“I’ll be back in a sec.” Ryan got in the rental. When he backed it out of the sedan, the shaking made Vito stumble and fall to the ground. Ryan screeched away leaving Reese and me with their uncle on all fours on the cement. Shit.
“Don’t try anything,” I said. “Just stand up real slow.”
“Sure, kid,” Vito assured me.
I didn’t believe him for a second. As he stood, I stepped forward to cover Reese. Good thing too. Vito was clutching a handgun, which he pointed right at me. I froze.
“Now we’re going to do things my way.”
“No,” I said.
“Drop the gun. Move away from Reese.”
“I said no, dumbass.” I pointed at the gun I was holding. “I’ve got a gun too.” Was he fucking slow?
“What are you doing?” Reese tried to push me away.
“I got this, buttercup.”
“Would you rather stand here and see who’s a better shot?” Vito straightened his clothing with his free hand. “It won’t turn out well for you.”
“What can you do, kill me?” I asked. Actually, that seemed pretty shitty. I didn’t go through all that just to get killed in a parking garage in Vegas. “I’m the only one who knows where your money is.”
“I don’t believe you, Vivian. You proved to be a pretty good liar before.” Vito shrugged in a dignified way. “Besides, I was only asked to retrieve the twins. No one said you had to be alive.”
“Would you two stop the pissing contest?” Reese grabbed the waistband of my jeans and hauled me backward so she could step in front of me.
“What the fuck?” was all I could manage.
“There’s the Reese I know.” Vito grinned. I could barely see him from behind Reese.
“Shut up, Vito.” Reese still had the gun trained on him, but it was kind of pointless. He’d let his drop so it was pointing at the ground.
“That’s my girl.” He sounded like he meant it. “You really haven’t changed have you?”
“Please shut up?”
“Just like when you were little,” Vito continued, leaving no question about who was in charge of the situation, guns or not. “You know, once when you were just a tiny thing you pulled a stunt exactly like that. Your grandfather slapped Ryan and told him he was a bastard.” Vito laughed at his own story. Their grandfather sounded like a douche bag to me. “You pulled Ryan away and stepped in front of him. Exactly like that,” he repeated. “It was classic.” As he spoke, Reese started to straighten. Her shoulders squared and her jaw started to clench. “You couldn’t have been older than six. It was right before your mother ran away,” he mused. “She wanted to keep you safe, kid. Carissa always was naive.”
“Vito. Stop. Fucking. Talking.” Reese raised the gun as if she suddenly meant it. “You don’t know shit.”
“Really, honey? I think I do.” Vito smiled. I believed him. “She came back into the fold, you know? Couldn’t keep away. You’ll come back too.” What the fuck was he talking about?
“No, she didn’t,” Reese screamed. It was like the petulant eight-year-old I once knew was standing in front of me and I was just a fly on the wall. “And I’m never going back.” I half expected her to stomp her foot.
“What do you think you’re doing right now? That gun feels good doesn’t it?” His voice was low, taunting, like tainted honey.
“Shut up. Just shut up.” Her gun trembled.
“You have a choice, kiddo. Come home now. We’ll protect you. Give you everything you ever wanted.” Stern tone now, very fatherly. “If you don’t, you’ll end up just like your mother.”
Reese let go of the gun. The sound of it dropping echoed through the cement surrounding us. “It was an accident. He told us it was an accident.”
“You believed Christopher?” Vito asked incredulously. “You’re smarter than that.”
Reese looked like she was going to cry. I was so totally lost. What the fuck was going on?
Ryan chose that moment to pull up in the second rental car. Reese was just standing there gasping for air and trying not to cry or hyperventilate. It wasn’t working. Vito looked like he was waiting for her to rush back into his arms. I could have just walked away. No one would have stopped me.
Instead, I raised my gun again and pointed it at Vito’s head. Ryan stepped out of the car. I put my other arm around Reese’s waist and steered her toward Ryan. He put her in the backseat. I picked up the gun Reese had dropped and shoved it in my holster.
