23. Jake

‘Okay, okay, I'm coming out,' Jake said, the tears rolling down his face. ‘Just don't hurt me!'

Jake knew that Reed had him where he wanted him. There was no choice but to give in to his demands. Staying in the room would have been a death-wish. But equally, stepping out of there just for the chance of getting his ID and personal stuff back was too much of a risk too.

Damian would be really mad at me for this!

But he's not here. I need to fend for myself.

Okay, here goes…

Trying to be as brave as he could be, Jake moved the furniture out of the way of the barricaded door, opened it up, and gingerly poked his head out. Connor was nowhere to be seen…

‘C-C-C-C-Connor? I'm out,' Jake stuttered. ‘Now give me my stuff back.'

‘Through here,' Connor said, his voice coming from the living area. ‘You'll get your stuff back, don't worry. But that doesn't mean you'll be seeing anything else here ever again.'

With that, Connor began to cackle. It was a horrible sound, and Jake wished he could do something to shut Connor up. But this just wouldn't be possible. Connor was bigger, stronger, and had done a heap of mean things in his life. Jake just wasn't a match from Connor, and he knew it too.

‘P-p-p-p-p-please! Be nice to me!' Jake said, the tears flowing down his cheeks as he hurried into the living area. ‘I haven't done anything bad to you!'

‘Hmmmm, maybe not,' Connor said, casually tossing Jake's passport over toward him. ‘But your so-called mafia protector has. That man is trash that needs to be taken out. And whether you like it or not, that's precisely what I'm going to do. You just so happen to be collateral damage.'

Jake didn't know what to make of all this. He knew that Connor was a bad man, and he trusted that Damian was good – despite living a life of crime too.

But if being with Damian had caused all of this, Jake really didn't know whether it had all been worth it. The more drama that unfolded, the more and more Jake wished that he had never, ever stepped foot inside Damian's Den.

Jake desperately tried to stop himself from snivelling. But it was tough. Everything seemed so bleak. If it was an option, Jake would gladly have let the earth swallow him up whole in that moment.

‘Oh Jesus, enough of that already,' Connor said, his tone cold and dismissive. ‘Now, pick up your bag and put your documents and whatever else inside it. We're leaving.'

‘Wait, w-w-w-w-what?' Jake said. Where are you taking me?'

‘Some people in the business call me The Firestarter,' Connor said. ‘I like to burn whole enterprises and rivals down to the ground. And now I'm going to show you a literal example of that…'

Jake didn't know what Connor meant, but the look on Connor's face told Jake that it was almost certainly going to be bad news. Connor roughly grabbed Jake by his arm and drew him in close to him.

With Connor holding him firmly as he towered over him, Jake felt a chill coming over his body. Something bad was about to happen, something truly terrible in fact.

I'm frightened.

I want Damian.

I need him now more than ever.

Before Jake could even attempt to wriggle free, he watched in horror as Connor reached down to an open tank of gasoline. In one swift movement, Connor shook the gasoline across the apartment and then tossed the empty tank across the room and laughed as it took a chunk out of the plaster on the opposite wall.

‘No! No! No!' Jake cried, desperation in his voice. ‘Don't! I'm begging you!'

But Connor wasn't listening to Jake. Far from it. Connor was laser focused on completing what he had set out to do. Without barely taking a second to pause, Connor took a match out of his pocket, lit it, and then tossed it across the room.

The flames were immediate.

Jake stood and felt frozen in total horror and fear.

‘Now come with me unless you want to meet your end in this shitty little apartment,' Connor said, yanking a stunned Jake over toward the window that had the fire-exit stairwell outside it. ‘This will show Damian that you don't fuck with Connor Reed. Let's fucking move.'

With the flames raging and smoke rising inside his beloved little apartment, Jake gave the place one final look. As he clambered out of the window and onto the stairwell, Jake realized something…

Jake had never felt this scared in his whole life.

And this time, even if he wanted to, there was no running away from the problem.

* * *

‘Move that ass!' Connor said, almost kicking Jake down the final few steps of the stairwell.

‘I'm going as fast as I can!' Jake said, his mind finding it hard to even begin processing what was happening. It felt like something out of a film, but the reality was impossible to ignore.

Jake and Connor reached the bottom of the metal stairs. The alley was dark, damp, and had rubbish bags scattered around the walls. The sounds of the city were in the distance – soon to be joined no doubt by a firetruck horn making its way to the building.

Jake nearly jumped out of his own skin as the heard the sound of his apartment windows blowing from the heat of the fire. The sound of shattering glass seemed to echo around the alley.

But there was something else in the air.

Jake couldn't shake a certain feeling. Jake didn't know what it was, but there was a vibe that he couldn't quite place. Something was up. It almost felt like Jake and Connor weren't the only people in the alley.

Damian, I wish you could be here.

I'd promise and promise and promise to never be bad again.

Fucking please, I need you!

‘Now follow me, we're parked close by,' Connor snarled, taking a distracted and disconcerted Jake by the hand as the pair of them exited the stairwell into the alley at the side of Jake's building. ‘And don't even fucking dream of calling out for help. No one can help you now. Your life is in my hands. There's not a single soul alive who could rescue you. One false move and I'll snap your damned neck.'

But just as Jake was about to totally break down, he heard a voice.

‘You might want to reconsider that,' Damian said, his heroic stance making Jake's heart race. ‘Let the boy go. Your problem is with me, not him.'

Jake wanted nothing more than to run over toward Damian and bury himself deep into his manly chest. But that wasn't an option. With Connor's grip tighter than ever, Jake knew that he had to stay as calm as possible and wait for an opening.

‘Connor, let the kid go,' Damian said, a hard look in his eyes. ‘You know this only ends one way. It's me and you. Here and now. Only one of us is walking away alive. Be a man and fight me. But let Jake go first. He's a civilian, you know that.'

Jake felt his body shake in a mixture of fear and adrenalin.

Listening to Damian speak like this was scary but it also felt good. That Damian was willing to put his own life on the line to save him made Jake feel special. And it also made him realize that Damian absolutely thought the world of him.

‘Urgh. You know I don't play by your ridiculous mafia codes of honor. But, whatever, the boy can take a seat and watch,' Connor said, suddenly picking Jake up and tossing him onto a big pile of garbage bins. ‘And when I'm through with you, I'll be putting an end to him too…'

As Connor and Damian slowly edged toward one another, Jake didn't know what to do. He knew that there was no way he could possibly assist Damian, but at the same time Jake didn't want to do nothing either.

All Jake's life he had run away from problems. If anything got difficult in his life, he would find a way to get out of there and pretend that the problem didn't exist. But Jake didn't want to do that any longer. Jake wanted to be there and support his protector, his Dom, his Master, no matter what the price for that might be.

‘Jake, you can leave,' Damian said. ‘This asshole won't be able to stop you. Just fucking run.'

‘Never Damian,' Jake replied, poking his head above the pile of trash that he was buried in. ‘I'm yours. Forever. But only if you kill this motherfucker for me.'

In that moment, Jake promised himself that he wasn't going to run away. In fact, Jake promised himself that he would never run away again.

After all, Damian hadn't run away.

Damian did the opposite and put himself in danger for something that was important to him. Jake could see the true honor and valor in Damian. He was a mafia hitman, but he was so much more on top of that.

Damian was a real Dom. He was stern, sometimes even too much so. But he was loyal. And he was courageous too. And most of all, Damian would never back down from his obligations.

There was no way in all of New York City that Jake was going to cut and run. Jake was going to stay until the end, no matter what the outcome.