Two Hitmen: A Double Bad Boy Mafia Romance (Lawless Book 1) (117 page)

In a heartbeat, I’d slipped from being owned by a jealous man I hated to wishing for, craving a man who couldn’t care less what woman fulfilled his needs—just so long as it was never the same woman twice.

The men sat around the table. Carmine said, “Sit on a stool at the breakfast bar,
tezora
. You can watch over us all.” I liked that he used the little Italian term. Even when I was little, I suspected that he called all little girls ‘treasure’ in the same way, but I still liked it.

Massimo, as he was seating himself, threw hostile glances at Bruto. “Who’s this guy?” he spoke to Carmine, but he raised a hand to Bruto, then turned to face him. “Due respect, but you’re nobody here. You just arrived. It’s not only that you aren’t family—we don’t even know your family.”

“Bruto brings with him certain skills,” Carmine said quietly. “He has expertise. We’re pleased to have a man with us with abilities to help us enhance and develop our range of activity.”

“But Carm, I want the john fixed I get a plumber.” Massimo lifted his hand to Bruto again. “Due respect, but I don’t need a monkey with a spanner on the board of my company just so’s I can get my drains cleared.” Massimo’s men who stood around the wall all chuckled. All except the one with the buzzcut.

Massimo was like a tethered, angry bull. He took a moment to speak. A couple of breaths drew in through his nose first and he worked his jaw. “Carm, due respect, okay? You make the calls. All I’m saying, who is this guy, why are we making a space at the table for him?”

Carmine turned to face Massimo and lowered his voice. “Easy, Mass. Bruto is a made guy.” The tension in the room was unbearable. My eyes went up to Luka, but his were so shadowed I couldn’t read him. I couldn’t even tell for sure that he saw me.

“Yeah,” Massimo said, “a made guy from East Bumfuck, Flyover County.” As Massimo’s men laughed quietly, Bruto rose in his chair.

Carmine lifted both hands. Bruto reluctantly sat back down and Massimo sank a little deeper in his seat. I held my breath. Nobody said anything. After a tense moment, Massimo said, “Well, Carm, it’s your call.” Carmine’s head inclined the tiniest amount.

Bruto said, “Okay, the girl.”

Carmine studied him for a moment. “Bruto, I just gave you an endorsement.” Bruto made a respectful nod. Carmine said, “I don’t know how manners run in Flyover,” and he paused. Nobody laughed this time. “But out here, we show respect to women. And I set the agenda.”

Bruto said, “Carm, we all know the form. She’s been close, you know? Meetings that have been right here. She knows faces, names. Some details maybe. We can’t just turn her loose.”

“So, you think I that should give her to you, Bruto?”

“Hey!” Massimo said, “He’s going to walk in here, take Tony’s turf, take his woman? Is he going to be going around scooping up all of Tony’s dues and tastes?”
 

Carmine’s eyes stayed on Bruto. Massimo said, “Are we losing all the work that was Tony’s to the man from Bumfuck?”

I thought about the Russians in the club the night before. Were these men really any scarier than them? I knew that in a very important way, they were. But I also knew that if I stopped to think, I couldn’t act, so I took the chance. I couldn’t help looking at Luka before I stood, but only for a momentary flash.

I couldn’t afford to be drawing my strength from him. I had to find it in myself. But that moment, the spark of contact, it made all the difference.

Quickly, I strode around the table, grateful for the sharp sound of my heels. The clothes and my hair weren’t going to work on my behalf like they did in Hotsteppa’s, and the light wasn’t going to help me out. What I lost from the Mafia Donna, I would have to try to make up with a kind of a tough waif character.

As I tried to think myself into it, all the images seemed uncomfortably close to Smart, Sassy Whore. I didn’t want them to see me that way. These men would all have dealt with dozens of whores, both as customers and as proprietors. I thought about Carmine Monreale, my only possible ally at the table.

I wondered if I could pull off something aristocratic. Not too aloof, not entitled, but accustomed to privilege. An easy authority. Like a highly paid supermodel. A girl who’d gotten what she wanted since she was a baby. Came from old money. Sway the hips, loose. Not trying too hard. It seemed like it could be a powerful image. And I didn’t have anything else.

