Mr. Rothe

by Lynn Hagen

  He stepped onto the sidewalk and looked me over. “Where is he?”

  “I have no idea.” God, I needed a few more minutes to catch my breath. “I lost him when I got on the bus.” I pointed in the direction I’d come. “I suppose somewhere that way.”

  Now I knew for dead certain that the stranger was following me, that it hadn’t been a fluke. Was it because I’d saved Gabe’s life that night? Was that the guy who wanted Gabe dead?

  “Get into the car.” Gabe took out his phone. Normally I would’ve protested his tone of voice, but I was too tired and too scared to argue. My arm was throbbing, and the sling was irritating.

  And secretly, I just wanted to curl into Gabe’s strong body and feel a sense of safety.

  Once I slipped into the backseat, I took off the sling and scratched my arm as Gabe stood on the sidewalk talking on his phone. We were still on the street, and that guy could find us, but my gut told me he’d have a hard time getting past Gabe.

  I moved over a few inches when Gabe got in. He closed the door and looked me over. “Cole was watching you for a reason. I’m beyond angry that you gave him the slip.” He turned to the driver. “Take me home.”

  Just as we started to pull away I spotted him. He stood across the street glaring our way. “Stop!” I jammed my finger unintentionally against the window and felt a jolt of pain slice through my hand. “That’s him! That’s the guy who’s following me!”

  I wanted to grab Gabe’s arm to stop him from getting out. He stormed from the car, his strides long and determined as he dodged traffic to cross the street. The stranger shot me a look that said he was gonna kick my ass the next time he saw me, and then he took off, disappearing into a crowd.

  Gabe searched, but I saw the aggravation on his face and, if I wasn’t mistaken, a few curse words on his lips. Gabe walked back to the car and got in, slamming the door.

  “Do you know who he is?” I asked.

  Gabe no longer appeared angry. He seemed shaken. “A ghost.”

  “There’s no such thing as ghosts,” I argued.

  I didn’t believe in any of that stuff. Ghosts, reincarnations, supernatural crap that went bump in the night. I especially didn’t believe in some guy who kept stalking me being anything other than some whacko.

  Instead of answering me, Gabe pulled out his phone. “I need you guys to meet me at my penthouse.” He listened for a moment. “I don’t care what you’re in the middle of. Drop it and get there. It seems Antonio Malkovich isn’t dead.”

  Gabe hung up and looked out his window. I was afraid to ask who this Antonio guy was. This was Gabe’s world, not mine. I didn’t want to sink deeper into the chaos. I just wanted to go to work and forget a secret war was happening.

  “Stop the car.” My heart had sped up, and I couldn’t breathe. The car felt suffocating. “Stop the car and let me out.”

  The driver kept going.

  “Stop the damn car!” I reached for the handle, and Gabe grabbed my arm, making me cry out in pain. He’d grabbed my bad arm.

  “Shit, sorry.” Gabe pulled his hand away. “I can’t let you out, Fitch. There’s more going on than you understand, and letting you out onto the street would be a death sentence for you.”

  “What have you gotten me into?” I demanded. “I shoved you away from a speeding car. That was it. I was doing a good deed, and now you’ve pulled me into this insanity.”

  “And for that, I’m truly sorry. But you can’t get out, not right now. Not until I’ve met with my friends.”

  I had a feeling that even after Gabe met with his friends I wouldn’t be free. Whether I wanted it or not, I was now stuck in Gabe’s world.

  * * * *

  Gabe’s penthouse was lavish, clean, sleek, and modern, but I was too busy panicking to be impressed. I felt more like a prisoner than a guest, which I was since Gabe had all but forced me here.

  “Who is Antonio Malkovich?” I asked as Gabe went to a small wet bar and made himself a drink. When Gabe walked back to me, he handed me a glass, and I took it. I wasn’t sure what was in it, but I took a drink and hissed at the burn as the liquid went down my throat.

  “Up until a few months ago, he ran the Malkovich pack.”

  I’d heard of the Malkovich gang, but pack? What did that mean? Why would Gabe call it a pack?

