The Tempted Series: Collectors Edition

by Janine Infante Bosco

  You want to know what happens?

  Watch and see motherfucker.

  I promise to give you a good show.

  I narrowed my eyes as I stared at the metal toilet bowl screwed into the wall and the floor. I crawled across the floor and placed my hands on the bowl, remembering the morning after that first prick of the needle in five years and how I remained hunched over the bowl. I inspected the toilet bowl and found what I was looking for. I used the sharpened edge of the razor as a flat head screwdriver and twisted the bolt attaching the metal thrown to the wall.

  Then my voice rang in my ears after Gold tried forcing me on Reina.

  I’m not touching her you sick fuck.

  Shoot me up, do what you got to do but I won’t fucking touch her.

  I twisted and twisted until I pulled back my hand, revealing the three inch bolt and ran my finger across the flat tip.

  Nice and sharp, like the tip of a needle.

  I moved away from the toilet, placed the sharpened razor back into Vic’s pillowcase before I went to work on the screw.

  Lacey’s face worked its way into my brain as my hand quickened the pace, stripping the ridges that swirled around the metal, smoothing them down as I created a point.

  I couldn’t wait to see that face again.

  I couldn’t wait to kiss that mouth of hers again.

  Or hold that soft body in my arms.

  I couldn’t fucking wait to be inside her and watch her eyes as she became mine over and over again.

  Yeah, I had a fucking future, and it was so goddamn beautiful.

  “Nice and sharp,” I repeated.

  “Just like the tip of a needle,” I whispered.

  I heard the keys dangle before the officer fitted them into the bars and I quickly hid the weapon I was making. Vic pulled back the sheet and stepped into our cell.

  “How was church?” I muttered.

  “God is good,” he replied, placing his bible under his pillow. “He forgives us all.”

  “Yeah? You think?” I asked, wiping the sweat from my brow and pushing my hair away from my eyes.

  “I know,” he assured as he climbed into the bottom bunk. “Tomorrow is a big day,” he said, yawning. “Tomorrow I become God.”

  No you don’t.

  I do.

  I climbed onto the top bunk and once I was sure Victor was sleeping, I continued to sharpen the screw against the wall.

  God was good.

  But I was the devil.

  Chapter Forty

  I watched Victor take the comb resting on the sink and run it through his silver hair, meticulously coming it back. He slipped on his sparkling white sneakers and brushed down the front of his jumpsuit before he turned around and smiled at me.

  “My sources tell me by tomorrow you’ll be a free man,” he assured me.

  I didn’t ask questions, relying on his word and the hope that Jack pulled off whatever the fuck he and Victor planned.

  “Give Jack some time to come around,” he advised. “A father needs to see the proof that when he leaves this earth his daughter will be well looked after. We don’t always deserve the peace of mind but some of us need it, anyway. Give it to him. Make her happy.”

  “I plan on it,” I said huskily, barely recognizing my own voice.

  He crossed the small floor space of the cell and reached under his pillow for the bible, opening it to the middle where a ribbon acted as a bookmark and laid the open book on the bed.

  My legs dangled over the edge of the top bunk and I leaned forward, watching intently as he emptied the pillowcase and lifted the razor, inspecting the sharpness of it with his finger before he lifted his eyes to mine and smiled.

  “You do good work,” he complimented.

  “Always aim to please,” I said as he placed the razor onto open page of the Holy Scripture before he covered it with the ribbon and closed the book.

  “Let’s go Pastore,” the guard called from behind the sheet.

  I jumped down from the bunk and shoved my hands into my pockets, fingering the weapon rubbing against my thigh. Victor untied the sheet at one end and let it hang from the other as he tucked his bible under his arm and waited for the guard to open the cell.

  “Wait,” I called.

  Victor looked over his shoulder at me.

  “Think God could find forgiveness in me too?”

  He studied me for a moment, remaining completely silent and I thought he would deny me. I knew what he was going to do, he never tried to hide it from me and now I was asking him to allow me to bear witness. His lips quirked, and he granted me the faintest hint of a smile.

