A Blue Tale (17 page)

“You, deary, have horrible timing making new friends, let me tell ya. But you’ve landed yourself in my path, and that’s where you’ll stay, especially seeing as you’re the one with all the money in this group.”

“Wha…what are you talking about?” I asked, as two men wearing identical trench coats flanked either side of us.

He lifted his free hand to my face and traced one finger from the tip of my ear across my cheek and tapped twice in the middle of my lips.

“Your new friends owe me a lot of money, one of yous is gonna pay up, or I’ll find other ways of taking what I’m owed.” He leaned even closer, making me to hold my breath to avoid his stench. “You’re much prettier than the other one, I think we could have some fun.”

I felt wetness as he ran his tongue up the side of my face stopping just below my eye.

***

Deacon

“Get your fucking hands off of her!” I shouted as I ran toward the bench where Vito was practically lying on top of Eli.

Vito turned to smile at me, but before I could reach him I felt a fist collide with my face, knocking me to the ground.  I landed flat on my back and felt a heavy foot press into my chest. 

“I think our encounter last time might’ve given you a false sense of power over me, Mr. Chastain.” He said as he walked to stand over me. “As you can see, any man can be knocked down when taken by surprise.”

“Fuck you, Vito, keep your sorry ass away from her, or I’ll fucking kill you.”

“Such language, I’ll never understand why you youngsters can’t have a simple conversation without cursing.” He stared down at me and shook his head disapprovingly. “Now I’m assuming you like your girl untouched, and your guitar playing hands intact.” he stepped even closer to me, placing his foot on my hand and pulling a knife from his pocket, holding it at my wrist, and I heard Eli gasp. “So I suggest one of yous comes up with a way to get me what’s mine before you regret it.”

“Fuck you, Vito.”

“Learn some manners, son.” He pushed the knife a little deeper into my flesh and pain shot up my arm.

“You’ll get what yours, if you leave us all alone.” I choked out.

“Hey! What’s going on over there?” I heard a man’s voice coming from near the prison. I turned to see a guard walking toward us.

“You got one week, Chastain…one week.”

Vito and his thugs quickly disappeared.  Pulling myself off the ground, I looked toward Eli who was staring after them, her faced covered with shock.

“Are you two okay?” The guard asked as he neared us.

“Yeah.” I told him. “We’re fine, just a little misunderstanding.” I hide my bleeding arm behind my back hoping he’d be on his way.

“Are you sure?” He asked, his eyes moving to Eli.

I moved toward her drawing her attention to me, and watched horrified as she pulled away from me and curled her arms around her middle.  I sat on the other end of the bench, trying to keep my distance because I could only imagine how badly she wanted to run away from me after what she’d just seen.

“Oh, I see. Well you two take your troubles somewhere else.” The guard said thinking he’d come across a lover’s quarrel.

I nodded at him and watched as he turned to make his way back to the prison.

“Eli, are you okay?” I asked softly. “Did he hurt you?”

She turned her head slowly and her eyes were glazed over with unshed tears.

“Me?” She shook her head, making the tears roll down her cheeks. “No, I’m fine. But you…” she grasped my wrist and blood trickled down my arm from where Vito had pressed the knife. “You’re the one that’s hurt.  They could have…”

Her words were choked off by her tears.  I pulled her body to mine and held her as she cried tears born from fear.  I held her shaking body for a few minutes before pulling back and cupping her face in my hands.

“No princess, I’m fine.  Just a little cut, don’t be scared.”

“Don’t be scared? What scares me is that you aren’t.” She turned her face to break free from my grasp. “You were so consumed with your own anger, you didn’t even seem to care what he did to you. Instead, you spurred him on when you should have been trying to escape.”

Her eyes were wide with fear, and I saw the desire to run flash through them.  But she was right; I didn’t care what Vito did to me, as long as he left her alone.  I’d done enough in my life, I deserved any shit karma was going to throw my way, so I couldn’t care less what happened to me.  But her, Eli deserved better.  She was good and innocent, she didn’t deserve to be anywhere near scum like Vito.

“You’re right.” I admitted, hoping honesty really was the best policy. “I’ve done shit in my life, shit I’m not proud of, and I deserve many of the bad things that happen to me.”