“We’ll never stop looking, Reese,” Vito said right before her door slammed shut.
“You’ll stop right fucking now,” I said as I backed toward the car.
“Do you even know what we’re talking about?” Back to the pissing contest.
Nope. “I know as much as I need to.” He was right though. I didn’t know anything about them. Not like I thought I did. And not knowing was starting to worry me.
Behind me, Ryan started the car.
“They’ve already marked you as one of us,” Vito said as if I knew what the hell he was talking about. “That necklace was Carissa’s, wasn’t it?”
“Jealous?” I guessed.
Vito laughed. “You should ask them where they came from. What it is that they are dragging you into.”
I went around the front to get in the passenger side. My gaze never left Vito’s face. “I already know more about them than you ever will.”
“I doubt that.”
I got in the car. Ryan gunned it out of there. Vito watched us drive away without moving.
“What just happened?” Ryan asked once we were on the main road.
Reese didn’t answer. Neither did I.
“Guys, what happened?”
“Nothing. Vito’s just a douche.” Reese wiped her eyes and straightened her shoulders.
“I’d like to know what happened.” I pivoted to look at Reese.
“Nothing. He was just trying to get to me. It worked.” She lied.
“What was he saying about your mom?” I chose to ask the question I was sure would get an answer. Even though I knew I wouldn’t like the answer.
“That she was murdered.” Reese didn’t break our eye contact as she said it.
“What?” Ryan yelled. He turned away from the road to study Reese. His grip on the wheel tightened.
“Drive, Ryan,” Reese said.
“What the fuck?” He did what she told him, but his eyes flickered between the road and the mirror.
“Come on. We knew it. We just didn’t want to.” She sounded surprisingly calm.
“Fuck.” He took a deep breath, drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, took another breath. “Yeah, but we didn’t know know.” He was kind of pleading. Hoping she would take it back. “Really?”
“Yeah.” Reese nodded. She looked so sad and adorable, I just wanted to climb back there and hold her. Not really an option. Also I was pissed. And weirded out. Something was going on. Vito was right. I didn’t know shit.
“Are you two fuckin’ high?” They just found out their mom’s death wasn’t an accident and that was their reaction?
“No, why?” Ryan was either callous or stupid.
“Indulge me. Tell me you’re stoned. I’ll feel better.”
“Coop. We knew,” Reese told me. “We just never admitted it.”
“You knew your mom was killed?” They had to be high.
“There are just things you know.” Ryan twisted his grip on the wheel. The sound of creaking leather made me glance at him. There were tears in his eyes.
“Does anyone want to tell me what exactly is going on?” I asked even though I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like that answer either.
“I don’t know.” Reese shrugged apologetically, dishonestly. “But he’s right. They’re never going to stop looking for us.”
That much I knew. Christopher just didn’t know that we weren’t going to stop fighting him. I decided to let the twins keep their secrets a while longer.
Chapter
Twenty-one
There was sort of a sense of accomplishment when we were digging for the final time. Sure, we’d have to come back for the other half later, but for now, we were practically home free. We’d gotten rid of the rental and picked up the 4Runner. All we had to do was get across the border. Ryan even broke out another bottle of scotch. He must have bought it in bulk or something.
“It’s easier to do this when we’re practically sober.” Ryan set two more bars on the ground. He was in the hole this time.
“Yeah, it’s real easy,” I said.
They both glared. I wasn’t doing any work, just observing. With broken ribs, I couldn’t do much. Payback was awesome.
“If you weren’t already hurt, I’d kick your ass,” Reese said.
“Anytime you like, babe.” I grinned. Now that I could sort of move my face, I was much happier.
“Is it me or are you guys actually getting along?” Ryan straightened to study us. “Since we’ve been in Vegas, you guys have barely fought. Hell, if I’d known locking you in a room together for a couple weeks was all it took, I would have done it years ago.”
