As I glance over at Jessie while stopped at a red light, I wonder if I’m kidding myself. Maybe I don’t actually have a shot with Jessie. Maybe Lombardi’s got a better chance of getting me to sell the Morell. I keep my left hand on the steering wheel, my right on the gear that controls the accelerator, and my eyes on the road. Jessie is quiet, her head resting against the passenger side window. She looks tired and thoughtful.
I glance at her again. I want to pull over and kiss her. The worst that could happen is she’d push me away and I wouldn’t be any worse off than I am right now. Maybe I should just go for it. Now or never.
Then, abruptly, her head lifts off the window and she’s staring straight ahead. “Oh no.”
I look where she’s looking, and that’s when I see him. Seth. Leaning against the front of her building, a bottle of what looks like whiskey in his hand. As we pull up to the curb, he spots us and stumbles onto the sidewalk. The bottle falls from his fingers, shattering on impact with the ground.
I better keep on driving.
Except I can’t. Because that drunk asshole steps right in front of my BMW so I have no choice but to hit the brake if I don’t want to run him over. He leans over the hood of my car and bangs on it once. I can see through the windshield that his eyes are bloodshot. Even with the windows rolled up, I can smell the alcohol on him. I wonder how much whiskey he drank.
“Hey!” he yells at me. “What the hell are you doing with my fiancée!”
“Don’t get out of the car,” I start to say to Jessie, but I’m too late. She’s sliding out of the passenger seat, and before I can do anything about it, she’s standing next to Seth. Her hands are on her hips and she’s glowering at him. Despite everything, I can’t help but think how sexy she looks when she’s angry.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” she snaps. “You’re making an ass out of yourself!”
Seth ignores her. He rounds the car so that he’s inches away from me. Only the driver’s side window separates us. He bangs on the window with his fist. The glass doesn’t shatter—much like my office, it’s bulletproof.
“Get out of the car, fucker!” Seth yells.
I want nothing more than to get out of the car and punch a hole in Seth Parson’s face. I want it so goddamn bad. I took a self-defense course aimed for people in wheelchairs, and my upper body is strong enough that if he came at me on the street, I think I’d be able to hold my own. But this is an entirely different situation. I’m not in my wheelchair—it’s in the back seat. If I were to open the door to the car, Seth isn’t going to give me a minute to reassemble the chair and get back in it. He’s going to pull me right out of my seat, onto the ground. And once I’m on the ground, I’m fucked.
I can’t get out of this car.
Seth is pounding on the window hard now. “You asshole! Get out of the car!” The glass vibrates with each punch. “I don’t care if you’re crippled. I’ll rip you apart!”
“Seth!” Jessie is now on the driver’s side of the car too. Her hair is loose and shimmery in the dim glow of the streetlights. “You need to go upstairs. Now. Before Nick calls the cops.”
Seth glowers at me. “Oh, I don’t think this guy is calling the cops.”
I almost laugh. He thinks because I got mob ties, I’m scared of the cops—he doesn’t have a clue how many officers I got on my payroll. But I wouldn’t call them now. I got plenty of guys I’d call before the cops. Nobody could make it here fast enough to diffuse this situation, but they can teach him a lesson later.
I crack open my window just enough so they can hear me. “Jessie, get back in my car,” I tell her.
“There’s no fucking way she’s getting in your car,” Seth practically spits at me.
He’s right—Jessie isn’t getting back in my car. That leaves me with three options. First, I open the door to the car and let Seth beat the shit out of me—not really an option. Second, I get the hell out of here and leave Jessie behind, which would make me hate myself. Third…
I’ve got a gun under the seat.
I haven’t had shooting practice in a while. But this would be close range. It would be hard to miss.
My hand is itching to reach for the gun, but I know that would be a mistake. It would take me on a path I don’t want to go down. Seth is drunk and might not have enough sense in him to back off when he sees the revolver. I don’t want to have to shoot him. As much as I want Jessie, I’m not going to murder another man to get her.
