Authors: Teresa Mummert
“She has everything to do with this.” He cocked his head to the side as he stared me down. His gun reflected sunlight into my eyes; then it hit me across my jaw, sending me spinning backward and sprawling in the dirt.
This wasn’t how it was all supposed to end. I’d always envisioned my life in a downward spiral, but dragging Rose down with me was never my intent. With my fingers laced behind my head I was nudged forward by someone yanking the gun from the back of my jeans. Dust blew across my face and I looked up to the sky, light blue and cloudless.
“Cole,” Rose whimpered, and a large hand reached down beside me and tangled in her long, dark hair, yanking her upward an inch.
“Shut the fuck up,” Danny growled angrily at her, and my body stiffened. I wanted to rip his fucking throat out for talking to her in that tone.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart.” My voice cracked and I wished I could tell her it was all going to be okay, that I was going to save her, but I couldn’t say any of those things. I had to be quiet and buy us some more time.
Danny released Rose, pushing her head forward, unleashing a ripple of sobs from her chest. He walked in front of us slowly, cocking his gun before sinking down to eye level.
“You could have been a king and you threw it all away for pussy.” He spit on the ground in front of her and she recoiled, absolutely terrified. I could feel my nostrils flaring and my jaw clench. I couldn’t fake being unafraid and I could see in his eyes that he was growing increasingly agitated. “It must be something special.” He smiled at her and it made my skin crawl. “Maybe I should try her out.” His gaze went to me and I couldn’t stop myself; the rage that was boiling inside of me needed to come out. My head bucked forward and I bounced my forehead off his nose. Blood sprayed over my face and I must have looked like something from a horror film.
“You stupid son of a bitch,” he growled as two hands grabbed my arms from behind. The smell of vodka warned me that it was Whitey who was holding me back as Danny brought his gun down across my face. I hit the ground, dirt clouding my face as I tried to focus my eyes. My face was close enough to Rose that I could smell her. She was crying loudly, but her sobs faded in and out with the throbbing of my face. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and take away her pain, but I knew I was the cause of it and I didn’t deserve to be the one to comfort her.
I was yanked back onto my knees and my body swayed as blood oozed from my cheekbone to my chin. It began to drip onto the dirt, reminding me of rain. Faced with death, my life didn’t flash before my eyes. I didn’t see my past regrets and beg God for forgiveness. I saw Rose. Her face blurred as I struggled to focus my eyes.
“Don’t cry,” I mumbled, and my voice sounded distant.
“Just as pathetic as your father in the end.” Danny stood and began pacing in front of us.
“It’s your chance to get revenge.” Brock leaned forward on his elbows. My eyes danced around Fig, a small dive bar that catered to Italian-Americans. The baseball game playing on the televisions mounted above the bar was distracting.
“I don’t want revenge. I hated my father,” I replied, taking a sip of my beer.
“Come on, Bishop. You and I both know that you wanted to be the one to make that man pay for what he did to your mom. Doesn’t it piss you off in the least that this asshole took that opportunity from you? He could be rotting away in prison right now.”
I sat my bottle down a little more forcefully than I intended, causing it to foam up. Brock sat back in his seat with a creepy smile on his face.
“Fine.” Brock stood, pulling a twenty from his wallet and dropping it on the table. “Stay for another drink. You can give me your answer later.”
The bell above the door rang, and I turned to see Danny, the man who had killed my father, walk in as Brock walked by him and out the door. I would definitely be needing that next beer.
“I can’t decide if I want to kill her in front of you, or if I should keep her alive for a few months. See what the fuss is about.” Danny was a sick and twisted fuck.
“I wish I could kill you,” I groaned, and Danny pushed the barrel of his gun against my cheek. I winced as it dug into the freshly broken and bruised skin.
“I bet you do.” He chuckled. “You’re nothing but a has-been crooked cop.”
“And you’re…predictable.” I smiled, and searing pain coursed through my cheek. I turned to Rose who stared straight ahead in shock, her body shaking uncontrollably.
“If you could predict what I’d do to you, then why the fuck did you go against me?”
“You never missed a game in that shit bar.” I laughed.
“You’re ruining my career,” I snapped at the suit who stood in front of me like a goddamned terminator.
