An Eye For An Eye (The Club #11) (6 page)

Ten

LORAND

She slept soundly, and for the first time I am content not pacing the floor or my mind crawling the walls to escape confinement. No outstanding job clouds my mind. I don’t think about my obligations waiting for me in Austin or at the house on Lake Huron when daylight emerges. Not even Sorenson’s ultimatum permeates the time with her. There will be time enough for that, the regular shit will still be there, but these precious moments are mine.

“Good morning.” She rolled over into my arms and I tucked her safely underneath me.

“Mmm, hi.”

“You seem well rested.”

“I feel rested except for the soreness.”

“The bruises?” She nods and my anger flared something fierce.

“Do they look bad?” I leaned up rolling her over to face me and turn the bedside lamp on to examine her in decent lighting this time. My jaw clenched seeing the damage to her otherwise pale and flawless skin.

“No, barely noticeable.” I lied and her face puckers in a sour expression.

“You’re a bad liar. I can hear it in your voice.” I’m caught and the realization makes me smile because it means she knows me. It’s an odd and heady feeling, one I like very much.

“They’ll be gone in a week or so, no more. I promise.” I traced the outline of her finely arched eyebrow. It fascinates me and I let my finger linger following a path down to her nipple watching it harden under my gaze. She stiffens and wiggles under me, a flush spreads over her chest mingling with the purple and yellow bruises showing me a rainbow across her skin. I’ll call Tally to see what she can tell me about this man named Ken who hurt her. Confidentiality be damned, I think she’d agree he was no longer worthy of being a member. 

“You’re thinking something.” Drawing my attention back she reaches up and pulls me back down to her.

“What makes you say that?”

“I can…feel your body tensing. You’re going to find him aren’t you?”

“Jude.”

“Lorand.”

“Can we not argue?” I would beg her but it’s pointless, she knows I’ll go after the son of a bitch for hurting her. It’s my nature and I have no desire to alter that part of myself.

“Can you answer the question?”

I brushed hair back from her face, lifting her chin and examining her stern expression which makes me smile. Her frustration is stunning. “I’d rather not.” Teasing her is easy.

She clutched my hands with her much smaller, colder ones. “But I prefer you did.”

“Well we don’t always get what we want, now do we?” My goal is to distract her from asking me things I’m not ready to share with her and she’s good at sorting me out, almost too good that I know it’s going to be a problem. I come close to forgetting myself and my objectivity flies right out the window with this girl.

Guilt nipped at me and I know she’ll figure out sooner rather than later that her uncle is also my contact. I have a feeling that this is why he knew I would take this contract whether I wanted it or not. Something ties all of this together in a neat little bowed package that I’m about to tear wide open.

From a distance, I watch the ambulance pull away taking her to the nearest hospital. I will follow them there to check on her after I find my target and finish the job. Behind me I hear a rustling and turn.

“You’re going to owe me, Lorand.” Sorenson is twisting off the silencer on his gun.

“Did you get him? The last target?” I’m worried he might come after Jude.

“No. He’s going to be a problem.” Sorenson pockets his weapon grunting.

“Kendrick Halstad is a dead man walking.” It’s said with conviction and he will be my mission the rest of my life.

“It won’t be easy getting to the senator,” he reprimands me. I know that I failed him, this was my one chance and I blew it, but I will make it up to him. Both of them I vow.

“No matter, there will be other ways to exact revenge.” My hands cramped from clenching them so hard.

“Exactly. The man has a family and if he doesn’t pay, then the sins shall be laid upon the sons.”

“Children?”

“Adults, Lorand. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree with this one and you’d best remember that.”

A tug on my chest causes a spark of pain mixed with pleasure. Jude is trying to command my attention with sharp teeth grazing my nipple. “You seem distracted this morning.” She leaned over to kiss me, teasing.

Brat.

“A bit. I have–some work to finish, but I promise afterwards I’ll be completely at your disposal.” Cupping her face I kissed her breathlessly. I watched her eyelids flutter shut, the lashes like dark crowns on her face and goal one is accomplished.

“Hmmph.”

“Make no mistake, Jude. I want you and I will have you.”
Even if it’s only temporary.
Her cheeks flushed a sexy shade of pink that I’d like to match on her ass with my handprint someday.

She takes my hand and kisses it tenderly. “Well when you find that asshole, give him my regards.”

It’s unbelievable how she reads me. “Is that where you think I’m going?” She makes me laugh because her intuition is spot on. She’d probably make a snarky comment if she could see my smirk.

“Lorand, it’s not every day I get duped, attacked and saved. You’ve told me virtually nothing about you other than what I would have already known.” It’s her comments though that had me sobering my thoughts. I do have business to take care of and until then I don’t get to enjoy this time with her as I should.

“Do you have a phone?”

“Yes, I do.” Yawning she waved me to the nightstand on my side of the bed and I picked up her phone.

“I’m going to program my number for you.”

