Secrets (A Standalone Novel) (A Suspense Romance) (19 page)

Gino continued on for what seemed like hours. He went
from person to person throughout the crowd and asked them questions to try and
find his mole. His determination was somewhat admirable, although I felt like
there were a lot of shady characters in the room and any number of them could
be the mole. Although, I clearly knew who the real mole was. Chris held onto me
tightly
and pushed me around behind Gino
just as he was commanded to. At one
point,
Gino wanted me on my knees.

“Get on your knees bitch,” Chris yelled as his hand
pressed my shoulder firmly and forced me to the ground. It surprised me and I
fell hard to the ground. Chris certainly was very good at his job and appeared
to be the man that Gino thought he was.

“No need to call the sweet thing names, Skinner,” Gino
said. “She deserves to be treated nicely. Until I have to torture her.”

I looked at the ground as I kneeled and Gino asked
another person something about knowing me. My body shook with fear and I
couldn’t hear Gino talk anymore because my own heartbeat took over in my
eardrums. I was scared, really scared and my body started to shut down as the
fear took over. But soon Chris had yanked me up from the ground and had me
standing again.

My knees were weak and I started to fall over. The
fear that I had felt for the last couple hours was too much for me. I just
couldn’t stand anymore. Chris let go of me and let me fall to the floor.

“Jesus Christ Skinner, you
could have
caught the sweet little
thing,
”
Gino said as he came to my side. “Are you alright?” he asked kindly, for a man
who planned to torture and kill me. I just stared at him. My body did not seem
to be in my own control anymore and the fear had made me unable to stand or
even talk. My eyes just looked at Gino and I wasn’t able to get my mouth to
word anything as an answer to him.

“Skinner, take the girl over there to that room and
let her rest,” Gino said as he pointed to an old office in the corner of the
warehouse. Chris roughly grabbed me and practically dragged me over to the
office. He didn’t gently try to support me, he didn’t kindly put his hand on my
back to guide me; instead he grabbed my upper arm and walked swiftly to the
room. When my legs gave out under me, he just pulled me up with his hand that
was on my arm.

“Ouch!” I let out as he pulled my arm.

“Skinner,” Gino said, “try to be nice.”

“Yes sir,” Chris said to Gino.

Chris threw me into the room and I fell against the
old metal table that was in the room. Chris banged his hand hard against the
metal desk and it made a loud noise that echoed throughout the warehouse.

“Skinner, that didn’t sound
nice,
” Gino yelled from the other side of the warehouse.

“Sorry boss,” Chris said.

I just stayed there sitting on the floor up against
the metal desk. I couldn’t move. My body was overcome with the fear and
adrenaline of the situation and I was just slightly relieved to be in a
different room than Gino. Chris walked out of the room and shut the door behind
him. I let my head lay up
against
the
desk and I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. I wanted to be in
control of my body again. I just had to figure out a way to get control over
the fear that pulsed through me. I needed to relax.

Gino and his group of workers stayed out in the main
warehouse for another thirty minutes or so. Then I heard the crowd disperse and
Gino’s voice outside the door to the office I was in.

“Can I trust you to watch over the girl and not kill
her?” Gino asked the man next to him.

“I won’t kill
her
if she doesn’t try to escape,” Chris said in response. “I don’t have to feed
her or anything like that do
I
?”

“That’s a good idea actually, no don’t feed her. She
can drink water and there’s a toilet over there, but that’s it. I’m going
downstairs to talk with a few of these assholes and see if I can figure out who
it might be. In the
morning,
I’ll bring a
couple of them up and you can help me give that sweet thing some pain and see
if we can get a confession from someone.”

“I’d love to help with the pain,” Chris said. His
voice sounded different and he actually sounded like he enjoyed inflicting
pain. I had chills as he said it. Chris was very convincing as the right-hand
man to Gino, I could see why he was able to get so far in Gino’s organization.

