by Ali Parker
She believed in fate and love and crazy shit like that. I wanted to as well.
"If you had anything to do with my little sister getting kidnapped." She turned her face a little and opened her eyes. Tears dripped down her pretty face.
"Who's your sister, Dani? You wouldn't tell me her name, remember?" I put her hand on my thigh and reached over to brush the tears off her cheeks. "Tell me her name."
"Tani." She gripped my hand and pressed it to her lips. "I can't be with you or even around you if you were involved."
"I had nothing to do with any of Tanner's fucked up madness. He and I split ways a few months after his dad died. I might be a bastard, and I might have done some pretty messed up shit in my life, but I've never hurt a woman or helped Tanner King hurt one. Not ever."
She pulled away from me and bent down, pulling something out of a pocket in her uniform pants. "This is her. Just look at her and make sure, okay? I don't want to close this down until we know for sure."
I took the picture and took a quick glance. Tani. Fuck.
"I knew her." I handed the picture back to Dani. "She was a dancer at the bar we went to right out of high school. The old guy there would let us buy beer, but we weren't legal by any means. She was beautiful and so damn sad all the time."
Dani let out a soft sob. "We had a hard life after mom left."
I swallowed hard and handed the picture back. "Tanner took a liking to her and all I knew was that they went out a couple of times. I didn't get involved, and shortly after that, I walked away from him for good."
"And did you get involved with her?"
"No." I turned my attention back to the road. "I had my own problems to deal with."
"Like?" She turned in the seat. She wasn't going to let it go.
Crazy enough, I knew we'd end up spending the night in a hotel somewhere along this fucked up trip we were on. I wanted her body pressed to me, her soft lips against my neck, her sweet pussy pulling at my dick. There was no way I'd get time with her if I didn't hand over a little bit of information.
"My dad was a bastard when we were growing up. He beat all of us every chance he got and yet he was a drunk, so we made excuses." I chuckled sardonically. "Well, he beat us boys. My sisters don't know much about that shit. They were too little, or we kept them hidden from him."
"Did your mom know?"
"No, not really. I mean, if she did, she didn't do anything about it." I shrugged, trying not to let the memories take over. "He was a good guy, but the liquor made him a monster."
"I don't think anyone comes out of the womb a monster. I think that happens over time, Johnny." She reached over and ran her fingers down my thigh, squeezing softly just above my knee.
"Maybe, but we loved the old bastard anyway you looked at it." I shrugged. "He got into some stupid shit when we first got here, drugs, mafia, you name it."
"First got here?"
"My parents were from Sicily. They were poor as fuck, and we all immigrated over here. They only had me and my brother Roberto at the time, but quickly filled the house with more kids than they could feed. I got my first job at twelve delivering papers and then running dope. It was a faster buck for sure."
"Twelve?" Her voice held a note of sympathy in it.
I started to bite her fucking head off but forced myself to pause. There was no way I wanted to lash out at her. It wouldn't help anything. Least of all our relationship.
"Yeah." I tightened my grip on the steering wheel. "Tanner was a clean-cut boy from the upper side of New York. His father was a lawyer, his mother a stay at home mom that didn't care about anyone else but herself. I saved his life one day on the streets when we were kids, and he stuck beside me from then on."
"At twelve?"
I turned my attention to her for a moment, giving her a look. "Twelve in my world is eighteen in yours, Dani. It's time to grow the fuck up and do what you gotta do. It's the only way to survive. For me, that was twelve. Stop repeating me."
Fuck. I'd done the thing I didn't want to do. So fucking typical of me.
"No, I understand. Sorry. I just keep thinking about how young that is, but I get it. I'm sorry." She shifted enough to lean over and press a kiss to the side of my shoulder. "Keep going. Please?"
"Tanner was getting his ass beat in a back alley because the thugs wanted his shoes, his clothes, and his backpack. They got most of it, but I fucked them up as best I could. Having a gun helped." I shrugged, trying hard not to lay too much emphasis on me being tough. I wasn't. Scared shitless was more like it.
