“Get the hell out of my sight.” Harkins relented. “And remember that I’m watching.”
“Watch this!” I tore the bugged diamond from my neck and slammed it on the table in front of him.
Sean stood against the wall, his arms crossed with the Divani brothers at his side, intimidating the public protectors in the room. Only smiling when he caught my eye.
I felt an overwhelming sense of pride wash over me while I signed papers, returning a smile as I took possession of my purse.
He greeted me by taking me into his strong arms and placing his lips to mine. His kiss was a demonstration of his passion for me, taming me and defining our relationship.
My eyes remained closed after we parted. I was surprised and slightly seduced.
“Are you okay?” His thumb gently stroked the scratches on my cheek and he took in a deep breath through his nose and let it out slowly. His steel blue eyes intensely scanned the damage and I dared not guess the thoughts running through his mind. “Let’s go.”
I knew I would never forget how cold the air felt that night, but I had never felt as warm as I did with Sean’s jacket wrapped around me, his draped arm leading me protectively through a nearby parking garage.
“You slapped a cop?” He teased, squeezing playfully, exposing cute dimples between the puffs of his cigarette.
“I’m so embarrassed.”
“Don’t be. I …” Sean’s blue eyes turned cold. His lip snarled and I turned to follow his stare.
The cop who had arrested me stood unlocking a pretty red sports car a few feet away, but how Sean had known the identity of my attacker escaped me.
“Hey!” He left me standing. Stormed towards the man, lifted, and slammed him against the car with seemingly little effort. “You put your hands on her?”
“I – I – was just doing my job,” David begged for benevolence that would not come. His confidence replaced by fear. His hands instinctively shielding his favorite features against Sean’s vehemence. Hit after hit, Sean showed no mercy.
“Sean!” For the first time, I witnessed the dark side that I had doubted existed. Feeling a need to protect, I ran to him, threw my arms around his neck. “Sean!”
He didn’t hear, forcing me to tighten my hold and shift my weight to pull him backwards, stopping his wrath.
On my knees beside him, he collapsed against the car. His eyes appeared glazed as if he wasn’t inside himself. He blinked rapidly until he seemed to recall my presence and immediately, he lowered his gaze to bloody hands and began to wipe red from the gold band on his finger as if to erase his mistake.
The cop held his stomach and spit blood. I stared at Sean in disbelief. He’d caused so much damage with only his naked hands.
“Officer down!” I heard the cop report into his cell phone. “Send back up … to the parking garage. Level … C.”
In a daze and oblivious to the Hummer that sped through the garage, Sean pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and continued to scrub away the drying stains. Sirens bounced off the cement columns, growing closer and closer. Sean stood slowly.
“Don’t move!” David yelled. “Put your hands up!” The pistol on his hip finally found its way to his hand, but it shook uncontrollably and the blood continued to pour from his mouth and nose.
The noise grew closer.
Sean’s demeanor again shifted gears. He held his hands up, but his lips turned up at their right corner in a sinister smile.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Matt staring at me, blame etched in his expression.
My heart began to roar louder than my confusion and fear. I had accidentally fallen in love.
TWENTY-SEVEN
(Sean)
MOMENTARILY, I HAD SEEN SARA kneeling beside me, her expression one of confusion and shock, but then I came to my senses. Yet, the way Jessie looked at me was the same as I had imagined Sara’s would have been if she had ever witnessed my temper.
Tina’s account of Jessie’s arrest had angered me, throwing me out of control. I had hoped the cop wouldn’t cross my path. But he had and I feared Jessie would never think of me the same again.
I heard the words and I saw the gun pointed at my head as I rose to my feet. There was no way out this time.
“Turn around!” With my hands held in plain view, I did as I was asked. “Put your hands on the car!”
I curled my lip, thinking I should have made sure the sorry excuse for a man didn’t get up.
