8 Mile & Rion (35 page)

I was fucking pissed.

“Open your mouth,” he says, shoving two pills inside followed by a drink of water. “Better?”

“No,” I moan. “What the fuck did I say to set you off?”

“Loyal is the name of the man you’ve been attached to all these months? The one that left you?”

“Oh no,” I argue. “I said Loyal and you reacted. Tell me why.”

“I’m afraid you aren’t the one giving orders this time, Rion. The day that Senior died you stopped calling the shots. I gave you time to grieve and to come to terms with this arrangement, but I’m done following your lead. You were promised to me and you can either accept that or suffer needlessly until you accept it. Either way, I get what’s owed to me.”

“Release my hands,” I order him, “let’s keep this fair. You put on what, about fifty pounds of muscle since I saw you last? Surely, I’m not that scary. Or, am I?”

“I own you,” he says, sitting next to me. Then grabbing my hair and pulling it back he bites my ear causing me to cry out. “You’ve had time to live your life without rules. Now you’ll live your life with mine. I bet you’re wishing you hadn’t listened to Senior all those years, am I right? You did as you were told then so I know you have it in you now. Maybe you just need a refresher.”

Slamming me to the ground belly first, he punches me in my right side. Biting my lip to stop the scream from escaping, he flips me over on my back then pins me down by the shoulders. “I had to watch you look past me for years,” he growls. “It was all about everyone else. You went through men like candy, while I waited for you to see me. Why couldn’t you have come to me on your own? I would have spared you this!”

Look past him? The mother fucker never spoke! Christ, he never did anything except follow me. He was like a lost dog unless I gave him direction. “Look past you? Kinda hard to look anywhere when you were always ten feet up my ass!”

First an unholy sound filled the room followed by him getting off me. My first deep breath was short lived when he came from downtown and kicked me directly in my side. The surge of pain was so intense it caused me to pull up onto my knees to protect myself. So all this to get me here was only to be beaten to death? It hardly seemed sporting from down here on the floor. Small breaths were all I could manage right now. To get out of this I had to rely on my strengths. Cataloging them they were my mouth, my knees and my feet since my hands were out of commission.

He’s yelling again. Probably at me although I tune it out easily. When the coughs take me over I raise up a bit to take another breath. If he punted me again, I was done. He didn’t. Instead he was rubbing my back which creeped me out. I almost preferred him hitting me to this.

Closing my eyes, I knew my chances were slim that I was going to survive this. I missed Loyal and hoped that he would recover from a life without me, the man deserves happiness. I wish I could have told him one more time that I loved him more than anything. I’d give it all away to hear him say the words to me too. Even though he always showed me, the words mattered because it took a lot for him to say them. When Loyal told me he loved me, the world made sense.

Listening to Henry pace was annoying me. I still wondered why Loyal’s name set him off and if I do anything well, it’s push. Mumbling words with no meaning simply to get his attention, he wastes no time in coming down to the floor next to me.

“I didn’t hear you,” he says in my ear.

Lifting my head up, I smile while looking in his eyes. “I said, you lost the bet, Henry. I bet on the long shot. I’m in love with Loyal.” Before he can react, I head butt him as hard as possible to give me the chance to get away. Clumsily getting to my feet, I keep a safe distance while the pain was excruciating and I was seeing double as a result. He doesn’t make a move and neither do I. “Talk to me Henry,” I prompt him. “You think taking me will make me want you? If you’ve watched me then you’ve seen him. From where I’m standing that bet is the least of your problems.”

“He always gets everything!” he screams before charging me. Moving sideways he tags me around the middle taking me back to the ground. I was sick of being on the ground. He climbs back off of me, but I lose sight of him. Using my elbows, I look over my shoulder to see him holding a rolling pin. What the holy shit?

“Stand up,” he orders me. Slowly making my way back to my feet I knew this was it. This was do or die time. Thinking of Loyal and how I wanted to get back to him only one thing stood in my way, the enemy.

“A rolling pin?” I laugh. “You wanna play prison rules? Is that it? Well okay, I’ll be your daddy.”

“He doesn’t get to have you, too,” he growls, but stays put. “I won’t let him take you from me. He shouldn’t even be here. He’s next for touching you.”

“Oh he’s more than touched me,” I say giving him a fake giggle. “Want details?”

That did it. The reaction I needed.

Now I all I had to do was stay alive and hope for a miracle, that miracle had a name.

And my heart.

‘If you’re reading this letter, I failed. I’m sorry, Junior.’

~Senior

I spotted him and wasted no time telling him why I was there. He didn’t seem surprised to see me either. Taking me outside, four of his men follow and surround Rio and me. Time was of the essence right now and if anyone knew Senior’s secrets, it was Old Man. “Talk to me,” I order him. “You ain’t been tight with Senior all these years and not know nothing.”

“That bet was with Lucas Sullivan, the dirty bastard,” he says and his men nod in agreement. “Senior thought it was a joke. I did too because shit, you don’t bet people. Everyone was drunk, telling stories and cracking fun. Senior got his life straight for his daughter. He wouldn’t fuck it up with some stupid shit like a poker game.”

“What else?” I ask. “You know about the letters he was getting?”

