CHAPTER 29
I had been slapping myself ever since the slender godmother of this pathetic mafia explained her ultra-diabolical plan. Well, if you asked me, a plan is no longer diabolical if you tell somebody about it, even if this person was soon to be… a dead person. A goddamn gunsmith for cleaners of Nevada? Yeah, that’s a dream job, but oh wait, I had two of them even. I trained her young recruits. A pain in the ass job I must say. For three long weeks I have been watching how people come and go, how they shoot themselves and others, how they leave their filthy blood all over the place. Honestly? I had no idea where did she get these people. Most of them looked my age, but something about their eyes told they were a lot more, they showed that they had experienced a lot more than I had throughout my whole life. Overbought slaves perhaps? I didn’t know, I could only guess. And yes, slavery was very popular in Nevada. I found out about it a week after I had already parked my backside at this luxurious nursery as I liked to call it. One girl ran for a bulletproof glass window screaming something in dreadful Spanish when Catherine’s (the super bad godmother) son Dante came in the training hall. He was the one to bring all the trainees and I suppose he wasn’t the softest fur ball out of them all and didn’t give them cookies and didn’t pet them. The impact was so strong it made the girl go into unconscious state and later on we found out she had broken her spine. The worst case in this whole scenario, she lived through every bit of it, only now she’s a vegetable, she cannot move neither her legs, nor arms, and what use could you possibly find in a killer who can’t kill? Failed suicide mission, I must say. Or not. I doubt Catherine won’t put her out of her misery. It’s Nevada for Christ sake! Everyone is allowed to kill everyone!
I liked it here, those first ten minutes of my arrival were magical, I felt like I was at home, I thought I was safe. I felt safe. I didn’t need to run from Cali and their killers no more, I was safe from Matt and I thought I was never going to see him again. Ding, dong- fucking wrong! Oh boy, I’m starting to talk like Duke. Yes, you are. Oh god, I thought you were gone. God bless, right? Smartass. You know this is you arguing with yourself, right? Don’t kill my buzz. Oh, right, you’re high right now. High? Standing on the gable, you idiot. And?
"How’s the view?" Overly masculine voice scared all the living crap out of me. One step forward and I would be a pancake. See? Shut up, inner voice.
"Next time I will kill you, if you’ll sneak up on me like this…" I felt the frantic beat of my heart as I tried to turn around steadily, without falling off the slippery roof. Why was I up here? Beats me, probably to escape the madness, terror and the tyrant inside these walls. Dante’s blue eyes were smirking at me. "I swear…"
"Well I’ll be damned," A devilish smirk ghosted on his lustful lips. There was something about him that felt dangerous, yet safe. His hands travelled to his pockets and stayed there, right now he was looking down. On a black escalade. I saw it, but I didn’t see what was so amusing about it all. "The circus is back in town…" He looked at me with a rather cheerful smile on his face.
"You’re quite a joker, I see…" My hand went for the magnificent metallic piece which lied in the gap of my shoulder strap. It had not been used ever since I left Huntington Beach, it cried for some action. So did my desperate psychotic inner voice. I so did not. Yeah, shush.
"I have to be," My stare travelled from the black car to his raised eyebrows, "to keep you entertained," His broad shoulders twitched in a shrug as his fingers ran through his chestnut hair. As if he hadn’t even had this small conversation with me, his face went from amused to completely blank as he saw three men step out of the car. "If you shoot them now, mother won’t be pleased." Dante stepped closer to the edge. My hand stopped on the safety lock, because he made the small comment about his mom look so insignificant, almost as if he hadn’t said anything, then why did I stop? "Trent’s gotten a little chubby…"
A pair of chocolate browns rose to greet me. A single lifetime laid between us, now more than ever. I saw the almost invisible crook of his lips as his stare travelled back to the short haired male. He was not allowed to have any interactions with me. My heart jumped inside my chest and the moment of present fully disappeared. His built brought warmth inside me, could I ever stare at him without any sorrows or regrets? Now I understood, I understood what an awful schizophrenia in reverse I had been to him. The only medicine to shut me out was getting totally wasted every other night he had the chance to and still he stayed by my side. Yeah, because it was his job. But then why did he save me? How did Matt react to that? Why was he still alive? And Maddox? Was Trent too scared to terminate their contract?
"Earth to Elle!" What? Just then I noticed a pair of blues piercing in to me. Dante laughed at my distracted facial mimics. "Jesus, I thought you’re never going to snap out of it. Come on, all hell’s going to break lose and I want to be there when it happens." He smirked and turned around, the cool breeze seductively rocking his brown bangs.
"Did you know that ‘Elle’ means hell in certain language?" My voice was quiet and I was grumpy. I couldn’t believe I was supposed to stand right in between the crossfire.
"Really?" He barely turned his head; nevertheless, I was able to see the massive grin on his face. "I should be more careful when addressing you then." How could he walk so gracefully while on a slippery roof and few feet above the ground? I was tripping and sliding and doing a hell lot of unnecessary things just to walk away from my spy post in a lively state. More and more it felt like I was on a suicide mission, it seemed I did everything to shorten my life, from walking on a slippery rooftop to running into the devil’s widely opened arms.
