Willing Captive (20 page)

He
took in the boys when their father died and
this
is the thanks he gets? Just goes to show, you
can’t put your trust into anyone.

Lily.
My
princess. She’s gonna be devastated.

If I were to do what
I really wanted to do right now, I’d go downstairs, take a van, and
drive. I’d drive all the way back to California to the residence of
Jamie Harrison, knock on his door, and when the weak, sly fucker
answered the door…

Boom.

Off with his fucking
head.

But I can’t do that.
I promised to watch Lily and that’s what I’m gonna do. I have two
minds about telling her though.

My body sinks deeper
into my chair. I have to tell her. Eventually. When she needs to
know.

I’ve spent too long
in silence. Rock watches me carefully. With a single nod, I stand
and ask, “Feel like sparring?”

***

Lily

Boo and I walk past
the workout room and hear, “I’m warnin’ you, man.”

That’s Nox. And it
sounds heated.

My eyes widen in
interest. I look up and see Boo holding the very same expression.
She crooks her finger and I follow her to the almost closed door.
We peek in and watch the clowns at work.

Rock pops him in the
nose while bouncing around, “Or what? You’ll tell on me to your
girlfriend?”

Ouch, Rock! That was
mean!

Boo giggles quietly
and whispers, “He doesn’t mean it, Dee. Just watch.”

Nox’s face turns
hard. His eye twitches.

Oh shit.

“
Say it again,” he says in dead calm. “I dare ya.” Shaking his
head, he adds, “I love you like a brother, man. But I swear to God,
I’ll drop you so hard, so fast, you won’t know what hit
you.”

Rock continues to
bounce on the balls of his feet, feigning punches. He smiles
harshly, “Quit fucking around already. I know you wanna punch me,
so do it.” He stops bouncing. “Unless you’re a pussy.”

Nox’s eyes flash and
I bite my lip to hold in my laughter.

Walking backwards,
he starts undoing his boxing gloves. I think it’s over, so I move
to walk away, but Boo stops me with a hand on my shoulder, looking
all too excited. She mouths, “Watch.”

Rock smiles in
victory and undoes his gloves, too. They both kick off their shoes
and peel off their sweaty socks and meet in the center of the room.
Rock grins, “Rules?”

Nox bounces up and
down on the spot, shaking out his arms in an attempt to loosen up.
He states, “One weapon.”

Rock’s face falls.
“One fuckin’ weapon? No way. At least two.”

Nox chuckles,
“Always tryna hustle. You wanna do this? We do it my way. One
weapon.”

I have no idea
what’s going on. My face bunches in confusion while Boo’s body
shakes with laughter by my side.

Rock scowls, “Close
your eyes, bitch.”

Placing his hands on
his hips, Nox closes his eyes and Rock runs over to his bag.
Fiddling through it, he takes an object out and places it in his
palm, hidden from view. He’s too far away to see what it is,
anyway.

Rock walks back to
the center and announces, “Your turn.”

Rock closes his
eyes, and I watch Nox walk over to his shoes. He pulls something
out and places it in his shorts’ pocket before returning to the
center of the room.

They stand a few
feet apart. Rock says, “High school wrestling rules.”

Nox barks out a
laugh, “No fucking way! This is street or nothing. Your
choice.”

Rock whines,
“Street’s whack!”

Nox prods, “If
you’re too weak to handle it, we’ll call it a day.” I have to slap
a hand over my mouth to control my giggles when Nox walks forward
to Rock, places a hand on his shoulder, and asks in complete
seriousness, “How about I run you a nice bubble bath?”

Rock shrugs his hand
off harshly. “Fuck you, motherfucker!”

Boo and I remain
hidden, bodies shaking in silent laughter. It’s like watching a
documentary. Seeing the way wild animals behave when they think no
one’s watching.

Nox laughs at his
friend. “C’mon. One match. Street. One weapon.” Turning to Rock, he
says, “Ready?”

Rock remains sullen
for a whole ten seconds before he moves into a grappling stance and
utters, “Let’s get it on, bitch.”

Nox chooses a boxing stance and mutters, “Oh, hush now. I
don’t wanna hear how you talk to Boo in bed.”

