Desired Too (33 page)

I stalked close to her, letting my hatred for this man spill over. She needed to see why I was going to kill him. This, however, would be the only time I would explain myself to her.

“Raquel, this is completely his fault and his mess. He had no business involving you, but he did. He’s baiting me, do you understand? He knowingly put you in harm’s way to save his useless ass, baby. He lied and manipulated you into helping him, and he almost got you killed in the process.”

She backed away, shaking her head, but I knew she understood what I was telling her.

“Tell me all of it,” she insisted. “What did he do?”

And I did.

“Igor works for Basile, Raquel. He’s on his payroll. He gave you that sob story about being a PI, but he’s one of Basile’s foot soldiers, like what Tiko and Alonzo are to me. Unfortunately, the dumb son of a bitch got pinched.  The Feds picked him up, and they gave him a choice; testify and spill all that he knows on Basile or go to prison for a very long time. I’m sure they told him all the shit they were going to charge him with and he believed them.”

“He chose to testify?” she asked, not really looking at me as she spoke.

“Yeah, he did, however he knew if Basile found out what he was doing, he’d be dead either way. So he figured out a way to help the Feds, leaving his name out. That’s when he went to you.”

“And I helped him like an idiot,” she finished.

I didn’t reply. She didn’t need me to. She closed her eyes and leaned against the kitchen island. I finished buttoning my shirt and tucked it in. I went to my closet by my front door to one of many safes that I had stored in the apartment. I pulled out two H&Ks. I grabbed my double shoulder holsters, checked both weapons and placed them inside the holsters. I grabbed a few magazines and closed the safe.

When I emerged from the closet, she was sitting on one of the stools at the bar with the bottle I had a minute ago in her tight grip. She took a swig and looked at me.

“Was he ever in protective custody? I mean, did he just give me up to Basile?”

I pushed her hair behind her ear. “Yeah, he was in protective custody. The Feds had what they needed to charge Basile with a shitload of offenses. However, as with most families, he had someone on the inside.”

“Inside the FBI?” She looked skeptically.

I nodded. “Yes, baby, the Fed, can be bought just as much as a lonely police officer or detective. Anyway, about a month ago, the evidence they had against Basile miraculously disappeared. They didn’t have a case; therefore, they didn’t need Igor anymore. They let him go.”

She shook her head and took another swig. “I don’t understand, Leo. Then why would he come here?”

I sighed, took the bottle from her, and placed it on the bar. I pushed the cap back on the bottle, took her hand, grabbed my jacket, and led her toward the back room.

“Mi amore, that’s simple. Being with you was the safest place he could be.”

“No, wait a minute, Angel.” She stopped walking, still unable to stomach everything I was telling her. “I was a target in San Francisco. He couldn’t-”

“Baby, you weren’t the target, he was.”

“Basile had one of my investigators killed, another was almost killed. He trashed my office, sent me threatening calls.”

I shook my head. Some of this was news to me. Yet, I didn’t let her see the shock. I took both of her hands in mine and moved closer to her.

“I don’t know what to tell you about that. From what was told to me, Basile just learned of you a month ago, and it wasn’t from Innis.” She looked at me questioningly and I added, “My brother heard about you and Innis and has added you to his scheme to take over the family. Basile is in town and has a meeting with my father in a little while. I’m going. So I need you to change those short ass shorts of yours and let’s go.”

She frowned. “Where am I going?”

“To one of the safest places you can be. My father’s house.”

“What about Eddie?”

“Don’t you worry about him. Now, go and get ready. I have to make a call and-”

Suddenly the window closest to us exploded, sending shards of glass and bullets flying toward us! I was able to push Raquel down and cover her with mine as bullets continued to rain around us. I thought about hearing Lincoln’s mouth after he finds out about this.  Every other window had bulletproof glass only because I wanted to allow fresh air in my apartment during the spring and fall months. Lincoln told me it would be a bad idea and sure enough, as I covered Raquel, I had to agree with him.

When the bullets stopped, I sprang to my feet.

“You all right?” I asked and she nodded quickly. “Stay here.”

Before she could argue, I was already out of my door, guns in hand.

I was expecting to see Junior lying on the sidewalk dead or hunched behind a car. But as I looked around, I didn’t see him at all.

“Where the hell is he?”

I heard movement behind me, and I whirled around to find Raquel standing in the doorway.

“Raquel, what the hell are you doing?” I chastised her.

She frowned and came out to the sidewalk. “Oh, please, Leo. You needed someone to have your back.”

It was then that I noticed she had a .38 in a two-handed grip pointing down in front of her.

