"It's gone. We stole it to give it back to someone." His voice broke, and tears spilled onto his cheeks as his jeans darkened from him pissing himself. "Please. I'll get it back."
"You believe that?" I glanced over at Kane, who was leaning against the brick wall behind us.
"Nope. Not for a minute. Hurry the fuck up." He gave me a look.
"Man, please. Just give me some time and I'll-"
"Time's up." I pulled the trigger and tucked the gun in the back of my jeans, grateful for the invention of the silencer.
"I'm hungry. Let's eat and then get out of here."
I looked up at the building we were behind as we walked toward the front. "This place any good?"
"Let's check it out." He held the door open, and a pretty brunette rushed to greet us and gave us a table. We ate our breakfast in peace for a few minutes until all hell broke loose. Someone found the body. Good.
I wiped my mouth with my napkin and let out a contented sigh. "You done?"
"Yeah. That was incredible. We should come here more often."
"To kill someone or eat?" I got up and threw a fifty on the table.
"Both?" He snorted, and I popped him in the gut before walking toward the exit. "Hey, man. I'm really sorry about this morning. It was a dick thing to say to you. You know I loved your sister too. I wouldn't-"
"Shut up about it." I got in the car and glanced over at him. "Women don't survive in our world. My father's tried to tell me that a million times. I've listened until now."
"Who is she?" He pulled down the mirror above his head and checked his teeth.
"Just a girl I met in the city."
"Where?" He glanced over at me.
"None of your business." I turned out of the parking lot and headed back to the house as my phone rang. Unknown caller.
"Debt collector?" Kane chuckled.
"Right." I put the phone to my ear. "Erik Bertinelli."
"Erik." I knew the voice right away.
"Demetri DeMarco. How are you, man?" A smile played on the side of my mouth. Not many people understood the life I was forced to live, but the bastard on the phone did. He was the Underboss of the Castaletta Syndicate out of Chicago, and a mean mother fucker.
"I've been better." He cleared his throat. "We are headed into war with Cooper. I need to know if you and your old man are willing to stand beside us or if you're against us."
Straight to the chase. It's one of the many reasons I respected him.
"My father hates Terrance Cooper and has for years. I've no clue why, but it's irrelevant. We'll stand with you and Joe, of course."
"Good. We're working on a few new things up here. I'd love to have you come up and let me show you." He was offering me goodwill, a favor for standing beside him.
"New things like what? We have our fingers in just about everything at this point outside of drugs."
"And that's where your missing a great margin for your bank account, Erik. A new drug just hit the market, and the kids are going wild for it."
"Zandra?" I smiled as he huffed.
"Still come sometime soon."
"After your war maybe. I could use a break from this fucking place." I ran my fingers through my hair as my throat closed up.
"Something happened?" The concern in his voice was welcomed. He and Joe Castaletta had shown their respects when my mother died and a few months later when we found Delaney's body.
"No. I just need closure on this shit, and it's been ten years. It's still fucking with me, but whatever. I need to leave it in the past where it belongs."
"Or dig a little bit and figure out what the fuck happened. If someone killed my sister, Cat, there isn't much I wouldn't do to find out who."
"And what would you do when you found them, D? Blow their heads off? Would that bring Cat back?"
"No, but justice would be served. Don't fool yourself, old friend. It feels good to know that you've evened the score. Period."
"Right. Let me know when or if you need us."
"Erik. Do you want us to look into Delaney's death? We can without anyone knowing."
"No. Leave it buried in the past. It's over now, and I have to get past it."
"You really don't, but I understand. Just know the offer stands."'
"Thanks." I dropped the call and glanced over to find Kane's eyes wide. "What?"
"Why didn't you take him up on it? You've been suffering over this shit with your sister for ten fucking years."
"Because I'm pretty sure knowing would hurt more than not knowing."
"What? You make no sense." He glanced out the window and made a sound of disgust.
As much as I wanted to redeem my sister's life, I was pretty sure it would end with me killing the only family I had left.
My father.
Chapter 12
Grace
I laid in bed for what seemed like forever that morning. My body ached but in a good way. Where I was pissed at myself for letting Erik set the rules for our relationship, some part of me truly believed that he would fall in love over time. If it took me offering up my body when he wanted it for me to bring in him closer, so be it. I wanted him in my bed anyways. It was almost a win-win.
"Then why does my heart hurt so much." I sat up and rubbed my chest, forcing myself not to think too much about him leaving me the night before. Everything had been so good up to that point.
A knock at my front door had me yelping. No one ever visited. Ever.
"Coming." I grabbed a robe and wrapped it around my naked body before walking to the door. There was a small hope deep inside of me that it was him, but I knew better. I opened the door to find my brother bouncing from one foot to the next. "Thomas?"
"Hey. Can I come in? You wanna go for a jog or grab breakfast or-"
"Slow down." I reached up and rubbed the side of my head. "I just woke up. Make some coffee and let me change into something."
"Alright. Yeah. That'll work." My brother blasted past me, half-jogging into the kitchen.
Something was wrong, but he wasn't going to give up the intel too easily. I walked to my room and changed quickly before making my way back to the kitchen.
