Rocco

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

  Sam looked over at me with a grin, and I realized that I had really fucked up. Gone was the good girl look. I had just presented myself as a psycho.

  “I knew you couldn’t be on the run for no reason.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest with a huff.

  “Look, so we take you back home and plead temporary insanity. I’m pretty sure we could convince any judge that you most definitely were not in your right state of mind when you walked in on your boyfriend fucking another man in your kitchen.”

  “No, if I go back, he wins. I won’t let him take this victory from me.”

  “So, instead, you’re going to stay on the run from the police? You know, every day that you’re gone makes you look even worse. If we head back now, I can claim that I was protecting you; that you felt your life was in danger. If we stay on the road, it’s going to look exactly how it is.”

  “Look, if I wanted help, I could go to a friend of mine, but I’m not dragging him into this crap. This is on me. Don’t you think I know how bad this makes me look? I mean, yes, I know what I did was wrong, but that fucker had it coming. I wouldn’t change what happened. Just maybe how I got caught.”

  “I’m taking you back. I have a life to get back to, and staying on the run with you, while certainly pleasurable, just isn’t feasible anymore. Besides, the longer we stay gone, it looks more and more like I’m helping you. So, we’ll head back and I’ll help you get out of this.”

  I started to panic, thinking about going to jail and then sitting and waiting until someone could hear my case. What if the judge sentenced me to jail? All over that twatwaffle? Fuck no. I wasn’t going down without a fight. I leapt across the truck and yanked on the steering wheel. Sam didn’t have both hands on the wheel, so I was able to get us over to the shoulder before he regained control.

  “Get off me, woman!”

  “I’m not going back!”

  He yanked the wheel, pushing me away from him, but I jumped back into the fight, scratching and clawing to get control of the truck again. We swerved around a car in front of us and then I yanked the wheel again, but it barely moved. He was just too damn strong. His large arm wrapped around my body from behind, and he pinned my arms down at my side.

  “Just calm the fuck down. You’re gonna get us killed.”

  “You can’t make me go back!”

  “Jesus, woman!”

  I contorted my body until I could latch down on his arm with my teeth. Biting down, I drew blood until he released me from his grip. But moments later, I was restrained once again, only this time, I wasn’t able to move at all.

  “Just sit the fuck down before-” He cut off and glanced in the rearview mirror. “Fuck.”

  “What?”

  “We’re being pulled over.”

  My eyes widened in panic and I scrambled to my own side when he let me up. “What do you mean? I can’t be seen!”

  “No shit. If you hadn’t yanked on the steering wheel, none of this would have happened. Just sit there and don’t say a fucking thing.”

  We pulled over and I stared straight ahead, hoping that by not looking at the officer, it would somehow camouflage me.

  “Just let me do the talking.”

  “No problem,” I said, trying to sink further into the seat.

  “Officer,” Sam said cordially.

  “Do you know why I pulled you over, sir?”

  “I would imagine because I was swerving all over the road.”

  “You would imagine right,” I heard the officer say.

  “I’m going to have to ask you to take a breathalyzer test. Otherwise-”

  “It’s fine,” Sam cut in. “I’m not drunk. I just have an unruly client.”

  “Unruly client?”

  “Yes, officer. I’m a security protection agent and this is my client. She went a little crazy and I was-”

  I couldn’t believe my ears. Was he seriously telling the officer that I was crazy? It was like he was asking for me to be thrown in jail so he could get off scot-free.

  “She’s not all there, if you know what I mean. I’m transporting her back home to be evaluated-”

  And I lost it. The asshole was turning on me. We’d slept together and everything, and now he was turning on me, like everything that we’d gone through the past two days meant absolutely nothing!

  “I am not crazy!” I said, turning to the officer to plead my case. I would not be thrown in a mental institution. “Look, I went on the run because I beat the shit out of my boyfriend’s car, but I am not crazy, just severely pissed off!”

  The officer stared at me blandly, but Sam was fuming next to me.

  “Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to please step out of the vehicle.” And then he turned to Sam. “And you too, sir.”

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  I paced the tiny jail cell that the officers had put Sam and I in. I felt like I was about to crawl out of my skin, waiting for someone to tell me what my fate would be. And all the while, Sam leaned against the wall and pretended that this was all totally normal.

  “Why aren’t you panicking?” I practically shouted at him.

  He shrugged. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “You aided and abetted.”

  “Only because you took my gun. And while I don’t particularly want that little piece of information to come out, I’m not going to deny it and spend more time in jail. Especially when I told you to keep your mouth shut. I could have gotten us out of that in no time.”

  “Only by throwing me under the bus. You were trying to get me thrown in the looney bin!”

  “I was trying to make it look like you had temporarily lost your mind, so that if we did get arrested, it was already on record,” he spat back. “You just fucked yourself over.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him and attacked, but he easily grabbed my wrists and trapped them between my body and his. Our eyes locked and sexual hunger blazed between us. I wasn’t sure how it was possible, but I wanted him even more in this dingy cell than when we were in the motel.

  “You will not hit me,” he said slowly, but deadly. “I’m not your shit-for-brains ex, and I don’t tolerate anyone hitting me.”

