort this out, and in that time, I want you off the radar. If there’s one thing Angelo can do, it’s avoid federal interest. So please, no matter what happens, don’t leave. I know you can escape if you really put your mind to it. I’m asking you not to.”

  I take a breath. “I know you’re coming back for me. And I know, when you do, it’s gonna hurt way worse than anything Angelo does to me. So yeah, I’m going to stay, and I’m going to be as good as I can be and maybe you’ll show me mercy.”

  There’s a dark chuckle at the other end of the line, and then it goes dead.

  Well, I had to try.

  14

  Kitty

  I’d like to say I do my best to behave myself at Angelo Vitali’s house, but the truth is, I don’t. I can’t. I miss Vicious. I’m worried about what I’ve done to him, the full consequences of my stupid actions, and I’m unsettled in this place where Mr Vitali reigns supreme.

  I do avoid Bobby, but Angelo is a harder proposition. He has eyes everywhere, and every infraction sees me called before him.

  “You were several minutes past curfew,” he says. “I told you to report to your bedroom no later than nine in the evening.”

  “You also told me to make sure the kitchen was spotless. That took until eleven.”

  “Then you were working too slowly.”

  I bite my tongue, or at least try to. “I’m not a kitchen maid. I’m not a gardener. I’m a courier. Maybe you could try using me for what I’m good at.”

  “Alas, I lack the interest to use you for what you’re good at,” Angelo smirks with that dark, deviant gaze which makes me wonder if that’s actually the case. I’m fairly certain Angelo fucks whatever and whoever he wants to fuck.

  “Your punishment for being late last night is confinement for the rest of the day. Go to your room.”

  I bite my lower lip and do as I’m told. That seems to be the safest route by a very long way. Once again, I find myself alone in that room which is nicely furnished but completely devoid of anything that feels like home. Not that I have a home anymore. I used to have an apartment of my own, but Vicious ripped me out of that. Being with him was starting to feel like having a home, but I ripped myself out of that. It’s hard to reconcile that my life choices got me to this point - and the fact that Vicious is exactly the man I deserve, need, and crave.

  I miss being touched, period. I feel so alone here, so completely unwanted and out of place. For a second, I even think it wouldn’t be so bad to be beaten again by Angelo. At least then someone would touch me.

  No. I force myself to stay on the bed. I can win this game with Angelo by just being compliant. I’ll just do as he says, wait this out, and hope that nothing fucked up happens before Vicious comes back.

  God I hope he comes for me soon.

  * * *

  It has been three weeks since I saw Vicious.

  I don’t think I can take it anymore.

  I’ve basically become a maid for Vitali and his guys. The work isn’t actually that bad, and I sort of blend in with the other staff, most of the time. There are a small number of people Angelo trusts to cook for him, launder his clothes, and all the rest of the tedious little jobs which he and his boys are too good to do for themselves.

  I’ve been doing my very best to tolerate this shift in circumstances, but finally I come to the end of my tether. I want Vicious back, and I don’t want to be an unpaid domestic servant anymore.

  “Kitty, clear up the breakfast dishes, and…”

  “No.”

  My refusal barely seems to compute at first. Angelo keeps talking to Mark for a full thirty seconds before he turns back to me.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me. I’m done being your serving girl.”

  Those dark eyes
start to swallow me. “Is that so?”

  “Yeah.”

  I get up and leave the table. I’m not arguing with him. I’m not getting into this on any level. Fuck this. I’ve done enough work to pay for the room I’m staying in, and even if haven’t, fuck it anyway. Three weeks is a long time to be compliant to a stranger, and an even longer time to be away from Vicious, and I’m done being good guest Kitty.

  I’m starting to wonder if Vicious has forgotten about me completely. Whenever I ask for updates or information, I get told that everything is fine, but it has been ages since he called. For all I know, he’s dead. The only reason I don’t think he is, is because if he was I am pretty sure Angelo would have me killed for the chip. He already said it was worth more than I am.

  “Kitty.”

  Angelo’s voice is deep, rich with that accent which could be so seductive under other circumstances, but just pisses me off. Maybe I’m looking for a reason to fight. Conflict is better than this never ending wait. I keep walking.

  “Kitty,” Mark joins in.

  I spin around on my heel and face them all.

  “God, are you a fucking chorus? Bobby, you’re late with your part. You’re supposed to say my name in deep and meaningful tones…”

  He smirks and says nothing. He’s been waiting for this, I think. At first he tried to make me break, but Angelo must have pulled him back. In the end, all he had to do was bide his time.

  “Kitty, go to your room,” Angelo snaps, displeased.

  “You don’t know what the fuck to do with me, do you? It’s just get me out of the way, make me clean up, send me to my room. Well, fuck you. I’m fucking done being your bitch. I…”

  That’s as much of my rant as Angelo will tolerate. It’s also as much as I can get out of my mouth before he is around the table and has hold of me.