Save Me Read online

  “Good job! Fucking awesome! Go Marc!” Bystanders yelled in praise to Marc.

  A Hispanic man climbed out of the driver’s seat of the BMW looking just what he was, defeated. Mercy’s breathing doubled in rate. Her heart beat against her chest cavity, threatening to jump right out. Her face felt like it was on fire.

  “You,” she said gruffly.

  “What?” The man pulled his white hoodie up over his shaved head.

  “Were you the one who hit me?”

  “Bitch, what the fuck are you talking about?”

  “I got hit a year ago by a silver BMW that was racing, was that you?” Mercy’s voice was composed, but one the edge of breaking down.

  “I don’t know what the hell you are talking about.” He laughed and tried to edge past her.

  “You just hit me and left me for dead! You almost killed me!”

  “Bitch, shut the fuck up, move.” Jose pushed her aside. Mercy didn’t take kindly to his touch. She raised a hand to his face. SLAP. The noise reverberated.

  “Oh, whore, you did it now.” The man grabbed Mercy’s throat and pushed her against his BMW.

  “No one disrespects me, especially not some little snowflake princess.” The man tightened his grip. Mercy saw stars. Her throat was completely constricted. She fought back, but to no avail.

  “Let her go!” Mercy saw a blur of movement and the man’s hand was removed. She sucked all the oxygen in she could holding her neck. It felt as though she were drowning.

  “Are you alright?” Marc appeared in front of her. “Mercy?”

  Mercy was too focused on breathing to talk.

  “Hey, talk to me.” He looked over her concerned until Jose forced his way back. “Jose, back the fuck off!” Marc shoved him hard.

  “What the hell is this?” A man Mercy recognized as “Ace” from the investigator’s photos walked to Marc.

  “Nothing, a misunderstanding.”

  Marc put himself between Mercy and the two other men. She still didn’t have the strength to quite start fighting yet. A few more moments, when her oxygen deprived lungs recuperated, then she’d start her tirade again.

  “This is the bitch I hit last year during a race,” the man said lowly to Ace.

  “Seems to me we have a problem,” Ace said to Marc and walked toward Mercy.

  “I’ll take care of it.” Marc blocked him.

  Just then sirens filled the air.

  “Police!” Someone in the crowd screamed. People started scrambling to their vehicles.

  “Make sure we don’t have to deal with her again,” Ace instructed.

  “I’ve got it.”

  Marc took Mercy’s hand and dragged her to his Porsche.

  “Get in.” He opened the door and gently pushed her inside. Mercy tried to protest, but he already had the door shut and was in the driver’s seat before she could act. “Buckle up.”

  The Porsche revved to life and Marc took off from the parking lot. Blue lights trailed them from a distance, but there was no doubt who they were after.

  “Hold on.”

  Mercy did as instructed. She looked over at his speedometer. 140 m.p.h.

  “Jesus,” she said terrified, holding on to anything she could.

  Marc slowed down, cut down a side street, took a left, then a right, then another left and slowed down.

  “What the hell were you thinking? Huh? You promised me you would drop it then you show up at a race! If I hadn’t saved your ass back there—”

  “I didn’t ask for your help!” Mercy found her voice.

  “If not for me you’d probably be in Jose’s trunk!”

  “I can handle myself!”

  “Oh yeah, you proved that tonight.”

  Marc downshifted and turned onto another side road. Mercy crossed her arms and looked out the window at passing trees.

  “Are you alright? Did he hurt you?” Marc’s voice calmed.

  Mercy didn’t answer.

  “Mercy, damnit,” Marc paused in frustration.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Do you feel better now? Did confronting him accomplish what you wanted it to?”

  Mercy felt small. He’d been absolutely right in his warnings. And she felt no better now that she’d met the man.

  “Damn it, you need to drop this. You’re going to get hurt.”

  “You told Ace you’d take care of me. What are you going to do, dump me in a ditch?”

  Mercy looked over to him and he returned her glare with utter disgust.

  “I’m going to bring you home and this better end. I don’t want to see you again.”

