Killing me softly

1.

Ronnie;

You wanna know the craziest thing? The fact I'm still alive after everything I've done in my life; after every mistake, every fuck up, every single thing I've done has put me one foot in the grave or my whole body. No one greatly understands why I am the way I am; besides my best friend of course. Been friends since Highschool and haven't separated since. He understands the things I have to do in order to keep surviving, he understands that if there's money to be made I'm going to take it; like now for example.

I sit in my car watching the rain patter down my windshield; like single flowing rivers with their own flow, going all in different directions kinda like my life. Im backed into a parking space waiting for max to come back out with the goods, he does most of any deals unless there's a problem then he calls me in; The muscle, the one that brings fear, the intimidation.

The time on my dashboard reads 2am on the dot, the bar I'm parked In front of will be closing soon and if I know max like I do then he will wait for everyone to file out and make it less suspicious. Plus if anyone managed to actually stop him and see what's in the bag he carries, they would've wished they hadn't stopped him to begin with.

I wait another 5 mins and the bar slowly starts to clear out, people filing out and in a line, drunken wobbles, a few hollers and loud laughs can be heard from the happy bar goers. I watch my surroundings carefully, something I've always done especially if you're in the business like mine. There's always someone watching, waiting for the right moment to strike when they think I'm a sitting duck; but Ronnie is never a sitting duck, more like a beast waiting to come out from his cave to unleash a fiery pit of hell on whoever tried him.

I continue to watch the people come out of the bar and I finally see max; and her. Dark auburn hair poked out from her hoodie, green eyes shining as she chats with max for a moment. I can't help but hold my gaze on her, for what reason? I have no idea. All I know in this moment is she caught my eye.

In a short few moments max and the girl begin walking to her car and I watch intensely, I know he's just doing the gentleman thing and walking a lady to her car in the middle of the night, but there's a feeling in my stomach a feeling I haven't ever even really felt so I can't explain it. She turns around flashing a pearly white smile to max as she thanks him; my eyes glued to her as if she was some kinda hallucinist drawing me in slowly.

She tries to crank her car, but nothing comes of it besides a high pitched crank noise. Fuck. I know max's next move, he's gonna offer her a ride then come and ask if we can take her home and I'm gonna fold and say yes because no woman no matter who she is should have to wait in the dark for help or walk alone; or anything along the lines of that. This situation though has only occurred a few times thankfully, though they were too drunk to comprehend what was going on, but we made sure they got where they needed to be safely.

" yo Ronnie!" Max says tapping my window; knowing the tint is darker than dark I roll my window down a peep keeping my eyes straight.

" yes max? What now?" I ask him as I see the girl out of the corner of my eye shift on her feet behind him fumbling with the many rings across her tattooed fingers.

" her car needs a new starter, obviously can't get one at 2am. she said she lives 10 mins from here, she's the bartender running this bar, can we give her a ride home?" He asks with a smile

See what'd I tell ya. I know my bestfriend.

I don't say yes and I don't say no, instead I wave a finger for them both to get in and out of the rain, rolling up my window. Max puts the duffle bag in the trunk and lets the girl in the backseat; her perfume filling the air around us. It smells like vanilla, roses, and peaches and honestly I would say it's bothering me and ask her to roll down her window but something in me isn't allowing me to, as if my brain chemistry is trying to tell me something, yet I'm at a loss.

I keep my mask pulled up halfway across my face, my eyes and forehead the only thing she could see from the back. I don't like people seeing my face because then they'll know who I am and as I've said before there's always someone watching; waiting.

" thank you." She says softly with a shy smile settling herself into the seat looking through the rearview mirror almost seemingly looking at me.

I gaze through the mirror and finally see her face clearly, perfect pouty little lips, green eyes that could tame a wild beast and now as she slips off her hoodie I can fully see her dark auburn hair fall along to the middle of her back, and plenty of tattoos to go around.

" you're welcome ma'am, just point me where to go." I said my voice deep and raspy as I peer back at her; her eyes catching mine and holding me there in place.

" take this left." She says leaning between the seats a little to point out the road

Her perfume closing in around me like shrinking walls. I shake my head slightly, I can't be having none of these feelings; hell even if it is a feeling, I don't even know what I'm feeling. I do know I can't let anyone get close not yet, probably not ever. The last thing I need is my enemies to see I have something valuable and boom it can be taken in the blink of an eye; from a bullet or drug, or maybe even something worse to the right people.

As we begin to pull down her street she places her hoodie back over her body and pulls the hood up.

" right here." She says and I stop the car putting it in park looking over her home

It's a small town home probably one bedroom one bathroom with sliding glass doors to the back yard and wide open windows nearly in every room; sheer black and white curtains can be seen from behind the windows, but I can't see much else since the lights are shut off.

" thank you guys again, if you all are ever back by the bar just stop by, drinks on the house." She says her voice sounding like honey as the words slip from her lips making me take a deep breath

Unable to say much of anything or wanting to say anything I give her a small nod and max tells her a quick you're welcome and a wave. I watch her walk through the rain to her front door; unlocking it then turning to look at my car again, before entering the house.

" don't do it." Max said as I finally pull my mask down

" what are you talking about?" I ask him as I begin to pull away from her house watching the lights finally come on in my side mirror

" don't. Do it." He says again shaking his head with a sarcastic chuckle

" man I don't even know what you're talking about, it was just another random girl that we had to take home, I didn't even catch her name." I say to him shaking my head this time

" listen I know you got this whole don't let nobody close don't let anyone in or else you might loose them but come on man you can't deny it, she was hot as fuck and when; honestly when have we ever seen a girl like that?" He said fumbling around in his book bag for his laptop

I hadn't realized I gritted my teeth at his words towards her until I finally relaxed in my seat, but he's not wrong. She was stunning, jaw dropping, she could probably make a kingdom crumble with her looks.

maybe a little watching over wouldn't hurt too bad? You know, just to make sure she's safe at night from all the bad guys. Bad guys like myself anyways.

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AN-

Ahhhhhh new book I'm so excited it's taken a week for me to put this intro together but I hope you like it! ❤️