The conversation stopped when they saw me come in.
While Kelly smiled on seeing me, Donny and Saul gave me an uneasy stare.
I stopped in my tracks and placed my hands on my hips, eyeing them with daggers.
“Waffles, really?” I challenged.
“Waffles, and an attempt to ask your pretty friend out,” Donny replied, casting Kelly a cunning smile.
“She’s engaged.”
“No wedding yet, means I still have a chance.” He chuckled. Saul just grinned.
Kelly’s eyes widened, and she blushed, looking like she didn’t know what to say.
“What are the two of you doing here?” It was a foolish question I already knew the answer to.
“Boss’ orders.” Donny smirked running a hand over his spiky hair.
“Which boss?”
They exchanged glances.
“Does it matter?” Saul asked.
“Stay out of my way.” I pointed at them and tapped my foot. I must have looked quite comical considering I was just a little woman. They were mobster scary with the muscles and height, and Saul looked like he’d just stepped out of a nightmare with his gold teeth. “I have work to do.”
Before they could answer, I stomped off and went behind the bar. Kelly followed me.
“What the hell was that about?”
Of course, I didn’t dare tell her what happened yesterday. I couldn’t. It was best that I kept that to myself. So, to her, I was acting irrational.
“Nothing. I just don’t like all these men hanging around.”
She frowned. “That makes no sense. What’s going on?”
“Kelly…” I pressed my hands on the counter and slumped my shoulders. “Not now, please. I just need a minute or two. I really want this place in shape for Friday. That’s all I want.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll… let you stew in your habitual cave and go talk waffles with the hot guy.” She knitted her brows together and walked away.
As soon as she did, the door opened, and my heart sank further into my stomach.
John came in with a bright smile.
Kelly glanced at me with her lips slightly parted before she got back to Donny.
“Ava.” John beamed when he approached me.
I really wasn’t in any mood to talk to him today. I was ready to blow and launch into some serious word vomit. Maybe actual vomit too.
We hadn’t spoken in weeks, and the last time we spoke, I turned him down for our date.
I guess in the space between then and now, he probably thought he still had a shot of sorts.
“Hey, John, how are you?” I turned on the nice.
“What? No hug?” He stretched out his arms.
I would have preferred to keep my distance, but it would have been rude to tell him no.
Moving from behind the counter, I gave him a quick hug, but he didn’t let me go.
“I thought I’d come by and try my luck for a lunch date.” His large brown eyes twinkled.
“I’m—”
God, I was going to tell him that I was seeing someone, but the someone I was seeing just opened the door.
Claudius pushed the door open and looked like he was ready to kill.
He rocked that avenging-angel look again in his dark clothes, and from here I could see the darkness fill his eyes when he looked at John with his arms still around me.
He inclined his head to the side, and a deep scowl creased his face.
John released me.
Claudius made his way over to us. People sitting around the tables nearby looked on, curiosity all over their faces because nothing unusual ever happened here.
John tensed when Claudius stopped in front of us.
Claudius was taller and bigger in built than John. John was more the guy-next-door type who looked every inch the goodly accountant he was.
I gave Claudius a hard look as he stared John down.
“Claudius, this is my friend John.” I thought I’d break the tension. Didn’t work though.
“Hi, I…” John attempted but held back when all Claudius did was continue his staring contest.
“You were just leaving,” Claudius finally spoke, to my embarrassment.
“Oh, um… well. Ava and I—”
Claudius interrupted him simply by intensifying his stare. Whatever John was going to say faded into the ether.
“John, I’m not available anymore. But thanks for coming to see me.” That came out a lot calmer than I felt.
“Okay, that’s cool. I’ll just go.” John pointed to the door.
Claudius smirked at him, which looked scarier than the look.
John practically fled. I waited until he was gone before I whirled around to face Claudius, who was already looking at me.
“What is the matter with you?” I snapped.
“What are you doing here?” he countered.
“Working. I work. I have a big day coming up, and I want it to be perfect. I can’t do that if I’m holed up in your place doing nothing.”
“Didn’t look like you were getting much work done to me,” he shot back.
I punched him in his chest and of course, it did nothing. My hand connected with hard muscle.
“Is that the type of guys you’ve been seeing?”
“Don’t you dare. Please do not act like I should have been celibate or something. You weren’t. You are no saint.” I knew that for sure. I’d known it way back when, and I knew it now.
Seeing the attention we were starting to get, I turned away and made my way to the office.
He came after me, closing the door behind him.
“Ava, I need you to come home with me. It’s safer. I don’t care about the guy.” He shook his head, then caught himself. “Lies. I care about the guy, and if I see him near you again, he’s dead.”
“You actually mean that? John is a nice person. He’s decent, and at least I know when he tells me he’s at work, it’s actual work. He’s—”
“He’s not me. Not like me,” he filled in, and guilt pulled on the strings of my heart.
