I patted his shoulder. “Okay, Bruto. That’s all that we know then. We’ll work with that.”
Sullenly, he said, “Who’s going to count the money?”
I told him, “It’s only you who wants it counted.”
He turned around. I could see he was kind of uncomfortable, finding me so close. My instinct was to move away, but I resisted it and stood my ground. Just for a moment.
It was Bruto who broke the tension. He said, “Tony had some of those counting machines.”
I nodded. He slipped by me and headed down the hallway for Tony’s office.
Luka said came nearer and looked at me. I stayed by the window. He said quietly, “You shook him down pretty good there.” His look drew me, made me want to be nearer. Again, I fought against my instinct. His eyes twinkled. “And you sounded like you really knew what you were talking about.”
“I did. I meant it. You can see it, can’t you?” I leaned back against the window.
Luka poured himself some coffee, lifted the pot to show me, offer some to me. I gave him a smile as I shook my head. He said, “I can see that Vassily wouldn’t be paying us if he didn’t have to.”
Nodding, I said, “Tony told me once, ‘There’s a price for everything, and in this business, the price is always about the risk involved.’ If they want the trade to be close to their club and they want it enough to pay for it, then the risk is most likely in the transportation.”
“That would line up with them asking you to get them the helicopter.”
I nodded.
Luka said, “That’s a big fucking helicopter for a brick of coke.”
When I looked into his eyes, my heart ached. I felt something deep down inside me surge like a current. With every part of me, I wished that our one-and-done was still to do.
Even more, I wished there were some way we could get some time, even an hour, to be on our own and away from Bruto. To talk. Just to talk.
Ten days.
In all of that time, Bruto wouldn’t allow Alexa to go anywhere without him. The only time he let her out of his sight was when she met with Vassily. He would have been at the table or in the room with her there too, if he could have been, but Vassily wasn’t about to let him in and there wasn’t a single thing Bruto could do about it.
My feelings were like a storm. This was a whole new world for me. I couldn’t remember having feelings like this ever before. Chances are I’d had them, but walled myself off from them. Whatever the truth of the matter was, I had no recollection and no experience to fall back on.
More than anything, I wanted to spend time with her, just the two of us. Try to make some sense of it. But there wasn’t gong to be any chance for that.
So in the mornings, I got up tired and irritable. When I went out for my run before she got up, I was running off anger and frustration, and I got back tired without any sense of satisfaction.
The exertion meant nothing. The high that I was usually left with—all of that was gone. It was just mechanics. That made exercise much harder work than I’d ever known it, having nothing inside to feed off, nothing driving me on.
Then, when she was up, guzzling juice and making coffee, I lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. Watching her in her t-shirt with her hair all wild, seeing her sleepy eyes, I was restored. A new man. There was nothing in any of my training to cope with this fucking rollercoaster ride.
Naturally, I did all that I could to keep it out of Bruto’s sight, but I didn’t believe I that I could have been very successful at that. For sure, every time Alexa walked in the room, if I wasn’t sitting down, the reaction in my pants was big enough that he could have seen from a long way off.
That gave me issues, too. My balls ached under the strain. A dull background pain like a muffled cramp stuck with me all day and all night. There was no escape from it.
At night, lying in the dark, I thought about her, remembered the flash of her eyes, her little vixen smile and her t-shirt hitching from side to side over her gorgeous ass as she walked. My cock grew painfully fat and hard.
It jutted, red hot up into the sheets. The slightest touch and it twitched, hard and angry. Images filled my head, moments of her wet lips, her face, the beautiful, plump softness of her tits.
In my mind I saw her lips part, watched her lovely ass roll. I thought of her sliding expertly along my hard, aching rod. Felt her shake and clench as she squeezed me. Knowing that she was just a couple of doors away, barely fifty feet, made me rage inside.
If I got up, opened my door, then hers, I could be there with her. Look in her eyes as she welcomed me in. Take her face in my hands. Slip her warm curves out of the sheets.
Press her hot body against mine, feel her stomach roll and feel her open up. Watch her as I took her, brought her closer, higher. Watch and feel as her passion rose. See her plateau, then dance, urge her on, take her, go with her to her next peak.
Seeing Alexa in the morning, shuffling about in a pair of loose flannels, did more for me than all the dancers and models I’d been with. If Bruto hadn’t been there, I would have had her every which way, morning, noon, and night.
When I wasn’t with her, I could hardly think about anything but the mischievous spark in her eyes. When Bruto looked at her, I wanted to pummel him.
It was like a fever. When I was apart from her, I had no appetite, no energy and no interest in anything. As soon as I was with her again, I had spunk and spirit, I ate like a front-line fighter, and I was ready for anything.
Bruto kept with Luka and me for pretty much all of our waking hours. He was up before I was, he came shopping, he came for coffee. I thought about going to the theater just to watch the two of them having to sit through a romcom. Luka kept his feelings to himself, whatever they were.
