Page 3 of My Escape

RHETT

Grace was back in town.

I saw her right there on the TV next to her dad who had just won the election for governor.

But who was that fuck standing next to her with his arm around her?

“What the fuck are you watching?” Mario came out of the bedroom, freshly showered after our latest adventure. He plopped down on the couch next to me, reaching for a beer from the six pack I had on the table in front of us.

When he saw what was on the TV, he lunged for the remote and turned it off. “Why the hell are you watching her? Do you like to torture yourself?”

“I’m just watching the news,” I replied defensively. I ran my hands through my hair, trying to get the image of Grace with that tall nerd out of my head.

“Right. And I’m the president of the United States.” Mario tossed the remote onto the couch next to me. “She’s been gone for how long now? I think it’s time you get over her. She looks happy next to that tall fucker anyway. I would bet she doesn’t even give you a second thought.”

I shot him a dirty look and if he’d been near me, I probably would have punched him square in the face.

Mario was probably right though; Grace looked happy now. She’s probably glad we didn’t run away together.

That night still haunted my dreams almost every night. When Mario came over that day and told us our next job was to take out her family, I panicked. There was no way I could kill her or cause her any pain of any kind.

I didn’t know what to do. If I didn’t obey orders, I would be dead. If I did, she would be dead by my hand, and I could never live with myself.

Mario and I had gone to the party, but I still had no idea what I was going to do. My only thought was to grab her and take her away before things went down, but she ran into Mario before I could find her and then shit went south fast.

Despite trying to get to her, I never talked to her again. I caught a glimpse of her in the mayhem, being pulled away by security. She was hysterical with tears running down her face and when our eyes met, I felt like I had been hit with a bullet. The pain and hurt in those beautiful dark eyes struck me to the core.

Our assignment that night wasn’t successful, and I had been positive our boss was going to beat the shit out of us or worse – kill us for not getting the job done, but Mario was a smooth talker, convincing him we were unable to carry things out because of a different threat.

Apparently, Grace’s father was as dirty a politician as they come, and our boss believed us, letting us off the hook.

I’m not sure what changed after that, but we were never asked to kill Grace’s father or anyone in her family ever again.

Grace also disappeared. Mario told me he ran into her and alerted her to what was about to happen, but before he could explain my plan, she panicked and alerted security.

It killed me to think she believed I would hurt her at all. I went down a major spiral after that. I didn’t leave the house for weeks other than to get more booze and I spent all my waking hours in a drunken stupor, trying to forget the angel I had planned on spending my life with.

Mario and our boss eventually pulled me out of my haze, giving me assignments no one else wanted. I did all the dirty work that needed to be done. My hands were constantly bloody and when I wasn’t torturing or killing, I was fucking women or drinking. I became reckless, and I still couldn’t believe I didn’t end up dead.

I continued to follow Grace’s dad’s career, always hoping to get a glimpse of her. When her engagement to some hot shot lawyer was announced, I finally saw her for the first time in over four years.

Of course, she looked gorgeous, but wasn’t the same innocent young girl I had fallen in love with at that party. She looked older, more mature, and her dark eyes held a certain pain in them. Pain that I probably caused.

She smiled big for the camera and snuggled up to her fiancé, but I knew Grace; she wasn’t happy. I made a vow that day I would do everything in my power to get her back one day. I didn’t care what it took, but that girl would be mine again; there was no way I would let her marry that fucking geek.

When I learned of her engagement, I also learned she’d been in California the whole time. If I hadn’t fallen off the deep end, I could have gone after her.

It didn’t matter. After seeing her father had won the governor’s race, I knew she was in town again. I’d been watching the news religiously and perked up when I heard the governor elect was going to have his future son-in-law on his staff.

Grace wasn’t going to be hiding in California anymore. I had to figure out a way to get to her. If I just explained to her what happened that night and how I had no intention of going through with our assignment. If she found that out, she would forgive me, and we could live happily ever after just like we planned.

“Forget her, Rhett. Now get your ass in the shower so we can go out and get me laid. It’s been too long.”

I rolled my eyes and stood up. Normally I would join him, finding some random girl to hook up with for the night – a mindless fuck that I could imagine was Grace. But not tonight. I’d go out with him, but now I was saving myself for Grace.

She would be my girl again, if it was the last thing I did.