INVINCIBLE (Fight #2)

by London Casey

  No matter what, something was going to give again. They were going to keep coming after myself and Rose. In a sick way, it was like getting it on both sides. There were people after me and people after her. I felt like they were all coming after us for two different reasons, yet I couldn’t figure out why.

  The ride to the cabin was in silence. It was my hand attached to Rose’s. Maybe driving the stolen car right up to the cabin was a dumb move, but then again, we had the car of a murdered woman, so what the fuck difference did it make? At this point, the police were less of a threat than Luke - the Assassin - and whoever else wanted me and Rose dead.

  Christ, for all I knew, maybe Aton put a hit out on me before he was shot. Maybe he knew the marriage thing was a lie. It wouldn’t be hard to prove I was lying about being married to Rose. It was just something that came to my mind and I knew it would tug on Aton’s heartstrings.

  And it worked.

  Now look at us… on the run.

  I parked the car and shut it off. We had no keys to the car, obviously. It was weird how dumb shit could get lodged into someone’s mind. Something that seemed so useless like hot wiring a car. But Shane and I had to learn it. We dreamed of someday becoming heroic brothers in an action movie. We’d go and fight crime like vigilante detectives. We’d take the cases nobody wanted. We wouldn’t be afraid of guns, death, fights. And we’d learn how to wire cars, use undercover technology, and fire every weapon known to man.

  Then Shane got wrapped up with some fighter that was heavy into crime. Shane taught the guy how to perfect his stance and promised to give it back to Shane when he won a big fight. The guy won a fight and then showed Shane how to hot wire a car. That guy was murdered three months later at a drug deal gone wrong.

  Shane taught me and it just stuck there in my mind.

  Now it had come to good use. Go figure.

  “I’m afraid to go in there,” Rose whispered. “I’m afraid to go anywhere.”

  “Hey, no matter what happens, we’re together,” I said.

  Rose looked at me. “I don’t want to sleep alone tonight, Wes. I know why you slept outside the door last night. But tonight… sleep with me.”

  “I get too close to you, sweetie, and the last thing we’re going to do is sleep.”

  Rose grinned. “Yeah, but that’s half the fun.”

  “Only half?”

  “Hard not to think about everything, Wes.”

  I kissed Rose’s hand. “I know, sweetie. Let’s just settle for now. Let the smoke clear out of what happened. Then I can make some calls and figure out what to do next.”

  “Which is?”

  “I’m not exactly sure. If Aton is no better then I think we need to skip out of here. Out of state. Until he wakes up.”

  “He’s not going to wake up,” Rose said. “I know it. If Luke did it… Luke doesn’t mess up.”

  “Hey,” I growled. “He fucked up tonight. He had a plan to take you out and it got fucked up.”

  “That’s because he put people in the middle,” Rose said. “He does that when he’s sending a warning. If he really wanted me dead, I’d be dead. Same for you, Wes. I’m sorry. He’s waiting for something.”

  The anger boiled within me. I let go of Rose’s hand and opened the door. I leaned down and grabbed the wires, starting the car again.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “You don’t trust me? Then fucking leave. Drive until you’re out of gas. Or just go back to him. Rat me out and I’ll take all the heat that’s coming.”

  I slammed the door and walked in front of the lights of the car. I skipped the damn cabin and went to the lake. Where it was calm and peaceful, with some moonlight hitting the water.

  It hurt when Rose talked like that. And that pissed me off even more. Because it meant I cared about what she thought of me.

  Fuck that.

  I stood in front of the deck and tried to think about a rational plan. But who the hell was I? I didn’t make plans. I wasn’t part of some family or the mob. I didn’t have a suit and tie and street cred to go out and hustle people down. My job was simple - mash up all the anger and pain in my body and take it out on whoever was put in front of me. When they went down and were out, the crowd cheered for me. Aton paid me. I went home. I drank. I fucked. I woke up and did it all again.

  “Wes?” Rose approached slowly. “I’m sorry if I offended you.”

  “I just want to get out of all this. And if I end up with a bullet in the back of my head, then I at least went down swinging.”

