Page 21 of The Associate

I put on a pair of leggings and a tank top. Once I release this frustration, I will start on my plan of Mason helping me. I have to make sure that he is not the evil soldier that I think my father has turned him into.

After I saw him walking down the hallway the other day, I’m not sure if he knew I was there because, even though he couldn’t see me, he glanced right at me with a coldness in his eyes that I had never seen before. Us working together would help the both of us, that is for sure.

Chapter 7

Mason

Ican’t believe the boss is letting me go on another mission. I thought he would tell me no when I asked him.

He wants me to keep an eye on Viv because of Blackmere’s letters, which state that, if she is ever alone and they came across her, they will take her as theirs. She will become property of Ricochet, Blackmere’s boss.

“Thank you, Sir,” was all I could say to him. Did he not see my blackouts as a weakness, or is this his way of trying to get me killed?

I am glad to be going out on a job again, but there is just something not sitting right with me on this one.

I know he worries about my blackouts, even though there haven’t been many, but I have a feeling that tonight is going to be different. The boss wants to make it known to Ricochet that he is messing with the wrong family. That he will never get his hands on any of us, let alone his daughter.

That’s why, when I glance down at the page in my hand, I see a familiar name. Carlos. He isn’t too well known within the Blackmere gang but he is part of the inner circle. Ricochet’s brother.

We get to Carlos, and we show the rest of Blackmere that no one is safe and we will protect Viv at all costs.

Sal wants her to stay cooped up in the mansion at all times. He wants her under his roof so that no one can get to her.

I can see how much he hates her leaving the place, but I know what she is like. She can’t stay hidden away forever, but maybe there is a way to free her from the Mafia chokehold– like I’m starting to want for myself.

I need out of this life, if only for my sanity, but I can’t get away without the monster wanting to rear his ugly head. There is no other way I can sustain the need than by being amongst it on the front line.

I need the hits to keep the monster at bay in my daily life. Which is why I am always the one to do the dirty work.

The monster became known to me the day Viv left. She was – and still is – the light in the darkness. She is the sun and I the sunflower, because, whenever she is near, I find myself facing her light.

When she left, there was only darkness. The dark that brought the monster I know today. It’s why I do the jobs; if I don’t, the monster controls me. The jobs are the only way I can satiate it.

I have to talk to Viv, but first, I have to deal with Carlos.

His brother Ricochet is dangerous, but not as much as I am. They don’t call me Viper for no reason.

I need to suss out Carlos before I do anything, but when it comes to jobs like these, Sal wants it done quickly. So they usually involve a day of observation, then the next day is spent planning the hit.

Heading up the stairs and to my room, I throw the pages onto my bed and turn to close and lock my door. I like my privacy. It is the only time I can be myself. The only time I feel normal, like I am my own person and not someone else’s pawn.

My room is painted black with a dark oak king-sized bed in the middle of the back wall. Red silk sheets and a red comforter cover the bed. The curtains are always closed. It is dark and quiet here, just the way I like it.

I need to shower and then get a few hours of sleep before I suss out the travels of Carlos. He is still young, early twenties, and I hear he loves spending time at Gravel and Grit. It’s the only bar in town where Blackmere and Murwood can co-exist without killing each other, but the moment I walk through those doors, it is just a matter of time before all hell breaks loose.

Stepping into the shower, with the water cascading down my back, my mind drifts to Viv. The times we spent together growing up: I remember her always following me around the mansion, her mother leaving her with me when she had something else to do. Only after I saw her ten years ago, on that chance meeting, and the way she reacted when she saw me then, were her feelings for me obvious.

Even just the time we spent today. She has gone from being a happy ball of sunshine to a cobra. Her fangs are constantly out. She seems to always be in fight mode.

Sal acts like he cares about her and her well-being, but I can see right through his charade. There is a darkness in him. He isn’t sleeping well, his agitation is rising, and I have a feeling I know the day she came back to the mansion because that had been the only day that Sal went outside the gates alone. He found where she had been hiding and he had dragged her ass back to Murwood.

Rhys was a good protector for her but the day I went back to see her, to leave with her and Marie, he was there instead, looming in the background, waiting for me to show up. That was the night I broke a promise to her. A night that I will forever be making up for. I want to be there to show her that she is safe, that she doesn’t have to be the one to fight everyone and everything that threatens her. I can see the worry in her eyes when I followed her to class earlier today, but she doesn’t have to worry about me telling anyone; her secret is safe with me.

I know Sal trusts me with her life. He is the one who began my training after all, but what he created from that training scares me. What if one of these days something in my head snaps and I turn on her?

I shake my head to clear my thoughts.

No, I can’t think of that now. I have to do everything I can to protect her, and the one person she needs protecting from the most is her father.

---