“He’s a little older than me, but he promised to look after me, you know? And I needed looking after. You were gone, I’d just thrown our life away…”
I can’t deal with her talking like this, it’s messing with my already fucked up head.
“I was lost. I didn’t know what to do, where to turn, I knew I’d been stupid… And then I met him. I’d got myself a job in New York, working as a dancer in a club downtown, it paid OK money. And I guess it provided me with the distraction I needed…”
“This story got a point, Reba? Only, like I said, I’ve really gotta be somewhere, and I don’t have time to stand here and listen to your shit.”
“I didn’t realize he had anything to do with the club, I thought he was just another one of the many sad, leering assholes who used to frequent that place, night after night. But he was more important than that. His company looked after the club…”
I frown. “Looked after?”
“He was no saint. He was involved in all kinds of shady shit but – there was something about him. And he paid me so much attention, made me all kinds of promises. He got me out of that club, turned me into a different woman, made me feel special, important… I just needed something, Logan. And for a while it was good, I had everything I ever wanted…”
I let that derisive chuckle escape again, I can’t believe she’s telling me this shit, that she’s standing here, trying to gain my sympathy, like she never broke my fucking heart, never ripped my soul to shreds.
“I’m sorry, Logan…”
“Just get to the point, Reba, I’m wasting time here.”
She briefly drops her gaze before she looks back up at me, and this time her eyes have taken on an element of sadness, but there’s also something else in there – fear? Yeah. She’s scared of something.
“For a while I loved being his wife, loved the attention and the status being married to a man like him afforded me. Until the true man he really was started to show itself. The other women, the way he’d control me, lash out if I didn’t obey every fucking order he gave me; the sick, depraved way he’d make me… He did things, Logan. Real bad things. And I know – I know he raped a girl. The daughter of his own boss…”
My stomach suddenly lurches so quickly I can barely keep the nausea at bay.
“What’s his name, Reba? Your husband. What’s his name?”
She looks right at me, swallowing hard before she finally answers my question. “Marco. Marco Vierra.”
“Jesus fucking Christ…”
This isn’t happening, this isn’t fucking happening.
“Logan?” Her expression’s one of confusion now, understandably so, given my obvious reaction to that name. “Do you – do you know him? Do you know Marco?”
“I know who he is… Listen, Reba, what the hell have you come here for? What is it, exactly, you want from me? ‘Cause that man you’re married to, I’m guessing you know who he is, right? You know he works for Frankie Cabbetto?”
She nods slowly, wrapping her arms around herself.
“So, why are you telling me all this? What do you need me for? Why the hell are you here?”
“I want him dead, Logan.”
This time the laugh that pours out of me is verging on maniacal. Is she freakin’ kidding me?
“It’s the only way I can escape him, the only way I can escape that life…”
“No, darlin’, you’re wrong. You can’t escape that life. You stepped over that threshold, and you can’t go back, you know that.”
She frowns, her beautiful face clouded with confusion.
“Where does he think you are, right now?”
“He doesn’t care where I am, he isn’t home. He’s doing something for Frankie.”
“Yeah. I know.”
Her frown deepens. “You know? How? I mean…?”
“The girl, the one you knew he raped. What happened to her?”
“Piper. Frankie Cabbetto’s daughter, she… Marco was supposed to be watching her, but somehow she – she drugged his brandy, managed to escape, and now – now Frankie…”
She drops her gaze again, her whole body sagging but I’m still struggling to feel any sympathy for a woman who broke me so bad.
“Frankie wants Piper dead. ‘Cause of something she overheard. Something Frankie and your asshole of a husband were planning.”
“How the fuck do you know all this?”
“Piper’s here, Reba. She’s here.”
Her eyes widen, she’s finding it hard to believe this crazy shit, but it’s happening, it’s fucking real.
“Shit, Logan…”
“You can’t go back there, Reba.”
“I have to. If they realize… If anyone finds out what I’m doing… what I’ve already done…”
“You can’t go back there.”
I’ve gone from wanting her to disappear to needing to keep her safe, Jesus, maybe Piper’s right. Maybe I really am a good guy, but I don’t have time to analyze my own actions here. There’s another layer of shit just been added to the already growing pile of crap we got going on.
“Where am I gonna go?” she whispers, and when I look at her now all I see is that beautiful girl I fell in love with at school. That innocent, pretty kid who made me believe in fairytales and happy endings, all the shit I don’t believe in anymore.
“You’re coming with me. My club, we’re putting our compound on lockdown, making it safe while we finish this job…”
“Job? Logan, I don’t understand…”
“We’re taking on the Cabbetto family, Reba.”
“What?”
“Piper, when she ran she ended up in Vegas, met a man who promised to protect her. That man is Vanni Colletti. He runs the Death Knights, it’s his club, and believe me, he’s not a man you mess with. And that promise he made Piper? To protect her? He’s keeping it, ‘cause she isn’t just any girl to Vanni. She’s his wife now. She married that man – the man who runs this club – she married him, and he’s vowed to take your husband out, to end his life, to keep Piper’s safe.”