“You weren’t meant to be a cop. You could excel at this. They wouldn’t ask you if they didn’t think you could pull it off.” Brock tried to convince me that this was an opportunity for advancement, but I could only see this ending badly.
“They just don’t want to lose one of their own.”
I shook my head as I ran my hand over my hair.
Suit number two spoke up. “You are in a very unique position, Mr. Bishop. You have a history with this crew.”
“My father had a history with them, and now he is history. I’ve been spending my entire life distancing myself from that bullshit.”
“The rules wouldn’t apply to you. You would be off the radar,” he replied. I gritted my teeth. I hated that this sounded like the perfect job for me. I didn’t want to be my father and, even if it was sanctioned by the government, that is all I would be.
“We are asking you as a courtesy. The plan has already been set in motion.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I pushed from my seat, getting into the asshole’s face, my fists clenched at my sides.
“We’ll be in contact. In the meantime, make your face known down at Fig’s. Preferably anytime a baseball game is on.”
Danny pulled the gun back from my cheek as his eyes narrowed.
“What did you do?” he asked as took a step back and ran his hand over his mouth and down his blood-coated jaw. “This is what I get for hiring some asshole with daddy issues.”
“It’s a beautiful day, Rose. Nothing but clear skies.” I laughed like I was losing my mind, tilting my head to the sky and closing my eyes. I loved the feel of the warmth on my skin. It had been too long since I had taken the time to enjoy days like this. I needed her to know I wasn’t the bad guy. “I wanted you to see the stars.” I smiled sadly at her, and her eyebrows pulled together. I should have taken her to California when we were kids, and none of this would be happening. We could have been anyone; as long as we were together it wouldn’t have mattered.
“What?” she whispered. I opened my eyes and turned to look at her, smiling at her large beautiful brown eyes. I had failed her. No matter what I did, I knew we wouldn’t be able to get out of this unscathed, but at least we were finally together.
“I hate being lied to. I didn’t want to do this to you but you left me no choice.” He grabbed his cell phone and flipped it open. After a second he mumbled something into it and slid it back into his pocket. He smirked as he stood over me and the sound of tires on gravel approached us from behind. The door of the black SUV opened and Amber stepped out followed by some prick who was gripping her arm tightly.
“No!” I couldn’t keep the fear from my voice as her eyes met mine, one swollen and purple. Her lip was split open and her cheek looked like it had been scraped against something.
“Colt!” she called out as Whitey gripped my shoulder tightly and pushed his gun harder against the back of my head. Danny grabbed Amber and yanked her over in front of us. The other man got back into the car and it pulled out, leaving us is a cloud of dust. Amber swayed on her feet and it was obvious she had been drugged. I was thankful she wouldn’t be in her right mind when all of this came to a head.
“I saw the news reports about Shawn. So sorry for your loss, Lily or should I say Rose? After they flashed his face all over the television down at Fig’s it was interesting to discover that his missing girlfriend was going by a false identity. Naturally, I assumed you either had terrible luck with men or there was more to this story.” Danny’s attention turned to me, and I swallowed back the bile that was rising in my throat. “I stopped by to clear things up, Colt, but it appeared you had skipped town. That was when I found the file for this whore.” He yanked Amber hard toward him and she squealed in pain. “I couldn’t figure out where she fits into this equation and why you would have an updated record for her if you were no longer tied to the police force. So I decided to ask her myself. Shame you left her all alone at that shithole of a house.”
Tears rolled down Amber’s cheeks, and I wanted to take her in my arms, protect her like I had the first night I met her.
“She tells some pretty incredible stories.” He chuckled and Amber began to cry loudly. “I guess I can’t blame you for sharing secrets with the woman you’re fucking.” He shrugged, and Rose let out a gasp. “Oh, that was a secret? Lots of those going around.”
“I’m sorry,” Amber cried and I shook my head, wishing I could tell her none of it mattered or that it wasn’t her fault, but my voice caught in my throat.
Danny raised his gun behind her head with a smirk on his face.
“No!” I growled as Whitey’s fingers dug into my flesh. The sound of a gun firing blasted through the air, followed by a loud ringing sound in my ear. Amber let out a blood-curdling scream as she fell and Danny dropped to his knees, his eyes fixed on nothing. Whitey stepped around me, his weapon pointed at Danny’s motionless body, which began seeping blood.
