Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

Feenix Blaylock

“ T his is them?” I ask with my arms crossed over my chest.

In the condo, there are two crying people sitting on the couch. One scrawny younger man and one bony young woman. They’re naked, ready to record, and I’d bet my last dollar right now that they wish they were a couple of the ones who sold at the last auction. Death is probably better than what they’ll endure for the foreseeable future.

At least, they’ve been bathed. How? I don’t ask. Definitely not willingly once they learned why they were bathing in the first place.

By the entrance are two men who make sure they perform. If they don’t, well . . . someone from their families back home will die. It becomes their problem and not mine. It’s their choice in the end because I make them choose who dies. Their sister. Their brother. Their aunt. Their mother. It’s up to me to make damn sure that they put on a good show, and I’ll do it at any cost. I have someone to impress, after all. Someone I sure as shit better meet, eventually.

That someone is currently texting with Andre, who stands in front of the couch, snapping pictures of them. It’s Andre’s ticket for more money, a transfer of bodies because these two didn’t sell, and then it becomes my problem to make sure they’re worth keeping alive.

“This is them,” Andre says gleefully as I step up beside him. I don’t need to stand beside him to show that I’m in charge here, but I want to see the texting thread. Andre never has been good at hiding his screen.

I sneakily peek sideways, but there’s nothing to see when the screen sends the images. The images take up the entire text box.

The instant he closes out of the app, his phone rings, and nothing pisses me off more. I know exactly who is calling. I never get those calls. I get emails and texts, but that will all change soon. I still fully plan to take Andre’s job, be it by force.

Charlie. Her smile floats into my mind at the thought of the new position I plan to take.

What will happen with Charlie if I become head of that operation? I’ll have to leave her behind. Or . . .

Or, she could be the queen throned next to the king. Because I could . . . I could get her there. I could corrupt her enough to be by my side. It’ll take time and patience, but I’m a patient man when I want something bad enough. And this? Swaying her sweet heart to something darker and cold? Well, it happened to me. It can happen to her too.

Could I do that? Could I make her like me? Would I?

That thought swirls in my head as I absentmindedly listen to Andre’s hums of confirmation. I’d love nothing more than to slit his throat and listen to gurgles instead.

Andre hangs up the phone and turns to me. “They’re all yours. Make it good.” As if we’re old friends, he pats me on the shoulder in congratulations.

I glare at his hand. “Don’t touch me.”

He drops it back to his side and smiles at me. “So spicy tonight. Is this job finally getting to you? I could take it off your hands. I do like myself some extra cash.”

“Do you like your balls where they’re at?”

“Yes, yes I do.” He cups them through his suit. “Did you plan to lick one?”

“I thought I’d save that for you when I cut them off and shove them down your throat.”

He tips his head back and laughs. “So many threats, but you have yet to deliver.”

My voice is deadly when I say, “The day I deliver is the day you’ll never see me coming. You’ll never know when your tailor might just” – I reach for him and make a motion with my fingers across his throat – “cut a little too deep.”

His eyes widen a little bit, but he gently shoves my finger away. “I’m starting to think you’re serious about having me killed.”

A slow smile spreads across my face, and I watch as his throat bobs a little. He has no idea just how serious I am.

When the air between us becomes charged with promises I plan to keep, he clears his throat and circles on a heel to face the two on the couch. They don’t speak English, so they probably had no idea what we were talking about, but I can certainly see the curiosity in the male’s expression.

“Well,” Andre says, “Bossman says you’ll have to do the uploading yourself. Our IT girl went missing. ”

I shove my fingers into my jeans pockets. “You don’t say.”

He scratches his forehead with his thumb, and I note the sweat gathering on the tip. “Yeah. Just before the gala, too.”

I flex my jaw once. Not because of the ‘missing’ IT girl but because I had forgotten about the gala.

He looks at me from the side. “Are you going this time?”

“No.” I never go anymore. It’s a black-tie party full of sick and twisted fucks, and I have zero things in common with them. I’d have to put on a show, pretend I’m someone I’m not, just to get through the night and make sure they continue to choose my videos.

“Too bad,” he says, turning to fully face me once more. “He says you have to.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Why?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. And you have to bring Charlie.”

I almost let a curse slip out of my mouth, but that would show my hand on how possessive I am of her, and I can’t have that. I can’t show a single weakness in front of Andre, none more than he’s already observed.

