“Don’t,” he growls.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Jax warns just before he turns and follows his father out of the room.
Fuck, I hope so too.
Marcus’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing all day. Whoever keeps calling him has set him on edge. He refuses to answer it, and he’s become even more unstable. I’ve been sitting in the corner for most of the afternoon, fiddling quietly with the cuffs dangling off my wrist and watching him pace. He’s been pulling at his hair and talking to himself. Maybe he’s talking to me, but given how much he’s been rambling I honestly have no idea. I’ve considered trying to calm him down for my own sake because I really need to pee, but I was afraid leaving the room would just set him off. But it’s now urgent enough that I need to do something.
I slowly stand up with my back to the corner. I move carefully, quietly, along the edge of the bed, almost as if I was approaching a wild animal.
“Marcus?” I ask gently. When he doesn’t look up, I ask again a little louder. “Marcus? Is everything okay?”
He continues to pace, so I inch a little closer. “Marcus, whatever it is I’m sure—”
Marcus grabs me by the throat and slams me into the wall. “He wants you. I know it! But he can’t have you. None of them can. You’re mine. Do you hear me? You’ll always be mine!”
“Marcus, I can’t . . . breathe . . .” I hiss out as I bring my hand up to tap on his hand. “Please.”
He looks from my face to my throat and back to my face. When his phone starts ringing again, he releases me with a shove, crosses the room to the table where the phone is sitting and picks it up. He stares at the screen for a moment . . . and then roars his anger as he hurls the phone at the wall. The table goes flying, and I run for the bathroom. I hide between the toilet and the shower as he continues to wreck the room. The sound of things crashing into the walls and floor goes on for a while. Eventually, it stops altogether but I stay next to the toilet. At this point, anything will set him off—and I don’t want it to be me.
Just when I thought Marcus has possibly fallen asleep, I hear banging again. It almost sounds like it’s someone at the door, but I know that’s not possible. No one is going to find us out here. The banging stops for a moment, then starts again. This time I’m certain it’s coming from the door. I hear the shuffling of Marcus’s feet and then the sound of the door banging against the wall so hard it makes the walls rattle. I move quickly to the door and press my ear against it, hoping to hear more of whatever is happening out in the room.
“What?” Marcus yells.
“We need you and the girl to come with us. He wants a meeting,” a gravelly male voice says.
“We aren’t going anywhere with you. Now leave,” Marcus says.
I hear a metallic click, and then a different male voice says, “We’ve been instructed to take you with force if you refuse to go with us.”
“The fuck? Who do you think you work for? Get the fuck out of here,” Marcus growls.
“Can’t do that. Big boss’s orders,” the first voice says.
“Yeah, well, you can tell Vic I said to fuck off. If I wanted to meet with him, I’d have answered when he called the first 30 fucking times,” Marcus says. I hear the door swing shut and then the sounds of Marcus pacing again.
A minute later a huge crash reverberates through the walls. This sounds way too big to be Marcus throwing shit.
“The fuck you thinking?” Marcus yells. “Get your fucking hands off of me, you fucking asshole. I’ll have your asses for this.”
“Where’s the girl?” the second voice asks.
“I ain’t telling you shit fuckface. You’re fucking dead, do you hear me?” Marcus screams.
“Check the bathroom,” the first voice says.
The moment I hear this, I sink back to the floor to try to hide. I know I can’t really conceal myself in this bathroom, but the terrified little girl inside me still needs to try.
And I do. A large man dressed in all black steps into the doorway of the bathroom and doesn’t see me right away. I peek through a small space between the toilet and the cabinet as he walks in further.
“Find her?” the first voice hollers.
The guy in black responds just as loudly. “Nah, I’m still looking.”
“Hurry up. I won’t be able to hold him like this for long,” the other guy yells back.
“Let me go. She isn’t here. Leave her alone,” Marcus yells.
He leans in and looks under the cabinets. I lift myself up just a little bit more to watch where he’s going. I grab onto the back of the toilet to support myself but my hand slides down the slick porcelain and the lid slams shut.
I throw my arms over my head like it will make me invisible to this guy. I close my eyes and stop breathing. I listen for footsteps, for anything to let me know the man has moved towards me, but I hear nothing.
Suddenly I’m being dragged out from the small space behind the toilet by my feet. As soon as I’m free, I look up at the man and start kicking.
As soon as I can, I scream. It’s one thing to deal with Marcus’s craziness; it’s another to deal with a random stranger with a shiny black Glock in his hand. I don’t know who these men are or where they came from, but I do know I don’t want to be anywhere near them.
“Fuck!