"Why did you help him?"
"I wanted to feel good about something." I pursed my lips and nodded toward the road. "We getting on another freeway soon?"
"Yeah. Damn. It's this one. I'm glad you said something." She moved back into her seat and pulled up her phone. "The tracker has stopped at Lucky's One Night Club."
I rolled my eyes. "This fucking kid. He’d better be with Tanner. If not, I'm going to tear his stupid ass up."
"Are you violent with him because your dad was so rough with you guys?"
"Ballsy, Dani." I chuckled sardonically and gave her a warning look. "Watch yourself, okay?"
She nodded. "I thought I could be ballsy with you. No?"
"How much farther to the hotel?" I reached up and turned the air on as my skin prickled with heat. Anger danced in the pit of my stomach, and I had to watch myself. My emotions weren't related to her or the truth of what happened or would happen, but rather about the man I could become if I weren't careful.
"Thirty minutes." She turned and looked back out the window. "My mom left when we were kids. My father got called into the ministry, and my mother couldn't handle it."
"Handle what exactly? Seems like a good notable profession."
She looked over her shoulder at me, her pretty face stealing my heart. "Being poor."
"That was common place in my neck of the woods." I winked at her. "So she just up and left you guys?"
"Yep. One morning I got up to find my father crying on the couch. Tani and I worked to rebuild a life for the three of us, but one day she disappeared too." Dani shrugged and gave me a sad smile as she shifted again in her seat. "Life doesn't seem too fair."
"Cause it's not, baby." I ran my hand down her arm and gripped the top of her hand. "Let's find Jason and get back home. I want you in my bed tonight."
"Do you?"
"I just said I did, didn't I?" I slid my fingers over hers and pressed down, locking our hands together. "I haven't stopped thinking about the last time you were there."
"Me either," she whispered softly and leaned back, closing her eyes. "I just keep waiting for the other shoe to fall."
"What shoe would that be?"
"The one where you're not who you say you are."
"I'm a criminal. A bad boy. A piece of shit that's figured out how to turn his life around. Is that the guy you thought I was?"
She laughed and smiled over at me. "Don't make me fall in love with you, Johnny Moretti."
"It's a dangerous place to be, Kitten."
"It's the only place I want to be." She ran her hand up my arm and dragged her nails back down, pressing into my skin and lighting me up.
"I need to tell you something, Dani." I took a quick breath, making a decision to be a good guy for the first time in my life. "Candace is saying she's pregnant."
"With your baby?" She held onto me, surprising me a little.
"Yeah. I need to have the paternity tests run as I know good and damn well that it's probably not my kid, but I wanna be open with you. It could be."
She nodded, surprising me a little. "Thanks for telling me."
"Yeah," I mumbled and pressed the gas. The sooner we got to the hotel and found my bastard of a nephew, the sooner I could get my girl back home and remind her why I was the man she needed in her life.
Chapter 20
Dani
"Hey, we’re here." Johnny's voice brought me from my thoughts.
The m
essed up situation we were in wasn't one I would have chosen, but it was nice to find out more about the man I was quickly falling for.
"Great." I got out of the car the minute he parked it. "Let's check in with the front desk first just so they know what's going on and then we'll locate the room where Jason's tracker is."
"Something tells me that the little prick or the assholes that he's with took the thing off. I doubt he's here, Dani. He's a smart kid, street smart."
"I hope you're wrong." I walked into the lobby of the rundown motel and stopped short. The older man in front of us had on a cheap suit, and his voice was low, ominous. His right hand was wrapped around the back of woman's neck, holding her tightly as he spoke with the receptionist.
"We'll take a room for three hours. You sell them by the hour, right?" He coughed loudly, the wet sound sickening me.
I glanced over at Johnny. "Something isn't right," I whispered.