  “Come, my brother, you want to see God work in mysterious ways? Let me show you his divine powers,” he said, his voice almost sounding like a hymn.

  The C.O. raised an eyebrow at Vic but the mob boss paid him no mind, leading me out of the cell. As we walked the cell block I felt the inmates eyes on us and wondered if they knew what was about to go down. I diverted my eyes to Vic and watched as he held his head high and moved his lips. I leaned closer trying to listen to him and I heard every other word but it was clear the man was praying.

  It takes a certain breed to do the things we do and each of us has our own way of getting in the zone. Whether it’s reliving the pain you suffered in life or listening to a particular song there’s something that gets you pumped and ready to take blood, a ritual one partakes in before he sanctions the beast within and takes a life.

  I’m not sure if Vic prays to God or if he really thinks he becomes him, but it’s almost fascinating to watch him evolve into a holier than thou persona.

  We stepped into the chapel which the only thing that showed God’s presence was the small wooden cross hanging on one wall, high enough that no one could reach it and use it as a weapon. A man in a cloak stood in the front of the room and Victor made the sign of the cross as he passed him, taking a seat in one of the folding chairs in the front of him.

  I glanced around the otherwise empty room before I took a seat beside Victor and watched him lay his bible on his lap. The officer that escorted us stood in the back of the room, leaning against the wall as the priest recited mass to us.

  I kept looking towards the door, rubbing my hand over my pants over the screw resting in my pocket, anticipating the moment when I came face to face with Jimmy Gold.

  The moment never came.

  Church continued.

  Vic received Holy Communion.

  I sat back and watched.

  Then the priest walked over to Vic, he dipped his thumb into Holy Water and drew the sign of the cross on his forehead with his finger.

  “God forgives you, son,” he said.

  “Amen,” Victor whispered as he closed his eyes and became one with God.

  The priest dropped his hand, looked to me and side stepped until he stood before me and dipped his finger back in the Holy Water. My eyes widened as he lifted his hand and I felt the cool water touch my forehead, surprising me I didn’t go up in flames when his finger touched my skin.

  “God forgives you, son,” he repeated.

  I stared back at him, forgetting the response I was supposed to say and watched as he dropped his hand before closing his bible.

  A moment later he was gone.

  The officer followed him out the door and left Vic and I sitting in the first makeshift pew of the prison’s chapel. I wondered if every inmate finds God or just the fucked up ones.

  The door opened, forcing me to tear my eyes away from the wooden crucifix and stare in horror at the man who walked into the room. He was ugly, scary looking as all hell, he was the devil. A man who used to be covered in some of the finest ink had skin that was so worn and badly burned that it was almost translucent and the parts that weren’t were sutured with pink puckered flesh.

  The left side of his face resembled the villain Two Face from the Batman comics.

  I had to look away because staring at him for too long made me feel sick.

>   Jimmy was so badly scarred the only thing that made him recognizable to the people who knew him was the gold tooth he flashed when he opened his mouth to gasp. His eyes moved back and forth between me and Vic, finally deciding to stay glued to the man he once called his boss.

  I forced myself to keep my eyes on him, ingraining his appearance to my memory, then I remembered what my brother’s said Jack did to his finger and I looked down.

  The Bulldog took a saw to his pinky finger and sliced through the bone just as Jimmy had done to his blood brother Jack.

  Five fingers on one hand.

  Nine on the other.

  I realized why Jack didn’t kill him that day.

  Suffering is worse than dying.

  And this motherfucker suffered.

  Now it was time for him to die.

  It was time to put him down like the fucking dog he was.

  “We meet again, Jimmy,” Victor crooned, as he ran his fingers over the leather cover of his bible.

  “Guard!” Jimmy shouted.

  “They won’t save you,” Victor said, calmly as he took a step toward Jimmy. “No one can.”

