Breaking The Silence (Fatally Flawed Book 3) (13 page)

Chapter 33

K.J.

              I’m sitting on a hard metal chair, listening to the shallow breathing of Sal, thinking of my Izzy while waiting for this asshole to wake up. He’s made the entire apartment smell like piss. It’s a good thing I have some people coming in to clean this place up before Izzy gets back. Growing impatient, wasting valuable time, I walk over to the bastard and kick the chair he’s sitting in backwards. It crashes to the floor, making a loud thud, when it hits.

              “When I cut you free I suggest you run as fast as you can before I change my mind.” I seethe at him, cutting the ropes loose with my knife. He watches me closely, and stumbles out of the apartment as soon as he is loose.

              For the last two days I’ve been working on no sleep, driving myself crazy, trying to find Izzy. Sticks is working nonstop as well. Constantly reassuring me that it may take some time, but he will find the information I need. So while he is playing on his computer, I am left out here on the streets, to deal with the Anthony and Lorenzo situation. Determined to bring Izzy home to a place she will be safe.

              I got a tip, from one of my guys, that the Cholo Brothers might know exactly what it is I am looking to find out. I’ve met the brothers a few times, here and there, while working for Lorenzo. They are both disrespectful little pricks that think they run the game. The only thing they are good at running are their mouths, and I’m about to prove that to them tonight. Placing my knife back into my boot, I shut the apartment door behind me, reigning in my anger before I let it over take me completely.

              Breaking into the house, my nose is assaulted with the smell of stale cigarettes and body odor as I enter through the back window. The floor is covered with trash and beer cans, making it almost impossible to be quiet. It being early in the morning I can almost guarantee they are still stoned out of their minds and passed out in one of these rooms. Looking closely at the bed I see a naked woman lying in the center of the bed, on her stomach, completely oblivious to me being here.

              Managing to make it all the way to the end of the house, stepping over multiple passed out bodies, before making it to the oldest brother’s room. Nick’s door is wide open, basically inviting me in. Walking to the head of the bed, I place the cold steel of my knife to his throat, cutting him deep enough to wake him. His eyes shoot open, landing on me, before growing large with fear.

              “Up.” I order.

              He throws a woman, that was splayed across his chest off him before slowly rising to his feet. I keep my knife on him, making him walk in front of me, heading to the main room of the house. Standing in front of the people passed out. I kick his legs out from underneath him and watch as he falls to his knees.

              “You’ve got three seconds to get your brother out here.” I command.

              He peers over his shoulder, looking up at me, the fear still in his eyes. I knew the moment he stood toe to toe with the devil himself his attitude would change.

              “Nate, get your fucking ass out here.” He yells out, waking up some of the people lying on the floor. “NATE.”

              “Run,” I tell them. I didn’t come here to take out a bunch of addicts. By the time Nate finally appears there are only three bodies left on the floor.

              “What the fuck do you want Nick? “Nate asks, coming into the room. When his eyes meet mine, I see him reach to the table on his right, grabbing the revolver I already unarmed. Pointing it at my head he gets a cocky smile on his face. “You’ve fucked with the wrong brothers, Mother Fucker.”

              His brother starts to rise, thinking they now have the upper hand, but my blade going through his shoulder stops him. “I wouldn’t do that.” I warn him. He doesn’t listen, they never do, and pulls the trigger of the gun aimed at my head. When the sound of the empty chamber clicks, his smug smile vanishes, and he drops the gun. Coming here I knew it would be smarter for me to have more than just my knife, so I went by my apartment and grabbed my nine millimeter.

              Removing my gun from the waist band on my jeans I point the barrel at Nate. “I warned you not to do that.” I state before shooting him in the knee cap. The sound of the gun rings out waking up the remainder of the bodies on the floor. One girl starts to scream, so I point the gun at her, “leave.” I yell out. It doesn’t take long before they are all running out of the front door to my left. Aiming the gun back at Nate, thinking no one else is in the house, I see someone familiar out of the corner of my eye.

              Bethany is standing in the entry way, wrapped in a blanket, barely able to keep herself up. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what she is doing here. Stoned out of her mind, half naked, and sleeping in a drug dealers home. The anger I’ve been trying to keep under control, since Izzy left, releases.

              Nate has stopped rolling around on the floor in pain and he’s now holding a dirty rag to his wound. Glancing back and forth between Bethany and I, “you know this bitch?” He asks me, as he starts laughing like a crazed idiot. “I fucked her nice and slow. She was hollering my…” His sentence is cut short with the bullet now lodged in his head. Thinking his brother is going to try something, I place the barrel against his head. I had planned on dragging the questioning process out, but Bethany being here has ruined my plans.

              “What do you know of Lorenzo and Anthony?” I ask.

              “I know they are going to kill your psychotic ass. The two of them together will be unstoppable.” He yells out. I knock him over the head with the grip of my gun watching his unconscious body falls to the floor. Killing him would be to easy. I want Lorenzo to know that he told me everything. So I bend down and carve out a warning to them both, using my knife, on his chest.

              Finished leaving my message, I slowly make my way over to Bethany, pulling her chin up, forcing her to look me in the eyes. Where her normal brown irises would be seen, there is nothing but the black of her irises. Her hair is a tangled mess, sticking to the sides of her face, and she can barely hold herself up. The girl I once knew is not the one standing in front of me. She’s a weaker version, a broken person, a witness to what I have done.

