Page 21 of Defy

I barrel into him, throwing him into the sand, my whole body screaming. I probably just set my healing time back by a couple of weeks, but this fucker has to go. Once I’ve mounted him, squeezing him with my thighs like a snake to a baby rabbit, I reach into his waistband and pull out the pistol on his hip. His arms are pinned to his sides as I place the barrel of his own gun against his temple while Irina claws at my back with her nails, making me wince at the marks she’s going to leave.

“You don’t get to,”smack,“show back up here,”claw,“and make,”smack,“my life choices for me, Dominic!”Scratch. Claw. Smack. Smack. Smack.

“I do when you aren’t making the right ones, Irina.”

I have no choice but to push her away from me with my right arm. She lands in the sand and stays there, sobbing while I address the man under me.

“My name is Dominic Hielo. Which means I own this property and you’re trespassing. I know your face now, Franco. If you ever show back up to this beach or anywhere within a ten-mile radius of this house again, I won’t hesitate to pull the trigger.” The only reason I don’t pull it now is because the kid is young and I’m sure Irina sought him out, not the other way around. He shouldn’t die for her poor choices. “Tell me you understand what I’m saying.”

“I understand.” He looks unafraid but also unimpressed, like me holding a pistol to his temple is something he encounters regularly.

I pat him down and once I’m satisfied that he has no other weapons on him, I tell Irina to search his boat. The last thing I need is for him to open fire as he’s departing.

She doesn’t move.

“Irina, go check the fucking boat right now or I’ll shoot him.” I hate to treat her this way but I need the boat cleared so I can get him the fuck out of here and talk to her.

A minute later, she hops off the boat carrying an AR-15 and two more pistols and throws them in the sand glaring at me the whole time. Her mascara is running down her face and her hair is crazy from trying to beat me a minute ago.

“We’ll be keeping those,” I tell Franco, nodding my head toward the guns. “When you leave here, you spread the word that Irina is off-limits. No one sells to her, shares with her, or gifts her anything but diamonds and lace. Got it?” He nods. “Good, because if I find out otherwise, I’ll kill your mother.”

He gives away his immaturity when he laughs. “I don’t have a mother. You think if I did, I’d be running cocaine like an ice cream man with a boat?”

I level with him a deadly stare. A brief glance at his upper arm reveals the bottom of a tattoo and I yank his sleeve up to see the rest.Sophia, 06-03-17is written in cursive ink with a baby’s footprint underneath. Fucking idiot. This is why I have no tattoos.

“Then I’ll kill your daughter.”

His face turns pale before growing red with anger. I rock back onto my heels and get off of Franco, pistol still trained on his chest as I watch him leave. I turn around to find Irina still falling apart in the sand where she threw the weapons. I pull her to me and she comes easily, having neither the strength nor motivation to push me away anymore. She doesn’t wrap her arms around me but goes limp with her forehead on my shoulder.

“I hate my life,” she admits through her tears. “The only time it was bearable was when I was high and you just took that away from me. It took memonthsto earn his trust because he knows my father.”

She starts panicking and talking nonsense, telling me withdrawal is already kicking in and that she was using far more frequently than I originally thought.

I stand, pulling her with me. “Come on, Irina, let’s get you inside. The next few days are going to be bad, but I’ll be here.”

“You were always here when I needed you. Until you weren’t.” Her eyes are glassy from crying and when she tries to take a step, she falls back down.

I bend over, and scoop her up with my left arm and throw her over my left shoulder. She weighs next to nothing.

Irina doesn’t live in our house like Camila. Her family owns a nice house about ten miles away but she often stayed with Camila so she was at our breakfast table as much as I was. At this point though, I don’t want her to be left alone, and I certainly don’t want her parents on her case, so I quietly carry her through the halls, heading for my room.

Before I hit the stairs, I hear Libby’s voice.

“Oh my god, is she okay?”

I can feel Irina try to look up at the sound of a voice. She lets out a squeal when she realizes my arm is draped over the back of her thighs and her body is draped over my back.

“Jesus, Dominic, I canwalk.I don’t know why you think you own me. You’re Camila’s master, not mine.”

I see Libby bristle and I know I’m losing ground with her. I also know it’s the start of the withdrawal that’s making Irina a raging bitch. She’s going to be unbearable until all this shit is out of her system. “I’m no one’s master, Irina.”

Luis chooses the most inopportune time to show up and I briefly wonder how on a property this large, we’ve all convened in the foyer of the house at the same damn time. I’ve got an iron grip on Irina as she thrashes around on my shoulder.

“Decided to have them both, did you, Dom?” I know he’s referring to Camila and Irina because he winks at Libby before adding, “Stiff competition. If you’re in the mood for a revenge-fuck, just say the word.”

“Neither of us is fucking anyone, Luis. I’m too busy cleaning up everyone else’s messes.” I pull a page from my father’s book and call Luis on his shit.Nevermind the fact that I fucked Libby just last night.

“Oh, screw you, Dominic. I was doing just fine,” Irina fires over my shoulder.

---