Hitman's Revenge (a Forbidden Bad Boy Romance) (7 page)

H
azel crept
around the corner to Jack’s room, the sounds outside shaking the house. A hurricane—one for the centuries they’d called it—but she didn’t see what the big deal was until the actual storm hit land and threatened their house. The wind was howling, and the rain was beating on the windows so hard that she couldn’t sleep. Not to mention she was absolutely terrified. Hazel had gone to her dad’s room, but his bed was empty, again. He was out, she didn’t like to ask where, but she knew it was something bad.

Walking into Jack’s room, she found him lying on his back, looking up at the ceiling. “J-Jack?”

He looked over in surprise, pushing up on one elbow with some concern on his face. “Hazel? What are you doing awake?”

“I can’t sleep,” she replied, biting her lip. “The storm.”

He nodded and moved over, patting the space next to him on the bed. “Come on, you can hang with me until it goes away.”

She wasted no time hurrying to the bed, climbing up onto the comforter and lying beside Jack as the house rattled again.

“Where’s Dad? I’m scared.” She had never been through anything like this before, and she desperately wanted it gone. “A-are we going to die?”

“Of course not! Don’t worry, I’ll protect you. Your dad left me in charge,” Jack said reassuringly, reaching out to pull her close to him. She snuggled up to his chest, immediately comforted by having Jack so near. He wouldn’t let anything hurt her. “We are going to be just fine. It will blow over, and tomorrow we can go fishing.”

Hazel smiled at the thought, thinking of the promise that Jack had made to her. He had been so busy lately with her daddy that she had begged him to take her fishing, and finally he agreed. Tomorrow they would go out to the bayou, if they survived the storm. “Jack?”

“Yeah?”

“What happened to your parents?” Jack sat up so abruptly that Hazel fell against his pillow, smelling the shampoo that he used. Hazel scrambled up then and laid a hand on his arm. “I-I’m sorry Jack. I didn’t mean to make you mad.”

He blew out a breath and crossed his arms over his knees, drawing them against his chest. Her heart ached for him; why did she have to be so stupid as to say that?

“No, Hazel, you didn’t make me mad. You just caught me off-guard, that’s all.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” she replied, not wanting to upset him any further. He had a sad look on his face that made her sad, as well. She didn’t like when Jack was upset; it made her feel incompetent that she couldn’t help. She felt so tiny in the world.

Jack turned towards her, his eyes shining in the soft light of the lamp in his bedroom. “It’s okay Hazel. T-they were killed. Murdered… That’s how I ended up here, with you and Nixon.”

Hazel felt the sudden rush of tears at the sad look in Jack’s eyes, wishing she had never asked. Killed? She would be so upset if something happened to her daddy or to Jack. She knew she’d had a mom, but she’d died when Hazel was so young that she didn’t really remember her. Moving under his arm, she pressed her cheek up against his chest.

“We can be your family now, Jack. Nobody would ever try to kill Daddy. He would hurt them real bad.”

Jack laughed then and gave her a hug, making Hazel smile once again. She vowed to herself she wouldn’t ever ask again about Jack’s parents if it made him so miserable. She couldn’t stand the sorrow in his eyes. “I hope so, Hazel. I really hope so.”

“Can you tell me a story, Jack?” she asked softly, hoping a change of subject would make the Jack she loved—the happy one—reappear. Plus he was such a good storyteller, and she knew they both needed the distraction from the storm that was brewing outside the windows.

“Let’s see,” Jack started brightening up, scratching his chin. “Do you want princesses and dragons or evil stepmothers?”

“Princesses and dragons, please,” she giggled. He knew full well what kind of story she liked. He tightened his arm around her and started in his soothing voice; a calm came over Hazel though the storm raged on.

Closing her eyes, she dreamily tried to picture his story in her mind. As his voice lulled her, Hazel couldn’t help but smile. The storm had nothing on Jack. He would protect her, just like the dragon would protect the princess from harm.

She could always count on him.

