Death Blow (14 page)

Lila was still standing there, hadn’t moved since she’d lit
upon this scene, and she watched Barrett and the woman take the shots together.
The blonde coughed hard and made a terrible face.

“That’s
awful
,” she said loudly, smacking her lips
and hacking like she had a hairball.

“Oh come on, it’s not that bad,” Barrett tried to keep up
this charade, but Lila could see him working at it. He was doing it for her,
she realized.

“That was fucking
disgusting
,” she whined, shaking
her head. “Ugh, gross. Be right back, I’m going to the bathroom.” She stumbled
off towards the restroom, looking like she was going to break an ankle at any
given moment.

“I just want you to know, Barrett, she’s definitely going in
there to puke,” Georgia said, doing some dishes now. “But I don’t know whether
it’s because of the alcohol or because you touched her.”

“Nice, Georgia. Shut the fuck up.” Barrett sat on the stool
closest to him. Lila stomped down to his end of the bar, crossing her arms in
front of her chest and squaring off to face him.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” she asked quietly. Barrett
didn’t look at her, just studied the empty shot glass in front of him.

“What?”

Lila couldn’t stand it anymore. God, she wanted him. And she
did care about him. And she wanted to know him. And he was a fucking asshole.

“You know what? Nothing. I don’t know what I expected.” She
started back towards the sink at the other end.

“I don’t know what you expected either,” he called to her,
now looking at her defiantly. She swung around to face him. “I don’t recall
telling you to have any expectations.”

Lila began to laugh, and Barrett’s face contorted in either
shame or anger, she wasn’t sure which. “It’s a shame, Barrett,” Lila began,
“because everyone here thinks you’re an asshole. And you know what? I like
you.” Barrett scoffed at this, and Lila took a couple steps closer to him. “I
fucking like you, Barrett,” she said seriously, and this time, he looked at
her, believing her. “And you’re going to be a fucking idiot and throw that
away. Well,” she held up her hands, “it’s your life. You make your choices.
Fuck that girl, I don’t care. I don’t care how many girls you fuck, Barrett.
None of them are going to like you. You know why? Because you don’t want them
to.” She spun on her heel and stomped off to the other end of the bar, where
Georgia was standing.

“That was fucking amazing,” Georgia said quietly. “Now we
really need you to make an exit here, a good one, so grab your stuff and leave.
I’ll take care of clean up. You deserve it.” Lila bent down for her purse
without looking at Georgia.

“
You’re
fucking amazing, Georgia,” she said quietly. “I
owe you big time, thank you so much.”

“Quick, go, before it looks staged,” Georgia said through
gritted teeth. Lila straightened up, and coolly walked off towards the
elevators. She saw the drunk blonde stumbling out the bathroom as the elevator
doors opened, and Lila stepped into the cool, metallic silence.

She’d called Jackson 6 or 7 times since she left and his
phone had gone straight to voicemail. She’d gotten home—to an empty house—and
gotten her clothes off when her phone rang. She rushed to it, hoping it would
be Jackson, but
Barrett
flashed across the caller ID. Her heart caught
in her chest, and for a split second she considered not answering. She did
anyway.

“What?” she said curtly.

“Where do you live?” he responded just as shortly.

“What, why?” She was completely caught off guard.

“I’m coming over, is why.” Then her heart caught in her
chest for a different reason. Barrett couldn’t come here. What if her dad came
home? Nope, that couldn’t happen.

“No, no, are you at home?” she hurried.

“Yeah, but—“

“Fine, fine. I’ll come over there, okay, I’ll come over.”

“Fine. Come now.” He hung up on her. She threw on jeans and
a tank top, slipped into flip-flops and headed back out to her car. In a matter
of minutes, she was back at Barrett’s house. He was sitting in a chair in his
front yard, waiting for her. She took a deep breath and got out. He stood up
and came towards her, but didn’t close the gap between them entirely. She
leaned against her driver’s side door.

“What?” she asked, trying her hardest to be cold.

“You said some shit to me tonight,” he said firmly.

“Yeah, I did,” she said defiantly, staring at him. “She
inside?” She motioned towards the house with her head.

“Cut the bullshit, Lila.”

“I’m not the one bullshitting here, Barrett.”

“I didn’t—look, you don’t know me, okay?”

“No, I don’t,” Lila retorted. “You won’t let me.”

He strained against the urge to say something else, it
seemed. “What I mean is that’s the only reason you like me, okay?”

“Oh, poor you, poor, wounded Barrett. Nobody would like you
if you let them get close, is that it?” Her tone was icy and combative, and
Barrett was getting worked up. He took another step closer.