  He released me, and as much as I didn’t want to walk away, I couldn’t just sit in his lap either. I moved to the bench a few feet from him and sulked for another five minutes. A door down the hall opened and two men came walking back. Two very familiar men. My eyes lit up when I saw Derek and Hunter walking toward me. I had only met them once or twice, but obviously they knew who I was.

  “How did you know I was here?”

  Derek quirked an eyebrow at me. “Well, we’re actually here for Rocco. You aren’t going anywhere at the moment.”

  “What? Who’s Rocco?”

  Derek turned to Sam with a grin. “Just who exactly does she think you are?”

  “Sam.”

  He barked out a laugh, bending over at the waist. “Cazzo? She thinks you’re Cazzo?”

  “Dude,” Hunter laughed. “You couldn’t pull off a Cazzo if you tried. He’s too…serious to be you. Besides, he likes women.”

  “I never fucking said I was Cazzo,” Sam growled. “I just said the first name that popped into my head.”

  “I’m hurt,” Hunter said, placing a hand over his heart. “You didn’t think of me?”

  “You’re not my type,” Rocco deadpanned.

  “Wait,” I said in confusion. “I know who Cazzo is, and this man definitely isn’t Cazzo. But how do you know Cazzo?” I asked, turning to Rocco.

  “I work with him.”

  I stared at him in utter confusion. “I thought I’d met everyone at Reed Security.”

  “Apparently not. I think the real question is how do you know them?” he nodded to Hunter and Derek.

  “I’m Brooke, Reese’s-”

  “Aw, fuck!” he shouted. “Are you fucking kidding me? You’re Brooke? What a clusterfuck. I’m out of here. Get me out and home. I’m not touching this w
ith a ten foot pole.”

  “Too late,” Derek grinned. “See, we gave you the chance to help you out. Remember? We even offered to tell you all about her, but you didn’t want to know. You just wanted to fuck her.”

  “And now you’re going to be stuck with her. It seems Cap is determined that we intervene in any way necessary to get Brooke home and out of this mess. And since you were so willing to go it alone, he’s named you as her-”

  “Personal protection,” Rocco finished, glaring at me as if I had done something.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “Because you dragged me into this mess and now I have to deal with your ass even longer.”

  “Hey, if you had just gone along with my plan like a good hostage, none of this would have happened.”

  He snorted at me, shaking his head slightly. “I hate to tell you this, but the next time you want to take someone hostage, don’t do it. You suck at it.”

  “I kept you in line,” I said smugly.

  “Because I wanted to fuck you,” he spat back. “Did you really think that I followed you into the diner because you shoved your gun in your purse and I was scared? You didn’t even wait for me to get out of the truck before you went inside.”

  My cheeks flushed in anger and embarrassment, but Derek and Hunter weren’t laughing at me. No, they looked more amused by the situation than anything. In fact, they seemed to be laughing at Rocco.

  “This is cute,” Derek chuckled. “Really, I’m just feeling all the love right now. What about you, Pappy?”

  “Definitely feeling the love. Don’t get me wrong, the fucker has no idea what’s going on, but he will.”

  “Hey, we should throw them a little party,” Derek said, slapping Hunter on the arm.

  “Yeah, a Welcome To The Love party,” Hunter laughed.

  “No, a Love is Love party,” Derek cajoled. “Isn’t that Sinner’s phrase?”

  “How about Hand Over Your Balls party?”

  Derek shook his head. “Too cliche. And not nearly fitting enough for what’s about to happen.”

  “What’s about to happen?” I asked.

  But Derek didn’t answer me. He just stared at the ground in thought. “I suppose Love Match is a little too kitschy.”

  Hunter snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it. Love Train! It’s perfect. We have the song and everything. I can see it now. We’ll have leis and hula dancers. Bright colored shirts and sunglasses. Of course, being that it’s winter, we’ll freeze our balls off, but who gives a shit? It’s love!”

  “I like it!” Derek agreed. “And we can get a few of those gigantic heaters for outside. It’ll be fucking amazing.”

  “What are they talking about?” I asked Rocco.

  He sighed and rubbed a hand across his face. “All the guys think that there’s some magical club you join when you fall in love, which I haven’t and never plan to.”

  “What do you get when you’re in the club?” I asked Hunter and Derek.

  “Well, the women get the big D for life, of course, but the men…” Hunter laughed and rubbed his hands together. “The men have access to the list that Cap has created. But that’s just the beginning. See, all of us have compiled a sort of…relationship manual, if you will. It’s there to guide us through the pitfalls that every man encounters as he adjusts to married life.”

  “Does this manual have a name?” I asked curiously.

  “You know, we’ve never really thought about it,” Derek said, rubbing at the scruff on his jaw. “I think keeping it simple would be best. The Reed Security Relationship Manual.”

  “Has a nice ring to it,” Hunter grinned. “I like it.”

  “What a load of bullshit,” Rocco muttered.

  “So is your rule book, but you don’t see us busting your balls.”

  I turned to Rocco in astonishment. “Wait, you were serious about that?”

  “As a heart attack.”

  “So, you just make up these rules and the women have to follow them?”

