Protecting Her: A Romance Bundle

by Mia Ford

  I closed my eyes and thought about Blaine and how he had such a charming smile. I let my mind wander to the day we walked on the beach, hand in hand. I thought about the first time I heard him tell me that he loved me, and the feeling I felt inside when those words came out of him. There was nothing in the world I wanted more than to be in his arms. Well, that was a lie. I wanted him to be safe more than anything. So, I sat there accepting the fate that had befallen me, blocking out the pain and feelings of my physical body. I turned my focus inward. I thought about being a child and playing sports with my father in the front yard. I thought about the friends I had at school and all the students that loved me so much. I let my wander to each and every happy moment in my life, knowing that from that moment on, there would be no more. I knew that I was going to die, and before I died, I would suffer unimaginable pain, but it was okay because my family gave me the strength to close my eyes and block it all out.

  When my thoughts turned back to Blaine, all I could think about was how grateful I was that he would get to move on from this. I was grateful that he’d realized his dreams and that he was determined to follow them, and not for me, but for his own self-interest. I was thankful for the time that I got to spend with him, and how I had, for the first time in my life, and the last time, found out what true love was really like.

  31

  Blaine

  I sat in the van parked around the corner, watching as they taped the wire to my chest. My nerves were going crazy, but I had to keep my wits about me. I was determined to get Josie out of that place, no matter what it took, even if it was my life. She had obviously left to go turn herself into the cops to keep me safe, but in the process, she’d gotten herself kidnapped by the mob. I knew she had to be terrified, so I had to be strong for her.

  I got out of the van and walked down the street to the deli, breathing deeply as I opened the door and walked inside. The guy behind the counter nodded at me as I walked over to the counter and put my hands down.

  “I want to talk with Paulie,” I said quietly.

  The man stood there, shifting uncomfortably and saying nothing back to me. I was irritated by his refusal to answer me. I clenched my fists and pounded them on the counter.

  “Did you hear me?” I clenched my jaw and stared at the man, watching his hands to make sure he didn’t pull a gun. “I have some information about a murder that Paulie was involved in, and I want to talk to him right now. I am not going to move from this spot until I get to see him.”

  I stood there staring at the man as he looked me up and down. He looked pretty pissed that I was talking about Paulie in front of the people eating in the deli. He took in a deep breath and cocked his head back, trying to look intimidating. There was nothing intimidating to me about a middle-aged man in an apron covered in pigs’ blood, and I couldn’t help but think about how well the movies got these mobsters right. But it wasn’t the fifties anymore, and I wasn’t afraid of these douche bags.

  “You need to get moving,” he said, sniffling. “Or I’m calling the cops.”

  I slowly cracked a smile and started to laugh, hoping this guy saw my craziness as something not to mess with. I tapped my finger on the counter and shook my head, still laughing to myself.

  “Oh yeah?” I said. “You’re going to call the cops?”

  “Yeah,” he said with a growl in his voice.

  “Good,” I whispered. “I can give them the evidence I brought with me. Wouldn’t you the love to be the douche bag that got Paulie locked up for murder? That might not sit too well with his father.”

  I cracked my neck, and even though I looked calm and collected on the outside, I was terrified on the inside. I was terrified I would get killed before even getting back there. I was terrified that Josie was already dead, and I was terrified that maybe I did actually have the wrong place.

  “Wait here,” he grumbled.

  I watched as he shuffled to the back, presumably to fetch Paulie. I looked over at the guys eating in the deli and noticed that every single one of them had a gun on their hip. They nodded their head at me but kept a close watch, knowing I wasn’t one of them. I heard footsteps and expected to see Paulie, but instead, a large woman whose face matched the mugshot of Harry the Hammer came rushing from the back, holding her gun straight at my face. I put my hands up in the air and groaned as she grabbed my arm and dragged me to the back.

  As soon as we were in the back of the store, Harry pushed me in front of her and shoved her gun into my back. The guys working in the back looked over at us and stared as we moved through the kitchen area and into an office. Straight in front of us was a gray door that looked like an old meat locker. She grabbed my arm and shoved me to the side, pointing the gun at my face. I looked over at the empty desk and realized there were no computers or filing cabinets. This was nothing but a front for the mob, and it was so obvious. Harry stepped up to the door and pounded with her fat fists, a gleaming stream of sweat coming from her brow.

  “Fuck off,” a man’s voice shouted from inside.

  “Boss,” Harry shouted. “We got company, and you ain’t gonna like it.”

  We stood there as I heard shuffling on the other side of the door. Slowly, the doorknob turned and the door flew open. The man I recognized from the FBI photos as Paulie stood there looking at me. Harry grabbed me by the arm and brought me into the doorway. Paulie started laughing, his voice high-pitched and evil.

  “Well, well,” he said, rubbing his hands together. “The boyfriend shows up. Won’t you come in?”