“So what then? Angela, Tony, and you are somehow involved with Vito? You what, work for him?”

“Fuck no! I don’t do anything for Vito, I wouldn’t call for help if his throat was slit, and he was bleeding to death on the side of the road.” She flinched at my words, and I exhaled, trying to calm myself. “I have been involved with scum like him before, but that was a very long time ago.  I got away from that life, a life I’d learned from Tony. I don’t know what the hell is going on with Tony and Angela, but I haven’t been a part of that since I found music.”

I paused, waiting to see if she would say anything, but she just stared into the distance, not even acknowledging my words.

“I owe Tony, he saved my life.  He and Angela are my only ties to that part of my life. I thought I couldn’t turn my back on him; I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him.  But now he’s dragged both of us into this shit, and he made Angela help him.  They’ve both fucked up, and I won’t let them pull me down with them, or you.”

Her eyes finally came to mine and her voice was merely a whisper. “What do I have to do with any of this?”

“Nothing, except you know me, and Vito sees that as a way to get his money back for the drugs Angela stole from him.  He looks at you and sees dollar signs.” I reached out and laid my hand across hers. “I’m so sorry, Eli, you shouldn’t be involved.  You have nothing to do with this shit.  But I’m going to fix it, you won’t have to ever see Vito again, I promise.”

“I don’t understand any of this.” She said, staring up at me, her eyes pleading with me.

“And you shouldn’t.  The less you know, the better.  Just know that it will all be taken care of by tomorrow; I’ll kill someone before I let them touch you again.”

She nodded and then wrapped her arms around me, squeezing tight.  I let out a steady stream of breath, feeling a small amount of my inner panic leave with it.  If Eli could forgive me, and not get caught up in this anymore than she already was, I believed things would be okay.

“Deacon?” I heard Angela’s meek voice call from behind us.

I stood, blocking her from Eli.

“No.” I said calmly. “I’m done. I’ll take care of Vito, but I’m done with you and your brother. Disappear for a few days while I get it under control, but I don’t ever want to see you again.”

“I…I’m sorry.” She said as tears started to trickle down her cheeks. “I never-“

“It doesn’t matter, it’s done now.  You fucked up when you decided to cross me, if you needed my help you should have asked instead of tricking us.  I’ve always been there for you, always did anything you asked, given you anything you needed.” I took two steps toward her, knowing it would be the last time I’d ever see her. “I’m done, Angela, I won’t let your bitterness ruin me anymore.  I’ve loved you like a sister, and that same love was all I ever asked for in return.  I can’t do it anymore. Leave, just leave, and if I ever see your face again, you’ll regret it.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Eli Blue

The drive up north to the location for the show, Unforgiven’s first show since signing with Savage Man, took for fuckin’ ever.  My mind whirled with a million and one thoughts taking root then shooting ten feet tall in seconds.  I didn’t have a clue what the hell was going on.  Deacon had given me information, but just enough to confuse me even more. 

I didn’t live in this world, a world where you had to watch your back, or thugs would jump out and try to cut your fucking hand off.  Deacon was still bleeding, all over my expensive car, but he didn’t seem to care.  All he did was sit in the passenger seat, constantly cutting his eyes at me, and dripping blood all over his jeans and down to my floor board.  I was going to have to sell my car now, with it looking like a crime scene, or at the very least, get the damn thing cleaned and hope the cops didn’t show up at my door looking for the dead body.

Yeah, my parents’ lives were both fucked up by drugs, and it was tabloid news for a very long time, but I did not live like this.  I was not part of a crazy existence like this.  My mom tried to force me for a long time, but I’d been able to escape her and cocoon myself in my simple and safe world.  I didn’t want it to be any different, I didn’t want nasty drug lords named Vito threatening to make me repay a drug debt with my body. I could still feel his tongue scraping across my cheek and it made my skin crawl. Literally, I felt like there were a million and one cockroaches scurrying across my skin.

“I can’t do this, I can’t fucking do this shit.” I blurted out just as my GPS announced we had arrived at our destination.  I pulled into the first parking spot I saw and slammed the car in park.

