“Shut up.”
There’s a knock so Teague answers the door. “Are you decent?” Liam asks.
“Yes,” I say from the couch. “We’re decent, Liam. You can come in.”
Liam steps in and turns to Teague. “There’s a friend I’d like you meet.”
“What friend?” Teague asks.
“Sebastian mentioned something about keeping you out of prison?” Liam says. “I’m assuming we’re still going with that plan?”
“Yes,” I say, before Teague can respond and get up. “Can your friend help him?”
“Mia,” Teague tries to butt in but I cut him off. “Teague,” I say. “Liam went through the trouble of talking to a friend let’s at least go and see what he has to say before you make any decisions.”
Teague goes silent.
“Well then,” Liam says, heading out. “I’ll be waiting for you in the game room.”
When he leaves I start with my plan to bust Teague’s balls right away. “What he hell, Teague? Quit acting like you’re too good for someone’s help.”
“I did what I did,” Teague says. “Maybe I should pay for it.”
“You didn’t kill him.”
“No. I almost did.”
“This again, Teague!” I snap. “Quit being such a martyr! You heard Vince, the cops know there was foul-play involved in the guy’s death. The only reason the cops haven’t laid a hand on you yet, is because they don’t have enough evidence and that’s only because Vince has been keeping it that way but how long do you think Vince will be able to keep doing this? At least let’s just give Liam’s friend a chance, see what he has to say.”
“That’s just it,” Teague says. “I don’t understand why Vince is suddenly so involved in our lives? Don’t you think that’s a little strange?”
“He’s Sebastian’s friend.”
“He’s Sebastian’s employee.”
“Teague,” I sigh. “You don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, baby.”
Teague drops on the couch with a heavy thud and starts massaging his forehead with his fingertips like he’s driving away a bad headache. I go up to him and start kissing his face. He finally looks at me. “Teague,” I say. “Talk to me.”
It takes him a long time to answer. “Maybe I don’t deserve freedom, Mia. Maybe I deserve to go to prison for what I did.”
“Teague,” I say. “I know the guilt is killing you inside. I know this thing doesn’t let you rest, I’m with you when you’re having those nightmares, baby. But it was a mistake. A bad one but a mistake nonetheless.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then make me understand.”
“When I was in the cage Mia,” he says. “There was a moment…fuck…there was a moment where I…I was enjoying making him bleed. I was…I was enjoying it, Mia. What does that say about me?”
This time it’s my turn to be silent.
“Mia?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you hate me now?”
“No, Teague. I don’t.”
“Then what?”
I take Teague’s hand and can’t help the tears that come next. “If it’s horrible being the person who did this,” I say. “How do you think it feels being the person who loves someone like that?”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I know you are,” I say. “But what’s done is done. We can’t change it. But baby, we can change the future. You getting locked up isn’t going to help anyone! It’s certainly not going to help us, and you can judge me all you want, but I want you to be with me and not be rotting away in some correctional facility!” I pause to wipe the tears. “So Teague, please. I’m begging you. Take Liam’s help. I can’t lose you, I just can’t and I know that’s selfish but please, Teague! Don’t put me through that!”
Teague pulls me close to his chest.
Wherever his mouth lands, he starts kissing away the tears.
“I love you, Mia.” He says and wipes some more tears from my face. “Stop crying, come on. Let’s go impress some people and make sure we stay together, no matter what.”
Let’s Go Live
TEAGUE
“Hello, my name is Theo Jenkins,” Liam’s friend introduces himself. At first I think that maybe Theo and Liam share genes but then I realize it’s not their actual features but their appearance that makes them look so damn similar. For all I know, Theo Jenkins might not have existed until this morning when Liam decided to make a 3-dimensional copy of himself in a slightly dissimilar Armani suit.
“Theo’s my friend since college,” Liam says. “I rarely ever approve of what he does and he rarely ever approves of what I do but we manage to stay friends regardless.”
“Theo’s people handle the fights we’ve been going to,” Sebastian explains.
“I’ve heard your name around the circuits,” Theo says to me. “I’ve never been to any of your fights but I hear you have good technique.”
“Illegal fights aren’t exactly the perfect audience to show off technique,” I say. “All they want is blood and excitement.”
“Doesn’t everyone?” Theo says.
“I can’t imagine why someone like you would be in charge of some stupid fight club.”
“It’s my passion,” Theo says. “One of those things about me that most people don’t understand. I wear these suits and run my family business and people think I’m happy and living a perfect life when that’s far from the truth. I usually don’t even show this side of me to people, unless I find someone who understands me. As someone who doesn’t exactly belong to the trash audience that frequents these fights, I’m sure you can relate.”
Mia gives me a slight nudge in the ribs and I guess I’m supposed to say something to be nice to the guy so I try to come up with something. “You’re right,” I say. “I can relate.”
Theo smiles. “So,” he says. “Liam tells me you ran into a bit of trouble during one of the more important fights. Is that true?”
“I ended up breaking a guy’s jaw,” I say. “He ended up in the hospital and dead.”
“Are the cops bothering you?”
