36. Fuck Around Time
36
Fuck Around Time
Matt
They’d just dropped Tony on his ass on the floor and were in the process of opening my cage when the door bursts open.
No one pays it much mind, including myself, as they half-drag-half-carry me out into the open. Tony, long rid of his disguise, lies in a heap, and they kick him to the side so they can use the same hook to hang me up by my bound hands.
I’m too busy feigning being injured to bother looking up, but it’s Darius’ voice behind me that draws my attention.
I turn my head just enough so I can get a peek, and my blood runs cold to see Jessica standing there, being manhandled by none other than Matteo’s brother, Enzo.
I twitch, fully intent on going berserk, when something cool touches my bare foot, and I glance down to see Tony with one eye open, giving me a hard stare.
I immediately go back to my former exhausted position, doing my best to keep the tremor of rage out of my limbs.
I can’t even imagine why Jessica would enter this building after what she’d already been through, but I have a feeling I already know the reason.
Mainly me.
I take a few subtle calming breaths, Tony’s hand on my foot, one of his fingers tap, tap, tapping rhythmically.
If Jessica is here, that means the others can’t be too far behind, and most likely the reason that she’s made it into this room without them is because the circumstances didn’t allow for anything else.
I know this isn’t my first rodeo, but it is definitely my first rodeo where someone I’m intimately connected to is at risk, and I totally understand Darius and Tony’s previous inclinations towards chaos and psychotic behavior. Suddenly, my typical high functionality is moot, and I want to go berserker mode.
I chance another glance and see her staring at me intently. As soon as my eye meets hers, she shakes her head minutely.
I hang more heavily on the chain, intent on at least pretending well that I’m not operating on all cylinders.
Of course, Enzo’s appearance doesn’t mean anything good for me.
Last I heard, he was living his life perfectly fine outside of the spotlight, and with the demise of his brother, this means his life of leisure will have changed significantly.
So, I can imagine he’s rather bitter and would like nothing more than to string me up by my toes and beat me to death.
Footsteps come closer, and two shiny shoes appear in my line of sight.
I pretend I don’t see anything and continue to play possum, but then Enzo’s voice is right in my ear as he says, “Playing dead won’t work with me, you piece of shit.”
I ignore him, mostly because I know it will annoy him even more, and then he adds, “I suggest you perk up, or else we’ll be swapping places around here.”
Nicolai, one of the men who’s been in here with us for the duration and typically takes us in and out of our cages, speaks up, “What are you doing here, Enzo?”
Enzo steps back from me and replies, “It’s none of your fucking business.”
Nicolai snorts and responds, “It actually is my fucking business. So, watch your fucking mouth.”
My heart rate picks up at the idea that they may fight amongst themselves, but that hope is quickly extinguished when Ivan interrupts, “Come now, Nicolai. We all knew he’d show up eventually. Just let him have his fun, and he’ll go about his business.”
There’s a long moment of silence, and then Nicolai says, “You better watch yourself. If any of them turn up dead too soon, there will be hell to pay.”
I’m not sure how I feel about this “too soon” bit, however I’ll take that over should have been dead already.
Darius is muttering from his cage, but I can’t make out anything he’s saying, and then Nicolai goes over and yells, “Would you shut the fuck up?”
“Sure,” Darius replies tersely. “Why don’t you open this fucking cage and make me?”
Nicolai must have taken a step toward the cage because Ivan rushes over and says, “Now, don’t you be listening to that guy.”
“Why the fuck not?” Nicolai huffs.
“Because it’s a fucking trap, that’s why,” Ivan replies firmly. “Just as soon as you nonchalantly open that cage, thinking you’re going to make some fucking statement, the Beast is going to rip your throat out.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, would you stop with that name,” Darius replies bitterly.
I hear a muffled laugh at my feet, and I know Tony is once again gloating about the nickname he gave Darius many years ago. Nicolai mutters from behind me, and then his voice gets louder as he moves closer. He stops beside me and says to Enzo, “Just do what you’re going to do and get the fuck out. We got business here.”
“Make this motherfucker look at me,” Enzo commands.
He steps back, and at the same time, a hand grabs me by the hair and yanks my head back violently. I open my eyes almost lazily, trying to keep my expression as bored as possible as I spit some blood on the floor. “What the fuck do you want?”
Enzo frowns at me, and Jessica’s eyes narrow a bit. I’m hoping she’ll remember all of our earlier conversations about me having to do and say bad shit in order to protect her. The last thing I want these guys to know right now is how much she means to me because that just gives them more leverage than they already have with me here, hanging by my wrists, not even wearing fucking shoes.