“Mmhmm.” She’s half asleep already so I lean down to kiss her coherent enough to listen to me. “I made my number the first contact and shifted everyone else down one.” No response. She’s out and I figured this was easier. Get the work done then get the girl. “I’ll be back after lunch. Don’t put any clothes on and under no circumstances do I want you to leave the house today.” I leaned over her kissing her lips soundly again and she pulled my face back down to hers. Her cloudy eyes rolled as she flopped back down on the bed spooning a pillow, eyes drifting shut and waving me away.

“Please, Jude, don’t leave the house today.” I leaned my forehead against hers hoping it wasn’t for the last time whispering into her riotous dark hair. Slipping out from under the sheets, I headed for the bathroom taking my jacket with me.

Turning on the faucet inside the shower I sat down on the toilet and pulled out the envelope that Sorenson made me take the night before. I crumpled the fine paper threads opening the note.

Kenneth Halstad, a junior member of The Club, frequents the Friday nights once a month. Take care of him and you’ll have fulfilled your debt to me. His father, the senator is aging well, his body riddled with cancer of the balls. A fitting punishment, you agree? He is the one connected to your sister. The son has taken up where the father has left off. Finish this. – S

Rage and despair equally filled me as I crumpled the missive and prepared myself for–
work
. Watching Jude sleep peacefully keeps me in check for now. What I wouldn’t give to wake her and slide between her creamy thighs letting her dew wash over me. The pleasure would wash away the pain for a time.

I don’t have to hazard anymore guesses as to why Sorenson wanted me to take this job. Slipping on my suit and running my fingers over my shaved head puts me back into work mode, my priorities once again aligned. I become the killer I’m trained to be.

I rushed getting out of there hunting my target down. Sitting in my car now, Kenneth, rather Ken Halstad, the son of the man I’ve hated and have been hunting all these years is sitting at the outdoor café free as bird with no cares sipping his fucking coffee in the sunshine. He was going to pay, they all were eventually, but today I was going to begin fulfilling my obligation with this man first.

Eleven

JUDE

Ringing filled the silence as I reached a flopping hand outside the shelter of safe covers to shut it off.

“What?” I answered the phone petulantly but I couldn’t stop smiling either. I finally had my mystery man and he was coming back later today.

“Jude, oh my God!” Her voice instead turned my stomach to more sour and sobering things.

“Ella?” I sit up amongst the pillowed down blankets hand chopping the fluffiness out of the way. Anger coursed through me in nuclear heatwaves.

“I am so sorry. I…”

Agitation coupled with dread fills me to the brink of overflowing. “No. No. We’re not doing this. We are not having this conversation like you didn’t do anything to put my safety in jeopardy last night.” I’m shaking and the cold feeling of being unable to trust is back again. 

“Ken, he and I…”

“I
trusted
you.” There was no amount of apologies that would fix what she did. I fooled around with Ella to forget about the man I didn’t know. I made a number of bad decisions, but you never knew when a bad decision in the moment would put you irrevocably in danger the way mine did. Lorand never forced me into anything I wasn’t comfortable doing. Sure, he played with me, but I consented and I craved having every part of him that he would give me. I would have offered myself up to be his sacrificial lamb without a second thought.

It was all so–so very fucked up.

“I broke that trust. I get it, but for what it’s worth,
I am sorry.
Nothing I do can fix this and I’m leaving town for a while. The shit Ken got me involved with is crazy.”

“Well, if coming onto your best friend and taking her to a sex club to be a toy for a whack job without her knowledge isn’t bad…then color me stupid.” Her actions were pretty unforgivable.

“I know you won’t forgive me, but I wanted to say I was sorry before I left. He said he wasn’t going to hurt you and I thought it would be us with him just watching or something. He said he was a voyeur, you know a watcher.”

“Still fucking creepy, Ella.”

“He told me to bring you because that’s all I talked about. He was jealous of my feelings for you.”

“This isn’t about jealousy, or forgiveness, Ella, I feel sorry for you. I feel sorry that you felt breaking my trust was worth an ounce of his time. If you needed money, a place to stay, anything, I would have given it to you freely. Heck, I could have been into you, but this killed it completely.” I rubbed the flesh above my heart that ached from the betrayal. I would get over this eventually, but the hurt would take some time.

“Jude?” Ella cried into the phone and I’m glad she didn’t just show up at my house while Lorand was here. There’s something about him that is dangerous and I didn’t know how he would have taken Ella’s apology, meaningless as it was to me.

“Please don’t ever call me again.” I hit the end button on the phone as she cried and put it down on the nightstand.

A shower would clear my head and help me with what to do next. Lorand and I had a lot to talk about and I wasn’t sure where to begin.

* * * * *

Stepping out of the shower, my phone was ringing again. It was like Grand Central Station opened up and everyone wanted a piece of me today. I reached for a towel that blended into everything else and stubbed my toe hard against the cabinet. Hobbling and trying to not hit my toe with anything else I hopped into the bedroom thankful I owned no clutter that could otherwise sabotage my walk to the bed. 