  “My friend, Max, killed him.” Gabe ran a hand over his head. “Clearly he didn’t, but I was there. I saw Max kill him, saw the body on the floor.” He shook his head. “It was a rookie move not to check, not to make sure the bastard was truly dead.”

  I took another drink, a longer one this time, needing the alcohol to numb my brain. Gabe was talking about one of his friends murdering another person as if it were something they did all the time. My mother would flip, and my dad would go nuts if they knew what I’d gotten myself into.

  Emerson was going to have a field day with this. He loved gangster movies, the whole idea of a mob. I didn’t. I just wanted to get off this crazy ride and return to my normal, boring, broke life.

  “I was scheduled to work today,” I said to fill the silence. “I can’t just not go.” Maybe if I convinced Gabe that I had to get out of there, that I would lose my job if I didn’t show, he’d let me walk out.

  “I’ll compensate you for this.” He downed his drink and set the glass aside. “It’s too risky. If Antonio has been following you, he has an agenda for you.” Gabe looked right at me. “You don’t want him to get his hands on you. He’s a sick and twisted individual who loves inflicting maximum pain.”

  “Could you be less honest?” I felt dizzy. “Candy-coating things goes a long way. You didn’t have to tell me just how sick he is.”

  And he was after me. Fuck. I was sick to my stomach, queasy, and ready to pass out.

  “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” Gabe cupped my face, and damn it, I leaned into his touch as if it was my anchor to hold on to any semblance of normalcy.

  A smile curved the side of Gabe’s handsome face. “We had phone sex. Now you’re stuck with me.”

  He was teasing me, trying to lighten the moment, and it was working. I leaned in, ready for him to kiss me, when a knock sounded on the door.

  I sighed in frustration as Gabe pulled away and crossed the room. So much for having sex to relieve the tension.

  Chapter Six

  Gabe…

  “Are you out of your fucking mind?” Max growled as he entered my penthouse. “Antonio is dead. You must’ve mistaken someone for him. There’s no way he’s still alive.”

  Max, Reese, Lucas, and even Derek, Max’s boyfriend, walked inside. I closed the door and went back to the wet bar, wishing to god I’d been mistaken. Now I knew why the east side had erupted into chaos. It was all a smoke screen to hide the fact that Antonio was still among the living.

  Either that or no one in his pack knew he was still living and breathing, so they continued to fight for his position.

  “I know about their plans.” I poured a drink and swallowed it down. “I meant to talk to you guys about it, but I got distracted.” I looked at Fitch, who stared at my friends as if they’d attack him at any second.

  I’d been plenty distracted, especially after last night. That had been the hottest thing I’d done in a long time. Even now, knowing Antonio was still alive, all I wanted to do was take the male to my bedroom and fuck his brains out.

  “What plans?” Reese helped himself to a drink.

  Fitch looked my way and blushed, as if he knew my thoughts.

  “The night that car tried to kill me, I’d just found out that the Malkovich pack planned on a mass killing to get rid of the wolves from—” I shot a look at Fitch. I hadn’t meant to say wolves in front of him. The human visibly paled as he white-knuckled his glass.

  “Wolves?” Fitch swallowed. “Did you just say wolves? Is that why Deon had those canines?”

  “Looks like you have some explaining to do,” Reese said with a smirk. “Just don’t break the human.”


  “Will you guy stop?” Derek argued. “You’re scaring the crap out of him.”

  Without thought I put my hand on the small of Fitch’s back, subconsciously lending him some strength to lean on if he needed it. I didn’t want Fitch to be frightened. Not of me, at least. Sooner or later I would tell him I was a wolf shifter, but for now, I needed to put my head together with my friends and figure out what we were going to do.

  “You were saying?” Max arched a brow, looking between me and Fitch. “About the plans?”

  “He said wolves,” Fitch muttered. “Fuck.”

  I caressed my hand up and down his back in gentle strokes, and to my delight, Fitch leaned in closer. Now I wished that I’d waited to call a meeting. I wanted to soothe Fitch’s worries and give him something else to concentrate on.

