Ruthless: A Mafia Step-Brother Romance - Ruthless: A Mafia Step-Brother Romance Part 29
Library

Ruthless: A Mafia Step-Brother Romance Part 29

Even if it meant running drugs with some of the worst people I've met.

"Fine. Tonight, you do this thing for me, and you and your little sister," he says, waving in the air, "can go. But if you fuck up? She's the one that's going to pay."

Chapter 8.

"Drinks, shots?" I'm trying my best to treat this like a normal night, but I have a bad feeling in my stomach.

I woke up excited to see Kaiden this morning, but he was already gone.

No note, no text, no nothing.

And my instinct is to worry that I scared him off again and put more distance between us.

I give one of the men at the table his whiskey and cola, glancing around the bar. No sight of Kaiden, but honestly, that wasn't unusual. I'm just being paranoid.

I move to the next table, handing them their drink before going back to the bar. It's a slow night, and I'm getting exhausted fast.

I refill my shot glasses, putting others in the dishwasher when I realize I forgot my phone in my purse. I curse and, with a quick apology to the bartender, run back into the office. It's pitch black, but I always put my bag in the same place. I find it and turn it on, hoping for a text from Kaiden, but there's nothing.

I sigh, and then I hear the shifting of a chair. Gasping, I look up to see Ryder approaching me slowly. I didn't even know he was working tonight. He usually takes off before midnight.

"Sorry, Ryder, I just needed to check my phone."

He tut-tuts.

"Checking your phone on work hours? I didn't take you for such a bad girl," he says, and through the light of my phone, I can see him leering at me.

I remember back to my first day when I met him, liking the way he looked at me. His gorgeous face, his strong, masculine form... it was hard not to be attracted to him.

But now all I feel is fear, and I think he can kind of sense it. Especially when he reaches out and touches some of my hair, his hand grazing along the shell of my ear.

I flinch away and his smile widens.

"But I bet you are a bad girl, aren't you? I see you, prancing in here with your short skirts, your low-cut tops, just begging for it," he says, his hand running down my neck. I'm too scared to even move, though I'm desperately trying to force my legs to run, to get me away from him.

For Kaiden to come in and save me.

Anything.

His smile is feral, and I can smell his cologne in the air as he leans in, tucking hair behind my ear and whispering in it: "I bet you like it up the ass, huh? Prissy girl like you already looks like she's got somethin' stuck up there."

He grabs my wrist, and I try to yank it away, only for him to put more force into it. Making my hand touch against his bulge, his hand moving overtop mine and making me feel it throb against my touch. I pull away, but he pins me to the wall with his body, his scent overwhelming me.

And then it's all over. He pulls back and returns to his desk as if nothing happened, clicking on the desk lamp once again.

"Get the fuck outta here, girl, you got a shift to finish."

I didn't have to be told twice.

I ran out the door, back into the dingy club and the oppressive music. My skin is burning with heat and anger, fear almost crippling me. But I can't tell the bartender what happened, so I grab my tray and simply go back to work.

Kaiden, where are you?

Chapter 9.

I have a really bad feeling about this. Already the guys I'm supposed to meet are running fifteen minutes late. I've dealt with a lot of bullshit over the years running drugs for Ryder, and I know that when someone's late it's because they're getting cold feet. And the only reason someone truly involved with this business gets cold feet is because they're planning on screwing you over.

I sit back in the seat, looking at the guy next to me. He's shorter and scrawnier, looks like a junkie, but I know he isn't because Ryder won't hire a junkie. Too big of a risk of losing product.

His name's Mustang or something stupid like that, but I've worked with him a couple times before and he's surprisingly sharp.

We're in the middle of nowhere, but I recommended the spot. I don't know why, but when we were kids, Abigail's dad and my mom took us here. I guess it was just to show us a life outside of suburbia. We spent days going from small town to small town, talking to people, spending the night in "mom & pop" motels.

And then we went camping, out in the middle of nowhere, just us and the stars. We purposefully tried to find a place that was just far enough away from anything that we could feel really alone.

A bonding exercise, mom called it.

Abigail and I shared a tent, stayed up so late just listening to the little night critters come out and scuttle around, telling each other ghost stories and giggling until mom and dad had enough and threatened to take us back to the city.

I look back at the desert, over the utter darkness that sprawls out in all directions and let my stomach and heart turn to steel. This is for her, I remind myself. If I can do this one thing for her, just get us out of this place...

I don't have time to finish my thoughts. There's headlights in the distance, probably a few miles away, heading towards us. I nudge Mustang. He gets out of the van, and I follow, my hand on my gun.

Chapter 10.

I check my phone again, feeling terrified.

Ryder's words, the cold way he'd said them... I want out, but how can I leave without Kaiden getting in shit?

I'm in so far over my head, and I keep fucking up drink orders, which I never do. I'm a perfectionist, even at this, but I just don't have my head together. I give another apologetic smile to one of my regulars - Ryan. Every day he orders a rum and coke. So why did I bring him a whiskey?

My hands are shaking as I take the drink back, but he's looking at me with concern. He's probably forty or so, I guess, and even after a couple of drinks is nothing but a gentleman, which is more than I can say for anyone else here.

"You alright, darling?" he asks with none of the aggression of most of my clients, and I give him a half smile.

