by Lexy Timms
He leaned over to kiss her neck, and bit her earlobe so hard she nearly yelped in shock and released her hand. They smiled at each other and faced the cake maker.
“Aw, what a loving couple!” he gushed. “I can tell, this one, this is special. You always know the ones that will work out. I always know, I can tell! You two will be a happy couple!”
“Hear that, dear?” Luke said. “We’re going to make it.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and grabbed her wrist and twisted it. She grunted behind a fixed smile and brought her foot down on his arch.
“AH!” He couldn’t hide that one, it really hurt.
“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry, I must’ve stepped on your foot. It’s a good thing you’re so much bigger than me,” she cooed like a little air-head, “or I might squash you like a bug!”
The cake vendor laughed; large rolls of belly fat attesting to the tastiness of the cakes, no doubt, rolled. “So, let me show you...”
The soup had been removed. Had he even tasted it? He couldn’t even remember now. His eyes were on the line of cakes approaching the table. The very long line of cakes.
“More water, sir?” Frank asked.
“What the hell?” Dani turned to him, “I know you’ve only got the one job, but can you calm it down for a moment? No one can drink that much water!”
“Of course, miss,” Frank said with an obsequious bow. It was strange to watch; Frank was the guy rookies prayed they didn’t get as a training partner. He was tough and mean and short-tempered. Now he was meek and cloying, a low-level servant paid just enough to remain poor.
“It’s okay,” Luke said, “but I really...” It occurred to him why Frank had been plying him with water. “I... uh... need to go...” He looked up and saw that Benny had turned around and was paying attention to the conversation and not the glossy images of impossible cakes being shown in a PowerPoint presentation on the screen opposite the table.
“It’s okay,” Luke said again, and patted Dani’s hand. He tried to put a ‘wait here’ signal in that hand pat, but had no idea how to accomplish such a clandestine idea and stood. Benny signaled one of the guards, who walked with him.
“I really am better at this all alone,” Luke protested.
“Just to keep you safe,” Benny said. “Not to go in with you. Unless, of course, he has to piss, too.”
Luke stood and looked at Frank.
“Restrooms are in the hallway to the left, sir,” he said. Luke nodded, and indicated the guard should go first. The man actually took a step before he caught himself, and then glowered at him. Luke wore the first genuine smile he’d had in long as he headed for the restroom.
As he left he heard Dani cussing her father under her breath. Looking over his shoulder, he saw her talking urgently to Benny, who only shook his head sadly, but said nothing at all.
The guard walked into the men’s room and gave a half-hearted look around. Lazily he pushed at the first stall door and looked inside.
“Going to hold it for me while I take a leak?” Luke asked, standing at the sink with his arms crossed.
The man glowered at him, but Luke just waited him out. If there was going to be a wedding, there needed to be a groom. That meant there was precious little the man could do to him. After a long, slow look around the room, at two more stall doors that swung half-open, the guard left. Presumably to take up a position just outside the door.
Okay, so, where is he? Luke looked around at what he expected was a meeting place, otherwise Frank wouldn’t have been so adamant about leading him here. The three empty stalls mocked him. If there was a note hidden somewhere in the room, it could wait. Luke’s bladder was in agony. He stepped to the urinal and unzipped his pants.
As the stream began, he felt a hand wrap around his mouth. The barrel of a gun pressed to his temple. Luke jerked violently and tried to speak, but the hand muffled his words. Slowly, his assailant let off the pressure on his mouth.
“I said, I’m a little underdressed; maybe you can wait a moment?”
Randy shuffled into view, his gun still trained on Luke. The door to the supply closet hung open, still padlocked. Nice touch.
“Good to see you again. Excuse me for not shaking hands, I’m a little...” Luke looked down. “...busy.”
Randy circled the room, gun at the ready. He was jumpy. For good reason. Half the Atlanta mob was in the ballroom. “Do you know how many protocols I’ve broken to be here?”