  Paulie stepped to the side, and I saw Josie strapped to a chair, her head hanging down and blood dripping from her mouth and lip. She tried to pick her head up, but it just fell back down, swaying from side to side. Her blouse was torn open, and there were red marks on her skin. The ropes were tied so tightly around her ankles that skin was turning red and purple. Her hair was matted, half from sweat and tears, the other from blood. It fell loosely around her face. Immediately, my blood began to boil, and I gritted my teeth. Harry lifted the gun to the side of my head and grunted. I was going to kill both of these motherfuckers by the time the night was through, no matter what I had to do. They had hurt Josie, and now all I could see was red.

  My first instinct was to punch Paulie, but the cold barrel of a gun kept me from lifting my hands. I tightened my fists at my sides and gritted my teeth, not knowing what to do at that moment. I ran forward toward Josie, but before I could get there, Harry pistol-whipped me in the back of the head, sending me down onto my knees. My head throbbed, and I felt Paulie lean down and grab me by the hair.

  “I was just in the process of feeling her up,” Paulie said, laughing. “But hey, I like an audience. You can fucking watch.”

  He threw my head back down, and I lifted it toward him, gritting my teeth. I stared at him for several moments, picturing myself strangling him where he was standing. He snapped his fingers in front of my face and laughed, walking back over to Josie and stroking her hair.

  “I’m going to fucking kill you,” I said.

  “Sure,” he replied sarcastically. “You know, I’m thinking it’s actually going to be the other way around. In fact, you can now be a part of the murder-suicide that I’m planning. The two lovers are racked with guilt over the murder that the boyfriend, that’s you, set up, and Josie carried out. It’s all very romantic. You can both write suicide letters, and when they find the bodies, you can be the one holding the gun. Don’t you think that’s sweet? You put her out of her misery and guilt.”

  I could feel the wires pulling at my chest, and I knew that the FBI had heard everything. However, they didn’t have all the details, so I decided it would be a good idea to get as much information as possible. Paulie seemed like a complete idiot that would spill the beans without checking for a wire, and there wasn’t much more they could do before killing us. I took in a deep breath and fell back on my ass, rubbing the lump on the back of my head.

  “Whose death are we supposed to have
masterminded?” I asked.

  “Not that it matters, but if it’ll make you feel better, it was this two-timing bookie who was skimming off the top,” he explained, taking the gun from his belt and waving it around. “Nobody steals from our family, so we sent Harry to take care of it. Unfortunately, some nosey old lady saw her, so we were forced to use your beautiful girlfriend here to take the fall. It was all too fucking easy in the end.”

  I knew that the FBI had everything they needed to come in and take this operation down, but that meant that I had to keep us alive a little bit longer until they moved in. Paulie laughed and put his gun back in his belt, lifting Josie’s face up and then dropping it. He shrugged and stepped back, putting his hand to his chin again and staring at her. I knew what was coming, and I needed to brace myself. He leaned down on one knee and grabbed her tits, squeezing them hard. He moved his hands all over her body and I grimaced, wanting to do something. Harry walked back over and grabbed me, lifting me to my feet, and putting the gun back to my face. Josie screamed out in shame, twisting in her chair as much as she could. I gritted my teeth as he reared back and slapped her hard, watching her head drop down again.

  I couldn’t stand any of it, not for one damn second. I couldn’t take the sounds of her screams, and I couldn’t take the vision of another man’s hands on her. I glanced over at Harry, who was looking around the room. There was a sound behind us, and I knew that was the perfect moment to make my move. As Harry turned her head to look at the doorway, I grabbed her wrist, twisting it so hard I could hear the bones popping inside and knocking the gun from her hand. She screamed and fell to her knees.

  I lunged forward and tackled Paulie, throwing him to the ground and punching him repeatedly in the face. He groaned and reached for his gun, so I kneed him in the balls and threw the gun to the other side of the room. I reared my arm back and punched him hard in the face. Blood poured from his nose and mouth. Suddenly, I heard the cocking of a gun, and I froze, feeling the barrel pressing against the back of my head.

  “Stop,” Harry said angrily. “Or I’ll blow your fucking brains out.”

  “Freeze,” voices shouted from behind us. “Drop your weapon, and put your hands in the air.”

  I slid off Paulie and leaned back against the wall, watching droves of FBI agents flood the room. I looked down at the broken skin on my knuckles and then back over at Paulie, who was laying in his own pool of blood, barely conscious. I stood up quickly and showed the agents my wiretap before bending down in front of Josie and untying the ropes from her ankles and wrists. She slowly picked her head up and smiled, rubbing her wrists. The paramedics moved me to the side and immediately starting to tend to her wounds. She looked worse than she actually was, but still, the sight of blood and bruising made me want to turn around and kick Paulie another couple times.

  I sat back down against the wall as another paramedic came over to me, wiping the blood from my hands and checking out the bump on the back of the head. They said neither of us had to go into the hospital, but we were welcome to get some x-rays if we were worried. Both of us refused and decided we just wanted to get back to the headquarters so we could get all of this taken care of. I was proud of Josie, and I could see that she was more than proud of me.