"Yea, sorry. I'll go fix your drink," I apologize, but he reaches out before I can and lightly grabs my hand.

"C'mon now, Abigail. I ain't never seen you less than chipper, even when that guy laid hands on you. You always come back like nothin's the matter, so this gotta be serious," he says, his voice lowered.

I hate it when people can see right through me.

Sometimes I just wear my emotions too clearly, but he's right. Here? I've been able to suck it all up and just hide it, but not tonight. I'm really, genuinely worried. I just have this feeling in my stomach like something is very, very wrong.

I bite on my lower lip, shaking my head.

"It's nothing. I just haven't seen Kaiden lately and usually he's here by now." How stupid do I sound? Most customers know my relationship with Kaiden isn't great and even a ton of non-regulars have seen us fight more than a couple times. Ryan has definitely seen more than his fair share of our screaming matches, despite his insistence that I'm always chipper.

I take a deep breath and shake my head before looking back at Ryan and giving him an apologetic half smile.

But then I see something in his eyes. Something that confirms everything I dread.

My shoulders slump.

"Oh my God, what's wrong? What's happened?" I ask, and my blood turns to ice. He can't be dead. I suck in air, my heart racing as panic grips me, and Ryan's hand tightens around mine.

"He's had to work out some things with Ryder in the desert," he says, and the apologetic tone...

Ryder's going to kill him!

I glance up at the bar just in time to see the golden hair of Ryder making his way past the crowd to the door, pushing out. Seconds later I hear the rev of his bike, and I pull away from Ryan.

I don't have any control over my actions as I run out the door, jumping into my car.

I have to save him!

I know this road.

Just a hazy, faded memory of being down here before, past the strange, colorful mansion, recessed away and lit with blue floodlights. It looks just as I remember it, and the memory of playing a stupid car game fills me.

"I spy, with my little eye, something that is green!"

"Come on, Abby! That's so easy. There's nothin' green out here 'cept that house," Kaiden says, punching me in the arm. We're too old for these games, but we've been driving forever and we're both getting bored out of our minds.

"Fine, fine. I spy, with my little eye, something that is purple."

Kaiden looks around, trying to figure it out in vain, and I feel really smug that he can't see it. But then he spots it in the distance, a weird little lighthouse mailbox, painted purple, and he points at it with a grin.

I pass off the same mailbox, and I know where Ryder's going. This was the way we drove when we went camping that time, so many years ago.

In the middle of the desert, so far from everything...

Dread grips my heart. Ryder's way off in the distance, and I have my lights turned off. I know how dangerous it is, but getting Ryder's attention is way more dangerous, and the road is abandoned this time of night anyways. There's not even any street lights illuminating the way, and the sound of Ryder's bike booms loudly.

I try to keep up while keeping far enough away that I won't be seen, my hands shaking and I grip the wheel tighter, trying to calm my nerves. He's going to be fine. This is Kaiden. Big, strong, tough Kaiden.

My hero, Kaiden.

My love, Kaiden.

The thought comes to me unbidden, and yet I know just how true it is.

Beneath all our fighting and arguing burns real passion that I've been hiding from for so long. All the anger I've felt towards him, all the resentment, it all stems from him leaving me. From the fact that I can't get him out of my life.

The realization is intense, and for a moment, thoughts of Kaiden fill my mind. Smiling at me after I give some sassy comment and the way he touched his hand along my jaw and looked at me right before he left home. Even the anger when he saw me on his doorstep, begging for a place to sleep now brings a pitter-patter to my heart.

And just as I'm lost to my pleasant reverie, Ryder's bike turns off the path. I'm too far away to see exactly where he's going, and I start getting panicked until I can see off in the distance a set of headlights.

I open my glove box, grabbing the gun my dad gave me for my birthday last year. In case of emergencies only, is what he'd said, and this was definitely an emergency.

I park, my lights still off, and get out of my car as quietly as I can.

In the desert, sound travels differently, and I take each step as quietly as I can, my high heels left behind in the car, the warmth of the day still radiating upon my bare feet. When we were kids camping out here, we used to listen to the little animals walking around, so I know I have to be delicate.

My eyes adjust to the darkness, my heart racing as I walk, trying to avoid the few sources of lights. I can see at least two vans and Ryder's bike, probably a quarter mile in the distance, and I move faster.

"You think you can threaten me?"

The words reach me and send a shiver down my spine. Ryder.

"You think you have anything over me?" He's screaming now, but I can't quite make them out. They're behind one of the vans. I start running.

"You need to be reminded of your place, fuck-head. You are nothing without me. I took you and molded you into a fucking man and you think you can turn your back on me? You think you can tell me what you're going to do, just because that cunt of a sister walks back into your life?"

I'm close now, just a few feet away, and I crouch down. I can't move to see them without getting in the light of the vans, so I lay flat on my belly, looking under the van at their feet.

There's four of them. And all of them are facing Kaiden.

"We had a deal, man! What will Axel say?" Kaiden protests, his voice low and angry, and Ryder laughs.

"Ah yeah, our 'deal' where I leave your little sister out of this and get you out of your jail time and everyone lives happily ever after? Not going to fucking happen, and Axel will be none the wiser. You went down in a bad deal."

Ryder's voice mutates into one of sick cheer that turns my blood cold, "But, Kaiden, my boy. Don't worry. We do have a very special guest here tonight, so you two can die and rot together."