“I can’t.”
“You can,” Mike pushed.
She opened her eyes. “No, I can’t tell you about him and about my fears.”
Turbo squeezed her hips and gave a little shake. “Why not? We wouldn’t take advantage of you or make you feel vulnerable. We wouldn’t use anything you tell us to hurt you. Can’t you see that we care? Can’t you feel the deep connection? We want more of you, all of you. Why can’t you tell us about him? What is it that makes you fearful to talk to us about the man who hurt you and put this fear in you?”
She stared up into Turbo’s dark-blue eyes.
“Because he was a cop and a first responder, just like the two of you.”
* * * *
Turbo felt his chest tighten he was shocked He didn’t know what he expected her to say, but it wasn’t that her ex, a guy that made her fearful of him and his brothers was in law enforcement. It pissed him off and made him jealous.
“Who was he?” he asked.
She shook her head and tried stepping away.
“We need to talk about him and get everything out in the open,” Mike told her.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not going to tell you about him. I’m not getting into it. Can’t you just give me some time to get used to these feelings? To put what he did to me behind me so I can move on?”
“He hurt you badly. That’s obvious, and we want to know what he did,” Mike told her.
Turbo stared down into her eyes feeling overwhelmed with emotions. He was angry, jealous, and mostly concerned for Frankie.
“You don’t want to talk about him right now, fine. I understand you have fears. We will have to discuss this and get these fears out in the open.”
“I understand that, and I’m working it out. I am. Believe me, I never expected to feel like this. I never even considered this type of relationship, and here I am making out with two guys and imagining making out with Rye and Nate, too. It’s scary, okay?”
He cupped her cheek and stroked her skin gently.
“We can understand that and respect your feelings. We want you. Do you want us?”
“Turbo.”
He gripped her chin and held her gaze.
“Do you want the four of us, my brothers and me?”
She didn’t respond immediately, and he feared she would say no and push them away.
“Yes.”
His heart beat faster, and his breath caught in his chest.
“Then we can go slow. Just one thing I want to know.”
She looked at him and waited.
“This guy, this cop that hurt you, any chance he wants you back or will come looking for you?”
He saw the flash of fear in her eyes, and she pulled away.
“Frankie?” Mike pushed.
She covered her mouth and seemed as though she was trying to stop herself from speaking. Mike placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Frankie, is it over between you and this guy? Is there a chance he might show up looking to get you back?”
She was quiet, and he squinted at her and knew he was being intimidating, but he had to know.
“I don’t know,” she said and then quickly added, “I hope not. He’s the reason I don’t stay in one place. If he were to find me, I’d have to disappear again, and that’s why I’m afraid to get involved with you guys. I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t want to hurt you, but I just don’t know if he’s coming or not.”
“What do you mean the reason why you don’t stay in one place?”
Frankie jumped at the sound of Nate’s voice.
Turbo held firm. “Explain it,” he pushed.
“Stop doing this to me. Just leave it alone.” She pulled from his hold and headed around him toward the door, but Nate was there, along with Rye.
Nate took control of the situation. “You’re not going anywhere. We heard what you guys were talking about. If you’re in some kind of trouble, you tell us now. I won’t let you hurt my brothers.”
“Turbo.” Mike stepped forward.
“I think I should go,” she said.
“Maybe it’s better if you do,” Nate stated then stepped out of the way.
“No, we should talk about this,” Mike said.
She looked at them, eyes filled with tears, and ran into the house.
“What is wrong with you? She could be in some kind of trouble. This guy could be looking for her, and he hurt her. How could you push her away like that?” Mike yelled at Nate.
“Because you guys come first. I won’t let her break your hearts and use you.”
“Use us? Frankie? God, Nate, when did you become so heartless? What the fuck are you afraid of?” Turbo asked him.
“Afraid? I’m not afraid of anything. I just don’t want you guys getting caught up in her beauty, her body, and some lame excuse of a broken heart by some dip-shit cop. How do you know any of it is real? We don’t even know where she came from. She could be lying. Look at where she lives.”
“And what if you’re wrong and she is in trouble and this guy hurt her? What if she’s in that crappy apartment because she’s trying to hide and it would be the last type of place some guy from her past might look? Huh?” Mike asked.
“He’s right, Nate. You’re assuming the worse. You think she’s lying like other women do. We get the whole non-trust issues you have. But Jesus, brother, you could be causing us to lose the best thing that’s ever happened to us,” Rye told Nate.
“She’s brought us closer than we’ve been in years,” Mike whispered.
“Closer? What are you talking about? We’ve fucked women together. How much fucking closer do you want to get?”
Mike charged at Nate and shoved him against the wall.
“You bastard. Don’t you ever compare Frankie to the meaningless sexual partners you’ve had. Even through those you kept your distance. You never gave even an inch of your heart or concern. You fucked them, got off, and walked out. And there weren’t even a handful, never mind a few, so drop the tough-guy shit.” Mike gave him another shove then stepped back as Rye pulled him.
“He’s right, Nate. You’ve never shown real interest in any woman, and I think you are totally interested in Frankie and were just looking for an excuse to push her away,” Turbo told him.