As soon as we got through the open window and into the long and dark hallway, both I and Dante shrugged at the loud shouts. A little louder and I would’ve gone completely deaf. If my hearing abilities weren’t at their highest potential before the shrill voice of Catherine’s started shouting, then now it felt like my ears were bleeding. And I wasn’t even over exaggerating. Even a blowing up grenade wouldn’t cause as much damage as her annoying voice did. She was one of those few females who annoyed me just by hearing her voice and lucky me, I had to work for her and had to see her on my daily basis.
"It sounds like they’re killing a cat," Dante picked out a cell phone from his pocket and started typing something.
"A perfect way to describe your mother’s voice." Suddenly he stopped and caused me to run in his back. What was his problem? He turned around, his icy blues blurred by something… dark. A frightening view I must say. He possessed some qualities I had seen only in maniacs and serial killers, you could never know when he’ll switch sides and lay his homicidal voodoo on you.
"I don’t know if your hatred for my mother amuses me or it pisses me off." He sighed heavily and kept walking. Why should it amuse him? As we approached the massive staircase, my ears intercepted a lot of curse words from what it seemed was Matt.
The marble hallway was filled with at least a dozen very well armed and organized men. I was glad to be on the side where the guns weren’t pointing at my direction.
"You’ve broken our agreement, Trent," Without even seeing Catherine, I knew she was pursing her lips. As much as I didn’t want to admit, we had something in common with her, when she was fucking pissed she pursed her lips, as for me- I bit mine, and it was said we both had an incredibly horrible nature.
"What the fuck are you talking about?!" Of course he yelled back, cause what would Trent be without a lot of slang and a lot of shouts. Dante looked over his shoulder to make sure I’m still following. I strongly believed he was feeling some sort of pleasure by dragging me here. A room revealed itself to us, I could only make out a large built which was standing in front of a dark oak desk and two other very familiar silhouettes, standing on the each side of the door isle.
"The shipment was supposed to be here two days ago." Now Catherine’s voice was steady, of course, why wouldn’t it be? Dante walked in the room and she knew he would give his life and soul in order to save her. As for me… She had her doubts. But, hell, I was certain, I would never give my life in order to save her. I was an egoist. Always had been. Nothing had changed even though Duke’s overprotective girlfriend hit almost every drop of sanity out of me.
I walked passed Maddox and Duke. I made it seem as if I didn’t even notice them, it was part of the act. As hard as I didn’t want to admit it, they were my friends, and for them, maybe I would even give up a limb of mine. But just a limb. My pinky perhaps. I walked past Trent and took my place on the left side of Catherine. She was grinning. She showed she was superior, I didn’t know if I should feel happy to see Trent’s shocked face or feel furious because I showed that I’m yet again standing below someone. Oh well, it was my job. I was used to it.
"What do you mean the shipment is not fucking here?" His perplexed facial expression changed back to the furious Trent we all knew and loved. Silence.
"Elle," She addressed me. Why the hell did she involve me in this? I could feel Trent sending daggers, not even looking at him. My eyes were glued to the ugly painting behind Madd’s back. "Do you see any AK-47 anywhere around here?"
"No." I said as blankly as I possibly could although I wanted to giggle. I didn’t know why, but this all made me the giggliest I’ve ever been.
"Have you received your explosives?" She continued. Please, just stop, or I’ll fucking laugh in your face and you’ll be forced to shoot me just to show your superiority.
"No." My eyes travelled to Duke and I knew he was doubting my sanity at the moment. I was smirking, right in Trent’s face. But it was not a smirk, it was downtrodden laugh which turned out as disrespect towards the almighty Trent Black. Now that’s a fucking big joke.
"You see my problem, Trent?" She took a deep breath, "How am I supposed to make a dignified battle, if you don’t supply me with the necessary supplies?" Catherine boosted herself against the table and stood up from the leather armchair.
"All do respect, Catherine, but I made sure to load everything in the truck a week ago," Duke, you idiot, shut up! If you make her angry, it’s my job to make my silver bullet fly towards your scalp or in the best scenario, towards your leg. My eyes locked on Trent’s fists. This was not going to end well. For the first time in the duration of this charade, I allowed myself to look at Dante. He looked bored. Fucking bored? Are you serious? I was sweating like a pig, praying the almighty for a tornado to go over this house just to avoid the collision, but no, he was fucking bored.
"Catherine, it’s not my goddamn fault…" Trent hissed through clenched teeth. Way to go, Casanova, this will surely charm her off her pants.
"You’re weak, Trent. You can’t even admit your wrongs!" Her palm landed on the table with a thud. "Elle, please show our guests the hospitality of Nevada." Catherine said simply as she walked around the armchair and stood against the window, looking outside it.
Really? Me? Now? Okay, deep inhale and exhale, Morrison. Turn off your humanity, you’re not using it anyway. Fine, fuck it!