  “I know nothing but pain,” Rose said. “Nothing but being pushed around. Hurt. Told what to do. How to act. How to feel. Everyone has had something to hang over me and use me for it.”

  “I don’t,” I said. “I have nothing hanging over you. You can go anytime you want, Rose. I’m not holding you here.”

  “I know that, Wes. That’s why I’m here. On my own will. And that scares me. But I don’t want to bring pain to you. Or danger.”

  “Too late,” I said with a smirk. “That ended when a bullet ripped open my shoulder.”

  “That was your fault.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “Wes, before everything went crazy the last time… when I told you about my brother and your brother… I confessed to you about a murder.”

  “You said you blamed yourself for everyone dying.”

  “It wasn’t just that. I’m accused of murder.”

  I turned and faced Rose. “What?”

  “Really. I’m accused of it. Luke has been protecting me.”

  “Care to explain that to me?”

  “I tried to escape.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I met a guy who could help me,” Rose said.

  My blood boiled with jealousy. That was something I wasn’t used to. I made fists and flexed my hands to calm down.

  “He had done work for my father before,” Rose said. “He took care of false identifications. Sometimes if my father’s fighters got hurt, they’d need real medical attention. So they’d get a fake ID to get to a hospital and stuff. I don’t know how it worked in the background. I never asked or cared. But I remembered Roc. After my father died, Luke took control of everything and was bad from the beginning. Really bad. He loved to snort drugs and kill people. I knew he’d eventually want to kill me. So I tried to make an escape. I privately started to talk to Roc. See, when Luke took over, he kicked everyone out of the loop. All those contacts and relationships my father made were destroyed. I think Luke liked it. He liked making enemies because he had the size, strength, and power to fight back. All the damn time. Remember how you told me that story about that bully?”

  “Yeah, I remember,” I said.

  “Luke is the ultimate bully. And nobody can ever stand up to him. Or stop him. Jesus Christ, Wes, he shot your boss. Aton. A man who is connected. A man with rich blood, right?”

  I nodded. That was true. It was definitely a bold move to make. “Fair enough.”

  “I thought I could escape him,” Rose said. “I called Roc and he wanted to do me a favor. He knew how bad it was and that it was going to keep getting worse for me. Hell, he was already making sure to keep me separated from Luke.”

  “So you got a fake ID?”

  Rose shook her head. In a scene of repeat, her eyes glistened with tears against the moonlight. This time, I didn’t comfort her. She needed to stand up on her own and tell me the damn truth and the damn story.

  “I didn’t get a fake ID,” Rose whispered. “Instead, I killed Roc.”

  ~

  I let her go.

  I let her stand there and cry. I let her walk to the edge of the water and wipe the tears away. I really felt like I had no choice right now. My head and heart were in a tailspin that left me wondering just what in the fuck I was trying to prove.

  When Rose turned to face me again, there was a slight look of defeat in her face.

  “Are you going to ask me about it?”
/>
  “No,” I said. “But you’re going to tell me what actually happened.”

  “I went to meet Roc. He had everything worked out. I’d be under a new name. A new passport. A new everything. A clean start for me. Roc was the best at it. I could quickly jump the country and disappear. I was thinking about going to Italy. Or Spain. I had some extra money so I figured why not.” Rose flickered a smile. “Roc wouldn’t let me pay. He said it was a final debt payment to the Dragman. To my father. We argued for a few minutes about it. I insisted he take the money and he fought back. He ended up with a hand at my waist and then there was a weird pause. He looked down at me and… shit… he tried to kiss me. Our noses touched but nothing else. He confessed he had a thing for me.”

  A low rumble echoed in my throat.

  Someone else touching Rose? Someone else trying to kiss her? Someone else confessing a thing for her?

  “What happened?” I asked, trying to play my jealousy off.

  “I wasn’t sure what was going to happen between us. Honestly. I was so fragile. So desperate.”

  “Yeah, I get that. What happened with the murder?”

  “Are you jealous, Wes?”

