Chapter 05: Nightmares

—Brooklyn Heights – 1999—Age 9

“Daddy, I’m scared.”

“Shh! I know, Lyric, but you have to be very quiet, baby, can you do that?”

“I’ll try,” she shook her head and squeezed her legs tighter against her chest.

“That’s my big girl. I have to go and get your brothers. Now you stay down, and no matter what you hear, you don’t leave this closet. Understand?”

“I understand.” Sinking down to the floor, Lyric closed her eyes and tried her best to find a happy place; her 7^th birthday party on the sandy shores of Turtle Creek. Running on the beach with her brother Echo and building sandcastles with Blaze.

She could hear door after door slamming and each time it made her jump and whimper…they were getting closer. A shot was fired. Her mother screamed. Sounds of a struggle and several voices floated through the air vents as glass shattered and furniture fell to the floor. Three more blasts echoed in the hallway just behind her and she heard a loud thud. The front door opened with a crash and hurried footsteps rushed through the house.

“DAD!” She heard her oldest brother Blaze yell just before another blood curdling scream. He had been yanked from his bed along with Echo and dragged out to the front lawn.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT?” Lyric heard her dad yell at the intruders. “Please, just…let my boys go,” he begged and was forced to watch as the shooters lined them up.

“Dad!” Echo sobbed, closing his hand around his father’s.

“Close your eyes, son. It’ll be over soon.” A barrage of bullets erupted from outside and both Blaze and Echo hit the ground, their teenage bodies riddled with holes.

“Vincent Piozzo sends his regards,” a man growled as one last shot was fired.

—St. Claire – Present—

“Earth to Hannah?” Gavin laughed as Alexa finally snapped back to reality.

“What? Sorry. I was…”

“Daydreaming, yeah, I noticed. Can you hand me the adjustable wrench, please?” She grabbed the tool from the kit near her foot and smiled. “Thanks. So, where’d you go?” he asked, leaning over the hood as he began tweaking something on the engine.

“Just some distant memory of a child who no longer exists.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” she grinned and leaned beside him. “So do you really think you can get his hunk of junk moving again?” she asked, kicking the tire with a sigh.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, take it easy! This baby’s a classic. It belonged to my grandfather’s father.”

“Wow.”

“Damn right ‘wow’. It’s been in the family for four generations. I remember every Sunday, waiting on the front stoop for Grandpa to come and pick me up in it. We’d take a drive around Spring Glen Park and then hit up every ice cream parlor from here to Cottonwood Hills. And then on the way home, he’d turn the radio to a baseball game and we’d listen to the St. Claire Llamas annihilate their opponents.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“Oh it was. Though, it wasn’t until I was in my teens that I realized the Llamas weren’t as winning a team as I’d thought. Gramps had been playing the same game over and over again. He had it recorded on a cassette.” Alexa laughed at the cheesy grin on Gavin’s face and leaned forward to wipe a smudge from his cheek. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Now you say you did this every Sunday?” Alexa asked with a raised brow. “Because I’ve seen you naked and I gotta say, yours is not the body of a kid who ate THAT much ice cream every weekend.”

“Well you can thank the bran muffins for that,” he joked with a wink. “But this car means a lot to me. And yes, I really do believe I can get her running again.” He finished tightening the bolt and dropped the tool to the ground. “Do me a favor, get behind the wheel and give it a crank.”

The engine sputtered a few times. Thick, black smoke puffed out of the exhaust and some even filtered through the AC vents inside. Alexa coughed and turned the engine off, slamming the door shut as she got out. “This thing needs a lot more work before it’s back to its original condition,” she teased and took a step back as Gavin fanned the fumes away.

“Yeah. Sorry about that. Are you alright?”

“Nothing a tall glass of water can’t cure.”

He smiled to humor her as he wiped his hands off on the chamois cloth. “So, what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Favorite childhood memory? Perhaps the one that had you floating away earlier?”

“NO!” Alexa shouted, startling herself and Gavin as well.

“O…k…”

“I’m sorry I…I just don’t like reminiscing about my childhood.”

