Page 20 of Blood & Lace
"Mr. Marino, I'm not here to discuss whether you need to be admitted into a psych ward or carted off to an insane asylum."
"Neither one can hold me. Most doctors stop trying to fix what's wrong once they get tired of having to see a doctor for themselves."
His mouth opened and closed as if he was at a loss for words. The confusion left his face and was replaced with one of indifference as he held the paperwork out toward me. "No one wants?—"
"Who sent you?" My voice dipped as I caught sight of the papers. They were all the same, demanding that I let go of the one man I loved. It was never going to happen. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.
"Mr. Auclair?—"
I was up in seconds, and my fists slammed into the side of his face, catching him off guard. The man fell back and was back up just as fast as he'd gone down.
"Want to try that again?"
He wiped the corner of his mouth, smearing the red dot over his hand. "Everyone said you were delusional, but damn, you're a lost cause." He raised his fist, the papers released and the wind took them away. It would have made me happy if it wasn't for theman's words. "If you had a shot with him, maybe I got a chance. Once you're gone, I'll make sure to stay by Onyx's side?—"
Hot blood splattered over my knuckles and cheeks, wrapping me up in a blanket of warmth and need. My stomach knotted as I drew back my fist and slammed it forward into the guy’s face. The crunch and crack of cartilage made my dick hard.
Onyx was mine!
The man's words were nothing more than garbled up grunts. The blows he delivered to my body felt like little puffs of air. The more I hit him, the better I started to feel. I wanted desperately to be more of a lover, but there were always times I'd have to fight and kill. The world blurred around me as I continued to draw my fists back and brought them down with every ounce of my strength. The hits stopped coming from the man, but I'd barely noticed as I attempted to rearrange his face.
No doubt there would be bruising later that would hurt, but any amount of pain was easy to handle; especially for Onyx.
Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. I flung blood off my knuckles and looked up to meet wide eyes and a gun aimed my way. There weren't a whole lot of people walking around where I decided to camp out. But the few that had been passing by had made themselves scarce. Even in this nice-as-fuck neighborhood, people knew when it was best to avoid a situation.
"Stop." The new man's voice shook. He sported the same black polo as the man on the ground. Unlike the man choking on his blood, he was still standing.
I had little patience left. It went out the window the moment Onyx's name was brought up, and the idea of someone else having him was firmly planted in my head. Just thinking about it now, I wanted to go back to smashing his head into the concrete until it cracked and blood pooled around him.
"For your sake, I hope you don't have one of those stupid papers." I was at the end of my rope with the bullshit. There was no way in hell Onyx wanted a divorce, and if these so-called security guards kept up the bullshit, I was bound to lose my mind.
"Step away from Sullivan."
That didn't answer my question. I assessed him, noticing that he only had one firearm on him. I had at least three weapons on me at all times. He held the gun with an expert grasp. There was no denying that he probably practiced with it plenty of times, but had he killed with it?
I took a step back and then another. The little distance grew inch by inch until I was far away enough from the other man on the ground that his friend rushed to his side.
"Sullivan, you still with me?" He didn't take his eyes off me, and I made sure to stay still.
My lips stretched into a smile when no reply came from the man on the ground.
"Sullivan!" The other guard tapped him with his foot, his focus wavering as he tried to check on his colleague. "Hey, man, come on, you're just as big as him."
A single second was all it took. His gaze moved from me to look down, and I went in for the kill. I drove my fists into his abdomen and broke his hold on the gun. Slammed my elbow up into his nose, driving his head back in a sharp jerk motion. I kicked the gun out of either of their reaches. Most people took my size for granted, thinking because of how big I was that I was sluggish. It always caught them off guard, and this man was no different. His neck was nestled in the palm of my hand. It would only take a second to drag him closer, place another hand on the top of his head, and snap the life out of him.
I lifted him by the front of his shirt until his feet dangled a few inches off the ground. His nose dripped a steady stream of blood, marking the pavement with dark crimson spots.
The guard coughed and sputtered, his hand lifted to rest on my wrists. "Mr. Auclair?—"
Hearing them call Onyx Mr. Auclair was something of a bother. I couldn't quite figure it out for a while why it had bothered me, but as the realization dawned on me, I swore. "Shit, I knew I forgot something," I said, cutting off the annoyance. I still hadn't gotten our last names changed. We hadn't had much time to talk about it, but I was hoping Onyx would become a Marino. My family name meant something and it was a big deal,, but I was certain if push came to shove I could change everyone's mind if Onyx wanted to keep his last name. "Lucero Auclair?"
The guard tapped at my wrists, but instead of putting him down, I shook him slightly.
"It doesn't sound bad, right? Different, but you know how it is when you're in love."
He contributed nothing more than a few sputtering coughs. His counterpart was no better on the ground. In fact, he was probably the worst. Thinking about Onyx taking my last name or me taking his had instantly put me in a better mood.
"He—talk," the man stammered out.
