Loving Nicole (9 page)

I lock the door and go into the back area where the dipshit is chained up. There’s no coming back from what I’m about to do. I know it, but I’m still going to do it. Am I doing it for Dani? Yeah, she’s a big reason but not all of it. Dani screams of fear, she screams of being trapped. She screams with the same scent and brokenness as another woman in my life. A woman I lost long ago. A woman I wasn’t able to help and that won’t be the case this time.

He looks up at me when I walk in. You can tell Dragon has worked him over pretty good; he’s stripped naked and chained from the ceiling, hanging like a slab of meat. Still, the fucker is barely bleeding. That’s not good enough. It also proves to me that Dragon didn’t try hard enough to find out the needed information. If Nicole was the one in danger the bastard would be missing body parts, or at the very least he wouldn’t be able to look at me from two good eyes. To me that is just further proof I have to do this. Dragon is blinded by his need to keep things calm because of Nicole being pregnant.

“Alright fucker, time for round two.”

“I told your buddies the last time, I don’t know anything.”

“Yeah, well,
I
don’t believe you.”

“Man, you can knock me around for another day, but it’s the truth. I don’t have anything else to tell you.”

“We’ll see, there is one thing that you don’t understand.”

“What’s that?”

“The last time, I wasn’t the one asking the questions.”

“What difference does that make?”

“I’m not going to be as nice.”

“Man, you don’t have to do this! I’m telling you…”

“Yeah, you aren’t telling me nothing yet fucker, but you will. You will.”

I drag a chair over in front of him. I straddle it and lean over the back.

“Looks like my brother worked you over pretty good, too bad you didn’t give him the right answers.”

“Man, I don’t know anything, I’m telling you! I told your friend that!”

“My friend?” For some reason that strikes me funny as hell. This guy really is not made for this line of work.

“Please man, you got to listen to me.”

“I don’t, actually,” I say, reaching in my vest pocket for cigarettes. I slowly take one out of the pack putting the others on a small table. I’ll need them eventually. “I don’t have to listen to a fucking thing you have to say,” I add, lighting my cigarette. I inhale the nicotine, watching the asshole in front of me. “I only have to listen if you say something I want to hear. The only thing in question is if you’re going to tell me what I want to hear.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Did you know I don’t smoke? Nasty habit really. Hate the damn things,” I say exhaling the smoke, while watching the orange glow flicker.

“Man, I don’t think…”

“Only reason I pack smokes around is sometimes they come in handy. Do you know what they are handy for?”

“Man…”

“They make good lie detectors,” I say reaching the cigarette over and touching the burning ash on his stomach. To his credit he doesn’t cry out. We’ll see how quiet he is when I move the burns down to his shriveled up dick.

“Damn it…”

“We’re going to play a game.”

“A game?”

“You tell me what I want to hear and you won’t have to see what it feels like to have cigarette burns on your balls.”

“Fuck, man…”

“I really hope you tell me what I want to know. I don’t want to touch your nasty ass junk.”

“God, please listen to me…”

I put the cigarette back in my mouth and slide the knife out that I keep in my pocket. He watches as I pull out the blade. It’s just a small pocketknife, but then that’s all it needs to be. I put the cigarette in the ashtray on the table across from me, getting ready.

“Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to be impressed with the size of my blade.”

Asshole looks at me like I’m insane. Hell, he should. He has no idea how close I am to the edge.

“You’re not from Kentucky, so maybe you don’t know about them. Have you ever had Rocky Mountain Oysters?”

Again, that stupid look. Fucker.

“Never tasted them myself, but it’s basically deep fried balls.”

“Oh shit, man, seriously…”

“Doesn’t matter what really, pig, sheep, goats, even sniveling ass-wipe balls probably work. I don’t want to touch your shit, so I figure my knife can fix it so they don’t move around while I fry them. Sounds like a good plan to me. What do you think?”

“Man, I’m telling you, I don’t know anything!”

“Well, I mean, if you don’t want to do it that way I can just cut the fuckers off, it’s not like you’re going to need them.”

I take another hit off the cigarette, let the nicotine calm me, and take a deep breath. Time to get the party started. I’m giving up everything, might as well make it worth it.

Nicole

T
wo days. I’m
supposed to be married in
two
days. I want that more than anything, but I want it with Dani here. I want it without this feeling of impending doom. I stare at the engagement ring on my finger; it seems to mock me. Dragon doesn’t seem to be upset with me for keeping secrets. There’s that at least.

Today was supposed to be the day that Dani was to meet with Michael. I keep looking over my shoulder. What will Michael do when he finds out Dani isn’t showing? Does he already know she’s not here? I should have told Dragon about the meeting. I don’t even know why I didn’t.

I’m at the flower shop giving approval to the bouquets and tying up last minute details. Dragon sent Bull along to watch over me. I’m glad he’s here, he’s probably one of the brother’s I’m closest to, but since the accident, he has changed. I’m not sure how to help him, but I understand it. Totally.

“Going outside, Nic, I got to make a call. Don’t leave the store till I come back,” he grumbles and I strain to hear him. He doesn’t talk loud these days; it pains him. He’s got a nasty scar along the side of his neck and I know it bothers him.

“Okay, Bull,” I nod looking at the beautiful pink roses the florist has put together with baby’s breath and wishing Dani could see them. I hear the bell sound as the store’s door opens, signaling Bull’s departure.

“These are beautiful, Trish. I love them,” I say honestly and hope she doesn’t detect the sadness in my voice.

I hear her gasp and look up. The man who delivered the note from Michael is standing beside her with a gun pointed to Trish’s temple.

“Ms. Wentworth, I’ll need you to follow me quietly through the back without making a scene.”

“Like hell I will,” I’m not going a damn place with him. If I do, it’d be like signing my death warrant.

