The name came to her. “Sharon, hi! Been a long time. What are you doing back in P-town? I thought you left a while ago.”
The waitress smiled. “I earned my teaching degree from Salem State and work at a private school outside of Boston during the school year. But hey, I make almost as much working here for my dad during July and August. Can’t pass up the money.”
“Good for you.” Emma wondered briefly if Sharon’s dad needed another waitress, seeing how she’d be quitting her job before the end of the night. She realized the woman was staring at Todd, waiting for an introduction. “Where are my manners? Sharon, this is my friend Todd.”
The waitress put a hand on her hip. “Didn’t I see you at the rave last night, down by Race Point Beach?”
Todd cocked his head and assessed Sharon for a moment, trying to place her in his memory. His eyes suddenly lit with a smile. “Hey, I remember dancing with you! I’d never been to a sunrise event before. Totally awesome.”
Before they could get into any messy details that might derail her fake date, Emma interrupted. “Not to rush things, but I haven’t eaten all day and I’m famished. Can you bring us a basket of fries and a plate of your dad’s famous wings?”
“No problem. We can catch up later.” Sharon dug an order pad out of her apron pocket. “How about a couple beers to wash those down?”
“Make mine white wine and we’re good.” Emma let out a small sigh of relief. If her whirlwind relationship with Todd were a real thing, she would’ve been with him at that party. Instead she’d been at the Harborside Hotel, enjoying a more private form of entertainment. She closed her eyes to keep the tears at bay. Last night had been like a dream come true, before today turned into an emotional nightmare spinning out of her control.
Todd took her hand and squeezed it gently. “It’s all going to work out.” He brushed his lips across her knuckles in a reassuring gesture. She smiled at his sincerity, but knew he’d misinterpreted her unease for a case of nerves about tonight.
“I know it will.” Her eyes darted over at Chase. The look of anger on his face took her aback. She quickly lowered her eyes. Could he be jealous? She dismissed the idea, since he sent Todd here as her date. He told her he should’ve left Wednesday, which meant he must regret their time together, right? So why look jealous?
What’s going on? Why is he even here?
She withdrew her hand from Todd’s grasp and dropped it into her lap, wishing Sharon would hurry back with that wine.
Todd fidgeted and pulled out his cell phone to check for messages, his other hand drumming a nervous beat on the small table. “How long are we supposed to sit here before the fight starts? I heard there’s a bonfire at Herring Cove later tonight.”
She looked across at him and shook her head, incredulous at the kid’s nonchalance. “Are you taking this seriously at all? Lives are in danger, and you’re worried about a beach bash?”
“You haven’t worked for Mr. Stick Up His Ass all summer,” Todd countered. “He’s so focused on the project that he totally loses sight of the fact that it’s summertime. I’m twenty-two, for fuck’s sake. Summer should be filled with wine, women, and song. Or at least plenty of beer and hot chicks. Not playing Sancho Panza to his myopic Don Quixote.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re the one who signed up to be his intern, kiddo. You must believe in the same causes.”
“Sure, but I also want to have a life. The boss believes he needs to solve the world’s environmental problems all by himself, and it overshadows everything else. Although, I gotta admit, meeting you totally changed him.”
He had her full attention now. She rested her elbows on the table and tuned out the noise around them. “How so?”
He put his phone to the side and leaned in so their foreheads touched. “You made him human.” He smirked at his own joke.
An almost deafening crash ground their conversation to a sudden halt. She looked for the source of the noise and saw Tony staring daggers in her direction and roaring with anger. “What kind of fucking horse shit is this?”
“Here we go,” said Todd under his breath, looking overly excited to be part of the drama. Emma, on the other hand, felt nervous. Even though she knew it was all an act, the venomous rage pouring out of Tony raised gooseflesh on her arms, making every hair stand on end. She sat frozen in her chair as he stalked forward, every eye in the bar watching the scene unfold. She could tell he’d been drinking from the slightly glazed look in his eyes.
Not good.
“I thought I warned you before, you lying bitch.” Tony’s dark eyes looked almost black, completely devoid of any compassion or humor. A slight slur tinged his words, confirming he’d had one too many. “Get it through your thick skull, woman. You belong to me.”