  32

  Josie

  The FBI agents were really kind, probably the first law enforcement that had been nice to me since all of this crap had started. I couldn’t stop shaking as I sat in the chair and went over my story. I had to tell it from the beginning, when Paulie and Harry had first come to the house. I had to try to remember every single detail that I had experienced. It was a bit exhausting, and my face was throbbing. Blaine sat beside me, refusing to leave and claiming he had the right to be there because technically, he was my attorney. I was glad to have him there. Even though I’d wished he would stay away, now that the air was clear, I was so relieved that he’d shown up when he did. I couldn’t believe that I had given up the way I had, and all to keep a man safe. A man who would never leave me to die. I was silly for even thinking it.

  Telling my story was easy until it got to the kidnapping. Then, it became a little more difficult to talk about. It was starting to sink in that I had gotten abducted, that Paulie had groped me, and all the other things that happened behind closed doors. I was feeling a bit traumatized.

  After several hours, the FBI made sure we were safe, and they released us. I felt okay going back to Blaine’s house, although I didn’t know if I would ever go back to my father’s house again. There were too many bad memories there. The Giorntino crime family was pretty much screwed, and they ended up catching all but one of the members of the mob, the last making a run for it and plunging his car, accidentally, into the ocean. It was definitely a good day for the FBI, the state of Florida, and most importantly, me and Blaine. I knew then that all my charges would be dropped, and there were definitely some issues we had to take up with local law enforcement for not listening to me at all.

  Blaine helped me gingerly up from the chair and kissed my forehead, pretty much the only part of my face not black and blue. He held my hand as we walked through the FBI headquarters, smiling at the celebrations going on around us. I guessed that they had been trying to take these guys down for a long time. Who knew little ole me would help solve a ginormous case for the FBI? Well, I didn’t do it alone. That was for sure. I looked up at Blaine and smiled as we walked hand in hand out to the car. He opened the door to the SUV and got inside, reminding me that I had demolished his car.

  “Sorry about your car,” I said with a cheesy smile.

  He laughed. “That’s why I have insurance, love. Gonna get a brand-spankin' new one real soon.”

  I sighed with relief as we pulled up to his house, breathing in the salty sea air as I stepped out of the SUV and back on familiar ground. The security was still here, and Blaine planned on keeping them around until everything had settled down, just in case. We walked inside and put down our things, and Blaine gently grabbed my wrist and pulled me back toward the bathroom. Once inside, he helped me get my clothes off, hardening his face every time I winced.

  My wrists and ankles were all cut up from the ropes, and my face felt like a punching bag. He turned on the hot water and helped me in, taking his clothes off and climbing in after me. Very carefully, he filled the soft loofah with body wash and washed Paulie off my body, minding all the cuts and bruises. Then, as if he were reading my mind, he turned me around and washed and conditioned my hair, laughing as he struggled to get it all out. I reached up and kissed his cheek, lifting my arms painfully over my head and rinsing it well.

  I was still amazed at this man standing in front of me, who happened to be the only person I had left in the world. When he was done showering, he helped me out of the shower and wrapped a towel around me. He dried my body and wrung my hair out before combing through the tangles gently. I smiled at him with every stroke, knowing I had never been treated this well by anyone in my life. It was almost astonishing what he was doing for me. I looked up in his big blue eyes as he pulled my hair back in a low ponytail to keep it out of my eyes. I didn’t have the heart to tell him no woman could sleep with her wet hair pulled back at that angle, and instead, I figured I would fix it when he wasn’t looking. He then sat me down on the stool in the bathroom and pulled out the tube of ointment the medics had given us. He got down on his knees and gently applied it, carefully running his fingers over the cuts. He smiled at me as he did the same with my wrists.

  I watched Blaine as he washed the ointment from his hands and dried them off. He walked over and grabbed me under the arms, helping to lift me up. My legs were still sore from being tied up, and my knees were weak, buckling at every turn. He walked me into the bedroom and helped me climb up under the covers, pulling them up to my chin and walking around the other side. I watched as he pulled his shirt off and showed his muscles, his body shimmering in the light. He was so sexy, but neither of us were in any shape to do anything about that. He p
ulled his arms around my body and tugged me in close, laying his head on my shoulder and watching my fingers move in and out of his. We sat there, silently watching each other for several minutes, just enjoying the silence and the ability to be close to one another. I couldn’t even begin to thank him for what he had done for me, and I decided not to try. The words were just not fitting together.

  “Why did you come back for me?” I asked.

  “Why?” He lifted his head and furrowed his eyebrows. “I had no choice. I love you. I couldn’t for one second be okay with letting you go. I will never let you go.”

  I smiled and laid my head down on the pillow, feeling his hands trickle over my back. He had risked his life for me, and not just once. This time, though, it was a life or death situation, and I was so glad he brought the FBI with him because if he had come in alone, we would have never made it out alive. I still hadn’t faced all the things that had happened. I still hadn’t mourned my father’s death or even made arrangements for him, but knowing that Blaine loved me so much really helped seal those wounds.