Stomp!
Presley wrapped her arms and legs around Cruz’s neck, and he crushed her to his frame.
“f**k Ladybird, oh f**k,” his voice cracked as he buried his head in her hair.
She couldn’t help herself and she was sobbing uncontrollably in the crook of his neck as he stood holding her while men milled all around them. Despite the yelling and the way everyone was rushing around, in the midst of trying to get the ship back under their control before other factions arrived to assist Liborio, she felt
nothing but the relief of being in Cruz’s arms.
She felt him carrying her away after someone yelled at him in French and he was taking her to a more secure location, away from the possibility of gunfire. He wasn’t letting her go through. The sound of his sniffling and clearing his throat made her pull her head back and look at him. Tears stained his cheeks as he tucked them against a small corner of a wall. Cupping his cheeks with her hands she stared into his eyes. “Hi.”
His laugh made her smile, “hi. Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did he touch you or force you?”
“No. No. I’m not hurt. He did say he has a lot more men coming. We need to get out of here.”
“There are boats coming for us. They weren’t as fast as the choppers. Algernon flew one of the helicopters. He’s pretty badass.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Also, he’s probably going to marry Sloane. The amount of f*****g those two have been doing he’s probably dropped a kilo or two already.” Cruz laughed as she made a face. His hands were roving over her, ”
you’re sure you’re not hurt?”
“A hundred percent.”
“Because I see a really big bruise on your face.”
“Estrella did it. I’m kind of glad she did because her smacking me around is what distracted Liborio enough for me to get out of my room and hide with the crew.”
“She did this?” Cruz was examining her closely. “She hurt you and he didn’t kill her?”
“She was begging and crying, and I have a feeling he threatened to kill her if she did it again. I wasn’t sticking
around to find out.”
“The Russian crew hid you?”
“Yes. Liborio took their captain’s family and commandeered the vessel. They were outnumbered four or five to
one, he took all their communication devices and their weapons.” She stared at Cruz as he looked in the
distance, his face contorting with anger. She turned her head to see what he was looking at and it was Odin being pulled up from the side of the ship. “He was collaborating with them.”
“I know.”
“No. The Russians. He still hates me, but I guess he didn’t want me dead. Allegedly if I willingly sacrificed myself for his debts and went with Liborio it was fine but when Liborio kidnapped me and brought me
onboard unconscious, it wasn’t fine anymore. He asked the Russians to find a way to help me.”
“Still want to f*****g kill him.”
III
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< Stomp!
+3 Points
“Get in line,” she laughed. “Every man on this ship wants a piece of him. He’s not a good person. He’s a horrible human being and he trafficked his sister, no matter how you spin it, he’s vile. The men on this ship once they realized it was him who put me in danger in the first place all wanted to let him die.”
“They should have.”
“Cruz. No. Think of Marsha.”
“She would mourn his death but at least she wouldn’t have to deal with his misogynistic bullshit.” He looked back to her, “speaking of bastards, Liborio might not get off this ship alive. He’s burned some bridges.”
“Him I wouldn’t be sad over,” she shrugged as she looked into his eyes as he kept her held tight to him.
“You swear he didn’t touch you.”
“I swear. He did, however, tell me it was never his intention to ever let me go. He was banking on me being unable to leave my babies and agreeing to marry him. He thinks he’s in love with me but he’s freaking obsessed. He saw me when I was doing research and thought I was crying because the men were hurting the women and he immediately wanted to save me. I didn’t need saving. Idiot.”
“Cruz!” Belkin’s voice called out. “I need you.”
“What the f**k does he need me for?” Cruz set her on her feet finally. “I didn’t even kiss you yet.”
She giggled and kissed his lips quickly. “There. You’ve kissed me. Let’s go see how we can help.”
“You stay here and out of the way,” Cruz argued with her.
“Like hell,” she was ducking away from him and running towards the man who called out to Cruz.
“You must be Ladybird.” The man winked at her.
“I am. You’re Belkin?”
“Yes.”
“Rami told me a lot about you. He’s a great guy.”
“He once slit a man from throat to c**k for stealing his sandwich but sure, he’s a great guy,” Belkin laughed. He looked at Cruz, “need your muscles.”
“For?”
“We found something which we can use as a shield to get us down there with Liborio and his men. It seems the ploy to trade Estrella isn’t going to work. She was quite devastated when he said to kill her. Something about bruising his wife’s face.” Belkin gave a pointed look to the side of Presley’s face.
“Never going to be his wife. Asshole.“,
“How would you like to rile him up?” Belkin asked. “We need him out of the hole where he’s hiding like the rat he is. I’d rather not bring him out in a body bag until I’ve had a chance to actually talk to him and figure out
what the hell is in his head.”
