Chloe (Made Men, #3)(23)

Stacy.

Unlocking the doors on the BMW her father had given her the moment she could drive, they started climbing in. The car was definitely more of a gift for her parents than her. They hated driving her anywhere and thought of her as a nuisance. The only reason it was a BMW was because her father was still mayor of the city, and he cared about his “image.” Her parents weren’t about to let their daughter drive around in a shitty car, despite the fact that they hated the sight of her.

“Elle, is something wrong? You’re acting weird today.” She was beginning to become concerned. They needed to keep their heads down, and Elle was doing the opposite.

“I’m fine, Chloe. I guess I’m just getting tired of this same shit every day.” She seemed to have gotten more of an attitude, as well.

“Listen, Elle, you don’t have to stay. You’re free to go. If your parents found out how you’re treated here, they wouldn’t let you come ba—”

“I am not leaving you, Chloe. I’ve told you this a thousand times.” She stared at Chloe dead in the eyes, letting her know she still wasn’t changing her mind.

Averting her gaze, she looked at the steering wheel. “Well, we have survived this long by not getting into it with them. I am not like you, Elle.”

“All right, Chloe. I won’t fight back. I promise.”

For some reason, even though Elle was a great liar, Chloe didn’t fully believe her words, so she tried to get her to understand.

“Fighting back doesn’t solve anything, Elle. You know that.” Turning on the car, she began pulling out. It only makes Cassandra kill you faster.

There was going to be hell to pay tomorrow, and she and Elle were on the ticket.





Twenty-Three





I’ll Make You Regret That, Darlin’





In one quick motion, he jammed the tip of the shovel into the freshly dug dirt hard enough so it stood straight up. Wiping the sweat off his brow with his bloodstained shirt, he was able to take a moment’s break before he climbed out, using the pile of dirt he had expertly removed and placed to get out of the eight-by-nine-foot hole. After he got out and looked down at his masterpiece, he thought it definitely looked much different up here than it did down there.

Going over to the form wrapped in a dark sheet, he kicked it until it rolled over, falling into what seemed like an abyss. You could always hear when it hit the bottom from the loud thud, and it never failed to bring a smile to his face.

Pulling out his cigarettes and lighter from his dirt-covered jeans, he took a seat on the ledge before he put a cigarette between his teeth. The zippo came to life with a flick of his wrist, and he lit the end, taking a long, deep drag.

He knew he shouldn’t take the time for a smoke break, but it was a graveyard, after all.

Halfway through his cigarette, his phone began vibrating, and even though he didn’t recognize the number, he had a pretty good guess of who it was.

A sexy female voice came over the line. “Is this Lucca?”

Smiling, he exhaled the smoke that filled his mouth. “Yes, darlin’, it is.”

“What are you doing?” She giggled.

Getting up, Lucca knew the hot blonde he had given his number to earlier in the night was going to be easy. “Smoking,” he answered, starting the easy climb down from his pile of dirt. “And wondering when you were going to decide to call me.”

She pretended to sound shocked by his answer. “I guess you’re not busy, then?”

At the bottom again, he could see the form he had tossed in earlier. The sheet had revealed a cold, bloody face that had a bullet right between his eyes. “Not at all.”

“Can I meet you in an hour, then?”

Lucca inhaled, making the cigarette illuminate his rugged appearance. “That depends on how hard you like to be f*cked.”

The phone went dead silent before her voice came back, practically moaning, “As hard as you can give.”

“I’ll make you regret that, darlin’,” he warned her.

If she hadn’t been moaning before, she was definitely doing it now. “No, you won’t.”

“One hour,” he told her before killing the call. It was going to be a bit longer than an hour before he could get to her, but making her wait for him was half the fun. Giving her a warning that she was going to regret that statement was about the nicest thing he had done all day, and he was going to live up to his promise.

Flicking his bud on the dead body, he looked down at the man no one was ever going to see again. Any family or friends he left behind would never get closure.

“Fucker.”

Lucca couldn’t care less. The man had gotten what was coming. The only thing that upset him was the fact that he had let the man almost bite his hand off.

They had wanted to keep him alive to question him, but when Lucca had let go from the bite, his boss had shot him right between the eyes.

Getting back to the matter at hand, he picked the shovel back up and began transferring the pile of dirt back into its place. With each sling of dirt, more and more of the body was covered until the man no longer existed on this earth.

Lucca took pride in leveling out the dirt to make it flat once again. The hole was six feet deep exactly when he threw the shovel up and out of it. Though he no longer had his nice incline of dirt to help him get out, it wasn’t hard for him to take a running jump out of it with his six-foot-three stature.