“Not at the moment,” I say. “My cousin Vincent, he’s a cop. He’s handling it but he says it’s not going to be easy keeping this one silent since that stupid tabloid involved the rest of the world and now everyone wants a target to pin this on.”
“I get it,” Theo says. “That’s how tabloids work. Can’t blame them for doing what they need in order to earn their living, can we? But we can do damage control.”
“Damage control?”
“Needless to say Theo’s connected,” Liam says. “He can make it go away.”
“Just like that?” I ask. “No strings attached?”
Mia nudges me harder this time. “Teague,” she says. “Theo’s just trying to help.”
“No,” I say. “I know that. I’m just making sure this won’t come and bite me in the ass tomorrow, that’s all.”
Liam looks annoyed. “It looks like Sebastian’s friend needs some kind of assurance, Theo.”
This time Sebastian gives me a cold, irritated look just like the one Mia just did. “Theo,” I say. “I mean no disrespect. I’m just saying that if there is something, that I can do in return, then I would.”
“Quid Pro Quo,” Theo says. “Well, Mr. Connolly. If there’s ever a time in the future where I need a favor from you, I’ll let you know. But honestly speaking, this favor isn’t for you. It’s for my friend Liam. So I don’t think there’s anything for you to worry about.”
“It’s like I always tell Teague,” Mia says. “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, buddy!”
Everyone laughs.
Except for me. “She’s right I guess,” I say, putting an arm around her, mostly so that Mia won’t be able to nudge me that hard again. “I do love her and I’d prefer it if I wasn’t seeing her only during the allocated conjugal visits.”
The slight bit of humor relaxes everyone and the tension is go
ne.
“So,” I say. “I guess we should be heading home.”
“Already?” Liam says. “The party’s just begun!”
“I know how hard you like to party,” I say. “And since Sebastian has become some weird party animal model lookalike, who I never get to see anymore, I would say you’ve been a good influence on him, Liam.”
“I used to party before Liam!” Sebastian argues.
“You used to come to parties,” Mia says. “There’s a big difference, Sebastian.”
“Whatever,” Sebastian says and some girl whispers something in his ear that makes them both laugh and he leaves with her.
Mia and I say our goodbyes to Theo and Liam and head out.
Mia hugs me close to herself as we find our way to the parking lot where I’ve parked my car. “I feel bad for Selena,” she says.
“Why?”
“She really likes Sebastian.”
“So?”
“So,” Mia says. “Aren’t you seeing him with all those girls? He has like a new one at every party now!”
“I know,” I say. “I can hardly believe that’s our Sebastian.”
“I know! That’s why I’m sad for Selena.”
We’re almost by our car when a man in a black hoodie approaches us. I can’t see his face, but I know there’s something wrong the minute I see him. When he raises his gun at me, the doubts become a reality. “I want everything you’ve got,” he says, and his voice comes out muffled as though something is covering his mouth. “Quick! If I see you slowing down these bullets are going right in you!”
Mia and I start handing him our belongings. “Just relax, man.” I say, handing him my wallet. “We don’t want any trouble. You can have what you want. Just don’t hurt us, okay?”
“The car keys,” he says. “Where’re the car keys?”
“In my pocket,” I say. “Can I just reach for them?”
“Okay,” he says and then yells. “Make it quick or she gets it!!”
I hurriedly fumbled around for the key fob and toss it to the guy in the hoodie. “That’s everything, man.”
The hoodie reaches for Mia and my instincts kick in and I’m about to throw him a hit when he holds up the gun. “Don’t be a hero,” he says, and I see his hand reaching for Mia’s gold necklace. He pulls it and Mia grimaces. “Relax,” he says to me. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
I say nothing. I’m having a hard enough time controlling my anger. If I start speaking my mouth might say something I’ll regret. He searches me first, to make sure I’ve given him everything which I have and then he heads to her. I have to clench my hand into a fist when he starts searching her the same way. “Your girlfriend’s gorgeous,” he says, and now his hands are doing a lot more than searching for remainder cash. “I think I want one last thing from you. Her.” And then, before his hands move, mine do, and I realize they’re not my hands anymore but fists and I knock him down and get on top of him and start hitting his face over and over and I don’t stop even when Mia starts screaming at me, not when I can hear her saying something about a knife…
Not until the damned thing slices my arm and I’m forced to get away from that bastard. I’m still standing in front of Mia protectively, in a fighting stance, my fists ready to hit but that knife—it only gives me pause for the next two seconds before I lunge at the hoodie again. But instead of trying to plunge that knife in me as I expected, the bastard heads straight for Mia and I try to knock the thing out of his hand but I fail because he’s threatening to hurt her and I watch him stab her in the ribs and make a run for it…
The Fear of Insanity
TEAGUE
I carry Mia inside the doors of the emergency room and I don’t know how I even have the strength to do all this because I’m breaking from inside. I can’t even feel anything other than fear and the tiny dread that I’m about to go insane. Somehow I make it inside those doors, and manage to get help, and when they take her away from me and I’m left without anything to do but watch helplessly as they try to help her, all those doctors and nurses and all those people, and Mia looks so fragile lying there…
Lifetimes pass before I come to my senses and a doctor comes to me and tells me that Mia’s going to be okay, and that she’s stable now. But the fear, the doubts still don’t leave. Neither does the pain. I just sit there, outside the Intensive Care and wait. I don’t even know what the hell I’m waiting for until my phone rings.
