Love & Hate Series Box Set 2 (3-4) - In Too Deep - Skimming the Surface

by Joanna Mazurkiewicz

  The numbness comes back; the guilt keeps spreading deep inside me. I’m no different than the Russians. I remember everything, every single detail: the screams, the smell of blood and flesh. This is not normal. I shouldn’t be acting like nothing happened. The thing is that I have to pull myself together, push the guilt aside, and think about what I’m going to do next. Tahlia needs me and I can’t act like I can’t handle being the bad guy.

  “It’s none of your concern. Take care of Kiki and don’t go around drinking another bottle. I need to go out again,” I tell her, getting up. I have no idea how I’m going to fire my gun when my hands are trembling like fuck. Rudolf is not weak, and he is guarded by his own people.

  Tequila kneels in front of me. She has dark circles under her eyes. The alcohol is still in her system. I can smell it. I made a mistake taking her with me before. This time I’m doing this on my own.

  “What the hell happened? The Russians called, right? You know where she is? For fuck’s sake, Micah, tell us what is going on.” She keeps asking calmly, like that will change anything.

  I place my hands on her shoulders and look at her. Maybe she’ll see through me, see what kind of monster I’ve become. When I save Tahlia, I won’t demand any forgiveness. I don’t deserve her. This time, I will let her choose.

  “I’m leaving and you’re going to stay here until I come back. I’m not getting into another argument. We are done and I have to go,” I repeat, then get up, grab my jacket and stroll towards the door.

  She is swearing after me.

  “Wait, hold on,” Kiki shouts from upstairs.

  “What?” I ask with heavy voice, turning to look at her.

  “Good luck,” she says and then vanishes in the room.

  I nod to her and then leave to face my demons and save the girl I love.

  Tahlia

  I wipe the sweat off my forehead, taking another sip of water. I glance at the clock and tense my shoulders. It’s half past ten and Gavin hasn’t called me yet to his office. I have a feeling that this is how rat wants to play this—just show up unexpectedly and surprise me. I’ve been looking out for him, feeling on edge. It’s a weekday, but the club is very busy.

  Hunter keeps working hard, but I know that something is wrong with him. He has been scanning the floor more than usual. On top of that, he had been checking up on me every damn time I go out for a break. This isn’t normal or even fair. I’m fucking ready to face that bastard on my own.

  I pour a pint of beer for the tall handsome bearded guy at the bar that has been eyeing my cleavage since he showed up. Men seem to be paying more attention to me since I died my hair black. I keep smiling, pretending that everything is all right. At least that way people don’t recognise the real me. Ten minutes later Rob strolls through passing all the other bartenders. His face, as usual, is red, sweat soaking his white shirt. He shoots me a sharp look and stops by Hunter’s station. I can’t hear what he says to him, but Hunter doesn’t look happy. He looks around before he joins Rob, who looks annoyed that he has to wait for him.

  “So how long have you been working here then?” asks the guy, smiling. He has to shout through the music.

  “Only couple of days. Why?”

  “You are very pretty. Did anyone ever tell you that?” he asks, giving me that lame look that he is up for some fun. For a split second I think about Micah, wondering what he’s doing right now—and if he is looking for me. I look past the guy, seeing someone in the crowd. My heart accelerates, but I realise it’s just some random guy that only looks like rat.

  “Hey, can you go and fill the tray with the ice? I have a queue and this handsome stranger wants a pitcher of cocktails,” Donna asks unexpectedly, fluttering her eyelashes, pulling me back to being a bartender, not a girl who is waiting for her revenge.

  She does have a few men waiting to be served and I’m not even that busy. That low-cut top obviously helps her with tips. Maybe I need a little break. The tension is killing me. I grab the heavy tray, telling her that she owes me one, and head to the back. The guy with the beard keeps staring until I disappear heading downstairs. The ice is kept with the beer and other drinks. It’s cool inside and it feels nice to be away from the heat and hungry stares and the crowd of people.