“Hello?” I answered feeling annoyed. I wanted Lorand to come back and the shower didn’t do much in the way of making me feel better. I sat on the bed rubbing my foot to massage the sting away.

“Judith, sweetheart.” My uncle’s voice came through the phone. Deep and clear, he addressed me formally as he always did. I really needed to set individual rings for people so I knew when to pick up and when to let it go to voicemail, but I was stubborn.

“Hi, how are you?” He’s known me since birth. He’s my mother’s much older brother. My uncle lived as a confirmed bachelor for years with no children of his own and often stepped up to be my father figure when my own couldn’t be bothered.

“I’m fine, but I was calling to check in on my favorite niece and take you to lunch if you have the time.” It’s not often we got together and I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity. Unsure how long Lorand would take, I decided to use my speech to text program to send him a text message when I get the chance.

“I always have time for you uncle. I just showered so I can dress if you’ll pick me up.”

“Perfect, I’m actually in the neighborhood so I should be there in about fifteen minutes.”

“Okay. I’ll be ready.” I reach for the first hanger in my closet. The organized band around the hanger tells me I’m selecting an easy sundress that I know has short sleeves and a modest top that will cover the bruises on my chest. I hired a personal shopper to select a few nice pieces and to arrange them in my closest so I don’t have to worry about looking like a mismatched hobo with my limited sight. My mind wanders for a minute and I feel a flashback overwhelm me. I don’t have a ton of them anymore that feel this real, but when I do, I’m left rattled and this one has me sinking to my knees shaking.

Antiseptic smells sting my nose and a bandage covers my face I can’t seem to reach. Panic grips my chest and I tried to breathe through the ventilator. “You’re going to be okay, Judith. I’ve got someone keeping an eye on you now.”

My uncle’s voice permeated the drugged cloud they kept me in. Sedated someone said. Scarred for life another said. She’ll never be the same, my mother’s words laced with horror as she dictates plans around me.

I was the new freak show since the accident at school. The science lab off campus exploded and I barely made it out alive. It was an accident that killed two of the school administrators who were meeting there. I don’t remember leaving the building, just opening the door and then struggling to breathe and my eyes on fire. Someone helped me out–Lorand–I know that now, but it’s all hazy.

My uncle always protected me since then. He helped me get my townhouse here in the complex and filed the law suit on my behalf for damages. He held me when I cried over emancipating myself from my parents who wanted to take me away from here to Connecticut to another school I refused to go to. I needed my freedom and he understood that, but I also needed what was familiar. There was a strange comfort to staying in Karim. I didn’t have to start all over, and people here at least knew what happened to me so the stares seemed less probing and curious. At least here I was their freak show and if I couldn’t see who pitied me at least they weren’t all strangers.

Knocking at the door jolted me from the memory locked inside my dark head. I finished getting dressed slipping on flat shoes to answer the door.

“Uncle!”

“Sweet girl!” He wraps me in a hug and kisses my head guiding me to his car where I slipped inside on smooth leather seats. A smell that reminds me of metal and Lorand jolts my nose, but I dismiss it because it’s impossible.

“I haven’t spent time with you in a while. What’s been going on?” I asked him.

“Traveling for work, you know how selling airplane parts go....” I don’t but wait for him to elaborate when he doesn’t. “I decided to take some time off and wrap up a few things in town. I got a letter for the final settlement amount from the Academy’s lawyers.”

“Oh.” Now I felt awkward. I’d never asked for anything, but the court has been more than generous thanks to my uncle’s team of lawyers practically parading me around like a puppy. As long as the school paid the settlement and secured the science lab, paying the environmental fines for the chemicals that leeched during the explosion, it was supposed to be over. I needed for this to be over.

“I’ll have it deposited into your account by the first of the month my dear.” He patted my hand reassuringly as he drove the car into town. It wasn’t that I wasn’t grateful to him for doing all of this but he had a tenacity that almost scared me with how he went after them.

“Thank you.” Simply put that’s all I wanted to say on this matter.

“I hope you like the Tumbleweed Café. It’s a beautiful day and I thought we could enjoy sitting outside.” He pulled the car to a stop.

“That sounds lovely,” and I let him help me out of the car which was more for his benefit then mine this time.

“Here you are sweetheart, wear these to protect your eyes.” He handed me a pair of large sunglasses. I was virtually blind in the bright Texas sun and with eyes as damaged as mine it seemed pointless, but I took them and placed them over my face to make him happy. “Now we’re ready.” He guided me to the restaurant and a waiter sat us down serving us with mimosas. It felt strange to be out in the open like this, we usually dined somewhere private but the sun felt good on my shoulders caressing me. I missed Lorand and I hoped he’d come back soon from doing whatever he did for work.