Roses & Thorns

Chapter Three: Cute Little Mouth

Vote/Comment on this story if you're enjoying it :)

About an hour later, the vehicle slowed and made a sharp turn. A voice in front of me said something in a hushed tone and then the vehicle sped forward, pushing me back a bit on the leather seat.

I didn't want the ride to end. An end to the ride meant the beginning of another mystery and I couldn't bare the thought of what could possibly happen next.

"Carry her inside." The familiar voice that had covered my head said when the vehicle came to a final stop.

"Where am I?" I had to ask out of terror and curiosity.

"Didn't I warn you about keeping your mouth shut?" Whoa, I knew that voice.
"If she's smart she'll keep her mouth shut."
It was the guy from Greene's house. One of the men who had murdered him! I was going to be murdered!

As my body was lifted out of the seat I began to squirm and scream, making it hard for my captor to secure a grip on me. But man carrying me over his shoulder wasn't fazed enough to release me so I was carried for quite some distance. Down hallways, through doors, and up steps.

"You're as light as a feather sweetie." He said with a chuckle. I didn't let that stop me from squirming and flailing my legs that were bound together. Even if it wasn't causing my captor to let me go, it was at least doing some damage to him. My heels were a modest height but they could be quite painful.

Suddenly, the man carrying me stopped walking and I heard him knock twice on a door.

"Come in." A baritone voice said on the opposite side. 

I gasped at the thought of this possibly being my final moment on earth as my body was set in motion once more and I was soon lowered down to the floor. The sack was tugged off of my head. I blinked several times to adjust my eyes to the light and then looked around.

We were in a study. With books on floor to ceiling cherry wood shelves. It had an overall classic but modern look which was odd for a bunch of guys that killed people for a living with me being next on the list.

To my left was a man in a navy blue suit with white streak marks on the jacket and pants. I figured he'd been the one that was carrying me. His brown undercut hairstyle was slightly disheveled as a result of my spastic movement.

To my right was a man with longer brown hair and brown eyes that were focused forward on nothing in particular. Unlike his counterpart, his gray suit was crisp and spotless. Two other men were in the room but they stood by a far wall with stoic expressions.

"I don't know anything." I said, turning to look at the man in the gray suit. "I swear he was just a client. I hated him." Gray Suit exchanged a glance with Navy Suit and smirked condescendingly.

"So did we."

I gulped hard and turned to stare down at my feet. I could see blood from where the zip tie was cutting me and though I wanted to say something, I figured no one would care because why would they. So I closed my eyes to spend my final minute of life in prayer but the very action was cut short by the abrupt sound of the heavy door opening behind us. I sighed as the wood floor echoed with the steps of whomever had entered.

"What's this?" A voice asked. It was the kind of voice that commanded the attention of an entire room without being loud. The kind that held a rich bass undertone but was laced with a sensual velvet ring. If three months at Lush had taught me anything it was the sound and quality of a male voice that could get you in the mood.

"Sorry to disturb you Boss." Gray Suit said.

There was a feeling that engulfed the room as I heard steps near our bodies and as the man they called "Boss" came into my line of sight I had the sudden urge to buckle to my knees and beg for him to show me mercy.

His tall brooding stature was nothing less than intimidating as I turned to follow his movement through the study. Every step he took seemed to imitate my nervous heart beat. What made his presence worse was that the attractive configuration of his features coupled unfairly with his daunting presence.

"This is a Lush girl. She was in the room where we hit Greene." I mashed my lips together while focusing on the "Boss".

"So why is she still alive?" My eyes widened at the honest question he'd just asked. Was it customary to kill a witness? Who was I kidding, of course it was. The rare part of this situation was that I was still alive now.

Blue Suit looked at Gray Suit and held his arms out from his sides.

"See Nate, I told you he'd want the whore dead." 

"I'm not a whore." I muttered the false statement. Of course I was a whore but they'd degraded me so much prior to this moment that I needed control over something. That something was my identity.

Everyone looked at me after I dared to speak. The Boss nodded then leaned back against the large wood desk and put his hands in his pockets casually.

"Has she been feisty the whole time?"

"Yeah, she's a feisty one." Blue Suit said, pointing to his attire which amused me quite a bit. "She's also not one for following directions." The Boss narrowed his eyes.

"How much did she see?"

"Enough," Nate began, "She chronicled the entire thing to Charlotte."

"Who?"

"Anthony's girl." 

Had Charlotte told them? She'd mentioned bringing the issue to the "guys upstairs", maybe they were those guys. Either way I felt betrayed regardless of her intentions. Malicious or not, that possibly got me into this situation. This horrible situation where I was scared, in pain, and blind to what was to become of my future.

"I-I didn't say anything to her that wasn't true." I protested, wincing from the pain on my ankles. "He was shot and I couldn't just-"

"I'm gonna make myself very clear you whore."

"I'm not a-"

"Be quiet." The Boss interrupted in the same calm tone that he'd entered the room with. 

He pushed off of the desk and approached me slowly. "You're a very lucky girl. Steven Greene was a snake and you made the mistake of opening that cute little mouth of yours today." He looked at my lips then his eyes traveled down to my feet. "So you're staying here and if you so much as breath with that attitude then you'll be in the same condition as your fat, dirty client." He stared into my eyes, "Understand?"

I buckled back at his threat and shivered at his mere presence before me. I gave him a timid nod to show that I understood.

"Where do we put her Boss?" Nate asked.

The Boss' eyes scanned my body once more then our eyes met and for a second I thought I could guilt him into having pity on me. But the moment ended as quick as it began when he said,

"The basement." Then he walked away, exiting the study.

I was going to a basement to suffer. How long would I be here? I was starting to whole heartedly regret my choice to open my "cute" mouth at Lush this morning. Simply put, the men in the room were right, I was a whore. A stupid whore.