Or from his throat.
Or from deep inside him.
I couldn’t see him and I wasn’t complaining about it.
My body came back to Earth quicker this time, and I felt it wringing the rest of the orgasm out of him. His hands were off my hips and we both collapsed next to each other. And for a moment I forgot we were actually in danger.
We are in danger, right?
I was forgetting about that. I was forgetting about Martin and about working at the hospital. Right now I was thinking only about the naked man lying next to me. And sleep. I felt myself starting to doze.
“What about Tahiti, Jackie?”
“Huh? What about Tahiti?”
“Tahiti. It’s an island in French Polynesia…”
“I know where Tahiti is. What the hell are you talking about?”
“As a place to go. I mean, once I get out of here.”
“Are you asking me to go with you, Micky?”
“No, I didn’t say that. But you said you thought the Dominican Republic is not good. How about Tahiti?”
“Tahiti is nice. Martin and I went there for our third anniversary. But it’s pretty isolated. I think that would get old quick.”
“Jesus, is there any place you two didn’t go together?”
“Oh, it was easy for him. We went all those places on a nurse’s salary.”
I felt his eyes on me before he sighed and stared up at the ceiling. For a moment, it felt like we were staring at the same spot a million miles away. But he didn’t stay still for long.
I watched him as he stood up—a lean, muscular body that had just had his way with me. But he had been gentle—probably more gentle than the asshole I had been married to for five years. And he interrupted my terrific view by putting his briefs on and stepping to the foot of the bed.
“How about Mexico, Micky? No airplane involved and the dollar still does pretty good there.”
“I thought about Mexico, but my Spanish isn’t very good. And I think I prefer to be a plane ride away.”
He was looking at me. He was looking at all of me, and I wasn’t about to put on a stitch of clothing to keep him from looking. Instead, I asked him the question that had been on my mind for the last few minutes.
“What if I said I wanted to come with you, Micky? Would you let me?”
He laughed, which made sense because I was half kidding.
“Don’t you have a job and a house here? Why in the world would you want to leave that behind to be with a guy like me?”
“Are you telling me you wouldn’t want me to come with you?”
He was looking at me, and I could see him thinking about it. I was half kidding, but there was a part of me that was half serious. I could see him wrestling with that same side of himself. It was the side of him that had just been holding me. It was the side that kept me safe when I was being shot at. And then his expression changed.
He wasn’t contemplating now, it was something else.
Was it pain?
Yearning?
My God, was it yearning?
And before he could answer my question, someone kicked the door off its hinges from the hallway outside.
Chapter 17
Micky
Noisy shoes.
They were noisy because they were new, and they were noisy because it was a big body walking in them. Wise guys always wore new shoes and new shoes always made noise. And I knew these weren’t exactly the kind of guys that were going to be tip toeing down the hall.
The door coming off the hinges surprised me more that it should have, but I still wasn’t caught completely off guard. It was a big body coming through the door, at least three hundred pounds that I recognized right away. He had been leading with the left shoulder to take the door off its hinges and the gun was on his right. By his side.
But not for long.
I rushed him and grabbed his right hand as it started to come up. The door was still crashing to the ground as his meaty right hand started rising, but I caught him and pushed him to the wall. He was the one registering surprise now. They had been certain they had gotten the drop on me. But as I pushed him against the wall he knew that it was game on.
I left one hand on his right wrist as he tried to hit me with a left hook. I blocked that with my second hand and now we were practically dancing in the space of the little room. I lunged forward with my forehead because it was one of the few weapons I had left and I felt his nose smash under the hard part of my skull. He groaned, but his eyes registered anger and I knew I had to end this thing quick.
Too strong.
Sal was going to be too strong, and a wrestling match wasn’t going to work in my favor. His gun hand started moving again and I clamped on it with both hands, leaving his left fist free. He started tagging me with jabs and I felt my right eye open up and I knew I was in trouble. But I still had two knees, and I put my right one in a place no amount of linguine was going to protect.
I felt the sick squish of testicles under my knee and saw the anger fade quickly from his eyes. There was still something there but it was closer to deliriousness now, and I watched him sink to his knees. He was still clenching the gun out of pure instinct but it was pointed down and away from both of us. But his chin was pointed up, and it felt the full force of my angry right fist.
I felt Sal’s jaw crack and for a second I thought I broke my hand. His eyes went glassy and the gun slipped from his fingers, but he was still held upright by sheer muscle memory. I lined up with a left hook and gave him a double tap and watched him slump to the floor. He was done, lights out, Salvatore, and I bent down to reach for the gun.
“Micky!”
Jackie’s voice, panicked and giving me warning. I felt the cord around my neck and it was too late to stop it. I managed to slip a couple of fingers between it and my neck but it wouldn’t be enough to save me. Whoever was behind me was twisting, and the tension was slowly cutting off my air.