Rock immediately
responds, “My woman is a lady, so you better shut your mouth.”

My mouth parts.
Placing a hand to my chest, I look up at Boo. She watches Rock
through misty eyes.

Rock, you
sweetheart!

And Nox smirks,
basking in the glow of finally getting one back at Rock. He counts
them in, “On three. One. Two. Three.”

They lunge at each
other, then grapple, stepping in and out of each other’s space. Nox
low kicks at Rock’s knee, but Rock is quick.

Rock high kicks at
Nox’s face, but barely skims his ear. My man is pretty quick,
too.

When Nox tries to
catch Rock, Rock somehow reverses the move and I’m surprised when
he catches Nox into a headlock.

It’s kind of
alarming, actually.

Ever since I’ve been
here, I’ve thought of Nox as a superhero. Nothing bad ever happens
to them. They get caught; they fight, and they win every
episode.

My heart sinks at
the thought of Nox being nothing more than human. Humans can get
hurt. They bleed, grow old, and die.

Inside this house,
it feels like time stands still. Maybe we can live here together
forever?

I’ll have to enquire
about this at a more appropriate time.

Rock squeezes his
throat closed and mocks in a deep voice that sounds just like Nox,
“Street rules or nothin’.”

Nox’s face turns a
nice shade of maroon as Rock cuts off his air.

And it’s freaking me
out.

Rock doesn’t look
like he’ll let up anytime soon. Just then, Nox reaches into his
pocket and pulls out his weapon. He shoves it into Rocks mouth and
pushes his jaw up to hold it in. Rock’s eyes widen and we hear him
yelling through gritted teeth. We can’t make out the words though,
being that he’s temporarily gagged.

Not another second passes before Rock releases Nox and gags,
then dry heaves. Spitting out the weapon, he coughs and gags again.
“You dirty, dirty fucker. A fucking sock? A sweaty sock?” Gagging
at a steady pace, he wipes at his tongue.

Nox coughs and
laughs at the same time. Rubbing his neck with his palm, he
wheezes, “Street rules, bitch. I win.”

While the guys pant
and heave on the floor of the workout room, Boo silently motions
for me to come with her.

She leads me to the kitchen and when we enter, we look at each
other and release the laughter we’ve been holding back from what we
just witnessed. Wiping away tears of mirth, we start lunch.

“
What do you feel like today?”

Opening the fridge,
I search for something I haven’t had in a while. “I don’t know. I
want something different today. Like an old favorite.”

Boo’s eyes widen.
“Peanut butter and jelly?”

Oh, yum!

I feign disinterest.
“Depends. What kind of jelly we got?”

Please say grape!
Please say grape!

Spinning on her
heel, she turns to the pantry and peers inside. “Hmmm. We have
strawberry.”

Bummer.

“
And grape.”

SCORE!

“
Put me down for two with grape jelly, me thinks.”

She nods in
agreement. “Me too.” Looking around the kitchen, she utters,
“This’ll only take a minute to get ready. You wanna let the guys
know?”

“
Sure.”

I walk up the stairs
and my calves ache and burn with every stiff step I take. A workout
with Nox is hell, but I see my body changing. My muscle definition
has started to show and I like it. When I reach the final step, I
mentally pat myself on the back for not crawling.

Seeing Rock in the
hall, I yell out, “PB and J for lunch. Boo says to come down
asap.”

At hearing PB and J,
he shakes his butt suggestively as if doing a touchdown victory
dance, and I chuckle. No one ever accused Rock of being shy.

Shaking my head at
his craziness, I walk past him when I hear, “You know, I haven’t
seen him this happy in…well, ever.”

Turning, Rock leans on the wall wearing a sweet smile, “And
I’ve never seen you glow like you do these days. So I’m gonna
say
this
is a good thing. You
won’t get trouble from me, but Boo…she worries. So don’t give her
too much shit for trying to be sane, okay?”

Always looking out
for his woman. I love that.

Nodding, I tell him,
“I know, Rock. And I get why she’s wanting us to be cautious, but
honestly, I’ve been cautious my whole life, and right now I just
want to be with Nox.”

Seeming to like my
answer, his eyes crinkle, then he turns and walks down the
stairs.

