The Complete Tempest World Box Set

by Mankin, Michelle

  “Maybe. I’m not sure, I want to hope otherwise, but the kind of people James calls family, are capable of anything. That’s why I’ve tried to protect you and the boys from the truth about him.”

  “Hey Mom,” John yelled. “Have you seen my Spiderman comic?” We both jumped apart, hands to our chests as he entered the kitchen. His eyes widened. “What’s wrong?” he asked, noting our pallid expressions.

  “Something’s happened.” It was time for me to take charge and keep my promise to George to look out for them. “We’re in danger. We don’t have much time. We need to get ready to leave right away as soon as Dizzy gets here. Go get Michael. Tell him to grab his bear, but don’t bother with anything else.” When he didn’t move, I added more insistently, “Go! Now! Hurry!”

  His eyes even wider, he spun around and dashed around the corner.

  I turned back to my mom. “Dizzy is tying up some loose ends. Then he’s going to take us to a safe place. If we’re lucky we’ll be there before James notices we’re gone.”

  “Ok.” She straightened her shoulders. “I’ll go get my purse.”

  While everyone scrambled around preparing for flight, I went to the front door, praying Dizzy would come soon and wanting to make sure the door was secure in the meantime. Before I could set the deadbolt, a loud thump rattled the door on its hinges. I took a step back, my heart slamming against my ribs. A second blow immediately followed, splintering the wood off the hinges.

  We hadn’t been fast enough.

  Time had just run out.

  • • •

  Dizzy

  King’s white grin flashed in the rearview mirror of his Hummer.

  “Stop smiling,” Sager complained. “You’re freaking me out. In the dark with your brown skin all I can see is your teeth. It’s spooky, man.” Sager grunted. Our drummer had probably just elbowed his best friend in the ribs. King was pretty sensitive about his heritage. Sager was the only one who could get away with teasing him about it.

  “Those pendejos didn’t know who they were dealing with. We took them out faster than those biker rednecks in Dallas.” Kings’ dark eyes met mine in the mirror. “It was a toda madre.”

  I dipped my head in agreement. It had been totally awesome. We’d caught April’s two mob shadows off guard and taken them out of commission for a while. Hopefully they wouldn’t be missed any time soon, and we’d have enough time to get April and her family across the US border and to a La Raza Prima safe house in Southside.

  “Those rings of yours are more than just a fashion statement, esa?” King was talking to War. He was squished between Bryan and me in the backseat. “You left a hell of a mark on that one vatos face, worked him over good. Not too bad for a scrawny front man.”

  “Fuck you,” War replied without any real heat.

  “What’d you say to him when he was on the floor?” King asked.

  War grinned. “I told him his mom begged me for it.”

  “Orale,” King said nodding his head approvingly while steering his H1 Alpha Wagon through the intersection just before the light turned red. “Isn’t that the same thing you said when Jorge got all up in your face about you sleeping with his sister Leticia.”

  “Yeah, but it’s always classic,” War deadpanned.

  “As I recall, Jorge busted your lip, but that didn’t stop you from popping off again. Told him his padre begged you for it, but…’”

  “Cock only goes with pussy,” they finished together, eyes meeting in the mirror.

  “You’re a crazy motherfucker, War.” King chuckled.

  “That was totally badass,” Bryan added.

  If I hadn’t been so freaking tense, it would’ve made me smile hearing them all reminiscing and getting along. A common purpose had united us. It felt like old times. The way we used to have each other’s backs before all the fame and War’s bullshit ego had ruined everything.

  “He used to be a baddass rocker,” Sager swiveled around, raking his inky hair out of his eyes and smirking. “Now he’s got Hollywood friends and is pussy whipped like the rest of you backseat losers.”

  “Callense el hocico,” King hissed for everyone to shut up under his breath, noting my lack of amusement. After what had happened to Adrian, he more than any of the others understood the stakes involved. King cranked up the music. Cannibal Corpse blasted out the Monsoon sound system, and Sager swiveled back around. Everyone was quiet for a while. But the closer we got to Coquitlam the more apprehensive I became.