The girl leaned away from him, and her legs were shaking from what I could see. Johnny moved up and tapped the guy on the shoulder. He spun around, and the girl did too. She couldn't have been much over seventeen or eighteen.
"What?" The man barked, his dark eyes telling the truth of the situation.
"Is he paying you for that three hours?" Johnny kept his eyes on the girl.
The receptionist spoke up. "Hey. I'm not looking for any trouble."
"Answer me." Johnny moved toward her.
She flinched and held up her hands, letting out a soft cry.
"Jon." I moved around him and pulled her away from the guy, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and walking toward the hallway to the bathroom. "Hey. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm a cop from New York."
"Thank God," she murmured and curled up against my side. "My parents have to be looking for me. I'm from Maine, but I'm not sure if I can leave. Won't he just come back and get me again?"
She was full-body shaking at that point.
"No. We'll call into the local department and get someone to come pick you up. It's going to be okay." I pulled her into a hug as she cried. The sound of Johnny and the pervert fighting in the other room was short lived. The door to the bathroom opened, and Johnny's voice filled the small room.
"You girls okay?"
"Yeah. Did you knock him out?" I moved out of the bathroom with the girl.
"Yes. He's tied up with a phone cord on his face in there." He reached out and squeezed the girl’s shoulder. "Come here and let me stay with you until Danielle gets the cops over here for us."
"Are you a cop?" The girl glanced up as Johnny took her from me.
"Something like that." He wrapped a strong arm around the girl's shoulders and nodded at me. "Call whoever you need to. Make it quick and let's get on with this."
With all the shit he'd seen in his life, he still seemed to be a little bit shaken up by the situation we were faced with. I nodded and walked toward the front door, giving the receptionist the evil eye. Bastard. I'd have the cops run him for anything they could as well.
"New Jersey Police Department. What's your emergency?" The voice on the other end sounded alert.
I gave the woman my badge information and explained who I was and what we were dealing with. Five minutes later, Johnny and I met two cop cars out front.
An older gentleman stepped out of one followed by a younger female cop from the other. The male cop stopped in front of me and offered his hand. "Thank you for your help. You could have been hurt."
"No, we couldn't." Johnny shook his hand too before helping the girl in the car.
"Please make sure you call her parents as soon as possible and treat her with care. You have no idea what she's been through." I turned to the female cop. "Try and only have females around her until she's back home and safe."
The woman nodded. "Of course. Thank you, both." She turned to the older man. “Frank, you get the guy. I’ll get the woman.”
He nodded. “Rodger that.”
We waited until they pulled away to turn to each other. Johnny reached out and pulled me tightly against him. "Let's go see what the fuck is happening with my nephew."
"You don't seem to be in much of a hurry. Why?" I moved back but kept my arms around him.
"I know him. He's too much like me. He's not letting these bastards pull his chains. He's pulling theirs. He doesn't feel like he belongs anywhere. He'll keep searching until he finds that place, even if it's in hell, working for the devil himself. It's an unrest that won't let up."
"I understand it all too well." I moved out of his arms and pulled my phone from my pocket. "Room twelve-twenty."
"Got it." Johnny turned and jogged toward the motel, circling around back as I walked toward him. Some part of me feared that we might find Jason mutilated or hurt, but Johnny seemed pretty assured of himself that the boy was okay.
I could only hope that was the case.
"In here, Dani." Johnny leaned out of a room on the backside of the motel before disappearing back into as I walked quickly toward him. "He's not here."
Moving into the room, I felt the overwhelming need to grab my gun, but I forced myself not to. There was blood all over the bed near the bottom again, but this time, the tracker was laying in the puddle of crimson liquid.
"Shit. It takes a lot to get those fucking things off." I covered my mouth and turned as bile rose in my throat.
"Yeah. He's gotta be limping." He moved up behind me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. "There's no way to find him until I go after Tanner."
