Betrayed (The Worshipped Series Book 2) (36 page)

I open my eyes and look at her as I say, “Of course you can.”

“What does your tattoo mean?”

I look at the small hand tracing over the demon part of my tattoo. It was so long ago when I got it. I let out a breath as I try and explain to her what it means to me. 

“It means there are two parts of me fighting against each other. A battle that can never be won. It is something I got a long time ago more to remind myself that there once was goodness inside of me. For a while, that good part of myself was almost nonexistent. I didn’t have to know that good part of myself when I did things for Dominic. But every time I would look at my tattoo, I would remember that the darkness isn’t the only part of who I am.”

“I actually love this tattoo. I don’t know if it’s because it’s on you, but I find that it suits you. I can see what you mean now, that you have explained it for me. I’m glad you have found the good side of yourself again. You truly are an amazing man. You know that right?”

I smile at her. She is letting me off way to easily. I don’t want to ruin the moment so I grab her neck and pull her to me for a kiss. I want to show her that I appreciate her faith in me. Without her, I don’t know where I would be. I fear without her, I would be lost in the darkness forever. 

I end our kiss and she goes right back to tracing my tattoo. She does this for a while and then she moves to my other one. I tense knowing what she is about to ask and I don’t know if I am ready to tell her. She must sense that I don’t want to say anything about it and she moves her hand down to my stomach and leaves it lying on me. 

“Will you tell me about that one? Please?”

Fuck. How can I deny this vixen anything? 

“Julian is someone who I care deeply for. Perhaps one day you will want to meet him.” I tell her vaguely. I’m relieved she doesn’t push and I could kiss her again for that. Thinking about Julian makes me think of Marcus. I fear something must have happened and I worry what that might be. He is four days late with our weekly text. Marcus is never late with anything that he does. I have tried not to let it bother me, but it is always a nagging thought. I can only hope he and Julian are safe. 

We both lie in silence for a while. I hold Karen close to me and when I look down at her, she is asleep. I still cannot believe she came to me when she did in the shower. I am more than happy that she did. It had been hard enough for the past week to keep myself from touching her how I wanted. And looking at her now, seeing her sound asleep for the first time in a long time, I feel as if I have succeeded in taking care of her. I could watch her sleep for hours. And I do for a while longer. 

I do eventually get up and pull the covers over her beautifully naked body. I kiss her lightly on the forehead and I put on some shorts. I should be tired. I should be curled up next to my little vixen, but for some reason I can’t seem to relax. I don’t know if it is because of knowing something might have happened to Marcus, therefore putting Julian at risk, or if it is because I am just restless. 

I walk outside to the night air and breathe in the scent of the ocean. It was a good choice in coming here. I know Karen is safe. She now knows more about me than anyone else besides Marcus. I feel at ease knowing I don’t have to hide who I am from her anymore. Pretending for so long only got me so far. I remember being so lonely and having a void inside of me. Being with Karen has not only cured the loneliness, but she is starting to fill that void as well. 

I lean against the porch thinking how different my life will be once I decide to go back to the real world. I know we cannot hide out here forever, but I can’t leave right now not knowing what the fuck is going on. The last thing I want to do is to go back and walk right into one of Dominic’s traps. He is known for that.

 I am so lost into my own thoughts I don’t hear him until he speaks. 

“Look at you. I think you’ve gone soft on us my old friend.”

My head snaps to the right and I see fucking Lance walking closer to me. 

“What the fuck are you doing here? How the hell did you find me?”

“See, this is how I know you have gone soft. It was very easy to track you down once I found your old property records. And not to mention the new management helped me out a lot.”

“What the fuck are you saying Lance?” I cannot believe this fucker found me. Found us. Fuck!

“Well, Dominic had an unfortunate accident with a bullet, and now, well we work for someone else. Nice guy, that Vincent.”

 My first thought is who the fuck is Vincent? My second thought is Dominic really dead? And then the third, what the hell is Lance doing here?

“Ah, I see the wheels turning in that fucked up head of yours. Jason, my man, you disappoint me. I have been here for days watching you and that bitch of yours play house. And you never suspected a thing. You are losing your touch. Playing house with your bitch will do that to you. I have come to tell you it’s time to give up the game and get back to business.”

“Fuck you Lance. I don’t work for anyone anymore.”

“And that’s where you’re wrong. See, Vincent is a smart man. Much smarter than Dominic ever was. It took all of two seconds for him to figure out your little secret with Marcus. Not to mention that little drug trade you had on the side. Didn’t you wonder how the cops found out about your warehouse?”

Damn it all to hell. No wonder Frankie and I had no idea what went down that day. We assumed we had a rat. Not that anyone could find the guy we thought it was. The guy up and disappeared. But it makes sense if what Lance is saying is true. And if they found Marcus, then I have to go back. They will use Julian against me if I don’t. 

“Don’t worry about the guy you were looking for. Vincent knew you would go looking for the new guy, and well, let’s just say, he’s long gone. I am here to tell you that you have forty-eight hours to come back and get your fucking ass back to work, or we kill Julian. It’s that simple. Oh and I might just kill that pretty blonde bitch while I’m at it too. Or maybe I will fuck her first while you watch. She is a pretty little thing isn’t she? I give you one thing. You sure know how to pick the hot ones.”

I don’t have time to react to anything Lance has just told me before he walks way and disappears into the night. I hold onto the porch railing tightly as I think over what he just told me. I knew something had to have happened to Marcus. I can only hope they didn’t kill him for protecting Julian. I rub my hands over my face thinking of a plan. 

