Hit

The heavy footsteps continued down the hallway to our door a massive man stood at our door with his hands on his hips.

“Matthew! Leave them alone! Let them suck face if they want to!” Val screamed from her room. “It’s love!” She sang. I could just picture her dancing around the room, the memory of her falling in love with Matt still fresh in her mind. Soon, she appeared in the doorway with Matt. “Where you two sucking face?” She giggled with a grin.

“Yes…” Johnny mumbles. Zack and I both send glares at Johnny.

“Matt look how happy they are. If Zack screws up…I don’t know, kick him in the balls or something.”

She waved her hand like it was no big deal. Both of them winced.

“No, no it will be something much worse.” The way his voice went dead sent shivers up my spine.
Without another word he and Val left, causing Zack and I to share a frustrated look. At the same time, both us of shook our heads, causing that conversation to leave our minds.

“You tired?” I ask with a sly grin. He recognized the curve of my lips.

“Not. At. All.” His eyes widened and I smiled even more.

“Come.” I took his hand and dragged him off the bed. As quietly as we could we climbed down the wooden stairs. As we passed the living room, I grabbed a big blanket and continued to drag him through the porch and outside. With our hands clasped we walked down the drive way, followed the dirt road and walked to the shore. I own more than fifty yards of water front. I have two different docks and three different boat houses. I pulled him to the bigger dock which bounced on empty buoys and pushed him down. I sat down, pulled him close. “Look up.”

We both laid back and looked up at the crystal clear sky. The sky was littered with billions of stars.
I’ve seen it millions of times, and it still causes my eyes to widen. Clusters upon clusters of stars shined down on us. The lake was still and the silence was welcoming. Zack pulled me closer to him and pressed his lips to my ear. I shivered from the warmth and the intimacy. He tiled my chin up with his thumb and met me halfway. His lips pressed into mine, immediately deepening the kiss. We both turned on our sides as his hand held the back of my neck. He nibbled my lower lip which made me part my lips. Before I could run my fingers through his hair, the deck started to shake rapidly.
We both broke apart and looked behind us. A pale ass Brian ran towards us. My eyes widened and I broke out laughing. He jumped over us and cannon-balled into the lake, which I’m sure is cold as hell.

“What the hell is he on?” Zack laughs.

“Beer.” Jimmy laughs. Brian resurfaces and lets out a howl.

“Holy shit! That’s cold!” His voice echoes around the lake bouncing off the mountains. In a matter of seconds lights from other houses start to turn on. I pull Jimmy and Zack closer.

“Let’s get the hell out of here.” I mumble. Zack sends me a questioning look towards Brian. I laugh. “Leave him.” We get maybe five steps away before the boys start to laugh, we then broke out into a run. As soon as we hit the front porch, we heard Brian yell…again.

“Hey! Where did you guys go?”

In a few minutes, we saw the flashing lights…we all lost it. Leaning onto each other for support, shoving our fists in our mouth to stifle our laughter. Brian let out a girly scream, I suppose they have him in their control now. I squint my eyes and try to see down the dark road. I see two police officers walking a drunk, pale, naked Brian closer to our house. He had a small leave covering himself…

“That’s a small leaf.” I laugh

“He doesn’t need a big one.”

“He doesn’t have much to cover.”

“Ahh! Chaffing!” Brian screams.

We continued to throw insults at Brian, and stopped just a few seconds before the police reached the last step to my deck.

“Oh, hello officer….Brian!” I mock surprise.

“We found him by the lake.” The taller officer says. “He was making a bunch of noise. Neighbors called in with a noise complaint. This is the right house, correct?”

I almost, almost said he didn’t live here, but I couldn’t be that mean.

“Yes, this is the house.”

“Well, he’s heavily intoxicated… I’-“

Brian interrupted the man. “I am not drunk!” He screeched. “It’s against my religion!”

“And what religion would that be sir?” The same cop questioned.

“American! I am a practicing American!” He shoves his fist in the air and poses. I take off my sweatshirt and wrap Brian up.

“Katie…” He mumbles as he lightly slaps my face.

“Yes Bri. I’ve got it from here, thank you very much Sirs.” I pull Brian into the living room and push him towards the stair. Slowly, tripping himself with his own feet he makes his way up the stairs.

