20
Who the hell was that guy?
I had only seen his back as he walked out of the main doors. He stood outside waiting for Mallory, but the stupid frosted glass of the front windows had only allowed me to see a vague silhouette, stopping me from being able to see his face. All I could tell was that he was tall and had dark hair. I knew that I needed to not make any presumptions too, she said she would call, and I’d just have to trust that she’d remember this time.When her text message came through shortly after she had left, I instantly relaxed. It was clear that she was trying to make up for her crappy communication. But I was still confused by her rapid departure. Why did she have to leave so fast and with no explanation? It all seemed a little strange.I wondered if she was wrapped up in something dodgy. There were enough criminal organisations in Westeroak for her to have some kind of affiliation. I knew she used to have ties to The Brotherhood since her brother, Jason, had been a member. Maybe she now handled some of their accounts. That would make sense. But even if she did, what business would she have to handle at this time of night? And why did I find this mysterious side of her so hot?I shook myself off, putting a stop to my train of thought. If I kept trying to guess things about her life, I’d start coming up with some insane stories, and probably end up thinking she was an alien who had come to earth to kill us all, or some shit. She said she would call, so I just had to wait. But not just wait, that would be dumb. I needed a distraction.I pulled my phone back out of my pocket and dialled the number of my favourite person in the whole world.“Tobias, sweetheart, are you alright?” My mom’s voice came down the line laced with concern. She had no reason to worry about me, but I supposed that’s what mothers did.“I’m fine Mom, is Dad around?”“Not tonight, business meeting, you know how late they can run.” I could almost hear her eyes rolling.“Shall we have dinner then? My treat.” I loved having dinner with my mom. It was usually just the two of us, dad was rarely around. She didn’t mind that, but it must have been lonely for her on those nights. Mom loved people, she was a social butterfly.“No no, baby. No treats. I have pasta on already, come over instead.”I had secretly hoped that she would say that. Her cooking was the main thing that I missed since leaving home. I could cook reasonably well, she had taught me, and my closest friend, Emilia, was a chef, so I was always picking up new tricks. But nothing beat Mom’s cooking.“I’ll be there once I’ve showered. Love you,” I said out of habit, it didn’t matter if I was seeing her in twenty minutes or twenty days, I’d never end a call with her without uttering those two simple words.“Love you,” she said back, and the line went dead.Luckily, Mallory was always the last client of my day. We had hour sessions pencilled in the diary, but sometimes she wanted, or needed, more of my time, so I never booked anyone in after. I just had to hope that the new guy, Matteo, wasn’t having any more technical difficulties. The guy had only been here a week and had forgotten his staff login to access our computer system nine times. He was lucky he was a damn good trainer, and had brought a lot of new business with him, otherwise he would’ve been out on his ass on day one.“I’m heading out,” I called through the gym door after I had showered. I pulled my damp hair up into a neat-ish bun. Mom would tell me I need a haircut, just like she did every time she saw me, and I’d tell her to tell dad the same. She never would, she loved his hair, and I think she secretly loved mine too.“Catch you later bro,” Matteo called back.“James is by the pool if you need him,” I reminded him. “See you tomorrow.”I liked James, he was a great guy, a lifeguard, and I had recently got into the habit of changing our schedules so that we were working at the same time. He didn’t mind, and it meant I always had someone to annoy when I got bored between clients. It also meant that when we weren’t working, we could go out and grab a beer together.I grabbed my bag from where I left it by the locker-room door and left to go to my parents’ house. It didn’t take me long to arrive, and Mom was dishing up an enormous bowl of pasta for me as I walked through the door.“Worried that I’m going to waste away?” I joked and nodded at the bowl before leaning down and planting a kiss on her rosy cheek.“You’re a growing boy, you need all the carbs.” She grinned up at me and lines creased around her eyes.“I think I’d say I’m fully grown by now, wouldn’t you?” I asked and sat down at the small dining table.“You seem to get bigger every time I see you, sweetheart.” She joined me and placed our food down on the table before pulling off the floral apron that she always wore when she was cooking and smoothed down her dress.“And you seem smaller, are you shrinking in your old age?”Her hand playfully tapped the back of my head. “Less of the old. And get a haircut!”I rolled my eyes and smiled lovingly at my mom. I opened my mouth, but she beat me to it.“No, I will not tell your dad to get one too.”We both laughed, never growing tired of the same conversation.During the following hour she refilled my bowl twice, and I was sure I would burst if I even attempted to eat one more thing. For once I had turned down dessert and sat smiling to myself as I remembered my conversation with Mallory before she had disappeared with the stranger.
It may have been a joke, having her for dessert, but I really did want to know what she tasted like. Especially her lips. They had been the first thing I’d noticed about her when she had approached me to ask about my services a year ago. I’d managed to hold a conversation with her, but I couldn’t stop myself from staring at her perfect, rose-coloured lips.“Tobias, you have a dreamy look on your face, who is she?” Mom asked, and I realised that I had been staring into space for a while.“Just a girl from work. I’ll tell you more when there is more to tell.” I gave her a wink and she frowned.“Do you work with her? Or do you train her?” She crossed her arms and gave me a stern look.