I have to get Karen out of here. She is my first priority right now. I will have to deal with the other shit later. I will find out who this fucking Vincent is. I will figure out who he is and I will fucking kill him for what he has done. 

I quietly walk back inside and I find my phone. I check on Karen making sure she is still asleep, then I walk out and I call Frankie. He is the only other person I trust enough to do this for me. I am relieved when he answers on the first ring.

“What can I do for you Jason?”

“How fast can you get to Cozumel Mexico?”

I wake up Jason talking to someone outside. It’s still dark out and I know it’s to be early in the morning. I even thought I might be dreaming, but as I get out of bed and put on one of Jason’s shirts, I can hear he’s on the phone with someone. I can’t make out their conversation, but I can tell by Jason’s body language, it isn’t a pleasant one. All I can think is, what now? Things are going so great between us. I feel as if destiny is working against us somehow. As if fate doesn’t want us to be together. I feel like we won’t ever be free of the fucked up past of Jason’s. 

I watch him through the screen door as he hangs up his phone. I walk out and I see whatever this is, it is messing with him. He is leaned down with both hands on the porch railing. All I want to do is comfort him. I want to ease this pain he is going through right now. But I don’t step closer to him. Something is telling me he isn’t in full control of himself right now. 

“Jason?” I call out to him as calmly as I can as I walk out on the porch.

“Karen, go back inside. I’m … I’m close to losing it. Please go back inside.”

“No. Jason, look at me. Turn around and look at me.”

He slowly turns around and I make myself stay right where I am. His eyes are completely black. His jaw is clenching as are his hands. His whole body is rigid. I can see him fighting the darkness. Whatever just happened, has to been really bad. I haven’t seen him like this since the night he tried to hurt me. 

“Jason, listen to me. I need you to take a deep breath. You can fight this. Don’t let the darkness take over you. Fight it for me.”

I can see he is trying to fight inside of himself. He shakes his head back and forth. He grabs a hold of the railing again as he tries to walk to me. It’s almost as if he holds onto the railing it will keep him from coming to close to me and hurting me. He is stopping himself from coming closer to me. I can hear him breathing in and out hard, as he fights. I keep telling him over and over to come back to me. Finally after for what it seems forever, he comes back to the good side of himself. 

He nods as he says, “I’m okay now. I’m alright.”

I advance to him and I grab his hand to pull him inside. I need him to tell me what happened. I know there is a reason he almost lost it. Hell I thought he was in the bed next to me. We sit down on the couch and I try to wait for him to tell me what the hell happened. When he doesn’t I take matters into my own hands. 

“Tell me what happened Jason.”

He looks at me and for the first time since I have known him I see fear in his eyes. That look scares me to death and I have no idea what to think. 

“A man that used to work for Dominic found us.”

We’ve been found? My heart skips a beat at the news. “Wait, what do you mean used to work for him?”

“He said that some man named Vincent killed him.”

“That’s good news though right? I mean Dominic is the reason why you took me and now that he is gone we can go back.”

Jason shakes his head and my stomach drops. 

“This Vincent guy, he took over what Dominic has built up.” Jason looks at me as he says, “They want me to come back to work for them.”

I cannot believe what he is telling me and I ask him to repeat himself. There is no fucking way he is going back to those animals. They want to use him to do their dirty work and make him do things that I know he doesn’t want to do anymore. 

“Jason you can’t go back. I won’t let you go back to doing what you used to.”

He gets off the couch and starts to pace around the room. Clearly this has gotten to him and I have no idea how to help him. 

“You don’t understand Karen. I have to go.”

“What? No, Jason you don’t have to do anything. We will go to the police or something. We will figure out a way for you not to have to do this.”

Jason stops mid-step and he turns to me. He looks pained. That look on his face hits me hard. There is something more to this. There is something these sick men told him that is making him feel like he doesn’t have a choice. 

“What are you not telling me Jason? I thought we were done with the secrets.”

He runs his hands down his face and sighs heavily. He looks at me and says, “They have my son Karen. They are going to kill him if I don’t go.”

Did I just hear that right? 

“You … you have a son? What am I missing?”

“Remember when I told you about Rachel?” When I nod my head he continues. “After I told her about me and my past, she left. I had no idea she was pregnant. She never told me. The only reason I found out was because of Dominic. When he realized I told her, he went looking for her. But when he brought her back, she had my two month old son with her. Dominic told me I could either kill Rachel or my son. I chose to kill Rachel. Even though I had no idea if the kid was mine or not, I couldn’t kill an innocent child. I was gone into the darkness, but I had enough of the good inside of me to know it wasn’t right for me to kill a baby. After I killed Rachel, Dominic placed the screaming child in my arms and told me to get rid of him. I didn’t. Marcus helped me for years to keep him a secret from Dominic. If he knew I never killed my son, he would use him as leverage whenever I didn’t do what he wanted.”

Jason’s words don’t seem to register for a few moments. I have to think over what he has said a few times before they sink in. He killed an innocent woman. The thought makes me sick to my stomach. How could he do that? I understand he thought he had to what Dominic forced him to do in order to save his son’s life, but there’s always a choice. Knowing he has a son changes things. I can see how much this is affecting him to tell me this. I know he has killed others before. I have seen that first hand. But knowing he killed the mother of his child is overwhelming. Honestly, I don’t know how I should feel about this. A part of me wants to be angry with him for keeping something like this from me. But the other part of me is telling me he wanted to tell me when he fully trusted me.