Life of a Fool (London Brothers Book 2) (6 page)

BOOK: Life of a Fool (London Brothers Book 2)
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“Yeah?”  I whispered. 

“Don’t make a sound.  Go tell Lori Ann not to even breathe. 
I can see…
someone
who doesn’t belong.” 

Fuck.

“Got it.”  I walked slowly to the bedroom and found Lori Ann
sitting up in the bed crossed-legged and staring at her phone.  Her face was
white as a sheet and tears dripped from her eyes.  “Hey,” I whispered.  “Are
you okay?”  She didn’t answer, just kept staring at her phone.  “Craig saw
something suspicious in the hallway, so we aren’t leaving the room just yet.” 
I tried to make my voice sound soothing.  “Be really quiet.” 

Her face was full of terror, so I climbed onto the bed next
to her.  She held her phone out to me, showing me a text she’d received.  Her
hands were shaking uncontrollably. 

Antonio:  You know you can’t hide from me, il mio
amante. 
My lover.
  I will always find you, and when I do, you will be
punished for running away.  I’m very angry with you.

“Craig!”  I whisper-yelled and bolted off the bed, making my
way to the hotel door.  “Take a look.  You were right to keep us here,
brother.  This
shit
is him!  No doubt.”

Craig took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a few seconds,
and said, “Okay.  Just keep quiet.  Let me see what happens.  Looks like the
desk manager is in on it ‘cause I can see him looking up and down the hall for
us.  No noise.  Tell her.  Now.”  His calm demeanor about the text unnerved me,
but I did what he said and tiptoed to the bedroom and watched as Lori Ann
quietly packed her bag. 

“What are you doing?’  I whispered.

“I need to leave.  Now.  He will kill me this time.  I just
know it.”

I grabbed her wrists.  “Stop.  Let us protect you, baby.”  I
pulled
my girl
close and held on tight as she sobbed. 

“I don’t have the strength to fight you, Jace.  Usually I
do, but not now.  I’m just not that strong.  You need to get me out of here and
help me find my footing.  Otherwise, I’ll be dead in a month.”  Her words just
floored me.  What in the fuck had happened to my best friend?  I should have
figured this out sooner, but I let my pride get in the way.

“Look at me.”  She lifted her face and stared into my eyes. 
“I’ll never leave you again, Lori Ann.  I promise.  Lie back on the bed, and
stay still and quiet.  Craig and I will figure this out.  Okay?”  I kissed her
forehead as she sat back down on the edge of the mattress and then scooted back
against the headboard.

“I’m scared.”  I looked into her tearful eyes and felt such
remorse, such hatred for myself for not knowing and such relief that she was
now with me.

“I know.  But we will get you home, Legs.  I promise.”  And
for some unknown reason, I kissed her lips this time.  It was slow, sweet, and
soothing, and she didn’t flinch or fight.  Not a good thing for me because I
pretty much wanted to devour her right then and there, in the midst of our
nightmare.  But I pulled back and looked into her eyes.  “I need to go check
with Craig.  I’ll be right back.” 

But both her hands, even the one in a cast, came up and
cupped my face.  “Wait,” she said, staring into my eyes.  I saw her gaze widen
as if she’d seen something deep within my soul.  Lori Ann leaned in and kissed
my lips.  And I watched her as she watched me, never closing our eyes, both of
us completely consumed by the voices in our heads telling us—
something

I
wanted
her, like I’d wanted her a thousand times before, but she was
still untouchable.  So I pulled back and repeated my words.  “I need to go
check with Craig.  I’ll be right back.” 

With a sad, sweet smile, Lori Ann muttered, “Okay.”  Her
expression had me very confused, but happy too.  I wanted to ask what she was
thinking, but now wasn’t the time.  “Jace?” she called as I was at the
threshold of the door.  I turned to look at her and saw her tears.  “Thank
you.  You know you’re my best friend—have always been my best friend—and I love
you dearly.”

“Right back at you, Legs.”  I winked and walked away.  I
wanted to say more, but decided to keep it light as I closed the pocket doors
to the bedroom and crept to the front door of our suite, focusing on the task
at hand.  “Anything?”

“Just a few people lingering in the hall.  Who the hell
is
this guy?”  Craig asked, never taking his eye off the peephole. 

“You know as much as I do.  He’s a newly rich, newly
powerful Italian guy that has a new group of followers with questionable
interests,” I answered.