  “Drive faster,” I said leaning forward to tap King’s shoulder.

  “Orale.” King stomped so hard on the gas that I was pressed back into my leather seat. I glanced behind me. There was enough cargo space in the rear of the H1 to hide four people who didn’t want to be found under blankets, but we were going to have to be more than lucky at the border. And we were counting on La Raza Prima to come through for us. But I had my boys with me. I might need them and the bullet proof transmission if things got dicey.

  When King pulled the Hummer into the driveway, I was the first one to climb out, but my brothers weren’t far behind. No one had hesitated when I asked them to help me out tonight. Growing up the way we all had looking out for each other in a place like Southside, we’d always been more a family than just a band. I suddenly realized that though I envied April the closeness of her family, I actually had one, too. The guys with me right now were just as much a source of strength for me as her family was for her. That’s the way the five of us had always rolled, and that’s why it’d cut so deep when things had gone so bad, and War had split us up at the end of the last tour.

  The crew were pushing and shoving each other as we hurried up the walk so I didn’t see the busted in door at first. When I did, the blood in my veins turned to ice.

  “Chingada Madre!” King exclaimed.

  I agreed. This was all kinds of fucked up, but couldn’t speak as I stepped inside, staring at the overturned furniture and the busted lamps. I felt like I was going to vomit.

  My cell rang. I answered it, my voice shaky.

  “You fucked me over, asshole.” It was James. I heard April’s brothers sobbing in the background while she desperately tried to soothe them. “Come on down to the lobby, or I’m gonna fuck her up good.” He clicked off.

  “He’s got April,” I said, my gaze sliding to King. I motioned to the guys, and we ran back out to the H1. “Fucking shit. He’s got all of them. We’ve got to get to the hotel. He thinks I’m upstairs. He sounded psychotic.”

  “He won’t care about anything if he’s knows Campanella’s onto him.” War pointed out the obvious. I wished he hadn’t.

  “Shit, brother,” Bryan said, and the guys silently closed ranks, moving in closer to me.

  My cell rang again as we were pulling out.

  “Diz.” Her voice was so soft I could barely even hear her,and I didn’t care to. Not right now. Not after what she’d done to April and me. “Don’t hang up,” she begged.

  “I don’t have time for this.” She’d betrayed April. She’d lied to me. As far as I was concerned she’d ceased to exist. “Things are really bad right now. James has April and her family, and he’s threatening them.”

  “I know.” I could hear the distinct sound of crying now.

  “They’re here,” she said in a raw voice.

  “Are you at the Sutton?” I was afraid maybe he’d found out I wasn’t upstairs and had moved them somewhere else.

  “Yes. He just came in the lobby with them. He’s yelling and waving a gun. He says he’s going to kill you. She said he’d have to kill her first.” She started sobbing louder, and I hit King on the shoulder telling him to go faster while trying to keep from cracking apart under the fear. “Call the police. We’ll be right there.”

  “They’re on the way. I’m sorry,” I heard her whisper before she hung up. “I didn’t know.”

  We went up on two wheels a couple of times on the drive back into the city. King hit the straightaways at insan
e speed, well over the posted limits, but I didn’t care. I don’t think any of the guys did. We just held on, and I was pretty sure we were each saying silent prayers for a miracle.

  We had to park on the street. The front driveway in front of the Sutton was already taped off in yellow and full of flashing lights when we arrived. I slipped through the crowd, ducking behind a group of EMT’s pushing a stretcher and followed them inside.

  The lobby was complete chaos, swarming with Vancouver police, hotel staff, and witnesses. But the shock and horror I saw on all their faces was the same.

