by K. D Clark
He didn’t say anything, just continued to stare at her.
“I didn’t want you to know about any of this. I warned you. I told you I didn’t want you involved with me for this reason, Sabrina.”
She shook her head. “I thought it was just drugs.”
“It’s not.”
They sat there in silence for some time as she let everything sink in. She had been naive to think he worked for the mob to just sell drugs. Could she really be sitting in a car with a killer? She didn’t understand how Jayce could kill someone. He wasn’t a killer or a drug dealer. A tear slid down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away.
“Fuck, please don’t cry, babe.” He reached over the console and unhooked her seatbelt.
He lifted her into his lap, and she curled into him taking comfort in the smell of him. It was twisted and messed up. She was upset about Jayce killing someone yet she wanted him to comfort her. She should be scared of him, but she could never be scared of Jayce. He rubbed circles on her back as she cried and she could only imagine how her makeup looked now. When the tears finally dried up Jayce reached down and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up at his eyes.
“I won’t lie to you, ever. But there are things I won’t ever be able to tell you. At the end of the day no matter what I do out there”—he waved his hand in the direction of the windshield—“I’m still the same person. I’m sorry, babe, I never wanted you to find out about any of this.”
She nodded, unsure of what to say. How could she love Jayce and hate everything that he did?
“Say something.”
“I don’t know what to say,” she answered honestly.
He nodded, accepting her response.
He looked down at her dress. “Do you still want to go to the dance?”
She really didn’t want to. After finally understanding what Jayce did when he was away from her the last thing she wanted to do was be in a room full of people while she hung on his arm. But she knew Wendy and Alyssa were there waiting for her and she had spent so much time getting ready she didn’t want to waste it.
“Yea, but just for a little bit.”
“Whatever you want, babe.”
She scooted out of his lap and into the passenger seat, and they drove towards the school.
Jayce
Jayce sat at a table next to Luke as he drank punch and watched as Sabrina danced with her friends. He’d never wanted her to find out the depth to which he was involved with the mob but he would have been a fool to think it wouldn’t come out eventually. She was innocent and now she was involved with someone like him—trouble. It would only get worse once he became made and he couldn’t hide forever.
“What’s up?” Luke asked indicating the sour mood that he had been in since arriving at the school.
“She knows about everything.”
“I thought she already did?”
“No, not like this. She’s seen some clothes in my back seat, covered with some guy’s blood.”
“Oh shit. You did a hit?” he asked.
Jayce nodded and it was the scariest thing he’d ever done but he didn’t have time to analyze how he felt about it. He needed to make sure Sabrina was ok.
“Holy shit, man, so this is real.” Luke ran a hand through his hair as if he was the one stressing out.
“It has always been real. I knew I’d have to do it at some point.”
“I’m guessing she’s not taking it well?” he asked.
Jayce shot him a look for the stupid question. Of course she wasn’t taking it well. What girl would? All he wanted to do was get her out of this gymnasium and back to his apartment so they could talk about it. He could see, even though she was dancing with her friends, that she was lost in thought. She smiled on cue as Wendy said something to her but it didn’t reach her eyes. Jayce continued to drink out of his cup and watch Sabrina as she fake smiled and danced with her friends. They hadn’t been there very long when she came to the table and said she was ready to go. They said goodbye and got into his car.
“Come back to my place?”
She shook her head. “Can you just take me home?” she asked quietly.
His heart sank. She was pulling away from him and it hurt like hell. This was exactly what he didn’t want. He made the short drive to her house. The lights were on signaling her mom was home.
“We need to talk,” he said. He didn’t want this to linger.
Tears rolled down her cheeks. “I just some need time, Jayce.”
“How much time?”
She shrugged her shoulder.
“I can give you time but it can’t be forever. We’re not over,” he said matter-of-factly but he couldn’t be sure if she felt the same.
“I know.”