“Seth,” Jessie says more quietly this time. “Please. Let’s just go home.”
She puts her hand on his shoulder in a gesture meant to soothe him, but he just shakes her off. She tries again, and this time he lashes out at her with his hand balled into a fist, clipping her in the jaw hard enough to slam her against my car.
He hit her. I can’t fucking believe that asshole hit her.
He’s dead.
Chapter 27
Jessie
I’ve never seen Seth like this.
When his fist connects with my jaw and sends me backwards into the car, it knocks the wind out of me. I lean against the car for a second, shaking and stunned. And furious. But I’m okay—he just clipped the side of my jaw. And I know Seth wasn’t trying to harm me deliberately. He wants Nick.
Seth slams the palm of his hand against the car window. I can see the dark look in Nick’s eyes—he wants nothing more than to get out of the car and destroy Seth. But how could he? His wheelchair is in the back, and even if he got it out, it wouldn’t be a fair fight. Seth isn’t exactly a ninety-eight pound weakling, and Nick is… well, it’s got to be a disadvantage in a fight if you can’t move half your body. As much as Nick wants to beat up Seth the way he did with Evan Thompson all those years ago, he probably can’t physically do it.
But I can see that in another minute, Nick won’t care about that anymore.
“Nick,” I manage. “Just drive away. I’m fine. Just… go!”
He doesn’t turn in my direction or even acknowledge that he heard me. He just keeps staring at Seth, his face growing darker and more furious.
“Yeah, drive away, you chicken shit!” Seth yells at the window.
And then a really scary thought occurs to me:
What if Nick has a gun?
It’s not out of the realm of possibility. He was carrying one that first night he came to wish me luck, although I haven’t caught him with one since then. He certainly knows how to shoot. The only question is whether the gun is actually in the car right now. And if so, has Seth angered him enough that he’d use it? Seth is still pounding on the window, shouting at him to get out of the car. Nick is staring at him, his eyes angrier than I’ve ever seen them.
“Nick,” I say again. My voice is pleading now. “Drive away. Go!”
This time my words register with him. He looks at me, then looks back at Seth. My heart is slamming in my chest. This can’t end well. The only chance of something horrible not happening is if he leaves. Now. I know he doesn’t want to do it, but he has to.
“Go!” I scream at him.
He looks at me again. Seth’s slams his fist into the window one last time before the car revs back to life and speeds away. Seth stares after it, his face red. His hand is pretty red too. There’s blood oozing out of two of his knuckles. I have a feeling he’s lucky to be alive right now.
“What a chicken shit,” Seth says. “Wouldn’t even come out and fight me!”
I look at my fiancé, his hair mussed, his eyes bloodshot, swaying drunkenly in the middle of the street. What possessed him to do this? Was he really that jealous of Nick? I haven’t been cheating on him. I’ve been a hundred percent faithful.
“Fight you?” I cry. “Seth, he’s a paraplegic. You really wanted him to get out of the car so you could hit him? What kind of asshole are you?”
“If he were a real man,” Seth says, “he would’ve gotten out of the car.”
“Fuck you,” I practically spit at him. “You know who he is, Set
h. You think there isn’t a good chance he was carrying a gun? You’re lucky to be alive, you idiot.”
That gives Seth pause. But he’s too drunk to think reasonably. After all, he wouldn’t have done something so stupid if he were thinking clearly.
“What the hell were you doing in his car anyway?” Seth snaps at me.
“He was giving me a ride home because we live in a shitty neighborhood,” I say. I can’t help but add, “Where drunk guys try to start fights right in front of our building.”
“Yeah, what a nice guy,” he slurs. “Giving you a ride home out of the goodness of his heart. Horseshit. He’s trying to get in your pants. If he hasn’t already.”
“You’ve got some nerve,” I shoot back. “Seth, I would never cheat on you.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong.” I stick out my chin. “You’re the one who got drunk and hit me.”
