by Mae Doyle
My heart pounded in my ears and I breathed deeply, trying to slow my heart. As I stood, I closed my eyes, focusing on the sounds around me.
Crickets.
Cicadas.
Water somewhere off in the distance.
And a whimper.
My eyes flew open and my nostrils flared as I took a deep breath. That wasn’t the sound that an animal makes when it’s hurt. That was the sound of a person who was in pain and trying their damndest to hide it.
I turned to my right, my eyes straining as I tried to see through the dark. Carefully I moved, one step after the other, my hand on my gun, my other one reaching out to touch trees as I walked by them.
The last thing I wanted was to walk right by her. She was petite enough to crouch down under a bush and I wouldn’t ever find her. I had to go on instinct and hope that I’d stumble across her or that she’d make another little whine.
Yeah, I wouldn’t mind hearing her whine. Or moan. My thoughts wandered as I took one step after another, and I had to shake my head to clear the thoughts away.
I couldn’t even imagine enjoying her if I couldn’t find her and bring her home in one piece.
There was a snap to my left and I turned on my heel before even giving myself a chance to think about it. If it was a raccoon, I was fucked, but I had a pretty good feeling that it was my hellcat accidentally making some noise while trying to get away.
I launched myself at the sound and was rewarded when I felt her hot little body slam into mine. We fell to the ground, her hands clawing at me as I pinned her, both hands on her shoulders.
“What the fuck are you doing?” She shrieked, aiming a kick between my legs.
I rolled over to the side, dodging her leg, but I didn’t let her up. “Keeping you safe,” I growled. “Now shut up before someone else comes looking for you.”
“Fuck you.” She sounded brave, but I could hear her gasp as I gripped her shoulder.
Wiley as she was, I wasn’t going to let her get her feet under her. I had no doubt that she’d made a break for it into the woods and then I’d really be fucked. I had to keep my hands on her or she’d be gone.
“Now’s not the time, sweetheart, but maybe I’ll take you up on that later,” I told her, grabbing her by the waist and flipping her up and onto my shoulder. My hand was wet with her blood, and I grimaced as I wiped it on my pants. “I’ll send you the drycleaning bill.”
“Put me down,” she hissed. At least she wasn’t yelling anymore. I’d listened to women bitch my entire life, and Isabella didn’t have that many years of experience, so she could spew hate at me all she wanted. “I swear to you, my dad will kill you if I don’t first.”
That made me bark out a laugh. “Your dad called me for a favor, sunshine. And I seriously doubt that you could do any damage with your fucked-up shoulder.”
She slammed her fists into my back, and I felt the patter of her blood dripping down my lower back. “I wouldn’t be injured if you and Tweedle-dee hadn’t burst in and ruined everything. In case you didn’t notice, I had things under control.”
“So under control that you were kidnapped in the middle of the night?” I paused at the edge of the woods and looked around before venturing out into the open yard. Out there, we would be sitting ducks for anyone looking for us thanks to the moonlight. It was the best way back to the truck, though, so it was worth the risk.
“Not my fault.”
“Sure, sweetheart,” I said, walking as close to the house as I dared so that we could hide in its shadow. Shifting her on my shoulder, I paged Freddy. “You there? I’m headed back to the truck, loaded down.”
The radio beeped but he didn’t answer, so I shrugged and kept walking.
“Loaded down? Is that a comment about my weight?” At least Isabella had stopped hitting me in the back, although her shit attitude really needed adjusting.
Even though I wanted to argue with her, I didn’t dignify her with a response. She could be pissy all she wanted, but all she was to me was a job.
Right?
Right.
Chapter 5
Isabella
It didn’t matter how many times I told Nicolo that he needed to take me home. Or that I wanted to call my dad. Or that he was driving too fast and each pothole he hit made my shoulder throb like the devil himself was digging his fingers into the bullet hole.
The asshole didn’t speak to me. Didn’t even look at me, which kinda pissed me off but kinda made me glad, since he would have been able to see how hard my nipples were. All he’d done was strap me in the front seat, pull a blanket out from the back, and wait until his accomplice got in with him.