“You think she’ll ever be safe again?”
“Do you think you will? I mean, you came to me because you wanted my help to kill Vierra, am I right?”
She nods, and drops her gaze once more.
“You really thought it’d be that simple? All those years, living with a man like Vierra, living within the confines of the Cabbetto family with all its fucked up shit, you really thought all you had to do was end your husband’s life and you’d be free?”
“I don’t know…”
“We end his life and we start a war, Reba, that we do know. ‘Cause we’re not naïve enough to think that’ll be an end to it all. We’re gonna send out a message, one that Frankie Cabbetto needs to receive, but we know that what we’re about to do – it isn’t gonna end anything.”
“So, what’re you saying, Logan?”
“I’m saying, once this is done we need to make you disappear. Get you a new identity, move you somewhere safer, somewhere you can start again, start a whole new life, again. And get it right this time.”
“And what about you? What are you gonna do? Stay here and fight a war you don’t know you can win? Do you know what the Cabbetto family is capable of?”
“Reba, believe me, honey, this club of mine, we don’t just piss about riding bikes and collecting tattoos. Come on.”
I take her hand and drag her toward the door, we need to get to the clubhouse. Vanni needs to know about this, and Piper – I don’t know what the relationship between her and Reba was, but I guess I’m about to find out.
Thirteen
Vanni
“You have much to do with her? Reba Kane?”
Piper shakes her head and pulls herself up onto the table outside the clubhouse, a cigarette dangling loosely from her fingers. “Not that much. I knew her, ‘cause she was married to Marco, but I never really hung out with my dad and his friends. She’s a little older than me. She was just a
nother of the wives, one of those pretty, trophy women men like Marco liked to have hanging on their arm, even though they spent most of their time fucking around behind their backs.” She takes a long drag on her cigarette and stares out into the distance. “I never had all that much respect for them. We had nothing in common.”
“She was a princess, darlin’. Just like you.”
Her head snaps around, her eyes locking on mine. “She was nothing like me, Vanni.”
“She ran, Piper. Just like you did.”
“She wasn’t running, she just came looking for Logan. She thought he could help her, thought all he had to do was…” She trails off, taking another, even longer drag on that cigarette. “All that time married to that asshole and she still has no fucking idea…”
I watch her for a second or two, watch the way her shoulders tighten, her whole body stiffening. Is there something I don’t know about? Some big secret she’s keeping from me?
She stubs the half smoked cigarette out on the side of the table and slides down, dragging her fingers back through her hair.
“Does it complicate things? Her being here?”
I shake my head and lean back against the wall; her body language is still bothering me. I’m not sure what I’m looking at here. “No, baby, it don’t complicate anything. Just gives us another reason for wiping that man from existence.”
“And we’ve really got to stay here, huh? Locked away in this compound?”
“You wanna live, darlin’?”
She looks at me, and she doesn’t answer that, she doesn’t need to.
“Then you stay locked away. Leave the rest to me and my brothers.”
“Don’t worry my pretty little head about anything, right?”
I frown as I watch her agitated behavior. Yeah. Something isn’t right here. “You got something on your mind, baby girl?”
She looks up, her eyes meeting mine, and she shakes her head. “No. I’m fine.”
“You sure about that?”
“I said I’m fine. You’re dealing with everything, so what have I got to be scared of?”
I narrow my eyes as she passes me, heads into the clubhouse, but I stop her by gently grabbing her wrist and she drops her gaze to my fingers as they tighten around her.
“You’d talk to me, Piper. If you had something on your mind. You’d talk to me.”
She raises her gaze and looks straight at me. “You know I would.”
I’m not sure. Not anymore. There’s something going on, something I don’t know about, but I’m gonna make it my mission to find out ‘cause if it’s shit that’s gonna affect this job, then it needs dealing with. Fast.
“Can I go grab a shower now?”
I let go of her wrist and she walks away, back inside.
“Everything OK?”
I turn around at the sound of Logan’s voice. “Where’s Reba?”
He jerks his head toward the clubhouse entrance. “Inside. Della’s introducing her to the girls.”
“And you had no idea she was gonna turn up, huh?”
He waits a second before he answers my question, and I can see from his expression that this isn’t something he’s enjoying, having his ex-girlfriend land on his doorstep like this. And after Piper filled me in on their history, I can kinda understand why.
“Must be tough, having her turn up outta the blue like this.”
“She needs our help.”
“You over her?”
“I was over her years ago, Vanni.”
“You sure?”
“What the hell is this, huh? When did you turn into a relationship counselor?”
I laugh quietly, I can understand his frustration; forgive him his attitude. There’s a lot of crazy shit going down right now, we’re all a little tense.
“Look, I’m sorry, Vanni, I just… Yeah, it threw me, her turning up like that, and then her connection to Piper…”
“It’s OK, brother. It’s a crazy situation, I know, but now we gotta pull together to make sure those women stay safe. Vierra’s coming for Piper, but if they find out we got his wife here, too…”
I don’t need to finish that sentence. We all know what the consequences of this could be, but it’s my job to make sure they don’t happen.