“It’s ok. You don’t have to tell me.” Gavin slid behind the wheel and tried the engine again. It sputtered like before but minus the deadly exhaust and overhang fumes.

His mouth said one thing, but Alexa saw the look on his face as he was once again shut down from hearing about her past. She wanted to tell him. More and more lately she found herself on the verge of spilling everything. This whole mission, everything, was fucked up. Gavin and his family didn’t deserve what was happening to them. And they certainly didn’t need the complication of a hired gun sleeping with their oldest child. If the situation was different, she and Gavin could be friends, maybe even more. But that was another life; one she’d never have.

“I…” she started and Gavin again cranked the ignition, cutting off her words. He looked over at her somberly before cutting the power and sliding out of the car. Leaning against the door, he folded his arms into his chest, and his dazzling-electric eyes fixed on her. 

Alexa nervously twiddled her fingers a moment. She tried to say something but froze. As she attempted to take a step back, Gavin’s arm shot out and his hand closed around hers. “Go on.”

“I don’t have very many pleasant moments from my childhood,” she sighed and glanced at her feet. “My family moved around a lot. I didn’t make friends easily. I never met my grandparents, never had a dog or a cat or even a goldfish named Fluffy. Well, I guess my brother had one—a dog, not a fluffy fish,” she laughed nervously, producing a stiff smile on Gavin’s face. “I was the painfully shy daughter of two sweet, loving, hippy parents who only wanted what was best for me but my life was never a series of Cinderella moments,” her voice broke and she swallowed hard to keep from crying and Gavin’s fingers gently rubbed over her hand.

“I never went to prom. I never had a real boyfriend. I never had carefree moments to spend at the mall doing what every other girl my age was doing and truth be told, I haven’t had ice cream since I was 12. So when you ask me to share something the only thing it does is take me back to a time in my life where everything went to shit.” In that moment, all sorts of feelings rushed through her, both physically and emotionally. Alexa felt a well of anxious energy settle in the pit of her stomach and she took three deep breaths to calm her fraying nerves.

Gavin’s right hand slid up her shoulder and into her hair. Pulling her closer, his lips brushed the softness of hers as he rested his forehead against her. Gavin’s eyes never left Alexa’s as he whispered against her mouth. “It’s alright, Hannah. I’ve got you.” She looked into his intense, blue eyes and felt a sense of calm. The smile on his face seemed to put her at ease and everything felt safer somehow. “Come on, I wanna show you something.” He backed away and opened the driver’s side door.

“Why, Gavin Stark, if you think for one second that I’m getting into that rundown scrap metal deathtrap you call a car just so you can have your way with me, you’ve got another thing coming. I haven’t had a tetanus shot in years,” she joked, feeling the burning of tears at the back of her throat subside.

Gavin flashed her one of his charming smiles and leaned against the side of the car with a bewildered expression on his face. “And what would you need a tetanus shot for?”

“Well for starters, how about the innumerable amount of rusty springs poking out of that back cushion? The door hanging on by a thread. And I don’t even know what that is; I think at some point it might have been a cup holder.”

“That’s the handle for the window. Cars this old didn’t have cup holders.”

“Oh.” Alexa laughed hard as Gavin swung her around, leaning her against the rusted old car. His lips tickled down her neck and her hands stroked through his hair as a soft moan escaped her throat.

“Change your mind yet?” he muttered against her ear before gently pulling the lobe between his teeth.

“Mmm getting there,” Alexa purred and felt Gavin’s hands circle the front of her body and roam lower between her thighs. “Ok, you win,” she moaned in defeat. He growled and snatched the door open, climbing in quickly behind her and the two hurriedly undressed in the tightly confined space.

Gavin felt Alexa’s hand rub against his cock and her soft, warm tongue slide down the side of his shaft to the base. He moaned and his head fell against the worn upholstery of the headrest as she slid him into her mouth. Alexa’s warm lips wrapped around him and she slowly sucked him down her throat. Gavin’s hand closed into her hair and he helped guide her head up and down on his dick, feeling her slick tongue lick around the tip every time she came up. “Fuuuck that feels so good. Oh yeah, suck it, Baby,” he moaned, thrusting his hips up to meet her mouth.

