True and Thirsting
**DAMIEN**
“She’s been in there a little longer than promised,” I say absently, studying the fortification deck that serves as the foundation of Santos’ house. Most of the steel posts that drill beneath the waves are no doubt just as carefully balanced as they are braced, given that the ocean floor is a constantly shifting surface. “One of us ought to slip onto the roof and get a closer look at what’s going on inside.”
Tiny snorts, his gaze still pressed forward, the way it has been since Ruby commanded that we keep watch like a couple of hired guns. “It would be pointless.”
“Oh?” I quip, glaring at him as I amble back up from where I’d been peeking under the house. “And why is that Dragon Boy?” I snipe.
Tiny’s entire body freezes, the tension in his forearms pulsing with the repressed want to hurt me. I study him. The twitch of his jaw as the wheels in his head begin to turn and he discusses with himself the pros and cons of whether or not it would be worth it to hit me. His fingers twitch on the trigger of the rifle he’s now got hanging across his back and I see him draw in a long slow breath like the fucking little statue he is.
Fuck him. Fuck the hardened little prick right in his baby face. Dimpled motherfucker. He never rattles. At least, not that I’ve seen. He doesn’t lose his cool, he never loses his temper, he’s so fucking easygoing that it makes me want to practice acupuncture on him just to see if maybe there’s something I can trigger to get him to crack a little bit.
I never hated him before. We’ve been paired together on quite a few jobs and I’ve never felt the way about him that I am suddenly feeling right now. Sadly, I know it’s not justified. I know I’m being a jealous piece of shit. I know that Ruby wanting *him* to be the one that gets the girl has no bearing whatsoever on the actual outcome. He won by default only. *Not* due to some cosmic connection that he and Romany share and that Ruby just so happened to *feel* from her cage in Santos’ mansion, yet it still burns like a motherfucking bitch that she *refuses* to consider me at all.
I mean, for fuck’s sake, I’m the *only* bastard on the block that seems to have an issue with *sharing* her baby cousin. That ought to count for something! At least, you would think it did. But no. Apparently it does not.
Instead, Ruby wants to give her blessing to the man who can’t be bothered to so much as raise his voice unless granted permission first. A man who could watch while *the woman he wanted was attacked* and keep a level head?!?!? *If I* had known what was going on that night, *if I* had been there, *I would not* have been able to watch that. In fact, I’d probably be dead because I would have ripped Enzo up from the ground and torn his fucking dick off right there in front of the entire crew.
Unlike Tiny, I’m not a fucking robot with programmed emotions that can just stand there and rationalize while something as vile an act as rape goes on. I can’t overlook the intentional provocation of others either and I suddenly *need* this man to break more than anything else in the world.
“Can I ask you something?” I don’t really want permission for my question. I just want to see if I can finally push him over the threshold.
“You can ask me whatever you want, Vee, just like I can pretend I don’t already know what direction this is going when I so obviously do.”
“Oh?” I quirk. “Do you, though? Couldn’t swear it by me.” I chuckle darkly, “How did it feel to have to actually watch those bastards enjoy my lady, knowing there wasn’t a fucking thing that you were man enough to do about it?”
*”You’re* lady…” Tiny releases a frustrated sigh as he studies the quiet hill ahead of us, the very first actual proof I get that I *have,* in fact, been getting to him a little, and then he cracks his neck, removing the rifle from his shoulders and setting it on the ground at his feet. I’m still wearing mine so I am totally and completely unprepared when he launches himself at me in a flash of movement and I finally get what I’ve been yearning for from him as his fist cracks into my jaw like a boulder being shot from his arm.
*Now we’re talking. Thank fuck.*
**ROMANY**
I’ve been seated quietly on the navy colored loveseat, staring out at the ocean’s tragic blue green waves for the last ten minutes, fighting the strange, sudden urge that I’ve been having to run out the back door and disappear down the beach.
*Why am I feeling this way?*
Why am I suddenly feeling like everything I’ve been enjoying is coming to an end? Why am I feeling like something drastically profound is about to change all the little hopes and dreams that I’ve now garnered for myself? All the new guilty pleasures, the wonderfully delicious men. Why am I worrying that the four amazing creatures that I’ve become so intimately acquainted with are about to be ripped away from me in an absurd show of maternal displacement?
Ruby… that’s why.
I know the answer even as I ask the question, so maybe that’s where the problem lies.
She’s going to rail me about Alex for certain. With the things that he’s done… I’ll be lucky to get three words out of my mouth in his defense.
*His defense, Ro? Really? You know he doesn’t have one beyond that he is a selfish prick.*
But ask me if that truth changes even a little of what I feel for that gorgeous son-of-a-bitch and I will have to tell you, no. No it does not. I love him just as much today as I did the day before, and the day before that.
I love them all.
Each of them has claimed a true and thirsting piece of my heart. Each of them speaks to me in a way that is uniquely their own.
How can I give that up when I want it so badly? Why should I *have* to? I’m a grown fucking woman. If I don’t want something to end, then it shouldn’t have to.
But what the hell am I going to do about it? What *can* I do?
Ruiz suddenly plants himself next to me, his eyes flashing as he takes in the sight of me in his shirt. “You look to have a good deal on your mind, Bonita.” His gold tooth sparkles, the smile he grants me a truly wicked thing. “You love your cousin, I see,” he murmurs. “But you were not ready for her to return. Am I right?”
I swallow thickly, staring deep into the demon’s eyes. “Yes,” I whisper.
“Then let me help you. Let me help you escape.”
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