“Of course I knew,” he groans. “I even tried killing the bastard myself when he tried kidnapping Junior from school when she was in third grade. Lucas hated Senior because he got the girl and the family. Lucas was sweet on Junior’s mom when they was kids. She had eyes for Senior, no one else. My guess was he wanted to hurt Senior good since he’d already lost his wife. Lucas knew Senior always paid up on bets, only this time he refused. That prick even adopted a kid to pair up with Junior, like some arranged marriage bullshit. When he died, I figured it was over.”

“Lucas may be dead,” I remind him, “but his son took Rion. Now that he has her. Where would he keep her?”

“I’d guess at the house he bought for them,” he says, reaching for a cigarette.

“He bought them a house? Rio, you know about that house?”

“Sure as fuck didn’t,” he growls. “Where’s the house at, Old Man.”

“Pay attention son,” he says. “When Senior married, she left her childhood home to be with him. Lucas always wanted what he couldn’t have, bought her house and kept it waiting for her. Guessing since he could never get her back in it, he wanted the next best thing.”

“Senior’s daughter.”

“Find her, son,” he says, grabbing my shoulders, “and kill him.” Sticking a scrap of paper in my hand I look and see an address. Nodding at Rio, we climb back into the truck and this time I wasn’t coming back empty handed.

My woman was coming home with me and I didn’t care how many people had to die to make that happen.

Even my own brother.

‘If you ever find yourself in some shit, fight dirty until I can get to you.’

~Rio

Cradling my left arm was all I could do to make sure it didn’t fall off. No, he didn’t sever it. The bastard hit me repeatedly with a god damn rolling pin. If the dents in my skin were anything to go by, I’d bet it was from the Martha Stewart collection at K-mart. Not only did he run out of steam fairly quickly, remorse kicked in and now he wouldn’t stop touching me which was worse than getting worked over with wooden kitchen utensils.

Rio would bitch me out if he knew I only managed to land a few blows. I’d bitch him out right back for not teaching me to be lethal with my feet. My eyes filled up at the thought of never seeing Rio again to bitch him out. I missed my best friend and like me, he only did what Senior said. I may be breathing for the moment but my heart isn’t beating right. It’s missing Loyal and Rio something fierce and it hurts knowing I may not have what it takes to walk away from this. Knowing this psycho could kill me easily at any time was lead in my stomach. I had no tools to fight back, I was helpless and that pissed me off.

“Why him?” he asks, touching my busted arm. At this point it hurts so bad, it’s nearly numb and he was too far gone to notice what he was doing. “None of the others got long term, why him? He’s an asshole.”

“Why are you so hung up on him?” I groan out. “Yes, he’s an asshole but he’s
my
asshole.”

“He doesn’t deserve you,” he mumbles. “You weren’t gifted to him. You were gifted to me! A bets a bet you said so yourself! You’re supposed to love me!”

“Wait, was I supposed to love you before or after you kicked my ass? A bet
is
a bet, but not when my free will’s at stake. Sorry for the misunderstanding, let’s just shake on it with my good hand and I’ll be on my way.”

“I don’t like your smart mouth.”

“I don’t like your left hook.”

“Shut your fucking mouth, Rion.”

“Make me you little cunt,” I growl. “And you can call me Junior, only the asshole gets to call me Rion. Special privileges and all that.”

“You’ve left me no choice.”

“Oh I’ve left you all sorts of choices. You just aren’t capable of rational thought.”

“You will love me.”

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll kill you,” he says, shrugging his shoulders like he just picked tuna instead of chicken.

“You’re welcome to try,” I offer, “but I won’t go down without a fight.”

“I expect nothing less from you.”

“Funny, I don’t expect anything from you considering you haven’t crossed my mind since the day you left. Senior gave you a second chance and this is how you repay him? By agreeing to a meaningless bet because you can’t get laid on your own?”

“If it were only that simple,” he says smiling. “Actually you don’t have all the facts. Your mother brainwashed my father into thinking she loved him then tossed him over for Senior. If not for my father, yours wouldn’t have ever met her. My father considered this a betrayal, of course, and saw an opportunity to right that wrong and took it.  I’ve been the son he’s always wanted and you are my reward. Believe me, my father was a difficult man to please.”

“What about your mother?”

“Never had one. His wife died young and he never remarried. When I was adopted my father wanted me to have what he never had. I was cast aside just as he was. He took pity on me, wanted me to have the chance he wasn’t afforded.”

“You’re adopted? What’s your birth name?”

“Why does it matter?”

“Just piecing it together is all. Clearly, I’m not leaving here alive because a healthy relationship is not in the cards for us, so what’s the harm? This is like a big game of Clue, or in your case clueless.”

“My birth name was Honor James Hart.”

“Christ,” I groan. “You’re the brother I’ve been looking for. He’s been searching for you for months, you little fucker.”

“And here I am,” he laughs. “Fuck him, he’s not my brother. He let them take me.”

“He was seven, Honor and he wasn’t given the chances you were afforded by being adopted out.”

“He stole you from me.”

“I told you, you can’t own someone. I’m his by choice.”

“My father searched for years for the perfect son to make you happy, you selfish bitch! You have no idea how horrible he was!”

“Who’s your daddy, Honor?”

“My name is Henry!” he roars. “Henry James Sullivan!”

“Hold up, Lucas is your dad? Hate to break it to you, but your pops was one taco shy of a six pack if you know what I mean. Well hello apple, meet tree. It didn’t fall far. This is like an acid trip in church, seriously.”

“Don’t you dare speak ill of the man that saved me!”