CUT (New Adult Dark Romance) (10 page)

He is fucking sexy though… And the sex… Oh fuck…

I stared, pausing a moment to watch Black as he held court over his club. I marveled at the way he moved, his arms sweeping almost gracefully, remembering how they felt wrapped around me. Every single piece of his flesh, hardened, chiseled, carved from the Earth itself…

“You have your orders. I want men from San Diego to LA keeping an eye out for the Kings, and this place better be clean enough for me to fucking eat off the floors without getting a contact high. No drugs, nothing illegal. We get back to business as usual once Carcetti is wrapped up. All in favor?”

Sounds of approval went around the table, although some were begrudging. Even Acre gave his nod.

“Penny, see to it the girls get the message. Nobody in here holds anything more dangerous than a Tylenol for a few weeks.”

“Gotcha Black. No drugs!” Penny chirped.

“Acre, what’s the word on Jude?”

My ears perked up and I spun back to the table, my eyes wide. Black smiled at me.

“Tiny says the prick tore up his apartment and headed east. Probably in Arizona or New Mexico by now. He got the message loud and clear.”

“Sweetheart’s gonna need some of her things. Acre, you mind taking her out to the apartment and picking it up? She’s staying here for awhile, till shit calms down.”

“No problem Black. I got this,” Acre said, his own smile rising as he stared at me.

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Jude was involved with the fight club for the better part of four months before the night he brought me to meet the Rampant. As I climbed into Acre’s truck, the rush of that first night was coming back to me.

Acre stood just outside saying a few final words to Black. I stared at his back, reading the names. A new patch had been sewn on, it’s recent acquisition apparent by how clean and white it was contrasting against the other battered elements of the patch. It was the new sliver of bone in the shattered skull.

Marlo…

It wasn’t long before Acre was in the drivers seat, turning the key. The old truck roared to life, the vibration of the engine rumbling through the seat. I was ready to greet the world outside. The truck rocketed out the open roll-up and into the alley, barreling down and onto the main roads. I just sat back and let Acre handle the navigating. His hand came down on my leg, giving it a pat as we swept into a hard turn toward a freeway onramp. My apartment was on the far side of San Diego. It was going to take awhile…

For a moment, I wished Black had taken me instead of Acre. We could have made use of my apartment… It was easy to forget about all of my problems when I was around him. Already, my arm was healing, and I couldn’t imagine putting another blade to it… It was only a few days, but Jude’s face was already a blur in my  memory.

A smile crept across my face as we hit traffic. I held my breath as Acre weaved the truck perilously fast through the rush of vehicles, finally abandoning the freeway as we swept down an offramp and back into my old neighborhood on the north side of town. We came to a stop light and Acre seemed a bit confused as to which way to go, so I pointed calmly, giving him the heads-up. Another sweeping turn and we were on our way down Floral, then north on Rosewood. Soon, my old apartment’s were looming, and Acre brought the truck to a nice smooth stop. I waited for him to open the door for me, pulling me from my seat and depositing me on the ground.

“Which apartment did you say you were in?”

“B220,” I replied, waving my hand at a building as I gripped my purse and stared at the apartments. My breath caught as I noticed Acre had pulled a rather vicious looking handgun from his belt line.

“Sorry babe, just can’t be too careful,” Acre said, making an effort at covering the gun barrel with his big hand. I just nodded as he started to walk.

He’s afraid… He’s afraid of Jude…

The thought shook me. Jude was supposed to be out of state, out of town, but a cold sweat swept up my body as we approached the apartment.

“Tiny says the prick tore up his apartment and headed east…”

My mind rolled back to the meeting. Jude had tore up the apartment… I didn’t know what we were walking into, but there was a lump in the pit of my stomach the size of a grapefruit. Up the stairs we went, moving down toward 220. Jude stopped, putting an arm out to hold me back.

“Door’s open,” he whispered. “You stay back here and give me a minute.”

Acre started walking again, but I felt the urge to follow him, my feet moving almost on their own accord.

“I said stay back,” Acre said, turning and gritting his teeth at me.

“You’re the one with the gun. I’m not standing out here in the open waiting on something to happen,” I replied, a little too loudly.

“If anything happens to you Black will cut my balls off.”

“If you leave me here I’ll cut your balls off.”

I smiled, and Acre chuckled, breaking the tension. We stepped up to the door together, Acre’s boot kicking it open, his body swinging inside with gun drawn. It took him a few minutes to clear the apartment, but in the end, it was obviously empty.