“This is bullshit,” he replied and began to walk inside.
“No, pushing away a woman like Frankie and making hurtful accusations is bullshit. Either you’re in this with us or you’re not. But I won’t allow you to hurt her or make her feel like shit. Like you just did,” Mike said and stormed past him into the house.
“Fuck!” Nate roared and punched the siding.
“We need to talk to Frankie,” Rye said.
“She isn’t going to speak to us or give us anything right now. I’ll call Lure and see if I can get her last name. Then I’ll see what I can find out back at the Station. In the meantime, try not to kill one another and please think of a way to make this right,” Turbo told Nate and then walked away.
Chapter 8
Turbo Hawkins stared at a picture of Frankie in business attire. The Franklin and Hursch Advertising Firm in Chicago displayed a series of group pictures on their website and then another link to top-awarded employees. There she was, Francesca Sonoma, twenty-two years old and the youngest to receive such awards. He took a deep breath and released it. She was a successful businesswoman fresh out of college and appeared, from the descriptions and awards, to be headed to the top of the firm.
What had gone wrong? Why did she give that up? What should he do next? Call the company and ask questions? He felt guilty, as if he were invading her privacy, but Nate was so fearful. Turbo just wanted to provide Nate with some concrete information and reasons to believe that Frankie was being honest with them.
Francesca. God, even her name is sexy and beautiful.
Turbo rubbed his hand along his jaw and looked around the office. Everyone was busy. No one was paying attention to him. He wrote down the phone numb
er to the business and then left his desk and headed outside.
Ten minutes later, a bit of smoozing and after speaking with human resources, he found out that Francesca had left with no warning, no written resignation, and just disappeared. In fact, as he explained he was an investigator the person told him they had a series of paychecks for her that they couldn’t forward because no one knew where she’d disappeared to. He debated about giving his own address and then knew that would be overstepping the boundaries, never mind he didn’t want to push getting more information. The person he was speaking to was giving more info than they should have.
First, he needed to confront Frankie and find out all he could. Everything he was finding out indicated that she’d left Chicago in a hurry and that someone was after her. Was it the ex-boyfriend, the one standing in the way of her letting go and letting them in? Or worse? Was she involved in something bigger, illegal, and trying to run from the law?
That concern led him to calling Nate. Nate had friends across the United States. Nate would find out what kind of trouble Francesca was in, and then they could discuss their next move.
“I’ll look into it. Send me what you have so far,” Nate said, sounding very serious.
Turbo knew Nate felt upset about what had happened earlier with Frankie. But finding out this information made Turbo even more nervous. He ended the call, and the back door opened.
“Hey, Turbo, Buddy was looking for you. Something about a case you’re working on,” Deputy Ronnie Towers said as he held open the back door to the department.
“Okay, great. I was just making a quick call.”
Turbo took a deep breath and tried to submerge the thoughts going through his head. Perhaps Buddy had some insight or could offer some guidance here. Nate might push too far, and they could all lose a chance at making this relationship work with Frankie. He hoped Nate was careful.
He headed down the hallway to find Buddy standing by his desk. He gave a nod. “You okay?”
Turbo nodded back. “What’s up?”
“Well, digging around and having the night shift officers canvas the neighborhood and the block near Prestige paid off. We have two separate witnesses. One across from a small building adjacent to the back door of the police department in Bayline. The other is a block from a warehouse not too far from where Gloria’s body was found. Most importantly, the guy who bailed out Gloria from the police department gave a false name, but Jake had his buddy pulled up the surveillance tapes and then set the picture through the computer system.”
“Who was it? You know?”
“Sal Baletti.”
“Sal Baletti? Why does that name sound familiar?”
“Because he’s a gangster, a thug. He and his entire family operate on old-fashioned mob rules. They’re into smuggling anything and everything under the sun and selling it on the streets and black market. Over the years they expanded from New York and New Jersey with connections in Chicago.”
“Chicago?” Turbo felt that instant pain in his gut. He had to remind himself that Frankie wasn’t involved or even connected to Gloria’s death.
“Yeah, but this team of investigators in a special crimes unit have been investigating Baletti and his associates for years. Did Bryce get you the file? Did you look it over?”
“He told me there wasn’t anything in it. He said it was minor stuff, and the crime unit wasn’t giving up too many details,” Buddy told him.
Buddy squinted at Turbo then around the room to make sure no one could hear.
“He’s not part of this investigation. I don’t know how or why he got his hands on that file first. You look it over yourself and with a clear investigative view. See if anything pops out at you.”
“You have other information?”
“I have a copy of the file right here.” He showed Turbo the folder.
“And?”
“And I scanned through it quickly. What I did notice was the Baletti name that appeared. Sal Baletti was the one who bailed Gloria out of jail. We have no other eyewitnesses who saw Gloria with anyone else but him.”
“So do we go question him?”
“Not yet. I don’t want to tip them off that we’re onto him or his family. We need to be careful. This isn’t just some minor drug operation in Bayline and Treasure Town. This expands to other states, hell across the country. There were a few other names on that list from the investigative team, but they were blacked out. I want to know those names.”
