Chapter 48
Never Make A Woman Angry
Alex
Iheld Jade’s hand and helped her step inside the auto shop. My love. She asked me if this was real. Was it? Maybe I was back in that dark void—where there was no time, nor place. Maybe this was just a memory of that sweet girl who held my whole heart in her hands?
“I-I like your haircut,” she stuttered when her gaze caught mine, as soon as she stepped inside. “And the beard. It’s strange, but…I like i—”
“Ugh!” We both whipped around toward Roman, who groaned loudly when he slumped Xavier into a chair. Jesús had it all ready: chair, zip ties, and anonymity.
“Done.” Roman checked Xavier’s restraints and stepped back.
We all stood in front of a bloodied Xavier; his forehead littered with mirror shards.
“Wake him up.” A woman’s voice sounded beside me—cold and authoritative. I twisted my head around, wondering who else was here, but then it hit me—that was Jade’s voice. “I want to talk to him.”
Roman stepped forward right away, tapping Xavier’s face with his huge palm, but I watched Jade, barely recognizing her. Her head held high, she looked down at Xavier, her lips lifting in disgust.
“Mmm,” Xavier groaned, blinking through his grogginess, but then his one healthy eye shot open and he saw Jade first, such unadulterated disbelief overcoming him. “J-Ja—”
"Not so confident without the backup of your friend, Seb, are you, Xavy?" Jade asked. He breathed fast, looking from Roman to me, not recognizing either one of us.
“Jade, whatever you think you’re about to do—don’t,” he warned her, still trying to exert his power even when trapped in a chair. “Let’s just go home and we can tal—”
“Talk?!” Jade suddenly raised her voice. “I actually do have a few things to say to you.” She grabbed onto my forearm for stability and removed her heels, immediately shrinking a few inches. “Starting with this.”
Barefoot, she strolled closer to him, discarding one shoe and gripping the other like a weapon. Damn, I felt scared for Xavier.
“Jade, Jade, listen to me,” Xavier’s healthy eye jumped from me to Jade to Roman and back to Jade. “You should really think carefu—”
“Shitty men like to dictate what a woman should wear,” Jade said, her absolute authority louder than ever. “But you were an overachiever in that. Especially my shoes. You always picked torture devices. To make sure that all of me suffered.”
Without warning, Jade’s arm suddenly flew back before she lunged forward, clipping Xavier right in the chest. With her heel.
Xavier screamed. It was pitiful and loud, turning whiny almost immediately.
“Y-you b-bitch!” he stuttered, crimson blood gushing from the hole in his body, right onto his white shirt. Jade wasn't fazed in the slightest.
“Does that hurt?!” Jade hollered over his loud yelps, bending down to his eye level. Xavier convulsed in the chair, trying to rip his hands out of the restraints, but Jade moved even closer. “I love when you struggle, baby!”
I made an instinctive step toward her, but to my surprise, Roman grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back, shaking his head to say no.
"I'm not going to kill you, Xavier." Jade played right in his face, goosebumps rolling down my back from her tone, but not from fear. Not from surprise. From satisfaction. "But I didn't say I wouldn't ruin you!”
Her arm swung back again and she launched the heel into his head this time, getting him right in the cheek. The sharp heel ripped his skin so smoothly.
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t destroy you!” His chest, his thigh, his stomach—she swung violently with every sharp increase of her voice. “Cripple you! Break you!”
The louder Jade shouted, the more pronounced the memory became. Jade on her knees in that motel room, wearing my T-shirt, crying, pleading, begging…and his hand in her hair.
“But I didn't say I wouldn’t…break him. Ruin him.” He pulled her hair, turning her toward me. “Cripple him.” Unspeakable pain exploded in my face when a boot landed in my nose. “Destroy him.”
“P-please…Please stop! Please!”
"Argh!" Finally, Jade struck between his legs, getting him right in the balls. Roman and I both flinched in unison, witnessing how Xavier lurched forward, choking on his scream.
"Damn,” Roman drawled, both of us watching the scene with bated breath. “Honestly...never make a woman this angry."
"You f-fucking wh-whore!" Xavier spat right in her face, powerless to do anything else.
“Only Alex gets to call me a whore.” Jade straightened, wiping his saliva off her chest.
“Your father’s going to f-fucking kill you!” Xavier sobbed, bloodied and breathless.
But instead of yelling again, Jade did something I’d never forget. She threw her head back and cackled, the sound filled with agony and sweet, sweet relief. "No, motherfucker.” She tossed her bloodied heel to the side. “He's going down right after you."
Jade turned back to me then, her eyes filled with absolutely uncontrollable rage. “I want you to carve the word rapist on his chest. Carve it deep!"