And
totally
fucked.

“Your boy doesn’t take rejection well,” Acre said, laughing as he looked around the room. Everything was broken. The television lay smashed to pieces, pictures were ripped apart. Walking into the bedroom was an even bigger disaster. Curtains ripped from the walls and my old jewelry boxes smashed to pieces with the few pieces of my old life scattered about the floor. Jude’s half of the closet had been cleaned out, and my half was ripped free and laying in a heaping pile. Without much to do, I reached down and tried to grab a handful of them, reeling back as the scent hit me. Acre seemed to notice it too, scrunching his nose.

“Pretty sure he pissed on em,” Acre said, stating the obvious.

What in the hell?

I stared in disbelief. Jude could be vindictive, but this was just disgusting. It was primal… My blood boiled.

“We can get them washed up.”

“No. Leave it. I’ve still got some over here in the dresser, and I can hit some stores on the south side with Mina or Penny. I’m not wearing clothes that asshole pissed on.”

“Fine. This place creeps me the fuck out Kat. You need anything else before we go?”

My lips drew tight as I dug into the closet and pulled out a small piece of luggage. The clothes from the dresser barely filled half of it.

“Hang on a sec Acre, I need some supplies.”

Acre laughed as I walked into to the bathroom. “Wouldn’t want you to leave your makeup, would we?”

I ignored his ribbing, stepping inside and flipping on the light. My hand reached out toward the counter and I froze in place. A tube of red lipstick lay open, a message scrawled across the white countertop face as if it were written in blood.

“I’m coming back.”

My body shook, fear welling up inside me. The air in the room seemed to drain out.

“You all right in there,” Acre called in after me?

“Fine, just, need to use the bathroom,” I shouted back, turning away from the message, reaching out and pushing the door shut with a solid click.

“I’ll fucking kill you.”

My blood went ice cold as I stared at the back of the door, the message scrawled across the white space. Jude didn’t make threats, he made promises. The club might think he was gone for good, but they didn’t know him like I did. Nowhere was safe, not until he was dead and gone…

I turned the water on and splashed my face in a desperate effort to calm down trying to calm down. I had to conceal the fear. My eyes watered as shoved a few toiletries into the bag. For a moment, I almost left the blades…

My fingers ran over the little pieces of metal in the medicine cabinet. Double edged safety razors, the kind my grandfather used to shave with. They were like old friends… Old fucked up friends…

I didn’t need them. Why would I take them?

I swept them into the bag and stepped back out into the room, patting my eyes off with a towel.

“You sure you’re ok Kat,” Acre asked?

“I need one more thing,” I whispered, setting the bag on the bed and turning back toward the closet. Getting down on my knees, I reached under my rack of shoes, pulling out a set of red pumps I hadn’t worn in years, and drawing free the little metal box hidden behind them. Acre walked in, catching me with the small locked cube.

“What’s that?”

“Something personal,” I replied, rolling the combination lock into position. The latch clicked open and I lifted the lid. Inside, foam filled the space, carefully carved out to make room for the one thing I needed now more than any other. The silver and black Beretta 92 sat patiently, waiting as it always had. I'd bought it years ago when Jude started to get really abusive. It was hiding down here day in and day out. More than once I'd sat on this bed, thinking about how easily I could end my abuse… Him… Me… Those were dark thoughts that filled my nights. I had the scars to remember all of them.

My fingers reached out, touching the metal, pulling it free from its confines. Acre stared silently as I lifted it up and rolled the beautifully balanced handgun left and right before popping the clip, checking it, and slamming it back home.

“Didn’t know you were that kind of girl,” Acre said, grinning at me.

“A girl needs to have a little protection.”

“You know how to use it?”

“I’ve put in some hours at the range…”

“That’ll work,” Acre replied as I pulled a small leather holster from the box, sliding the gun home and placing it into my purse.

“Lets get out of here Kat.”

"Yes, lets get the hell out of here…"

We nodded at each other and I followed Acre out the door with my head down. The trip back to the truck was like walking a tightrope between two high rises. My heart was racing, my eyes flashing left and right as though Jude could step out from anywhere. Acre took the small piece of luggage that had suddenly become everything I owned and he tossed onto the floorboard. I feigned a smile as I climbed back in, and we drove away, the exhilaration of the road no longer outweighing the fear I was feeling. I could feel the lump in my purse as it tucked in under my arm, especially with how hard my heart was beating. Acre patted my leg reassuringly once again before we slipped back down the road and back onto the freeway.