I
looked
down at the meal with some distaste, thinking that they wouldn’t have to kill me if they kept feeding me this slop. My little attack hadn’t gone so well… Two of them appeared at the doorway instead of the usual one, and when I’d made my move, trying to rush past them, a meaty arm had shot out and pushed me back into the room, sending me sprawling to the hard ground.

Pushing the tray away, my appetite gone, I stood up from the bed and eyed the door’s window again. I was tired of being the hostage now. Either they needed to kill me or let me go, but this was getting ridiculous. Not once had they told me why I was here, and that frustrated the hell out of me.

“I know you are watching,” I yelled, spinning around the room in an effort to find the camera. “I’m done, you hear me? Either kill me now or let me go!”

No one responded of course, and I plopped back down on the bed, my head in my hands. I couldn’t do this anymore. I was so tired of this space, so tired of being left out of what was going on here. No one was going to find me. No one was going to save me.

At one time, I might have thought that he would come for me, but every day my confidence was dwindling. If Jack hadn’t found me yet, well, he probably wasn’t going to. Did he think I was already a goner and that he wouldn’t find me alive? Had he given up on me?

The door opened suddenly, and I pushed back against the wall, drawing my arms around my knees in an effort to make myself as small as possible. A tall, blond-haired man walked through it, and my eyes narrowed. “What the hell do you want?”

“My, my, you are Nixon’s daughter, aren’t you?” he responded, giving me a killer-watt smile. I wasn’t falling for it. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Hazel. Sorry it took me so long to get here.”

“I wish I could say the same,” I said darkly. I knew who he was, of course. Colt Bennett, a major name that floated around the crime world and had crossed my father’s lips a time or two. There was nothing good about Colt, and I was not surprised to see that he was involved in whatever this was. “Did you kill my father?” I said as I got to my feet, ready to launch myself at him. His eyes would be the first to go.

“Your father double-crossed me,” he spat, his expression darkening. “It wasn’t a hit; it was payback for what he did to me. But that’s just the start of it.”

I swallowed then. My father would never double-cross anyone… he wouldn’t. And yet even if he had, he was not some random low-life thug off the street, he had connections. Colt wouldn’t be able to get away with this. He had killed my father! BASTARD! I started towards him, ready to do some damage, but two goons came out from behind him and flanked Colt’s side.

Colt tutted as if he were chastising a child, making me even more furious. “I see the anger on your face,” he smiled, crossing his arms over his chest. “Good. I knew the fight hadn’t left you just yet. I have plans for you, Hazel. Big plans, and you are going to be a great asset to me.”

“I will never help you,” I said angrily, something in me snapping. “I will never help you ever!”

“Oh, you will,” he said, examining his fingernails, “and you won’t even know it. The best thing is, you’re helping me right this minute. You are under my control now. You’re mine to do what I want with.”

I shivered in fear, thinking of what he was going to do to me. If he thought I was going to let him touch me, he had another thing coming. I could withstand the beatings, but I wasn’t going to let him or anyone else take that one thing I’d been saving all these years away from me.

Colt must have seen the thought cross my face, laughing as he moved back toward the door. “Don’t worry, Hazel. You aren’t my, well, type. I’m sure one of the boys would love to have you, but they have their order, they are not to touch you at all, as I think you know. So you sit here—don’t do anything stupid, and when I decide to it’s time, then we will have another little talk.”

“Someone is coming,” I said softly, thinking of my one-time protector. He could slay dragons when I was little. And he would kill this monster, too.

Surely by now he would have seen me missing, right?

“I’m betting on it,” Colt said, chuckling, as he walked out of the room, the door shutting behind him before I could step forward, the rage inside threatening to boil over. I was so tired of all of this! And what the hell did he mean by that?

Oh god.

Leaning against the wall, I closed my eyes. My body was so weary. Jack’s handsome face flitted through my mind, and I sighed, wishing amongst everything I could wish for, that he could walk through that door right at this moment and get me the hell out of here. But I now knew that’s exactly what Colt wanted him to do.