“Like not interrupting a man while he’s pissing? That’s a hard limit, Randy.”
Randy scowled, lowering the gun slightly as he turned toward Luke. “So was all this for the girl? Or was there money involved?” Each word was bitten off angrily, his dark eyes full of bitterness.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” The slow burn of anger began creeping up. He finished what he was doing, while mentally counting to ten. There was nothing quite so demeaning as confronting another man while holding your Johnson. He zipped and turned to his former friend. “All what, Randy? Hmm? All what?” He turned and walked to the sink and lathered his hands, deliberately putting his back to the gun. Letting Randy know he wasn’t about to be bullied.
“You were assigned to infiltrate, not to move in and become Benny Bianchi’s little nephew.”
Luke spun on him, hands spraying water as he turned. At the last minute, he remembered the guard at the door and spoke softly, though he wanted to scream. “Where the hell were you, Randy? Huh? I’ve been held prisoner for days now and I get nothing from you! Where the hell were you?”
“Prisoner? In a multimillion-dollar mansion with a beautiful blonde? How could I not see the way you suffered? I hope it doesn’t interfere with your wedding plans!” Randy’s tone was mocking, his eyes hard.
Luke reached over to rip a towel from the dispenser, but it was electronic and dutifully dispensed only a proportioned towel. At least he had the satisfaction of ripping it off, as shallow as that accomplishment was. “He thinks he can get Edwin back here if he marries off Dani. Like that weasel will give himself up just to walk his little girl down the aisle.”
“So, why you?”
“Because I was handy!” Luke snarled, throwing his hands up in the air. “How the hell should I know? Besides, if I went missing, No. One. Would. Come. Looking. Would they, Randy?”
Randy ignored him, moving back and forth restlessly. “Where’s the stick?” Randy’s eyes never left the door. They were running out of time. He was worried about the guard, Luke realized. With good reason.
That didn’t mean that he had to play hardball with him. Luke crossed his arms and leaned against the sink.
“Don’t look at me like that. The memory stick you had, where is it?”
“I don’t have it.” Luke didn’t so much as move. “I tried to give it to you once.”
“That’s when I thought we could get out of this clean, but you really took a shit in the punch bowl, you know?”
“You always did have a way with words, you know that? Get. Me. The. Hell. Out. Of. Here.”
Randy checked the door again, his eyes moving as restlessly as an addict looking for a fix. “I’ll work on it.”
Luke’s eyebrow rose. “You’ll ‘work on it’? Seriously? I need out now!”
“I can’t now. But while I work on it, I need you to do something for me.”
“Really? You want I should go out and get you a pizza?” Luke shook his head and started for the door.
“I want that USB stick.”
“I told you, I don’t have it.”
“Get it. And get me a list of the guests to your ‘wedding’.”
Luke spun on him. “You don’t need that if there’s not going to be a wedding! You don’t need a list of guests if you’re going to get me out of this. Now get me out of this!”
He’d gotten noisy. The door started to open. Randy had no time to hit the broom closet. He ducked into a stall. The guard sauntered in, hand on his gun, suspicious as all hell. Luke tried not to notice as
Randy’s feet lifted one at a time to stand on the toilet. Jumpy as the man was, he half expected to hear a splash from falling in.
“I thought I heard voices.” The hired gun’s eyes rested on the door to the supply closet. Luke suppressed the urge to kick it shut.
With a sharp glance at Luke, he started for the stall Randy had dashed into. Biting back a sigh, Luke stood in his way, knowing this wasn’t going to end well. Luke scrutinized the thug; heavy brow, a nose that had been broken more than once. “Too many blows to the temple.” Luke said, tapping the man’s head. The thug knocked his hand away savagely and glared at him.
A quick assessment told Luke everything he needed to know about the bully-boy. He was a brawler, not trained, but used to his size and strength winning his fights. He might have been a semi-pro once, but that was a long time ago. He moved slowly, like he was a giant from an old movie. Some men thought that made them look bigger. It just made them look less likely to win a fight.