“Did you enjoy yourself, Gianetti?” The cop attempted to belittle me. “I shouldn’t have to read you your rights. You should know them by heart by now.”
“Back up!” I heard the feminine growl. “Get the hell away from him!”
Slowly I turned. Somehow the gun was in Jessie’s hand, pointed at its owner.
“Don’t kill me.” With the tables turned, the man was gutless, dropping to his knees, blubbering and pouring tears.
Sirens echoed, the back up the cop had ordered would soon be in the parking garage. I dealt a heavy blow to the officer’s temple, knocking him out, then grabbed Jessie’s arm, took the gun and ushered her into the back seat of the vehicle Grato idled.
In a blaze, we were speeding away, squealing tires around each curve that wound down the levels.
“Thank you.” Taking the handkerchief from my hand. She dampened it using a water bottle she took from her purse and washed away the blood from my face. “No one’s ever taken up for me like that before.” Her eyes filled with tears that she tried to hide while she spoke.
Her hands, soft on my cheek, weakened me so I could no longer gaze upon her. “You shouldn’t thank me, Jessie.”
“Don’t feel bad. I don’t,” she went on. “That jerk deserved what you did.”
“I should take you home.” I cleared my throat and refused to gaze at her. “I’ll probably be arrested and I don’t want you to be with me when it happens. I’ll take the full blame – for everything.”
“I don’t regret what I did.” She sighed.
Eerie silence left me alone with decisions only I could make. Abruptly, I turned to the outside world where sheets of rain obstructed the view to the road. Pellets of ice hammered the steel, thunder shook, warning its storm was close enough to do harm. Inside, I felt the same winds blowing wildly. Who I was and who I had to be twisted around and around, entangling and knotting. Forever had lived and passed since my conscience and heart had arose to argue with the demons in my head.
In front of her apartment building, Jessie got out without a word and hurried towards the entrance. I tried to let her go. I didn’t want her to be part of my world. She didn’t deserve the burden, but I couldn’t do it. I hurried out after her.
“What are you doing?” She yelled over the wind. Her mascara began to run down her cheeks and the rain had not been the culprit.
“Come on.” I opened the complex’s door and guided her out of the hail. I walked a step behind her until we reached her door. She spoke a soft goodbye after she unlocked her door but when she attempted to step inside, I pulled her back gently. I lifted her chin and gently kissed her lips, pulling her as closely as biology would allow.
“Good Bye,” I whispered before forcing myself to walk away.
I wandered slowly down the hallway and collapsed on the top step of the staircase. I touched my fingertips to my lips and pondered my emotions. Jessie’s reaction to my temper hadn’t been what I had expected and she’d disarmed that cop too easily.
“Eric.” My phone was again my accomplice.
Eric answered, groggily with an unhidden annoyance. “I told you I would figure it out in the morning,” He argued before I could expose my desires. “Whatever she is, she will still be tomorrow.”
“Get up!” I barked. “I need the answers now. I know you’ve been dragging your feet on purpose. I need to know now! And … I’m in trouble. Jessie and I are both in trouble.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
(Jessie)
I LEANED AGAINST THE CLOS
ED door. It was hard to exhale. My lips still tingled from Sean’s kiss and his image still remained, erasing the horrific actions he had committed.
“What the hell was that?” A deep voice grumbled from within the apartment making me jump and let out a small cry. Quickly, I slid my hand up the wall and flipped on the light switch.
Josh’s crimson face and flaring nostrils showcased his anger. Sitting on the couch he’d had the perfect view of my lips interlocked with his enemy’s. His fists were clenched on his thighs and his hostile glare bore into me.
I stared in amazement and posed with my hand on my hip, conveying my dissatisfaction with his interruption. Did he not care if he placed my life in jeopardy?
“Josh, you’re not supposed to be here?” I scolded. “What if Gianetti had come in here with me?”
“He didn’t.” Josh stood and stormed across the room. “What was that with him, Jessie?”