“So, he’s your boyfriend?” I sucked in a breath of pain as Nicolo carried me from the truck up the front walk to a house. He was being careful, or at least I thought so, but every step hurt my shoulder and made a bit of black appear at the edges of my vision.
I was determined not to pass out, though. Not when I didn’t really know anything about these guys. They could claim to be sent by my dad all they wanted, but until I had proof, I wasn’t going to make anything easy for them.
Right. I was just going to lay luxuriously in his arms while he carried me into his house like we’d just gotten married. But other than that, nothing easy.
Nope.
Nicolo grunted and put me down on the sofa, tossing me yet another blanket. It was almost like he couldn’t bear seeing me almost naked, and the devil on my shoulder told me to stretch out in my pjs. Luckily, before I did anything too stupid, the angel appeared and told me that that was a great way to get myself raped.
So I snuggled up in the corner, only dropping the blanket down from my shoulder when he came back with a med kit.
“Not my boyfriend. That’s Freddy,” he said, jutting his chin at the other guy. Freddy stood at the front door, alternately looking at us and peeping out the peephole. He had his hand resting lightly on his gun, and even though it was early morning, he didn’t look tired at all.
I opened my mouth to say something snarky to him, but instead I gasped in my breath as he lightly wiped the wound clean.
“For fuck’s sake!” I cried, wrenching myself away from him and scooting into the corner of the sofa. “Don’t you think that you should take me to a doctor? I highly doubt that you’re one.”
He tilted his head a little and looked at me like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to pin me down and ram something into my bullethole or kill me. I couldn’t tell which one I wanted more, so I just lifted my chin and stared at him.
“We’re not calling the doctor over for something so small. If you’d stop whining and let me take care of it, I could have you bandaged up in no time and then we’ll give your dad a call.”
There it was. The carrot that he knew he had to dangle in front of me to get me to do what he wanted me to. All I’d been asking was to talk to my dad, and if letting him clean out my shoulder was the only way for me to get what I wanted, then I’d sit still, shut up, and let him do his thing.
“Fine.” I told him, but I didn’t move any closer. I wasn’t planning on making this easy for him.
Nicolo sighed and scooted over in front of me again. I eyed him as he poured some more peroxide on the cloth and bit my lower lip hard enough to taste blood when he touched it to my skin.
I mean, I wasn’t a wuss. In fact, when training with my dad, I’d been hurt plenty of times. I’d also broken my right arm one and even lived with a cracked tooth for almost a week before I finally succumbed to the pain and had my paretns call the dentist.
But the pain of Nicolo cleaning out the bullet hole? That was on an entirely different level of hurt. That was the kind of hurt that made people pass out and wake up later in a puddle of their own piss and shit. It hadn’t even hurt that badly getting shot, for fuck’s sake, but I was about ready to keel over on this asshole’s sofa if he touched me again.
He must have seen the look on my face. “I’m sorry that it hurts so much, Isabella. I’m trying to be as
gentle as possible.”
I peered at him through half-closed eyes. He really did look like he was trying to be careful. He didn’t have a devilish grin splashed across his gorgeous face, and he didn’t look like he was enjoying it. If anything, he was frowning a little as he cleaned me up and he looked worried.
Impossible.
I didn’t believe that someone like Nicolo could worry about someone like me. I was a job to him, nothing more, and he was just covering his ass while making sure that I didn’t get any more hurt than I already was.
“Almost done,” he whispered, pressing a piece of tape into place on my arm. It tugged at my skin when I tried to move, and he frowned at me. “That arm’s out of commission, Isabella. Let me get you something to help you remember that.”
“How the hell am I going to arm wrestle?” I called after him, but he just shook his head and walked down the hall to another room. I glanced over at Freddy, who was watching me with a raised eyebrow. “What the hell are you looking at?” I asked him.
“You could show a little more appreciation,” he said, dryly. “You wouldn’t have the pleasure of sitting here if we hadn’t gotten there in time.”