  We were too late. I was standing in a crime scene. The room seemed to spin as I scanned the lobby for some kind of clue as to what had happened. I saw a broken vase and a pool of blood near it. I swayed feeling short of breath and then I saw a blood soaked sheet someone had draped over a body. My heart stopped as someone shook my shoulder. I couldn’t even process what they were saying. Motes of multicolored light were dancing at the edges of my vision. And then there were no colors anymore. My whole world was painted black.

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  Dizzy

  I leaned against the doorframe and watched April as she talked to Mary and Beth. I was trying to act more cool. I’d lost a lot of cred after I nearly passed out.

  The Black Cat CEO and her VP of Public Relations had definitely pulled off a major miracle keeping the media out of the hospital. They were also taking an active role as intermediaries with the Vancouver Police. The Queen had connections of her own, it seemed. On the right side of the law.

  She might be a hard ass, but I was beginning to suspect that beneath Timmons’ tough exterior lay a heart of pure gold.

  The chief investigator nodded his head at something April was saying. This was the second time they’d been around. I hoped they’d finally gotten all the answers they needed. Every time she talked to them, her eyes stayed haunted for hours afterward. I hated that. Hated that she carried any guilt at all.

  I watched them for a couple more minutes, but when it appeared as though the conversation might go on for quite a while longer, I turned and went back inside the room.

  I skirted the foot of the bed, and Brandee Barrie’s eyes met mine over her magazine. She smiled softly before returning to her reading. I think she was seeing me in a different light these days. I hoped they’d let her go home soon. I was tired of the hospital; the antiseptic smell, the constant activity, the lack of privacy. We all were. Luckily, the boys had gotten a break and were hanging out with Carter this afternoon.

  I took a seat in the chair, pulling my guitar back onto my lap and strumming though the chords again. The music obscured the incessant beeping from the monitors, and it seemed to relax her.

  I looked up when April walked into the room, her hips gliding, her loose hair swishing around her shoulder. I gave thanks for our good fortune. I didn’t think I was ever going to take anything for granted again.

  “Don’t stop,” April chided. “Keep playing.” She perched on the armrest of my chair, and I inhaled her sweet fragrance as she smiled over at her mom. “It’s good, isn’t it?”

  “It is. I like it.” Brandee Barrie agreed, placing her magazine on her lap and fiddling with the bandages around her head.

  “Leave it alone,” April chided.

  “It itches,” her mom complained.

  “Yeah, well, I imagine it will for a while. How’s your heart rate been today?”

  “Good,” her mother replied. “The EKG was normal. No atrial fibrillation since the ablation.” Brandee had been the one to break the oriental vase in the Sutton’s lobby. The trauma from her fall had caused her heart to go into the irregular rhythm.

  They talked softly about the possibility of her going home soon, and I worked my way through the whole song while enjoying the view of the beautiful woman who’d inspired it.

  Always thought I had it all together

  I was sure the place that life was leading me

  Never entertained the idea of forever

  That was something that I knew could never be.

  Never opened up my life to wonder

  No emotion touched me deep beneath my skin

  Kept my feelings safely buried six feet under

  Then my heart rose from the dead and breathed you in.

  Now it’s relentless

  The rhythm of my heart

  Since the second I first saw you

  It’s been steady from the start

  Every marching marking time

  My love will be relentless

  Til the moment that you’re mine.

  Don’t tell me you can’t offer me forever

  Don’t tell me that our love can never be

  Don’t tell me that you can’t be mine to treasure

  Break the bonds that hold my heart and set it free.

  Cause it’s relentless

  the rhythm of my heart

  Since the second I first saw you

  It’s been steady from the start

  Every marching marking time

  My love will be relentless

  Til the moment that you’re mine.

  • • •

  April

  “It’s beautiful,” my mom told Dizzy when he had finished the song.

  I agreed, swallowing hard as I looked up at the handsome man by my side. I couldn’t believe he was mine. I was grateful for the gift of being able to wake up beside him, even if it had been in that uncomfortable fold out chair for the past several nights. Nothing in my life brought me more joy than he did.

  “Not half as beautiful as your daughter,” he insisted.