  “Or what? You’ll hurt me? You finish what Jose started?” Mercy knew he wouldn’t, but she was on a tirade.

  Marc pulled the car into the driveway of a large sandpit. He shifted the car into park, shut it off, and angled his body toward Mercy’s.

  “I’d never hurt you. I’m the one who saved your ass back there, have you forgotten that already?”

  Mercy looked down at the floor.

  “He will hurt you. THEY will hurt you. You are nothing to them. I need you to understand that. I don’t know how to get through to you, Mercy.”

  Mercy took a deep breath.

  “You were right.” Mercy stared into his intense blue eyes. “Okay, you were right about everything. Are you happy?” Marc was right about everything. About his warnings, about “Jose” not feeling guilty, about their willingness to hurt her.

  “So you’ll stop this?”

  “I want him to pay.” Justice. She wanted justice.

  Marc took her hand and held it in his. His touch instantly calmed her madly beating heart.

  “Trust me, he’ll pay, in some shape, somehow. But, you aren’t going to be the one to do it.”

  “He did this to me.” Her words were laced with anger.

  “Don’t let him ruin your life, Mercy.”

  “He already has! I used to run marathons, now I can barely stand on this damn leg for two hours at a time!” Mercy hit her metal leg frustrated. “I used to have a social life, now men won’t look at me. I’m broken. Everyone feels sorry for me. I just want my life back, before you and your friends decided to take a midnight drive.”

  Marc shifted in his seat. Mercy pulled her hand from his grasp and covered her eyes with her hands.

  “Bring me home,” she said weakly.

  “You’re not broken,” Marc said lowly in her ear. He placed his hand on the side of her face and brought it to his face. “You’re beautiful.”

  “No I’m not.”

  Marc wiped a tear with his thumb.

  “Yes, you are. If I wasn’t what I am, if I was more deserving—” he stopped himself.

  Mercy looked into his twinkling eyes. He had a devilish smile with big white teeth. He leaned his head forward so they were only a mere inch apart.

  “But you are what you are.” A drug dealer. A gang banger.

  Marc nodded his head. He looked like he wanted to kiss her. Did she want him to?

  “Which is why I wouldn’t wish myself upon you. You’re too good a person, Mercy.” Marc pulled back and Mercy took in a deep breath. Marc unnerved her.

  “It should only take an hour to get to Bellview.”

  “What about my car?”

  “You’ll have to get it tomorrow. We can’t go back for it tonight.”

  Marc started the car and headed back onto the road.

  An hour later they pulled into Mercy’s yard. Marc put the car in park and looked at Mercy.

  “Not that I don’t want to see you again, but I hope I don’t,” Marc said.

  “I know, I’m a pain in your ass, huh.” Mercy tucked her disheveled hair behind her ear and looked at her stately colonial house.

  “Kind of.”

  Mercy pushed him, a smile escaped from hiding.

  “Ouch.” Marc laughed and starred at her. “You have a beautiful smile. I wish I could have seen more of it.”

  Mercy blushed and she felt bu
tterflies in her stomach. Butterflies? Someone must have drugged her. She wasn’t the butterfly kind of girl.

  “Thank you for, ah, helping me tonight.”

  “Anytime. And by anytime I mean don’t do it again.”

  “I won’t.”

  “I know how your promises work, hun.”

  Mercy smiled at the very bad man beside her.

  “Get inside before I chase you in there,” Marc joked.

  Mercy bit her lower lip.

  “Maybe I want you to chase me.” Oh…my…god. Did she just say that? Oh, shit…

  Marc’s smile disappeared replaced by something more primal. Before she had a second to regret the words that slipped her mouth, Marc’s luscious lips were on hers, his hands on the sides of her sore neck. What started as sweet and gentle progressed. Mercy opened her mouth and Marc explored with his tongue like a dehydrated man in search of water.

  “We can’t do this,” Marc said pulling back slightly.

  Mercy stroked the sides of his face.

  “Come inside,” she said softly. What the hell was she doing?

  “You don’t want me, Mercy.”