  “I was wondering how long it was going to be before we heard something on the streets.” The voice that I know startles me and the metal tray falls on the floor. Tahir shuts the door and stands in my only way to escape. His face hasn’t changed at all, the same twisted smile appears on his lips. I don’t understand how he is still alive. He must be injured; the stab wounds wouldn’t heal so quickly. “Nice hair, by the way, but that wasn’t clever at all, Tahlia. You had a chance to run, so why didn’t you?”

  I think about that knife, the knife or my gun. This is not what I expected at all, and now I’m trapped in the storage room with that arsehole. I should have made sure that he was dead when I still had a chance.

  “Where the fuck is Rudolf? I thought he wanted to see me?” I ask, hoping to buy some time. I need to get out of here and back behind the bar and I’d rather not use my knife on him. The only thing in my favour is that he doesn’t look strong enough to kill me.

  “Do you really think he would come for you? He has other people doing his dirty work for him. And we have some unfinished business, bitch.”

  “You’re injured and I’m not scared anymore. This is finished business. The rat can go and fuck himself,” I say.

  Then Tahir goes for me. One minute he is just standing by the door, the next he grabs me by the neck and lifts me by my throat. He must be high to have such strength without showing pain. His actions are fast and smooth as if that stab wound doesn’t bother him.

  The pressure on my neck is intense, and I’m losing oxygen fast. I wiggle my legs around, trying to pull away, but he clamps his fingers tighter, suffocating me.

  “Stupid cunt, I’ll batter you and then I’ll taste that sweet pussy of yours before I slash your throat,” he rasps and throws me over to the corner. I land on the stack of beer, bruising the left side of my body. My head hits something hard, and spots dance in front of my eyes for a split second.

  Tahir grabs me by my hair and then punches me straight in the face. My jaw feels like it’s been cracked in half. Next he throws me in the middle of the floor and starts kicking me with his boot. The oxygen gets punched out of my lungs; the pain spreads everywhere. Now, suddenly I have lost all control. How could I be so stupid to think I could have tricked rat?

  I try to scream, but no sound comes out of my mouth. I see rat’s face in front of me again.

  When Tahir takes his knife and starts moving it down between my legs, I scream as loud as I can, forgetting about the pain.

  He laughs and rips my shirt open to ogle my chest like he wanted to before, and for the first time in three years I know that I have made a terrible mistake. I should have run, run as far as I could. Now, I’m going to die in another basement, away from the only man that promised to keep me safe.

  Tahir kicks me again, and this time my body squirms in agony. There is blood in my mouth, and I just want him to get it over with.

  “That fucking stabbing was childish. You should have finished the job and actually killed me,” he whispers, leaning down.

  “Hey, arsehole, why don’t you hit someone your size? Someone that can fight back?” asks someone else, barging into the room. One second I smell Tahir close to me, the next it seems that he’s been hit at the back of his head. Then the darkness drops me back into the hole.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Hands filled with blood

  Micah

  I manage to pass the bouncers and get inside the club. That bad feeling stirs inside the pit of my stomach, escalating my goal of getting to Tahlia, rescuing her from the hands of the sadistic bastard. I glance around wondering where to go first. I tense my aching muscles, shutting down the creepy voices in my head. I dismiss all the distractions, the music, the smell of buz
z and sweat from half-naked bodies that are dancing on the floor. Tahlia is in here somewhere. Now I just have to find her and get her out.

  I stop a girl with a huge rack and show her Tahlia’s picture. She doesn’t seem to recognise her, so I ask her to take me around the bar, avoiding anyone that looks suspicious or would ask too many questions. There is a possibility that Rudolf has her somewhere in the basement, waiting for the right moment to transport her to a more private location.

  This place is very busy on a Monday evening. People are everywhere. Beads of sweat run down my back as I locate a tall Asian man with a name tag reading Almar Singh. He looks like someone that might know the right people around the club, the dodgy employee.

  “Hey, I’m looking for a man called Rudolf. Rumour has it he’s supposed to be here tonight?” I ask, pressing my gun into his body, through my jacket. Yeah, this is my desperate side, the ugly man in a white hat that likes torturing people. He darts his eyes on me, losing that stupid smirk on his face.