Shit, she was fucking hot!

She looked up and down the street before she fitted her weapon in the back of her shorts. She smirked at me and shook her head as I moved in her direction, desire evident in my eyes.

“You are a piece of work. Do you know that?” she asked with a smile.

I shrugged. “Do you realize how sexy you look holding a gun?”

Keeping my guns pointing down, I started to move to her sexy ass lips when I heard tires screeching behind me. I turned quickly, raising my gun, when automatic gunfire erupted again.

“Shit, Raquel, get down!” I yelled, but realized quickly I didn’t have to. She was already moving, taking cover behind a car directly behind us.

I moved quickly to her side, firing blindly as I went.

I covered my body over Raquel as glass and bullets continued to pummel us.

Fuck, we’re screwed. Where in the hell is Junior?

I could feel Raquel’s body trembling underneath me as I tried my best to figure out how I was going to save her from this mess.

At that moment, fate was definitely on my side. The shooting stopped just in enough time to hear more tires screeching. The shooting started up again, however, the firing wasn’t in our direction. I risked a glance and found Tiko and Stretch coming from a car that was to my left.

Thank fuck
, I thought to myself as I came up from behind the car and returned fire of my own.

I saw five men firing outside of their trucks in the direction of Tiko and Stretch and was able to hit two while Tiko or Stretch hit another before the remaining two got back into their truck and backed up from us. Not liking the fact that they were getting away, I headed in their direction, emptying my clips in the front passenger side window.

As the car disappeared around the corner with Stretch giving chase, I turned my attention to Raquel.

She was still curled in a ball with her hands holding her ears. I gave a nod to Tiko and moved to her.

“
Amore
,” I called to her, then touched her arms.

She looked up at me eyes wide, tears running down her cheeks.

“It’s okay, baby. It’s over. Come on.”

I helped her stand, placing her gun in the front of her shorts and hugged her. I kissed her forehead and kept her close. When I pulled back, I wiped her cheeks with my thumbs.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded and looked around. “Did they get away?”

“For now, but I’ll find out what happened. Why don’t you go inside, change and I’ll be in there in a minute? There’s no way anyone could get into the apartment without me knowing, so you’re safe. The cops, I’m sure, are on their way. I don’t want you anywhere near this shit, okay?”

She looked around and found two of my people she recognized around me. I nudged her on. “Go on, baby. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” she whispered, and I waited until she disappeared into the apartment before I turned to face Tiko and Stretch.

“What the fuck just happened!”

I couldn’t stop my body from shaking. I walked into the bathroom closest to the kitchen and splashed cold water on my face.

Holy shit that had to be, by far, the scariest moment I had ever experienced.

My emotions were already on an all-time high. From finding out Ira was a ratfink son of a bitch who purposefully put my life in jeopardy to hearing Angel Leonetti tell me, in his native tongue, that he was in love with me. I should have passed out from that alone.

Ironically, though, I was charged up. The adrenaline was pumping through my veins at an unbelievable speed. I didn’t think my heart could keep up.

I’d never witnessed anything like that. I should have been flipping out. I’d just seen three dead bodies lying in the street. After that, I had stared at the grim reaper, again, as bullets flew all around me. What’s crazy, what had me studying myself in the mirror, was my lack of hysteria. It was odd to me that I wasn’t losing my mind. No, what I felt was something else, something disturbing and deep.

I was horny. Yes, I was, because something was totally wrong with me, I couldn’t stop thinking about the feel of Angel’s body tight and hard up against mine, shielding and protecting me. His instincts were enough to make me warm and fuzzy. Just thinking about his quick thinking sent chills all through me. However, watching his badass yield two Glocks in his hands, shooting them both with accuracy, skills, and deadly results, had my panties soaked.

I ran my hands through my hair, pushing it away from my face.
Something is definitely wrong with you, girl.

I shrugged the feeling off, moved quickly to the back room, and took off my shorts. I grabbed a pair of jogging pants and threw them on over my sneakers. I grabbed my gun, pulled the magazines out of my shorts, along with my wallet and placed them in the pocket of my pants.

I walked back into the glass and bullet debris-filled living room and surveyed the damage.  There were bullet holes everywhere. Glass and chunks of brick was strewn all over the apartment. One thing that I thought was odd was the second and fourth windows. They were still intact. I wasn’t sure how that was, but I was thankful nonetheless.

I went to grab the broom to start to clean up the mess, but after a few seconds, I was over it. I was too pumped up to stay inside. I needed to get out there and be next to Angel.

