I’m still thinking about Tegan. Did she just run away? Well, I couldn’t blame her if she did. What kind of a life would she have with an older man like me? A lot of filthy images follow the thought around my head.
Sick is what it is. She’s right to run.
Damn, though, it didn’t feel sick at all. It felt right. I’m picturing her breasts bouncing in my shirt.
“Finn, I want out of the business here. I want to know what I’d be looking at if I just sold up. One payment, clean slate, straight out. Sell Jack the whole damned mess.”
There’s a pause. “Okay, boss.”
“There’s something you want to say. I can hear it in your voice, Finn.”
“Liam, you’re the boss. Always were, always will be, as far as I’m concerned. You tell me what you want, I’ll do it.”
“Come on. You know I value your judgement. Out with it.”
Something nags at the back of my mind. Something I overlooked that I should be seeing.
“Well, Liam, I could be way out of line here, alright? But if I know Jack, if you let him have this, he’ll come after all your other businesses, too.” I know what he means. He goes on, “He’s not a man who’s ever satisfied. I hope I can speak freely.”
“Sure, Finn. Go on.”
“Jack’s the kind of a man, he can name his own terms, shake on a deal, and then drink with you all night to celebrate. The next morning, he’s still likely to decide you cheated him.”
“Okay. Thanks, Finn. I’ll think.”
“Anytime. You’re the boss.”
“There’s something else I want you to find out about for me. Something from the past.”
Now I remember what I overlooked.
I tell Finn what I want. But what I saw on the patio just hit me.
I run back, down to the kitchen, out across the patio to the wall. There it is, by the patio gate.
In a sprig of rosemary. One of my cufflinks.
Chapter Nine
Tegan
Jack stepped into the kitchen with Aaron.
“Perfect timing,” he told me with a wide grin. “Your future starts today.”
Aaron said, “You’re a very lucky girl. You will be be marrying into Boston’s most important family.”
I knew where this was going. “Yours.”
A chuckle from Aaron, “Ours, little mousey.”
He bundled me in a car with his huge, ugly driver, Carrick. From the back seat, Carrick looks like a bullet, covered in rolls of tattooed flesh.
I tried to get out of the car on the way. The car doors were all locked. Carrick’s laugh is one of the most spine-chilling things I ever heard.
Every time the car even slowed, I tried to shake the doors open. I pulled hard enough that the car swayed and shook. I hoped somebody might see it and maybe call the police or do something.
All I got was Carrick’s horrible laugh and a flash of his big grin full of metal teeth.
We left the city and travelled a long way into the woods. Then we passed through some gates in a wall and bounced up a long, bumpy path, through more trees.
Deep in the woods we came to an old ranch-style cabin. As soon as Carrick opened the door, I tried to run.
But I’m not fast.
Carrick is. He caught me before I’d gone twenty feet.
He wrapped me tight from behind with his massive, tattooed arms. Gripping me to carry me into the cabin, he said, “Shame Jack has a plan for you. I could really make you feel good.”
Then, as he got me inside and locked the door, “If you weren’t a virgin, we could have ourselves some fun anyways.” and he looked at me like he was looking at a steak.
“You are still a virgin. Right?”
I tried to run for the doors, but Carrick caught me and laughed as he dropped me on a wooden chair.
It was probably useless anyway. All the doors were most likely locked. The only chance I could see for escape would be to jump through a window. And the cabin is raised off the ground outside. All the windows would be an eight-feet drop or worse.
Carrick leered. “Do I have to tie you down?”
I shook my head. He was getting into the game. I figured that if he started having fun with ropes or ties, it would lead him to get carried away. I decided it was best to try and keep the temperature cool. Stay calm. Look out for any opportunity.
I wouldn’t have much chance without a plan, anyway. We drove a long way off any trafficked roads. And he knows the territory.
Slowly, another car pulled up outside.
After a clomp of boots up the steps and onto the deck, the door banged open.
Aaron stamps in, slamming the door shut behind him.
“Carrick, wait outside.” The two men exchange ugly laughs. My stomach drops through the floor as Carrick steps out.