Having Charlie at that party is the last place I want her to be. I see the comments on her videos, I read the emails. Her fan base has gone rogue, and when I uploaded last night’s video, it only got worse. She’s a star, drawn all the demons out to play, and I would bet my last dollar that some will be at the gala just to get a real-life peek of her.

How am I going to protect her from the masses? How am I going to keep their paws off her? And when they ask, how am I going to turn them down for a night with her?

It makes me wonder how many more people I’m going to kill before the week is over because I sure as hell will burn that gala to the ground if someone so much as drools in her direction.

And then there’s the other problem of her being a cop. A cop – in a room full of criminals? The majority are secret criminals, but if she learns who they are and what they do in the dark, she’ll have no choice but to lay claim to the arrest, and eventually, she’ll end up dead.

I can’t avoid any of this, however, because if I refuse to bring her, it could very wellbe the end of my career. Or worse.

“You don’t seem to like that very much,” Andre says. I note the tinge of glee in his voice.

“She’ll be there,” I growl. “That’s all you need to know.”

“Good. Because I’d hate to have to auction you off.”

“What are you talking about?” My tone is deadly. I don’t like threats, especially from him.

He holds up his hands, palms facing me. “I’m just the messenger. Boss said she goes, or your body sells.” He drops his hands back to his sides and cocks his head. “Did you really think it’d go unnoticed that you have a thing for her?”

“What?” My heart skips a beat.

“You were in the video, Feenix. For everyone within this business, we know how long it’s been since you were in one. It’s plain as day to me, and to him, that you’re possessive of this woman. That’s a dangerous place to be. Did you not think he’d exploit it to get what he wants?”

I run a hand through my hair and try not to show my panic. I’ve never been obvious before. It’s not in my nature to give anything away, but when it comes to Charlie . . . I lose my mind. I become irrational and chaotic. I go against my nature and the man I’ve become to do this job.

“Will he be there?” I ask when I drop my hand .

He rolls his eyes. “Would we know if he was?” He’s right; we wouldn’t. Neither of us has seen him before. “Anyway,” he adds, pocketing his phone inside his jacket suit, “I’ll leave you to it.”

And with that, he turns, pushes past the men by the door, and leaves. As the door clicks behind him, my phone begins to ring. I pull it out of my back pocket and say to the men, “Get them upstairs. I’ll be up in a second.”

The men come forward, and I head toward the kitchen to take the call.

“Yeah?”

“I saw the video,” Noll grumbles.

“Which one?” I grunt back, knowing full well which one he’s talking about but having little desire to have yet another fight this evening.

“You know damn well which one. Nix, what the fuck are you doing?”

“Whatever I want!” I almost shout.

There’s a pause on his end, and I hear him click his tongue. “She has your dick in a death grip, possibly more than just your dick, it would seem. Did you even look at the envelope I sent you? Or have you been too busy with her?”

“No, I’m busy,” I interject as I hear the men drag the two upstairs. I briefly wonder if Noll can hear their wails, but he doesn’t comment on it. I tap my finger against the island and ask, “Is this why you called?”

“Yes! Damn it, Nix. Yes! Look, you went into this business to find out what happened to your cousin, and every day, one day at a time, you’ve lost your vision in it. You’ve become them. You’ve become obsessed with the life, the money, the fancy cars, the big condo with all the bells and whistles. I can see it. I can feel it. You’re no longer the person I knew. You’ve become the person I’ll eventually bring a beer to a gravestone for. You’re about to blow your whole life away because of who you’ve become, and now you’ve brought the girl into it.”

My jaw hurts from how much I’ve ground it in the last ten minutes. “Maybe this is the person I was meant to be.”

He puffs out some air that creates a little static in the phone. “Is that what you tell yourself when you try to sleep at night? What would Megan think of you now?”

I swallow thickly as my cousin’s face comes into my mind. I know exactly what she’d do. She’d slap me, and I’d never see the woman I basically see as a sister again. I don’t know if I’d ever be able to live with myself after that, and that idea alone makes the subject too painful to touch on.

So instead of replying to him with some other kind of bullshit I can think of, I say, “I have to go.”

And then, I hang up the phone, pocket it, and try to push the entire conversation out of my head. But as I climb the stairs and get ready for a shoot, I know damn well that he’s right about everything.