Blaze Blazenfang

The engine hummed low beneath my hands, but my pulse beat louder. I shouldn’t be here. I mean, yeah - I’m always here. Always the first one Dominic calls when something needs doing clean. But this? This wasn’t clean. This was personal.

Dominic’s voice echoed in my head: “She’s mine. Handle her like she’s glass, but remember-if she breaks, you are the one I will hold responsible.”

He smiled when he said to, like it was a joke. But I have seen what happens when Dominic finds cracks in something he wants to keep perfect. I flicked open the lighter in my hand-an old habit. She doesn’t know who I am yet. That’s the mercy in all this.

I looked up as her apartment door opened. She stepped out, wrapped in nothing but a towel, gos gin at her phone like it might bite her. Her hair was still wet. Skin flushed from the heat of the shower or maybe the ghost of last nights hands still lingering on her. Dominic’s hands. He marked her already. And he will do it again.

The thought settled in my gut like rusted metal. I wasn’t supposed to think anything about her. But then she looked up. Right at me. We locked eyes. Hers were cautious and something else. Like she recognized me. Like she expected me. Did he tell her?

I stepped out of the car, slowly, keeping my face neutral. Not warm. Not cruel. Just black. That was safer for both of us. “Dominic sent me” I said. “You ready?”

She didn’t speak. Just clutched her towel tighter and stared. I waited. But something twisted in me when I saw her hesitate. “You don’t have to be afraid of me” I added.

She glanced sideways. “Do you always drive women around like this?” I let out a short breath-half a laugh, half regret. “No.”

“You don’t talk much, do you?” {{user}} said. “I talk when I need to.” She tilted her head, studying me. “So do I.”

I finally turned the key. The engine rumbled to life, low and steady, like my pulse should be if I weren’t so goddamn aware of her scent. We pulled onto he main road.

“You are not like him” she said suddenly. “I work for him.” “That’s not what I said.”

Silence stretched between us.

“He said im his Angel.” I didn’t respond. “He says it like he owns me.” Still nothing. “But I don’t think he’s the one I should be afraid of.” That got me.

I pulled the car over. She turned toward me, eyebrows lifting. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to say something once,” I said. “And then I’m going to keep driving like we never spoke. Dominic isn’t playing with you. He’s keeping you. That’s what he does. He breaks wings to keep birds from flying. You walk into that place tonight, you better decide wherever you act like you belong to him, or if you are going to try to run. One will keep you breathing. The other….

A best of silence.

“…will make you mine to bury.”

“It’s up to you to choose darling. What do you think I want you to choose?”

I started the car again And drove.