Silent, Zack, Jimmy and myself shared a look then burst into laughter. I had to sit on the steps to keep myself from falling. And even though my wounds were mostly healed, this laughing made them ache. We wiped tears from our eyes and walked up to our rooms. I looked in on Brian to see him ass-up asleep in his bed.

“Goodnight Jim.” I laugh.

“Night guys.” He shakes his head and walks into the room he shares with the pale ass. Zack and I quickly changed then fell into bed. He pulled me close and laughed. I looked up.

“That was nuts, I hope he barely remembers it. Time to torture Brian.” I laugh with him and yawn.

“Hmmmm….Night Zee.” I mumble. He leans down and quickly, softly kisses me. I buried my face into the crook of his neck and smiled. I really, really hope it stays like this; laughter, smiles…cuddling. At least for a few days, please that’s all I ask…

I woke to a hand tracing my cheek. I opened my eyes and saw Brian leaning over me.

“Brian…” I growl. His response was a massive smile. I then remembered last night. “So how was your night?” I question. His face immediately dropped.

“I-I don’t know. I remember drinking a lot. Then…I think I went swimming, but I’m not sure. All I know is that my ass itches…did I fall into a bush or something. Or, I don’t know…mosquitos?”

I bit my lip and shook my head. “No, no I don’t think so. I was in bed pretty early. If anything happened I wouldn’t know.” I shrugged.

“Hmm, okay. Well, get your ass up! We going swimmin’!” He started to rock the bed side to side causing me to sway.

“Alright alright… get your pale ass off me!” I quickly shut my mouth.

“How do you know I have a pale ass…”

“Oh, just a guess.” He narrowed his eyes, suspiciously. But knowing Brian, he will forget about it as soon as another two second thought enters his brain. He finally left my room and I changed into my bathing suit. I walked down to the lake, Brian skipping in front of me. We got to the bigger dock and I saw everyone there. Zack sent me a devilish smile and I shook my head.

We decided to swim to the island and jump from the rocks. When told how far of a swim it was, Val declined. The boys, besides Brian, raced, leaving Brian and myself to lazily make our way to the
Island. As soon as we climbed the rocks, Matt screamed.

“Hey Val!” His echo raced around the lake and made its way easily to Val. She raised her hand and said “Hi.” In about two seconds we heard her perfectly. I sat on a rock and watched the boys dive from the rocks. I then heard a song, a ringtone. I looked across the water to the deck, Val. She answered the phone and immediately got up. Pacing up and down the dock, waving her hand. I couldn’t make out her words because she was talking so fast, but whatever it was, she was pissed. “Not yet” and “Unprepared” I heard. I trust Val…I think. But those words put me on edge.

My father always said. ‘Trust no one, especially women, they lie and deceive even in their sleep.’ I narrowed my eyes.

Keep an eye on Val.

One by one we made our way up to the house. I came down the stairs, fresh from a shower and went to find Val. I found her sitting at the table on the porch, just staring. She held a cold cup of coffee in her hands.

“Val?” She quickly turned her attention to me and smiled. “You okay?”

“Oh yea. I’m fine.” Lie. However, I couldn’t pin-point her face. She looked spooked but devious at the same time. I shook her behavior off and walked to the living room.

“When the hell is food going to be done? Woman! Prepare my meal!” Brian demands as he points towards the kitchen. Before I could respond physically or verbally, I heard my cell phone, which was in my room, start to ring. I ignored him and took the stairs two at a time and got to my phone just
in time.

Me- Hello?

Pauly- Oh! You sound out of breath…how are you. Enjoying the sun?

Me- Uhh, yea? You know Jersey weather can be confused at times.

Pauly- Oh cut it. NH is a great place to be at year round. Why didn’t you tell me that you left?

Me- I didn’t know I had to report to you sir.

Pauly- Oh dear, don’t forget. You work for me now. I always, always know where you are. Always.
And I expect you to fear that, don’t disappoint me…

He hung up. I stared at the phone for a few seconds disgusted. It hurts more than anything to place the boy’s lives in the protection of a man like that. He STILL has not completed his promise, ‘Brick’ is still out there…

I want to shake loose of Pauly, maybe being in NH will set us free, maybe I can tell Pauly to fuck himself…I laughed. He’s right he always knows where everyone is. And instead of him punishing me with a slap on the hand, he’s slap my skull with a bullet.

