Chapter 70
Callie
The minute Asa walked out the door, I wanted to take it all back.
I wanted to tell him that I’d just been angry, that I loved him and wanted him to hold me. It had been so long since he’d been able to just hold me without the threat of a time limit, or of it being thought inappropriate. I just needed him to fight for me, to tell me that the club wasn’t more important and that he would put Will and me first from then on.
I dropped onto the couch, stunned that he had actually left. When I realized I hadn’t heard his bike start yet, I jumped back up and ran to the front door. I raced to the landing and looked over to find him talking on his phone. I raced down the stairs barefoot, anxious to get to him before he left, and he didn’t notice as I came up only a few feet behind him.
“Bitch f*ckin’ kicked me out,” he hissed to whoever he was talking to. “Yeah, I’ll be there soon. Nah, man. Take care of it for me, would you?”
I felt my nose start running even before tears hit my eyes, and thought vaguely that it was weird as I quietly backed away from him. I’d messed up. I’d gone too far, and even though that was my intention, I felt gutted.
I backed into the stairwell before he could hear me, and listened as he fired up his bike. Within moments he was gone, and the warm afternoon suddenly felt frigid in my tiny-ass robe. I made my way back to the apartment on silent feet and prayed that I hadn’t woken Will up when I’d thrown the door open. I didn’t know if I could handle being mommy, when I couldn’t even feel my hands. Why couldn’t I feel my hands?
I wasn’t in the house long, sitting on the couch where Asa’d found me earlier, when someone was knocking on the door. He came back! I was so relieved that I freaking ran to the door, my fingers fumbling with the locks until I got it open.
“Hey, remember me?” a voice called jovially. “I’m Grease’s brother Deke, we met once before.”
My entire body slumped when I realized Asa hadn’t come back, and then stiffened when I noticed how the man was watching me. I didn’t move from the doorway, but he used my surprise and disappointment against me as he slid past me and into the apartment.
“Seems like he would have hooked you up better than this,” he commented, shaking his head as he looked around the apartment.
“I’m sorry, I don’t really remember you,” I answered calmly as I placed myself between him and the hallway. “We’ve met?”
“Yeah, I was there the night Grease found you. Remember? I had a Mohawk then.” He was watching me intently, taking in my skimpy robe, and it creeped me out big time. There was something wrong with his eyes. His pupils were too large, his eyes sort of glassy and bloodshot at the same time.
“Yeah, I remember you now,” I told him with a fake laugh. “That night is sort of a blur.”
“I bet. Jose always had the good shit at his place,” he answered insensitively, as if I’d chosen to be drugged.
“Are you looking for Asa? He just ran to the store, he should be back pretty soon,” I lied through my teeth.
“Oh, yeah? Well, I’ll just sit down and wait then.”
I watched him make himself comfortable on my couch as my stomach turned. Should I have told him that Asa wasn’t coming back? It seemed safer to lie and say that Asa would be there any second, but now he was acting like he wasn’t going to leave and I had no idea what to do.
“I’m going to go get dressed really quick,” I mumbled, watching him closely.
“No need to do that for me, I’m enjoying the view,” he leered, making my skin crawl.
I didn’t reply as I turned and made my way to Farrah’s bedroom. There was a basket of clothes from the Laundromat sitting on her floor, and I’d never been so glad that she refused to put anything away when it was her turn to do the laundry. I left the door open half an inch so I could hear what he was doing, and raced to pull on jeans and a two t-shirts. I didn’t have a f*cking bra in there, but I wasn’t about to bring any attention to my room with Will sleeping inside.
I moved silently to Farrah’s dresser, one eye on the door as I pulled out her top drawer. The dresser was tall enough that Will couldn’t reach into it, and I breathed a sigh of relief as my hand wrapped around what I was looking for, hiding underneath a plethora of silk and lace underwear. The .45 was heavy in my hand as I checked the clip, finding six bullets. I was glad as hell that I’d found high-waist jeans in the laundry basket, because the thing was so big there was no way I could have hidden it at my back if I hadn’t.
I pulled my t-shirts down over the waistband of my jeans before swinging Farrah’s door open so I could slide through. He was still sitting on the couch when I got back to the living room, but his knee was bouncing in impatience.
“Can’t say the view’s any worse,” he commented mockingly as he looked at my braless breasts.
“Why don’t I just have Asa call you when he gets back?” I asked calmly, crossing my arms. “It’s been a long night and I’m not really up for company.”
“Well, we both know he’s not coming back,” he answered, shaking his head in mock sympathy. “You kicked his ass out, right?”
