Chapter 7

 “Hey Natalia!” Hope said as she ran into my bedroom. It was sometime in the early morning. The T.V. weather channel said it was about 11 ish. Thanks to that great weather channel I had learned I was in Tampa.

 “Hey Hope…” I half smiled at her. She was practically beaming.

 “Do you wanna come golfing?”

 “Wow… that was random. Golfing as in somewhere or golfing as in here.”

 “Golfing as in here, but it’ll be so much fun. We get to drive around in the little mini carts, and Tommy is so funny when he golf’s. He gets so competitive.” Hope giggled a little and I couldn’t help but give in. It actually did sound fun, even though I was going to be golfing with a murderous drug lord.

 “Well okay.”

 “YAY!” She said enthusiastically. “Justin’s gonna be so happy. All that boy talks about is you. He’s really sprung on you, ya know that?”

 “Seriously?” I asked, a little nervous to that. Sure I knew Justin liked me, but it was scary too. He was nice and all and of course I had him wrapped around my finger, but again, he was my kidnapper.

 “Uh huh… I think it’s adorable. I mean you have to admit he’s super hot.”

 “Well duh! But is he… uh… normal?”

 “Normal?”

 “Yeah. As in not criminally insane like JC.” I made sure not to mention Tommy cause HELLO, she was nice and all but that was her fiancé.

 “No… well he is a little but we’re all a little crazy.” She laughed a little. I finally realized she was wearing a pleated yellow and red skirt and a red tank top. She definitely had the golfing theme going on.

 “Yeah… but you know what I mean.”

 “Girl none of them would hurt you. They need you alive and I spoke to Tommy, he promised he wouldn’t lay a hand on you. He’s more bark than bite.”

 I put on a dark blue golf dress in the bathroom and listened to Hope gush on about Tommy. She really had him on a high pedestal. To an outsider it would seem that his job didn’t bother her, but I really had a feeling that she hated this line of work that Tommy was in.

 Everything was so dangerous; I could picture her staying up and worrying about Tommy while he was out “working.”

 I shook the thought out of my head and walked out with her to the golf course. Yep, Tommy that son of a bitch had a golf course right in his backyard. Damn, I bet his house was bigger than Neverland Ranch. HAHA.

 Tommy was wearing matching clothes with Hope. It was actually kind of cute. He had on these yellow pants and the same red and yellow sweater that Hope had on.

 Justin looked adorable in his navy pants, white polo shirt and matching navy golf hat.

 “Good Morning Ladies.” Tommy said politely, while Justin just smiled at us.

 “Hi Thomas.” Hope smirked and gave Tommy a peck on the lips. I giggled at their cuteness and looked to Justin.

 “So have you ever played golf before?”

 “Never. But you’ll help me right?”

 “Of course. It’s not too hard, but it takes a lot of concentration.” Justin said and handed me a club.

 “I go first?” I questioned and he nodded.

 “Well yeah, I mean Tommy and Hope are too busy making out anyway.”

 I half smiled and watched as Justin put the ball on the tee. Yeah, I did take a glance at his ass. I couldn’t help it! I mean it was right there! God, I’m such a horny bitch sometimes.

 “Alright, now just hold the club, steady yourself, stand with your knees about 2 inches apart… and swing…”

 I listened to everything Justin said and still didn’t get it right. I ended up sending a wad of dirt about 2 feet. I heard Justin snicker and I turned and looked at him, giving him a dirty look.

 “Don’t worry… let me go and show you how to do it.” Justin grabbed another club from his golf bag and positioned himself. I stood behind him with a smirk on my face. He lifted his club to swing and I yelled behind him…

 “MISS!!!”

 Justin was startled and ended up hitting air. I cracked up laughing as he turned around and shook his head, laughing a little as well.

 “That was mean.”

 “Nope.” I giggled. He grabbed me by the waist and smiled, planting a small kiss on my lips.

 “Hey Tommy…it’s your turn!” Justin called to him, still holding me in his arms. Tommy looked annoyed as he pulled back from kissing Hope who was blushing.

 “If this weren’t golf I don’t think you’d be able to pull me away from kissing this beautiful lady!” Tommy exclaimed.

 “Yeah, Tommy and Justin have a little bit of a golf obsession.” Hope said and shook her head.

 “A little bit? That’s an understatement.” Justin replied with a short laugh.

 “Okay how bout I just watch you pros play?” I suggested and they both nodded.

