Dead Man's Hand: A Small Town Romance (A Good Run Of Bad Luck Book 1)

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  “Right,” she nodded, leaning forward over the seat, “but this is still bad, right?”

  “Considering that no one was supposed to know I’m alive, I’d say it’s bad,” Antonio snapped.

  “Hey, no need to bite my head off. I’m not trying to kill you.”

  “She does bring up a good point, though. What are we going to do from here?”

  “That depends,” he said, turning to look at me. “Are you planning to carry out whatever plan you had when you came to find me?”

  “Since I didn’t kill you when men busted into your cabin, I think it’s safe to assume that I won’t.”

  He grunted, his eyes slipping closed.

  “What were you supposed to do?” Jo asked me curiously.

  “My job was to get close to him.”

  “How?”

  “My father gave me a fake background where I was running from an abusive ex. I was working at a casino in Vegas, so the obvious place for me to hide was Black Hawk.”

  “Yeah, but it’s not like he came into town very often. That could have taken you an entire year to even see him!”

  Antonio opened his eyes and turned to me, the cold stare sending chills down my spine. “How exactly were you supposed to get close to me?”

  I shot him a pointed look. “How else? I was supposed to be the damsel in distress, sleeping in my car and just waiting for someone to come help me.”

  “And then what?” he grumbled.

  I couldn’t look at him as I told him, though he already knew. “And then I was supposed to make you fall for me and keep me around, using whatever means necessary.”

  Jo sat back, a shocked look on her face. “Holy shit. Your father was pimping you out?”

  “It wouldn’t be the first time,” I muttered.

  “That’s a real loving father you have there,” Antonio said.

  “Much like your father,” I retorted. “As I recall, he was going to have your sister marry someone for his connections before her untimely death.”

  Silence filled the car as we all digested that. Maybe I was tainted goods or whatever he wanted to call it, but I was no different than anyone else in the Family. Some killed for the Family, I got down on my knees. We all had our parts to play, and no matter how much I disliked it, that was our way of life.

  I pulled down the next road, sighing heavily. “Where is this house? We’ve been driving forever.”

  We crested a hill and my mouth dropped open.

  “Holy shit,” Jo said, sitting forward. “Is that it?”

  “That’s the address for the house,” Antonio muttered.

  “That’s not a house,” Jo said in astonishment. “That’s like…”

  “A mansion,” I finished. “Who exactly is your friend?”

  I pulled up to the gate, waiting for Antonio to give me the code, but he didn’t. Instead, he got out and walked around to the keypad, entering the code himself. His phone rang and he pulled it out, then looked up. A camera sat up higher, moving slightly as Antonio turned to face it fully. Then another piece of equipment popped up and he spoke into it.

  “What’s going on?” Jo whispered.

  “I have no idea. I’ve never seen this kind of equipment.”

  “Not even in your mob days?”

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re not going to let that go, are you?”

  “I’m sorry, but you think you know a person and then bam! She’s a mob princess.”

  “I’m not a mob princess, and in case you forgot, I didn’t even know who I was up until last night.”

  “Yeah, but there had to be signs.”

  I sighed, thinking back to the clues over the past weeks. “Well, there were. I just didn’t know what any of it meant. I just thought I had some really big lady balls.”

  “I have big lady balls. You have like…ginormous lady balls that verge on man balls. No, that’s not right. I’m not sure you’re a woman. I don’t know any women that throw a knife like you do. That was terrifying and awesome, but still…just totally badass. Where did you even learn to do stuff like that?”

  Antonio got back in the SUV, nodding for us to drive forward as the gates opened.

  “My father sent me out on a job when I was younger,” I said, answering Joe’s question.

  “What are you talking about?” Antonio asked.

  “I was asking where she learned to throw knives like she did last night. Anyway…”

  “He sent me out on this job. I was supposed to get information from a man that he thought was screwing him over. Except he didn’t tell me the man had a penchant for violence. I already knew how to fight and I had been trained with guns, but even with that, I barely made it out alive. My father brushed it off like it came with the job.”

  “I’ve always hated your father,” Antonio muttered.

  “Me too, and I don’t even know him.”

  “Well, I decided that if he was going to send me out on jobs that were dangerous, I was going to learn to defend myself properly. So, I trained day and night, learning everything I could.”

  “Yeah, but you’re really good. How did you get so good?”

  I looked in the rearview mirror as I parked in front of the house. “I was very motivated.”

  “By what?”

  “To live.”

  I let the dogs out to run around. They had been cooped up in the SUV for long enough and needed to get their pent up energy out. While they ran around, Jo and I grabbed the luggage out of the trunk and brought it inside. Antonio was still worn out, but I knew if I offered to help him, he’d just get angry with me. God forbid anyone help him out.

  “Holy crap,” Jo said as we walked through the front door. I had to agree. The place was huge.

  “Is this guy a millionaire or something?” I asked Antonio. He was leaning against the wall in the foyer, obviously worn out from our little trip.

  “He’s got money.”

  I glanced back at the door. “Should I get the dogs? I don’t want them running to someone else’s property.”