I spun the second guy around. Couldn’t see him, couldn’t hit him—I only knew the cord was getting tighter and my head was getting lighter. Fighting with Sal had raised my oxygen consumption and the guy behind me was using that to his advantage. The room started spinning. I wanted to gag but I couldn’t even get the air to do that. I was on the edge of unconsciousness but I could still see the flash of porcelain whistling through the air.
Flower vase. A big heavy flower vase, probably left there as a joke. Jackie sprang out of bed and hit my attacker over the head and the room echoed the sound of a shattering vase. It wasn’t enough to knock him out, but it was enough to fuck him up bad. And a guy who is fucked up bad can’t keep strangling a guy who is ready to fight for his life.
The cord went slack and I gasped a mouthful of oxygen into my lungs. I spun and saw my second familiar face in the last two minutes. It was like a mini reunion—all of Sammy’s fucking worms coming out to see me off. Only Victor was still shaking off the effect of a dozen roses against his skull, and I was ready to fight for the heavyweight championship.
I wasn’t sure he saw the first fist coming at him. It was a left jab. It was a punch I threw out of habit to stun the guy I was fighting, but Vic was already stunned. It still rang his bell pretty good and I gave him three more just like it before hauling off with a right hook. I was certain he was probably unconscious by the time he hit the floor.
Two goons, no shots fired, and one door ripped off its hinges. I was comfortable that the desk guy wasn’t calling the cops because I figured his call was probably to Sammy. The entire East side must be looking for me by now, and we had to get the fuck out of here, whether cops were coming or not. I looked at my angel of mercy, who was still positioned wide eyed on the bed.
Wide eyed and naked. Venus de Milo should look so beautiful.
God, I loved her.
“Jackie, you need to get your clothes on. We need to get out of here and quick.”
They were hard words to say. I was ready to spend the whole night i
n bed with her if I had to. A guy had to do what a guy had to do. But I knew we were screwed and I was running out of places to go.
Almost.
But I needed her to get dressed.
“Jackie? You hear me baby? Get your clothes on.”
I scrambled around the bodies of two unconscious goombas and picked up her things. I had to move three hundred pounds of unconscious Sicilian to get at her bra.
Did she really toss it that far?
I managed to move Sal’s body as much as I needed to in order to tug out her bra, and then I returned back to the bed. She was still naked and still looking at me blankly. She was in shock or something like it. It didn’t stop me from taking her face in my hands and kissing me on her cheek. The fact that she had just saved my ass again was not lost on me.
And then she blinked and looked at me.
“Let’s go, Jackie, we need to get out of here.”
“Right. Where are my panties?”
I looked around and saw them at the foot of the bed. I jumped down to grab them as she started to put the bra back on and I grabbed my pants at the same time. I tossed her the panties and started to grab the rest of my things.
“Where are your keys, Jackie? We need to get out of here. I’ll drive.”
Chapter 18
Micky
The parking lot was nearly empty. Two cars that I could see: a yellow Volkswagen Beetle and a black Audi. Two things were obvious to me right away. Sammy didn’t drive these guys here and the Audi belonged to them because no one who drove an Audi would be staying at the Bass River Motel. I ran over to it quickly and stuck a knife in its right driver side tire to bring the front end to its knees and give me a little insurance.
I got her by my side, freshly dressed in clothes that were just on the motel room floor, and she was back on the edge of alertness. I grabbed her by the hand and headed towards the Beetle.
“Let’s go honey, I know a place where we’ll be safe. Hop in the passenger seat.”
I opened the passenger door for her because I was a gentleman and she still looked a little stunned. One quick glance around the lot told me there weren’t any eyes on us and I got behind the steering wheel. A Beetle isn’t the roomiest car to begin with and this one was setup to be comfortable for a small, sexy nurse. A couple of seat adjustments later and I pulled out onto Route 145.
“You alright, Jackie?”
“I’m OK. I can’t believe I smashed that guy in the head with a flower vase.”
“I think you officially saved my life again, sweetheart. And you probably also climbed a couple of spots on Sammy the Scar’s shitlist.”
“Great.”
“Don’t worry. I know I still have the top spot. Once I talk to the big man all this stuff goes away. You’ll be back in that hospital of yours before you know it, I promise.”
She said nothing, and I knew that I needed to keep her talking. I knew that I had already taken her too far out of her element.
“That was one hell of a move you pulled with that flower vase back there, sweetheart. Do you know how many guys Victor has strangled to death? He was probably going for a record trying to choke me out.”
“Wonderful.”
“Are you sure you are new to this? Have you worked for one of the five families before?”
“Um, no. Never worked for any of the families, whoever the hell they are.”
“Huh. Mexican cartels? Have you done work for the Juarez Cartel?”
“No. No Mexican cartels either. I went to Acapulco once with Martin, but I don’t think that counts.”
“Wow, you and loverboy really got around. It’s hard to believe he screwed up such a good thing.”
She looked at me and smiled and I could see the color returning to her cheeks. And dimples. She had dimples that would make Jennifer Garner jealous. Somewhere, her ex-husband was sitting in a bar starting to realize that he fucked up big time. Or he would be realizing soon.