“Ok, but leave the girl alone tonight. No torture
until morning, understood?” Gino said firmly.

“Yes, sir.”

I sat there and anticipated Chris coming through the
door as I heard Gino walk away. Any second Chris would come in and help me
escape. I looked at the door intently as I waited for him. My mind raced with
thoughts of how Chris and I could make our escape without being heard. We could
climb out the window and make our way down a drain pipe, or maybe sneak quietly
down the stairwell and make a run for it. I thought about every mob movie I had
ever seen and how people escaped from their murderers. Surely, Chris and I
would be able to make a swift escape.

After a few
minutes,
it became apparent that Chris did not intend to come into the office at all. I
saw him pull a chair close to the office door and he sat down. I didn’t want to
yell at him or say anything for fear that there was someone else out there with
him. The door was closed so I couldn’t see what was going on. For all I knew
there could have been other people still out in that room with him. As the
night wore on I could feel myself as I became extremely tired and finally
grabbed a work coat that was on a nearby chair and used it to curl up on the
floor and go to sleep. My body was exhausted from the fear and stress from the
day. I felt my eyes as they got heavy and I closed them in hopes that I would
be able to get some sleep.

I took a couple deep breaths and said a little prayer
that everything would work out in the morning. I didn’t want Chris or any of
his men to
get
shot and I certainly
didn’t want to be tortured by Chris or anyone else on Gino’s team of killers. I
hoped that Chris would find a way to save me and we would both make it out of
the situation unharmed.

“Are you alright?” Chris said in my ear quietly.

I opened my eyes to find Chris kneeled down next to me
on the floor. I sat up quickly and looked at him. He held a finger to his lips
in
a motion
to be quiet.

“I’m fine,” I whispered. “Where is everyone?”

“They are all downstairs.”

“Can we get out of here?” I said, desperate to leave
that warehouse and get to safety. I sat up and started to stand, but Chris put
his hand on my leg and held me in place.

“Not yet. We have to wait until morning for backup to
arrive.”

I felt my heart sink at his words. My whole hope had
been on him to rescue me. The idea of sticking around all night long and
waiting to be tortured in the morning did not sit well with me. We had to
leave, we had to get out of the building before Gino and his men woke up and
started to torture me, or kill people. Didn’t Chris understand the gravity of
the situation? Surely he knew this could all end very badly for me.

“We could just sneak out
now,
” I said hopefully.

“Babe, we can’t. I have three guys in the group
downstairs and I’ve worked for years to catch Gino. This has to end with him in
jail and I’m going to be the person responsible.”

I shook my head in understanding as I looked at Chris.
He seemed intent on staying for the night and I couldn’t argue. I didn’t have
enough energy to move on my own so I was going to be at his mercy. I had to
trust that he knew what he was doing.

“Are you hungry?” he asked as he handed me a sandwich.
I looked around to see if anyone was
coming
since I had heard Gino tell him not to give me anything to eat.

“Don’t worry, I checked. Everyone is asleep
downstairs, even Gino.”

I ate the sandwich quickly and then drank the bottle
of water that Chris gave me. I was starving and it felt great to get some food.

“So what’s the plan?” I asked Chris as I finished
drinking.

“
Well,
there is
a large swat team coming to raid this place in a couple hours. They should get
here just before dawn, so we just have to tough it out and sit quietly for a
couple hours. Should be easy, everyone is asleep and the raid will wake them up
and Gino can be taken into custody before he knows what happened.”

Chris seemed so calm and at ease about the situation.
It was hard for me to fathom being able to control my body and calm myself as
well as he was able to do. I leaned in and let my head rest against his chest.
I felt safe there.
At
that moment, with
his arms wrapped around me, I felt safe. Even though there were dozens of
people just a few hundred yards away that would easily
kill
us both, in that room and at that
moment,
I felt safe.