  “You don’t need to worry about that. Knight has more than enough property. Trust me, they’re not going anywhere. Just let them run around a bit.”

  His voice was low and his stance was hunched. He needed to sit down and take it easy.

  “Come on, let’s sit down and talk this out.”

  He glanced at Jo, obviously not comfortable talking about this in front of her.

  “Better yet, let’s find you a room. Jo, why don’t you find someplace too. I’m sure you’re exhausted after last night.”

  She nodded. “I’ll just wait for the dogs and then I’ll find a room. You guys go lay down.”

  “Thank you.” Apparently, I wasn’t the only one that could see the condition Antonio was in. I brought our suitcases down the left hall, following him into the room he’d walked into. I turned, taking in the size of the room. It was the size of a small apartment. “Geez, talk about excessive.”

  Antonio slumped down on the bed, kicking his feet up as he laid back against the pillow. Putting the suitcases down, I walked over to him and started to undo his shirt. His hand quickly grabbed mine, and when I looked at his face, his eyes were hard with a hint of uncertainty.

  “I need to check your wound.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “Yeah,” I snorted. “Like you would tell me if it wasn’t.”

  I resumed undoing his buttons, ignoring the way his grip tightened on my wrist.

  “Why are you still here?”

  “You mean why haven’t I completed my job and killed you?”

  He didn’t answer, but he didn’t have to. I already knew that’s what he was asking.

  “Would you rather I killed you? It wouldn’t be hard. I’m sure I could overpower you in your condition.”

  I finally looked up at him just before shoving the shirt off his shoulder. “You had a job to do.”

  “You’re right, I did.”

  “Why didn’t you finish the j
ob?”

  “Why didn’t you kill me when you found out who I was?”

  His eyes narrowed slightly. “I think you know why.”

  Nothing had really changed between us. There was still an intense attraction between us, no matter what details came to light. Nothing had changed for me just because I remembered. Maybe it should be different, but he was still the man that saved me and took me in when I had nowhere else to go. Beyond that, he had known who I was and he didn’t say anything. I had to believe it was because he felt something deeper for me than he was ready to admit. Hell, just admitting that he liked me had nearly killed him. But if he only liked me, he would have killed me in a flash.

  “How long have you known who I really am?”

  “A few days,” he said quietly as I pulled the gauze off his shoulder. The wound needed to be cleaned up, and the gauze changed. Getting up, I grabbed the first aid kit out of my suitcase and sat back beside him.

  “You promised me when I found that necklace that you would tell me when you found out something.”

  “If you were in my shoes, would you have told me?”

  “I’d like to think I would.”

  I washed off his wound, replacing the gauze and taping his shoulder. He sat up so I could get the other side. I cleaned him up and finished applying the tape with a sigh. I didn’t know where to go from here. I still felt the same about him, but I couldn’t live my life on lies.

  “I need you to tell me everything.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know what I mean,” I said sternly. “Antonio, I’m…” I swallowed hard, trying to get the words out. “I’m falling in love with you. And I think you must feel the same way, otherwise you would have left me behind. People in our business don’t make bad decisions. It gets them killed. And you didn’t just protect me, you brought Jo with. You could have left us both behind. So, tell me, do you feel the same?”

  I studied his eyes, the uncertainty swirling in their dark depths. My eyes scanned his face, watching the tick of his jaw and the way his throat moved as he swallowed. I needed to hear him say it, because if he didn’t feel the same way, if he saved me only to tell me he didn’t feel the same way, I didn’t know where to go from that.

  “I don’t know what love is,” he finally said. “I’ve never had that feeling before in all my life. Maybe for my family, but for a woman? You’re the first woman I’ve ever spent more than a night with. I like you a lot. I don’t want you to leave…”

  “That’s not an answer.”

  He stared at me for what felt like a lifetime. His hand slid up, caressing my cheek before sliding behind my neck. He pulled me in close, his lips brushing against mine.

  “When I found out who you were, none of it mattered. I didn’t care that you had probably come to kill me. I didn’t care that you were only here for a job. All I could think about was protecting you. I didn’t want you to know who you were because I wanted more time to convince you to stay with me. I don’t know if that’s love, but I know I couldn’t walk away from you. If you remembered and didn’t want me, you’d have to put a bullet in my skull, because I wasn’t about to leave you.”

  He crushed his lips to mine, his hand on the back of my neck holding me to him. It wasn’t a declaration of love per se, but it was everything I needed to know. He wanted me. He didn’t want to live without me. If that wasn’t love, what was?

  He gripped my shirt, pulling it up over my head, then tried to maneuver me over him, but I wouldn’t let him. I stood and stripped out of my clothes, a chill racing down my spine as his eyes took in every inch of me. I bent over him, pulling down his pants, then straddled him. I didn’t bother with his shirt. He was in enough pain without me trying to maneuver him out of that.

  I slowly sank down on his cock, watching every emotion that flashed across his face. He might not be able to say the words, or even realize what he felt, but I could feel it in what he did say. Whatever happened from here on out, we were in this together.