“Where are we going, Micky?”
“We’re going to see a guy I know. He’s one of the few people left in the world I think I can trust. I should have gone there last night but I was leery about involving him, but I don’t think I have much of a choice now. You’ll be safe there and then I can make another phone call and sort this thing out.”
“I have to be back at work tomorrow night. I’ve been working the Saturday night shift for almost two years.”
“That sounds like a shitty shift.”
“It is.”
“Well, don’t worry. I’ll get this all sorted out so that you can get back to your shitty Saturday night shift and I’ll be on my way. I’ll be off to Bora Bora.”
“Bora Bora?”
“Yeah. It’s another island in the French Polynesian…”
“I know where Bora Bora is, Micky.”
“Oh, right. Let me guess, you and Martin went there for your four year wedding anniversary.”
That at least got a laugh out of her. And I liked the way she laughed. It took my mind off the fact I was jealous of a guy I didn’t know who traveled to all these places with her.
“No, I’ve never been to Bora Bora. Oh, sure, we talked about it. But the humidity is supposed to be really bad there. Screw that, I hate high humidity.”
“Oh great. You just shit all over my Bora Bora idea. I’m running out of places to escape to. I’m going to end up in Cleveland. I might as well just let Sammy kill me.”
She laughed again and I risked taking my eyes off the road to get another glance at her dimples.
“How about New Zealand, Micky? I always wanted to see New Zealand. Far enough away that you aren’t swamped with people from the United States, and close enough to Australia to go there when you get sick of being on an island.”
“You’re talking like you’re coming with me.”
“No I’m not.”
“Fifteen minutes ago in the hotel you were asking about going with me.”
“I was joking.”
“Were you?”
I got half a smile and one dimple.
“Of course I was. I can’t leave the hospital.”
“Even if you were serious, I couldn’t take you with me. You know that, right, Jackie?”
“Of course I do. But even if you wanted me to come with you, I couldn’t leave here. You know that, right, Micky?”
“Why do you mean you can’t leave here? What is keeping you here? You’re officially divorced now. What, the crappy midnight shift at the hospital is the thing you can’t leave?”
“Why does it matter? You said you couldn’t take me anyway, right?”
She was clearly feeling better and beating me in our game of verbal gymnastics. I put on the right turn signal of the Beetle and let my exit off the expressway be her distraction.
“We’re almost there. It’s just a few turns off the expressway. I’m just need to stop at a drug store or something first to pick up a throwaway cell phone to make a call or two and then we’re off.”
I reached over and put my hand on her leg. It was a movement meant to put her at ease but I liked the feel of her leg under my fingers.
“We’ll be safe there. Small house, quiet neighborhood—perfect for us to hide out at for a few hours. I should probably just warn you, Abraham can be a little eccentric.”
Chapter 19
Jackie
Small house, quiet neighborhood—and flowers. Lots and lots of flowers. We needed to navigate our way through a rose garden just to get to the front door. There was a big welcome mat on the front porch with the word ‘Love’ on it surrounded by flowers.
“Abraham is a little bit of a hippy.”
“You don’t say.”
“I think he smoked a lot of pot back in the day too. Hell of a nice guy, though.”
I watched as Micky reached out a bruised right fist and knocked on the door and we waited. And we waited. And we waited long enough that I was starting to think his friend wasn’t home. And then the door opened.
A man who looked like he was at least twenty years older than Micky pulled the door open and blinked. He must have smoked a lot of pot in the day because I could practically see the brain cells trying to fire. Then the recognition came across his face and he pushed the door open wide and held out his arms.
“Micky fucking Steele. Cool shirt, man. How the hell are you, man?”
Micky had his arm extended like a banker ready to shake hands on the closing of a loan. The bearded guy was already grasping him with both arms in a bear hug.
“You’re not going to shake my hand, man. How is that to treat an old friend?”
He pushed Micky away at arm’s length long enough to look at him and let the remaining gray matter settle in. And then his eyes drifted over Micky’s shoulder to where I was standing.
“Oh, and you’ve got a lady friend with you. It’s about time, Micky. I always said you needed to start thinking about settling down.”
I laughed. Micky didn’t.
“Yeah, yeah, listen, can we come inside, Abraham? I kind of need a favor.”
Abraham stood back and waved us both into his house.
“Of course, dude. How could I have been so rude. Come on in and grab some couch. Can I get you guys anything?”
“I’m good,” Micky said.
I wasn’t ready to give up on the hospitality so quick. I hadn’t had anything to drink since the diner and I had just gotten fucked silly only an hour before.
“Can I get something to drink?”
“Dear lady, it would be my pleasure to offer you anything I have.”
I liked this hippy guy already.
“I’ve got wine, beer, coffee, Diet Coke…”
I raised my finger to indicate the last choice on his menu.
“Absolutely, coming right up.”
I sat down on the couch next to Micky and suddenly realized there were at least two cats in the room.
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