I glance around and see there are still a few people in the room, but not nearly as many as there were when Tony was getting his ass handed to him.
I know if we’re going to attempt to make an escape, the timing has to be exact. The room can’t be too full of people, but there also needs to be enough people to make it confusing for the enemy.
Given I’m working mostly on assumptions as to how much backup I have in the building, it could go to shit pretty easily.
“Since I finally have your attention,” Enzo retorts as he walks over to Jessica and yanks her closer to him, pressing his body against hers. It’s everything I can do to keep my expression neutral and my body relaxed as he adds, “I already explained the future to Jessica here.”
I raise a brow at him as I ask, “And what might that be?”
“So glad you asked,” he says with a smile. “About our impending nuptials once she becomes a widow.”
He moves his hand from her upper arm to the back of her neck, and her expression becomes pained as he squeezes hard. He uses his free hand to stroke up her stomach, between her breasts, and then, with his hand pressed against the front of her throat, he leans in close, rubbing his nose on her cheek, following the same path with his tongue.
She grimaces and snaps her head forward, smashing her forehead against his nose, and he shrieks as his blood gushes. He jumps back, pushing her away as his hands come to his face, and he curses. She takes a step away, pulling a tissue or a handkerchief from her pocket and wiping the blood off her skin gingerly as she says, “Didn’t anyone ever teach you the order of operations?”
I frown, and Tony’s hand on my foot draws my attention down, and I see him frowning, as well. I look back up just as Enzo steps toward her and asks, “What the fuck are you talking about?”
She gives him an obstinate look and snarls, “The order of operations, you dimwit. If you’re going to get lewd with a lady who obviously doesn’t want your advances, you’d best properly restrain her first, or else you’re going to get fucking hurt.”
He lunges for her, and she only has a chance to take maybe half a step back before he has both hands wrapped around her neck, squeezing as he says, “Is this fucking hard enough for you?”
I can see she’s still fighting him, and once again, I have to fight my urge to attempt to break free.
After a moment, she goes a bit lax in his grip, and I’m uncertain if it’s intentional or it’s because he’s cutting off her airway. Regardless, I’m relieved some of the fight has gone out of her, so I might be able to draw his attention back to me.
“You might want to let her go,” I reply blandly. “If you accidentally kill Seamus’ daughter, there will be fucking hell to pay.”
His grip eases on her slightly, and I see her take in a ragged breath as Enzo turns his attention back to me and says, “What the fuck do you know about it?”
I snort as I reply, “How the hell do you figure I ended up marrying the bitch?”
“Because you wanted to.”
I laugh bitterly, and Jessica’s look turns petulant, so I say hurriedly, “Your idiot fucking brother was going to pass her through his friends and then kill her, so your whole family should be thanking me for putting a stop to that.”
“I don’t fucking believe you.”
“Believe whatever the fuck you want, but you should know by now that I’m not in the habit of exacting unsolicited bloodbaths without good fucking reason.”
“I don’t really fucking care what your reasons were at this point. I was living my life just fine, and then you went and fucked it all up.”
“Wah, wah, wah,” I reply flippantly. “If you’re going to fucking do something, do it already. So far, you’re just boring me to tears.”
“Me, too,” Darius pipes up from behind me. “I thought I was going to get my turn soon, and so far, this is taking way too fucking long.”
“You shut your fucking mouth over there,” Nicolai sputters.
But Ivan laughs and says, “Oh, leave him alone.”
“Thank you, Ivan,” Darius replies cordially. “I really appreciate that.”
I glance over and see Ivan grinning at Darius like a goddamn fool, and I shake my head as I mutter, “Good fucking lord.”
Pain blooms in my jaw, and my head jars around as a fist connects with my face. I slowly turn my head back around, spitting more blood on the ground as I say, “Do you feel better now?”
Enzo doesn’t say anything. He just pulls his fist back and hits me again, and since I see where this is going, I close my eyes, go limp, and let him go to town.
I must say, I never did enjoy getting hit in the solar plexus, and this isn’t any more enjoyable than I remember.
About the second time I lose my breath, I cough and sputter, taking my weight up onto my hands and bringing my legs up where I kick out with both feet and hit him square in the chest. He goes flying backward, and Jessica shrieks as she jumps out of the way. I place my feet back on the ground and use the few moments of reprieve I have to try to catch my breath.
