Bang Bang(20)
Author: Rachel Van Dyken

Phoenix De Lange stood next to him.

Just another man I really didn’t care to see. Ever.

His mentor had died, leaving him in charge of one of the most powerful families next to mine and Campisi’s. It seemed wrong, someone from such a tainted bloodline taking over the Nicolasis. Then again, they weren’t exactly Cabbage Patch Kids so maybe it made sense.

There would only be one reason he would be waiting for me.

He wanted to see his cousin.

The one I’d been kissing and yearning for.

Excellent.

I took the safety off my gun — I never said I was stupid.

With restrained enthusiasm, I got out of the car and made my way towards both figures. Amy was asleep in the front seat.

“So…” Sergio smirked. “The prodigal returns, and a day early?”

“Mocking grin.” Ah my fingers itched to punch him. “Looks stupid on you, but thanks for the empty compliment.”

“Damn.” Phoenix rolled his eyes. “You guys are worse than Tex and Chase. Put on your big girl pants and stop acting like idiots. That’s an order.”

“Not our boss.” I damn near sang that happy truth..

“Still own a gun.” He slapped me on the back. “How is she?”

“Tired.” My entire body was tense. “Freaked out.”

“For good reason.” He squinted towards the car. It was too dark to see inside, after all it really was two a.m. Black circles lined underneath his eyes as he examined the car for a few brief minutes. His brown hair had recently been cut shorter, to his face, making him look younger than the last time I’d seen him. He still looked like hell, just a younger version of it. He’d looked like hell when he’d moved in a week ago—and the shorter haircut didn’t help him look any less haunted.

“So…” I pursed my lips. “She stays here, right?”

“Your room,” Phoenix said slowly. “Bring her to your room, guard her, make sure she’s happy. If I hear as much as a scream I’m shooting you in the thigh so you remember your place.”

“My place,” I said through grit teeth, “Is not in your family, Phoenix.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” His smile was too confident…too knowing. “So, very, very, wrong.” With a shake of his head he slapped me on the back. “But it’s too late to talk business. Go to bed… there’s always tomorrow.”

“Is there?” I snorted.

He paused, his gaze calculating. “If I say no, will you leave? Steal her away? Go into hiding? Say I threaten to kill you… kill you for loving her. Would you leave?”

“No.” I said, a bit pissed off he would even ask. “I would never run.”

“Exactly,” he snapped. “My point exactly.”

He went back in the house leaving me more confused than before. Sergio was staring down at the ground.

“Mind telling me what that was about?”

“So much drama in the families now… so much testosterone, kind of chokes a man.”

“So find a woman.”

“Hah.” He glanced down at the ground, face tense. “I did… she didn’t want me.”

I opened my mouth to say something — anything. But saying something would most likely make it worse. I couldn’t say sorry because in the end it was best that he keep himself far away from Mo Abandonato. The woman he’d loved most of his life — loved from a distance, and now the wife to our leader. The wife to the Cappo. Yeah, life was rarely fair in our line of work.

And that’s what bothered me.

“Take her upstairs,” Sergio barked. “I’ll see you two in a few hours, get some sleep you look like hell.”

“I look better than Phoenix.”

“A corpse looks better than Phoenix.” He waved me off and went back into the house. With a sigh I made my way back to the car and opened the door, pulling Amy into my arms.

“Where are we?” she whispered, her head against my chest.

“Home.” I kissed her forehead. “We’re home.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Amy

I WAS SO WARM and comfortable I didn’t want to open my eyes. Instead, I snuggled back further into the warmth and let out a happy sigh. Then, I did it again, trying to burrow my body.

“Do that again and we’re going to have a problem,” Ax’s hoarse voice whispered in my ear. “Then again, I’m a fan of that particular problem so yeah, go ahead, move all you want.”

Embarrassed, I froze.

“I know you’re awake Amy.”

Swear my heart thudded so loudly against my chest people from the UK could hear it.

“Ames…” Ax’s lips found my ear. I gasped when he licked and then kissed a trail down my neck. “Mmm… you taste good.”

I tried to pull away from his arms.

Yeah, tried and failed, he was too strong and I was too weak. I wanted to be exactly where I was. Safe. Unafraid.

“Where are we again?” I asked, trying to look around the dimly lit room without moving.

“My house.” He said softly, still kissing my neck. “My room.”

“It’s… big.”

“Abandonatos don’t do small… in any way.”

“Oh.” I breathed.

His hands moved down my waist, slowly lifting my shirt. “I want you.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Ames… I can do this all day long. I just want you to know, I want you now. I’ll want you later. I’ll dream about you tonight, and I’m not going to stop until you’re mine. You can fight it all you want. Try running away. I’ll spend my life finding you. Try your damndest to shut me out — I’ll just push until you can’t take it anymore. I don’t know what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours. I don’t know why you’d say goodbye when this is just the beginning of our lives together. I let you go once, I’ll be damned if I’m going to do it again.”

What could I say? What could I possibly say to all of that? To the words I’d longed to hear for over five years? Thanks but no thanks? I was officially stuck. Because I knew, he was serious.

Dead serious.

If I ran, it would just put him in more jeopardy.

If I stayed… well… I had no choice but to stay, and face the jury, the judge, and the executioner.

My body tensed.

“I love you,” Ax whispered in my ear. “I will always love you.”