"So, what's going on? You on something? You're bouncing around like you're on speed." I reached up to pull my long hair into a ponytail as I studied him. Where he was hyper, it wasn't an excited hyper, but a nervous one.
"Well, I have good news and bad news. I'm honestly not sure if they're connected." He was talking a million miles an hour. "You want coffee? Cream? Sugar?"
I walked over and moved behind him, clamping my hands down on his thick shoulders and forcing him to walk toward the kitchen table. "Sit down. You're making me dizzy."
"I'm sorry." He dropped down into a chair and pressed his hand to his forehead. "We got the money back from our Las Vegas fuck up, but we stole it."
"What?" My blood ran cold. "You stole twenty thousand dollars?"
"Yes. Keep your voice down. Your walls are paper thin in here." He gave me a stern look.
"Right." I walked back into the kitchen to make us both a cup of coffee. "Why didn't you just ask Mom or Dad for the money, Thomas? Nothing good can come of this."
"I know. So Billy was one of the guys that helped me steal the money, and he was gunned down this morning behind McCaftery's Diner."
I jerked around to face him. "Gunned down? By who? Because he stole that money? Does that mean that-"
He lifted his hand, cutting me off. Now I was being frantic. "Stop. I don't know. I just wanted to see you and talk it through. You're the only person in my life that I'd share this shit with."
"We need to know who killed him and why." I handed Thomas the cup of coffee and sat down. "It can't be related, right? Where did you steal the money from?"
"From a check cashing place. The old man watching the register was more than happy to unload it and the safe in the floor." He took the coffee, spilling a little of it as his hands shook. "I'm scared to be honest."
"I would
be too." I leaned back in my chair. "Does the guy at the check cashing place know it was you? Did he see your face?"
"What? No." He rolled his eyes. "We had on masks and shit, Grace. I'm not a total idiot."
"Oh, you're definitely an idiot." I tapped the table in front of me. "Maybe I can get Jenna to help."
"Help do what?" He tilted his head to the side a little and studied me, leaving me to feel like an idiot myself.
"Help find out who owns the check cashing place. Maybe you guys fucked with the wrong people."
"Doubt it, but whatever. I just need to keep my nose clean and try to steer clear of anything else that might get me into trouble." He glanced up, staring me in the face. "It'll be okay, right?"
I reached out and squeezed his hand. "Of course it will. I'm still disturbed that you would steal the money."
"What fucking choice did I have? We messed up and had to fix it. My grades would have been affected." He got up and started to pace around the kitchen like a lion in a cage. "I have to get out of school. It's driving me up the fucking wall."
"I get that, but really it's so bad that you had to steal money from someone..." I paused. "Did you have a gun with you?"
He snorted and stopped. "Yes. Most people don't give up money with the threat of a wizard wand, Grace. Fuck."
"Oh Lord." I turned to face the table and took a tentative sip of my coffee. "What do you need me to do?"
"Nothing. Just be here if I need you, okay?" He leaned over and gave me a quick hug. "Reassure me one more time that I'm not a walking target."
"You better not be." I glanced back as he walked toward the door. "Hey! What about breakfast or jogging."
"I can't. I need to get somewhere safe."
"Thomas." I got up, but he'd already left the apartment, slamming the door behind him. What the fuck had my brother gotten himself into, and how could I help?
Jenna. She was the only one I'd trust to tell Thomas' secrets to and help me figure them out. Her father was the DA of New York. Jenna would know how to get the information we needed.
It couldn't be a coincidence that Billy was gunned down in the streets a few days after he and my brother stole a chunk of money from a small business on the east side.
Crazy shit like that just didn't happen, right?
****
Erik wasn't at the library when I arrived later that day, and I did the full sweep of the place, looking for him. I was sick. Running after a man who was beyond my comprehension of dangerous and only wanted to use me.
Maybe talking to Jenna about more than just Thomas' fuck up would be smart. She'd slap me back into thinking right, but did I want that? No. I wanted to live in my fantasy that Erik would fall deep and hard for me.
It could happen. Maybe.
I ducked into one of the small conference rooms and closed the door behind me before sitting down and pulling out my phone. I hit Jenna's number, and she answered immediately.
"Hey. I miss you. Where the hell have you been?"
I smiled. "I'm sorry. I've been wrapped up in all of this library event bull shit."
"It's coming up soon, right? You need any more help?" She sounded needy. Maybe it had been too long. For both of us.
"Yeah, always. It's still a little over a week away, but everyone is starting to freak out about it. It's our once a year fundraiser event, so I can see why, but we pull it off every year without any issues." I leaned back in my chair and brushed my hand down my plaid slacks. "Anyway. I needed to ask you for a favor."
"Oh, so you only call when you need something." She chuckled.
"No, but I'm not sure where else to turn for this one."
"Sounds serious. You okay?" Her playfulness faded.
"Yeah. I'm good, but Thomas has gotten himself wrapped up in some shit that's a little scary."
"Thomas, your brother, Thomas?"
"Yeah." I smiled. "He's not the good guy everyone believes him to be. He's been in trouble more times than I can count over the last ten years, but this time... it's scary. One of his friends was murdered this morning at gunpoint." I swallowed hard. "I just want to make sure it wasn't related to something stupid he did recently."