  “Yeah, well, I’m pretty partial to her myself. Scares me to think what could have happened.”

  Dizzy nodded, a shadow crossing his face, one that had crossed all our lives and left its mark. Thank God in their struggle it had been James that had been killed and not her. It was just like her to put herself in harm’s way to protect her kids. It was strange to contemplate that he was dead and in the ground. He would never harm me or any of us ever again, though Dizzy still woke up in the middle of the night in a panic reaching and calling out for me, reliving the scene, when he’d thought at first it had been me under that bloody sheet.

  Though I was so thankful for the way everything worked out, anger still simmered in my heart. I’d never forgive my former best friend, even knowing she’d been one of the first ones to call law enforcement and that she’d called Dizzy, too. I’d overestimated Mel’s loyalty to me and underestimated the depth of her obsession with my man. I was pretty sure she’d probably been on her way up to see him that night though I couldn’t prove it. I didn’t want to go anywhere near her, and I wouldn’t forget her betrayal anytime soon.

  Nor would I easily forget the fear that night. How crazed James had been as he snarled and yelled threats. And that last terrible moment of tension when my mom and James had fought over the gun. That had been his fatal mistake. He should never have pointed it at me with her standing so close nearby. He had underestimated the love we had for each other. Love was something he had never understood. I realized that now.

  Remembering that malevolent look he’d given me even as his life ebbed away, I shuddered, wondering if the nightmare would ever truly be over. Could our lives ever really be normal once they had been touched by the kind of darkness that permeated James’ world?

  Dizzy stroked my arm soothing me. I exhaled shakily. He was so in tune with me.

  “I love you, Rhythm Man.” I had faith in us. Together we’d proven that we were strong enough to handle anything.

  “I love you, too, Kitten, always.”

  EPILOGUE

  Dizzy

  “Ow. I hit my knee against the toilet,” she complained.

  “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.” I stroked the smooth skin of her bare ass. “Remind me why I agreed to do it this way when I can have you in a comfortable bed with plenty of room to play?”

  She ducked her head. I coul
dn’t see her face but I heard her mutter the protest in her tone, “Because I did it your way earlier.”

  Yeah, I guess she had. She’d been underneath me on the bed, hands on my hips, me pounding into her to the rhythm of ‘My Way or the Highway’ my SG strapped to my back. My guitar, me, and my woman. It’d been a new experience for both of us. In the middle she’d asked me for a Brutal Strength song instead.

  “Babe,” I’d told her, “Not doing it to some other guy’s tune!” I’d chastised her between breaths. “That’s just wrong.”

  “Fine, but you owe me,” she’d bargained.

  Not that I wouldn’t do just about anything for her. So here we were in the bathroom stall at the Mine.

  She threw her ponytail over her shoulder and peered at me through her lashes. “As if it’s really such a hardship for you,” she teased. I loved that she could tease during sex. Hell, I loved everything about her.

  “It’s hard all right, and I know you can feel it,” I teased back while sliding my hand inside the cups of her bra, palming her breasts and tugging on her nipples.

  She moaned her approval.

  “Apparently you’re ready, too,” I breathed stirring the fine hairs near her ear.

  “Yes,” she panted the teasing lilt gone from her voice. “Now, please.”

  I spanked her ass. She yelped, and then moaned as I erased the sting with a circular caress. “Now please, what?” I prompted.

  “Now, please, Sir,” she panted and I obliged her. It only took a couple of purposeful thrusts before she spasmed around my dick. She turned her head, and I covered her beautiful lips growling into her mouth as I found my release.

  Sex in the stall had been all her idea. She had wanted me to forget ever taking a woman back there but her. What she didn’t realize was that I already couldn’t remember any of them. Only her. But I figured it was my duty and my privilege to go along with whatever she wanted. That was the plan because all I wanted anymore, my heart’s desire, was to make sure that happiness remained a permanent fixture of her life. Along with me, that is.