Misguided Vows: Chapter 20

Sometimes in life you just fuck up. I don’t normally fuck up. But with her, I can’t seem to get it right.

Maybe because she’s better than me?

Can’t say I’ve met many people who are.

Yes, I’m cocky.

Yes, I know I look good. But I look good because I take great pride in doing so.

I look after myself to look good, and when I look good, I feel good.

So why is she so resistant to my charm? And why am I so hellbent on fucking my sisters’ friend?

I even apologized for fuck’s sake.

I’m not clueless about women, but I’ve never had to put this much effort into them in a very long time.

“Are you just going to continue staring at yourself in the mirror?” Alek asks. I’m sitting in the passenger seat of his car. Because a certain brunette didn’t want to speak with me, I made it a condition that I go with Alek in exchange for the location of the person he wanted me to find.

I close the mirror and turn to him. “It’s my favorite way to pass time.”

He exhales loudly, and it brings a smile to my face. It’s just so easy to piss this guy off.

“Here.” I point to an old, decaying house. “This is the place. What did the guy do to piss you off?”

He gives me a scathing look, and I shrug. Fair enough. He doesn’t want me to know too much about his business. I get it.

“Stay in the car,” Alek grits out, and I frown, disappointed.

“Come on. I thought we’d have some fun together. Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve saved your ass.”

Alek steps out of the car, glaring at me as he snaps the door shut. I chuckle. Whatever.

When he leaves, I scroll through my recent photos of Alina. At first, I convinced myself it was part of my job, to do a background check on the person with whom my sister was conducting business. But it’s beyond that point now; it’s my personal obsession. I’m only a man after all. And besides, I remind myself, it’s my job to be obsessive.

My phone lights up, and I grimace. This fucker again.

“Mr. Percy. I’m assuming you’re calling because you have the rest of my money,” I say as I flip open the mirror again and admire myself.

“I told you I’m not giving you the rest of the money until you give me my ex’s location,” he snarls.

I sigh, irritated, until I see a man running for his life out of the same house Alek just walked into. The man’s only wearing his strawberry printed boxers, and Alek is storming out behind him, looking seriously pissed.

He’s just lucky this neighborhood is mostly deserted, which is most likely why this guy is hiding here in the first place.

“Are you there?” Jack Percy demands. I didn’t even hear what he said before because I’m so fascinated as Alek’s target runs toward the car.

I grin as, with perfect timing, I push open the car door and the man slams into it. I then step out smugly, and Alek looks all foreboding and pissed that I ended up helping him anyway.

The man on the ground is disoriented but tries to get up. I adjust my neck tie slightly as I say into the phone, “You’re lucky I’m so generous as of late, Mr. Percy. If you don’t have the remainder of my money sent to me in four weeks, we cease communication.”

“What about my deposit?!” he demands.

The groggy man on the ground tries to stand back up again. I cover the phone’s speaker as I say to Alek, “See, I told you, you need me. I’m quite the handsome sidekick, if I do say so myself.”

The glare he pins me with is murderous, until he shifts it to the man at my feet and yanks him off the ground.

“Are you there?” Mr. Percy shouts.

“Yes, I hear you. And that deposit is mine because the work’s already been done. You should’ve figured out a better way to ensure you had the money to receive the goods.”

“She has something of mine that is worth ten times more than what I owe you. If I have that, paying you will be easy.”

Alek steps behind the man and without remorse or mercy, slits his throat. Blood sprays my shirt and suit coat, and I’m shocked. Not by the fact that I’m almost certain he fucked with my suit but because I swear, I see a glimmer of amusement reach his gaze because he did it on purpose.

“Four weeks, Mr. Percy,” I reiterate as I watch Alek drag the body to the back of the car. “Oh, come on, Alek. You can’t just dump a body in such a nice car.” I sigh. “Goodbye, Mr. Percy.”

I hang up and look at my suit. Damn, this was one of my favorite suits too. It’s not like it’s the first one to get bloody, but because I’m certain Alek did it on purpose, it’s now sentimental to me.

The car sags with the weight of the body. Alek adjusts his gloves as he comes around from the trunk. He might not like touching people, but he doesn’t seem as concerned when they’re dead.

He pulls out a fresh pair of gloves, and I’m shocked as I watch him remove the bloody ones and exchange them. “Wow, I thought your hands would be hideous or something. Well-manicured nails.” I applaud.

“Do you ever shut up?” he growls as he throws me a sealed bag. When I peer into it, I notice a clean dress shirt and suit, and I sigh romantically.

“I didn’t think we were at the stage of sharing clothes yet. You do love me,” I gush jokingly, and he rolls his eyes as he slams the trunk shut.

This is why I enjoy my time with Alek. He’s always two seconds away from exploding, and it just so happens that I enjoy playing with danger.