“You will, or your friend here dies. It’s your choice.”

My eyes lock on Trish’s. She’s crying and the sobs shake through her body. The man has his gloved hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming. I look over my shoulder, trying to spot Bull through the shop’s main window. His back is turned to me as he talks on the phone. There’s no way to get his attention and I’m not even sure what he could do if I did. I turn back to look at the man.

“She’s innocent,” I try to stress.

I listen to the sound of the hammer cocking on the gun. It seems extraordinarily loud.

“Stop! I’ll go. Just don’t hurt her!”

He takes the butt of the gun and slams it on top of Trish’s head. Her eyes roll backwards and she slumps against her captor, unconscious. He reaches out and grabs my arm before I can run.

“Don’t make a sound. I can still kill your friend and you before anyone can make it to you. You do have a child to worry about, do you not, Ms. Wentworth?”

I nod stiffly once, then allow him to pull me and my child into the back room. I hope Bull finds us missing quickly. It’s not much, but that hope is all I’ve got right now.

*

We’re in a
limo. The creep (my name for him) and I are riding in the back and someone else is up front driving. I can’t see because the screen is up. We’ve been riding for a while, but I have no idea for how long. I can’t think past this giant lump of fear in my throat. Eventually we stop. I look around, it’s an abandoned grade school that the county shut down a few years back. The weeds have grown around it, the windows have been shattered here and there and the brick is faded and there are cracks in some of them. I’ve passed it before, but until this moment I never realized how evil it looked.

When the vehicle stops, creepy guy grabs me by the arm roughly and pulls me out. I’m not the most graceful person right now, so I fall to the ground. I wince as gravel digs against my ass upon impact.

Shit, that’s going to leave a mark.

“Get up.”

Gee, not so cordial now.

I have to angle myself to the side to get up, but eventually do. He grabs my arm roughly again and pulls me along to the front entrance. If Dragon was here he’d feed this man his entrails. I decide that if the baby and I survive I’ll tell him all about the guy, so he will.

He pushes me inside, ahead of him, and it takes everything I have not to fall again. I look up when I finally come to a stop, but immediately wish I didn’t. Standing in front of me is the devil himself. Michael Kavanagh. Realistically, I knew it would be him, since it was his henchman and all that kidnapped me, but I just didn’t want to see the asshole again.

“Hello, Nicole.”

“Asshole.”

His face tightens in irritation. I know it’s not smart to upset him, but I can’t keep from doing it, to be honest.

“I see you are the reason for the decline in Melinda’s manners.”

“That probably has more to do with the fact you’re a butt munch,” I say back to him and I really wish I could control my mouth sometimes, because I know that is going too far. I should be more cautious, because it’s not just me now, it’s the baby.

He slaps me hard with the back of his hand. I stumble backwards, holding the side of my face.

“I would watch my mouth, Ms. Wentworth.”

I really want to say more, but I bite my tongue hard to keep from doing so. The coppery taste of blood enters my mouth.

“You do know that Dragon’s man has already discovered I’m missing and they will be on your ass any minute.”

“I do know they’ll be here soon, but it won’t matter. By the time those imbeciles arrive, we will have already made our deal.”

“I’m not entering into any kind of deal with you.”

“Oh, but you are, Ms. Wentworth.”

“No, I’m really not.”

He motions over to creepy dude. The guy nods and walks towards a set of double doors. It looks like it used to be a gymnasium for the school. Michael puts his hand on my lower back to steer me towards the room. My skin crawls at the feel of his touch and I jerk away, giving him a scathing look. I walk in front of him though, because I know arguing will only get me or my child hurt. The fact that I’m pregnant won’t bother Michael at all. I’m sure of that much.

As we enter the room it’s dark and musty. A small amount of light is filtered inside by tiny rectangular windows that line the top of the large, main area. Most of them are taped up or covered somehow on the outside, so you can’t really see anything inside. I blink my eyes, trying to focus. That’s when I see a small movement in the corner. I freeze, afraid they are walking me into a trap. It’s a stupid reaction really, because
come on
, what could I do if he was marching me to my death? Still, it’s there. Michael pushes me from behind to walk farther and I stumble trying to resist. Once we make it about half-way through to the room, creepy dude breaks away. I see him walking to a small doorway. It’s close to where I had seen the movement before. I lose sight of him after that and I look back over my shoulder at Michael. He looks so smug and condescending all at once. How can one man be so cold and bone-deep ugly?

“Dragon will find you. There’s no place you can hide.”

“Oh Nicole, how you do warm my heart being so naïve. I’m not going to need to hide from Mr. West at all.”

“Yes you…”

“No. I. Won’t.” He says, pausing with each word and saying it in such a way the certainty of it chills me.

“I…”

“You’re going to do exactly what I tell you and once you do…? That in and of itself will do away with Mr. West.”

“It won’t happen…” I hear the sound of switches being flipped and a second later light from overhead comes on. It’s still dim. Only about one out of every four lights work, but still it shows the shaded, barren room pretty well. There’s cracked concrete flooring underneath an old worn-out gym floor in a faded burnt orange coloring. It has cement block structured walls that have been painted a white color and you can tell there used to be cartoon figures here and there drawn on them. I think one was Bugs Bunny because you can see the outline of his gray ears.

I can’t take in the room any farther though, because I hear a dull moan to my right. I turn back around to face the direction the sound is coming from, and that’s when I see her.

Dani.

I gasp and pull, trying to get to her, but Michael clamps hard on my arm and refuses to let me go to her. I twist and turn, trying to get free. He adds his free hand and grabs hold of each of my arms and holds me against him. My stomach sours when I feel he has a hard erection rubbing against my ass. Somehow, I think it’s because he’s enjoying the situation and his power, more than having me in his arms.