“Right,” Craig whispered, then froze.  “I see you,” he
quietly said to himself as he motioned for me to take a peek into the hallway. 
I stepped up and put my eye to the small hole and there, just a few feet away,
I saw him.  Antonio DiSabatino, aka the wife-beating Italian, was staring at
our door, and it took everything in me not to jerk the door open and give him a
taste of his own medicine. 

“Don’t do it.”  Craig’s hand landed on my shoulder, and I
turned to see him glance at my left hand that was gripped on the door handle. 
I released it and shook my head in disgust at the balls of Lori Ann’s bastard
husband. I wanted a pound of
his
flesh and vowed I’d get it one way or
another.  The knock on the door startled me, causing my body to jump back away
from the door.  “Fuck.  Now what?”  I mouthed to Craig, but he just held his
index finger to his lips and stood perfectly still, except to reach for his gun
case sitting on the small table near the door.

“Move back from the door.  You know people can tell when
your eye is on that.”  He was pointing to the peephole.  I crouched down and
slowly moved backwards.  I felt naked without my weapon.  It was in the bedroom
with Lori Ann, but I wasn’t about to leave that door to go get it.

“Il mio amante,”
My lover.
  “I know you are in this
room.  Come out now so that I can take you home.  This is between us, and your
friends can’t save you.”  His thickly accented Italian voice was just as slimy
sounding as you would imagine.  The sound of footsteps behind us had Craig and
I turning to see Lori Ann moving toward the door.  She still had her pajamas on
and didn’t hold her suitcase in her hand, which I was glad to see.  I was
afraid she’d try to leave to protect Craig and me.  I turned and walked the few
feet to stand in front of her as Craig walked closer to the door. 

Cupping her face, I whispered, “Go back to bed, Legs.  You’re
not going anywhere, and neither are we.  He’ll leave.”  I kissed her nose, and
she leaned her head on my shoulder as she stepped up next to my body.  “Come
on.  I’ll go with you.” 

“Craig?”

“I got this,” he said.  “Go get her settled.” 

But before we could walk away, we heard The Italian say, “Lori
Ann, you have until the morning to say goodbye to these friends of yours.  Do.
It.  Johnny will be around to collect you at 8:00 am.  You know you have no
choice.” 
What an arrogant prick!  No. Fucking. Way.

Craig continued to watch for several long seconds as Lori
Ann and I just stood still.  “He’s walking away.  Shit, girl.  Where did you
find this asshole?”

Lori Ann sighed, then rested her forehead against my chest.  “I
swear to you he wasn’t like this until a year ago.  Or maybe he was, but kept
it hidden.  Hell, I don’t know anymore.  All I know is he never hurt me, never
said a cross word to me until
that night
.  Then, it was like he couldn’t
or didn’t want to go back to the Antonio I knew.”

“Well, we need to get out of here, but now isn’t the time. 
Let’s try to get a few hours of sleep.  You know he isn’t just going to
disappear and come back in the morning.  He’ll have someone watching all the
entrances.  So, what do we do?”  I asked.

“Right.  You two go sleep.  I’ll stay up for a bit, think up
something, then wake you up so I can catch a few hours.”

“Sounds good.”  I walked with Lori Ann back into the bedroom
and sat on the edge of the bed as she lay down.  “Hey,” I said, placing my hand
on her cheek, “it’s gonna be okay.”  She closed her eyes, took a deep breath,
and reached to cover my hand with hers.  Had I not been watching closely, I
would’ve missed the subtle shake of her head.  An intense heaviness settled in
my chest.  She was considering that bastard’s words—considering going back. 
Rage consumed me, and I had to walk away before I pushed back so hard she’d run
for sure.  “I’ll be right back,” was all I could force out of my mouth as I
pushed off the bed.

Eyes shot open to look at me before, “Okay,” slipped from
her lips. 

My fucking jaw felt like I was going to grind my teeth to
nubs as I made the twenty steps out of the bedroom and into the living room
with Craig.  Glancing up from his computer, he asked, “What?  You look like you’re
about to rip someone’s head off.”

“She’s fucking considering going back to
him
!  I saw
it on her face.  She’s actually considering it!  After we came all this way
here to help her.  What. The. Hell.”

“Wait, are you sure?”

“Yes.”  I raked my hands through my short hair and spewed
out a few more curse words.  “I don’t even know that person in there.”  I
whispered as I pointed to the bedroom.

“Just calm down.  You know we aren’t letting her do that. 
She can’t sneak past both of us to go back to him.  Do you think it’s because
she’s trying to protect us?”

