Page 3 of The #2 Guy

“Relax. I’m taking you outside like you wanted. Fresh air is good for the soul.”

I hesitate but let him put the blind on me. He gently places my foot in each sneaker and ties the laces. Then he takes my hand in his strong one and finally, I’m led out of the room that’s been my home for months. “Careful now. We are heading up some stairs.”

In my head I count fifteen to the top. He turns me left, then straight, then right and I almost stumble as a door opens and I’m… outside?

“Ah.” I breathe in deeply. It must be night. The smell of burning logs, leaves and dew surrounds me. The last time he brought me out the air smelled of cigarettes and summer nights. But he won’t let me take my blind off, instead he tells me we need to walk. I grip his hand tight, afraid again of where we might be going. Finally, he tells me to stop. I feel his hands untying the knot behind my head and then there’s nothing but stars. A million of them. I don’t know where I am, but I’ve never seen a night sky quite like this. The sky is indigo velvet and the stars flawless diamonds lounging in the folds. I’m so overjoyed by the beauty of the moment, tears well in my eyes. “Thank you,” I whisper hoarsely. “Please, could you cut my hands free?”

He grunts but takes a knife from his boot and slices through the zip ties at my wrists. “Don’t try anything stupid, girl.”

I rub my wrists. “I almost feel free. Almost. The air is so clean… I’ve never seen so many stars before. We must be far from a city.” I frown, realizing the clearing he brought me to is surrounded by evergreen trees as thick and tall as ones described in a fairy tale. “Where are we?” I breathe, knowing he won’t answer. An owl hoots from somewhere above our heads.

“I couldn’t take you out during daylight. Your eyes haven’t seen sun in too long. The night is closer to the dim light of the cellar.”

“Will I have permanent eye damage?”

“Nah, that’s why I got you that UV light. People in Alaska use it during their dark winter to remind them of summer light.”

“Summer. I missed that, didn’t I? It’s my favorite season. My brother, Jack, he had a forty-foot sport fishing boat. Sometimes we’d moor offshore of East Hampton Bay. Eat Lobsters and drink beer. Play cards and swim at midnight. I smelled of the ocean and had salt in my hair, but I never cared…”

I swallow hard, thinking of Jack and summer days that I’d never live again. Not unless somehow, I get free. I turn to him, loving the feel of the night wind in my hair. A few strands blow in front of my face, the dark chocolate strands longer than they’ve ever been. “You’re a good man. I feel it in my bones. Please let me go. My brother’s been mourning me. I’m all he has left. I-I want to feel the sun on my face, have the chance to be a mother… get married…” I paint a picture of a life a woman like me should have the right to live, trying to appeal to him. “Surely you understand, you wear a ring…,”

His face darkens. “You see what you want to see. What makes you think I’m a good man? I’ve kept you a prisoner here for someone else’s revenge. The world isn’t painted in black and white, little FBI. I live in the gray.”

“But you’d never hurt me.”

“I’ve killed. Buried bodies under the moonlight. Done the hardest drugs money can buy. I don’t do that shit anymore but I carry it all with me. You saw what you wanted to see; sometimes bad people are good and good people bad. You betrayed the wrong man, little FBI. You’re lucky they didn’t order me to bury you where I’ve buried so many.”

His words turn over in my mind. “If it comes to that. Promise me something…?”

His sharp blue eyes land on my upturned face. This man is gorgeous. A gorgeous honest monster and yet I don’t see him as anything but good. It emanates from the gentle kindness in how he’s always spoke to me. “I can’t promise you anything but that no one will ever hurt you the way a man can hurt a woman.”

“Ah, so you do have somebody. Or did. A woman you’d die for.” He breathes out hard, clenching his fists. Not willing to speak about his heart or the fact that it’s wrapped in a band of platinum around his ring finger. “If the day ever comes when you’re ordered to dispose of me, bury me on a night like this… in a place like this…”

“No. If the day ever comes when they tell me to do that, I’ll send you to my brothers in the Royal Bastards. They’ll keep you safe. Hidden.”

“The Royal Bastards? Who are they?”

His lips smirk. “Ever watch Sons? The RBMC are the biggest international MC in the world. Their connections are deep. Even the Salvatore would think twice before starting that war.”

“Send me there now?”

He shakes his head. “I couldn’t guarantee your safety. A pretty, young thing like you? Some hot-head would want to make you his ol’ lady. Little FBI and all…”

I shudder. “I need a break from men. From romance… Maybe permanently.”

“Yeah, I figured.”

“Is he…,” I swallow hard. “Alive? Or did Roque order a hit?”

“It’s time to go,” He answers gruffly.

“Please. Just a few minutes more?”

“It’s getting cold.”

“The cold is all I know now…the stars—I need to make a wish.”

“You need more than a wish and a prayer to get out of the mess your in.”

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