  “You heard wrong, white boy. He ain’t here tonight,” he says. “Check downstairs with the management. I’ve heard that he used to be tight with Gavin, the owner.”

  “Take me there, right now, or I’ll blow you off in front of everyone in here,” I snap.

  He gets up without a word and nods for me to follow him. Some people stare at us, but the guy seems calm enough. We pass through the main dance floor and stop in front of a black door at the back; he types the code into the staff door and lets me through.

  I knock him over the head with my gun, he slides down, and I continue alone from there on, wondering if I’m walking into a trap. Some fat guy with a red face shouts after me, but I’m running through the long corridor all the way to the lower level of the club. I storm into the smaller more private bar and the girls that are serving customers stare back at me shocked, probably wondering how the hell I got in here. I ask one of the kitchen porters to show me down to the cellars. I keep checking every room, every storage space, knowing that she must be somewhere here, hidden away, when Rudolf is partying upstairs.

  My heart jackhammers in my chest loud and clear when I pass through the cellar, finally storming into the smaller storage room at the back.

  I see a guy leaning over a body, a girl with black hair. I push him away, instantly recognising Tahlia. Her tattoos and long legs. There is blood on the floor, and she is not moving.

  “Get the fuck away from her,” I shout as I push the guy away from Tahlia so he stumbles a few feet. I drop to my knees, bringing her face to mine, hoping that I haven’t arrived too late. My heart starts pumping too much blood into my veins, and when she doesn’t respond I howl with misery, unable to form a coherent thought. There is another body in the room, an Asian man is in a pool of blood, his neck is twisted to the side. Tahlia isn’t breathing. I turn to the stranger who was just kneeling by her side. “You son of a bitch,” I roar, jumping on the blond guy, wanting to throw punches at him.

  “It wasn’t me that attacked her. I already killed that motherfucker out there. Get the hell off me before I lose it and fucking kill you too,” the blond guy shouts.

  I get up, dragging my hand through my hair, disoriented and pumped with fury. “What the fuck is Tahlia doing here? What the hell happened?”

  “Her name is Janine. I left her for a minute and when I came back to the bar, she was gone. Fuck, why am I even wasting my time talking to you? We need to get her away from here. Now. Before Rudolf’s people come looking for this arsehole.”

  “I have a van parked at the back. Can you get her out without anyone seeing?” I ask.

  “No problem, just go. I’ll bring her outside,” he says, and scoops her into his arms. I want to know who the hell he is and how he knows my girl, but there is no time for that. Tahlia is hurt and she needs to be taken to the hospital. He gives me directions to the way out and I shoot through the door. The fire alarm starts going off when I storm out through the fire escape exit. The fresh air hits my lungs and I run, praying for Tahlia to be alive. She can’t die now, not after everything she’s been through.

  My lungs are burning when I get to my van and fire off the engine. After cutting through the red light and nearly hitting another car, I arrive at the back of the club. The blond guy comes out holding Tahlia in his arms. Blood drips from her face, and her clothes are ripped apart. I see a huge purple bruise blooming on her ribs. They are definitely broken and from the wheezy sound of her breathing she could have punctured a lung. Pure terror blurs my vision. I help him get her inside, but my mind is ready to shut down. I’ve seen too much, done too much and said too much. It’s like she is dead already–like it’s game over.

  “It’s too late, too fucking late. She is dead,” I moan, shaking my head. What the hell is happening to me? Tears fall down my cheeks, but they won’t bring her back. I came too late.

  “Just drive,” he shouts. “She isn’t dead, you arsehole. You can still save her. Just drive to the emergency. We’re in London, for Christsake.”

  Don’t ask me how, but I manage to get to the hospital in one piece. All I know is that after half an hour we arrive at ER. The doctor and nurses are pushing us away from her, asking us what happened to her. She is placed on a bed and wheeled off to another room, away from me. I collapse on a hard plastic seat in the waiting room. The blond guy that helped me is talking to the doctor. They are both standing stoically, arms folded, having a silent conversation, and I keep fucking crying, unable to believe that there is still a chance that she will be okay.