I put an edge on my voice. “I’m not a truck full of cigarettes or a brick of coke.” I looked right down at Massimo. “I’m not a trafficked whore, either.” I turned to look into Bruto’s face. “And I’m not an asset that you’re going to inherit just because Tony went out on a slippery deck when you took him night fishing in the Hudson.”

The men drew breath, but I could see Massimo growing pale over his cheekbones and reddening up from his neck. I went on before either one of them could start up.

“If you have to keep me on the inside, I’ll accept that, but you keep me as a member.” I thought I caught a twinkle in Carmine’s eye, but I knew that I couldn’t count on it. “A participating member. Ask Vassily if I was able to represent this...” I wasn’t sure what I should call them. “...this
consortium
. If you’re bringing seats to the table, then you’d better get one for me.”

They were quiet. I wanted so very much to look into Luka’s eyes. Ask him silently, “Did I get away with it? Are they going to kill me now?” But I had to hold the attention of the men, draw what I could from their eyes and show them that however dangerous they were, I could look them in the face.

Massimo was rising. He waved a finger in my direction and said, “Furio.”

The big guy with the buzzcut started toward me. Just in front of Furio, Luka hardly seemed to move at all to jam his elbow back into the man’s gut. He bent forward and Luka’s fist slammed up into his throat.

I tried not to flinch and not to show the clamoring tension that I felt inside. Staying still was as much as I could do.

With his foot locked behind the man’s leg Luka pulled him down hard. He put his knee on Furio’s back and his hand on the nape of the big man’s neck as he spoke into his ear. Furio nodded twice and he stayed down where he was.
 

Luka stood and raised both his palms to the men at the table, Massimo in particular. Massimo looked back like he was ready to kill him. Luka looked to Carmine and he waited to speak. Carmine gave him a nod.
 

“Mr. Monreale, it isn’t my place, I know, but while the Russians had their deal with Tony, it was Alexa here who went to talk with them last night. So maybe it’s Tony or her they’ll be expecting to see.”

Bruto and Massimo looked at him with undisguised hostility. Carmine looked at him too and said, “Luka, isn’t it?” Luka made a single nod. “And you were with Alexa last night when she met with Vassily, is that right?” Luka nodded again.

Carmine looked over at Furio, still flat on the floor, and back to Luka. “How would you say that she handled herself?”

“Mr. Monreale, I wish you could have seen her. We could have used someone like Alexa in Afghanistan.”

Carmine said quietly, “Bruto. You had better go find a chair for Alexa.” Then he added, as Bruto dragged himself out of the chair, “Come to think of it, who put you at the head of the table, anyway? Give your seat to Alexa like a gentleman and go find yourself another one.”

I’d won a place at the table, although I was sure none of these men would let me have a say, not even Carmine. Perhaps they’d ask me what I thought and maybe they’d listen politely. That was the most I could expect, but that was enough. I’d established that I wasn’t going to be traded or handed over like a used car.

I wished I could have sat near to Luka. I wanted to feel some strength from him. As it was, I couldn’t even look at him without turning away from the table, and I knew that would have been unwise.
 

Carmine said, “What our friend here says,” his hand indicated Luka, “seems reasonable to me. Vassily’s crew don’t need to be let into any more of our business. They know Alexa and they’ve seen her represent our interests. I think it might be sensible for her to see this thing to its end.”

I felt a dull thud in my stomach as he said that. I had extracted myself from an obviously dangerous situation, but at what cost? What was I going to have to be a part of?
 

Carmine said, “Any views? Bruto?” Bruto’s lips were tight as he shook his head. “Massimo?”

Massimo shrugged as he said, “It’s your call, Carm. I’m good with whatever you say.” His voice was the quietest it had been and his eyes were narrow.

Furio passed near me when the meet was done and Massimo was leaving with his men. Quietly, privately, I told him, “I know you were only doing your job.” He nodded. I made a little shrug and said, “All the same. Sorry about it.”

He kept his face out of view of the others and his eyes forward. “No hard feelings. I know you were working, too.” As he left, he said under his breath, “Cool jackhammer, though,” and we shared a smile.

We seemed to have an understanding, and I was glad of that. I’d sensed that he was going to be a professional about what had happened, and I’d really hoped that I was right. Situations like the ones I was beginning to foresee developing, you couldn’t ever have too many friends or good contacts.

Before Carmine said goodbye to Bruto, he drew me aside.