Gavin moved in long, smooth, deep strokes into her mouth. Reaching down, her pinched her nipple and Alexa moaned, causing vibrations to pulse against the head of his cock. With his hips shifting into her, Alexa pressed her tongue against the underside of his shaft, feeling it become slick with saliva and allowing for him to easily slip down her throat. “Mmm fuck,” Gavin hissed with pleasure, pulling her off when he felt himself ready to explode.

Pulling her over onto his lap, Gavin held her, nuzzling her neck as he took his cock in hand and worked it into her awaiting depths. Alexa lowered herself into Gavin’s lap, feeling the thick mushroom cap of his cock nudge against the head of her cervix. She moaned and her head fell back as he thrust upward and into her. His lips were on her neck, kissing and licking her soft skin as she fucked him, slowly at first, before working up to a faster, harder grind.

“Yes! Yes! Yes, Gavin!” Her head was banging against the windshield, her hands flat against the car doors, trying to balance herself on top of him. Gavin pounded into her, his hips slamming hard between her thighs with a force that had her edging closer to orgasm the entire time. Alexa’s nails clawed at his back, pulling him in closer and deeper as she rode him faster. 

Soon, they were both moaning. Gavin’s sweet, animal growls aroused her more the deeper he plowed his dick into her. Alexa cried out, feeling the makings of her climax. Her lip slipped between her teeth as she tried to keep from yelling. But Gavin’s mouth closed over her nipple ruining any plans of her silence. She screamed, and with it, his teeth nibbled firmly against her rosy flesh and he felt the moisture form between her creamy thighs.  

She was coming and yelling and Gavin slammed himself harder into her, lifting his ass off the backseat to reach her depths. “Mmm, fuck me, Baby,” he growled. Gavin reached down between them and fingered her clit as his tongue continued lavishing licks against her nipple. With his right hand, he got a hold of her other breast and roughly pinched her nipple. 

Alexa squealed, bouncing her hips faster and a thin sheen of sweat formed between them. “Don’t stop!” she yelled, leaning back as another ripple of pleasure surged through her. “Don’t stop!” The pain felt so good and Alexa was lost in the throes of yet another orgasm. Her breasts pounded against Gavin’s face and her nails locked deeper into his shoulder as a new wave rushed over her, flushing her skin and making her dizzy.

Slowly she started coming down, looking into Gavin’s eyes with her lust-ladened gaze. He smiled dreamily at her before locking his arms around her waist and pummeling her body from beneath. “One more. I want to feel you come again,” he growled harshly, his thrusts growing more frantic and fiercer and she knew he was on the verge of climaxing. Alexa leaned back in his arms, letting herself go.

Feeling a warm stream of sperm shoot into her, she moaned loudly and bucked wildly against him. Her convulsing body milked every last drop of his hot release and she listened as Gavin groaned and grunted with every thrust of his hips inside her. “Fuck,” he laughed breathlessly and pulled her down to kiss him tenderly.

“That was insane,” Alexa laughed with him, shaking her head as she pulled her panties up her thighs. “But you didn’t show me anything I hadn’t seen before.”

“You sure?” he asked, looking over her disheveled appearance with an amused grin as he himself got dressed. “And that’s actually not what I was gonna show you.”

“But the sex…”

“Was your idea. And who am I to say no?” Gavin smiled as he pulled open the small compartment box in front of the passenger seat and removed an envelope with a picture inside. It was of two people standing beside a tree in a park. A picnic blanket lay in front of them and they both had huge smiles on their faces. “My teenage grandparents on their first date. That’s the car behind them. Grandpa said the next spring when Grandma hit 17, the very next day, he married her. He told me he couldn’t imagine spending his life without her. She died in 1999 and one week later he passed away.”

“Wow, tough year,” she said, feeling a pinch in her chest. “That’s sad but so sweet.”