That was almost the hardest part of those days, wondering what Luka was feeling. Was the deed done? Were we something in the past for him? I doubted it, but there was no way I could know for sure, and I couldn’t get any time for the two of us to be together.
Bruto still prowled around me, but I didn’t see too much sign of him waiting to pounce. It was like he’d dedicated himself to keeping Luka and me apart and he’d decided to settle for that.
When I went to have my hair done, Gianfranco was so impressed by me having two beefy bodyguards that I worried whether I could trust him not to injure me with the long, pointy scissors.
The girls who worked in the salon were all like bees around a honey pot, preening in front of them, throwing them looks, offering them drinks and snacks. Once or twice I saw girls coming away from Bruto with a frown, but they were all over Luka.
It gave my little heart a jealous pang. Made me want to go and lean over him, stroke his head with my fingers. With some reluctance I dragged my thoughts back to the real world before I got lost on a fantasy ride.
There was definitely something broken or wired wrong in the way that Bruto communicated, though. Not only with me and Luka. We were out at lunch, at a table outside an Italian joint on Spring Street. Massimo called on the phone.
Bruto was like, “Yeah. What?” Then a pause and, “No.” Another pause. “Why would I want to do that?” The whole of Bruto’s side of the conversation was like that. Short sounds, mostly grunts, all of them meaning, “No.”
After he hung up, I looked across the table at him. He said, “What?”
I told him, “Whenever one of ‘the guys’ called, Tony always called them that—’the guys.’ Didn’t matter who it was or what Tony thought of them. They could be in the middle of a war with each other, first thing Tony would take the phone somewhere comfortable, sit down, ask about the family, talk some guy stuff about sports or something. It’s a part of how those ‘guys’ see themselves, Bruto. It’s how they do business.”
That was when it sunk in with me that Bruto just wasn’t one of them. He was more of an outsider than Luka was. Luka didn’t have the family connections, sure, but he knew how they all conducted themselves. They thought of themselve
s and each other as “men of honor.” It was the background music to everything they did.
And Bruto didn’t like the music. He didn’t have time for any of it. He wasn’t interested. I knew then how dangerous my position was, shackled to a man who had no respect for the codes.
Even Vassily, I could see—someone from a totally foreign culture, but with the same principles, the same codes of conduct. Like they all came from different sects of the same church.
But not Bruto.
I asked him, “You have to hire in guys for the night, right? Security, some muscle, drivers maybe?”
“So? What’s it to you?”
“So why not make a deal with Massimo? Get him to do some of the work, give him a piece. Work with him instead of against him.”
“You don’t know shit.”
Luka was straightening up. I didn’t think anything was going to happen, though. This was just how Bruto was. I said, “Okay,” and I shrugged.
Alexa hid it well, but I could see she was getting nervous. Earlier that morning she had been jumpy. For some reason she was anxious about going to a pharmacy. Said she needed Xanax or something, but then when she was there she was kind of secretive with the girl at the counter.
Now she spread out on the couch by the window. Bruto was in the kitchen when she asked him, “So, how do you see this all playing out? What happens after the operation?” That was what he called it—the ‘operation.’
“Day after tomorrow, Vassily gets his merchandise, we get our cut.” Bruto narrowed his eyes as he turned to me. “Luka’s buddy gets his helicopter back. Shiny like new, we hope. So we can collect our deposit.”
“There’s two days to go,” she said. “You got all the men you need?”
He swung around and moved toward her. I blocked his path. “Definitely.” He looked at me and said, “There’s going to be some changes around here.” He pointed a finger at me and his face screwed, “You better not be in my way.”
Seemed an odd thing to say, since I was blocking his way at the time. Then there was a loud bang on the door. That wasn’t good. Visitors were supposed to appear on the buzzer and on the screen, in the lobby downstairs. Not at the door to the apartment.
Alexa slipped away fast to her room and shut herself in. Bruto fished a huge canon out of his pants pocket and pointed it at the apartment door.
He told me, “Open it.”
“I can’t see that as protecting Alexa.” I moved to the far end of the room so I was at least behind the side of the door where it swung. Bruto glared at me.
He stood beside the door on the hinge side. “Who is it?” he shouted.
“It’s me.” I recognized Massimo’s voice, “Open up.” At that point I thought about reaching for my own piece, but decided against it.
Bruto growled, “Who’s ‘me’?” I couldn’t tell whether he was dicking around or if he meant it. There was more banging.
“Don’t fuck about, Bruto. It’s Massimo. I need to talk to you.”
“What’s up, your phone not working?” Bruto stayed where he was, flat against the wall, but his hand reached toward the door handle. It meant him having to hold the gun in his left.
The door banged again, and this time Bruto opened it. As he pulled it, Massimo came in with Furio and two more of his Italian-American grunts. Bruto brought his hand back to have a two handed grip on the gun, level with Massimo as he turned to look around the room.