“Fucking
women
, you always think you can fix
whatever’s wrong, right? That you’re the answer to some little fucked up boy’s
prayers, is that it?” His eyes were burning, but Lila didn’t give in, and she
didn’t respond. “You think, what, you got the magic pussy that’s going to turn
my world upside down?”

Like the very first time they met, Lila didn’t know what was
happening until she realized her palm was pulling across Barrett’s face. She’d
jumped forward and smacked him again. He didn’t even seem surprised this time.
He roared forward and backed Lila against her car, slamming his hands down on
either side of her. His hot breath hit her face, but Lila didn’t cower or back
down.

“I bet saying nasty things to people usually does exactly
what you need it to, right, Barrett? Keeps you safe for a little bit longer.”

“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” he
growled.

“Oh no, I do. You think you’re the only person that shit’s
happened to?” She looked him seriously in the eyes. “You’re not. The sooner you
get off your fucking high horse about it, the better off you’ll be.”

“Your mom died? That the biggest tragedy of your life,
Lila?” His eyes burned into hers. “Believe me, worse things could happen.” She
shoved him square in the chest, not to much avail but enough to make a point.

“Yeah! My mom died, and my dad’s a fucking deadbeat
alcoholic, and I been taking care of him since I was a child, for what? So he
can drink himself to death and hate me every minute of every day. And I don’t
have any friends, and I don’t have any family, and my life’s got no fucking
purpose! But you don’t see me lording that over everyone else like they
couldn’t ever understand what I been through!” She was shouting now, and
Barrett’s ferocity had given way a little. “Man the fuck up, Barrett, or get
the fuck out of everyone’s way.” She finished, heaving. They were still awfully
close, pushed up against her car, Barrett close to engulfing her with his body,
but not doing it yet. He watched her in silence, probing her eyes with his,
huffing. She could smell him, and again, she was turned on, angry, and confused
all at once.

Then, without warning, Barrett grabbed her face and kissed
her hard, flattening against her. He kissed her so good it made her toes curl,
and their tongues were fighting now with as much vigor as they’d been arguing.
It hurt a little, but Lila still felt like she didn’t have Barrett close
enough. She clawed at his back, trying to draw him into her, absorb him, and he
responded by sublimely crushing her against her car. When they absolutely had
to, they broke for breath, both panting. Lila didn’t have time to say anything
before Barrett grabbed her thighs and hoisted her up onto him, spinning towards
the house and barreling back for the front door. Again his mouth was on hers
and she’d wrapped her legs around him tightly. Barrett pushed them through the
front door and slammed it shut behind him.

“I want you inside me right fucking now,” Lila whimpered
into his lips. Her pussy was on fire but chills were running through her body,
and she didn’t know how long she’d last if Barrett didn’t merge with her soon.
Barrett tossed her off him and she hit the couch and bounced. He grabbed at her
jeans and ripped them off in a frenzy as she pulled her tank top over her head.
She surged forward and pulled down his shorts and underwear, freeing his cock,
taking it in her mouth quick and deep and making him moan loudly. He shoved her
back onto the sofa and pawed off her bra. Her panties seemed to fly off at a
brush of his finger, and a second later, Barrett was buried deep in her
crevice, and Lila felt whole again.

No bells, no whistles this time, just pure, animalistic
fucking. Lila was clawing at Barrett like she needed his blood, and Barrett was
pounding into her with abandon. They were groaning and sighing, creating a
cacophony of pleasure, underscored by the creak of the couch as it moved with
Barrett’s thrusts. Lila didn’t ever want it to end. Barrett dipped his head
down to hers and she pulled his face in, flicking her tongue deep in his mouth.
In a frenzy, they both begin to cry out, voices mixing, muscles clenching—they
were barreling towards climax. They’d both broken out in sweat and were sliding
against each other, the friction building. Lila could tell her face would be
raw tomorrow, chafed from Barrett’s stubble and the frantic kissing they were
doing. She didn’t care.

As Lila’s sex clenched and throbbed around Barrett’s, it
became too much for them to handle, and with a sharp cry from both, they came,
bodies stuttering together in shared transcendence. Once their waves had
settled, Barrett still inside Lila, they shared a long, slow, sensuous kiss, so
gentle for two people who’d just tried to destroy each other out of desire.
Barrett laid his head on Lila’s chest, and she stroked his close-cropped hair.

“What did you mean,” Lila finally said, quietly, “when you
said worse things could happen than a mother dying?” Unlike the times before,
Lila didn’t feel a shift in Barrett’s energy when she probed him tonight. She
held her breath, knowing he’d tell her this time.

“I wish my mom had just died. It would have saved me a lot
of trouble.” He said it with such bitterness that Lila felt like crying.

“What’d she do?” she whispered.