“Yeah. And it’s also the reason I wanted to get this ‘scrap metal deathtrap’ running again,” he grinned at the confused look on Alexa’s face. “Hannah, I’m not a hugely romantic guy. In fact, the sweetest I’ve ever been was to open a girl’s door for her before dropping her home after we’d…you know. But with you it’s different. I find myself telling you things I’ve never told anyone before in my life. I want you to know me. And, likewise, I want to know everything there is to know about you. Even though my methods may be aggressive, it’s only because I’m genuinely interested.”

“After this date, my grandparents became inseparable until the day they died,” Gavin sighed, placing the picture back into the envelope and concealing it in the small compartment again. “I wanted to recreate this moment with you in hopes that we could have our own happily ever after. But hearing what you said earlier, I think it would be more fun starting from scratch. You and me, we can make new, better memories together.” He smiled down at her and she snuggled deeper against his chest.

“That…sounds nice,” she replied, looking down and away from his hopeful eyes. Deeper and deeper she felt herself slipping into that hole she was digging. And at this point, there didn’t seem to be a way out.

Gavin smiled as he leaned over, pulling Alexa into his arms. His fingers gently caressed her cheek and he pulled her gaze to his. “It will be,” he whispered before pressing his lips against hers. “So guess what comes tomorrow?”

“Um…Friday?”

Gavin mimicked the sound of a game buzzer. “Wrong!” he declared. “Guess again. I’ll give you a hint: it’s big, black and shiny.”

“Um…ok so many images going through my head right now,” she giggled and watched a pink tint crawl across Gavin’s cheeks.

“It’s not that, pervert. Geez! I never knew my sweet, wholesome Hannah Taylor had such dark thoughts. I’m gonna have to keep a close eye on you,” he teased with a smile. “The Pagani!”

“Oh that big, black and shiny! Why didn’t you say so? Although, I wouldn’t call a sports car ‘big’. You threw me off with that adjective.”

“Yeah sure, perv, that’s the one that did it.”

Alexa leaned forward and covered Gavin’s smirk with her lips as she crawled into his lap once more. “Gonna take me for a ride?”

“Was thinking about it,” he replied, thrusting his hips into her.

“Uh huh, now who’s the perv? I was talking about the car.”

“I know. I was just testing you,” he laughed and adjusted the crotch of his overalls.

“Gavin?” Melissa’s voice rang out, growing louder as she approached the carport. “Gavin?”

“Yeah, Mel?” Melissa glanced at Alexa, frowned, and looked back to her brother with a smile.

“Mom wants to see you.”

“Ok. Tell her I’ll be there in a minute,” he replied, watching her sprint off before turning back to Alexa. “Hey, why didn’t you tell me you were suspected by the police?”

“What?” Alexa asked. A million things ran through her mind, most notably, her latest excursion with Kasper.

“About the explosion. Dad said the questions they asked seemed to indicate you knew more than you were saying.”

“Oh. Yeah. I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I didn’t feel it was important. I took care of them and they moved on.”

“Still. You should have told me. I would have come in there and busted heads if I needed to,” he sighed and instinctively hugged her closer. “Sometimes I just don’t get our justice system. You pull me from a burning boat, saving my life and become suspect #1 to the police. I mean, who has ever heard of a Good Samaritan criminal?”

“Right,” Alexa smiled stiffly. “Some people.”

—Brooklyn Heights – 1999—

The silence was deafening. Lyric felt her ears ringing and her tears drying on her cheeks. Her heart was steadily beating rapidly but she bit her lower lip and pulled herself from the closet floor. Slowly, she took a look around the room, poking her head into the hallway. Glass glistened on the hardwood floors as the moonlight caught it. Several picture frames had been knocked from the walls and lay shattered on the ground.

Lyric took her time, moving with caution, her bare feet scarcely making a sound. The house was in shambles as she discovered more furniture had been overturned. Dishes lay in pieces all over the kitchen floor, cushions were torn to shreds and their cotton innards strewn throughout the rooms. Every window and every door had been broken, every flower vase smashed, every trash bin tossed over and every chandelier yanked to the ground.

