Rachel Dyken - Entice

“Six, maybe seven.”

“You a local?” I bared my teeth and leaned in.

He nodded his mouth trembling again. “I never met with the main guy. My orders always came from someone else.”

“Name?”

“I don’t know.”

I cocked the gun and pushed the point of it against his skull. “Name?”

“I don’t know!” William whimpered, his teeth began to chatter uncontrollably.

Rolling my eyes, I rose from my seat and slowly approached him. With a grunt, I pulled William’s arm out and twisted until I heard a pop. “Name?”

The man started screaming. I covered his mouth with my hand, muffling the sound.

“You can kill me.” He dry heaved. “You can threaten me… all I know is he goes by Angel Santiago, but I think it’s a made-up name.”

“No shit.” I dropped him to the floor and wiped my hands on my jeans.

“Hey.” Tex pointed to the clock in our room. “Our meeting’s in a few minutes. What’s your call?”

I shrugged. “We take him with us. If he works for Campisi, we’ll at least see some recognition on his face. If not, then we’ll set him up in a room, put a few men outside, and let him eat his last meal.”

William let out a low whimper from his spot on the floor. Whoever he was, clearly he hadn’t been broken before. The man was already dead and he didn’t even know it.

“I’m not killing you.” I rolled my eyes. “So stop being dramatic. Believe me, if I wanted you dead, your ass would be dead.”

“Uplifting.” Chase nodded in approval.

“Always.” I popped my knuckles and stretched my arms high above my head. Tex yawned from the corner.

“Should I call the girls?”

A soft knock sounded at the door. I whipped my head around. “Shit.” I held up my hand and motioned for the guys to be silent as I made my way toward the door and looked through the peep hole.

“Of course.” I rolled my eyes and opened it wide as the girls all shuffled in. Trace’s eyes bulged as she looked at William. I had to give it to her, she didn’t even flinch. The guy was an absolute mess. Dislocated arm. Two swollen eyes, blood still spewing from parts of his body, and of course he still smelled like piss. Really he was a sight. Trace sighed, pressing her fingers to her temples briefly before flashing me a confident smile. God, I loved her. I loved her for dealing with this, for not running away screaming, for trusting me. Most of all? For seeing the ugly, and loving me anyway.

Mo was used to that type of scene. She was examining her nails while Mil stepped around her and stared in curiously.

William’s face flinched just enough to give me pause, his eyes on Mil. “What? You recognize her?”

He shook his head violently.

Before anyone could say anything, I grabbed Mil by the elbow and thrust her into his face. “Think really hard.”

“Nixon!” Chase yelled frantically. “Let her go.”

“Think.” I squeezed her arm, causing a little yelp of pain to escape her lips. In the corner of my vision I spotted Chase’s lunge for me. As Tex tried to push him back, the man’s eyes watered, and then he closed them as a tear slid down his cheek. Hell doesn’t make him break, but an attractive girl makes him cry?

“I didn’t recognize you,” he muttered, almost like he was talking to himself.

Releasing Mil, I waited for the guy to talk more.

“She was so much younger in those days.”

Mil looked at William in confusion. “I’m sorry. I don’t know you.”

“That is probably for the best,” the man confessed. “Besides, we met in very… unusual circumstances.”

“Two minutes.” I nodded. “Give me the short version.”

“Do you not know who she is?” the man sputtered, looking from me to Mil.

“Of course I know who she is.” I felt a headache coming on. “But I want to know how you know.”

“The Cave,” he said simply. “Everyone knew of it.”

“The C-cave.” Mil’s lower lip trembled. “Why does that—” Her face went completely pale, and I thought she was going to pass out. Instead she lunged away from me and punched him in the jaw, knocking him out cold.

“Hot,” Tex muttered, pacing back and forth like a caged lion. Fights always left him on edge, like he’d just taken a shot of adrenaline and was ready for more.

“Mil…” Chase was at her side in an instant. “What was that about?”

Her lips were still trembling, but she forced a smile and shrugged. “Can’t let you guys have all the fun. Don’t we have a meeting?”

Her eyes met mine and held them. Fine. I’d get it out of her later.

“Don’t want to be late!”

“Tex, grab the body,” I ordered.

“Why do I have to carry the extra weight?” he whined.

“Um.” Mo lifted her chin in his direction and flipped him off. “Because you’re an ass. Isn’t that what they do? Kind of like a pack mule?”