Seth takes in my words, his face crinkling into a frown. “I didn’t hit you.”
I point to my jaw. “You got me right in the face, Seth.”
He looks at me in astonishment. “Oh my God, Jess, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to…” His shoulders slump and his face crumples. “That was an accident. You know I would never…”
Do I know that? Seth never talks about the fact that his father used to beat up on his mother, but it’s a fact that weighs heavily on him. He wouldn’t do that to me. But at the same time, don’t they say that men who beat up their wives are more likely to have sons who do the same? Monkey see, monkey do.
Except now Seth is crying.
“I’m so sorry,” he blubbers. “I got so angry when I saw you in his car. And he’s giving you that job and paying your salary and… I just started thinking about it and I couldn’t take it.” He wipes his eyes. “He’s so successful. It made me feel like a loser.”
“Seth…” I’m not ready to tell him it’s all okay. I’m still pissed off over what he just did, but this performance is dissolving my anger. “You’re not a loser.”
“Do you…” Seth bites his lip. “Are you attracted to him?”
He may as well ask me if the sky is blue. But it’s clear that telling the truth isn’t going to solve our problem. Seth is insecure and it’s my job to make him feel better. So I tell him what he needs to hear.
“Of course I’m not,” I say. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
He manages a tiny smile. “Okay. I guess… I don’t know. I was being stupid.”
“Let’s go inside. Okay?”
He nods and allows me to escort him back into the building. By the time we get up to our floor, he’s leaning on me heavily. The second we enter our apartment, he collapses onto the couch and doesn’t wake up until the morning.
Nick
I almost killed Seth Parsons.
I have no doubt in my head that if I’d gotten that gun in my hand, I’d be trying to figure out what to do with a dead body right now. But when Jessie screamed at me to go, I went. I didn’t want to leave her behind, but I knew he wouldn’t hurt her. It was me he wanted.
Except I don’t want Seth dead. I just want to teach him not to mess with me or Jessie. Ever again.
The second I get home, I call Jessie on my cell phone. It rings four times, until I get good and scared he’s done something to her and I never should’ve left. But then she picks up and I let out a breath of relief.
“Jessie,” I say. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Her voice is a whisper. “Seth is asleep on the couch. He passed out as soon as we got upstairs.”
“Perfect.” I’m already making plans in my head. “You go pack a bag and get the hell out of there before he wakes up. You can stay with Chrissy or… well, you can stay with me if you want. I got an extra bedroom.”
“Nick,” she sighs. “I can’t do that.”
I stare at the phone, stunned. “Jessie, he hit you.”
“But that was an accident.”
“The fuck it was!” My hand clenches into a fist. “I can’t believe you’d be okay with him doing that after what your father used to do to you. You didn’t have a choice back then. But now you do. Get. Out.”
“Seth’s not like that.”
“Bullshit.”
There’s a long pause on the other line. I’m praying she’ll change her mind. See reason.
“I can’t leave right now, Nick,” she says softly. “But don’t worry. He won’t do it again.”
I’m so furious that I slam down the phone without saying goodbye. How could she be so naïve to think he won’t do it again? Doesn’t she get it? This is only the tip of the iceberg? He’s done it once so now it’ll be easier next time. And all he’s gotta do is apologize and she stays.
I gotta make sure nothing about this is easy for him.
I think about who I want to call. There are plenty of options. There’s always Eddie, but if I use him, the whole deal will get back to Pop, and I don’t need him knowing about this. Tony would kick Seth’s ass free of charge once he hears the whole story, but I’m getting too old to have my brother beating up guys for me. Plus things have been tense between me and Tony since the Lombardi meeting.
I finally settle on Steve Esposito. He’s one of the scariest guys I ever met at six feet five inches and a deuce and a half of pure muscle. Steve talks so little that I feel lucky when I get three or four words out of him during a conversation. I like that about him though—nobody wants a tough guy who’s a chatterbox. He gets the job done and that’s what’s important.