  Jimmy opened his mouth to speak but really, what could he say? He was sorry? Cry for help? There was no one there to hear his pleas. And God was before him, ready to bring him into the land of eternal temptations.

  But before God had the chance to take him I was going to. I slid my hand into my pocket as Victor circled Jimmy.

  “I’ve been waiting a long time for this reunion, to see your face, to look you in the eye and tell you who the boss is,” he seethed. “Always wanted the title didn’t you? You didn’t give a damn what you did or who you killed to get to the top. That was your first mistake…wanting what was never yours. The second was killing Val, that man was my brother, someone you never could hold a candle to. The third was fucking with my children, bringing that guy around Nikki, using her to get me out of your way. I won’t even start about the heartache your hand caused Adrianna. If you hadn’t killed Val, I never would’ve sent Anthony to prison. But I’ll take the blame for that one,” he paused, as he opened the bible.

  It’s now or never.

  I closed my hand over the screw and took three steps closer to Jimmy.

  “You kept going, leaving a path of destruction behind you. You’ve drawn blood and left scars, you’ve killed and you’ve stolen…now it’s time for you to ask God for forgiveness,” he said.

  I closed my eyes, and I was back in that basement, standing in front of Reina, pleading for her to hang on to Jack as she reminded me of the girl with the sad eyes waiting for me.

  Leather and lace.

  “Forgive me, father for I have sinned,” Jimmy cried.

  “Yes, you have,” I heard my own voice say as I wrapped my arm around his neck and pinned him against me with my forearm as I reared the hand that held the weapon and drew it down, aiming for the same spot he stabbed my neck with the needle.

  My hand never came down as Victor grabbed my hand from behind and twisted it behind my back before he pressed his knee into my back and forced me down onto the floor. Jimmy stumbled out of my arms and fell onto the floor.

  “What’re you doing?” I hollered as Victor stepped over me, dropping the bible onto the floor beside me.

  He never answered my question as he kneeled over Jimmy.

  “Father forgive me,” he hissed as he took the blade to Jimmy’s throat and sliced him from ear to ear, blood poured out, leaving Jimmy in a sea of crimson.

  Vic dropped the blade, turning his palms over to stare at Jimmy’s blood that covered his hands before he wiped down the front of his prison blues.

  Victor Pastore was a man of his word.

  Deal done.

  He glanced over his shoulder at me.

  “Tell my wife I love her and tell my girls their dad will always watch over them,” he said hoarsely before he stood on his feet, carefully stepping over the body, making sure he didn’t get another speck of blood on his fresh white kicks. He walked over to the door and pounded his fist against it until the guard opened the door.

  “Take him to the morgue,” Vic muttered, looking at me one final time. “And take him back to his cell.”

  I turned back to Jimmy’s body.

  “Tomorrow when you get yourself released, remember you’ve got a little life left and make it count,” Vic said before walked out the door.

  I didn’t see Vic after that.

  He was never brought back to our cell.

  And the next morning I was released.

  Just as he promised.

  Victor Pastore was a man of his word.

  Chapter Forty-one

  I strode pass the barbed wire fences; the sun beating down on the worn leather jacket on my back and I spotted Riggs leaning against his truck. He pulled his sunglasses off and smirked at me, spreading his jacket wide and revealing a t-shirt that read Free Blackie.

  “How fucking great is that? Wolf had them made,” he said, pushing off the car and taking a step toward me.

  I glanced down at the writing on his shirt and then back at his face.

  “They sent the pretty boy to pick me up?” I said, reaching for him to pat him on the back and do the manly hug thing.

  “Yeah, it’s your lucky fucking day,” he quipped, pulling back to take a better look at me.

  “Heard through the grapevine you got yourself a little boy,” I smiled as his whole face lit up at my mention of his son.

  Wow, that was a change.

  He whipped out his phone and pulled up a photograph when I spotted the ink that covered the knuckles on his right hand spelling out the two words…Own it. He turned the screen around, displaying a photo of a baby boy with a Harley Davidson onesie and a sideways Yankee cap on his tiny head.