It was her mother’s body she found first and she quickly placed her hands over her mouth to keep from screaming. Olive Hughes lay sprawled on her back, her opened eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. Lyric knelt beside her and tried shaking her awake. “Mommy?” she cried, watching as her lifeless body shook beneath her tiny hand. Three large holes had been drilled into her head; one in her left cheek, and two in her forehead. Blood pooled around her body to the point it appeared she was floating in a red sea.

Her clothing had been torn off and she had bruising on her chest, wrists, upper arms and thighs. More tears fell from Lyric’s eyes and she wiped them away with fingers stained in her mother’s blood. Lyric started out the front door where she was met with the sight of her father and two brothers. She inhaled and made her way down the front steps, circling them once before examining them all. As she did with her mother, Lyric tried shaking them awake. But no one made a sound.

Wolf Hughes had his right arm thrown over his youngest son, Echo, as if in his final moments he tried to protect him. Blaze lay a few feet away from them on his side. His eyes were closed and there was blood everywhere. Hondo, Lyric sighed. That dog followed Blaze everywhere and, loyal until the end, was found on his back beside him. Blue and red lights lit up the sky as dozens of police and emergency vehicles sped toward her home. Lyric Alexa Hughes fell to the grass beside her father, covered in the blood of her family, and waited.

—St. Claire – Present—

“You ok?” Gavin mumbled, feeling Alexa awaken beside him.

“Yeah, I just need a glass of water. Go back to sleep.” He groaned, fluffed the pillow beneath his head and rolled over. Alexa pulled up from the bed and started for the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. It wasn’t unusual for her to have nightmares. In fact, after she started on her mission of revenge, it had almost become routine. Ghosts from her past reminding her why she did the things she did. But having them during her waking hours now was unnerving. Something was triggering her memories and it was putting her on edge.

Alexa poured cold water on her face and dabbed it dry on the towel beside the sink. Taking a seat on the edge of the tub she closed her eyes and tried to calm her nerves but was met with the images of her mother, father and brothers’ dead bodies. Tears quickly collided with her cheeks and her head fell over in her hands. Alexa quietly slipped down to the floor no longer fighting the flurry of tears. How did I get here? She silently pondered, running through the many life and death situations over the last two decades. 

This wasn’t the life Wolf and Olive had imagined for their only daughter. And it certainly wasn’t what Alexa would have ever expected to become of herself either on nights she wished upon stars. All of it seemed important at one point, but now, she wasn’t sure of her end game or if she would ever be able to walk away. And if she ever did leave the revenge business, what life would there be for an ex-assassin with no real skills outside of weapons, fighting and murder?

—Brooklyn Heights – 1999—

“Alexa?” She looked up into the eyes of the officer that had pulled her from the ground and he smiled. “Do you remember me? Officer Monroe.” Alexa nodded and the young policeman sighed. “Do you mind if I sit with you?” Alexa shrugged and Officer Curt Monroe slid onto the bench beside her. “Alexa…”

“What’s going to happen to me?” she asked, interrupting the rookie cop before he could once again offer his condolences.

“I’m not sure. Do you have any other family you could stay with? Any aunts, uncles? Maybe grandparents?”

“I have an aunt, I think. But my parents never talked about them. I don’t think they’re alive,” she sighed and looked down momentarily. “Who is Vincent Piozzo?” The man instantly froze at the mere mention of the name and Alexa saw a few other heads turn in her direction.

“Where did you hear that name?” Officer Monroe asked, whispering so the others couldn’t hear.

“One of the people who…I heard him say it. He’s a really bad man, isn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“Those kind of people…they don’t like leaving witnesses. But why did he kill my Mommy, Daddy and brothers? They didn’t do anything wrong!” she cried and felt the officer pull her against him.

“Alexa, I’m new here and I don’t really know what I’m doing. What I saw tonight was a brave, little girl survive one of the most awful things that could ever happen to her. I know they told us never make promises to the family of victims but I want you to know that I will do EVERYTHING in my power to bring the people who did this to justice. You have my word.”