“Yes.”

“Well, calm your shit, then.  That’s exactly the Lori Ann we
know.”  Craig was right.  She’d always been the ultimate protector. 

I took a deep breath.  “You’re right.”  And I knew he was,
but the mere thought of Lori Ann being out of my grasp again was strangling
me.  “What the hell are we going to do?”

“We wait.  I’m looking online now for what is around here,
around this hotel.  You and I don’t have a good lay of the land, and we’re
going to desperately need it if we’re to get to the airport safely.” 

“What time is our flight?”

“8:45 am.  I think our only option is to just go for it. 
Take our chances on just bolting from this place.  We can call a private car,
have them pick us up in a few hours, hall ass to the airport, and get through
security as fast as possible.  Maybe you and Lori Ann could go ahead, get her
safely through to the gate, and I’ll check the backpacks with our weapons.  I’d
feel better once we’re in a very public place where, unless The Italian buys a
ticket, he can’t go through security.”

“I wouldn’t put it past him to do just that.  This whole
situation makes me uneasy.  The last thing we need is some international
incident at the airport between a couple of US cops who look like they’re
stealing away with the Italian playboy’s wife.  Doesn’t matter if she says
otherwise. 
We
will look like the bullies, not him.”

“I think you’re right.  This could get uglier if we aren’t
careful.”

“So, it’s what…”  I looked at the clock and saw it was a
little after four in the morning.  “We need to leave in a few hours, maybe
about six?  Shit.  Okay, let’s call the same car service we used yesterday.”

“I’m on it.”  I was so grateful I’d forced Craig to come
with me.  Every step, he kept me from doing something stupid, like trying to
beat the shit out of Antonio at the house and here at the hotel.  Craig picked
up his cell phone and made the call to the car company.  “I’m not using the
hotel phone, just in case.”

“Good idea.”

“Go sleep.  I’ll wake you in an hour.”

“Thanks, man.  You know I would’ve fucked this up had you
not come with me.”

“Not true.  But I’m glad I’m here with you.  It would’ve
driven me nuts waiting to hear that Lori Ann was okay and you’d gotten her out.”

I didn’t know what else to say.  So, I shook Craig’s hand,
nodded, and walked back to the bedroom and Lori Ann.  When I quietly slipped
through the door, I stopped and stared at the beautiful woman laying in the
bed.  She looked small, fragile with her arm in a cast and her legs tucked
under her as she lay on her side.  As much as I hated to admit it, I was still
in love with my best friend.  But there was nothing I could do about it.  I’d
never mentioned my feelings again after that Spring day back in college when we
both realized “friendship” was all we were going to have.  Yes, I’d dated
plenty and had a few long-term relationships, one that I thought I wanted to
marry, but when it came right down to it, I never popped the question.  She got
bored with my shit and left.  I didn’t blame her either. 

Here and now, though, my Lori Ann needed me to keep her safe
and get her home.  That was my focus.  Had to be my
only
focus.  So
instead of crawling into bed next to her like I wanted, I picked up the thin blanket
at the end of the bed and tried my best to sleep for a while in the wing chair
that sat in the corner of the room.  And it sucked because the hardest thing in
the world was to love someone that was off limits.  I needed to rein in my
feelings.

 

Chapter 6
Lori Ann

I’d heard the whole conversation between Craig and Jason. 
They were worried about what I might do.  Hell, Jason thought I was going to go
running back to Antonio.  That was not happening.  Yes, I wanted to leave, but
I wasn’t going back to my old life with him.  I was going to run…find a way out
of Italy on my own and protect the two men in the other room from any shit my
husband was planning.  Yes, in my current medical condition, that was going to
be difficult if not impossible, but I figured if I was gone, he’d leave them
alone and come searching for me.  I wasn’t a martyr.  I just felt horrible for
dragging my two best friends into my mess. 

But Jason—well, I couldn’t abandon him and all his efforts
to save me.  So, as they planned our escape in the other room, I slipped into
bed.  I wasn’t asleep when Jace came back into the room.  I was curled up in my
protective ball, thinking.  When he didn’t climb into bed with me, my heart
sank.  I was feeling lost and vulnerable, and I wanted him to wrap his arms
around me and make me feel safe like he always had.  I felt the tears slide
down the side of my face as I held in every sound so Jason wouldn’t hear me.

BOOK: Life of a Fool (London Brothers Book 2)
7.17Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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