“I understand you go back a way with Bruto.” I nodded. “Much sentiment involved there?” I straightened as I understood what he was asking me.

“I’m hired as protection for Alexa, Mr. Monreale. All the allegiance that I have here is to her.” I was surprised how much it took for me to keep my feelings out of my voice. Keeping it level took some effort.

He patted my shoulder. “That’s good. See that you take care of her. You’re on my payroll now, so be in touch if you need anything.” I figured he meant anything in the way of instructions. Then, almost like it had just occurred to him, he said, “We may have to do something about Massimo.” And he looked into my eyes.

He turned to Alexa, hugged her, and kissed her. Made sure she had his number. Said something about Tony, how it was “for the best.” I thought she was trying to contain her enthusiasm as she nodded.
 

After extravagant hugs with Bruto, Carmine left. Coming back into the room, Bruto looked hard at me. “What was Carm saying to you?”

“You better ask him.”

Bruto narrowed his eyes. Alexa said it was late and went to her room. As well as the fabulous view of her ass as she left, I was thinking about how she faced Bruto and Massimo down. She was like a child that knew no fear. But I knew, I had already learned, that she did. She’d had plenty to fear in her life, especially in her recent past, so it was all the more impressive.

Bruno took me over to the window, way out of Alexa’s earshot. He was big. An inch and some taller than me. He squared up close to me and said, “Okay, Luka. I don’t care if you took a fucking jump of her. I would have.” He was using his officer tone from the SEALs. “Line in the sand. Doesn’t matter what went before. But she’s my cooz now. Got it?” Like he was just laying out facts.

I said, “My job is to protect her. Carmine confirmed that’s still my job.” His chin tipped up a notch as I looked him in the eye. “I wondered for a while about whether I would have to protect her from Tony. Glad I didn’t need to make that choice.”

A leer pulled at the corner of his mouth and he pushed his nose closer to mine. “And I gave you the job, remember? You thinking you might protect her from me?”

I didn’t move as I asked him, “You going to force me to make that call?” His face was still.

He said, “Look, we got work to do. Don’t cloud the issues here.”

I told him, “Don’t let your dick get in the way of the job, man.” It was rash. I can be that way. But I needed to let him know, the old commanding officer thing, it wasn’t so cut and dry now we were out.

He made an ugly grin. “You sure that’s me you’re thinking of, Luka, letting his dick get in the way? You sure you ain’t falling foul of that yourself?”

My balls were still aching, and it was making me angry and impatient. I wanted to bang Bruto’s face into the toughened glass. See if I could find the fracture point.

Even after Carmine Monreale pretty much telling him flat-out to back off, he still thought he was going to be able to take Alexa as a right. That told me something important, and I needed to keep a cool head.

He got the medals when I should have, and I got the dishonorable discharge. I was over that. But one good thing when they threw me out of the service, that was the end of my taking orders. I’d do what I was hired to do, or I’d give the money back, but I didn’t have to work under any asshole regulations.

Uncle Sam’s regulations gave me a lifetime’s experience. No need to ever return to that pump again.

Codes, honor? That’s another thing.

Alexa came back out in a short, black leather skirt with a big belt and a loose, cotton-candy pink jersey. Bruto looked her up and down, and I was about ready to poleax him right there.

She leaned against the breakfast bar and pouted. “I’m going to get a drink before I turn in.” She looked at Bruto, then at me. “Fix you something?”

Bruto called over, “You can fix me your sweet ass, honeybuns, and I’ll shake it and stir,” and he laughed.

She blinked slowly at him. Her voice was flat. “That’s never going to happen.” I got a charge watching her lay it out for Bruto like that. Then she looked back to me. “How about you, Luka? Join me?”

“He’ll join you, all right. Join the two of you by a connecting pole. That right, Luka?”

I kept my voice quiet. “You looking to start something, Bruto?” He didn’t say anything.

I told her I’d have a bourbon. She fixed us both one. She looked back over her shoulder. “Ice, Coke?” I told her no, I’d have it straight. I could have watched her a whole lot longer, though, leaned over, peeking back at me like that.

As she brought the tumblers with the bourbon, Bruto said, “Get me a beer.”

She handed me my glass and told him, “Waitress is off her shift now.” As he drew breath to say something back, she said, “Get it yourself.”