SCRATCH (Corporate Hitman Book 2) (11 page)

Chapter 18

SCRATCH was still
reeling when he reached the St. Regis. Nothing that had happened in Eagle’s office was unexpected. The tension in Scratch had been building for so long that it was a wonder he didn’t snap the man’s neck. What did throw him for a loop was the threat to Monica. That was not acceptable.

Walking through the lobby, Scratch didn’t waste anytime with idle chitchat. Being a regular, he was on a first name basis with the staff. They loved him because he tipped well, and didn’t brow beat them with the usual airs of the hoity toity clientele that frequented the hotel. On a typical night he might stop and talk shop with the doorman, or the ladies at the front desk. If he had time to kill, the well-known concierge would inform him of the latest hotspots in the city. He was in the mood for none of that. All he hoped was that Monica was waiting for him in his room.

He was disappointed when he found the room empty. Maybe it was for the better, he thought. He paced for a few moments before he settled into the wing back chair in the living area. Scratch looked around at all the opulence he had come to take for granted all these years. It was with ease that he slipped into the false sense of reality that Eagle had given them. Probably him more so than Glitch or Jack, because he was the one who so desperately needed to feel something. Scratch felt deserving of the money and all it’s trappings since his life was pulled out from underneath him. He helped to make his family millions and they’d tossed him out in the cold without a backwards look.

While he was ruminating over his luck, or lack of it, the lock for the room door clicked open. Monica entered with an air of uncertainty, and a look of concern in her eyes. It was with a sigh of relief that he rose to greet her. She could have stood him up, left him hanging, but she took another risk. For him.

“I was worried that you might not show,” Scratch admitted as he stalked toward her.

“It crossed my mind,” she said dryly, but her expression was soft with humor.

“Well, I’m glad you came,” he said with seriousness. He walked until he was just a few feet in front of her. He stopped, knowing that if he had her in his arms too early, then he wouldn’t say the things he needed to say to her.

“And here I am,” she said shakily.

Scratch reached his hand out to her, and she accepted with a nervous smile.  Pulling her into his arms, he let the warmth of her nearness soothe him. Monica wrapped her arms around his waist, holding on tight as he stroked her hair. All he wanted to do was lift her into his arms and carry her into the bedroom. Get lost in the comfort that was singular to her, but he settled for a chaste kiss to her lips.  He led her over to the comfortable stuffed leather couch in the sitting room. Gesturing for her to sit, he turned toward the bar that was stocked with his choice of refreshments.

“Would you like a drink?”

“Will I need one?” It was a joke, but that hint of concern lingered in Monica’s voice.

“You probably will with what I have to tell you,” he admitted.

“Then I’ll take one,” she conceded.

Scratch fixed their drinks, two scotch on the rocks, and returned to the couch. He stayed standing as he handed Monica her drink. She accepted it eagerly, letting out a slight hiss as the amber liquid burned as it went down. He watched her intently, trying to decide how to break the bad news to her. Not one to mince words, he chose to just be direct.

“Monica,” he started with a deep sigh. “I’ve got some bad news to share with you.”

“Okay,” she said, emphasizing the ‘k’ sound.

“It’s so bad. I just want you to—”

“Just tell me, Zio,” Monica said, exasperated with his hedging.

“Eagle has a tape of us,” he blurted out.

“Has a tape?” She echoed his words in confusion. “Of what?” Scratch sighed and ran his hands through his hair, leaving it slightly disheveled.

“A tape of us that day in my office. We were on my desk,” he said letting his words trail off.

Monica looked at him blankly, as if the information wasn’t sinking in. Scratch decided to just get it all out, and let her speak when he was done.

“He has a fuckin’ tape and he threatened my life if our little problem didn’t get fixed. The problem being you and Axe looking into my identity, and setting of alarms with the people he’s in bed with.”

Scratch watched for her reaction. Monica’s face was still frozen, even as she placed her drink on the coffee table and rose to her feet.

Her voice was eerily calm as she asked her next question. “So what does this mean?”

She sounded like a child who didn’t quite understand why they were being punished.

Scratch perched on the armrest of the couch as he watched her pace the floor.

“It means that all my problems have gotten that much bigger. It means that my days are marked on Eagle’s calendar, and that you and Axe have got to stop digging,” he answered.

Monica cursed under her breath. This was the same shit that happened with Mark all over again, except this time, Zio’s life was in danger, not just his freedom. Shit, her life was in danger because she was tied to Axe, and she had no idea what he was doing. His hard-on for Zio was inadvertently putting their careers and lives in danger.  Well, more danger than she had already brought upon herself.

“And what happens if we don’t stop digging? What if Axe doesn’t want to let it go? How do I convince him if I can’t tell him why I know what I know?”

“Then you distance yourself from him. Ask to be taken off the case. Make sure your superiors know he’s acting on his own. Just get as far away from my file as possible.”

Monica threw her hands up at his last statement.

“Ha! That’s clearly a joke, right? I’d be surprised if there isn’t a file about us! God, Zio! This is my career. Everything I’ve worked toward. What am I supposed to do?”

She picked up her drink, gulping the rest down in one shot.