I caught the sparkle in her eye just as I gripped the cold steel of Xavier’s switchblade, which rested in my pocket. “Anything you say, my love.”
And as if this was the sweetest dream, Jade trotted toward me and lifted up on her tippy toes, gifting me a delicate kiss. Fuck, I missed her. I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her in, drowning in—
“Ahem!”
Roman’s loud cough cut in—reminding me that I wanted to rip Xavier to shreds just a few seconds ago. Before I fulfilled Jade’s request, though, I had a promise to keep.
“Should I cut your balls off now or after?” I asked Xavier. “I warned you I’d cut your balls off if you touched her again. You didn’t listen.” His head twisted to me, his one eye looking me over in a frenzied effort to recognize who I was.
And he did. I saw it in his one eye. The realization dawned on him after a few seconds, and his jaw dropped in unison with his shoulders.
“M-Martinov?” he whispered, afraid to believe it. “Alex, listen.” He nodded, ready to assure me. “Alex, it's not what you think, man! Moretti ordered it, but I didn’t take it all the way, man, come on!”
Xavier blabbered something on, but the blade was already pressed against his pathetic manhood, ready to live out its destiny.
“I-I made sure they didn’t go all the way, Alex, but I had to, man—I had to do it! You know him! No, no, wait—Jade! Wait, Alex!”
“Wait.” Jade repeated his word, and I turned to her, half a second away from plunging the blade into his balls. “He might pass out if you do that first. Carve the word and then cut off his balls.”
Always the mastermind. I smiled, my heart bursting from how close we were standing. “As you wish, Preziosa.”
“J-Jade, stop, come on! You’re not gonna do this! You’re better than this!”
With a mysterious smile and a rough tug, Jade pulled on Xavier’s shirt, exposing his bloodied body. “Here!” She shoved her delicate finger right into the middle of his chest. "Carve it here!"
“No, no, no, wait! Jade! Wai—”
The blade pierced his skin and he jerked violently, but Roman was already behind him, pushing down onto his shoulders and holding him down.
Xavier pleaded, shouting with all his leftover strength, but I burrowed the knife in his flesh, carving the letters large enough to make Jade proud.
“Watch,” Jade ordered, shoving his chin into his chest. “Watch what happens when you hurt me, Xavier!”
With a front-row seat to the vengeful journey of his own blade, Xavier pleaded, “Stop! Ja—”
“Watch!” Jade screamed over him. "Watch what happens when you try to kill my boyfriend, Xavier! Watch what happens when you rip my life apart!”
I looked up at Jade at that moment, noticing how the tears in her eyes reflected the dim lighting of the body shop. She’d been broken. Shattered into a million pieces. Forced to live with a man who caused her indescribable pain, she still held light in her soul.
Right as I was getting to the bottom of the letter T, Jade wrapped her fingers around my hand that held the switchblade and pulled the knife out of my grasp. Before I could ask, she got right into Xavier’s face, his panting and crying having no effect on her.
“J-Jade,” he pleaded, “I'm s-sorry! Please d-don't, baby! I loved you! I always l-loved you so mu—"
"When a man is in love—” she lowered the knife to his crotch, ignoring his words, “—he loves. He doesn’t make me suicidal. He doesn’t trap me. He doesn’t try to rape me. He doesn’t…break me.”
Real tears of sadness and regret slid down Xavier’s cheeks, his one good eye looking up at Jade with so much sorrow. For a moment, I really thought she was going to change her mind after seeing that.
But she didn't.
Instead, she lifted up her arms and swung down, plunging the blade into his balls. Fast, harsh, and so unexpected that Roman gasped in what I could only call admiration.
“Fuck!” Xavier shouted. “Fuck! Fuuuck! You! B-bitch!”
His voice echoed in the garage, but it didn’t matter to Jade.
She listened to all his gasps and whimpers.
Listened to the way he begged, still standing in front of him with blood dripping off the sharp edge of the knife.
She let him get it all out, neither Roman nor I daring to move without her permission.
“J-Jade…” Xavier gulped after a long while, struggling to stay conscious.
“You can’t…you can’t kill me.” His head was slumped on his chest, but he still had the energy to beg for his life.
“Y-you’re not that person. You’re not dark; you’re l-light.
You’re a ray of s-sunshine!” Xavier sobbed, pulling on every string of empathy he thought existed within Jade tonight.
But she had none for him.
"I won't,” Jade said gingerly. “I said I won't kill you, but…oops.” Jade lowered her voice, sticking her hand in front of his face. “I…lied," she whispered, shoving two crossed fingers an inch away from his wide eye.