“So what are you going to do to find out?”
“If we can’t gather enough concrete evidence to pull Sal Baletti in for questioning, then I’m going to have to make some calls. Get some favors. I don’t want to have another dead body show up in Treasure Town, so we need to send a message.”
“Agreed. Whatever you need me to do, I’ll do.”
“Good. Take a look at the file. Then let’s find out what we can about Gloria’s boyfriend, her friends or acquaintances, and, of course, the Baletti family. Then we’ll take it from there.”
Turbo nodded and took a seat at his desk to prepare to look over the file. His thoughts about Frankie and the trouble she may be in moved to the back of his mind. He’d talk to Nate about it tonight or maybe he’d wait for Frankie after work and confront her himself. His gut clenched, and concern filled his heart. He hoped it all worked out with Frankie. He cared about her already and really felt as though she would be perfect for all of them. He also thought they would be perfect for her, perhaps providing the support and the protection she needed to feel safe and to let her guard down.
* * * *
Sal Baletti was sitting at the card table in the back room of one of his nightclubs. His brother was on the phone with someone, and he didn’t look pleased.
Sal spoke to Chino, one of his main security guys.
“You finished getting your ass beat in poker?”
“Not yet. I feel a good hand coming, Sal,” Chino said, and Sal exhaled a puff of smoke from his cigar then reached for his glass of bourbon, chuckling.
Ralphy dealt the hand but didn’t play. He never was one for gambling. He was a serious guy with psychological problems, specifically violent tendencies, and was an asset to their security and association.
“We have ourselves a potential situation,” Gino stated as he ended his call and looked at Sal.
Sal placed his cards down. “What might that be?”
“You were identified as the individual who bailed Gloria out of jail. You were the last one seen with her.”
“So what? If they question me, I say I was banging her. I fucked her, dropped her off at her place, and came here for a drink with Ralphy and Chino. They’ll vouch for me. We’ll get the bartender to vouch for me being here, too. No sweat.”
“You may not think so, but you guys fucking dumped the body in the wrong spot. Gloria showed up in Treasure Town. Dead bodies don’t show up there. They’ve got a bad-ass police force, retired government agents, and shit, this is a fuck-up.”
“Calm down. It’s not a big deal. They won’t get shit off her body. It was a clean kill.”
“That’s not the point. Damn, I fucking wish Gloria hadn’t lost it on that other waitress at Prestige. She never would have been charged with assault, never would have been busted selling the drugs and screwing around with Lux.”
“Yeah, well, she did. We should put the pressure on Lux, too. Maybe have Ralphy and Chino pay him a visit,” Sal suggested.
“No. The cops will be following Lux. Hell, they may have a tail on you, Sal. You need to be careful and lay low a while.”
“Not a problem. I think you’re worried for no reason. In fact, we have that party for Santino at Prestige this weekend. What better way to act nonchalant than to go there like a normal, local citizen of the community.”
“You just want to check out the broad Gloria smacked around,” Chino teased.
Sal chuckled. “She did cause some of these problems we’re having. I’d love to see what Gloria was so
jealous about.”
“Just watch your ass. We don’t need further attention drawn to us. Plus, you should be working on securing these potential new contracts I’ve been pushing. Two bar owners are giving our collectors a bit of a hassle.”
“Like who?”
“Those guys on the edge of Bayline and Treasure Town. Those two nightclubs the college kids all hang out at and are packed in the summer months. Riley’s and the Beach House. Both great establishments that more than make up for the loss of money and product we had from Prestige,” Gino told Sal.
“We can handle that, right, Ralphy?” Sal said and then lifted the cards back up to continue to play the hand.
“Sure, boss, we can do that. Tonight,” Ralphy said, and Sal smiled as he looked at his brother.
“No worries. We got this. Now can we continue this round before we head out to Riley’s and the Beach House? I’m going to need a couple of more drinks before I have to deal with all the noise in those places,” Sal said, and Chino laughed.
“But maybe picking up some horny college girls could end the night well?” Chino suggested, and Sal smiled and so did Gino.
“If you’re successful, I don’t give a shit who you fuck,” Gino replied and then walked over to pour himself a drink.
“You say that now, but maybe I’ll bring back a few sexy women for you, too, and we can really party tonight.”
Chino and Ralphy appeared pleased, and Gino shook his head as he pointed at Sal. “Secure those deals with those places, and remember, business first.”
* * * *
Frankie was miserable. She’d thought for sure the longing, the feeling of loss, would disappear because she’d conditioned herself to be hard and untrusting. But she wasn’t feeling strong or even good about herself. She regretted not explaining Kevin to the Hawkins brothers. But then she’d gotten angry, especially at Nate, who couldn’t seem to care less whether the relationship went anywhere but perhaps to his bed. She wouldn’t sleep with four men to experience a ménage and to feel safe, protected, and human again.
She had to be careful though. Kevin was resourceful and so was Carlotto. There was no way Kevin was giving her up without a fight, and it wasn’t right or fair to place the Hawkins brothers in the middle. It might be smarter to give her notice here at Prestige and then disappear again.
Hearts on Fire 5: Loving Frankie (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 11