"What did he do?"
"I'll tell you later if that's okay?"
"Of course. What do you need me to do, Grace? Just name it, and I'll do it."
"I just need to know who owns the check cashing place on the east side of town."
"There are several of those places over there."
"Okay, well, just see if you can find out who owns any in the area?" I swallowed and stood up, not feeling so great all of a sudden. "If it's too much-"
"No. It's no trouble at all. I'll sneak into my father's office this weekend and figure it out." She paused. "Is Thomas in danger?"
"I don't think so, but who knows. Once you get back to me, we'll think about going to the police." I reached for the door and walked out into the hallway that leads to the huge foyer of the library. "The only problem is that he's the criminal this time."
"That doesn't sound like your brother at all, Grace."
"I know." I glanced up to see Erik walking up the first flight of stairs toward the second floor. His jeans hugged his ass and legs, leaving me a little breathless at the sight of him. "Let me know when you know something." I dropped the call and walked languidly behind him.
Every naughty word he'd whispered in my ear the night before came rushing through my mind, leaving me weak in the knees. I almost didn't see him as I took my last step and plowed into him.
"Oh! I'm sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going."
He smiled, his eyes filled with mischief. "No, you weren't." He glanced around. "I suppose you were looking for something?" He turned back toward me and licked the side of his perfect mouth. "Or someone?"
Chapter 13
Erik
There was no way in hell I was going to avoid her without forgoing my favorite place to breathe. The library meant everything to me, and if I were being honest with myself, Grace was a huge part of that.
"No." She stepped back, and I reached out, grabbing her wrist as she lost her balance and almost stumbled down the stairs. "Oh shit." She reached for me, tucking herself against my chest as I wrapped an arm around her.
"Be more careful," I barked as I glanced down into her face. My heart constricted, and the air around me grew thin. Her big brown eyes were filled with something far beyond lust. I moved back and tucked my hands in my jeans. "You need to watch what you're doing, Grace. You could have been hurt. Fuck."
"Right." She turned and walked past me, leaving the scent of her shampoo lingering in the air. I breathed in deeply and ignored the deep throb in my jeans. The poor girl had experienced far more of my lust than anyone deserved lately. The thought of her giving up her virginity to me the night before left me feeling things that I shouldn't.
I wanted to protect her.
To honor her.
To make her my own. Forever.
"Stop it. Shit." I turned on my heel and walked toward the history section, snatching up the book I was reading and finding a good place to lose myself within the pages. If my father knew I was at the library reading a book, he'd shit himself, and then he'd beat me within an inch of my life.
But it was worth it.
I fingered through the old pages as the familiar calm I searched for so often settled over me. To have a moment of reprieve in my world was so rare, and yet I knew exactly where to find it.
The sound of Grace's voice pulled me from the story as she walked by, talking with a tall blond guy, who stood just a little too close to my girl.
"It's over here. I think you'll have to check it out and stay in the library though. It's a reference book." She glanced up at him and smiled as she stopped beside one of the bookshelves near me.
"No problem." He bit his lip and studied her. "Do you, um... Do you maybe wanna help me find it?"
She brushed her hand over her chest. Nerves. Why was she nervous about his
question?
"I would, but I really need to get back to work." She turned, and he reached out and grabbed her wrist.
"Grace."
"She said no." I moved from the wall and walked toward him as the color drained from Grace's face. "Find the fucking book on your own and don't touch her again."
"Erik." She pulled her hand from the guy's grasp and turned to stand between us, her eyes filled with worry. "Please. It's okay."
"Who the fuck are you?" He leaned toward us, his eyes filled with challenge.
"I'm the mother fucker who's going to throw you from this second story window if you touch my girl again." I reached out and took Grace by the shoulders, picking her up and turning to put her down beside me before moving toward the guy. "Understood?"
He started to move toward me and paused. Men knew when enough was enough. The hard look on my face combined with the lack of emotion in my eyes had to have reached him. I had no problem throwing his big ugly ass out of the window behind us.
"Fuck you, man." He walked past me and didn't turn back.
"Who was he?" I turned to face her.
"An old boyfriend. No one really." She turned as if she were done with the conversation.
"Hey. You belong to me. Don't let anyone touch you unless you wanna clean up their blood." I leaned in close, brushing my lips against her ear. "Or did you forget?"
She turned a little, brushing her nose by mine. The bitch had such a strong pull over me that my knees grew weak just staring into her beautiful face.
"I don't belong to anyone. Period." She kissed me quickly, jerked away and walked down the stairs hurriedly.
I followed like an alpha male on the hunt. She didn't belong to anyone? Poor thing must have forgotten what I told her.
She darted in between a row of bookshelves and headed toward the back of the library. I wasn't sure whether she was teasing me or truly scared. Both thoughts lit me up.
Tease.
The door to the conference center almost closed by the time I reached it, but I slipped my fingers in at the last minute and pulled the door open. She turned and walked into a room at the end of the hall. No windows. Good.
Doctor Feelgood: (A Bad Boy Doctor Novel) Page 58