That was the moment. The perfect opportunity to tell him. Reese and I both stared at each other, mouths open, trying to figure out if the other was cool with it. We took too long to decide. The moment passed. Ryan bent down for more bricks.
“These are the last two.” He set the bars next to the others.
“Here.” Reese handed me two bars and picked up the remaining ones. We walked toward the car in silence. When we were behind the SUV, I glanced over at her. Both of us started laughing. Hysterically. It felt a little mean.
“He has no idea,” I said. An unnecessary announcement.
“I know. We’ve got to tell him sometime.” Like we hadn’t already had this conversation a thousand times.
“Yeah. Soon or he’ll be really pissed.” I pulled the blanket spread in the back over the remaining gold bars. Then I dug around until I found a fresh bottle of scotch.
“He’s already going to be pissed.” Reese held out her hand for the bottle after I swigged some.
“So let’s wait until he doesn’t have a gun in easy reach.” I took the bottle back.
“After we’re done here? When we’re driving?” Reese asked.
“I’ll drive. That way we know he won’t hit me or anything.” Yes, I was afraid. No, I didn’t think either of us was actually going to tell him.
“Pansy,” she said.
“You like it.”
“I like it a lot.” Reese tucked her fingers into the front of my pants and yanked me closer.
It had been way too long since I kissed her. Her mouth was all soft and tasted of scotch. Even though my head was buzzed, she still tried to play with my hair, working her fingers over my scalp.
“Reese, babe.” I broke away. “He’s right there.” My control was already slipping.
“I know.” She kissed me again. I couldn’t stop it after that. She felt too good.
“Come on.” I grabbed her hand and dragged her away from the car, in the opposite direction from Ryan, into the darkness.
“You’re crazy,” she told me, but she followed anyway.
As we walked, I loosened her shoulder holster in order to push up her shirt and suck one of her nipples into my mouth. It was hard to walk, but who gave a fuck? Reese gripped the bottom of my T-shirt and tugged it over my head so it and my gun were hanging off one shoulder. Her hands worked at my belt so my pants only stayed at my hips because I was holding them there, which was hard since I was still carrying a nearly full bottle of booze. We were far from the circle of light created by the headlights when we finally stopped. I reached for her, but she smacked my hand away.
“You don’t always get to be in charge.”
“Right.” I tried to grab at her again and was rewarded with another slap. “Stop hitting me. I’m injured.”
“Shut up.” Reese punctuated her demand by kissing me. More smooth tongue and hard liquor. Difficult to argue with that. She flattened her hand against my stomach and leisurely started the teasing glide over my scorched skin into my boxer briefs. We both dropped to our knees in the dirt. I didn’t care. I couldn’t feel anything except that so damn good feeling of Reese filling me, taking me, unlike any girl I’d ever known. The easy, hard, cadence of her fucking me was like being known. She knew when to stop, to tease, to go, to take me higher so I was poised, wanting.
Through the groans pushing past our lips, mingling in each other’s breath I whispered, “Fuck, Reese. I’m gonna…You make me….” I couldn’t speak.
She didn’t stop. Not that it mattered. I was gone anyway, collapsing forward into her. Reese placed an arm around my waist, the other still in the depths between us. She let me feel strong when I had nothing else to offer.
“Coop, Cooper.” Reese wanted my attention.
“Yeah.” I raised my face to hers, afraid of what she would say.
Nothing. She just kissed me and dragged my hands to her body.
Her muscles twitched as I brushed her stomach, traced her bellybutton. I cupped those perfect breasts and gasped when her nipples hardened against my palms. Reese buried her face in my neck.
“Please touch me.”
Without thinking, I cupped her sex in my hand, encouraged by the waiting moisture. When I pushed to fill her, she started working her fingers, still inside me, slowly, echoing my movements.
My thumb had just pressed against her clit when she froze.
“Come on. Don’t stop.”