“He gave me a ride home,” I spat at him. “He was just being nice.”
“Gianetti doesn’t do things just to be nice. If I didn’t know better I would think you wanted him to try something.” I could see his blood boiling as if it had been poured into a tea kettle and the steam was only moments away from blowing its whistle. “You want to sleep with him, don’t you? Maybe you already have.”
“I guess you’re the expert on what cheating looks like.” I walked away from him and into the bedroom.
He followed me like a hungry lion pursuing his prey, watching as I undressed and slipped into an oversized tee-shirt. Then he attempted to block my exit.
I pushed past him and headed to the kitchen as I had planned. “Just get out.” With my back turned, I opened the fridge and poured a glass of tea, ignoring the way he hovered with wide and wild eyes as if his stare alone could push me to submit into his hegemony. “Well, at least you didn’t use the front entrance,” I angrily mused when my gaze fell on the opened window that lead to the fire escape.
“I’m here to take you home.” He proceeded to open drawers and cabinets. “Where the hell are the trash bags?”
“I’m not going any –” A gentle knock on the door, paralyzing me. What if it was Sean? How was I going to explain Josh being there? There was no way I could and Sean would immediately know what was going on.
“Answer it and get rid of whoever it is,” Josh growled. He checked the chamber of his weapon and clicked it in place. “I’ll be in the closet.” His tone told more than he said. He would be watching and judging my every move.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Josh was hidden in the closet, but I could still hear his heavy breathing or was it my own terrified breaths accompanying my roaring heart. I slid the chain lock in place and cracked the door slightly. It was, in fact, Sean standing on the other side. My body shook as the thoughts of what could happen prematurely unfolded like a movie in slow motion.
“Hi.” I tried to sound sleepy and uninterested in his return.
“Can I come in a minute?” Gianetti asked with a sheepish grin.
“I’m really tired, Sean.”
“Please.” His poked out bottom lip brought a smile to my lips and I couldn’t say no.
The words slipped from my tongue as if Sean had me under a wicked warlock spell. In a trance, I shut the door and unlocked the chain. I took a deep breath and checked to be sure that Josh was still hidden in the closet and prayed he wouldn’t lose his temper and jump out while I indulged a lustful part of my soul that only cared about feeling Sean’s hands one more time.
I let him step inside. He immediately swept me into his arms and locked his lips on mine. I returned his kiss and let his tongue slip inside my mouth where it danced poetically with mine until Josh’s hiding place over took my every thought and my heart beat rapidly as I waited for him to burst out.
I pushed Sean away, but the words to dismiss him got stuck in my throat.
Sean closed the door, repositioned my body and held me against it. He started to let his hands wander and was soon running them up my thigh and under the tee-shirt I was wearing. His lips grazed my neck and I racked my brain to find the best way to stop him without upsetting him, knowing I had to get him out of the apartment before he was brutally murdered.
Josh wouldn’t be able to hold himself back for long, yet it was so hard to break away from something so enjoyable.
“Sean,” I begged in between breathless kisses. “Sean I ...”
He pulled me closer, ignoring my pleas. He breathed heavily in my ear, his intentions clear. His kisses continued to entice and my body cringed, begging me to give in to his tantalizing touch.
He moved me to the torn sofa and began to grind his hips against mine as he poised between my thighs. I could feel him harden and my body reacted with a quiver, wanting him to take me.
Eyes glued on the closet, I imagined Josh watching through the small slats of the door. Watching Gianetti’s every caress of my body and me doing very little to discourage the man’s pursuit. The handle slightly turned. My heart dropped into my stomach, making it spew painful acid into my throat.
“Sean I can’t do this.” I pushed at his chest gently, yet firmly enough to let him know I had meant it.
He obediently stopped and backed away. “I’m sorry.” He stood and ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know what it is about you, but you drive me crazy,” Sean gasped through labored breaths, leaning me against the closed bedroom door.
