AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Just when they think I’m done talking, I continue, because I would like to get out of here faster. “I take it the gunshot I heard was not one of yours?”
Instantly, I think of the bright blue eyes. He has some balls doing a blatant stunt like that.
I watch Hugo, my father’s right-hand man, nod to a cousin, and then a lineup of men comes before me. I take each one in, shocked that those eyes aren’t in front of me.
“Recognize any of these guys?” Jonny asks me.
Because I’m annoyed, I’m up past my bedtime and in a house I’ve never stepped foot in, or maybe because my ego has been hurt with them bringing me here because they need me, I refuse to give them the answer they’re searching for. I give them my smart-ass response without them even realizing it. I have seen each man before, and I dictate the last place I saw each of them. All while never letting on that I saw someone else.
I’mdroppedoffatmy door once they realize I’m useless to them. Thrown away once again. Twisting the handle, I discover it’s unlocked—like every time I come home later than my mother. She fell asleep on the couch, trying to wait up for me. She must have dozed off as soon as she came home, not realizing I’m home two hours later than I should be coming in.
I don’t bother locking the door behind me. The thought doesn’t even enter my mind. No one messes with us. And maybe it’s our silent way of testing our limits. I cover my mom with a blanket and kiss her on her cheek before heading for my room.
My hand goes to flick on the light. It clicks, but I stay immersed in darkness.Must be burned out.Walking deeper into my room, I hear the crunch of another step that’s in time with mine. Twisting a fraction, I feel a hand cover my face, muffling the scream that tries to escape, all while immobilizing me.
“Little birds need to have their wings clipped when they go where they shouldn’t,” the rough voice says into my ear.
Instantly, I know it’shim. The blue-eyed man. He smells like metal and a crisp soap scent. His fingers are calloused as they splay across my face. His heat radiates off him in waves. I refuse to shiver from the fear coursing through me. I wait for him to break my neck or bring his gun out. When he does neither, I kick my leg out behind me. Simultaneously, I bite down on his hand, jerking out of his hold. When I was ten, Jonny was forced to give me self-defense lessons just in case. He bitched about it the whole time.
Instead of running out of the room, I go to sit on my bed, my feet welcoming the lightness as I take off my shoes. Bringing one foot up, I press my thumb deep into my arch, then repeat the process on my other foot. Out the corner of my eye, I can see his shock as he glares down at me with a furious intensity in his eyes. He doesn’t make a move to come closer to me as he tries to read the situation.
“I could have you killed with one button pressed on my phone,” I taunt without raising my eyes to him. I have no idea if it’s true, but it sounds like it’s something everyone in this town believes.
“I could have you killed right there on your bed,” he counters, and this time, I meet his eyes.
Touché.
The way his eyes watch me is unnerving. Mocking his glare, I lift one eyebrow, daring him to make a move. My heart bobs, sitting in my throat, as I try not to get panicky in front of him. Instead, I keep my eyes narrowed to try to come across inconvenienced.
“Why didn’t you give me up?” he asks with curiosity rather than anger. With the way his eyes are narrowed at me, there is no question he hates me—or at least what I represent.
Welcome to the club.
I smile back at him, giving in to the conversation. “Who said I didn’t and you walked right into a trap?” I enjoy the way his right eye twitches, giving away his small sign of annoyance with me. He removes the hood from his head, showing me a clear view of his face. My breath whooshes out of me. He’s handsome—like sexy movie star handsome. I was expecting some hoodlum with scars, but he resembles a model on a magazine cover.
He has blond hair that he has to use his fingers to move from his eyes. He has high cheekbones, plump lips. His shoulders are large and broad. I have no doubt under that big sweater is an expanse of muscles.
He stalks toward me until his boots are under my bed and his legs hit my bent knees. “Consider yourself under my protection now.”
My eyes narrow on him, wondering what his angle is. If he wanted to get to my father through me, I would be dead by now. It makes me realize that maybe my father had a point all those times he made Jonny be my personal bodyguard.
“Trust me, I don’t need protection. That’s all people do around me.” I inspect my fingernails, trying to brush off this new excitement. My heart flutters, and I flush under his watch.
“There will come a day.” His hand reaches out and touches my dark hair before immediately dropping it like it stung him.
If caught, I contributed to my death by allowing him into my life. But like everything else, no one was around to witness it. My mother always said I should be an artist to free my imagination. I run with this new idealism of this blue-eyed man. For once in my life, someone sees me for me.
I allow myself to cling to that fantasy, even if it’s all in my head.
Chapter 6
Aly Age 18
Standingontheedgeof the property, I eye the loud house party that is bursting with random people. I don’t do people well. I avoid parties like the plague. I’m here because Jonny dragged me along with him. He grabbed me from walking home from work, because it was deemed unsafe to walk alone. But now, I’m still in the dark and alone, just at another location. Our father definitely didn’t have this in mind when he sent Jonny to me.
I debate if I should continue to stand here outside his car or if I should start walking home. He said he would be a minute, as I watched him shove a gun into his side holster under his jacket. Jonny doesn’t just carry one gun, and I’m nervous about why he felt he needed an extra above his two.
This is what I hate. The alpha dominance he thinks he has. What every mafia man thinks he has. It’s the kill or be killed attitude when things don’t go their way. I want nothing to do with it all. I want to study and make high grades. That is how you get out of this world. I refuse help, because it always comes with strings. Strings that will tie me and my mother here longer than I want.