  “If they want to be with me, yes.”

  Derek snorted. “With you, have sex with you…I guess you see it as being all the same.”

  “It is all the same. I have boundaries for a reason.”

  “Yeah?” Hunter eyed him. “And what would that be?”

  “I like my privacy. I like my space. And nobody is going to come into my space and fuck that up for me.”

  Derek let out a huff and jerked his thumb toward the door he entered. “Well, this has been fun, but I think we’ll let the two of you have some more…bonding time.”

  “Stop right there, fucker.” Rocco walked forward until he was at the bars of the cell. “Cap told you to get me out. How the fuck am I supposed to work up her security detail if I’m in here?”

  “Actually, he said that you were her close protection. The way I see it, there’s nothing closer than being in the same cell with her. Wouldn’t you agree, Pappy?”

  “I would most definitely agree. Don’t worry, though. We’ll work with the lawyer to sort out all the details in the meantime. Oh, and the transport back where you’ll be arraigned.”

  They grinned and walked away. I thought they were joking or something, thinking they were just playing a joke on the both of us, but they were serious. And when the cop came by later to check on us, I asked him about it. He just shrugged and said it was above his pay grade. And Rocco didn’t look too pleased about it.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Rocco

  I was bone-fucking-tired. But there was only a fucking bench and the last I heard, we weren’t being transported home until tomorrow. The cop, from the small fucking town of one thousand people, very clearly pointed out to me that they didn’t have any cells with cots. This was the best it was going to get.

  “My ass hurts,” Brooke complained.

  “Well, maybe this will help you learn that you need to make better choices.”

  She glared at me. “You sound like my mother.”

  I grunted in reply. That didn’t sound like a very bad thing to me. She obviously needed to make some better life choices if she flipped out on her boyfriend and beat the shit out of his car. Even though deep down, I had to hand it to her. She had some mad lady balls. There had been a few times over the years that I’d come across a woman that just pissed me off so much that I wanted to kick her ass, or at the very least, destroy something of hers just to release some tension. But beating up a chick was frowned upon, so I’d held my temper. She must have been fucking pissed to go after him like that. Not that I could blame her. I really fucking hoped that he used a condom when he was fucking that other dude. If he was willing to fuck around on her with one dude, it was very likely he had done it more than once.

  She sighed for the fucking twentieth time in the last hour, bringing me out of my thoughts and back to the present. Deciding to fix this rather than listen to her bitch, I laid down on the ground and motioned her over.

  “What?”

  “Come lay down.”

  “I thought you didn’t cuddle,” she said in a snarky tone that made me want to let her sit on that fucking bench the rest of the night. But I wanted some fucking sleep and I wouldn’t get it if she was awake. At least if I could get her to fall asleep, her trap would be shut.

  “Do you want to be comfortable or would you like to just sit there and be in a pissy mood all night?”

  “Won’t you be uncomfortable?”

  “I’ve slept in worse conditions. I think I can rough it for one night.”

  She got up and walked over to me, plopping down on the ground beside me. I laid out my arm and waited for her to cuddle up, but instead, she just flopped her head down and laid a good few inches away from me. I wrapped my hand around her shoulder and pulled right up next to me. Then I grabbed her knee and pulled it across my body, in turn, pulling her whole body into mine.

  “There,” I said, satisfied with the way we were laying. But she let out another fucking sigh. “What�
�s the problem now?”

  “It’s just…this doesn’t mean anything.”

  “I’m aware.”

  “No, I mean, I can’t cuddle with you just for the sake of cuddling. It’s not like we’re dating and this is comforting.”

  I shifted so I could look at her. “You need a relationship in order to cuddle.”

  “No, I’m just saying, it would be nice if I didn’t feel like I was cuddling with a man that wanted to murder me.”

  “Yeah, because I would do it, here in a jail cell where it would be obvious that I had killed you.”

  “How would you do it then?”

  “If I really wanted you dead, but didn’t want the attention coming back on me?”

  “Yeah.”

  I thought about it for a minute. “Well, first, I’d put as much distance between the two of us as possible. I’d wait it out, wait until you were nice and comfortable.”

  “Like, when I’m sleeping?”

  “No, like when you’re relaxed and think no one could possibly be coming for you. I’d wait at least a year, make sure that the connections between us had long been severed.”

  “Why?”

  “So that I didn’t fucking get caught. Isn’t that what we were just discussing?”

  “But isn’t murder a crime of passion?”

  “Most of the time. But why the fuck would I murder you just so I would end up in jail? No, I’m not going down for this shit. I would really take my time, plan the whole thing out. Of course, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to write anything down. And I’d have a rock solid alibi, something where witnesses could place me somewhere else.”

  “How would they do that if you were off killing me?”

  “Simple, I’d poison you.”

  “You’d poison me.”

  “Yeah. Poison is the way most women kill. That gives me the leg up with your murder.”

  “But…” She squinted, her brows furrowing together adorably. “You’re gonna have to walk me through this.”

  “Look, most killers fuck up because they go overboard. Now, me, I would take just one pill from your medicine cabinet. It would have to be something you used, but not so frequently that the police would immediate suspect that your pills had been poisoned.”