He leaned over, grabbing the back of her neck, and landed a kiss to her forehead. He breathed in, trying to savor her scent of strawberries.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you too… But I need to make sure I can love all of this.” She waved her hand around, indicating the bloody clothes that were still in the back seat. She got out of the car, and he watched as she walked into the house. In the blue dress he wouldn’t get a chance to see on his bedroom floor. Guilt swirled in his stomach—he’d ruined her homecoming night, and he just hoped he hadn’t ruined their relationship.
Sabrina
The Jayce she knew and loved was also the same person who’d killed someone before going to homecoming. At least that was what she was assuming and he hadn’t led her to believe anything different. She needed to give herself time to think and breathe. She couldn’t figure out what to do with her own life, let along what a future would be like with a guy in the mafia. She wished it wasn’t so complicated. Compared to this, Chad and Wendy’s relationship issues seemed ridiculous. If only Jayce was going off to college after high school—that she could deal with. In the current situation she was in she had no idea what she was going to do.
Chapter Ten
Jayce
The next couple of days seemed to drag on. He hadn’t heard from Sabrina except for a text she’d sent that Wendy would be driving her to school and back. He didn’t like it but what could he do? She’d said she needed time, and he was doing everything he could to give her that. He felt like a complete stalker as he sat in his car outside the diner and watched her from the window. She smiled and laughed with Wendy, fluttering from table to table. She was beautiful and now that he had had her the last thing he wanted to do was let her go. His phone rang, interrupting his thoughts. Mason’s name flashed across the screen. He sighed. He didn’t feel like dealing with business right now—that’s what had got him into the position he was in now.
“What’s up?”
“We got a problem,” he said.
Jayce sat up straight in his seat. If Mason was worried that meant something really bad was happening.
“What do you mean we got a problem?” Jayce asked, already feeling his heart racing.
“FEDs did a sweep of Albert’s place.”
Jayce cursed. The one thing Cosa Nostra hated more than anything else was the FEDs.
“Did you have any product still there?” Mason asked.
“Nah, I always grabbed everything before I left. You think he would snitch?”
Jayce couldn’t imagine Albert talking to the police but when people got desperate you could never know what they’d do.
“I don’t think so but I just got a call from Lucas.”
Jayce froze. He’d rather be arrested than killed, and if Lucas found out Jayce was breaking down product, him and Mason would both be dead.
“What’d he say?”
“Wants me to meet him at the warehouse…alone. I’m freaking out, man.”
The tension in his voice was obvious. Lucas had to know what was going on at Albert’s house. He wished Mason would have never told him about Albert. Shit.
“You could run,” Jayce said, although he knew that was a stupid idea before it had
even come out of his mouth.
Mason scuffed. “Why? So I can spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder trying to avoid the inevitable. If Lucas wants us killed he’ll have us killed.”
“Us?”
“You’re the one fucking with the product! I just vouched for you, man.”
Jayce slammed his hand against the steering wheel, giving himself a moment to breathe. He’d fucked up. He’d done something he wasn’t supposed to and now he was getting himself and Mason killed. The reality of the situation wasn’t even fully sinking in.
“I gotta go, he wants me there in 20 minutes. I’m going by my mom’s house first. Telling her goodbye. It was nice knowing you, Jayce.” He hung up before Jayce could respond, and like clockwork the phone starting ringing immediately after Mason had hung up.
He didn’t have the number saved but he knew it was Lucas. He thought about not answering the phone but it wouldn’t change anything. Except for the fact that his death would be a surprise, at least this way he could look it head on.
“Hey,” he answered trying to sound causal.
“I need you at the warehouse in 20. Come alone and bring the rest of your product,” Lucas said and hung up.
It would take Jayce 10 minutes to get downtown to the warehouse. He didn’t have enough time to go see his dad and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to. He thought about how heart broken his father would be. His father was still suffering from the loss of his mom. Jayce didn’t know how he would handle the death of his son. He felt guilty for putting his dad through this mess—his dad didn’t deserve this. A knock on the window made him jump. Sabrina was crouched down at the driver’s side window. He rolled it down slowly.