“I was doing fine,” I snapped, struggling to pull the blanket up over my shoulder. “All you two did was come and ruin everything.”
“No, we saved you from the second group of guys who were coming for you. Good job taking out the first three on your own, though.” He sounded bored and turned back to look out the door before I could respond.
“I had it,” I muttered, but mostly to myself. Nicolo walked back into the living room carrying a belt and a flannel button-up shirt, and a pair of sweatpants. I eyeballed him as he stopped in front of me and held out his hand.
“I’m going to help you. Stand up.”
I could have argued. In fact, the thought crossed my mind that I could be as ornery and contrary as possible, but he had promised to let me talk to my dad when I was all fixed up, so I sighed and stood up, a little dizzy on my feet.
Carefully, he helped me slip on the flannel shirt and then he buttoned it, making sure that he kept his hands as far away from my body as possible. I watched his fingers deftly work the buttons through the holes, and I arched my back, pushing my chest forward so that his fingers accidentally brushed against my nipple.
A thrill ran through me and I looked up at his face. He was pale and had stopped moving, but when I didn’t complain, he finished buttoning me up without a word.
I knew that it was a little low of me to do that, but from the moment I laid eyes on him, I couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to have his hands on my body. I knew that I’d like it.
Hell, it was obvious that he would like it, too. He could try all he wanted, but I saw the way his eyes slid over my body whenever he looked at me.
“I’m going to strap your arm to your body so that you don’t use it. We just need to keep the shoulder as still as possible so that you’re not jostling it, okay?” He paused and I saw a smile play on his lips. “You don’t play the violin, do you?”
“Accordion,” I quipped back. His eyes flicked up to my face and, after a moment, he smiled.
“It’s obnoxious enough,” he remarked, carefully tightening the belt around me to hold my arm in place. “I can totally see it. You’ll have to change instruments for a bit, though. Maybe the harmonica.”
He carefully helped me into the sweatpants, and when I was dressed I collapsed back onto the sofa. Nicolo pulled a bottle from his pocket and shook two small pills out into his hand before holding them out to me.
“Pain pills. You’re going to need them as soon as your adrenaline wears off, which should be anytime now.”
Automatically, I reached to take them from him, but I stopped myself at the last second and pulled my hand back. “How do I know that they’re really for pain and that you’re not going to do something bad to me? How can I trust you?” Fear spiked in my heart and I forced myself to stand up.
That was a mistake. I got a little dizzy and I reached for the arm of the sofa to help me keep my balance. Nicolo reached out and took me by the good arm, but I wrenched away from him. Pain shot from my shoulder across my back and chest, and I bit my lower lip.
“You said that I could talk to my dad.” Tears threatened to fall, but I ignored the way they burned. I had to stay calm. I had to make sure that he understood that he promised and I wasn’t going to do anything he wanted me to until he let me hear my dad’s voice.
“Then the pain pills?” Nicolo kept his eyes locked on me and pulled a phone from his pocket. When I nodded, he handed them to me and swiped his screen open. I watched as he pulled up his contacts and flicked through them to find my dad.
Okay, so maybe he really did know my dad. Or maybe he just added his number into the phone to make me think that we were on the same page. It was getting hard for me to tell anything anymore.
One thing he hadn’t been lying about – the pain from my shoulder was unreal. It was starting to throb more and every cell of me screamed for me to take the pain pills, but I flatly refused until I talked to my dad.
“Gimme,” I said, taking it from him and pushing call. The phone rang once and then my dad picked up.
“Nicolo? Do you have her? Is she safe?” My dad sounded so concerned that my knees gave out from under me and I sank to the sofa, cradling the phone against my ear.
“Dad? It’s Isabella. I’m okay. Where are you? I want to be with you.” The tears that had threatened to fall earlier now streamed down my cheeks, but I didn’t even bother to wipe them away. Fuck Nicolo and Freddy. I was allowed to cry.
Movement made me look up, and Nicolo turned away, walking out of the room.