  “Don’t tell me what I want.” Mercy brought her lips to his and lightly nipped his lower lip. “Come inside.”

  “We can’t.” Marc took a deep breath and put his hand on her leg, apparently forgetting it was gone. He seemed surprised when he felt the metal. He pulled his hand back and his eyes widened.

  “Right.” Mercy unbuckled and felt a total fool. “Just like every other man. My leg. It’s disgusting, I know.”

  Mercy let herself out of the Porsche and made her way to her front door.

  “Mercy!” Marc called after her.

  She fought to get the key in the lock, then it fell from her hands into the darkness.

  “Shit,” she uttered.

  “Mercy.” Marc reached her side.

  “Go.” Mercy rummaged the ground until she found the key.

  “It has nothing to do with your leg.”

  “Right.” Mercy unlocked the front door and walked inside closing the door behind her, but Marc caught it before it could shut. He followed her into the house.

  “Mercy,” he said frustrated.

  “Go, Marc. You don’t need to explain anything to me.” She whipped around and looked at him both hurt and furious with herself.

  “Obviously I do.”

  “Go home. You don’t want to see me again, your wish will be granted.”

  Marc leaned her back against the wall, his body pressed flush against hers. Mercy’s breathing increased tenfold and she stared at the most confusing man she’d ever met in her life.

  “You have no idea what you are talking about. It has nothing to do with your leg. You’re absolutely fucking beautiful.” Marc’s eyes flashed down to her lips, then returned to her eyes. “I’m not good enough for you.”

  “Let me decide that.” Mercy stared back challenging him.

  Marc searched her eyes. He apparently didn’t need further coaxing. Marc leaned down and took her lips in a sensuous kiss. God, didn’t the man know how to kiss. Mercy ran her fingers through his short soft hair.

  “Are you sure?” Marc wrapped his arms around the small of her back.

  “Positive.”

  Mercy took his hand and led him to her master bedroom. Once over the threshold, Marc was instantly against her. His hands slipped under her tank top exploring her bare back.

  “No bra?” he asked pleased.

  “Not today.”

  “Mmmm,” Marc made a guttural noise. He slipped her tank top over her head and stared down at her perky round breast. With both hands, he moved his way up her sleek abdomen to her breasts, gripping them firmly. Mercy inhaled deeply from his touch. It had been far too long.

  “I want to taste them.” Marc leaned down and placed a kiss at the center of her chest.

  Mercy wanted her turn to see him. He looked gorgeous covered, she dreamed of what he looked like without the layers. She tugged at the hem of his long sleeved tee shirt and pulled it over his head. His right arm and shoulder were covered in tattoos. Mercy didn’t like tattoos, but on Marc’s hard body they were art. They were tribal in design and added to his rugged appeal. Mercy trailed her finger down his tattooed arm.

  “I want you. Everywhere,” he whispered in her ear.

  “That’s exactly where I want you.”

  Marc walked her backward to the bed. He stopped at the foot and unbuttoned her jeans, then zipped them down. She held his hands in place at her waist scared of him seeing her in her natural state.

  “It’s alright,” he whispered and kissed her ear.

  Mercy inhaled and tried to hide her fear. The fear of rejection once he saw her nude, missing part of her body, seeing the scars.

  Marc pulled down her jeans to where the prosthesis connected to her upper leg then stopped. He eased her back on the bed and she helped him take off the appendage. Marc finished taking off her jeans and put the prosthesis and jeans in a chair beside the bed.

  Mercy sat on the foot of the bed wearing nothing but a pair of purple cotton and lace bikinis.

  “Still want what you see?” Mercy asked nervously.

  Marc walked back to her, stopping at the edge of the bed, and slid down his jeans. There he stood before her wearing nothing but a pair of black boxers and he looked absolutely striking.

  “I want it all.” Marc crawled atop of her.

  She could feel his readiness against her thigh. And oh was she ready for him.

  “Do you have protection?” Marc asked his breathing heavy.

  “Shit.” Mercy hadn’t needed any for so long.

  “Are you on the pill?”