Still broken about the phone call, I climbed down the stairs to the kitchen to see Matt humming to himself and preparing dinner. I quickly spun on my heel and walked to the living room. Zack was sitting on the couch with an empty spot next to him. I sat down and leaned into him; he leaned over and softly kissed me.

“Wanna play cards tonight?” He questions.

“Oh hell to the mo fo yes!” Brian screams.

“Brian, shut the hell up. You lose at every game to everyone all the time.” Johnny smirks. Brian sends an ugly face and stalks out of the room.

After dinner we piled around the table on the back porch and played cards. The alcohol was flowing and so was the laughter. Not matter how much alcohol was racing through my blood, I see and hear everything. I caught a shadow near the drive way. I stiffened and sent eyes to Zack. As the others continued to laugh and take shots, Zack’s smile faded and nodded slightly to me.

“Hey babe, can you come outside with me? My outside light didn’t come on.”

“Yup, I need to get a ‘sweatshirt’ first.” He replied. I nodded and together we went up the stairs. As soon as we reached the safety of my room, we reached under the bed and in our draws to retrieve our guns.

“How many?” He asks as he loaded his pistol. Uhhh…that business talk of his…I blushed.

“Just one I think. Right by the driveway, he could be at the back of the house now…” We shared another glance and climbed down the stairs. We exited the house, our guns raised. As we slowly and quietly walked around the house, I saw him, back against the house, shoulder turned so he could peek around the corner. I held my hand up, signaling Zack to stop. I quickly handed him my gun and pulled out my knife. In one swift motion I wrapped my arm around his collarbone and pressed my knife to his chest.

“I’ll scream…” He threated in.

“Oh, god. Please do, there’s no on around here. A single soul won’t hear you. Why are you here?” I slightly pushed the tip of my knife into his throat. “Answer me.”

He doesn’t say a word. Before I could speak another demand, Zack got in front of the man.

“Do you see this gun, huh?” He waved the gun in the man’s face. “If you don’t tell us why you are here and who sent you…I am going to lay bullets into your stomach, then your chest…hey maybe
your hands as well…”

Ah! So sexy!

The man stiffened and turned his face away from Zack.

“Who?” Zack asked with a slight smile. The man slumped in my arm, defeated.

“Mark…”

I froze but pushed the knife further into his throat.

“Mark is dead. I killed him.” The man laughed at me.

“Honey, not matter what you do…your worst enemy will never die. Never. You will be haunted by him for the rest of your life. He now lives in your head, tormenting and hurting you, especially while you sleep. Surround yourself with whomever you want, Mark lives and he will come for you. ” He started to full out laugh. Even as he shook in my hands, I couldn’t move. I can’t process the words he just spoke. Before I could, Zack yanked the man out of my arms and stabbed my knife into his throat, nearly decapitating him. Still in a daze we carried the body more than thirty yards into the woods behind my house and dumped him. I walked to the house with thoughts screaming through my head. Is he alive? How could that even be possible! I killed him, I killed him. I stopped walking and stood motionless. What the fuck just happened?

“Zack, I…” I can’t even finish my sentence.

“No, no. Don’t. Mark is dead. That guy was just trying to scare you and put things in your head. Don’t do this to yourself Katie.” Zack tried to warn with a hand on my waist. I flinched away from his touch, my wounds started to scream, it felt like my skin was ripping apart. It felt like Mark was touching me all over…

“I can feel him still…” I cried. “Everywhere. All the time.” My voice wavered. The man was right.
Even if Mark is truly dead, which I’m starting to question, he will always live in my mind. I squeezed my eyes shut and held my breath. Zack walked right up to me and took me in his arms.

“You feel me now. I’m everywhere. I will not leave you.” He stared me straight into my eyes and slightly shakes me. My head falls to his chest.

“Your right.” I sigh. “Your right.” I raise my head and step closer to him.

“Come, before they figure out we’ve left.” He takes my hand and presses it to his lips. Together we walk back to the house, their laughter already audible. Without a word, both of us climb into bed.