“Isabella, I’m so glad you’re okay! Did Nicolo take care of you? Are you with him?”
I nodded before realizing that he couldn’t see me. “Yes, Dad.”
Nicolo came back and put a glass of water on the table next to me before sitting down on the sofa. Even though he wasn’t super close to me, his bulk made the sofa cushions move, and I felt myself slide a little toward him.
“I want you to stay with him right now, honey. He can keep you safe, and it’s not safe here at the house.”
“I can keep myself safe,” I argued. I wanted to tell him how I’d managed to take down three guys by myself, but there was a note of terror in my dad’s voice. “Is something wrong? Why are you whispering?”
Pain throbbed through me and I felt the beginnings of a migraine come on, but I tried to power through it. There was something off about my dad’s voice. He sounded happy to hear from me, but also sad. And scared.
My dad was never scared.
“Daddy, what’s going on?” I asked, gripping the phone so tightly that I heard the tiny crack on the screen spiderweb across it. Nicolo would probably be pissed about that, but I didn’t give a shit.
“Isabella,” he began, but I heard pops so loud that I pulled the phone away from my ear.
Fireworks? No.
“Daddy!” I screamed, bending over a little as I forced his name from my mouth. “Daddy, no!”
Nicolo pulled the phone away from me, but I clawed at him to give it back. I had to know what had happened to my dad. I knew that those weren’t fireworks, but who the hell would shoot him? Why would anyone want to hurt my dad?
“Give it to me!” I screamed, my exhaustion forgotten. Nicolo held me back with one arm.
“Hello? Hello? Are you okay?” His voice was maddeningly calm and I screeched again, jumping over to pummel him with my good arm.
He didn’t respond to me, but his face did go pale, and he help up one finger. I wanted to break his finger, and I reached out to grab it to bend it back, but when I heard stopped me cold.
“I’m coming for her. Isabella. You may think that you can hide her, but you can’t.” There was a click as the person hung up and Nicolo immediately pulled the phone from his ear, flipped it over, pulled out the sim card, and dropped it into the g
lass of water he’d brought me.
I just stared at him. My entire world had crumbled under me, and I couldn’t even find the words that I needed to be angry. I felt hollow. Emotion would come later, I knew that from the death of my mom, but just then it was like I couldn’t even breathe.
Chapter 6
Nicolo
Freddy watched everything from his vantage point at the door, but he didn’t move to intervene, and – more importantly – he didn’t say anything. He knew when his input was wanted and he knew when to shut the fuck up, and that was one thing that I really appreciated about him.
Isabella was on the sofa, tears streaming down her cheeks, sucking in huge gulps of air. The painkillers I’d given her were still clutched in her hand, and even though I knew that it was going to come across as callous, I touched her fist.
“You really need to take these, Isabella. They’re the one thing that will make you feel better.”
She reacted how I thought she would. Before I could respond, she threw the pills into my face. “You can fucking go to hell,” she spat, her eyes bright with rage. “I don’t want your fucking pills!”
I wanted to talk to her about what we were going to do next, but not if she was going to act like a bitch. After glancing at Freddy to make sure that he would keep an eye on her, I stomped into the kitchen. I had shit to deal with people who were out of control, and even though I knew she wouldn’t forgive me later, that didn’t matter.
She had to calm down so I could think things through and decide what the fuck we were going to do.
“Is that a needle?” Isabella’s eyes widened and she stood up, ready to fight. Most people would have made a run for it, but not her. Even with a fucked-up shoulder and almost dead on her feet with exhaustion and grief, she was ready to fight.
Her dad would have been proud.
I felt a squeeze of pain, but I pushed it away. It wasn’t the time to indulge in missing him. It was time to honor his memory by protecting his hellcat of a daughter.
“You didn’t want to take the pills like a person, so I’m going to have to calm you down another way,” I told her, holding the syringe away from my body so she couldn’t try to yank it from me and stab me with it. I had no doubt in my mind that she’d try to pull that shit if she thought she could get away with it.
