Still Waters (Lover's Lake)

“God, you’re so beautiful,” I said as she surrendered to sweet torture.

I wanted the moment to never end. I could easily spend the rest of my days suspended in those minutes of ecstasy. The words, I love you, lingered silently on my lips.

Tatum shut her laptop. I wasn’t sure how to take it. I shut mine, too and fell into a deep, peaceful sleep like a baby.

Chapter 6

TATUM

I’d never done anything like that in my life before. I was still breathing hard and shaking when I slammed my computer shut. I felt embarrassed and extremely vulnerable and yet somehow, still full of desire for this man—like I hadn’t just had my fill and then some.

I opened the computer again to apologize and say goodnight, but to my surprise, Ragnar was logged off. I was about to slam the machine shut again when a green light caught my eye, a blinking light in my queue with a username that caught my eye.

Stromboli

I laughed out loud. I’d phished Stromboli before and he was a Gabrelli henchman. It was too much of a coincidence for him to show up here, tonight. I downloaded all of his info and flagged him on our hard drive. I put on all of my baggy ninja gear and turned on my camera. A couple of connecting bloop noises occurred before he appeared on my screen.

“O’Geary, the jig is up. We know where you are, who you’re with. The choice is yours. Give yourself up and we won’t touch the rest of them, or stay there and resist and we’ll gladly take out all four of you with a quaint little house fire.”

“Good luck finding me,” I told him flatly.

“Do you miss your mom, Fio? It’s been a while, hasn’t it. Maybe she wouldn’t even recognize you with your new haircut?”

I hated him so much, I could taste it, the sharp and bitter bite on my tongue. Did they know where I was or were they just bluffing to get me to come out of hiding?

“What are you going to do, Fio? Spend the rest of your life on the run?”

“Turn you over to the FBI, so you can rot in jail like you deserve,” I told him. If he hurt my mother, I’d ruin his life. I hated the idea of others being at risk because of my behavior. My mom or Trudy, or Malik or Rafa.

“We don’t end, Fio. We won’t abate. You have four people on your side, we have hundreds, generations. What happens when you run out? Be a good girl and let them live.” Strombolli licked his lips and smiled. He was a blood-sucking rat. I wracked my brain for an out, for a solution I wasn’t seeing.

“Nice performance, by the way. Everything came in on a rootkit that slipped right past your friend. We have access to all his files and all of his machines. I’m rewriting his history with the FBI right now. Seems he’ll no longer be able to pull any strings. It’s unfortunate. He had a lot of potential. And as for you, I think you’ll do well with this movie stardom. I’m uploading your little performance to underage sluts dot com as we speak.”

“Stop it!” I screamed at the screen. “Just stop. I’ll do whatever you want me to do. Leave my mom and my friends out of it,” I spat. My face was hot with shame and my gut knotted with horror that the Gabriellis had outsmarted me.

“Good girl, I knew you’d come around. I can’t wait to get you working. Those tiny titties with rings will work wonders with this crowd. You’re gonna be a star. But don’t get too excited, probably won’t last that long. This crowd is rough and can use you up quick, if you know what I mean—”

I closed my laptop so I wouldn’t have to hear another word out of his mouth. My instinct was to run to Rafa, to find comfort in his strong arms, but I knew that feeling would be temporary. What was permanent was the Gabrielli’s ruthlessness and their determination to take out whoever had wronged them. I knew they’d torture me first. I knew they’d make me pay for leaking their information and that of all of their friends. But if I could keep those I loved safe, then I was willing to try it.

I quickly logged back in and set up some code to make it appear like I was online. If that could buy me some time and buy them some safety, then it was only a white lie. I packed my backpack up and left my computer where it was. Shoved my feet into my Chucks and padded silently down the stairs. Rafa was out cold, or maybe he didn’t want to see me and Trudy and Malik were too busy with each other to even notice if I was missing. I opened the front door and stepped out into the night. The fresh mountain air scented with pine felt like a cool bath on my hot skin. I took out my phone, turned on my tracking device and started walking down the bumpy dirt road. It wasn’t pitch black, the stars were shining and silver moonlight lit the side of the mountain. I heard a coyote howl in the canyon below.