A Kingpin Love Affair: The Complete series(2)

The barrel of a gun was being loaded.

Sweat covered my body in a mist of sheen.

I was going to die.

“She’s valuable goods, X.” A muffled voice that sounded as if it were a million miles away met my ears.

“I got this, man. Boss will just have to deal with it.” I had heard the bullet before I felt it. Pain seared through my body as a burning sensation radiated through my arm.

“You missed, f*cker.” A voice sounded in my mind, but nothing mattered but the pain. My body fell to the floor limply, my chest filled with oxygen, but I felt as if I was unable to release it. This was it. This was my time. I had wanted this all along. Blood dripped down my arm, falling to the cold ground with a thud. I was aware of everything that was taking place around me, but at the same time, I felt as if I were a spectator watching it all go down instead of the chess piece in the middle. My body ached and a pressure formed deep inside my head.

This is the end, isn’t it?

“FBI. Come out with your hands up.” FBI? I wanted to scream out, to tell them I was here, but I couldn’t. Between the pain in my arm and the gag in my mouth, I couldn’t form words if my life depended on it—which, at this very moment, it did.

Heavy boot covered feet crossed the floor, growing closer and closer toward me. I was on the verge of passing out, the smell of iron filling my nostrils. Inside, I was screaming… begging and pleading for someone to save me, but on the outside, I was as meek as a mouse.

“It’s okay…” I heard someone whisper in my ear causing me to jump instantly. “It’s okay. I’m here to save you.” Save me? Was this real or was I dreaming this all up? I felt hands wrap around my head, they were large but gentle and offered something that I hadn’t felt in years-comfort.

In an instant, the bag that kept me in darkness for months was being ripped away. The gag that contained every ounce of hate, anger and every admission I ever wanted to say was released from my mouth. Bright lights flooded my eyes. Black spots appeared everywhere as they tried to adjust. Instantly, my body felt shielded, protected, and warm.

I was being rescued. Someone was saving me from a life that had slowly taken everything from me. For the first time in months, I took a deep breath and didn’t feel an ache in my chest. I didn’t feel scared.

I was safe. I was being taken somewhere. I would be okay. I had to be.

Right?





Chapter Two


Jared

Present

I wasn’t sure what bothered me more at this moment—the fact that my phone was ringing off the hook or that I had brought another chick home last night. Fuck. Regret filled every pore of my body. Every time I said I wouldn’t do it, I did. There was no point in trying not to. I had already admitted to being a useless piece of shit who used women repeatedly as a way to cope with the person I had become. It was the easiest way to deal with the pain.

Hesitantly, I gazed down at my phone on the nightstand. Shit! A red explanation point showed back at me, under it showed eight missed calls. Six from Zerro and two from my sister, Bree. This couldn’t be good. I ran a hand through my dark hair in frustration. I didn’t want to do this whole family reunion thing again. I loved them, but I couldn’t handle looking at their happily ever afters while I had nothing. It always felt like their happiness was suffocating me, drowning me without them even realizing it.

My nightstand started to vibrate again, and I pushed the red key sending it to voicemail. I knew I would have to answer it sooner or later. They didn’t give up easily and knew how to play the game. There was no saying no to either of them. I was learning their moves though. I knew if they got to ten calls, they would stop. Either that or they would come over here. That’s how it always worked. They wanted to save me from the personal path of destruction I was on when they knew there was no saving someone as lost as me.

“Time to go,” I mumbled to the blonde-haired woman lying in bed next to me. She was gorgeous, I would give her that, and her body was tight in all the right places, but none of it mattered. She wasn’t what I wanted, rather a temporary fix that allowed me to ignore my inner demons. What was her name anyway? Joanna, Jessica, Jenn?

She murmured a complaint, but I ignored it. If she wasn’t out of here in ten minutes, then I would remove her myself. I had no reason to get up and move around right now, and truthfully, I didn’t want to, but if it meant getting her out of here faster, then so be it. This alone only lead me back to my original thought: What the f*ck was I doing?

Pushing her soft body off me, I got up and grabbed the pair of pants that had been ripped from my body the night before and thrown onto the floor in a haze. I pulled them on without a second thought. I knew better than to head out into the kitchen without clothes on. I had done that one too many times now. I knew what was coming and I would be prepared.

“You know, I expected a lot f*cking more from you.” I shifted around, a small smile pulling at my lips. I would love to say that I was surprised by his reaction, but I wasn’t. This wasn’t the first time he had come over because I wasn’t answering the phone. To me, there wasn’t an important enough reason in the world for me to be answering phone calls. I wanted peace and I wanted quiet, not to be hounded by my family. I didn’t need to know what good they saw in me when all that mattered was what I saw in the mirror every day.