It takes Enzo a minute to rise from where he was sprawled on the floor, and then he stands there, hunched over as he says, “Stupid fucker.”
I feel one of my eyes swelling, and my lip stings where it’s split open, but I say anyway, “I don’t know what you hoped to gain from all this, but it seems kind of pointless. Why don’t you just tell me what the fuck you want.”
“I want your wife to watch me beat you to death.”
“I don’t see the point in that because she doesn’t care.”
Enzo laughs as he says, “I don’t give a fuck if she cares. It makes me feel better.”
“You didn’t even like your fucking brother,” Darius says calmly. “You should actually be happy that fucker’s dead.”
“No one fucking asked you, Darius,” Enzo snarls. “Still a fucking know-it-all after all these years.”
I raise a brow, craning my head around, trying to get a look at Darius as I ask, “You two fucking know each other?”
“Yeah, we go way back,” Darius explains. “He’s still salty over the last time I kicked his ass. Hindsight tells me I should have just fucking killed him.”
I do another glance around and see that there are more people in the room now, which is less than ideal. I just wish Enzo would get on with it so that I could end up toppled on the ground next to Tony, and someone would open Darius’ cage. But the likelihood that they’ll leave us two out while letting him out is pretty slim. Occasionally, we have had a situation where some dumbshit didn’t know any better. Which means Ivan needs to get the fuck out.
“If you’re that bent out of shape, Enzo, maybe you should let Dare out of his cage, and the two of you can duke it out like men.”
Enzo laughs and then says, “You really think I’m that stupid?”
“You seem kind of dumb to me,” Jessica mutters.
Enzo turns his focus back to her and glares at her as he says, “You better shut your fucking mouth, or I’ll shut it for you.”
She curls her lip at him but says nothing further, and at this point, I kind of want to kick her ass myself.
I glance back at Enzo and do a double take as I see a subtle shadow behind him. I squint, attempting to focus on something along the wall in the darkness.
I clear my throat, covering it up with a cough as I almost smile.
The door opens, and Kaian appears, taking a step into the room and leaving the door ajar.
He looks around the room, finally focusing on me as he says, “Well, you look like shit.”
I snort. “Well, fuck you very much.”
Enzo turns to Kaian and asks, “What the fuck do you want?”
Kaian takes another step closer and shrugs as he says, “I just came to see if it was time yet or not?”
Enzo frowns, confusion on his features as he says, “Time for what?”
Kaian smiles and shrugs as he says, “Time to fuck around.”
I laugh, and then Darius laughs, and then, like clockwork, Tony laughs at my feet. Enzo turns back to me with a concerned, puzzled look on his face as he says, “What the fuck is going on?”
The shadow behind him draws my attention again as it moves, and out of it conjures a woman, an unhinged look on her face, and I see that it’s Antoinette, but at the same time, it’s not Antoinette.
I frown, but I don’t have time for much else, and the next thing we know, she’s right behind Enzo, startling him as she says, “Time’s up.”
There’s no hesitation on her part. She raises a hand, slicing through his throat in one smooth motion. He gurgles, his hands coming up as his blood gushes everywhere, and within seconds, he’s crumpled to the ground, gasping like a dead fish out of water.
Ivan and Nicolai stand there shocked, and I sigh as Jessica says, “Cami, don’t you think you could have been a tad more subtle?”
She grins, her resemblance to Antoinette uncanny, and once again, I shake my head at the thought of there being two of them.
Jessica rushes over at the same time Tony rises to his feet, and the two of them work to get me down from where I’m still hanging from the hook.
Nicolai yells, managing to put up quite a fuss before Tony makes it to him, drawing the attention of others in the room, who come running. Tony makes quick work of Nicolai, snapping his neck before the man even realizes what’s happening, then manages to slash and dash the three men who attempted to intervene.
Ivan, on the other hand, stands there with his hands in his pockets, smiling, and it’s Darius who says, “Well, Ivan. It looks like you’re enjoying the show.”
Ivan nods and says, “Oh, yeah. I’ve heard stories about this shit.”
Tony frowns at him, then looks at me, and I shrug, so Tony turns back to Ivan and says, “Well, in that case, I won’t kill you.”
Ivan goes to speak but instead is met with Tony’s fist directly in his face, and he drops to the ground, out-cold.
The door bursts open, and a bunch of women rush in. I figure it’s safe to assume that they’re with us, but the next thing I know, they’re rushing toward us. One of them yells, “They’re coming.”
And then all hell breaks loose.