“Sean, you have to go. I want you to leave.”
Foolishly, I was tempted to whisper and warn him of the danger that hid. I eyed the closet, watched the handle slightly move, then stop. Any moment I would hear the shot of death as it rang through the air and just as instantly, I changed my mind, wishing to love him from a distance, rather than watch him die in front of me. “Please – I can’t let you.”
“I’m going,” he whispered reluctantly, released me and retreated without hiding his wounds. He left the apartment and I quickly locked the door behind him.
Josh stepped out of the closet, his face a deeper shade of red than before and he was shaking, his gun still in his hand.
“You could have blown everything tonight!” I shouted in a softened tone, carefully controlling my volume just in case Sean was still in the hallway.
“It’s a good I was because obviously you would have screwed him right here!” He screamed, not taking the caution I exercised as if he hoped Gianetti could hear his anger.
“I would have stopped him with or without you hiding in my closet.”
“Would you have?”
“Yes. You should know that,” I defended, but part of me knew better. Sean’s touch had excited me beyond my comprehension.
“You’re the one who walked out. How am I supposed to know what you might do?”
“You never knew me! You knew what you wanted me to be!” I yelled. For so long I had pretended that the negative feelings I felt about Josh were made up, but feelings were sparked, not imaginary. I was tired of talking myself into loving him just because I had promised to be his for the rest of my life. “Josh, why pretend? Things between us were not that great before I took this job. I should have never taken you back.” I collapsed on the couch, too tired and disgusted to continue fighting. I didn’t want him anymore and I wasn’t going to pretend any longer.
“I guess that should have been obvious since you changed the locks and kept me out of your precious parent’s home this whole time.”
“You hated staying there anyway. You still had your place, so it’s not like I left you homeless. You’re the only one of us that’s that cold hearted.” I silently begged him to crawl out the window and leave me alone.
“So, that’s it. You’re giving up?” He whispered.
“How can you give up on something that wasn’t there in the first place?”
He let all his weight fall on the opposite end of the couch. He propped his chin on his fist and fumed as if what I had said had finally reached his ears.
“How ca
n you say there was never anything there? We used to be happy.”
“I guess the happy times were so few and so long ago that it’s hard to recall.” I started to understand the situation. My troubled relationship had made me feel neglected, which made me susceptible to Sean’s kind words and gentle touch. “All of this is your fault,” I said. “I wanted nothing to do with that man. All I wanted was to help you put him behind bars. I waited for you while you were gone and you couldn’t do the same for me.”
“So you’re screwing him to get back at me?”
“I didn’t expect him to do that!”
“You didn’t protest!” Josh paced the room. “How many times have you been with him since you’ve been undercover?”
“You’re just scared he might do it better than you.” I couldn’t help the slip of the tongue and instantly his hand shot out and struck me across the cheekbone. I held a hand to the stinging imprint.
“Don’t come crawling back when he’s done with you! You’re crazy if you think he wants more than a piece of ass!”
“It’s funny, Josh. He’s the criminal, yet you’re the one who’s always treated me like a cheap whore.” And I deserved to be with someone who didn’t constantly insult me. Without a word in defense, Josh stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him.
TWENTY-NINE
(Sean)
I AWOKE WITH MY HEAD on the floor. My body half draped on the sofa and a silky red dress rested on top of me.
When I had arrived at De’Bris and passed out in my office puzzled me. Dozens of empty mini bottles, that I didn’t remember drinking, lined the coffee table, but why I had poured bottles of whiskey down my throat was simple.
A series of hard knocks, loud enough to rattle the two way mirror, caused me to snatch my gun from its holster. I carefully approached the door, expecting the authorities to be on the other side, thinking they had finally come to make me answer for the crime I had committed the night before.
Again, the guest pounded and I answered by swinging the door open and positioning the pistol at point blank range, so fast it had seemed to have taken one motion.
Son of a Mobster (Criminal Desires) Page 20
