Page 15 of Vicious Savage

ATTILA

I’m not one to lie to myself. There are certain things that I recognize about myself that are indisputable. Certain things I can control, and those I can’t. Things that maybe I myself don’t understand but would like to.

When Luna approaches me, Iknowthis is the worst thing that could happen. I can’t let it happen. But I do. And it shoots all my plans in the foot, because pulling away from her is taking every last ounce of strength I have.

I’m not one for ribbons and rainbows or fancy fanfare, but I knew in that moment, no matter how much I warred with myself, that I had to have her. I’d like to say I regret it, but I don’t. Another thing I won’t be apologetic for. I fucked Luna Castillo and I loved it. I fucked Luna Castillo and now I’m fucked.

The Jekyll knows there’s something wrong. How could he not, with all the pent up tension pervading the air? He looks from me to Luna, back in her tightly wound robe again, then back at me once again, raising an eyebrow in a silent question. He sniffs the air, as though that will help him determine what is going on. And maybe it will, because the scent of sex wafts heavily through the room like a sordid perfume.

He puts the bag down in Luna’s room and tells her there’s clothes and toiletries. She gives a happy yelp and goes flying through the door, shutting it firmly behind her. Girls and their creature comforts…

“What’s going on?” he asks, his hands on his hips as he gives me a curious glance.

I don’t make a habit of lying, but no one said anything about omitting. I will deny, deny, deny all the way to my grave if that’s what it takes.

“We need to leave here,” I tell him. “The whole point was to be in and out.”

“Arizona making you nervous?” He quirks a brow.

“You know I don’t like it here,” I remind him. For someone that used to only communicate in grunts, The Jekyll has become mighty vocal lately.

Luna joins us, and I don’t know how he did it, but the Jekyll managed to get her clothes that look like they were tailor made for her. For a moment, the evidence of his attention to her body measurements stabs at something deep inside me. I know it shouldn’t — the man is still mourning the wife he lost five years ago, but it does.

She’s in dark denim jeans and a tight black t-shirt that doesn’t let me forget what’s underneath. I don’t even want to think about my partner in crime picking out underwear for her. She clips her hair high above her head as she comes to a stop between us, looking from me to TJ before she grins.

“Thanks for the clothes,” she says, looking down at herself. She’s fully clothed but she might as well still be naked with the way my eyes sear through her.

“We’ll be moving out soon,” he tells her. Thank God he’s listening to reason.

“Where to?”

“Not sure yet. But we need to keep moving.”

The revelation lingers between us like a bad omen. She knows we have no intention of taking her with us. But she says nothing in that regard, instead telling us that she needs to make a phone call.

“To who?” I ask, maybe a little too eagerly, because it causes TJ’s head to snap my way in surprise.

“A friend. My friend Nadia.” She hurries to explain. “I promised her if I ever left suddenly, I’d call to let her know I was okay.”

* * *

I havea bad feeling about this whole thing. And my feelings aren’t misplaced when Luna takes the disposable cell phone in her tiny hands and starts punching in numbers.

It’s been decided that we’re leaving. We can’t stay here another minute. Luna graciously steps up and announces that she'll make her own way to a friend’s place in Utah if we just drop her off at the nearest train station. Her decision to leave us scrapes at something indefinable inside me, even though I am the one who didn’t want her along for the ride in the first place.

I hear the call as it clicks over, the raspy hello from the other end of the line as her friend answers. We’ve insisted on having her on speaker for the sake of transparency. Luna doesn’t seem to mind.

“Nadia, it’s me.”

There’s a beat of silence, before there’s a flurry of activity on the other end and Nadia starts to scream before her voice becomes garbled.

“Luna,run!Don’t come… Don’t…”

A hearty chuckle floats through the phone, then a male voice speaks. A voice derelict of any emotion. One that makes my skin turn over. Instinctively, I know who it is.

“Daughter, dearest, won’t you come home now?”

Coyin Castillo. It can only be him, because only he would be able to make the color drain from Luna’s face, making her look like an apparition. She skates fearful eyes towards us, shaking her head in disbelief.

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