“What didn’t she do’s a better question. She didn’t take
care of me, that’s for damn sure. She did basically every drug known to man,
did every man who gave her drugs, and did eventually up and leave me
completely.” Lila held him tighter, wanting to force the sadness out of his
body. “I remember her asking me to hold the spoon, when I was very little,” he
muttered. “What kind of mother does that?”

“She left you, you said?” Lila kissed the top of his head
gently, repeatedly.

“She’d leave me for days at a time. I could run a household
by the time I was 5. Once, she grounded me, and locked me in my room. I fell
asleep crying, and when I woke up, she was gone, and she didn’t come back for
three days. I had to climb out my bedroom window and shimmy down the side of
our house.”

“Oh god,” Lila’s heart was breaking. “Barrett, I’m so
sorry.”

“I know you know what it’s like, your dad is fucked up,
too,” he said into her collarbone, kissing it lightly. “Fucked up people
shouldn’t have kids.”

“I don’t know,” Lila murmured, turning Barrett’s face
towards hers. “I have a little bit of hope for us.” She looked into his eyes,
and he looked back into hers. Then he leaned forward and kissed her. She’d
gotten a sliver of the real Barrett Warde.

They spent the rest of the night talking. Lila shared
memories of her mom, her disappointment over dropping out of high school, the
pointlessness of her life to date. Barrett didn’t know who his father was,
didn’t know if his mother was alive, and didn’t know what he’d do if he ever
saw her again. He’d gotten into fighting around 15 in his hometown in Missouri,
but had moved out to Belle Chasse a couple years later when he’d heard about
Club Malevolence. It was the only thing he ever felt good about, fighting, and
he liked being the villain because then no one ever expected anything from him.
For someone who’d been so closed off to her before, Barrett really opened up to
her that night, and she felt so grateful for it. They’d fallen asleep as the
sun rose, both still naked, still on the couch, and it was the soundest few
hours of sleep Lila’d gotten in a very long time.

“It’ll be a sudden death match, so Barrett won’t be able to
do his usual bullshit chokehold.”

Jackson shook his head, seated on the couch, as Lyle paced
in front of him and Cassandra sat at the island in the kitchen.

“I told you, I’m not going to fight him.” He looked up at
Lyle, resolved.

“You’re gonna do what the fuck I tell you to do, son, and
that’s that.” For such confident words, Lyle still looked worried that Jackson
might defy him, still paced anxiously like maybe he didn’t have the upper hand
here. Jackson’s face broke into a smile, and a small laugh started to form at
the corners of his mouth. “What the hell are you laughin’ at, if I may ask?”
Lyle warned.

“Oh god, I can’t take it. You think you scare me?” Jackson
really asked the question, wanted to know the answer. “Because you fucking
don’t.”

“We’ve got plenty that’ll scare you, boy,” Cassandra chimed
in coolly from the kitchen. “We’re tellin’ you, you’re gonna fight, and that’s
the end of it.”

“No discussion to be had,” Lyle tried to close the
conversation.

Jackson stood up. “You two, you’re too much. I’m out of
here, I’m going to Tiffany’s, you’ll be lucky if I ever come back.” He stormed
off and grabbed a jacket from the coat rack in the hall.

“Don’t test me, boy,” Lyle called out, trying to stop him.

“Fuck you,” he shouted back.

“Jackson.” Cassandra had gotten off the stool and clicked
her way into the hall. “Why don’t you sit back down? I think I got somethin’
that’ll change your mind.” Her tone had gone icy, and the smile plastered on
her face made it all the eerier.

“What, are you going to threaten me? Threaten Tiffany? You
gonna sic your mob lackeys on me, Dad?” Jackson’s eyes blazed.

“Not gonna threaten you or your stupid little girlfriend,
Jackson,” Cassandra said. “Tell you what. If you don’t fight tomorrow night,
someone’s gonna get the shit beat out of ‘em, and you’re gonna feel every
single punch in a place you don’t want to.” She was being very enigmatic, and
Jackson, despite himself, was intrigued and, if he was honest, a little
frightened.

“What the fuck are you talking about, Mom?”

“If you don’t fight Barrett—lemme rephrase that, if you
don’t
beat
Barrett, then Kurt over there’s gonna tie your sister to a
chair and beat her ‘til her face turns blue.”

Jackson blanched at the word. His mouth ran dry, and he had
to swallow a few times before he could talk again. “Sister?” he rasped. He’d
broken into a cold sweat. “I don’t have a sister. You’re crazy.” His voice
echoed around the enormous foyer.

“Oh, but you do, honey.” Her voice had taken on a sickly
sweet tone now. “You got a twin sister, in fact.”