  Losing her is cutting a huge hole in my heart. A deep hollow emptiness comes back. It feels like history is repeating itself. It’s happening all over again. I’m losing someone that meant everything to me.

  “How the hell did you know she was there? Fuck, I wish I killed that motherfucker that hurt her,” says the blond guy, flopping down on the chair next to me.

  “She is gone, gone. There was no pulse,” I say, getting up. I need to get out of here. I can’t be in the same room with Tahlia’s body. I failed her.

  The blond guy jumps to his feet and grabs me by the collar, slamming me against the wall. “Get it together, you imbecile. She is not dead. Get this through your thick skull,” he shouts. “She needs surgery, but she is not dead!”

  “Gentlemen, please, this is not the place for that behaviour. If you don’t calm down, I will have to call security,” says the nurse, approaching us.

  He lets go of me and I look away, wondering what the hell is wrong with me. Tahlia is alive. I can’t leave her now, when she needs me the most. The blond guy is a stranger, but he saved her. It’s time to man up and face the nightmare, face her enemies.

  ***

  Tahlia

  Darkness and pain. I keep hearing beeping sounds over and over. How long do have before I can open my eyes again?

  The darkness grips me and I’m back inside the hole, hearing the squeaky noises all around me. The rats. There are so many of them. I’m terrified. The walls are tight, getting smaller and smaller with each passing moment. I scream, but there is no sound. I can’t feel my face, my hands or the rest of my body. The fear settles deep inside me, and then I hear voices.

  “Is it safe for her to be here?” asks one. I recognise it—Tequila. I can’t open my eyes and tell her that she needs to wake me, to do something. The darkness is shaking me.

  “I don’t know. There’s a chance that guy that tried to kill her might come back,” replies another voice. It’s Micah, my Micah. No, why am I saying this? There is no way that I’m dead.

  “No one saw me when I carried her out of the club.”

  I want to shake myself awake, but the pain is gripping me so tightly that I can’t breathe. The beeping sound is louder and it speeds up.

  “Who the hell is this guy? A stranger. For all we know you might be one of Rudolf’s buddies,” Tequila says, raising her voice.

  “I’m a friend, an ally, and if you don’t like it, well, that’s too bad. I’m here to
stay,” says the grumpy voice that I finally recognise. It’s Hunter, but what is he doing here?

  Then their voices fade, and I hear nothing, just silence. The pain is getting worse; it’s the moment of reckoning, I must be dying as no one can live through the pain, this hell, this torture. Then I feel a warmth spread through my veins that touches each part of my body and the pain slowly recedes leaving me floating and I drift, and drift, and there is no one here to save me.

  ***

  There is an awful taste in my mouth. Everything hurts: my abdomen, my eyes and mouth. I try to move, open my eyes, but the pain just keeps mounting. What happened, and why is everything around me so white?

  “Miss Morgan, try not to move. You have been through a lot,” says someone to me. A deep voice, a stranger. I blink rapidly, trying to swallow, but my mouth is so dry. The face in front of me belongs to a dark-haired man with kind voice.

  “Is she all right? What is going on, Doctor?” asks another voice. I try to move my head to the side, but it’s so hard. Everything hurts.

  “Calm down, Mr. Thomson. It’s going to take her a while to get her bearings,” says the man who seems to my doctor. I finally open my eyes wide and start scanning all the faces in the room. There is Hunter, Kiki, Tequila and Micah. Tears drop down my cheeks, because all of a sudden I remember. How could I have been so stupid, believing that I could have taken him down? That was the worst decision that I ever made.

  “How did I get here?” I ask, not recognising my own voice. Micah is on his feet, standing close to me, taking my hand. The heat, it crashes me like a storm. I have missed him so much, so fucking much.

  “I believe your friends can explain everything a bit later. Now I just need to let you know that we have taken care of your injuries. You have several broken ribs, one of which punctured your lung. We did a small operation to repair the tear and it all seems to be healing well. You have a dislocated shoulder, a deep cut that runs through your shoulder and a mild concussion. The nurse will come and administer some more painkillers,” the doc explains. “Try to rest. I shall be back later to check on you.”