Zack wrapped me up and cocooned me in his body. Not matter how protected I feel at this moment, my thoughts raced. Please, please no. He can’t live…I smashed his nose into his skull. Please…

“Baby?” Zack whispered.

“Hmm?”

“I won’t let him touch you. I won’t let him hurt you.”

“You think he still lives?”

He sighed, I squeezed my eyes shut. “I don’t know. But, either way, I promise to protect you.” I turned into him and pressed my forehead to his.

“He pulls emotions from me that I didn’t think I could feel. He tears me down, makes me feel like a terrified little girl. Zack, I am not scared of anything…nothing. But I fear him horribly. He hurt the most intimate part of me…he fucking breaks me down like I’m a cardboard box. He is that one person I will never be able to forget, and if he is dead…he is still punishing me.” I pulled back and pushed my fists into my eyes. Zack reached up and took both fists; he kissed both of my closed eyes then my forehead.

“We will win this. I promise.”

“I hope so…”

I woke to bullets. Bullets flying inches over my head, their exits in the wood poured morning light into the room. Zack pushed me off the bed and covered me with his body.

“What the fuck!” Matt hollers. I lift my head and see everyone pressed to the floor in the hallway.

Loaded with guns, Zack and I army crawl over to them, we begin to slide down the stairs, often stopping to hide from splintered wood and shattered glass. We gathered at the bottom of the stairs, our backs pressed against the wall. I pushed Val into the small nearby closet.

“Stay down.” I warn. She begins to shake her head but nods when I send her a look.

“Plan.” Matt states. We circled up still crouched to the floor. Before anyone said anything, I looked at the boys. All sense of humor was washed away. Five bad- ass mother fucking gangster where before me. I felt a sense of pride and pure, deep, devilish anger raised to my chest. I rolled my head to the side and shivered as rage reached up my spine.

“Everyone take a window. It looks like they are in the woods. I don’t believe there are more than fifteen. Communicate to each other…let’s go.” Matt snapped another round into his gun and started towards a window. Everyone nodded at his command. I took a window in the living room. With my gun raised, I slowly lifted my head to peer into the windows. Two figures immediately caught my eye. I stood and back against the wall right next to the window. I peeked out the window, lined a man up and shot his fucking head off. That felt delicious… I pulled back, settled myself then turned again and fired.

“Two!” I screamed.

“Two!”

“Three!”

“Two!”

“Two!”

“One…” ….Damnit Brian! I settled against the wall again and waited. Silence, all I could hear was my heavy breathing and my heart pounding in my ears.

“Hold!” Matt called. “Zack! Jim! Check the front.” I heard heavy footsteps make their way to the front of the house.

“Clear!”

“Clear!”

I still pressed myself against and waited for further command. Matt walked into the living room with his gun still firmly held in his hand.

“Clea-“Something smacked him over the head. He fell quickly.

“Matt?” I rushed towards him but arms wrapped me up from behind. I was shoved to the ground, a muscled body pressing me painfully to the ground. I looked up from the ground and saw a man jump on the moving Matt. Soon the rest of the boys were dragged into the living room with knives to their throats.

“Kate!” Zack screamed. He tried to struggle his way towards me but his captor wrapped his arm around Zack’s neck and pulled him to the floor. I fought underneath the man and tried to crawl away. He grabbed my hair and spun me around. He got right in my face.

“Do not fucking move. I will slice your pretty little face up.” He growled at me. I stared into his face, I’ve never seen him before, but his German accent set me on edge. He stood and dragged me to the center of the room; Brian and Jimmy were pushed down next to me. The men kept the boys firm to the ground with guns to their heads. However, I was tied up. They laughed at us, often throwing a kick to the ribs or a punch to the mouth. I struggled against the rope but stopped when a kick landed right in my ribs. I groaned and let my head fall to the carpet.

“Fuck you man!” Jimmy cursed. The man leaned down and laid his fist right into Jimmy’s jaw. Blood poured instantly. I lost it. I let out a scream as I pushed myself up and rammed into the toothless bastard, we both fell to the ground. He twisted on top of me and backhanded me, he stood. I lay on the ground and grumbled as I turned on my side. He looked down at me and smiled. The boys all tried to break free, kicking and squirming as they let out round after round of curses. The toothless man smiled and lifted me by my hair.