I make my way into
our bedroom and see clothes tossed onto the chair by the bathroom.
I call out, “Nox?”

The shower turns on
and he calls back, “In here.”

I walk into the open
bathroom and freeze. I freeze because Nox is showering. He is
showering naked. And I can see his pee-pee.

This is the first time I’ve seen his special ferret
, and it’s got my brain
frazzled.

Standing under the
spray of the water, he runs his hands over his face to wipe the
water off, opens his eyes, and sees me standing there. He asks,
“You need something, princess?

But all my brain is
interested in is staring openly at his junk.

He tries again.
“Baby, what’s up?”

This snaps me out of
it. Sort of. But not really. Swallowing hard, my eyes drift down
past his stomach again and I murmur, “Boo asked me to tell you that
lunch will be ready in a few.”

Soaping up and
washing himself, he replies, “What’re we having?”

“
Penis butter and jelly
.”

Holy shit!

Slapping a hand to
my forehead, I cringe. “Peanut butter and jelly.”

I see him smirk, but
he doesn’t say a thing.

Smart man.

“
Sounds good. Gimme a sec,” he says.

And I’m good with
waiting. The view is spectacular.

Still eyeing his
long, thick semi-erect penis, I ask distractedly, “What do you want
to dick?”

Stupid! Stupid!
Stupid!

“
What do you want to
drink
?” I quickly add.

Body shaking with
silent laughter, he can’t hide his amusement. “A coke will do.”

Oh dear Lord, his
dick is getting bigger! It’s inflating like a balloon.

How on earth does it
fit?

My eyes widen at the
show I’m getting. I feel like I should be in biology class or
something.

I
repeat his order. “Sure, babe. One cock. I mean cock. I mean
coke
!”

Flushing bright red,
I exit the bathroom in a rush to the sound of Nox’s laughter.

Gettin’ real tired
of your shit, Nox!

***

Nox

You know what’s
beautiful?

Lily.

I watch her get
ready for bed, and the sight of her is heart stopping. But my mind
wanders.

Mechanically
undressing, I walk into the bathroom and splash ice-cold water onto
my face. I shouldn’t do it. Really, I shouldn’t. But something
pushes me.

I don’t like
secrets.

I watch her closely.
My mind tries to capture her. An image that I can take with me when
this is all over.

Looking at Lily is
like looking into a flame. There’s a glow surrounding her, and it
burns so bright that it hurts to look at her for a long while.

But that while?

It’s worth the
hurt.

Dressed in a black
tank and panties, she smiles up at me and try as I fucking might, I
can’t return it. I can’t return it because I’ve got to do something
really shitty right now. Something that will change her, yet
again.

Climbing into bed, I
sit facing her. Her face searches mine before I see worry seep into
her eyes.

I have to tell
her.

It’s time.

“
Lily, there’s something I have to tell you…”

Chapter
Sixteen
The
calm before the storm

Lily

Nox telling me that
Jamie Harrison organized the hit was a breaking point for me.

Jamie.

The brother of my
heart. My friend and comrade in stupidity.

Once the tears
start, I can’t stop them. I cry for a long time. Such a long time
that Nox has to get up, bring me some water, and change our bed
sheets, which are covered in tears.

They just won’t
stop.

Betrayal.

That’s what I feel.
Complete and utter betrayal.

Through my tears, I
ask, “Is there any chance you got it wrong?”

Nox shakes his head,
wiping away my tears. “I’m sorry, baby. No. His apartment had
everything we needed to rule out anyone else. We found the laptop
the emails were sent from. In the search history, we found internet
searches for websites linked to kidnapping and extortion.” His jaw
steels. “There was a wall in his bedroom that was filled with
pictures of you, Lily. Hundreds of pictures. And what’s worse is
that one of those pictures was taken the day I came to get
you.”

My
stomach lurches. I don’t believe it. I
can’t
believe it.

It
has to be a mistake. Jamie wouldn’t do this to me. He and Jett are
my friends! We lived in the same house for almost a year, for
Christ’s sake. He taught me how to swear in
Gaeilge (Irish Gaelic)
and even went as far as
to take me places that my dad wouldn’t let me by playing the
‘
she’ll be fine
with me’
card.