Page 59 of Pitbull
“But the grenade!” Penrod shrieked, dropping it and covering his face.
Anke stuck her head around Pitbull’s body and looked at the grenade on the ground. She may not know much about the things but they only had seconds to go off. At least she was pretty sure that was how it worked.
“We’re going to try this one more time.” Pitbull snarled. “Let me see your hands.”
While sobbing, Penrod put his hands behind his head and slipped to his knees. He was muttering something to himself as Pitbull approached him. When he pulled a pair of cuffs from the back of his waist, he extended them to Anke.
“Would you do the pleasure, Butterfly?” He asked.
Anke giggled and accepted the handcuffs. Though she would rather be using them on Pitbull, she took great enjoyment in wrapping the cold steel around Penrod’s wrists.
17
Pitbull paced the interrogation room, waiting for them to escort Claudia in. She’d been transferred to a ward called Purgatory. It was where those with charges pending were held until they were either officially charged or released. Webber had suggested moving her there and had conveniently “lost” her paperwork. No papers bought CIRO some time to square Penrod away with a couple of his henchmen found lurking around the location.
He’d spent the night in Anke’s arms. She’d been jumpy all night. The only time she calmed was when he stormed her body. She focused on him then, on their pleasure, on whispering his name like a soft caress from the wind. Pitbull didn’t mind. Anything she wanted in those moments, in the next eternity, he’d give to her.
The sound of footsteps brought him back to reality and he turned to the door. A guard escorted a restrained Claudia in and placed her in the chair.
“You can remove the restraints,” Pitbull said.
“Sir…”
“Look at me,” Pitbull said. “Do I really look like I need her restrained?”
The guard didn’t look convinced but he undid Claudia’s handcuffs and left, closing the door behind him. Pitbull sat across from her. Claudia didn’t meet his eyes but he could tell she was crying.
“Slim…”
“You want me to go.” She sniffled. “Out of your life..”
Pitbull shook his head. “What I want is for you to stop getting yourself into these kinds of messes—sure this one really had nothing to do with you. You were just a pawn in someone’s sick little game.”
“What?”
“Long story.” Pitbull exhaled. “I’ll explain it all later. But you’re worried about what I want. What I want is to have my big sister back. What I want—what I want is to be able to call you and talk to you about what’s going on in my life. To threaten your boyfriends into treating you right because they know I have guns and I have connections that can drop a missile on their cars from outer space. What I want—Claudia—what I’ve always wanted is you. But at some point, you became so caught up in your own hurt, refusing to reach out to anyone and letting the dark swallow you. I was reaching out to you, hoping you would grab my hand but you wouldn’t reach back.”
“I…” She stopped. “I just…”
“Do you hear what I’m saying, Slim? I can’t save you if you don’t want to save yourself.” Pitbull waited. “Look at me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Claudia…” Pitbull walked around the side of the desk and hunched down beside her. He pressed a tender palm to her cheek. “Look at me.”
Finally, she met his gaze, her eyes filled with tears. His heart broke then and he helplessly pulled her into his body. It seemed being tender to her caused the floodgates to burst open and she sobbed openly while clinging to the back of his shirt. Not knowing how else to help, he held onto her, glad to have his sister in his arms but saddened by the state of it all.
“We’re going to have to grow from this,” Pitbull said.
She nodded into his shoulder.
“Okay.” He set her back. “When I leave this room, the guards are going to come back. They’re going to give you your release papers and escort you to the doors. Anke and I will be waiting for you outside.”
She sniffled. “You and Anke…”
“Right now, we’re seeing each other,” Pitbull said. “I don’t know what we are beyond that because we haven’t had a chance to talk about it all yet. But don’t worry about all of us now. One step at a time.”
“All right.”
