PURPLE HEART - Soliders Of Fortune [BOOK TWO]

Chapter THREE

Sunday's 'Sunny' Santos

I adapt my posture and draw back my shoulders to maintain some semblance of a controlled composure, but the dark shadow looming over me poses a threat to my very existence..
With an inquisitive fire in his eyes, Max is an inarguable force of steel and sternness.. A force that I can't escape... When he locks me in his surely sapphire sights, my knees tremble.. Aound him I can barely catch my breath.. He is a vacuum within my lungs, emptying me of all oxygen until a dizzy spark of flashing fire burns me alive, forcing me to inhale once again..

He is so frightening, I forget how to function..

Angling my gaze upward through my lashes while keeping my chin down, I am once again assaulted by his impossibly carved features.. As if made of marble, his brooding brow and high cheekbones cut away in clean angular lines.. A dark stubble defines his chiselled jawline, and down his neck a series of visceral scarlet stripes lay horizontal across his throat, one over the other to create a savage tally..

I've never seen scars like those, all jagged and angry.. But they seem to suit their wearer to a tee..

They are the scars of a fighter..
They are the scars of a killer..

As if he senses my curious thoughts, Max lifts an absent-minded hand to scratch at his neck..
For the briefest moment I consider asking about his battle stripes, but the idea is quickly erased by his irritated sigh..

I realise that I have to tread carefully and no amount of angering this man would lead anywhere I want to go.. He could be completely insane for all I know.. If I made him mad, would he really be able to keep his promise not to hurt me?

Or would he punish Javier for my actions instead?

Perhaps he was telling the truth when he swore he wouldn't hit me.. But I believe with my whole heart and soul he meant everything he said about Javi..

Max would kill Javier.. And I would be left alone in this world, responsible for the death of the only person who really knows me..
Javi might be a lot of things, a con man, a liar, a cheat and a thief.. But he had been the only person who'd ever been there for me.. He picked me up out of the dirt, and I can't just erase the memory of all those times that he saved me from another night on the street..

As much as I hate Javier for what he has done to me, selling me like a cheap slab of meat, I can never forget the loneliness of life before he found me..

He gave me a life when I had nothing..
And so, I owe him everything..

Overwhelmed by exhaustion and shaken nerves, my eyes involuntarily flood with tears.. My entire body shakes uncontrollably as sniffling sobs begin to choke my breath.. "I'm-so-sorry-Max.. I-didn't-mean-to-make-you-angry.." Broken by pathetic gasps for air, my voice cracks and warbles, but I can't contain it anymore.. A few hours, just before walking into that southside casino, I had almost been happy.. But now, the misery that consumes me fills me with panic and anxiety..