              “Does Dalton know where you are?” I ask her. She continues to look into my eyes, slowly blinking, not saying a word. It’s clear she won’t remember anything that happened tonight, not when she can’t even form a sentence. Reaching down I make sure the sheet is securely wrapped around her before lifting her into my arms. Her head is laying on my chest while her right arm hangs to the side. Dalton is going to be crushed when I drop her off. I had warned him this would happen if he didn’t get her the help she needed. Carrying her outside, placing her in the first car that is unlocked, I hot wire it to start and turn the car toward the highway. It’s time to take her home and force Dalton to see what I’ve already told him.

Chapter 34

Dalton

              Rolling out of bed, wiping the sleep from my eyes, I stumble over the pair of shoes Bethany left on my floor. She must have dropped them when she was moving her stuff to our guest room. Catching my balance, I rush to the front door that someone is now banging on. Walking past the hole I punched out of the wall earlier, I shake my head remembering the fight between Bethany and me. We had been having a quiet dinner, that I picked up on my way home, when I cautiously brought up all the pills I have seen her taking. I had mentioned that seeing a therapist would be beneficial for both of us, and our relationship, but she is convinced that it would be a waste of time and money. The discussion didn’t last long and the rest of the meal was eaten in silence. I watched as she went into her room, grabbed a pill bottle from her purse, and dumped two in her hand. That was my breaking point.

              Grabbing the pills and bottle from her hands, having her claw my arms and back, I walked to the bathroom and flushed the Codeine down the toilet. I’ll never forget the look on her face as she watched me destroy the only thing she loves anymore. I had been in denial for some time, K.J. pointing it out opened my eyes, but I won’t sit around and watch someone I love kill them self.

              Opening the door, I’m not prepared for the scene in front of me. K.J. is standing a few feet from me, holding an unmoving body in his arms, a look of pure rage on his face. Thinking he has gotten himself into real trouble this time, I open the door wider for him to enter.

              “What the fuck happened?” I ask, while he walks to the couch, laying an unconscious woman down. At closer inspection I can see the only thing covering her naked body is a, dingy white, sheet.

              “I found her at a drug dealers house stoned out of her mind.” K.J, responds.

              “You should have brought her to the hospital.” I shout walking closer to the couch to make sure this stranger is still alive. Her dark blonde hair is matted and covering the side of her face. Taking her small wrist, gently placing my fingers on her artery, I can feel the rhythm of her pulse. The relief of knowing I am not a witness to some type of crime is shortly lived when I see the pink finger nail polish. Bethany had the same color on her nails earlier. Rushing to move the hair of out her face, looking at Bethany’s closed eyes, my world is once again turned upside down.

              “That’s why I didn’t bring her to a hospital.” K.J. says, “she needs real help, Dalton. Not a stay in some mental ward.”

              “How did you find her?” I ask, standing up and placing another blanket over Bethany to keep her warm.

              “That’s not important.” He answers. “But you should know she had sex with at least one of those men in that house. If not more than one.”  

              My first thought is to laugh at his accusation, but then I remember the look on her face when she stormed out earlier. Betrayal like I have never before felt runs cold through my veins making it hard to look at her. My mind is screaming at me to shake her awake and demand she get her shit and leave. How dare she blame me for everything wrong with our relationship when she has been spreading her legs for drugs.

              “I know what you are thinking, Dalton. She may not deserve nothing from you right now, but as the woman that once carried your child, you wouldn’t be able to live with yourself if you didn’t help her.” K.J. says to me while still holding on to my shoulder. I shrug his unwanted touch away, storming out of the living room, into the kitchen to get me a drink.

              Grabbing the first bottle of liquor I see, tilting my head back, I down the liquid in three swallows. When K.J. enters behind me, instead of chunking the bottle in his direction like I want, I place it back on the counter.

              “You could have thrown it.” He states.

              “I can usually put up with your mind reading bullshit, but right now I would like for you to be normal.” I spit out, taking my anger out on the wrong person.

              “I don’t do normal.” He declares while taking a seat at the table. Grabbing another bottle of liquor, making sure this one is full, I take a seat across from him. After I’ve drank enough for my stomach to be on fire I offer it to K.J. It’s no surprise when he turns it down. I’ve never seen him drink more than one beer at a time.

              “What happened to the assholes you found her with?” I start to question him. He looks up at me, one eyebrow arched, before answering honestly. “Dead.”

              Shaking my head, trying to clear the vivid image of K.J. attacking two drug dealers with his knife, I take another drink. As the liquid burns my throat going down I get another image in my head. Bethany lying naked in some thug’s arms, high as a kite, content with the way her life is going. The image has me hurdling the bottle toward the wall. The sound of the glass shattering, along with the buzz I’m now feeling, is enough to numb the constant ache in my chest.

              “Do you love her?” K.J. asks.

              I start rubbing my hands through my hair, thinking about the question he asked, wondering if the love I still feel for her will ever be enough to fix what has been shattered. Much like the glass now lying on my kitchen floor. When she wakes up, will she regret what she’s done, or run straight into the arms of another drug dealer? 

              “I knew my past would come back to haunt me. In high school I was the heartbreaker. It was never just love with Bethany, what we had was so much more.” I finish my declaration on a whisper.

              “I may not understand relationships but addiction is something I know too well. That girl lying on your couch right now is not Bethany. That is a mother who lost her son due to a tragedy most people will never experience. She is an addict, Dalton. She needs help.” He declares before standing up to his full height. Walking over to me, placing his hand on my shoulder, “call me if you need me.” He states before walking out of my kitchen.

              Slowly making my way to the living room, I walk over to Bethany, touching her lightly on the cheek. As I stand here, staring at her unmoving form, my mind going from one extreme to the other. Should I wake her up and let her witness the destruction she has done? Her nose starts twitching and forcing me to remember the girl she was before both our worlds came crashing down. I lay down, beside the couch, content to let her have the peace she desperately needs. When she wakes up tomorrow her life will once again forever change.