“I wasn’t going to say that.” I wasn’t, but maybe I was guilty of thinking it on some level.
“You don’t have to,” he retorted. “He sounds perfect for you. But, I don’t fucking care how perfect he is. He isn’t me for damn sure. I’ll do what I have to, to keep you safe, even if I have to stay here all day. Here.” He shrugged out of his coat and tossed it to the side.
I watched him, watched him grab the chair in front of my desk and plant himself down on it.
Honestly… that declaration, as much as he probably meant for it to sound all controlling and authoritative, actually soothed me.
“What? What now?”
“You’ll stay with me? Here?” I tried to bite back a smile.
“Yes. Like it or not.”
I released a sharp breath, walked over to him, and sat in his lap. He slipped his arm around me, and I pressed my hands to his chest.
“I like it, but you shouldn’t have to. But I want you to.” I knew that made no sense, but it did to me.
He gave me a lopsided grin. “I’m staying.”
“Would it be bad if I was secretly, or possibly more than secretly, happy you’re here?”
“So, you don’t want John?”
“I want you.”
“Where?” Now, he gave me a cocky smile.
“Everywhere.”
He cupped my face. “Angel Doll, I’m sorry this is all happening. Because of me.”
“You can make it up to me by helping me put out the wine.” I thought something more lighthearted was in order. I didn’t want to go down that road of thought with my mind so on edge.
Perhaps getting the place in order would alleviate some of the stress. And he was here.
He was here with me.
* * *
Claudius
* * *
I wished I could have been more at ease.
While I knew Ava wanted me to b
e here with her and we’d had a somewhat good day, I couldn’t be calm.
The guys couldn’t find David. Someone like him should have been easy to find. Particularly since he’d been waiting to hear from me on his proposal for the shipping company.
Unless…
Unless if someone told him things had changed.
Dante, Gio, Alex, Jude.
I was going out of my mind wondering who was against me. It was like my mind couldn’t accept it. Wouldn’t allow me to.
All damn day, I’d tried to imagine all the different possibilities of it being one of them. Probably a good idea that I’d spent the last two hours down in the wine cellar because I was going nuts.
On one hand, I wanted to go find David myself, and on the other, I wanted to protect my girl.
I looked at the wine list and sighed with pure frustration. There were over two hundred types of wine on here. Fifteen crates full. I’d gotten mixed up again because I’d zoned out.
“Hey, if you’re done, I could use your help on the spices.” Ava smiled. She stood at the top of the stairs holding on to the rail.
“I’m not done, but I can get back to this if you need me there more.”
Her face brightened. “What if I just wanted to look at you for the next two hours?”
“I wouldn’t say no.”
She sauntered down the steps and floated into my arms for a kiss. At least she seemed a lot calmer than earlier.
She lingered on my lips and brushed her nose against mine as if she were savoring me. I’d nearly lost it when I saw her with that John person this morning.
What made me feel worse was his prim and proper attitude and that clean look. He really was perfect for her. A man like that suited her sweet nature. Not someone like me who put her in danger. Again.
The kiss she pressed against my lips sucked the thoughts from my mind, making me selfish again.
I pulled back because I doubted she wanted to end up naked down here pressed against the wall. Or maybe she did.
“We need to go home.”
“Home?” Her eyes twinkled with mischief. “Is that my place home or yours?”
“My place home. I need you in my bed, and we have a bigger house to get nasty in.”
“Okay, you win. I’ll just lock up the office and the back.”
Thank God, she agreed.
One last kiss, and she floated away from me, giving me a great view of her ass as she walked back up the stairs.
I put the papers away so I could pick up on this tomorrow. I’d come back tomorrow for a little while, then maybe get Luc or one of his guys to finish off.
My phone started buzzing in my back pocket, and I hoped like hell that was good news.
It was number two from the secret squad.
“Hey, boss, one of the cameras at the restaurant just picked up someone shifty hanging around the alleyway. Your girl just went out there.”
Shit!
I sucked in a sharp breath and made a run for it.
Gun in hand.
Chapter 21
Ava
Well, at least today turned out to be manageable, and my head didn’t explode like I’d feared this morning.
Having Claudius with me helped, and I was able to do a lot. The place was actually ready. I just needed to do a few things here and there. Tweaks that could really be done by anyone.
I went out back to close the shutter. I hated keeping it open and often had visions of people getting into the restaurant through here in the night.
It was where my deliveries came in.
Tonight, it had a creepier vibe, probably because I was so on edge.
“I’m amazed he let you out of his sight,” said a voice from the darkness, making me jump right out of my skin.
I spun around, facing the direction the voice had come from. A man stepped out of the shadows, moving into the soft glow of the amber lights I had set up around the retractable door.
Hideous was the best word I could find to describe his large, bulky build with a tattoo of a panther killing a snake crawling up his cheek.
“What do you want?” I cried.