—St. Claire – Present—

“Hannah?” She heard Gavin call from the other side of the door. It was because of him she had been questioning her life’s choices and undoubtedly feeling the sting of remorse for some of the things she had done. Quickly pulling herself to her feet, she doused her face in cold water again as he opened the door and joined her near the sink. “Babe, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Just…a terrible nightmare. I’m fine,” she smiled, hoping he couldn’t see how red her eyes had become from crying.

“You wanna tell me about it?”

“It’s nothing, really; just nerves I guess.”

“Well come back to bed and I’ll give you a massage,” he smiled, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and leading her from the room.

“Fourth of July, 1998,” Alexa said as she took a seat on the edge of the bed. Gavin moved closer, a bit confused until she continued. “My parents rented a cabin out in Turtle Creek, one of my favorite places to go. Dad bought some fireworks for later and let us play with some early; the kiddie stuff, you know sparklers and poppers and firecrackers. Mom was in the kitchen making her famous chicken pasta salad, Dad was getting the grill ready to fire and my brothers and I were getting into trouble at the beach.”

“Well, they were,” she corrected. “I was mostly watching.” She made a gesture of a halo above her head and he chuckled before crawling onto the bed behind her. “Anyway, some kid, also on vacation with his parents, dared us to swim out into the water and touch the raft that was anchored in the middle of the lake. My older brother…” Alexa paused before saying his name and inhaled a deep breath. “He told me not to. He told both of us to go back up to the house. I didn’t listen even though I knew better.”

“I wanted to prove I was more than the annoying kid sister that always tagged along with her cooler, older brothers so I took the kid up on the dare. I got about halfway before the undertow dragged me under. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t get back to the surface long enough. It felt like a hand had wrapped itself around my waist and just kept tugging. I heard my brothers yelling and watched them run back to the cabin to get our parents.” Gavin listened intently as Alexa recalled a moment from her childhood, gently stroking her back as she spoke. 

“My Dad, even though he knew the danger, wasted no time jumping into that lake. I can’t swim, Gavin. Hell, I can barely float. My brothers knew that and it’s why they tried to stop me. And even after everything, do you know what my father said? Instead of yelling at me for being foolish or punishing me for ignoring my brothers he commended me for trying and told me that if I wanted to swim so badly that he’d teach me next summer.”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s weird that one of my favorite memories as a child is a near death experience, which probably speaks volumes, but that one lack of judgment created one of the best summers of my life. After that, my family did everything together. We were close before but it somehow brought us closer. Family,” she choked up and felt Gavin pulling her into his arms. “It’s the best thing in the world.”

“You ever get back to Carolina to see them?”

“Every year,” she sighed, wiping away a tear. “I never miss a birthday.” 

“Excuse me.” Tobias stopped short of walking the four steps up the pathway to the State’s Attorney’s office and turned to a man sliding out of a dark blue pickup truck. “I’m looking for Hannah Taylor? Do you know where I might find her?”

“You’re in the right place, however, she’s not in at the moment. Perhaps there is something I may be able to assist you with?”

“Oh, no, that’s ok. I’m an old friend of hers and I was just hoping to speak with her. What time do you expect she’ll return?”

“9 a.m. tomorrow morning.”

“Thanks.”

“Hey,” Tobias called to the man’s back. “Maybe I can help. If it’s a case she’s working on…”

“No, it’s nothing like that. My business with ‘Hannah’ is personal,” he smiled and took a step forward.

“Fiancé or husband?” Tobias received a suspicious glare at the question and offered further explanation. “I’m an attorney. I’ve seen my share of domestic disputes. Hannah doesn’t wear a ring nor does she have a tan line so I’m going with fiancé.”

“As I said, it’s personal. I would, however, appreciate if you could do me the favor of not mentioning to her that I was here. I’d like it to be a surprise.”

A funny feeling overwhelmed Tobias as he glanced at the half smirk on the stranger’s face. Something about him was off and he suspected it had to do with the shady past he’d uncovered about St. Claire’s newest attorney. Hannah wasn’t who she said she was and if her past was catching up with her, he was more than happy to let it. This way he could get rid of his Hannah problem without dirtying his hands or sullying his standing with Travis which was just fine with him. “Absolutely. I’m sure ‘Hannah’ will get a kick out of seeing you.”

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