“What are you doing out here?” she asked.
Jayce swallowed down the lump in his throat. “Can you get in the car for a minute?”
She opened her mouth to protest but something in his face made her close her mouth. She circled the car and go into the passenger seat. He took a minute to stare at her. Imprinting her face to his memory. She was the most beautiful women he had ever seen inside and out. He ran a hand over his face.
“I fucked up, Sabrina.”
She shook her head. “No you didn’t. I just said I needed time…”
“No,” he cut her off. “Not about that. I fucked up in Cosa Nostra.” He looked down at the steering wheel.
“What does that mean?”
He took a deep breath. “It means that I did something I wasn’t supposed to do and when you do that in Cosa Nostra…you get in trouble.”
She was silent for a moment. “What are you trying to tell me?”
“In a few minutes I’m going to leave here and go to a place where…” He struggled to find the right words. He didn’t want to tell Sabrina the reality of the situation. That he was going to be murdered.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he settled on saying. He lifted his head up to see tears already streaming down her face.
She shook her head quickly back and forth. “No. No. We call the cops. We’ll tell them everything…”
“Sabrina.” He reached across the console and grabbed her hand.
“I’m not just going to sit by…”
“Yes you are. If you call the cops, I will go to prison. Possibly for life.”
Tears fell down her cheeks heavier than before and she sniffled.
“So what? You’re just going to show up to your death!” she spat, her face red and angry.
His heart broke in two. He was hurting her and he couldn’t do anything to fix it. “I love you,” he said.
She looked at him, eyes wide. “I love you too, Jayce. Which means you can’t do this. You can’t do this to me. What about your dad?”
“I don’t have a choice.” He glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “I have to go. Promise me you won’t do anything.”
“No!” she screamed
He stared into her eyes and his heart broke all over again. If there was one thing he regretted in this life it was hurting her like he was. She didn’t deserve this.
“We can run, go far away from here,” she pleaded.
Everything inside him wanted to tell her he would run away with her. That everything would be ok, but that wasn’t the truth.
He shook his head, repeating what Mason had told him. “They will find me eventually and you deserve better than that. You deserve the best life…”
“I deserve you!” she spat.
He looked down at their joined hands and let a tear slide down his face onto their hands.
“I have to go,” he repeated.
Taking him by surprise, she leaned across the console and kissed him, hard. He could taste the saltiness from her tears. He fisted his hand in her hair and pushed her lips hard against his. This was what he’d remember when he went to the warehouse. The smooth feeling of her skin and her puffy soft lips. The way she laughed and her dimples on either side of her cheeks when she smiled. The way she did things she didn’t want to do just to make other people happy. She would be imprinted into his memory. Finally they pulled away.
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you too.”
“Tell me you’ll be back. That you’ll pick me up tomorrow.”
“Babe…”
“Lie to me,” she begged.
He smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow, babe.”
She smiled through her tears and her splotchy red face. “See you tomorrow.”
She got out of the car and walked towards the diner. He watched until she was safely inside before he drove to the warehouse. His brain felt like it was on autopilot. He wasn’t able to fully process everything. He parked the car and walked with numb legs up to the door. He had just reached out for the handle when a hand grabbed his arm and something was thrown over his head making his vision go black. He twisted and turned, trying to break free. It felt like one man was holding his arms behind his back while another was dragging him away. Something hit his shins and he was roughly pushed as he fell into what he could only assume was the back of a vehicle. A door slammed behind him. He wiggled around in the space realizing that at some point one of the men had to have slipped zip ties around his wrist. They seemed to get tighter as he moved against them. He heard two more doors close and the vehicle sped off.
“Hey!” he yelled out at whoever could hear him, but there was no response.
