?Running With Scissors ?

?c h a p t e r 46?

"I will accept whatever punishment you deem appropriate but I came here for more than just a chat." My words sound braver than I actually am.

He smiles softly at me, reminding me of the young man he used to be, so soft and loving. "Why are you here?"

"I need your help."

He rubs his face. "It must be something big if even Michael cannot help you and sent you here."

"What does he have to do with this? How do you even know about him?" I rapidly fire off questions and sounds that don't actually qualify as words.

"He never told you?" Eli sighs deeply as if what he's about to say he'd rather not. "I am sorry Sammy. He should have told you a long time ago. When my father passed, I hired a mercenary to protect my most precious possession; you. He was to watch you, never pursue you sexually and to report back to me. If you ever needed help, financially or physically, he was to help you himself first and if he couldn't then he was to call me."

"No. . . No, he can't be. . . He is my friend. He carried me three blocks to the hospital when I-"

"-broke your ankle and then carried you back because neither of you have a car and he refused to drive your bike." He finishes my memory as if it were him there instead of Michael.

My heart sank so deep into my body that I can't feel it beating anymore. Maybe it's finally broken. Everything I thought I knew was a lie. I've always been alone and the one person I loved more than myself was paid to be my friend. With Handle, I knew he was a snake. I knew Abasi was an evil man. But I never saw Michaels betrayal coming. I don't know who he is and maybe I don't even know who I am either because he is such a big part of me. A big fake part.

"He did his job and he did it well until recently." Eli continues.

Yeah, he sure did do his job well.

My mind gets foggy and I stand to pace around. He knows everything about me. . . Well I never told him about Abasi or Eli but I apparently didn't have to. I feel like I have been emotionally raped; he's taken everything privet and all of my favorite memories and has tainted them.

"Recently? What happened?" I asked him. The answer can't hurt, nothing else Michale has done can hurt any more than it already does.

"Six months ago he fell off the grid and I haven't heard from his sense which is good because I saw you got kidnapped on the news and I was going to kill him." His words surprise me.

Five months ago Luca walked into my life. What had changed a month before that? I have so many questions that Eli can not answer for me so I push my heart aside and think of Luca, the only man that I've given my heart to that hasn't hurt it.

"No."

"No what?" He leans forward, putting his elbows on his knees.

"I wasn't kidnapped, not really. It's all very complicated but that's why I need your help. I need you to go to war against Dion DeLeon."

His expression changes from pained to furious. "How do you know that name?"

"It's a long story"

"I have time." He says so I tell him.

I tell him about Michael getting shot and the FBI bunker (leaving out the naked parts). I tell him about Handle and the mission, then about the horrors in the basement. As I go on his anger rises until I explain what Luca did to the DeLeon men and that's when he put his fist through the wall. "-and now I have to get him back. He saved me and I, Eli, I love him. If he dies then my life has no purpose."