by B. B. Hamel
“What next?”
“I turned and ran.”
“Good. What did he do?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t look back. I just kept running.”
I nodded, frowning to myself.
So Tony was a gangster for real, and Piper had walked in on a drug deal gone wrong. She saw Tony and his associates murder some men, and if I knew one thing about the mob, it was that they fucking hated when people saw them murder people.
Which was why it was smart that Piper ran. If she hadn’t, she’d probably be dead.
“I’m glad you called me,” I said.
“I’m so scared,” she whispered. “I took all my money out. Checking and savings. I didn’t know what else to do.”
I nodded. “That’s good. Cash is good. They can’t track cash.”
“I didn’t know who to call. I knew the police would never believe me, and as soon as Tony knew where I was I’d be dead.”
“That was smart. The cops might even be bought by his people.”
“His people? What do you mean?”
“He’s a mobster. I mean, I assume he is.” I shrugged. “Makes sense.”
“Oh my god,” she said softly. “A mobster. I never saw it.”
“Of course not. Men like him are good at hiding what they really are. Fucking snakes.”
“I lived with him.”
“You’re safe now,” I said. “He doesn’t know me. We’ll be safe.”
“Yeah. You’re right.” She began to sob again, breaking down into tears.
I put my hand on her leg to comfort her as I drove, but my mind was moving in a million different directions.
I couldn’t help myself. This was a tactical situation, and it was the sort of thing that I was trained for. Maybe not this situation exactly, but situations just like it. We had a hostile enemy, a larger, stronger enemy, chasing after us. We had to evade that enemy until it moved past us, or until we destroyed it.
I was already planning what we were going to do. Planning and war and death. That was who I was.
And that was exactly who she needed me to be.
Maybe in normal civilian life, my skills as a SEAL weren’t desirable. Maybe they got in the way when I was trying to live as a normal person. But this wasn’t normal.
This was far from normal.
I needed more information, but I knew better than to press at this point. She needed a second to grieve for whatever it is she just lost. Whether she lost her life or something else, I couldn’t be sure, but she just went through a trauma.
I was there for her. I wasn’t going to let this mafia fucking shit prick hurt her.
I had a mission, and I always completed my missions.
11
Piper
I felt like the world had opened up beneath me as I sat in Gates’s apartment. He was in the kitchen making me tea, and normally I would find that really amusing, but I couldn’t stop seeing those men lying bleeding on the floor.
My phone buzzing grabbed my attention. I looked down and saw another text from Tony.
“Come on, babe. I’m sorry if I scared you. We need to talk.”
He called me ten times since Gates picked me up and sent as many texts, but I was ignoring them. Gates knew about the messages but hadn’t said anything about them yet.
I sat there staring at Gates as he moved around the kitchen. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, but it didn’t matter. I was in this, deep in this, and Gates was willing to help me.
That thought sent a wave of relief washing over me.
Gates was trained for this sort of thing. Well, maybe not this specific situation, but something like it. He was trained to fight and survive difficult tasks, and there was no better person for me to have in my corner right now.
Still, for all of that, I barely knew the man. I didn’t know why he wanted to get involved in something that was clearly incredibly dangerous. He owed me nothing and had every right to walk away.
The only thing I could think of was that he felt the same pull that I felt. Maybe that was true, or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe I just wanted that to be true. Either way, I kept staring at his body and felt the tug toward him, that deep yearning that wanted me to get up and throw myself at him.
“Here you go.”
I looked down at the cup in front of me.
“Thanks,” I said.
“Chamomile.”
“Excuse me?”
“Chamomile tea.” He leaned up against the counter across from me and crossed his arms. “Drink.”
“Okay.” I picked it up and blew on it then took a sip. It was vaguely sweet and tasted like watery apples. “I like it.”
“You’ve never had chamomile before?”
I shrugged. “Not much of a tea drinker, I guess.”
“It’s good for you. Calms the nerves, eases digestion. That sort of thing.”
“They teach you about tea in the military?”
“Nope,” he said. “That was all my mother.”
“Oh,” I said. “Your mother. Where does she live?”
“Passed away when I was twenty.”
I blinked. He was an orphan. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. She lived long enough to see me get chosen as a SEAL. That was a good day.”
“Do you have a lot of good memories of your mom?”
He nodded. “I do. She took care of me when my dad died.” He glanced at the clock then back at me. “What about you? What are your parents like?”
“They’re nice,” I said. “Typical parents. Dad works for a bank and my mom works for a real estate lawyer.”
“Were they supportive when their daughter wanted to become a weather girl?”
I laughed. “No, actually. Dad thought it was stupid. Mom was better, but even she was worried about me.”
“You showed them.”
I shrugged and sipped the tea again. “I guess. Mostly I just wanted them to be proud of me.”
“And are they?”
“Yeah. I think so.”
“Good.” He stared at me intently for a moment, like he was studying me. “We need to talk.”
My phone vibrated again but I sent it to voicemail. “Okay.”