"Are you going after Tanner?" I turned in his arms and lifted my face toward his. "I don't like the sound of that."
"Well, good thing you aren't in charge of me." He leaned down and kissed the tip of my nose as he pushed my hair back. "We might not have found Jason tonight, but I'll get him back. I know just the guys to help me do it too."
"Do I know these guys?" I touched the side of his face as desire swam through me. I wanted a life with him. I wanted to know how it felt to be loved deeply by a man like Johnny Moretti. Surely not many people knew the depths of his dark soul, but I wanted to.
"Maybe." He took a deep breath. "Let's get back to New York. We were here for a reason tonight, even if Jason's bullshit brought us here."
"You're really not worried about him?"
"No. I realized on the way up here that he was in on it."
"How?"
He pursed his lips and shook his head. "Just something I figured out."
"Something you want to share?"
"It's not mine to share." He turned and walked out of the motel room. "Come on. Let's go."
***
The ride home was a little awkward between us, but we were both emotionally and physically beat. I was battling with myself on whether to tell him about Tanner taking me, but I knew it would only add gasoline to an already volatile situation. And it was over, or was it?
I was still supposed to deliver the man next to me to Tanner, which wasn't happening. Even if I wanted to, there was no way I could get Johnny to go willingly.
"Where's your apartment, Dani?" Johnny's voice pulled me from my thoughts.
"Near the station. Just off of Walker and Tenth." I sat up and cleared my throat. "Stay with me tonight?"
"I plan to." He reached over and took my hand into his. "I think we both need the warmth."
He was right. I wanted every ounce of warmth he could offer me and then some. We pulled up to the apartment, and he turned the car off but didn't move.
"Tell me something." He turned to face me. "Jason warned me that Tanner had my girl."
I stiffened. "When was this?"
"What 'girl' did he have, Dani? Do you know what the kid was telling me?"
"Why would Jason help you if he belongs to Tanner?"
"Because there's still a thread of decency in him, and I've done a lot for him. Even the blackest hearts want to repay the kindness given to them." He reached out and ran his hand down the back of my head, pressing in.
I yelped
and jerked from him. "That fucking hurt!"
He got out of the car and came around to my side, opening the door and pulling me out. "Why didn't you tell me that Tanner took you?"
"Because I didn't want to add fuel to the fucking fire." I popped him in the chest after slamming my door. Tears blurred my eyes. "That hurt."
"I had to know." He pulled me close and pressed me against the car. "When did he take you, Dani?"
"Get off of me. I don't feel safe out here." I pushed at his chest. Luckily he moved, and I slipped past him and walked up to my apartment. I got inside and left the door open as I angrily wiped at tears.
"Don't run from me. I wouldn't let anything happen to you." He closed the door behind us and flipped on the kitchen light. "Come here."
"No." I pressed my hands to my face and let out a soft cry. "I didn't want you to know."
"Why? Are you working for him too?" He was so close I could feel the heat rolling off of him. It was insane how things had gone from good to bad so quickly. It was the time he had to think in the car. Now he thought I was a liar. Not that I blamed him. I was to some degree.
"Get out." I pulled my hands down and turned to walk down the hall. I kicked off my shoes and unbuttoned my shirt, dropping it by the door before working on my undershirt, my bra, pants, and panties. "I would never work for a monster like Tanner. I'm one of the good guys, remember?"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
I turned and let my head drop. "Because I don't need saving, and you would try."
"Damn right I would." He lifted me off the ground and pressed me to the bed beneath us before I could even realize what was happening.
Chapter 21
Ryder
Anger boiled deep in my stomach over her not telling me about Tanner King taking her. How had it happened? Did he touch her? Threaten her? And how had she gotten free? The thought of what he made her do or promise to do made my stomach turn.
The soft sound of her crying shut down my incessant need to know anything. She needed comfort, and I wanted to be her man. There was no way I was pushing her any further.