“In his head is a rotted brain,” she scoffed. “Did you know his mother and sister were redheads? Did you know he has been obsessed with me and my red hair since I was nineteen? He’s a freak.”
“We will figure it out. In the meantime,” he pointed where she’d come from, “the last of our men are out of the kitchen. Let’s make him surrender.” He looked at Cruz, “first though, I need your help.
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< Stomp!
“What do you need?”
Belkin pointed to a large steel door.
“Where did you find that?”
+ Paints
“It’s a door from the engine room. It’s retrofitted to withstand and contain explosions or fire or something. Quite thick. Incredibly heavy. It took ten of them to carry it up. We figure one of you and five of them might be better. We want to take it down the stairs and block the fucker in as tight as we can until he gives up all his
weapons.”
Rami jogged over to them. “Holy s**t, he is Donkey Kong.”
Cruz’s groan made Presley giggle.
“Presley is he this big all over?” Rami nudged her playfully.
“He’s built to scale, and he has two c***s. Ask Algernon. He’ll tell you.” She laughed as Cruz pinched her
thigh.
Rami laughed as Cruz moved to help the men move the door.
However, the sound of a woman shrieking made everyone freeze.
“You b***h. You lying b***h. What are you doing out here?”
Presley looked at the woman struggling in the arms of two larger men. “Estrella, you’re not near as blue as I was hoping you would be. We should have kept the blanket.”
“I will kill you,” Estrella hissed. “You betrayed him!”
“I didn’t betray anyone. I simply didn’t want to be trapped to a psycho. Why are you defending him?”
“He loved you. Do you know what I would do to have the love of a man like him? Do you? Women all over the world would love to have a man like him love them and you have it and you throw it away for this,” Estrella spat at Cruz, “ape?”
“What is with the ape comments?” Cruz protested as he helped the men get the door in place.
“I happen to love the ape as you call him, and Liborio is a sick twisted pervert. You should know he told me if you died, it wasn’t a big loss. He knew I’d feel sorry for your kid and said we could raise it for you. Him telling these guys to kill you wasn’t a bluff. He really doesn’t care if you live or die.”
Estrella’s face drained of color. “No.”
“Yes. He really doesn’t like you. He keeps you around because you’re a sycophantic sucker who will do whatever he says blindly. You’re loyal to a fault and he appreciates your loyalty but not enough to not actually care. He even said he knew you told people he regarded you as a sister and how he let it slide because it made you more dependable.”
“You’re lying.”
Rami held his hand up, “I was there. She is not lying. He indeed said they could raise your child, and he didn’t care if you died.”
“Presley,” Belkin tugged her arm. “Do me a favor. Cruz is ready with the door. Come stand behind it and call out to that insane fucker. Let him know you’re out here now and not in there.”
3/4
< Stomp!
+8 Points >
“Okay.” She followed behind Cruz and the men who were pushing the door forward, letting it clang down each step as they ducked behind it. She watched Cruz’s neck muscles straining as he carried the bulk of the weight. When it hit the bottom they all barricaded behind it.
“What the f**k is that?” Liborio called out.
“It’s your prison door,” Presley called out. “Until you surrender and give up your weapons, this is what is going to keep you in this cell of your own making.”
A shot rang out and hit the door and all the men jumped but it didn’t even show a ding on their side.
“Presley, where are you?”
“On the other side of the door. If you keep shooting it, you’ll hit me. I know you’re willing to let both of us die today, you crazy motherfucker, but you should know my man came to save me.”
“Hello asshole!” Cruz called out. “Hope it bothers you a great deal but I’m taking my Ladybird home with me. We’re going to live happily ever after and those babies you wanted to put in her, yeah, I’m going to do it now. In fact, we’ll go back to our hotel room today and f**k like monkeys and.”
Whatever Cruz was going to say was cut off by the sound of Liborio’s rageful scream bellowed and the sound of his feet smashing the floor as he charged at the door, firing his weapon while he raced at them.
With whatever adrenaline Presley didn’t know a man could possess, Cruz grabbed the door from the other men and was charging down the hall. He pushed it hard when it collided with Liborio and as it knocked the other man over, he dropped the door on Liborio and began jumping furiously on top of the door.
The entire hall was quiet. Even Liborio’s few men who were with him in the hall dropped their weapons to their sides as Cruz violently jumped on the door crushing the man underneath it.
The other men all dropped to their knees in surrender.
When he finally stopped, his chest heaving with rage, Presley was dumbfounded when the group of Russian men let up a cheer, pounded their chests and screamed “Kong!” before charging to grab the surrendered men.
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