My throat closed up as he stood from the couch, and my fight or flight instinct kicked in for just a second, but there was no choice.
My son was sleeping peacefully in the next room. I couldn’t go anywhere.
“If you knew he wasn’t coming, why are you here?”
“Came to get his son for him,” he told me sadly. “He didn’t want to deal with the inevitable drama, so he sent me instead. But I’m thinking… me and you can work something out. I’ll put in a good word for you and maybe he won’t take your kid…”
“Get the f*ck out of my house,” I hissed, my heart pounding in my ears.
“No can do, sweetheart,” he sneered. Asa’s endearment sounded like a curse coming from him, and it made me feel like a thousand ants were crawling all over my skin.
“He wouldn’t send you here,” I argued as he backed me into the kitchen. “You’re a goddamn druggie.”
He pulled back his hand, and I noticed a weird tattoo on it before he punched me in the face, sending me stumbling into the fridge.
“You just call me a druggie?” he growled menacingly, punching me in the stomach so hard I bent at the waist as my breath left me.
“Huh?” he asked, using one of my arms to spin me around and press my face against the freezer door.
“N-no,” I stuttered as he pulled my arm so far up my back that my shoulder was screaming in pain.
“I’m pretty sure that’s what I heard,” he whispered into my ear, yanking on my arm until I felt the searing pain of my shoulder dislocating. I bit through my cheek, trying not to scream, and felt blood pooling in my mouth.
He shoved me to the floor and kicked me twice in the ribs before he started pacing, mumbling under his breath to himself. I wasn’t sure what he was on, but he was acting f*cking crazy, and I knew it was only a matter of time before things got a whole lot worse. I slowly pushed myself with my legs to the cabinet doors, using one arm to pull myself up to a sitting position while my other arm lay uselessly by my side.
When my back touched the cabinets, I hissed in pain, and my head started going fuzzy.
“You know, I f*cking hate him!” he complained loudly. “He thinks he’s so much f*cking better than me because he’s part of the Aces, and that’s just not true!” He walked around the kitchen as he spoke, waving his arms in the air. “All the Aces think they’re such hot shit! Acting like we’re nothing, sending piece of shit recruits down to shake us down for money—it’s insulting!”
His eyes dropped to me and I groaned as he kicked me hard in the thigh.
“So we send him into Jose’s to teach them a f*cking lesson, and what happens?” He shook his head and started kicking my legs again between each word. “He—survives—it—and—kills—some—of—our—best—men!”
My legs were on fire as I whimpered and pulled them as close to my body as I could. He’d started to breathe heavily, and it scared me, because I could see in his face that he had no intention of stopping any time soon.
“You know, when we killed your parents, I thought for sure that they’d get the picture,” he told me softly, as if in apology. “I saw the way he looked at you, so I knew that using you was the answer, but when we showed up, you were nowhere to be found.”
I stopped breathing as the implications of his words sunk in. He’d been one of the men in my house. He’d been one of the guys searching for me.
“Your mama was one hot piece of ass. Mm mm mm,” he whispered. “Too bad I was searching for you and couldn’t take the time to appreciate it.”
I felt like I was in a tunnel, sinking into that place where nothing could hurt me and I could just float away like I had in the crawlspace. I wanted that place. I didn’t want to hear anything else he was saying, I didn’t want to know anymore.
I’d almost reached it, that place in my mind, when two things happened simultaneously.
He drew his foot back, kicking me hard in the stomach, pressing the small of my back into the cabinets, and I heard a small voice yell, “Mama! Door!” as little fists pounded from inside my bedroom.
His head turned sharply toward the hallway, listening, and I thanked God for the distraction as I used my good arm to pull the gun from the small of my back where I’d forgotten it. How could I have forgotten it?
I clicked off the safety with my thumb, and his head turned toward me as I racked the slide back against the edge of the cabinets.
“Get out of my house,” I warned him in a garbled voice, blood still pouring from my mouth as I pointed it at him.
My heart was racing with adrenaline, all the colors in the room sharp and vivid as he smiled menacingly and pulled his leg back again.
I didn’t hesitate and I didn’t think.
I just pulled the trigger, the gun recoiling so hard that it hit me in the face and broke my nose.
I was momentarily stunned by the impact, but he didn’t f*cking drop. He just stumbled and came at me again, his eyes wide and crazy.
I shot him again, but he kept coming.
As if two shots in the chest were nothing but bee stings.
I screamed as he got close again and braced my arms as I emptied the entire clip into his chest, the last one hitting his throat as he stumbled back against the countertop, finally dropping to the floor.