“Ask to be taken off a case? A case that is supposed to be simple? When now you're telling me that, we weren’t ever supposed to find anything worth a damn anyway? Jesus! What am I supposed to do?”

Scratch tried to imagine what she was going through. Monica was a believer of justice and fighting on the right side of the law. Now she had to try to come to terms with the fact that the law could be as crooked and dirty as the side that Scratch operated on. While she understood his predicament when he explained the conditions of his release to her, he knew it was a struggle for her to keep his secret. But the fact that she had kept it, gave him hope that she would be open to what he said next.

“Come with me,” he uttered in such a low tone that Monica wasn’t sure she heard him until she read the seriousness in his eyes.

“What?” She asked for clarification anyway.

“I said,” Scratch said with more confidence. “Come with me.”

Monica shook her head and began to pace again. “Where to, Zio? Just where would be able to go to escape this?”

“I know of a place,” he said easily.

“Are you being serious? I can’t run away from my career. My life? C’mon.”

“I am being serious. This is life or death for me. Eagle concluded his threats by giving me a few days. It’s safe to say that I probably won’t make it through my mini vacation, if he has his way. So it’s time for plan b.”

“Plan b? What are you talking about?”

“This life was never supposed to be permanent, Monica. Eagle’s plan is to use us up and discard us when he’s done. We devised a plan to get out before that day comes.”

“You keep saying we. Who is we?” Monica held her head in her hands as she looked to Scratch to clear up her confusion.

“I know I told you my story, but it’s not just about me. That’s why this situation is getting blown out of proportion. I’m not the only one on his payroll with a hidden past.”

Scratch went on to explain the rest, including his plan with Glitch and Jack. He’d told her about himself, but left his crew out, not wanting to implicate them if things ever went bad and she used the information against him. Now, he was putting it all on the line. Asking her to be a part of his plan and come with him seemed like the smartest thing to do to keep her safe, and keep them together. This woman had turned him from playboy to protector in no time at all.

“Zio,” she sighed. “I can’t believe this is. I’ve got to do something. Eagle can’t get away with this.”

“Don’t worry about that. He won’t, but it’s out of your hands to make that happen. Do you know what would happen to you if you tried to go up against him? You're already in danger, just because he see’s you as a potential threat. Imagine if he knew you had it out for him.”

Monica, who had stopped her pacing to listen to his story, began again. With a frown on her face, her teeth worried her bottom lip as she tried to process everything that she’d just learned. She walked over to the window to the balcony and stared out at the view of 5th Avenue, with Central Park in the distance. She loved any view of the city. New York had always been her home, and she loved the city with all her heart, but now when she looked out at the fast moving traffic and the hazy glow of the city lights, all she saw were the shadows lurking around every corner. She had blinded herself to the darkness that existed all around her, choosing instead, to focus on the good fight. Could she accept the fact that not much of what she did mattered? Not unless someone else approved it. Meeting Zio had altered the way she saw certain aspects of life. He’d awakened all sorts of dormant feelings and desires, but he also showed her the ugly side of life—the complicated world of bribes, friends in high places, and threats of murder. He was offering her a way out, but she didn’t know what to make of it. Would it make her a criminal? Or was it the smart thing to do? She turned to face the man who had turned her heart and her world upside down.

“I don’t know if I can run, Zio,” she whispered softly.

“And I can’t stay. After I leave here, my phone goes dead. George Hines, will be dead.”

Scratch stood up, needing to go to her when he heard the sad confliction in her words. Taking his time, he slowly removed each floating diamond cufflink from his shirt. Then he loosened his tie and pulled it from around his neck, flinging it across the room before he began to unbutton his shirt.  He wasn’t sure what her final answer would be, but on the off chance that she said no, he wanted to leave her with one last memory of him.

Monica watched him with a hunger that left her shaking. She watched as he discarded his crisp white dress shirt. Her eyes feasting on the sight of his muscular torso offset by the tattoos that turned him from an accountant to a sexy bad boy. His hands were working his belt as he came to her, and her breathing hitched when the motion of his steps sent a whiff of his cologne and man essence her way.

Scratch’s dark gaze pinned her in her place—backed against the cool glass panel of the balcony window, with her hands clutched to her sides. Her fingers flexed with the urge to touch him, and she thrilled with the anticipation of what was to come.

Scratch placed one palm to the glass pane above her head. With the other hand, he let his fingers trail down the delicate skin on the column of her neck, down between her cleavage, over her belly until he snaked it around her waist and pulled her closer. She gasped, slammed with the urgency of her need for him.

“Do you feel this,” he whispered against her sensitive earlobe.

“Yes,” she responded breathlessly.

“Do you trust me?”

Monica stared back helplessly. Not even understanding how she knew she should trust him as she nodded yes.

Scratch looked deeply into her eyes, wishing he knew the right words to make all her fears go away. He looked at the petite, frightened creature in his arms and didn’t want to imagine the possibility of leaving her behind.

“You don’t have to decide right this second,” he murmured. “But you will need to make a choice. I don’t want to be without you Monica. I need you to understand that.”

With that, he leaned in and took her mouth in a tender kiss. Monica’s restless hands found a home in the waves of his hair as she pulled him closer. The silent room was now filled with his heavy breathing, and her sighs and murmurs of longing.