Stunned and nearly comatose, Xavier stared up at Jade, and she looked down at him, through his panting, through her glee, until she pulled back and pointed to me. "He's going to kill you!"
My girl.
The three of us watched petrified and bloodied Xavier plead something until slowly, calmly, Jade turned away from him, giving me my cue.
I raised my arm, Jesús’s Taurus 92 already in my hand.
“N-no, Alex, wait! Man, don—”
The bullet blasted right through his skull, extinguishing his voice.
Once and for all.
None of us spoke or moved. We all just stood there, coming to terms with what we did. What he did.
As I admired the crater in Xavier’s forehead, I wondered how different it all would have been if I had killed him the night Jade climbed onto the roof. I made my decision then—impulsive and irresponsible.
But sometimes, you can’t put things off. Do it now. Not later, not tomorrow, not another time. Do what needs to be done.
The car ride back was quiet and dark, and this time, Jade insisted I ride in the front seat while Roman drove us to the marina to pick up his car.
"Can I have that burger now?" Jade requested, breaking the silence fifteen minutes after we left. As if predicting she would ask that, Roman passed her the food before she could even finish the sentence.
"Mmm. Best meal I ever had,” she added once she took a bite.
Her tormentor was gone, and she was finally free. Through the rearview mirror, I watched how she chewed slowly with her eyes closed, sighing every once in a while, but no longer crying. No longer afraid.
After a few bites, she stilled and leaned her head against the window, fast asleep when we made it to Roman's car.
"Don't thank me; I know you're about to launch into it," Roman interrupted me when I opened my mouth to do just that as soon as he turned the engine off.
"Come to New York soon. I feel like Isla and Jade have a lot in common.
" He looked like he was finding the words, but I had no idea what that meant.
With a huge smile on his face, Roman leaned in for a hug. “Brother! Miami was fun! Thank you!"
An hour later, just like I’d imagined, I carried a sleeping Jade into the little beach house.
Our little beach house.
"I'm awake! I'm awake!" Jade shot her eyes open and scampered out of my arms. Still dazed, she blinked in the dim light, slowly recognizing where we were. “Wow. I didn’t think I’d ever be here again.”
Apprehensive and timid, Jade strolled inside, her dress shimmering the same way it did that first night I met her.
“I bit you right there!" Jade walked past the couch and toward the sliding doors, taking it all in.
And I…I propped myself against the wall and simply watched her.
"I fell in love with you on that beach,” Jade said, staring out the glass doors. “I remember I felt it. Unable to stop it. Both wanting it and…incredibly scared."
Tears prickled my eyes. It had all come full circle. After everything we lived through apart. After everything we lost.
We were finally here again.
Jade sniffled too, and there was nothing we could say to each other. We both felt the same way.
Slowly, hesitantly, I led her to the master ensuite and turned on the shower. Jade couldn’t open her eyes. She sighed as I slid the dress off her body, and she tugged the shirt off my back.
Just like that, under the hot shower, I took my Jade into my arms, and our bodies touched once more, both broken.
She had lost a lot of weight. She felt so dainty, so…brittle in my arms. I ran my hands up and down her back, scraping my fingers over her shoulder blades, feeling the sharp edges of her spine. Her shoulders—previously perfectly round and supple—were now bony and pointy.
It didn’t matter how she looked—it only mattered if she was happy with it, but the reason for this change was sinister.
"Have you not been eating, Malyshka?" I whispered into her ear.
Under the running water, I closed my eyes, feeling free to ask.
“No.” She shook her head, refusing to look me in the eyes. “I couldn’t. Not after…”
"I'm so sorry I didn't come earlier. I'm so sorry you ha—"
"Are you crazy?!" Jade shot her eyes open, her whisper bouncing off the walls. "You're alive! That's the biggest gift I could ever receive from life, Alex! I could’ve waited my entire life for you if I had to!" Her wet eyes found mine, lingering a short moment on the scar right beneath.
But instead of letting her inspect all my scars, I hugged her. Simply enveloped her, allowing her the time and space to let go of all her tears.
And mine, too.
That’s what helped. Her—that’s what was healing me. She mended every scar that marked me, both inside and out.
Like fog, steam crept in all around us, obscuring my silent tears and muting Jade's sobs. I cradled her body and soul. My lips made a slow trail down her long neck, over her emaciated chest and collarbone, and her lips touched the scars on my face and shoulders, soothing the pain.
We swayed with each other under the scorching hot water, washing away Xavier's blood, our tears, and all the agony of the last months.
Time had no meaning. My whole life was a mere spark compared to the raging fire that every second was with her.
Jade was a dream, and I stayed alive so I could never wake up.