The other good thing about Steve is I can call him any time. It doesn’t matter that it’s two in the morning right now. Steve never seems to sleep.
“Hey,” Steve grunts when he answers the phone.
“It’s Nick,” I say. I don’t need to say my last name—he knows who I am. And the less said on the phone, the better. I check regularly to make sure my own lines aren’t bugged, but I can’t say the same for Steve’s phone. Not that I’m asking him to do anything illegal exactly, but still. “I need your help.”
“Yeah?”
“I need you to have a little talk with a guy named Seth Parsons,” I explain. I tell him their address. “Just a talk, Steve, okay?”
“Sure.”
“You tell him he never hits Jessie again, okay?” I pause, contemplating whether there’s more I want to say. There isn’t. That’s the only message I need to get across to the guy. Steve is a message in himself about not fucking with me.
“Okay, Nick,” Steve says.
The conversation took all of two minutes and it’s done, but I don’t have a good feeling about it. The only way I can make absolutely sure Jessie is safe is to get her the hell out of there. I always hated the fact that I couldn’t do anything about the situation with her father. And now here we are again, except this time I could actually help her.
But she won’t let me.
I’m worried the only thing that will get her away from Seth is if he’s dead.
Chapter 28
Jessie
“He did what?”
Chrissy stares at me, her mouth hanging open. We’re having lunch at a restaurant by Nick’s office, since my days are now free. I had vowed not to tell anyone what happened with Seth the other night, but Chrissy is like a bloodhound when it comes to sniffing out gossip. It took her under fifteen minutes to get the entire story out of me.
“It wasn’t that big a deal,” I mumble. “And he was really apologetic.”
Seth was beyond sorry over what happened. The next day, he bought me a huge bouquet of flowers and took me out to dinner. He hasn’t been so doting and affectionate since we were first dating.
“He hit you!” Chrissy exclaims, loud enough that a few people turn to look at us. I will her to keep her voice down. “That’s a pretty big deal.”
“He didn’t hit me,” I hiss at her. “He was just… you know, trying to get me out of the way.”
“By hitting you.”
“It was
an accident.”
She snorts. “And he did this in front of Nick? Wow, he’s lucky he’s still alive.”
I frown at her. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“What’s it mean?” She shakes her head. “Nick’s got a gun in his car, you know. And in his apartment. And in his office. And there’s nothing that makes him angrier than when a guy gets fresh with you.”
I think of the dark look in Nick’s eyes that night and shiver. I was right.
“Why does he have so many guns?” I ask.
Chrissy laughs. “Is that a serious question?”
I bite my lip hard enough that it hurts. “Has he ever… shot someone?”
“Who knows?” Chrissy says so casually that I’m worried she really does know. Either way, I’m glad she doesn’t answer in the affirmative.
And that’s why I’m still with Seth. Because I don’t have to ask around to find out if he’s ever killed anyone. I know he hasn’t.
“Look,” Chrissy says, “whatever else, Nick is a good guy. I been working with him for a long time now, and he’s never done anything I thought was wrong. And believe me, he’s had plenty of opportunities.”
I stare at her, wondering if I should believe her.
“Also,” she adds, “he’s crazy about you. If you left Seth for him, you’d never regret it. You’d have a great life with him.”
Yeah. Until the police show up at three in the morning and haul him off to jail. But then again, his father got out of it when he was arrested, and Nick’s got even more money and power than he did. He would probably manage to do the same.
“He begged me to leave Seth last night,” I say. “He was furious I wouldn’t go.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because Seth is my fiancé,” I remind her. “I love him.”
Chrissy just shakes her head. And the truth is, as I say the words, they feel like a lie.
I take a deep breath. “Can I ask you a question?”
The Girl I Didn't Kill For (Jessie & Nick Book 2) Page 15