 “I’m out too. I can’t understand this game and I don’t have the patients to learn.” Hope giggled and sat in the motorized golf cart.

 “Alright.” Tommy smirked and looked to Justin. “How bout we have a friendly wager. Just me and you.”

 “Sounds good to me.” Justin said with a sly smile. “How much?”

 “Let’s say… 50?”

 “50?! That’s it! You’re supposed to be these rich scary mafia guys. Make it more!” I said, while Hope burst out laughing.

 “Alright… Is 100 more to you’re liking?” Tommy asked me and I shook my head.

 “Make it 500.” I stated and Tommy just smiled.

 “Alright then. Winner gets 500 grand.”

 WHAT THE FUCK?! My mouth dropped when Tommy said this. 500 grand?! Jesus Christ!!! I thought they were talking like 500 dollars. HOLY SHIT!! That’s so sick that 500 grand was like chunk change to these fuckers.

Why couldn’t I be rich like that? Maybe I wouldn’t even be in this situation if I was born rich. I couldn’t help but be a little disgusted at this.

 Tommy and Justin shook hands and Tommy went first. The ball flew across the field with a loud whoosh sound. I couldn’t help but to be slightly impressed by his skill.

 “Hope, baby. Take score.” Tommy said to her, as Justin got ready to go.

 “Alright.” She said with a bright smile and jotted something down on a notepad.

 Justin swung and I was pretty sure his ball flew twice as far. He turned and grinned at me after and I rolled my eyes, but secretly I was impressed.

 “Alright. We need to find our balls.” Tommy stated and jumped into his car. I couldn’t help but to snicker at this.  Tommy sped away and I looked at Justin with an innocent smile.

 “Can I drive?”

 “Of course.” Justin hopped into the passenger’s side and I sat proudly in the drivers seat.

 Now, I am an okay driver but I’m not really that great. My mom makes me paranoid about driving so I have my license but she never let me drive. It never really bothered me though; since I lived in New York I could just take the train to go where I wanted.

 But right now I just wanted to be crazy and drive crazy.

 I hit the gas and sped down the field, immediately passing Tommy and Hope. I turned and waved at them before moving even faster.

 “Oh shit!! Slow down!” Justin was clinging to his seat and I giggled. I swerved the car and drove in a circle and then in a figure 8, before stopping promptly next to his ball.

 I hopped out of the car with a smirk on my face and Justin looked like he was going to be sick.

 “Remind me never to let you drive ever again.” He said and shook his head. I found this hysterical and just started laughing like crazy

 “Yeah, I guess you didn’t know that I can’t drive for shit.”

 “I’ll remember that for next time.” Justin rolled his eyes and got out of the cart.  Just then Tommy and Hope pulled up next to us.

 “What the fuck was that?!” Tommy barked. Justin just stood in front of me, sort of protecting me from Tommy.

 “She was just kidding, Tommy…”

 “ I don’t give a fuck! I don’t like that shit!” Tommy yelled and shoved Justin out of the way. He stood right in front of me, breathing heavily and I couldn’t help but to feel scared. “I don’t give a fuck if Justin lets you get away with that shit. But this is my FUCKING house! You don’t fucking act like that here!!”

 I swear to God I thought he was going to slap me across the face but Hope grabbed him and pulled him back.

 “Tommy… calm down. All right, she was kidding and she’s sorry. Let it go… please. For me?”

 Tommy instantly calmed down and took a deep breath before looking at Justin. “Alright, let’s get back to the game.”

 They both walked off, with Justin turning around and mouthing an “I’m sorry” to me. I couldn’t believe what just happened. I couldn’t believe the power that Esperanza had over Tommy. It was like he was Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde and she was the elixir that changed him.

 I would hate to see Tommy if Hope left him.

 But for the rest of the afternoon, Hope and I watched the boys play golf. We didn’t say anything about Tommy’s outbreak earlier. I think she was a little embarrassed, but she dared not to say anything.

 I couldn’t help but to think of how lonely Hope must have been. I don’t think I saw her talk to anyone else but Justin, Tommy, JC and me. Maybe Tommy had her isolated from her family too.

 Maybe the key to getting out of here lied in Hope. Maybe I just needed to become closer with her, so I could find a way out of here sooner. I don’t think I could have survived another day in that hell if it wasn’t for the faith in my heart. I knew I was going to get out of there. I knew I had to. But I had to put my brain to the test. Even if that meant manipulating and hurting the two people that had been nice to me. Maybe nicer to me than my own family.