  “They want to wipe out the Romano pack.” I held up the hand that wasn’t caressing Fitch’s back. “I know, that was Antonio’s agenda before, but the Romanos have an event this weekend. Some bike rally to raise money for the local children’s hospital.”

  The Romanos weren’t known for their kindness and generosity when it came to handling business, but they did do a lot of charity events to help raise money for local causes.

  “Antonio already threatened to take over Ridgeview and kill all of us,” Lucas said with a shrug. “I, for one, would like to see him try. We killed him once. We just have to do it again, and this time we make sure he’s truly dead.”

  “But he’s not out in the open,” I reminded them. “He’s playing some sort of cat-and-mouse game with Fitch. He’s stalking him but not making any moves.”

  “Do you think he’s the one who tried to run you over?” Reese asked. “He might want revenge against Fitch for interfering.”

  “This meeting isn’t making me feel any better,” Fitch said. “I just saw a car careening toward Gabe and did what any decent human being would do.”

  “And for that, we owe you a debt,” Max said. “You saved our friend’s life.”

  Fitch blushed again, looking toward the floor. “It’s no big deal.”

  It was a big deal to me. I’d grown up with these men, had forged a friendship from tragedy and hardship with them, and considered them my brothers. Fitch had no clue that if Antonio had succeeded in killing me, Ridgeview would’ve turned into a warzone.

  We sat on the council, presided over the different packs, but the Russo pack was the strongest, in numbers and loyalty. Our pack would’ve decimated Ridgeview.

  Fitch had averted that by simply being in the right place and the right time and having the decency of doing the right thing. And now I was falling for him. It wasn’t just the fact that he’d saved my life but because of who he was as a person.

  Feisty, kind, and cute. He was cute. There was no doubt about that. I didn’t care that he carried extra weight. I liked my men thick, anyway.

  “So you think the Malkoviches are planning some kind of attack this weekend at the rally?” Max asked.

  “I heard some of his men talking before they realized I was there,” I said. “I’d just come out of Purple Sunrise. I was there trying to get intel about who was leading in the war for a successor.” I gritted my teeth, feeling like an idiot for falling for Antonio’s scheme. There weren’t any fights over who would take over Antonio’s position. That had all been a ploy to divert our attention away from the fact that the bastard was still alive.

  Maybe his pack didn’t know he was alive. Maybe Antonio had some big reveal coming up.

  “Let me guess,” Reese said. “You couldn’t get an answer about who was leading.”

  “That’s because Antonio is still in charge,” Lucas said. “He’ll probably rise from the dead at the rally when he unleashes his plan.”

  Lucas had spoken my thoughts.

  “Then we need to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Max said. “We can’t shut the rally down. The Romanos have made their cause too public. They won’t care about any retaliation. We need to put our own men in that rally.”

  “That’s playing with fire,” Reese said. “Regardless of the reason we’re there, if we show up in numbers, the Romanos will see it as an act of war. They’ll try to slaughter our men.”

  When I felt Fitch stiffen, I moved my hand from his back to his shoulder and pulled him closer. I knew this wasn’t what he wanted to hear, to be a part of, but Antonio had targeted the human, and I would be damned if I let Fitch be a pawn in whatever madness Antonio had come up with.

  Lucas pushed away from the wall he’d been leaning against. “I’ll have a talk with Alverez.”

  The Romano pack leader.

  “He’ll tell you what you want to hear,” I said. “Alverez acts like he knows who runs things, but you know as well as I do that he does what he wants. This whole situation is a powder keg waiting to go off.”

  At least Alverez had never been bold enough to defy the council in their faces like Antonio had. The council always gave Alverez leeway because he brought in a ton of money and was never disrespectful. The guy also did a lot for his community, even though he was a cutthroat bastard who dealt with betrayal and disloyalty swiftly and mercilessly.

  He wasn’t a good guy, not by a longshot, but he’d funded the local recreation center in the south side neighborhoods, made sure everyone donated at Christmas to ensure no kid went without a gift, and was a huge contributor to the nursing homes around his area.