Furio reached over and plucked Bruto’s gun like it was a fallen leaf on his shirt. Furio’s eyebrows went up as he hefted the gun and slipped it into his pocket.
Massimo cocked his head on one side as he looked at Bruto. “Now, that ain’t exactly hospitable.”
Keeping my hands away from my sides and facing Massimo and his men, I moved nearer the center of the room.
Massimo looked in my direction. “We got no quarrel, okay, Luka? I’m going to take Bruto here and we’re going to have a little discussion.” The other two men looked at Massimo and one of them said, “Boss?”
Massimo nodded and looked back at me. Furio stood behind Bruto, pulled his hands back, and snapped a cable-tie around his wrists. The two other men went along the hallway, into Alexa’s room.
Before I could move, Massimo held a hand up. Furio looked in my eyes. I tried to read him, but I couldn’t. It was hard to stay still. Every operational training in the SEALs taught us that if the other side moved first, and especially when you’re outnumbered, your instinct is always to act early, and it’s almost always your worst mistake.
Alexa came out with the two goons behind her and I saw that she carried her little clutch. Clever girl.
“No biggie,” Massimo told me, “it’ll all come out right. Settle down and don’t worry.”
Bruto snarled, “So, you thought you’d come back for Tony’s woman after all, huh?”
The group were moving toward the door. “Massimo,” I called after him, “you know what Carmine Monreale hired me to do, right?”
He shrugged at me and lifted his eyebrows as he turned to shove Bruto through the door ahead of him.
The two men on either side of Alexa each grabbed one of her arms. I took a breath as I pulled the Sig Sauer nine mil from the back of my waistband. I made it ready, drew aim on the nearer of the two men, and on my heartbeat I squeezed.
A red plume sprayed out in front of his forehead as he dove forward. He went straight down.
Already I had swung to the other guy. I’d given him his chance, but as he turned he was reaching for a weapon. Another squeeze and the startled look froze on his face as he fell back with a jagged blot in his forehead.
Without looking around, Alexa ran to me. My stomach leapt and somersaulted as she scurried behind me, but I stayed focused on Furio and Massimo. Bruto was in the doorway.
Massimo’s hands were raised, palms down. He said, “Well, Furio?”
My eyes were on Furio and he kept his gaze on me. “Well what?” he said. “Did you notice the man has a gun ready? What do you think I should do?”
Massimo said, “You should do your fucking job, Furio.”
Furio was still looking at me and his mouth tightened as he said, “You want to see me do my job?” He moved to stand between Massimo and me.
Talking over his shoulder, still holding eye contact with me, he said, “Happy now? In case you didn’t notice, that was a pretty fucking hot shooting demonstration we just saw, so you move for your gun and I’m stepping right out of the way.”
Massimo still kept his hands in view as he peered around Furio’s shoulder. “Okay it’s a Mexican standoff. Now what, Luka?”
I said, “There are no fucking Mexicans here, Massimo, and nobody’s standing off. I don’t want to shoot a guy of your rank. Of any rank. So there’s two ways this can go.”
“Okay.”
“If I have to call Carmine Monreale to get this cleaned up, he’s going to be cleaning you up, too. If you clean up what I see as your mess here, then we’re all square.”
The feeling of Alexa’s hot body behind me, I would have been perfectly happy with a standoff that would last all day, maybe into the night. I didn’t want anybody else to be dead if it could be helped, but the situation was delicate.
Massimo shrank behind Furio. His right hand disappeared and I knew it would be coming back with a gun. Furio’s face had same expression that I felt tightening my own. The face that scrunches and looks fed up. It says, Asshole.
Massimo must have had another thought, because he stepped out from behind Furio and his hands were still empty. He strode up to stand right in front of me. A good four inches shorter, he was stocky, and no doubt he was strong.
He punched me straight in the face. It was like being hit by a truck. The whole world went red and a rage flooded my head. It took a moment for my vision to come back to normal.
He said, “Okay, you piece of shit, I know you’re on Carmine’s payroll, and I know you got a job to do. Also, you ain’t family. You’re a hired hand.�
� He narrowed his eyes. “For all of that, I give you a by. But only one. You threaten me again, you better pull the fucking trigger straight away.” His gaze burned into mine. “Because, you do that again, I will fucking make an end of you. And it won’t be a happy ending.”
All of my nerves were in raging fight mode and I strained to keep myself still. He’d hit me on the nose when I had a gun in my hand, so I knew that he was just making a point. It would have been hard not to admire, though, a man who will whack you right between the eyes when you just shot two of his men.
He turned and left. Furio followed him out. Bruto remained hunched by the door. The warmth of Alexa’s body was hunched behind me. Her hands were drawn up to her chin. I turned and she sank her head onto my chest.
Two Hitmen: A Double Bad Boy Mafia Romance (Lawless Book 1) Page 103