I was the bait, and Colt was right there was nothing I could do about it.

He had been my protector when I was young, making sure that nothing or no one messed with me. I thought I had outgrown him after he quit coming around, too wrapped up in his damn “job” to worry about the girl back home who had been desperate to see him. There were times I thought he would come home for good, but he never did. I missed him so goddamn much, and now when I needed him the most, the last thing I wanted was for him to turn up.

And get himself killed because of me.

“Forget about me, Jack,” I whispered brokenly, feeling alone. I needed someone to still care, but not him… if I lost him too, there would be nothing left of me.

H
azel peered
through the blinds as Jack’s car eased into the driveway, watching in disappointment as he helped Samantha Greer, the girl from next-door, out of the passenger seat.

She hated Samantha.

Samantha always thought she was better than anyone else, with her long legs and fluttering eyelashes that had every jock sniffing after her. But why did she have to choose Hazel’s Jack?

It was petty and vengeful, but at the skating rink Hazel had tripped her up on more than one occasion just to watch her fall flat on her face. But it still hadn’t stopped the inevitable. Jack had taken her out a few times, and Hazel had been forced to watch the other girls try to talk with him, giggling when he gave them that thousand-watt cheeky smile of his. She hated every single moment. Jack was there to spend time with her, not any of those other girls! And Samantha in particular had taken a liking to Jack, forcing Hazel to share her time with Jack that should’ve been exclusively hers.

Hazel sighed as she watched Jack lean up against the car, his arm resting on the car’s roof as he talked to Samantha. It was well past Hazel’s bedtime, but she’d pretended to be asleep so that she could sneak a peek when Jack brought Samantha home. Hazel wouldn’t have been able to sleep a wink anyway for thoughts of what they were doing on their horrible date.

For weeks she had heard Samantha talk about how she was going to get Jack to kiss her, and being one year younger than Jack was, that was going to really be something to brag about. Hazel couldn’t imagine Jack wanting to kiss Samantha, and now she was going to see if it was true or if Samantha was just talking crap.

Hazel watched from her perch as Jack leaned down and whispered something in Samantha’s ear, Samantha giggling in return. Dread settled in her belly. He was going to do it! She couldn’t believe it. Why would anyone want to kiss Samantha?

With a frown, Hazel dropped the blind and climbed down off of the back of the chair, her stomach hurting at the thought of Jack locking lips with another girl. She was supposed to be the only girl in his life! She was older now… and he would have to see that she was changing. She wasn’t a little girl anymore. Hazel cursed the day that her dad brought Jack to live with them… if only he was just another boy, a friend, then maybe he might
see
her properly.

Slipping into the chair, she crossed her arms and waited for the front door to open after Jack had walked Samantha across the way to her house. It seemed like forever before he returned, until finally the door clicked open, Jack whistling as he closed it behind him. Turning around, he jumped as he saw Hazel sitting in the chair, clutching his chest. “God, Hazel, you nearly scared me to death! What are you doing up?”

“Waiting for you,” she said dully, looking at him. “Did you kiss her?”

His eyes widened, and he crossed his arms over his broadening chest, mimicking her, settling into that stance that reminded her of her daddy when he was trying to punish her. “Were you spying on me?”

“But she’s Samantha!” Hazel whined, seeing the answer written all over his face. “She’s so mean and nasty, and I hate her! Why would you kiss her?”

Jack’s eyes narrowed then as he moved toward the chair, placing a hand on either side of armrest. “What’s wrong with you, Hazel?”

“Y-you’re supposed to only like me,” she cried out, her lips wobbling. He wasn’t supposed to be kissing other girls. Jack chuckled and leaned in close, so close that their foreheads almost touched. “Aww, Hazel don’t cry. You will always be my number one girl. No one can ever replace you.”

Hazel heaved a sigh, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands. “Promise?”

He grinned, pushing away from the chair before extending a hand in her direction. She reached out and let him pull her up out of the chair. He wrapped his warm hand around hers. “Cross my heart. I promise. No one will ever replace you.”