Her back stiffened at his abusive words. “I’m not
property
, Tony. You can’t dictate what I can or can’t do.”
“I sure as hell can.” He grabbed Todd under the armpits and hoisted him from his chair. He twisted the front of the kid’s shirt with one fist while he cocked his other arm back. “This is what happens to assholes who disrespect me.”
Emma screamed with genuine fear. This wasn’t part of the plan. She grabbed Tony’s arm to stop him from doing to Todd what he’d done to Vito. “I told you before, I’m not your girl, you jerk! Get the hell away from me and let him go!”
Tony released Todd’s shirt and the kid fell back into his chair, a stunned look of fear on his face. Tony wheeled, bearing down on Emma. “Maybe it’s you that I should be angry with, bitch, not this
stunad
.”
Firm hands grasped Emma from behind and moved her out of the way. “Leave the lady alone.” Chase faced off with Tony, standing eye-to-eye, his voice resonant with authority.
Tony sneered at him, practically growling. “Stay out of my personal life, Doc. This has nothing to do with environmental business.”
“Unfortunately, that’s my grad student you threatened.” He clenched his hands into fists, as if ready for a fight, but enunciated each word clearly. “Come to think of it, I’m not interested in your Eco Dawn bullshit. The technology isn’t ready. I’ll be sure to tell Boston’s mayor to just say no to those assholes from New York.”
He barely finished the sentence when Tony sucker punched him in the gut. Emma’s hands flew to cover her mouth as Chase doubled over. He quickly regained his balance, a look of astonished fury on his face. He took a half-hearted swing at Tony, easily blocked and countered with a right cross that landed square on Chase’s jawbone; he staggered backward. All eyes were on the fight, the staff and patrons alike riveted by the confrontation, the bouncers normally tasked with keeping the peace nowhere to be found. Chase didn’t go down. Instead, he lowered his head and plunged forward with arms outstretched, the top of his skull plowing deep into Tony’s midsection, knocking the wind out of him in a full-on tackle that lifted both men off their feet and sent them flying backward, crashing onto a nearby table and shattering it into a thousand wooden shards. The room exploded with screams as patrons pushed toward the exit doors to get away from a fight that had turned from a jealous showdown to something scary and out of control.
With the advantage of being on top, Chase got in a few good body blows before Tony bellowed and pushed him off. They both staggered back to their feet, but Tony grabbed a sharp hunk of table leg. She screamed a warning to Chase, who took his eyes off Tony to look at her. She screamed again, pointing him back toward the danger as Tony took a stabbing swing at him. Chase ducked, getting in a jab to the kidney as Tony lunged by. Emma let loose another bloodcurdling scream when Tony whirled, his makeshift stake raised to plunge into Chase. “Noooo!”
Two gunshots rang through the bar. Tony crumpled, doubled over on himself while a pool of blood spread in an ever widening circle.
Emma’s entire body trembled in disbelief at the scene playing out before her eyes. She fell to her knees next to Tony, splashing blood all over her skirt and onto the back of his white shirt. “There’s too much blood! Someone call an ambulance!”
“Emma, he’s gone.” Strong hands pulled her to her feet, backing her away from the body as the FBI agents swarmed in, but she couldn’t turn away. Agent Roth held his gun aloft, as if proud to be the murderer in the room. “Take her out front. Let us secure the body first.”
Realizing she was the “her” he referenced, Emma turned to find Chase holding on to her, his bruised face beginning to swell. Those bottomless grey eyes fixed on hers. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.” His low voice cut through the chaos and screaming, wrapping itself around her like a cocoon of safety she wasn’t sure she wanted, but definitely needed. Why did they think this would be easy? It was supposed to be a screaming match, not a shoot ’em up.
What the hell?
“Okay.” She nodded, feeling numb. Tony was dead. This wasn’t the plan. No one was supposed to get hurt, not really. But Tony went after Chase with a weapon—after beating the crap out of him first. What if she’d been the one on the receiving end of those punches? She knew anger management wasn’t Tony’s forte, especially when he’d been drinking, but everything escalated way too fast. And now Tony lay sprawled in a puddle of his own blood. Gone forever.
She threw her arms around Chase and hugged him, afraid to let go, afraid to lose one more person she cared about. She couldn’t lose Chase too.