  “That’s my Eric,” he beamed, proudly. “Pretty fucking awesome, huh?”

  “Amazing,” I said, taking the phone out of his hand to get a better look at the kid.

  Truly amazing…God takes but God gives.

  “So what do you say? You ready to blow this popsicle stand or what?” he asked as I handed him back his phone.

  “Yeah,” I said, grabbing a hold of his forearm before he turned around. “Hey…I’m sorry about Bones.”

  “Yeah, me too,” he rasped, drawing in a deep breath. “But he’ll always be with me,” he added as he made a fist and brought it against his chest. Like the other hand each knuckle had a letter only this hand was dedicated to his best friend, our brother…Bones.

  He dropped his hand and his eyes darkened before he placed his sunglasses back on his face. “I took care of that cocksucker,” he growled. “Made sure that motherfucker never gets to hurt another person I care about.”

  He tipped his chin toward the car signaling for me to get inside as he walked around and climbed into the driver’s seat.

  “What about you?” he asked as he started up the truck.

  “What about me?”

  He shrugged his shoulders, placed one had on the steering wheel and with his other hand he opened the console. I leaned over and saw my gun sitting pretty inside.

  “Thought you might want to take care of business before you go off and get the girl,” he said, closing the console with his elbow.

  “Who said I’m going to get the girl?”

  “You better go get the girl after how many times I put my ass on the line,” he warned.

  I smiled.

  I couldn’t wait to go get the girl.

  But Riggs was right.

  First things first.

  I reached over, opened the console and took my piece out. I checked to see if it was loaded before dropping the safety on it and opening my jacket to tuck it back where it belonged.

  “My man! Now, that’s what I’m talking about,” Riggs enthused, grinning. “Blackie’s back…back again,” he rapped, mocking the Eminem song, Back Again.

  Yeah, I’m fucking back.

  One more chance to get it right.

/>   “Take me to my bike.”

  Throughout the drive Riggs brought me up to speed on everything I had missed while in lock up. It seemed like everyone was getting hitched and the club that used to be about drugs and corruption was turning over a new leaf. Pipe was doing big things with the garage, expanding it was definitely a good move because Jack took over the union contracts Vic had with the Atlantic Express buses. Riggs was trying to get the club on board with opening a security company, and I told him he had my vote at the table. I think it’s good we start making legit money. That doesn’t mean we’re a bunch of pussy’s though. Jack put up his house, took the equity out and handed over a lump sum to Pops to repair all the damage done to the shooting range. We have a new buyer for our guns too, Rocco Spinelli, the mobster moving in on Vic’s territory.

  And then there was the new blood—I had already gotten to know Stryker a little better and would make it my business to learn what made the rest of them tick.

  I knew Riggs had his hands full while I was away so I didn’t think to ask him about Lacey and how she was doing but he offered. He told me about the talk he had with Jack and how he confessed knowing there was something going on between us. He also mentioned that when Jack went to get the confession and make the kid drop the charges Lacey was already there doing his dirty work.

  My girl wants her man back.

  I’m coming, angel.

  Gonna’ take real good care of you.

  Once we finally pulled up the Dog Pound Riggs parked the truck, and I made my way over to my bike. Someone had my baby detailed, all her chrome was freshly polished and my helmet was hanging off the handlebars.

  The boys knew I had a score to settle, and they had everything ready for me to do what I needed to do.

  I straddled my bike, revved the engine and let my baby purr to life.

  Sweetest fucking sound.

  I glanced over at my side view mirrors and saw Wolf and Pipe walk out of the clubhouse. Wolf gave me the finger as he grinned while, Pipe gave me a two-finger salute. Riggs crossed his arms and mouthed the words two words he lived by…own it.

  I glanced around the lot, looking for Jack but neither he nor his bike were anywhere in sight, reminding me there was one war still raging and it was the one between him and I.