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Still, fifteen minutes later, right when she put on her sneakers, the doorbell rang.
Opening the door, she discovered he wasn’t alone. Next to him stood another behemoth of a man. With his rippling muscles and shoulder-length hair, he was basically a blond, friendlier-looking version of Hector.
“Hi there, I’m Achilles,” the stranger introduced himself.
Hector and Achilles? There must be an interesting story behind that. If only she had the time. “Nice to meet you, Achilles. I’m Mary. Zoe only needs one sitter, really.”
“Achilles is here for the kid, I’m going with you. Jazzy would give me shit if I let you go alone at night like this.”
Right. Of course he found it necessary to point out that he wasn’t here of his own accord.
His lovely words were followed by a frown. “You gonna let us in?”
“Of course.” She stepped back, and they followed her into her living room. The small place seemed to shrink as the two large men filled the room.
They were sizing up the stacks of boxes covering half the hallway—Gina’s stuff hadn’t fit in just the guest room.
“My sister doesn’t have her own place yet.” She suddenly felt the need to defend herself.
“How the mighty have fallen,” Gina had scoffed when she’d first entered Mary’s apartment. Unlike her sister, Mary was a ‘glass half full’ kind of person. Yes, she no longer lived in the luxury her late grandfather—banker to the mob—had provided her with, but her new lifepresented new opportunities. It didn’t have the restrictions it had before, and that was incredibly liberating. She could follow her own path instead of the one her grandfather would have chiseled out for her. There was no reason she couldn’t make it on her own. Millions of women did it every day, under far worse circumstances.
Mary grabbed her bag and keys from the coffee table.
“Thank you so much for coming over. Zoe’s asleep, so she shouldn’t be any trouble. Please, make yourself at home.”
Hector grunted and walked outside.
When she started toward her car, he shook his head. “Not happening.”
She had to give it to him; he would barely fit in her tiny Toyota.
To her surprise, he bypassed the van with the Diaz Security logo on it and stepped onto a Harley. Not wanting to get into a discussion about transportation, she just put on the helmet he gave her.
She told him the address and he took off.
The ride over to Britney’s house was nothing if not amazing. It was the first time she got to ride on a bike and she loved every second of it.
Unfortunately, it ended far too quickly. Britney’s place looked even worse from the outside than Mary’s did.
When Hector made an attempt to dismount, she stopped him.
“Britney gets nervous around big men. Could you please wait here while I check up on her?” She didn’t wait for an answer but dismounted, handing him over the helmet.
“You have fifteen.”
What was it with him and fifteen minutes? She hurried up the stairs to Britney’s apartment while contemplating what to do. They had met at a support group at the women’s shelter. It was the place where Mary had found the courage to speak out. There was great power in confronting your traumas and fears. The alternative was going down a rabbit hole of denial that often resulted in alcohol, drugs, a depression, or a combination of those. She considered herself lucky for finding the right people to support her and not going down that dark road. Britney, unfortunately, hadn’t been that lucky.
Using the spare key, she entered the apartment, unsure of what she would find inside. A lot of times, Britney would just be lying on the couch, staring at a wall.
The only sound coming from the living room was some grunting.
She opened the door to the living room and came face to face with a man just stepping off of Britney.
“I’ll be back for the rest tomorrow, cunt,” he sneered, pulling his zipper up.
Lovely. Mary hadn’t seen him here before. Britney didn’t usually invite men over. Especially not the creepy-looking kind with bloodshot eyes and bad teeth.
She looked past his shoulder. Britney was sprawled over the couch, naked from the waist down. Her eyes were closed, and Mary wasn’t sure if she was even conscious.