Especially not Chase
. She was overwhelmed by the sudden need to make sure he knew how she felt about him. She managed to choke out the three words loud enough for him to hear, before they stuck in her throat unsaid. “I love you.”
He winced as he hugged her, his strong arms giving her something to hold onto amidst the chaotic scene. “I love you, too. And I’m not going anywhere.”
Relief and grief washed through her in successive waves, tears she couldn’t control slipping from the corners of her eyes. She didn’t know if she was crying because Tony left her, or because Chase promised not to, but the drip-drip-drip continued steadily down both cheeks.
“Not to ruin the moment, but, um, I think I broke a rib or two. I may need a little help walking.” She looked up to see the pain marring his face, and loosened her grip around his waist. He tried to laugh but it ended in a cough. “No, I’m serious, I think more than a few bones are broken.”
She placed her palm on the cheek that wasn’t bruised and moved her lips near his ear. “Quit being such a baby,” she murmured, eliciting a half-smile and something like a growl deep in his throat.
She realized someone had cleared the spectators from the area, the FBI agents were awaiting the arrival of more local officers and the M.E. Anxious looking servers huddled behind the bar, whispering amongst themselves as a local cop ran a perimeter of yellow crime scene tape. Tony lay on the floor in the same almost-fetal position, the circle of red spreading its uneven circle.
Someone shuffled a totally freaked out Todd to the far corner, where Jim and Agent Dean questioned him with soothing voices. She hadn’t seen Jim enter the bar, but felt relieved there was a familiar face for Todd to latch onto.
She and Chase didn’t need to be inside right this moment. A little distance from this plan-gone-wrong would be good for both of them. Slowly she lifted his arm around her shoulders. He leaned into her as they hobbled toward the bar’s entrance. Once out in the night air, she took a deep breath, looking around at the crowds of tourists gathered in the street and along the sidewalks, some dressed in their Carnival garb anticipating tomorrow’s kickoff. Pinstripes, fedoras, feather boas, sequins, heels, pearls…the mobster chic overwhelmed her senses to the point where she felt almost as weak as Chase.
If only they knew
. She never wanted to see another mafia reference as long as she lived, and even then it would be too soon.
Hold it together, Emma. Don’t fall apart now.
She clung tenuously to her sanity, maneuvering Chase to a position around the corner from the entrance. Propped against the brick wall, away from prying eyes, he took several deep breaths to recover from the exertion of walking. “Look at me,” she ordered. “I need to see if you have a concussion.”
His smile reached those stormy eyes. He opened them wide while she checked his pupils for responsiveness. “Actually, I think you gave me a concussion when we met Monday. I had a lump on my forehead, and haven’t been able to get you off my mind ever since.”
She smirked. “Is that so? I remember telling Tony I thought you gave me a concussion that same day.” She closed her eyes at the mention of her friend. He’d played such a big role in her life for the last eight months. It seemed impossible to think she’d never see him again.
Chase gritted his teeth against the pain and caressed her cheek. “I’m sorry, Emma.”
She gave the briefest of nods before opening her eyes again. “I know. Me too.”
“I know you’d rather go straight home, but they’ll need to ask questions, file a report…” His eyes shifted midsentence to someone behind her. She looked over her shoulder.
Correction, two someones
. The dark pinstripes and starched white shirts blended easily with the Carnival tourists, but something about these men warned her they were the real deal.
Chapter Thirty-Six
The taller of the two spoke, his South Boston accent thick and obvious to Chase even if Lenzi hadn’t pointed the guy out earlier. “Excuse the interruption, but we couldn’t help overhearing the disagreement you participated in earlier. My colleague and I had a few questions we hoped you could answer.” He flipped open his wallet for a split second, flashing a card that read “FBI” in big letters. Chase wondered if the guy knew real FBI agents were inside the bar at the moment, securing the scene.
He could tell Emma wanted to laugh in the man’s face, and tried to put his arm around her in warning. Chase misjudged the uselessness of the right side of his body, missing his mark completely and slipping down the wall toward the pavement. Emma noticed and caught him before he landed on his ass.
At least I distracted her from saying something dumb
. She helped him back to his feet and he cleared his throat. “What can we help you with?”