“What does he keep saying?”
“Apologizing. Wants to meet.” I laughed ruefully. “I guess he thinks I’m an idiot.”
“You’re not an idiot,” he said seriously. “It’s good you called me.”
“Yeah. I think so, too.”
“Tell me about Tony.”
“There’s not much to say. I met him through work when his club was promoting a product on our show. He seemed nice, took me out a few times. We dated for a while before moving in. I had no clue he was involved with drugs.”
Gates nodded and I felt so stupid. How could I not see it? Tony always had nice things and was always buying me small but expensive presents. They came out of nowhere, diamond earrings, cell phones, iPods, stuff like that. I never really questioned it, since his night club was doing so well.
But how did a guy his age own a freaking night club to begin with? Tony’s parents were normal Italian people living out in Staten Island. They couldn’t offer him a loan. I never really asked him how he got involved with the club. Hell, I never really asked him anything. I never asked how he had so much money or where all that cash came from.
I was so, so stupid. I trusted him and I never should have. I could feel the tears coming on again and I had to fight them back.
Gates came around the island and put his hands on my shoulders. “Hey,” he said. “You can’t do that now. I know you’re dealing with some heavy shit, Pipes, but you need to hold it together for me. You need to tell me everything you know about this guy.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“Associates, friends, family. Anybody he deals with. Where he keeps his money, where he gets his money. Anything you can think of.”
I took a deep breath, looking into Gates’s eyes. He was so competent, so in contro
l, and I felt that relief wash over me again.
“Okay,” I said, and started talking.
The story of Tony spilled out of me. I told Gates every single detail that I could remember, every story Tony mentioned, every friend and business associate. I talked about the presents, about his expensive car, about his cash. I dredged up memories I didn’t even know I had and then some. I talked for ten minutes, fifteen minutes, until finally I was out of things to say.
Gates listened carefully the whole time, nodding once in a while. He didn’t interrupt to ask questions and he didn’t get bored. He simply watched me, nodded along, and listened.
When I was done, I felt drained. Gates put his hand on my thigh and I felt a spike of desire run up through me.
“That was good,” he said. “I’m going to have some questions for you, but we can do that later. For now, that was really good.”
“What will any of that do, though?” I asked him.
“You want to live a normal life, right?”
“Of course.”
“We need to find a way to get you out of this mess. We need to find something we can use against Tony.”
“I don’t know what that could be.”
“I’ll find it.” His eyes went dark for a second. “Or else I’ll create it.”
I didn’t know what he meant and was about to ask, but my phone started ringing again.
“Tony,” I said, and went to shut it off.
“Wait,” Gates cut in. “Answer it.”
“What?”
“Answer it. On speaker.”
I blinked, frowning. “That’s a bad idea.”
“Trust me, Piper. Do it.”
“Fine.” I answered it and turned on speakerphone. “Hello?”
“Piper,” Tony said, sounding relieved. “I was worried about you.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because of what you saw.” He paused. “We need to talk, Pipes.”
“I don’t want to see you.”
“I know. I can’t blame you.” He sighed. “I’m so sorry you saw that, Pipes. I never wanted that to happen.”
The look on his face came back to me. Cold, expressionless, dead. It was the face of a killer.
“I understand,” I said and Gates nodded at me.
“The other guys, they pushed me into it. They’re dangerous men, Piper. I need to talk to you so I can explain. I’m so, so sorry.”
He wasn’t sorry, I reminded myself. He was a murderer.
Gates quickly hit the mute button. “Make a meeting,” he said.
“What?”
“Do it,” he said, and turned mute off.
“Piper?” Tony asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “Okay. We can meet.”
“Good. You don’t know how badly I need to see you. I need to make sure you’re okay, that they didn’t get you.”
“Who?” I asked him.
“The men I was with. I didn’t hurt anyone, Piper. They did it all.”
“Okay.” He was lying. I could hear it, plain as day.
“Meet me at Moreno’s. You know that Italian place?”
“I know it.”
“Meet me there tonight at ten. Can you do that?”
“I can.”
“Okay, Pipes. We’ll get through this together, I promise.”
Gates took the phone from my hand and hung it up.
I shook my head at him. “I can’t go to that.”
“Of course not. I’m going to go.”
“What?”
“He doesn’t know me,” Gates said. “I’ll watch him, see who he’s with, get a sense of him.”
“That’s crazy.”
“It’s our best first move. Soon he’ll figure out who I am and then we won’t have the advantage anymore. Trust me, Pipes.”
I stared at him, surprised all over again at the kind of man he was.
“You don’t have to help me,” I said softly. “I shouldn’t have brought you into this.”
He reached forward suddenly and took my hair, pulling me toward him. I gasped as he kissed me hard, surprised at first.
But quickly I gave into him. His lips felt right, the exact way I needed them to feel. It was like he simply knew what I needed, and in that moment I needed him to kiss me. I needed to know what he wanted, that he wanted me.