What I couldn’t do, though, was go out of the front door or the garage. Angel would see me instantly and tell me to get back inside the apartment. I understood that he wanted to keep me out of harm’s way, but he didn’t understand the need I had to stay close to him.

I remembered Angel had a door in the garage that led out to the side of the building. I figured once he saw me already outside, he wouldn’t have the energy to argue. He’d have to understand that I couldn’t just sit around and wait for him. As I moved quickly to the garage door, I wondered why I hadn’t heard any sirens yet. All of that shooting that had just gone down; you would think the entire Philadelphia Police Department would have zeroed in on this place. However, it was silent.

I didn’t bother with the lights from the garage. I knew where the door was and went there with ease. The door I needed had an alarm panel next to it. The panel’s LED light allowed me to punch in the code and once I heard the click, I stepped out to the side of the building.

I looked to my left quickly, then my right, and I saw Junior’s truck sitting there to the right of me.

I frowned. I knew Angel was cussing him the hell out right now. When he’d dropped me off earlier, his truck was in the front of the building. Why would he move it?

I started for the truck, then stopped.

Something wasn’t right. I could literally feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise.

My heart started beating out of control. I swear you could hear it in the still of the coming dusk.

I pulled out my gun and took it off safety. I looked around again and listened for any movement around me. All was quiet, except for the pounding of my heart in my chest and the blood pulsing in my ears.

I couldn’t see inside the cab of the truck through the back and side windows because of the tint. I needed to get to the front.

I moved slowly and realized the passenger’s window was down. There was no glass on the sidewalk so I figured it was just down. I took a quick peek and caught a figure sitting on the driver’s side.

Shit!

I didn’t move. I crouched down against the truck waiting, listening for sounds of footsteps around me or any other threatening noises. If this was Junior just sitting in his truck after all that gunfire, something definitely wasn’t right. I also needed to be prepared to handle him if it came to it. I needed to have Angel’s back.

After a few seconds, I willed myself to keep moving. Being careful as to not give away my position, I crept painfully slow, until I was parallel to the front of the truck.

I leaned cautiously forward and saw Junior sitting there with his head lulled to the side.

Is this idiot sleep?

I moved closer to see inside the cab and my hands went instantly to my mouth to muffle the scream that was undoubtedly about to burst. I closed my eyes for a second, trying desperately to get a hold of myself. I took a few deep breaths and opened my eyes. He wasn’t sleep. Junior was dead, with part of the back of his head was missing.

Oh, God! Junior…

With my initial cursory glance, I figured he was the product of the drive by, but as I looked further into the cab, a few things caught my attention. First, if someone came down the street, shot, and killed him, I would see glass on him, and I didn’t. Second, there was no way he would be sitting there, leaving Angel exposed. I had been with Junior all day. All he cared about was making sure I was safe for his boss. I could tell his head and his heart was where it needed to be. Third, Junior wouldn’t have had his window down for anything. That alone hinted he knew his attacker. Lastly, there wasn’t much blood in the car. You would expect from a vicious head wound to see brain matter and blood all over the truck, but the blood was minimal.

No, Junior was shot somewhere else, placed in his truck and he and the truck was moved from the front of the building. If I was right, then whoever shot Junior had to be close by.

I needed to warn Angel.

Forgetting the fact that he’d blow a gasket because I didn’t listen to him, I charged around the corner at a rapid pace getting Angel in my sights.

Angel was talking animatedly to Tiko and Stretch in front of the building.

I moved as quickly as I could and when I was close, I called to him.

Angel whipped his head around and bared a set of angry eyes in my direction. I ignored his gaze and got ready to go on defense when I literally saw his life flash before my eyes.

Everything happened in slow motion, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was as if I was watching a damn movie.

Angel looked back at his men, then turned to come towards me. It was then that I stopped walking and was about to tell him about Junior when I noticed Stretch step back from Tiko. The disappearance of Stretch’s hand behind his back put me on instant alert, and I took my eyes off Angel for a split second. I looked around wondering if there was someone else creeping up on us. As my eyes returned, I saw Stretch pull out his gun and aimed it in front of him. I screamed for Angel to look out at the same time I saw the front of Tiko’s head explode. Brains and bones sprayed everywhere and before Tiko dropped, Stretched turned his gun on Angel.

I screamed again, but I wasn’t sure of the events I was seeing. Angel was already turning to come to me, but I guess he saw Stretch go for his weapon or he sensed it because in that moment, before Tiko’s dead body dropped to the ground, Angel was rolling on the ground, trying to get away from a bullet that Stretch had aimed for his head.