Tex’s face twisted in pain as he stood motionless in the middle of the floor as if waiting for Mo to take back the words. The room fell into an awkward, tense silence. It was as if she’d sucked all the life straight from his soul and left him defenseless. But that wasn’t right. Hadn’t he screwed her over? My head hurt just trying to figure it out.

“Just… do it.” Chase hit Tex in the shoulder. “Alright?”

Tex popped his knuckles a few times then picked up the man.

“Question,” Trace said once we were all in the hall. “How the hell are we going to carry around a body like this without getting caught?”

“Dude,” Chase interrupted. “It’s Vegas. This shit happens every day. Believe me, all we say is he got drunk and got in a bar fight. Case closed.”

“Seriously?” Trace gripped my hand tighter. “That’s it?”

We turned a corner and waited at the elevators. The meeting was going to take place in the other tower, which meant we had to walk a good five minutes into the rest of the hotel.

The elevators dinged open. A man with sunglasses eyed us and winced. “Rough night?”

I smiled. “You have no idea.”

Mil

I clenched my hands behind my back to keep them from shaking. I didn’t recognize the man. Then again, I wouldn’t recognize any of the men. I’d purposefully pushed that memory so far into my subconscious that even a shrink couldn’t pry it free.

The Cave.

My body shuddered — I felt cold and hot all at once. The walls of the elevator threatened to close in. Every breath I sucked in left me needing more, like I couldn’t catch my breath if I tried. The tension was thick, making it worse. Chase’s hands were on my waist and I couldn’t deal. I was going to meet with Tanya, Chase was touching me, and The Cave. God, I’d forgotten about The Cave. I’d been dreaming about it but I hadn’t known or wanted to believe it was… real. I’d pushed it away. Hoping that by denying the existence of the truth it would turn out to be a lie, or a horrible nightmare. I’d take either one. I needed to pull myself together. If I appeared weak, it wouldn’t end well for anyone.

The doors opened to the twenty-second floor. We all quietly walked out. Luca and Frank were both leaning against the far wall. The rich smell of cigar smoke filled the air as they approached us.

“So…” Luca kept his eyes trained on me. “Shall we?”

I nodded.

“A friend of yours?” Frank motioned to the guy Tex was still carting around.

“Friend or enemy, not really sure yet.” Chase spoke in low quiet tones. “Thought we’d take him in, just in case he’s one of theirs.”

Luca’s eyes narrowed as he examined the man’s face, his eye widened just a fraction before returning to their usual cool indifference.

I couldn’t help it. I asked in a snotty voice, “Why? He a friend of yours, Luca?”

He gripped my wrist; pain sliced through my arm. I refused to make a sound as everyone walked ahead of us. “My dear, I’m merely surprised you didn’t castrate him upon your meeting.”

“Why would I do that?” The pain increased as his fingers pressed against the veins in my wrist, almost like he was separating them from one another.

Luca’s face broke out into an evil grin. “No reason. My apologies.”

I jerked my arm free and stormed past him. Chase turned around just as I reached his side. Flashing him a confident smile, I gripped his hand and tried to press my body as close to his as possible. Safe, he was safe.

Chase’s arm wrapped around me protectively as we walked the rest of the way to the room. Nixon knocked twice.

“Want me to kill him for you?” Chase whispered across my ear, his face completely void of any emotion. It was as if he just asked me if I’d like to go to the movies or something.

“Not yet,” I said in a shaky voice.

“Say the word.” Chase’s breath was hot against my neck. “And next time, Mil, when he touches you, use a knife.”

“What?”

Luca’s familiar cigar-infused scent permeated the air around us, meaning he’d finally caught up. I cleared my throat and looked at the door, willing it to open so I could get away from Luca and closer to my mom.

The door still didn’t open.

With a curse, Luca pushed passed all of us to the front and banged on the door.

Nothing happened.

A maid and her cart came slowly down the hall. Without thinking, I walked toward her and tried to look as normal as possible. “Would it be possible for you to open the room for us?”

Her eyes darted from me to the group behind me, including the guy who’d just gotten the crap beat out of him by Nixon, Chase, and Tex. “Hotel policy says you have to go down to the lobby to get a new key.”

“It’s really important,” I urged, sliding the knife from underneath my jacket, “that we get into that room.”