  “I’m not in the fucking mood for games.”

  I saw Rose smile. She liked that I was jealous. And, fuck me, I liked that she liked that I was jealous. Round and round we go.

  “I stepped back from Roc. I was going to say something rational about the situation. Then Roc’s face dropped. A hand touched my right hand. Then something was in my hand. My hand lifted. Before I could understand what was happening… A finger touched my finger and my finger touched the trigger of the gun…”

  “It was Luke.”

  Rose nodded. “He followed me. He knew all about it. He had guys watching me. He knew I had talked to Roc. He knew I had set things up. Everything. And he was wearing gloves. The gun went off. I bounced back against Luke. He covered my mouth and told me to be quiet. Roc fell to his knees, death in his eyes. He reached for me and collapsed to the ground. Dead. Then Luke backed away. I stood there, Wes, holding the gun. Then Luke did something even worse. He called the police. He left me standing there with a smoking gun and a dead body in front of me. He set me up for murder.”

  “Jesus Christ,” I whispered. Man, I couldn’t wait to face off with the Assassin before all this was said and done. I was going to rip his heart out with my bare hand.

  “Luke managed to get me out of there,” Rose said. “He saved me after setting me up.”

  “So you’d be locked to him forever,” I said.

  “Yes. If I did anything, he’d go to the police. Or he’d go to Roc’s crew. That was worse. The police eventually didn’t care. They had other things. But Roc’s guys…”

  Now I saw the pain flooding Rose’s body. That and fear. Intense, cold fear. She started shivering.

  I stepped toward her.

  She threw a hand out at me, damn near punching me in the chest.

  “Don’t.”

  “Why?”

  “Why do you even want it?” she asked. “Because I’m pretty?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.”

  “You know how many people have said that to me?”

  “I don’t give a shit. I’m saying it.”

  “Everyone says it. Luke forced me into professional modeling contracts. Easy money for him. My father made me walk around and collect bets. I had offers from every businessman and politician in the state. You know what that feels like?”

  “I don’t. I’m not beautiful.”

  “Yeah, you kind of are, Wes.”

  “So what do you want me to do right now?” I asked. “You’re fucking terrified and I’m trying to help you. I’m putting my life on the line for you. So, fine, you’re ugly. You’re a disgusting, ugly woman.”

  “No… Wes…”

  “Yeah, you are. Absolutely ugly. The ugliest… woman…”

  Rose laughed. She covered her mouth and laughed at me.

  I tried to hold back but I couldn’t help but laugh either. Christ, we were in such hell. Death waiting around the corner. A bullet could fly at any second and tear my brain to pieces.

  So we stood there and laughed.

  It felt good.

  Rose had me at arms length.

  She caught her breath and said, “I didn’t mean anything against you, okay? It’s just that my entire life…”

  “Shut up, Rose,” I said.

  “Excuse me?”

  I was done talking about being beautiful. She wanted to feel ugly? Fine. I could make that happen. There was one logical thing to do.

  I reached down and scooped up a handful of mud and dirt and wiped it across her face.

  31.

  (Rose)

  Wes threw mud at me.

  I stood there, shocked, as I tried to actually believe it happened.

  He threw mud at me? What are we… like, seven? Like he’s some punk on the playground who likes me and throws dirt at me?

  Wes then shrugged his shoulders and said, “There, now you’re ugly for real.”

  I hated to admit it, but I liked it a lot. I stepped forward at Wes and tried to kiss him. He darted out of the way and I chased after him. There was freaking dirt on my face. It was gross. I wanted to give it back to Wes.

  He lured me to the edge of the lake and then grabbed my waist and tossed me. I screamed but he didn’t let me go, letting me crash into the water. Instead, he spun me and put me down.

  I came at him with a big, dirty kiss.

  “Great, I’m ugly now,” Wes said.

  “Hardly,” I whispered.

  Our bodies were tight together.

  “Let’s go for a swim,” Wes suggested.

  “What?”

  “You heard me. You need to clean up.

  “In the lake?”

  “Why not?”