Chris moved to sit down next to me and pulled me up
next to him. He looked at my arm which was black and blue from him dragging me
into the room earlier. His lips moved down and kissed the bruise. I could tell
he felt horrible about it as his lips gently moved across my skin. I wanted to
tell him it was alright, I wanted to tell him I understood he had to play the
role that Gino expected from him. Instead, I leaned down and grabbed his chin
and pulled it up to meet my lips.

Our lips moved together in passion and I let my hands
hold onto the scruff of his beard. Chris grabbed my hips and placed me on his
lap. One leg sat on each side of him as I straddled his hard body. I felt at
home next to him. It had only been a few short months before that I had been
overwhelmed by the wealth of muscles he had. Now, I felt more comfortable there
in his lap than anywhere else in the room. My hands moved down to stroke his
chest as we continued to move our mouths in unison. His soft lips were such a
contrast to the rough
fir
of his beard. I
felt my body reacting to the passion in his hands as they moved up and down my
back.

His long fingers cupped my ass in his hand as he
played with my jean shorts. I felt his hands go up my back and then try to
slide down the back of my shorts, but the tightness of them prevented him. I
continued to enjoy his tongue as his hands made their way around to the front
of my shorts and unbuttoned them. Then I felt him unbutton his own pants and
heard the zipper as he lowered it.

My lips separated from his as I stood up and took off
my shorts and watched as he pulled his throbbing cock out of his pants and
pushed them down to his knees. I couldn’t help but lick my lips as I looked at
his pulsing organ and his desire for me. With my legs on either side of
him,
I lowered my body over him and let my lips
meet his again as I continued to lower onto his throbbing cock. A moan left my
mouth as he filled me up completely and I moved slowly against him. His hands returned
to my ass and spread my cheeks as he played with me and forced me to rock back
and forth on his cock as I bounced up and down. The intensity of his body as it
pressed inside of me felt like heaven.

We were quiet, making sure not to moan or make noises
as much as possible. The silence was erotic and drove me to pay close attention
to my body and how it pressed up against his. I felt everything differently,
more intensely than I had ever felt before. Soon I felt his hands pressing my
hips to move harder and faster against his body. He thrust his own hips into me
as we continued to kiss each other.

The kissing provided a way to muffle the low moans
that left my body as I felt the buildup of excitement. As we moved harder and
harder against each
other,
it became
impossible for me to keep quiet. The pleasure was just too much. Chris reached
up and put his hand over my mouth as I continued to moan and thrust against his
raging cock. Harder and faster we moved together until I thought for sure
someone would hear us. My body shook with pleasure as one final thrust
delivered by Chris sent a surge of ecstasy throughout every last inch of me.

It was unsafe to be there, it was dangerous to be
fucking him; but it was the perfect moment.

I fell asleep wrapped in Chris’ arms and feeling safer
than I had ever felt. But when I woke up, I certainly did not feel safe. There
was loud popping noises going off downstairs and I heard screams…the popping
was gunfire. Chris opened the door to the office and stood there for a minute.
He looked at me and then back at the stairwell across the warehouse.

“Get under the desk and don’t come out,” Chris said as
he closed the door and sat back down in the chair outside of the office. For a
minute I thought it was already morning and the raid had started. But there had
not been enough gunfire. Only a couple shots. I did as Chris told me and went
under
the desk and waited.

“Where is the girl?” Gino yelled from across the
warehouse as he came up the stairs.

“In the office,” Chris said calmly.

“Get her.”

“What’s up?” Chris asked Gino

“I found the mole; I’m going to kill her now.” There
was silence and then I heard the door open. I stayed
under
the desk and tried not to move. I didn’t know how it would be
possible to make it out of the situation alive. There was no sign of daylight
outside yet and I had no idea if the swat team would be able to get to us in
time or not.

“So no torture?” Chris said as he opened the office
door.

“No. I killed that Kyle kid after I found him trying
to sneak out the back door. It had to of been him,” Gino said.