He listened quietly two men talked low in what he assumed was Italian. He let his head fall against the hard surface he was on and tried to slow his breathing. He needed to conserve his energy so he could fight once these guys hauled him out of the vehicle. He knew he had very little chance of winning but he wasn’t going down without a fight. It wasn’t long before the vehicle came to stop and the doors opened and closed. Someone grabbed onto his elbow and yanked him out of the vehicle. He twisted and turned, trying to break free to no avail.
“Get the fuck off me!” he yelled, out of breath and sweaty from the struggle. One of the men chuckle and it only pissed him off more. They climbed a ridiculous amount of stairs and he was sure his kidnappers were trying to wear him out. It was working—he had no fight left in him. There was a cool breeze as a door clicked open and he was pushed into what he assumed was a room. He stood still, not sure what to do next. The zip ties were cutting into his wrist.
“That’s everybody right?”
He recognized the voice as Lucas’. Why would he go through the trouble of having him kidnapped just to kill him? He heard someone reply in Italian before the cover was lifted off his head. He blinked a few times, his eyes adjusting to the light of the room. Lucas stood in front of a large wooden desk, and next to him was a man he didn’t recognize. The man wasn’t huge but his eyes were black and his face alone sent a shiver down Jayce’s spine. They were both dressed in all black three-piece suits. The room had white carpeted floors and high ceilings. He looked to his side to see Mason standing next to him. He looked like shit, and Jayce assumed he had been
kidnapped just the same. Mason nodded at Jayce, a silent way to tell him to keep his head up. Die with dignity.
“Do you know why you both are here?” Lucas asked.
“No, sir,” Jayce lied through his teeth.
Lucas wanted the satisfaction of them admitting they had fucked up but Jayce wouldn’t give him that. Lucas smiled, looking from Jayce to Mason. He nodded at one of guys standing off in the corner. He was built like a linebacker, and Jayce assumed he was one of the men who had kidnapped him. The man came forward with a knife in his hand and cut the zip ties holding Jayce’s hands together before moving over to Mason and doing the same.
Jayce rubbed at the red mark surrounding his wrist. Lucas reached in his pocket and flipped out a pocket knife. He walked towards Jayce and grabbed his wrist. Jayce watched as he took the knife and cut a small opening in his finger. The blood dripped down onto the white carpet. Lucas then fished around in his pocket and pulled out a small picture shaped like a baseball card and placed it in the palm of Jayce’s hand. Jayce felt his heartbeat pick up—he knew what this was now. Relief flooded his veins as Lucas grabbed a lighter and set the picture on fire in his palm. It didn’t burn his hand, he just felt a slight tingle at the heat. Once the picture was fully burned Lucas stood back.
“Earlier this week you completed a hit for me. Tonight, Jayce Taylor, you are born again into a new life and into La Cosa Nostra. Violate what you know about this life, betray your brother and you will die and burn in hell just like the saint. Do you accept?”
And just like that Jayce became a made man.
Sabrina
She didn’t think she had cried so much in her entire life. How could she know the person she loved was walking into danger and sit by and do nothing? She couldn’t go to the cops or her mom or Wendy. It hadn’t taken much convincing—George had taken one look at her red, tear-stained face and let her go home and get some rest. She’d said she wasn’t feeling good, which for the most part was true—she was sick to her stomach. She could throw up from all the crying. The walk home had been terrible as she’d tried to keep her composure so that no one would pull over and ask her if she was ok. Once she’d got home, she’d immediately ran up to her room, closed the door and let herself sob. Death was never an easy thing to deal with but she never knew that knowing it was going to happen and not being able to do anything about it would hurt so much more. It felt like someone had ripped her heart out of her body and thrown it on the ground. It ached and longed for a person that soon would no longer walk this earth. She wasn’t sure when she fell asleep. The amount of crying she did must have literally worn her out. When she woke up, the room was pitch black, and it took a minute for her eyes to adjust. When they did, she saw a shadow standing in the corner. She screamed and scurried to the corner of her bed, searching the covers for her phone.