“No!” The voice that ripped from my throat was animalistic. Amber’s fingers slowly uncurled and she lay motionless next to her killer.
“You?” I asked as I pushed to my feet, seething in anger. Whitey’s gun turned to me, warning me to keep my distance. “If you were one of us, why did you tell him about me and Lily in the first place? You put this into motion.”
“I had no choice. I had another guy with me. If he had mentioned it and I said nothing I would have been in the gutter. You should have gotten rid of her, sent her into protective custody. You brought this on. Her death is on you!” He pulled out his phone and barked a few orders. I held out a hand to Rose and she took it, completely in shock. I pulled her to her feet and into my arms. I pressed my body flat against hers, needing to feel the heat of her and the steady beating of her heart. I turned her away from Amber’s body and stroked her hair as the tears rolled down my cheeks. The walls I had built around myself had finally crumbled, leaving me buried in the rubble below.
“It’s over,” I said to her as I ran my hand over her hair and tried to steady my breathing to keep her calm. I was going numb, wanting to desperately block out everything, but I was pulled right back into the reality of the situation.
“Not quite. I just got a promotion. This deal needs to go off, and I need to make it happen. We have the potential to take down a rival mob with this, and you aren’t going to fuck it up again.”
“What the fuck does that mean? How many people need to die for you to put an end to this shit?”
“As many as it takes. I’ll be saving thousands in the long run. Every war has casualties, Bishop. This is about the bigger picture.” A small silver car with heavily tinted windows pulled up beside us and Whitey slipped his gun inside his coat before nodding once and getting into the passenger side. It pulled off in a hurry, leaving us to process what had just happened.
Several more cars approached us and I sighed with relief when I recognized them as unmarked police cruisers. Brock stepped out and glanced down at Amber’s and Danny’s bodies.
“Colton Bishop, I am placing you under arrest for the murder of Daniel Abruzzo.”
“What?” Rose called out in shock as I unraveled my arms from her waist.
“Brock, you can’t do this. You know this isn’t fucking right.”
He nodded and walked toward me. I turned around, staring Rose in the eye. I had been so close to having my forever with her, and now it was being taken away again. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she clasped her hands together in front of her chest.
“See the stars, Rose,” I called out, hoping that one day I would be able to find her again. It was selfish and I knew I was giving her false hope, but if there were any way possible for us to be together again, I would take it.
Brock placed the handcuffs on my wrists and took me to his cruiser, leaning me over the back end and kicking my feet farther apart.
“No! Cole, tell them you didn’t do it! Tell them!” Rose called out from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder at her and my heart broke. She was being held back as she fought to get to me. I pulled my eyes away from her and tried to block out her pleas.
“Please don’t let them take him. Mom!” Rose cried out as she pulled on her mother’s shirt. Her mother stood with her arms folded over her chest, shaking her head.
“He stole from us. You really want to protect him?” Craig asked with a smug look on his face. The female officer tightened the cuffs around my wrists.
“I just want what’s best for you.” Craig placed his hand on her shoulder, his eyes locked on mine. I spit in his face and was jerked backward by the cold metal that bound my hands together.
“He didn’t steal anything!”
I wanted so desperately to hear her say that I was with her. It wasn’t possible for me to be the one who stole jewelry from her house while her parents were at dinner. In the end it was better she said nothing. Her safety was more important than my ego. It killed me to not be able to protect her while I was gone but, thankfully, another string of robberies had cleared my name. Rose was never the same after that. Her eyes no longer shined and she had virtually given up. I swore I would make Craig pay for whatever he had done to her while I was gone.
“You know I don’t have anything.” The hot metal of the car burned through my clothing. I watched the police officers from the other cruiser talk to Rose, urging her to get inside the vehicle willingly. She wasn’t being arrested for anything and I was thankful that at least she would not be used as a pawn for the government in this whole mess. Maybe she could finally start over. Brock rattled off my rights as he pulled open the back door to the car. I slipped inside as I watched the woman I loved get in the car in front of us. Seconds later an ambulance and a coroner arrived, along with several other police cars. I laid my head against the cool vinyl seat and closed my eyes as my head throbbed. Brock got into the car and sighed loudly.