Chris stayed at the entrance to the
office
but continued to talk to Gino. I
couldn’t believe Gunner was dead. Why would he of tried to sneak out? I
thought, but then remembered that was exactly what I had tried to convince
Chris to help me do only a few hours before.

“You think he was the only one?” Chris said to Gino.
He was silent for a long moment, obviously contemplating the situation. I
didn’t know where Chris was going with this, but it didn’t seem like a good
idea to start giving Gino the idea that there was more than one
mole
in his group.

“Well anything is possible,” Gino said. “Get the girl
out here; I want to talk to her.” Chris came into the room and walked over to
the desk. He pulled the chair out and leaned down.

“Get your sweet little ass out here,” he said.

“Oh, she’s hiding under the desk? That’s smart,” Gino
laughed.

“I
know
…like we
wouldn’t find her or something,” Chris joined in with the laughter.

It was creepy how quickly Chris was able to change
from the man I had started to love into this crazy creep that worked for this
guy Gino. I looked at the two of them as they laughed and I walked out into the
main room.

“Alright sweet thing, was that kid Kyle the man you
know?” Gino asked. I just looked at him and shook my head no. I didn’t know
what I was supposed to do or say. Maybe I should have just said yes since
Gunner was dead now. Maybe I was right to say no? I had no idea. When I looked
at
Chris,
I didn’t see any response from
him.

In fact, when I looked at him I didn’t really see
Chris at all. He had turned into Skinner and didn’t respond to me one bit. The
way he held his body, even the way his eyes looked; Chris did not look like the
man I knew.

“So you know someone else in my group then?” Gino
asked. Again I shook my head no.

Gino reached up and grabbed me by the throat and
pushed me up against the wall. It happened so quickly that I didn’t know what
to do. My hands darted up to meet his and I tried desperately to pull them
away.

“Listen here bitch, I will kill you. Do you
understand?” Gino said as I shook my head yes. “Now tell me who the fuck you
know in the group.”

“Maybe we should bring her downstairs so she can show
us,” Chris suggested.

I shook my head yes again.

Chris appeared so calm and withdrawn from the
situation. He didn’t react to Gino strangling me, he didn’t even make a motion
to come rescue me. It was disturbing. I didn’t know who I was going to show
Gino, I didn’t know what was next, but I did know that I needed his hand off of
my throat.

I felt the pressure on my
windpipe
and I couldn’t inhale. The pain increased the longer his
hand was wrapped around me and I felt myself getting dizzy as I went longer and
longer without oxygen. My eyes got bigger and I looked from Gino to Chris and
back again. Chris looked calm and didn’t seem to care at all that I was in the
midst of being killed by this man. He kept his cool and kept his attention on
Gino.

“Yeah, let’s just bring her downstairs and let her
point out the guy. I’m sure by this time she is ready to cooperate,” Chris said
as he inched closer to Gino.

I didn’t know if he had intended to actually do
anything if Gino continued to strangle me, but luckily Gino released me from
his grip. My body collapsed to the ground and I gulped in air as much as I
could. I grasped onto my neck and felt the sharp pain that rushed through me as
I tried to fill my lungs back up with the sweet oxygen that they had been
deprived of.

“You better not fuck with me bitch,” Gino said as he
walked toward the stairs at the other end of the warehouse second floor. I now
knew why he was such a feared man. His kindness toward me at first had only
been an act; that man was clearly willing to murder me without a second thought.
I searched Chris’ eyes for some sort of help or understanding as he grabbed me
and pulled me to my feet.

For a second I thought I saw something, but then he
turned back into Skinner and pulled me roughly toward the stairs.

“We need to stall for about twenty more minutes, do
the best you can. I promise I’ll keep you safe,” Chris whispered as we moved
down the stairs. There he was; there was the Chris I knew. Now I just had to
figure out how to stall a killer for twenty minutes.