  He was just the biggest gunrunner this side of the Mississippi. He also had a hand in prostitution rings and had quite a few dirty politicians in his pocket. The thing was Alverez handled his business without the community knowing how dirty he was. Whereas Antonio used intimidation tactics, shakedowns, and fear to run his neighborhood.

  The two were night and day.

  Max had been talking about cleaning up Ridgeview, and I completely agreed with him. There was corruption everywhere. No one would ever get completely rid of it, but it mattered how it was done.

  The rally for the children’s hospital meant something to the families, and I would be damned if I allowed Antonio to shit on that.

  * * * *

  I was drained by the time my friends had left. Antonio freaking Malkovich was alive. Talk about a kick in the balls. The wolf was the cruelest son of a bitch I’d ever had the displeasure to come across.

  I also had a gut feeling getting rid of him a second time wouldn’t be that easy. I wasn’t sure how he’d survived the first time, but I’d make damn sure to put the nails in his coffin this time around.

  “That was very informative,” Fitch said from behind me. “Do you guys always have meetings about killing people?”

  “Only on Mondays,” I said.

  “It’s Tuesday,” Fitch said. “And what am I going to tell my boss? That I got hijacked by some wolf because a guy who was supposed to be dead rose from his grave and is out to get me because I thwarted his plans and saved the guy he tried to murder?”

  “Jeez, you make it sound bad when you say it out loud.” I headed toward the kitchen. I hadn’t had lunch, and I was starving. “Don’t forget to tell your boss about Deon and his clowns.”

  “Are you a wolf?” Fitch trailed behind me, his glass of bourbon still in his hand. He’d taken two drinks and had forgotten about it, which meant he was still clear-minded and would hound me for answers.

  “Yes.”

  “Prove it.”

  “I don’t get naked until I’m fed.” I reached in the fridge and pulled out the leftovers from Carobano’s restaurant I’d had the night before. “It tends to make me grumpy.”

  “Why do you have to get naked?” There was a strain to Fitch’s voice, an almost high-pitched quality that told me the thought turned him on.

  “I don’t want to ruin my clothes.” I tossed the container into the microwave then turned to face Fitch. “You want me to get naked?” I winked. “All you had to do was ask.”

  I didn’t want to show him my wolf. Not yet. He was processing a lot and I didn
’t want to add to his anxiety. So my best course of action was to change the subject.

  “I didn’t say…you can do whatever…is it hot in here?” Fitch fanned his face, which turned crimson.

  I loved how flustered he was. He set the glass on the counter and crossed his arms. A purely defensive move. “You’re very bold.”

  The timer on the microwave counted down as the container moved in a circle. I thought about Fitch’s small statement, casually said but with so much impact on the truth. Growing up poor, having to fight for everything, I’d learned that life wasn’t going to hand you what you wanted. You had to speak up, to push forward, to grab things by the balls.

  That hadn’t always been me. I’d been a timid child, an introvert, keeping my mouth closed no matter what. My home life had been for shit. My mom had worked two jobs just to put food on the table, while my dad wallowed in self-pity because he couldn’t find work.

  It wasn’t until I’d gotten older that I realized my dad had suffered from severe depression—something I think I inherited from him. If it hadn’t been for my friends, there was no telling what would’ve happened to me.

  My teenage years had been the worst. All that angst compiled by depression and the odds weren’t in my favor. Reese, Max, and Lucas pulled me out of my darkest moments, gave me something to live for, and made me go to college with them to get a law degree.

  We started our own practice, and after so many years, I’d learned to hide my darkest moments. In fact, I’d gotten damn good at it. I’d never turned to booze to help. Sex. That had been my chosen outlet. But as I looked at Fitch, I knew I couldn’t see him that way.

  I couldn’t use him like I’d used so many others to rid myself of my demons.

  The microwave dinged, and I pulled the container out, setting it aside as I grabbed another bowl so I could share my meal instead of forgoing my food and taking Fitch right there in the kitchen.

  “That smells wonderful.” Fitch took a seat at my two-seater table. “Tell me I can at least get a bite.”