Oh God… why’d I come out here by myself? I should have asked Claudius to come with me.
“You, sweet thing. Looks like the boss needed a louder message. Or something more evocative. Like me taking you.”
I sucked in a sharp breath and stepped back when he came forward.
“Or me,” came another voice. A man equally as tough looking jumped over the fence, and I knew I was screwed. Claudius was in the cellar. He might come looking for me when he didn’t see me come back, but it would be too late.
Just like before.
“Leave me alone.” I backed away as they came closer.
“Now that I see you, I doubt I can. Orders were to take you away for a little while. No mention though of what I could and couldn’t do with you while I had you,” tattooed face guy mused, whipping out a gun and aiming it right at me. “I could kill you, and no one would know. But you got a nice pair of tits I could—”
He didn’t get to finish. A gunshot sounded and ripped straight through his neck.
I screamed as the blood splashed out and he dropped to the ground squirming, grabbing at his neck.
Claudius was on the other guy before either of us could register what was happening.
He’d fired a shot, but the man dodged it and lunged for him.
I cowered in the corner, pressing against the brick wall, horrified and scared. Then terrified, when two more guys jumped over the fence. They fired shots at Claudius. I thought for sure that they would take him down, but he held his own. Dodging bullets and fighting like I’d never seen before.
This didn’t feel real. I watched him and saw the darkness in him unfold right before my eyes. All there as he shot the two guys in their heads, killing them instantly, and whipped out a knife from his back pocket to ram into the other guy. Claudius aimed for his heart, and he, too, dropped to the ground. Blood gushing out. There was so much blood.
So much blood everywhere and all over Claudius.
He’d killed them. Four men had just died before me, just like that, and one guy took them down.
My guy…
I didn’t even realize I was crying, or that I’d sunk to my knees in the corner.
Claudius rushed up to me and put out his hand to take mine but retracted it when he saw how much blood was on his hands. It dripped from his hands.
I was instantly reminded of that conversation we’d had years ago. The one where I’d first asked him if he killed people. He’d said in his world, it was kill or be killed to protect the people you love, and yourself.
What I’d just witnessed was that.
Those men were here to take me. Claudius just stopped them. They’d fired shots, and he’d shot back.
He was protecting me.
I knew that, but why couldn’t I stop shaking and trembling?
Why did I suddenly feel afraid? Scared of what he was?
Why couldn’t I stop shaking?
* * *
Claudius
* * *
She was scared of me…
I never wanted her to be scared of me or see me kill.
I’d never wanted any of this. But it followed me, just like I’d feared.
Being with me was dangerous for her.
I’d barely done anything, but I had Antonellas on my ass, them coming to kidnap my girl clearly because I was now looking for David Shipel.
I’d heard that first guy say I hadn’t gotten the message clear enough.
It wasn’t rocket science. They were retaliating because I hadn’t backed down, and who had I given orders to, to bring me David Shipel?
The Four.
I’d told Dante and Gio in person, and Jude and Alex on the phone last night.
It was just those four guys I’d spoken to, not even the secret squad.
So, here I was in this state of shit, and I really didn’t think my
damn mind was screwing with me. The situation was just as it was. Someone was playing me, and Ava almost got taken again.
She almost got taken from me to be held as some ransom, or worse. I’d heard what that meathead said. How he spoke to her. She was terrified.
I took her home. My house. If circumstances were different, I would have taken her to her place, but she needed to stay with me until I spoke to Luc.
He’d be here soon.
When he did get here, I wasn’t exactly sure what it was I planned to do.
Ava allowed me to clean her off. She had blood on her from the guy I’d shot first. I stripped her down, myself too, out of the bloody clothes I wore, and got in the shower with her. Then I cleaned her like I was trying to wash away all that had happened. From her hair down. It was the first time this woman was naked before me that I didn’t think of sex.
I guess the silence that drifted between us helped. We’d been silent the whole time. She’d cried, and I felt like an absolute son of a bitch.
When I got her dried off, I left her in the fluffy white bath robe and placed her in the bed. Again, she allowed me to do all that.
The door downstairs sounded, and I knew that had to be Luc. Ava heard it too.
“You got dressed like you’re going out,” Ava stated, scanning over the clothes I’d changed into. “Are you?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Her eyes clouded over, and a tear ran down her cheek. “The cleanup crew… do they really just come and take the men away? Clean up like they never existed? What about the police? Shouldn’t we call them? It was self-defense,” she stuttered.
I sat on the edge of the bed when she started shaking.
“Doll,” I breathed, running a hand over my beard. “This isn’t a police matter. It’s just not. Under normal circumstances we would call the police, but this isn’t normal. Calling people like that would make things a whole lot worse.”
I wouldn’t venture down the path of explaining how much worse it could be and frighten her even more.
“They’re dead. What will the cleanup crew do to them?”
Dirty Hearts: A Bad Bod Mafia Romance Page 17