“When it’s done we’ll make sure Reba gets to safety. She knows the score, right? Knows she has to disappear, that we’re gonna make sure we wipe every trace of her existence away?”
“She knows.”
“We take Vierra down, and we make the rest of them believe she’s dead. Then we get her somewhere safe.”
People think I’m a crazy motherfucker but I help those here within my chosen family. I help my brothers.
“Thanks, Vanni.”
I slap him lightly on the back and head toward my Harley parked up by Dragon’s tattoo studio. Pity we gotta shut that off to the public for a few days, while we sort this shit out. He makes us a lot of money, my cousin.
“Go make sure everyone knows what they’re doing,” I call back over my shoulder. “Tell Bullet to meet me at the Glendale lock-up in an hour.”
I got word that Vierra’s not far from California now. He’s closing in, he knows where Piper is, and we gotta be ready for when he finally finds her. ‘Cause that bastard, he isn’t gonna win this one. He isn’t gonna win shit…
Piper
I wrap the towel around myself and step out of the shower, run a brush quickly through my damp hair and head back out into the room Vanni’s commandeered for our stay here at the clubhouse.
“You look good, all wet.”
“Jesus Christ, Logan, what the fuck are you doing in here?” I back up against the wall, clutching the top of the towel. “If Vanni catches you…”
“Vanni’s heading over to Glendale, I’ve just watched him ride out of the compound. He won’t be back for a while yet.”
“You still shouldn’t be here, what if anyone else saw you come in?”
“Nobody saw me. Do you really think I’m that stupid?”
That’s not the point, and he knows that. He shouldn’t be anywhere near me, not here, not at the clubhouse. Not like this.
“Where’s Reba?”
Just saying her name makes my throat tighten, and I don’t know why, I don’t feel shit for Logan Sandero. He doesn’t feel shit for me. We were nothing more than a dangerous mistake, one we need to put behind us, now more than ever.
“Della’s taken her to check out Dragon’s studio.”
“Getting inked, is she?”
“I have no idea. I don’t care.”
“You don’t, huh?”
He moves a little closer to me, and I feel my heart start to beat faster, faster than it should be doing, it’s racing!
“I needed to see you, Piper. Alone.”
“Why?”
“Reba being here… I know it’s the kinda coincidence nobody could’ve predicted, but… Shit, Piper, it’s happened. And it’s messed-up and complicated and… I don’t feel the same way about her, not anymore.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“You don’t know me, Piper. So you don’t get to have an opinion on that, you just have to believe me.”
“I don’t have to believe shit, Logan. And it’s got nothing to do with me anyway, whether you still feel anything for Reba or not. Whatever we had, whatever we did, that’s over. Done. So you shouldn’t be here, you need to go.”
But he isn’t leaving, instead he moves closer still, tucks his fingers into the top of my towel and pulls it away, and I try to frantically grab it back but he tosses it aside, taking my hand and clutching it so tight he almost crushes my fingers.
“I’m going nowhere, Piper.”
I need him to go, and this time I can make him. I don’t have to have him stay because making him leave would look suspicious, I’m free of that now. I can make him go, if I want to. And there’s the stumbling block.
I close my eyes as his mouth lowers down onto mine, his kiss soft and dee
p and I fall against him, his arm circling my waist as he pulls me closer.
“I can’t go back to her, Piper.”
“And I can’t be your distraction anymore, Logan. It’s far too dangerous.”
“The danger didn’t stop you before. What makes it so different now?”
I manage to push him away and retrieve the towel, covering myself back up. “A clubhouse full of people for starters. Jesus, Logan, come on! One of those people is the woman you used to love, for Christ’s sake!”
“Used to, Piper. Past fucking tense, sweetheart.”
“Bullshit!”
He cocks his head slightly, his eyes narrowing as he stares at me. “You know what I’m feeling now, huh?”
“I can see it in your eyes, when you talk about her. I saw it earlier today and I’m seeing it now. And I won’t be that distraction anymore, Logan. It’s real now, all this shit, it’s real. We’re not cooped up alone in Vanni’s hideaway, we’re here, and we have to accept what’s in front of us.”
“Which is?”
“Maybe Reba’s come back for a reason…”
He throws back his head and laughs, which kind of pisses me off.
“You’ll be telling me there’s really a pot of gold at the end of the fucking rainbow next. I don’t believe in fate, Piper. It’s a crock of shit, there’s no such thing as happy-ever-afters, life isn’t a fucking fairy tale.”
“You just won’t let yourself be happy, will you?”
He comes over to me, reaching out to touch my face. “I’m happy, fucking you.”
I swipe his hand away and step back from him. “Let’s face it, Logan, fucking me was a way of you ignoring all the shit you just won’t face up to.”
“You really are spinning a great line in crap right now, you know that?”
“You don’t give a shit about me, Logan. I’m nothing to you…”
“You’re wrong.”
I look at him, right at him, our eyes locking, and I feel my stomach dip, a strange feeling taking over my insides.
“I’m nothing to you, Logan.”
Logan
Protection (Death Knights MC Series Book 1) Page 14