Angel, in mid-roll, pulled out his guns and without hesitation put multiple rounds into Stretch’s chest.

I started running, but, damn, it was as if I was running in five feet of snow. My legs wouldn’t move as fast as my brain willed them to.

I needed to get to him.

I couldn’t be certain of the chain of events. Did Angel fall to the ground before or after Stretch fired his second shot?

I suddenly noticed a hint of a light reflecting off black metal. At first, I thought it was just the streetlights reflecting off a car next to me, but as I turned, I saw Adriano creeping up alongside the parked cars.

He was heading right for Angel, and I knew in an instant that it wasn’t to have Angel’s back.

I pulled up my arm, gun still in my hand, and held back. I set my feet and brought my left hand up to support my right. Shit, my arm felt like it was made out of lead.

Again, I couldn’t get my body to react as fast as I needed. However, I managed to get the gun up and as Adriano came into my sights, I tapped my trigger, sending one bullet through his shoulder. The momentum of the shot and him running, caused his body to turn to face me. Before he trained his weapon on me, I sent two directly center mass.

What felt like a lifetime, probably took seconds, and then everything was over.

I stood there in my stance, looking around frantically for any more threats. I was ready, my trigger finger taunt and waiting.

I didn’t feel him at first. Hell, I didn’t even see him. After a few seconds, I finally heard his voice through the haze in my brain.

“
Mi amore,
baby, it’s all right. It’s over. Everything is fine, and we’re safe.”

His voice was soothing, warm, and safe. I blinked a few times as my reality came back to me in full force. It was then that I could feel his hand wrapped around my grip on my gun.

“That’s it, baby. Relax. Put the gun down.” As I did, he continued to coax me. “That’s it. Nice and slow.”

I finally let out a breath that I had to have been holding for decades because the release in my chest was palpable.

Holy Shit!

I turned and looked up at him and found his reassuring eyes on me.

“Are you okay?” I managed to croak.

He smiled and shook his head, in disbelief of my concern for him. “Yes, baby, I’m okay. Thanks to you.”

I let my arms fall to my sides and collapsed against him.

“I got you, baby. I got you.” I felt him take the gun from me and wrapped me in his arms.

When we started to hear the sirens in the distance, Angel snapped into action. He took my gun and laid it on the ground with his.  He handed me his phone and told me to call Darrell and tell him what happened.

He then moved away from the gun and laid on the ground, arms laced behind his head.

I stepped back and called quickly as the cops screeched to a stop in front of the building. I wasn’t sure if Darrell got what I said to him before I dropped the phone in my pocket and placed my hands high in the air. I could hear Angel telling the cops that I had nothing to do with the shooting, but I refused to let him take the heat for this.

I did the best thing I could do for Angel, I unleashed my deadliest weapon; my mouth.

I started talking about how I was going to call my father, who had the mayor and the Chief of Police on speed dial. I announced how heads were going to roll, jobs lost, stuff like that. I told them we had proof of everything and this was self-defense. Of course, they didn’t listen to me. Shoot, the only person that was listening and thoroughly entertained was Angel.

When his lawyer, Darrell and Hugo arrived, things started to move a little faster. The detective assigned to the case, Devarro, finally came as well, and Angel and I told our story of the events of the night. When they asked Angel if he knew who attacked him, he said no, but I knew he was lying. I could sense him tense and his anger almost subdue him.

Angel didn’t lose control in public very often. You really have to push him before he would show such weakness. Oh, I’ve witnessed him go off on people, like the pale guy he thought I was going home with some months back. What he has never done was show that anyone had any power over him. I couldn’t tell if Devarro believed him or not, but he never showed either way.

Angel told him that he had proof of the events that occurred tonight and brought Devarro and a few others into his garage where he kept his security equipment. The cameras caught everything on video, from the mysterious car, then truck that shot up his apartment and us, to Adriano walking up to Junior and shooting him, and Angel’s own people turning on him. Once they looked at the recording and saw that indeed it was a hit on Angel, they let him go. They did keep our guns, though, which we couldn’t fight them on that. They were evidence.

They asked, or shall I say demanded, that we go down to the station for our official statement, but Angel’s lawyer told them not tonight. He told them we’ve been through a lot, namely me, and that we needed some time to wrap our heads around what happened.

Angel promised we would go to the station first thing in the morning.

I will say I was proud of Angel. He remained calm and quiet through it all. I knew Angel was inwardly beyond belligerent, but he remained as passive as he could.

When the police detective allowed us to leave the area in order for them to continue gathering evidence, Angel moved to Darrell.