Deacon didn’t speak; he simply reached across the console and wrapped his big, warm arms around me. He pulled my head to his shoulder and soothed his hand down my hair.  I inhaled deeply and slowly, deliberately, released it—it didn’t make me feel better, didn’t relax me in the least.

I didn’t get out of the car for a long time.  My seatbelt stayed on while Deacon opened his door, got his guitar out of the back, and disappeared inside the building.  My forehead stayed pressed against the smooth leather of my steering wheel when Duke tapped on my window and shouted my name through the glass.  My ass stayed perfectly still as my mind worried and concocted what I knew were probably completely inaccurate stories about drug dealers that had my hand twitching to call Shaw, tell him he was right about Deacon, and beg him to come take me away and protect me.

That’s what I did, I relied on Shaw—always had.  After losing my dad he was all I had; he liked it that way, and until today I had liked it that way, too.  Shaw was always enough, always there when I needed him to make things better, or simpler, for me.  He took the tough out of life and replaced it with an unhealthy, co-dependent relationship that had blown up in both our faces.  But a big part of me still needed him, and didn’t feel safe without him by my side.

I pushed his number on my speed dial and he answered before the first ring ended.

“Are you okay?” He asked, so fast I barely understood him.  “Elizabeth? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Shaw.” I said and exhaled long and steady.

“Are you sure? Tell me where you are, and I’ll come get you.”

“No, I’m fine.  I just…umm, I just needed to hear your voice, that’s all.” My voice was muffled into the steering wheel as it held all the weight of my head, and my world.

“Elizabeth, are you sure? You don’t sound okay.”

“I’m sorry, everything’s fine. I shouldn’t have called you, I’m…I’m sorry.”

“No it’s fine-“

I hung up.  It wasn’t fair to involve him when I knew I wouldn’t be rushing home to him tonight like he wanted.  I needed his friendship, but he still wanted more, and I needed to be careful with those feelings. I groaned at myself for being so needy, not being able to take care of myself.

I finally unlatched my seat belt, but my head stayed forward, continuing its reliance on the steering wheel to remain attached to my body.  But after a while, I lifted my head and looked around.  The parking lot was full of cars and bustling with people, two of them being Duke and Willow who were perched just outside the front door with their eyes trained on me.  She smiled, he frowned, I groaned.

It took all of two seconds before Willow was tapping on my window while trying to open the door, which luckily, was still locked.  I took deep breaths and counted them out…one, two, three, four, five.  Then opened the door.  Before Willow could even open her mouth I placed my index finger over it and shook my head then walked past her and toward the entrance.

“See, told ya she’d come out eventually.” Willow said behind me.

“I was starting to wonder.” Duke whispered, but I still heard.

I opened the door and entered the large, smoke filled arena.  There was already a band on stage with shrieking guitars and deep, baritone screams filtering through the sparse crowd.  Today’s show was a festival of sorts.  The day was nothing but bands and beer for everyone that dared to show up.  The smaller, lesser-known bands had started the day off with the more popular bands to come at night.  I’d been able to get Unforgiven and The Elle’s in the lineup at the last minute.  They both had evening slots right before the main attraction, which was a well-known rock group from the area.

I found a secluded corner near the back and sat to listen and clear my head.  The music helped.  Didn’t matter if it was Mozart, or screaming metal, the organized beat helped my scattered mind align and feel complete.  I watched the fans find the rhythm of the music, their bodies rocking and moving to its flow, and remembered why I was even here.  I wasn’t here because of some guy or his past, however rocky it may, or may not be, I was here because of music.  Because it kept me alive every day, and sometimes was the only bright spot I could see in the future.

There was a time, after I lost my dad, that I lost my focus on music and wanted to end everything.  After he died, I stopped playing the piano; I didn’t play for almost two years.  The darkness eventually consumed me and I couldn’t see there ever being brightness in my life again.  It was a time when I should have been hanging out with high school friends, getting drunk, acting wild and experiencing life.  Instead I hid away and tried to end it all with the cut of a blade to my wrist.  Immediately after the cut was made, I knew it was a mistake; I knew my dad would want me to live—I knew I deserved to live.