We kissed like that for minutes, maybe hours. I lost track of time and it didn’t matter at all. I only needed Gates in that moment, his mouth against mine.
Finally, he pulled back, hand lingering on my cheek.
“You should get some rest,” he said gently.
“Okay,” I answered, biting my lip.
“I need to prepare for later.”
“I understand.”
He sat there for a second, lingering over me, before standing up. I watched him turn and leave the room, shutting his bedroom door behind him.
I stared at the empty space he left, confused. I didn’t know why he had to stand up and walk away like that. But then again, I didn’t have the right to ask anything from him. He was helping me, but that didn’t mean he really owed me anything.
Truthfully, I owed him. I should have been thankful that I was sitting in his apartment, relatively safe.
Instead, I just wanted him to carry me into his bedroom and take me. I wanted him to destroy me, make me his, get me off.
I sipped my tea and took a deep breath. I had to stop being selfish. Gates was helping me, and that was enough.
But truthfully, I was terrified that it wouldn’t be even close to enough.
12
Gates
I couldn’t let myself get distracted, and kissing Piper was the ultimate distraction. After the kiss, I went into my room to prep my weapon, but mostly to get my head right. I was going into a dangerous situation and I couldn’t have Piper on my mind. I needed to be sharp, or else risk my life and hers.
I sat in my car at a quarter to ten across the street from that Italian restaurant Tony told Pipes to go to. I’d been there for about an hour, and as far as I could tell it seemed like a normal place. Busy even, fairly popular. I didn’t catch sight of anything suspicious or shady going down.
But then again, that would be the whole point. If the place was a mob front then they’d keep any of the illegal stuff in the back of the restaurant. Still, I didn’t know what Tony’s plan was for Piper. It didn’t look like the kind of place he could just grab her and run away, but maybe I was misreading the situation.
Fucking hell. If this were Syria, or Iraq, or fucking Afghanistan, I’d know exactly what was going on. But this situation was different.
I took a deep breath and concentrated. It couldn’t be so different from what I’d been through that I couldn’t figure out what was happening around me. I just needed to concentrate and clear my head.
I watched for ten more minutes as people came and went. The street seemed pretty quiet, and I didn’t see many cars coming past. That was strange, since there seemed to be a lot of foot traffic coming and going from the building.
That was when it hit me. There was a parking lot two doors down which probably was where most people parked. I was willing to bet that Tony planned on grabbing Piper there, either before or after they met up.
I quickly got out of my car and moved silently across the street. I went down an alley and slowly snuck up to the lot from the back side.
It looked like any other lot, but I kept stationary and kept watching. Soon enough, I caught sight of two guys sitting in a car in the back corner of the lot. They didn’t look like they were doing much of anything, and the one guy kept searching around his car.
I slipped back into the shadows. Fucking hell. They really did want Piper. Everything she said was true.
Not that I ever really doubted her, but it was a pretty intense story. It was hard to imagine that a person could just witness a mob killing like that. But if she were dating a mobster in secret this whole time, it was totally possible.
I mo
ved back toward the sidewalk and headed into the restaurant. I felt a stab of nervousness as I stepped inside the dimly lit building, since I knew that walking indoors when you were outnumbered was just about the worst thing possible. Still, I had to remind myself that they didn’t know me, and that I was highly trained.
“Can I help you?” the hostess asked.
I quickly scanned the place and spotted a bar. “I’ll sit at the bar,” I said to her.
“Sure. Help yourself.”
I nodded to her and headed over. The place was like a thousand other Italian places I’d seen: wine bottles, rustic décor, candlelight, and soft Frank Sinatra music playing in the background. The wait staff was finely dressed, and it seemed like a somewhat upscale place.
I sat down at the bar and ordered a whisky before scanning the room again. I didn’t see Tony anywhere, though I was only going off his Facebook picture. Still, I was reasonably sure I could identify him.
My drink came and I sipped it. I watched the flow of people coming and going, wondering briefly at the shape of their lives. A young couple was sitting in the back corner, smiling at each other. Two tables over, an older couple looked at each other the same way, smiling and excited. I wondered what their secret was.
I sipped my drink and concentrated again. I noticed a guy in a nice suit standing by the back kitchen door. I thought he worked there at first, but he wasn’t doing anything but standing there and watching the crowd. Nobody acknowledged him and he never spoke. As I stared, I noticed a slight bulge in his jacket, and I guessed that was a weapon.
So there were mobsters in this room. I shifted my weight, scanning for more guns. I found another guy eating at a table with an older woman wearing a similar suit with a similar bulge on the jacket.
So, at least two armed men. I didn’t know who the old woman was, but that didn’t matter.
Suddenly, I felt a motion to my left.
“I figured she wouldn’t show.”
I looked over and there he was. Tony smiled at me, this wicked and cold smile. I kept my cool and nodded at him. “You can understand why.”
“I wasn’t sure who she’d send, though. Thought it might be Greg.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What’s he have to do with any of this?”