“Just you in here?” The guy tried to see past him into the stall.
First of all, if I’m planning something chances are I’m going to lie to you. Why the hell would you even ask in the first place? Secondly, if you’re not checking, you’re an idiot.
“Just me and the big pile of shit someone couldn’t flush,” Luke said, pointing his thumb behind him.
“What, you in here talking to your dick? Or your shit? What were you talking to?”
Yep, he’s an idiot.
Luke sighed. It was always the dumb ones who thought that being crude was the same thing as being tough. It wasn’t, it just marked you as stupid. “My dick’s my best buddy,” Luke said with a big smile, hands spread nice and innocent.
“Well,” the man leaned over and snarled, “I would hate to separate such good friends.” He pulled a knife from somewhere Luke couldn’t see and held it up for him to appreciate. The bright steel flashed in the fluorescent lights.
“Hey, whaddya you know?” Luke leaned back and grinned as big as his mouth would let him. “Now there’s two piles of shit in the bathroom!”
The thug grabbed Luke’s shirt and pulled him close. “You’ve got a big mouth.” He spat the words out like they were weapons.
“Careful, Lassie,” Luke said quietly. “You don’t want to damage your boss’ wedding pictures, now do you?” He could see the conflict in the man’s face. The burning desire to smash Luke into the wall warring against the cold realization of single-handedly destroying the boss’ plans.
He let go. “We’re not done,” he said, leaning in even closer, trying to intimidate Luke by getting into his space, breaking into his personal bubble. “When this is all over, I’m going to find you.”
“Okay,” Luke said affably. “Cut my balls off, shoot me, whatever, just stop breathing on me. It’s like being downwind of the city dump. But you know what’s that like, right?”
“I don’t have to touch your face...” The tough dropped his knife and swung a fist into Luke’s solar plexus. Luke was ready for it, had been baiting the man for an action. He side-stepped the blow and caught the man’s wrist. He twisted as he stepped back, and the thug found himself flying over the tile floor and landing hard, blowing the air from his lungs. Luke dropped to one knee and slammed a fist into the back of the man’s head. It hit the floor hard with a hollow thud, and he lay there, eyes rolled into the back of his head.
“You can come out now, princess,” Luke said to the stall door. Randy’s feet reappeared before the door swung open.
“You have a certain charm about you, you know that?” Randy stared at the man sprawled on the floor.
“I’m also good with children and puppies.” Luke straightened his jacket and headed for the door. “I’ll get you the stick and I’ll try to find the guest list, but it’s only because I think you’re cute. You get me the hell out of this!”
Randy flipped him off. But the smile that touched his lips was grudging. He’d do it. He might not like it much, but he’d do it.
Luke strolled out of the room and into the hallway. His fist hurt. He hadn’t held back when he hit the man; days of pent-up frustration had been behind that blow. In a way, the whole thing had been incredibly stupid, especially now that the thug knew that Luke could handle himself in a fight and would be ready for it. He’d given away the element of surprise, but it would have taken a martyred saint to have held back.
Yeah, Saint Luke... come to think of it, that actually does work...
He straightened himself as much as he could and walked, the very picture of calm, back into the room where his intended sat in a quietly fervent discussion with the most wanted mobster in America.
Damn, I love this job.
CHAPTER FOUR
Dani watched Luke leave the table and was filled with a sense of panic. It was an odd feeling, not wanting him to leave her alone with her family. At the moment, he was the only real ally she had in the place. So, of course, she wouldn’t want to be separated from him. It certainly wasn’t for any romantic reason that she didn’t want to see him go. Plus, she was better on her own. Why would she need him?
And yet she did.
She bit her lip and stared at her empty plate. They’d taken away the last course. She couldn’t even remember what it was she’d been served last. She’d been eating on automatic pilot for hours it seemed.