“What the fuck?” She eased out of me and pulled her hand away letting my underwear slap back against my abdomen. Not exactly what I was hoping for.
“What?”
“That?” She pointed behind me, toward Ryan.
I didn’t see anything. “I don’t get it.” What was her deal? Reluctantly, I removed my hand from between her thighs. This wasn’t going well.
“I think someone is driving toward Ryan.” She pointed in the direction of the freeway. “Do you see a car driving without headlights?”
“No.” I didn’t see anything and now I was way less turned on. “Where?”
“Right there.” She didn’t seem to be joking.
I actually looked where she was pointing, and sure enough. “Shit. I think I see two cars. I thought you were fucking with me.”
“Fuck. There are two.” Reese grabbed my arm with both hands. “What are we going to do?” The first car stopped behind the 4Runner. The sound of car doors closing echoed out to us.
“Shit. Fuck. I don’t know.” The second car continued and parked on the far edge of the circle from Ryan’s headlights, surrounding him.
“We have to go back. Help Ryan.”
“No shit.” I pulled my shirt back over my head and closed my pants with shaking hands. Next to me Reese, started fixing her clothes as well. We stood and started walking, not very well either. “How many guys do you count?” I kept my voice low. “I can’t tell if it’s five or six.”
“I count six.”
“Damn. Why can’t they just leave us alone?”
“It’s not what they do.” That sounded ominous.
I put out a hand to stop Reese. “Is there any way I can convince you to stay here?” The thought of dragging her back to those assholes made me feel ill. Better that she stay out here in the relative safety of darkness.
“Any chance I could convince you to let me handle my family’s bullshit? Because I’d rather you didn’t get the shit kicked out of you again.” Okay, I could see where she was coming from.
“We need a plan.” I blew off her question. No way in hell were we going to run in, shoot the shit out of everyone, and hope for the best.
It took a couple minutes to work out what we were going to do. Soon I found myself dragging my body over the sand behind the sedan closest to the highway. I could hear shouting from Vito’s goons and Ryan. Too bad I couldn’t understand what they were saying.
Careful to st
ay far enough away from the circle of light, I propped myself up on my elbows, ignored the smoldering pain in my ribs, and waited. This sucked.
“Come on, you stupid punk.” Vito was shouting at Ryan. “Where’s the other half?”
“Half of what?” Ryan spat back. Like with me, Vito’s guys were surrounding Ryan, keeping him without holding him. Vic and Gino flanked either side, Tommy and a guy I didn’t recognize behind, and a fifth one was leaning against the car parked on the far side of the pool of light in case Ryan ran.
“You little shit. We’ll get it one way or another.” Vito bitch-slapped him.
“For once in my goddamn life, would you show me just a little”—Ryan held up his thumb and forefinger—“respect? Would that be so fucking hard?”
“If you acted like a man, I would treat you like one.”
“What could I possibly have that you want so much?” Ryan was taunting Vito now, his default way of dealing with anger. “Balls?” He cupped his junk. “Because there’s no way I can give you that.”
Where the fuck was Reese? She needed to get this show started. I already had my H&K gripped tight enough to leave an imprint on my palm.
“You’re useless.” Vito shoved a fat finger in Ryan’s face. “Just like your piece of shit father.”
“You don’t know a damn thing about my father.”
“I know more than you do,” Vito said. Mature.
“Fuck you.” Genius response, Ryan.
“You know, boy, I think I’ll put you out of your misery.” Vito reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun. “We should have put you down at birth.”
I was practically hyperventilating. If Reese didn’t show in about one second, I’d have to step up.
“Thanks, by the way.” Vito nodded at the hole and laughed. “I hate digging, but you’ve already done all the work.” The men surrounding Ryan started laughing too. “That must really get you, huh, kiddo? Digging your own grave and not even knowing it.”
“You’re not going to shoot me.” Ryan taunted Vito, despite the color draining from his face. “You’d never find the girls.”
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