Page 2 of Blood Ties
I nuzzle my nose into his hair, inhaling his sweat and the hotel shampoo. “Anything for you, mi conejito.”
I climb out of the bed and return with a warm, wet cloth. I wash between the openings of the cage. The new one I'd bought him makes it easier to get him clean without fully removing it. He isn’t ready to have it off yet and neither am I. It was only weeks ago when I reached for the key from my pocket and he stopped me, whispering with heated breath. “Don’t, it makes me feel more like yours.”
After that I knew he would be mine forever. Me being the keyholder of all his pleasures is my constant reminder.Our constant reminder. It was sometimes needed in the life we were forced to live, spending most of our days apart.
After I finish getting him dry, I climb back beside him, taking him in my arms. The words I’ve been wanting to say for the longest time remain on the tip of my tongue. I'm not allowed to say them and it’s like he knows exactly what I’m thinking.
His fingers slide over my mouth. “Not today. Save it for when we are both free, for when it can no longer hurt us.”
Too late.
Every time I leave him, not only do I go home feeling free and sated. Deep down inside, I’m also left a bit broken.
He sighs softly, and his eyes flutter closed. I hold him tighter, staring numbly at the door I’d soon have to walk through. I’m not ready.
Just a little longer.
A loud knock has my eyes flashing open. It comes again and I sit up in bed, startling Marcus, but not enough to fully wakehim. He smiles with his eyes half lidded and curls onto his side, getting comfortable again. The next time it sounds more like a kick of someone’s shoe rather than the tap of someone’s hand.
I shake Marcus’s shoulder. “Baby, it’s time to wake up now. We have a visitor who won’t go away.” His eyes blink open and he glances sleepily at the door and then back at me. “Tell them to fuck off.”
A gunshot fires through the door, grazing over our heads. I take hold of Marcus and roll us onto the floor. We both get onto our stomachs, reach for our clothes, and grab our guns. “Do you think they found us?”
I swallow hard. “I don’t know. I was so careful. I always am.” I think back to when I was at the house and Julia had asked me to hold her for a little while before I left. I stupidly did only to get her off my back. I shove my hand into my jacket pocket and pull out a tracker. The bitch slipped it in when I wasn’t paying attention. “We need to get the fuck out of here and fast.”
“I know you’re in there, Miguel. It’s best to come out now while you're both still breathing. I’d hate to put a bullet in your boyfriend’s head.”
Jorge Juventino.
The door breaks open and Julia’s father stands in the doorway holding a gun, surrounded by five of his men. “You think you can break my daughter’s heart this way and get away with it? You think you can embarrass the Juventino name?”
Marcus grabs my hand and I open my mouth, turning to face him. He shakes his head. Not now. Tell me next time. He smiles wearily, standing up and putting his hands in the air with nowhere to escape. Two men grab him, shoving him into the hallway. “Take him home. Make sure he and his family pack their things and get the hell out of the country by the end of tonight.”
“Please, punish me, not him.”
"Oh, I plan on it." Jorge raises his gun, pointing it at my head. "What better way to hurt you than to make you watch the man you love walk through that door, breathing in front of you for the very last time."
My eyes widen. "You told him to leave the country. I thought that meant you wouldn't hurt him."
Jorge smiles. "I did, but if a fire happens to stop him before then, I'm technically not going against anything I've said. I've promised nothing."
"Please, don't hurt him." I was never a man who begged, and I shouldn't do it now. It only gives Jorge more leverage. The words came before I could stop them. Jorge's eyes light up with glee, making me hate myself. This is all my fault. I got too close. I'd allowed myself to want something too much, and it made me a weaker man.
Jorge sighs and slams the gun into the side of my head. "Don't you get it? This is all on you. You only have yourself to blame. You will spend the rest of your life hating yourself for the mistakes you made and will never forget who holds all control."
I open my mouth, but before I can speak, a needle is being inserted into my neck.
"Time to go to sleep now. Everything will be how it should in the morning, once I finish cleaning up the mess you made."
My eyes close and my heart cracks in two as my body goes slack, my last moments with Marcus flashing in my mind.
"Not now. Save it for next time."
What if there isn’t one?
One
Miguel