“Would you all excuse us a moment, please?” Benny’s voice broke into her thoughts. She raised her head and watched as he gestured an entire crowd out of the room with the simple act of just raising his hand. The men and women nervously standing behind books of cakes and dresses and bright white lace confections exchanged glances and filed out, creating a little knot of traffic at the door. More than one looked back, as if wanting to ask, unsure of what they were supposed to do when they were being shooed away from the wedding of the century. But when a man with a great deal of money to spend wants the room cleared, you clear the room and pray you’ll be invited back later.
As the last of them stepped into the hallway, Benny nodded for the two men at the door to leave also. They looked at Dani speculatively. Apparently, they were aware she’d had training. At the very least they’d figured out she had some military experience, and were none too happy about leaving their boss alone with her in a room. But orders were orders. They wouldn’t stray far from the door, and regardless of the hold Benny had on them they were going to be listening in from the outside, of that she was sure.
Dani smiled at them nastily, giving her best Joker grin, hoping to pass along the idea that insanity ran in her family. That should have been evident. Benny was forcing her to marry just to kill her father. Her father was a thief and a coward, and had left his children to take the heat for his theft. This was not a sterling reputation for mental health. Even she was starting to doubt her sanity.
“You, too, David.”
“David’s here?” Dani shot up, spinning around and seeing that, sure enough, her brother was stealing cupcakes from one of the pastry tables behind her. She turned from him to Benny and back to her brother, trying to figure out just what game Benny was playing. And why the hell he hadn’t said anything when he’d arrived. She always had his back, why didn’t he have hers?
“My men caught him tearing up the office,” Benny said with a shrug. “He’d gone wild, like he was looking for something, but David won’t say what it is.” Benny gave a long look to her brother. It wasn’t the sort of look most men lived long to enjoy. “Care to tell me now what’s so damn important?”
David looked up. He had frosting on his chin. She realized he’d been sulking.
“Aren’t you supposed to be at Markland?” she asked, wondering when he’d had time to tear up the office. The panic set in again deep inside her, bubbling its way to the surface. “Someone has to run the company, David.” She tried to get it through to him that he could take this excuse and run with it. All David had to do was go to work and he could be free of all this. But her hopes of him picking up on the hint
were quickly dashed. She wanted to bash him on the side of the head. He was an idiot sometimes.
“The place runs better without me,” he muttered, sounding like a little boy complaining that no one would play with him. “Charlie and Ross are taking over and making choices and decisions. Markland’s doing better than ever.”
“Then what the fuck is your job?” Benny asked sharply.
David flinched, and shrugged. “To stay out of the way?”
“Then you need to do that job right now!” Benny barked. “Out!”
Dani watched David’s face. His demeanor was subdued, even petulant, but his eyes were cold and hard like agates. The hate he repressed in his stance and in his personality shone through his eyes. It was like looking through a peephole and finding the banked fires of Hell on the other side. Like a volcano ready to erupt.
“David,” she said quietly, “would you please excuse us for a moment? It’ll be all right. Okay?”
He snorted. “Really? I already tried to, but they dragged me here. Now I’m here, and you need me to go again? Fuck it. Whatever. Dad made this mess. Not me,” David groused, and stole one last glance at Benny as he swiped a napkin at his face, missing the frosting completely, leaving him with a bright-blue goatee. His glance went unnoticed, but Dani saw the seething hatred in his eyes flare and fall away again as he stood and went to join the others in the hallway.
It’s not me Benny’s guards should be worried about.
But David was a non-entity; he was no threat to their minds. Not with his blue icing beard. He looked like a grown-up kid not getting his way. It was she they feared. They knew she’d been active in places where fighting dirty was the only way to survive. They considered her to be the biggest threat to Benny’s health, while David hatched a million plots like so many snakes weaving their way through his mind.
There’s a cheery image. She suddenly realized that Benny had been talking to her. She wondered what she’d missed.