  “No. No way in hell…”

  Wes grabbed me and turned. I screamed again, but there was no stopping it this time. Wes lunged forward into the water. My arms were tight around his neck. We crashed into the chilly water and I didn’t know what to do.

  Slap Wes? Punch Wes? Knee him in the balls? Or just scream from the icy water slicing me…

  When we popped out of the water, he was still holding me. We were only waist deep. My legs were tight around Wes’s body. I instantly started to shiver. I blinked the water away.

  Wes reached up and wiped my face. “There. No more dirt and mud. You’re fucking beautiful again, sweetie.”

  “I hate when you say it,” I blurted out.

  “What?”

  “That I’m beautiful.”

  “Why?”

  “Because of the way it makes me feel.”

  “Oh?”

  “This is…” My hands dug against his wet shirt to his hard muscle. “This is real for me, Wes. You and me. My car was supposed to explode and then you came to check on me. I think you got my heart in all this.”

  “Ah, shit. I didn’t ask for that.”

  “Oh,” I said. That really wasn’t the reaction I was hoping for.

  “It’s okay, sweetie. We’re going to get through this. I’ll go down for you.”

  I believed him.

  I shivered again.

  One of his hands held my ass, the other hand at my back. He held me with ease, as though I was as light as a feather. Our lips touched, pulled back, flirted, pulled back again. Wes was fucking with me and it was getting to me bad. There I was, standing in damn cold lake water, and all I wanted was to kiss him. Or have him kiss me.

  Because… well… I was falling in love with Wes.

  ~

  Our tongues ravaged one another as Wes walked from the water. It sloshed around and the air felt colder as it attacked my wet clothes and body. But I knew it was going to be worth it. He walked to the back door of the cabin and opened it. He walked right to the bathroom and he stepped right into the shower. He turned on the water, hit the showe
r, and after a few cold seconds of water, it was warm. Then hot.

  So comfortable.

  So amazing.

  Wes pinned me against the back wall of the shower as everything heated up. So fast. So good. He grabbed my legs and made me stand there. His hands ripped at my soaking wet shirt and forced it off. He tore at my bra, tossing it out of the shower. My breasts hung there, my nipples painfully hard. His hands cupped me and when I looked into his eyes, it was intense. Maybe the most intense look I’d ever seen from another man in my life.

  When Wes’s mouth and tongue touched my chest, my body ignited with a deep fire. Hotter than the water rushing from the shower, attacking my body. He kissed down to my breasts and comforted me with his tongue. Circling my nipples one at a time, bringing me to a torturous level of pleasure. My knees bent and my hips quivered. My panties were soaked from the water, but they would have been soaked no matter what. I ached for Wes. I craved him. I demanded him. It felt good to be greedy.

  So greedy that I put a hand to Wes’s head and pushed.

  “Fuck,” I whispered. “Wes. Now. Right now.”

  He slithered down my belly and then looked up at me. “Tell me. I want to fucking hear you say it.”

  My lips trembled. “I want to feel you…”

  “No, sweetie. That’s not good enough.”

  His hands opened my jeans. His strong fingers curled around and ripped, forcing my jeans and panties down my body, fighting as they clung to my skin.

  I groaned and put my hands to shower wall. “Holy fuck… Wes… I’m so turned on…”

  “Say it,” Wes growled. “Right fucking now.”

  “Taste me,” I whimpered. “I want you to taste me. Make me come with your tongue.”

  “Ah, you wild beautiful woman,” Wes whispered.

  His breath trailed down my lower belly and I watched him move between my legs. I put my left leg up on the edge of the bathtub and leaned my lower half forward. His hands cupped my ass tight and his mouth went right to work. His razor tongue cut bottom to top, slicing me open. I felt myself pulsing with desire and Wes was there to savor it. His mouth slipped over my clit and he stayed right there. His tongue moved in every direction possible as he suckled at me. It was gentle enough that the mounting pleasure rolled on top of itself but hard enough that I was on the brink of climax. What others could do in minutes Wes did in seconds. He was that good and that intense.