I sank into my chair like a child who knew they were about to get told off. “I train her.” I winced.“Tobias, you cannot take advantage of a girl who you train,” she scolded.“Mom,” I quickly defended myself. “You bought me up better than to take advantage of anyone. And this girl can more than handle herself. Honestly, I don’t even know why she comes to me. I guess for motivation on bad days, but overall, she doesn’t need me.”“You shouldn’t mix work and romance sweetheart.” She softened a little, but kept her arms folded.“If things go any further, I’ll pass her on to Matteo, he can train her instead,” I reassured her.“Good, so what is she like?” She smiled now, a beautiful wide smile that could light up any room.“Nope, I’m not getting either of us excited about her until there’s anything to tell. But if it works out, oh Mom, you’ll love her.” I mirrored my mom’s smile, it was the only thing I had inherited from her, and it was my favourite feature.“I hope so.” She reached for my hand, and I let her hold it for a while as we spoke about work, family, and food until she was yawning and sleepily smiling at me.I announced my leave, telling Mom to go up to bed, and to give dad my best. As I walked from their house to my truck I checked my phone and saw that I had another message from Mallory.
MallorySorry it’s so late, I’ll call you soon.
She was trying so hard to communicate better. I found her attempts cute, and this girl claimed to be incapable of being cute. I had seen it though, she had it in there, it just took a little work to lure it out of her.I replied to her message, telling her that I’d be home in half an hour, so I’d be waiting for her call. I hoped she didn’t take it too literally, but I would most likely end up waiting by my phone and bouncing around like an over excited puppy. The girl had that effect on me. She made me feel light and bouncy. Even if she wasn’t that herself. I felt like I could be her sunshine. Her cool, hilarious, charming, ray of sunshine.
I parked my truck on a quiet road around the back of my apartment building and walked around to the main entrance. An unfamiliar man was stood leaning against the wall where the intercom was. I didn’t need to use it, obviously, I lived there, but I wasn’t happy about some strange guy being there. He didn’t look friendly. In the glow of the streetlights I could see that his face was heavily scarred. He was clothed in black leather and heavy looking boots. If Mrs Rowell from downstairs took her dog, Terry, out to do his business while this guy was here, she might have a heart attack. I couldn’t have that, she was a nice old lady, and she made a mean apple pie.“Hey, you waiting for someone? If not, I’m going to have to ask you to move along,” I said as I approached the scarred man.“Yeah, I am,” he said in a deep grumbly voice, it sounded a little put on, but whatever. He was scary enough without the over-the-top voice stuff.“Who?” I asked, not sure if I believed him or not. I knew every person in this building, if he lied, I’d know.“You.” He looked me dead in the eye. There was something familiar about him now that I had a better view of his face. I’d seen it before, but I couldn’t place it.“Me? Right,” I said, trying to work out who he was. It shouldn’t have been too hard. You didn’t see many people with a face like that. “So how do we know each other?”“We don’t. But you’ve pissed off my boss, so I’m here issuing you your first warning.” He looked me up and down.“Who’s your boss?” I asked, straightening up so that I stood tall. My size made me pretty intimidating, so emphasising it should have been enough for him to think twice about starting anything. He pushed off of the wall though and did the same. He was smaller than me in height and weight, but I had a feeling that his size didn’t matter.“Lorenzo D’Angelo,” he announced with a dark smirk.
Fuck.It hit me; this man was Lorenzo D’Angelo’s second in command. I had seen him before. I didn’t take too much interest in the crimanal goings-on around here, but I had seen him in action, being smaller than me definitely didn’t matter to him. There was no doubt in my mind that he was armed. I knew that I’d have to be very careful with him. Hold back on any sarcastic comments. He would not appreciate any jokes either.“Uh huh, so what have I done to piss him off? I’ve never met the man.” I held myself tall still, not showing any signs of fear. Careful, but not showing weakness.“You’re dating his girl, that needs to stop. Now.” He took a step closer to me. “If it doesn’t…” He pulled a knife from inside his jacket and pressed the tip against my stomach. “I’ll find very creative ways of carving you up.” He smiled, a sadistic smile, and my brows pulled together.“You sure you’ve got the right guy?”He pushed the blade harder against me, any more pressure and he’d rip my shirt and break skin. “I never get the wrong guy. Stay the fuck away from Mallory Fields.” He pushed the blade, and I held back a hiss as a warm trickle of blood slid down towards the waistline of my shorts.“Who?” I gritted out.“Oh, of course. Little miss thinks-she’s-better-than-everyone-else. You’d know her as Mallory Clarke,” he explained, and stepped back, smirking as my face dropped. “You won’t get a second warning. So I wouldn’t bother even thinking about pushing it, boy. She is not worth it.” He shot me a look of repulsion and walked off down the road.“I’m her trainer,” I called after him. “He does know that right?”“You better keep things professional then.” He turned and said, “you can be easily replaced.”Shaking slightly, I took myself inside, climbing the stairs to my apartment floor and fumbling with my keys before letting myself inside.What the hell?Mallory was with Lorenzo D’Angelo; she was trying to date us both? It wasn’t a shock that she knew him, her brother who had died last year, was a member of The Brotherhood, the organisation that Lorenzo was the head of. But dating him, how had that even happened? And Fields, who was she? Clarke or Fields, and why was she using more than one name?My head was spinning, and when I grabbed my phone, I saw that I had two missed calls, both from her. I had a million questions for her, I wanted—no, needed—answers, but one thing was echoing loud and clear. The shallow slice in my stomach accentuating the threat.I couldn’t risk calling her back. I valued my life.I wasn’t going to make stupid choices. Ignoring what he had said wouldn’t just put me in danger. I had heard enough stories about Lorenzo to know that she wouldn’t be safe if I came between them. I would have to shove down and bury my feelings, because her safety was so much more important, even if she was a… liar? I wasn’t sure. And a part of me wasn’t sure that I even cared that she wasn’t who she said she was. I knew her, and maybe I hadn’t known every part of her, but what I knew I was certain was real.I switched on my bathroom light, and grabbed a clean cloth, running it under warm water and dabbing at the blood that was almost dry on my skin. My evening had taken such a shocking turn, one I never could have seen coming.Oh Vixen, what the fuck have you gotten yourself in to?