“Hello?” I say, like the zombie that I am.
“Teague?” I hear a voice that I recognize but at the same time I don’t. “Teague, it’s Ashley, did you forget me already?”
I don’t reply because I’m a zombie and zombies don’t reply to people.
“Teague, you’re scaring me,” Ashley says. “What’s wrong?”
I start to cry.
Do zombies cry?
I guess they can.
“Teague where are you?” Ashley says, worried. “I’m coming over. Just tell me your address.”
I want to tell her that zombies have no addresses, but I can’t even manage that.
“Teague!” Ashley yells. “Are you listening?”
My brain recalls the address and I read it to her as it comes to me. “Okay,” Ashley says. “Wait for me. I’ll be right over.”
Win or Lose
LIAM
Ashley gets off the phone and turns to me.
Her face breaks out in a huge grin and she hugs me and yelps in delight. “It worked!” she cries. “Liam…it worked!” She breaks away and keeps going in the same vein. “I just called the hospital and they told me she’s got some serious injuries but nothing she won’t recover from. In time, that is.”
I know I feel a little full of myself but that’s nothing new. “Well, now you know you have no reason to doubt me.”
“What I don’t understand,” Ashley says. “Is why we’re not just killing her? Wouldn’t that be simpler?”
I roll my eyes. “Killing someone should always be the last resort, Ashley. But hey, if you were smart enough to figure that out you wouldn’t be pining after some brainless, alpha male stereotype.”
“I’ll let that go, because I’m really happy and even you can’t put a dent in my happiness about getting Teague. Soon, I will have him. All to myself.”
“Well, I did my part now you should go do yours.”
Ashley suddenly stops talking and her face gets weird. “Ashley? What’s wrong?” I say but when I turn to see what she’s looking at, my heart skips a beat. “Sebastian. How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough,” he says, and there’s anger in his eyes. “To know that the two of you are the worst people on the planet.”
Ashley kisses me lightly on the cheek and picks up her purse. “I have to go,” she says. “It was nice running into you, Sebastian.”
Sebastian rudely ignores her and walks up to me. “Let me hear it.”
“Hear what?” I say, going over to the sideboard and opening a bottle of bourbon. I pour it in two glasses.
“Your rationalization,” Sebastian says. “For what I just heard.”
“No rationalization,” I say, walking up to him with the drinks and hand one to him. “Take this. We can talk about this like reasonable people, Sebastian.”
He takes the drink from my hand and smashes it against the wall. “I want to get out of the contract,” he says. “I’ll have my lawyer come to you because I don’t ever want to see your face.”
I take a sip from my drink. “That’s not happening, Sebastian.”
“You said it was just a piece of paper,” Sebastian says. “That I could get out of it any time I wanted!”
“You can,” I say, trying to be gentle. “But I have every right to stop you from making the biggest mistake of your life because you let emotions get in the way.”
“Yeah,” Sebastian says. “I’m an emotional fool. But you knew that about me and you said that was the reason you loved me.”
&nb
sp; “I do. And that’s why I can’t let you ruin your life this way for bloody Teague!”
“This is my decision, Liam.”
“No, it’s not.” I say and almost finish the drink.
“Fuck you,” Sebastian says and starts to leave the room but I smash my drink glass against the same wall, harder than he did and he stops.
“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?” I snap. “Just because I like to fuck you doesn’t mean I’m going to let you just walk out of here and do whatever the fuck you want. You leave this room when I say you leave this room. You leave this relationship, when I say you leave this relationship. You leave this bloody agency when I say you can leave this agency! Am I making myself perfectly clear, Sebastian? Or do you want me to add a few threats to make sure you really understand what you’ve gotten yourself into.”
I walk right up to him and find him standing there, speechless.
Standing behind him, I let my body touch his, and I run a hand over his arm and squeeze the material of the shirt, pulling him closer to me. “Sebastian,” I say in a whisper. “I know you think I’m a monster. But if you just forget this ever happened, we can go back to where we were. Just forget you walked in on us talking, forget you heard what you did. We’re happy together. And I want to stay happy. I want you to be happy. And that’s not possible unless you give yourself up completely to me. You have to understand my reasons for doing what I did.”
He says nothing but I can feel him cringe.
It makes me mad and instead of letting go I just pull him towards me, turning him so he can face me. “Why do you have so much hate for me?”
“You hurt my friends.”
“Sebastian,” I say. “And I’ll hurt them even more if you resist me.”
“Are you blackmailing me?”
“I told you,” I say. “I’ll do anything in my power to get you. Anything.”
“You can’t have me with power.”
“Of course I can.”
“Let go of me, Liam.”
“Fine,” I say. “I’ll let you go. You can run to your friends. But you have to face the consequences. Are you ready to do that?”