“Don’t fucking touch her!” Zack yelled, his face pressed to the floor. My jailer looked at the boys, all of them struggling.

“Ah. Is this your girl? Huh? The girlfriend, the sister, the friend?” The man laughed and pulled my back closer to his chest. He shoved his nose in my neck and deeply inhaled. “Mmm…nice. We’ve got something special planned for you.” I felt him grin into my neck. I shivered and tried to pry myself away from him.

“Lift them.” A female voice commanded. ‘Brick’ walked in and I immediately wanted to rip her head off. Her red hair looked wild and dangerous, her green eyes shined with triumph. She stalked into the room like a venomous queen snake. The men lifted the boys and pressed their guns further into their skulls. “Katie…” She laughed.

“Fuck you.” I spit. She laughed again.

“Oh…you’re going to have a great night. Katie meet Six, you two are going to become great friends.” I heard a growl escape the man’s lips, he pulled me closer to him.

“Where is Pauly?” I asked. “I thought you were his bitch? What happened, did he get tired of you dirty ass?” She marched up to me and slapped me across the face. My head quickly turned. I spit out blood, but hell…I’m just getting started.

“Pauly is no longer in control dear. He sends me information about your whereabouts when I demand it.”

“Ha! Then who is control? It aint you!” I hollered. She raised her eyebrows and challenged me. “Oh please! You? Please, please don’t make me laugh. You are laughable…laughable.” My smile fell and my teeth clenched. I took a quick look at the boys whose faces were pleading with me to comply…that’s funny.

The way her face pinched I could tell I struck a nerve.

“Hmmm…look at your face. You aren’t in control. How does it feel to have someone command you like the trash you are. Oh fuck! You are hysterical. You just proved to me that you and Pauly are working together, and by this fucker’s German accent, I now know, you, Pauly AND the Germans are working together! But! Who is your leader? Some punk I don’t know…possibly, whoever it is, is stupid as fuck and needs to be shot in the balls.” I actually laughed. ‘Brick’ reeled with anger and slapped me again. I spit the blood out in her direction. “Bingo…who’s correct, Katie is correct! Your emotions lay on your face like a movie ‘Brick’. You haven’t changed one bit…Oh…and Val? Val! Where are you? You can come out now!” I called out. Matt started to thrash around.

“Leave her be!” He yelled. Like a little duckling, Val stepped out of the closet. The look on her face disoriented her features, this person was no longer Val. She stepped around the boys and made her way to me.

“So smart…” She smiles as she trails a finger down my cheek.

“Val?” Matt freezes and looks at her, he’s never seen her either. Val left my side and walked over to Matt. “What the hell?”

“Wait, Val. Don’t answer him just yet. Before things get bad in here…I just wanted to say.” I started to mockingly tear up. “That the first time I met you…oh boy” I sniffled. “… you were a fucking piece of lying stupid shit!” I screamed. “You used them, especially Matt…why? Oh! Maybe it’s because you are Pauly’s daughter and was trying to unite the Italians and Pauly’s shitty little ‘gang’. You and your father wanted to unite, than overtake. Today happened because Val told her father about our location. You are not as clever as you think sweet stuff.” I smile.

“And YOU are not a smart as YOU think!” She yelled. I rolled my eyes. Well that was original. “ Your life is a piece of shit. At the first sign of happiness or compassion, I knew you would cave. You told me your sarcasm is at its best when you feel trouble coming.” She scoffed. “Oh, honey. Trouble is coming. I hope you like it. But for now…I am tired of your stupid sarcasm!” She screamed as she backhanded me.

“Too bad, ‘cause I’m on a fucking roll! Who wants it next? Huh? How about you?” I question the man that is holding Zack to his chest. “You look like-“

“Enough!” ‘Brick’ yelled hitting me with enough force to rattle my brain. For once, I stopped talking, usually a hit like that would send me into another speech. “Ah, silence, I like it.” She smiled. With a spin she clapped her hands. “I want all of these men, securely tied, taped and gaged. Guns to their skills at all moments…” She trailed and set her eyes on me. “Now for you, you are going to stay here with Six…”