  “I can’t have children.”

  “Oh,” Marc paused. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay, really.”

  He looked upon her with wild eyes.

  “I’m clean. Do you trust me?”

  Just because a man said he was clean didn’t mean he was. Mercy knew she should sit up and say hell no, but instead she heard herself say “yes.”

  “And you are too?”

  “Yes.”

  Marc pulled down his boxers and helped Mercy with her underwear. She looked down at his glorious erection in awe. He was all man. Thick, hard, long. Marc eased his body against her, nothing separated them.

  “You’re beautiful, Mercy.” Marc lowered his mouth to her left nipple and nipped and sucked, drawing moans from Mercy’s airway. With his other hand he massaged her right breast. Mercy pulled his head tighter into her chest wanting more. Marc let go of her left and moved onto the right. He nipped causing a slight amount of pain, then blew tenderly against his mark, the sensation was consuming.

  Trailing kissed up her breastbone, Marc made his way back to back to her mouth. He lavished her tongue with his. Supporting himself on his left elbow, his right arm slipped below her waist. His finger teased her entrance. Mercy arched her back slightly toward him, wanting him inside her. Marc’s fingers rubbed against her clit.

  “You’re so wet for me.” Marc’s slipped two fingers inside her slick folds. Mercy inhaled deeply and pulled his mouth back to hers roughly. She’d regret her actions in the morning light. She was sleeping with a drug dealer. And admitted DRUG DEALER. She wasn’t a bad girl. She wasn’t the kind to chase after bad men, but there she was, in bed with Marc. Glorious Marc.

  “I need you in me,” Mercy said breathlessly.

  Marc withdrew his fingers and position himself over her. The tip of his erection pressed against her entry.

  “Marc,” Mercy nearly begged.

  Marc entered her gently. Mercy dug her fingers into his back and wrapped her leg around Marc’s calf. He rocked back and forth slowly, allowing her time to acclimate to his size. Mercy pushed her pelvis forward, wanting all of him inside her.

  “I want all of you,” she said raggedly, “in me.”

  Marc dove inside of her, groaning loudly.

  “Jesus Chris
t you feel so good, Mercy,” Marc rest his forehead on hers as he thrust back and forth.

  “God Marc, dear god,” she praised as they writhed together. Marc took her over the edge and her body completely gave way as she climaxed. Marc came with her and slumped atop of her body, both covered in a sheen of sweat.

  “You’re amazing.” Marc smiled and kissed her sweetly. Mercy couldn’t stop herself from smiling. She felt uninhabited, free. Marc rolled beside her and took a deep satisfied breath. Mercy snuggled against him, arm around his chest, head on his shoulder, his arm around her back. Marc pulled a sheet over their bodies.

  They relaxed together silently for a few moments.

  “What does this stand for?” Mercy traced the large tribal tattoo on his shoulder.

  “It’s something I got when I was sixteen. Everyone in…,” Marc hesitated. Mercy could tell he wasn’t proud of his affiliation. “We all have sleeve tattoos on our right arms.”

  “You’re not like them—you’re not like the others. Ace, Jose, the other people at that race. You’re different. Why don’t you just quit?”

  Marc laughed lowly.

  “You don’t just get to quit.”

  “Why not?”

  “The only way out is to die.”

  Mercy’s stomach dropped. It was a different world he lived in.

  “If you could quit?”

  “I would have ten years ago.”

  “Couldn’t you just leave? Move away?”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “Why not?”

  “You wouldn’t understand. It’s easy to judge when you’re on the outside.” Marc turned toward her. “I made a decision at twelve when I was too young and naïve to understand the consequences. I thought the gang was my family. It was the only family I had.”

  Mercy stroked his chest and stared upon his handsome pained face.

  “But then you became a successful lawyer. What happened?”

  “Ace wanted me to drive more than he wanted legal counsel. I got dragged into the life all over again.”

  Mercy listened attentively.

  “I thought when I got the job at the firm my life would finally change. And it did. I lived a normal life. Sure, I had to represent the members, but that was it. Now…now you see what I am.”