  38

  Antonio

  After the way Ciara fucked me this morning, I wasn’t at all surprised that I slept the rest of the day. By the time I woke up, the sun was going down and my stomach was twisting with hunger. Sitting up, I pushed the covers off and found some pants in my suitcase. I really needed a shower, but it’d have to wait until I got some food.

  Opening the door to the bedroom, I walked down the hallway in search of the kitchen. All I had to do was follow the sound of laughter. Jo and Ciara were sitting in the massive kitchen at the island, eating something that smelled delicious.

  I frowned at the amount of food that was spread out on the counter. “Where did you get all this?”

  Ciara sat up straight, popping some fruit in her mouth. “Good morning to you too.”

  “Where did you get all this?”

  She got up and dished out a plate of food, sliding it across to me. “Eat before your stomach turns you into a monster.”

  “Ciara,” I snapped.

  “I went into town. Were we supposed to starve?”

  “You left without me? Why the fuck would you do that?”

  “Because I was hungry!”

  “That doesn’t fucking matter. You should have woken me up to go with you!” I roared. The idea that she left and might not have come back terrified me. I couldn’t remember the last time that I was scared of anything, but the thought of her just disappearing one day almost drove me insane.

  She walked around the island and pressed her hands to my chest. “Calm down, Growly Bear. I was perfectly safe. I had a gun on me and I know how to look out for myself.”

  “Not up until yesterday,” I retorted.

  “And then it all came back, so just calm your shit. I’m fine. I wasn’t followed and now we have food to get us through until we can come up with a plan.”

  Grabbing her by the arm, I dragged her off to the other end of the room where Jo couldn’t overhear us. “You don’t fucking get it.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “You don’t know what it feels like to know that the person you— that you could have disappeared while I was sleeping in bed, and I wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it.”

  “What do you think it was like for me?” she hissed. “You were bleeding all over the place in the cabin. I thought you were going to pass out, and if Jo didn’t get you sewed up, what the hell was I supposed to do? You had an actual gunshot wound. I went to the grocery store. Let’s get a little perspective here.”

  I took what she said into account, and though I didn’t agree that hers was maybe the more logical argument, I still nodded.

  “Good, now, let’s get you some food. I’m sure you’re starving. And you need to take your antibiotics.”

  “What antibiotics?”

  “The ones I shoved down your throat yesterday when you were half-conscious. Jo got them from the clinic before we left.”

  “Is that even safe?”

  “Of course it is,” Jo piped up as we sat down. “What? I’m going to poison you knowing you’re the only people that can keep me safe?”

  I ignored her and started shoving food in my mouth. It was so good, I couldn’t stop eating.

  “So, what are we going to do? We can’t just keep running for the rest of our lives.”

  I swallowed the bite in my mouth and leaned back. “That depends. What do you want to happen?”

  “Are you asking if I want to go back to my family?”

  I gave a stiff nod.

  “I don’t want to go back to them.”

  “Do I get a say in this?” Jo raised her hand. “I’d really like to stay alive, and have some kind of normal life.” She looked between the two of us. “But that’s just me. You guys make your plans.”

  “What kind of life do you want?” I asked Ciara.

  She shrugged. “I’m not really sure. I don’t want to have anything to do with my father, but how we achieve that, I don’t know. You know that he’ll k
eep coming for us, especially when he finds out that his men are all dead. But ideally, I’d like to have what we had before.”

  I nodded, wanting the same thing. But where would we start over? I had an idea for how to get her father off my back and keep him away from his daughter, but that would require going home. Maybe I could see Carly, just from a distance. I could see her daughter, maybe even say hi. It was a stupid thought. She didn’t want me in her life, but she was the last family I had.

  “Let’s say that I can get your father to back off—”

  She laughed slightly. “Okay, sure. We’ll go with that.”

  I clenched my jaw for a moment and then continued. “Let’s say that I can accomplish that, we still need to be on our guard. I think I have the upper hand here, but—”

  “How could you possibly have the upper hand?” Ciara asked incredulously. “We literally have nothing. Your family is gone. The only backup you have is some rich guy with a big house and good technology. I’m not seeing how this is the upper hand.”

  “I’m not just some rich guy,” a deep voice echoed around the house. We all looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, but there was no one there. A monitor across the room flickered to life and Knight appeared on the screen, a slight smirk on his face. “Surprise.”

  Ciara slowly stood from her chair, staring at the man on the screen. Then she turned to me. “Knight. Garrick fucking Knight is your contact?”

  “Who’s Garrick Knight?” Jo asked.

  “He’s supposed to be dead!”

  “So sorry to disappoint. But if you don’t want to end up dead, I would keep that information to yourself.”

  “Um…I still don’t know who he is,” Jo said, raising her hand as she stared at the screen. “Should I know you?”

  “Are you a criminal?”

  “Um…” She looked at Ciara and me, then back to him. “Not that I’m aware of. Though I was involved in a shootout last night. I’m not sure where that leaves me. Aiding and abetting a…gun fight? Of course, Ciara used her knife, so maybe I should add that in.”

  “Someone shut her up,” Knight grumbled.

  “I can’t fucking believe this!” Ciara threw her arms up in the air. “This! This is the man you chose to go to for help? A disgraced assassin?”