Instead, I calmly put the safety back on the gun held it out in front of me and dropped it. It clattered to the ground along with my knife.
“Scared?” I asked holding up my hands.
“Girls with fists terrify me.” Tex bared his teeth in a predatory smile. “Plus I hate tickle fights… you know this.”
“I’ll try to keep your balls attached, but I can’t make any promises, Tex.”
“Aw, can’t have sex with me so you don’t want anyone else to either?”
“Please.” I snorted. “Like you could perform without my help.”
He laughed and took a step toward me, raising his hands in a boxing stance. “Don’t be pissed if I break your nose, Mo, but look on the bright side, you always wanted a nose job, right? Think of it as a step in the right direction… say it with me, plastic surgery.”
“Never mind, the balls go.” I shrugged. “Hope you’re not too attached.”
“Aw, baby, I think you’re the one attached.” He swung lazily in my direction, taunting me as we began dancing around each other.
“It’s cute.” I swung with my left then tried a knee to his ribs, he deflected with his hands, pushing me away.
“What is?”
“You’re attachment to your manhood.” I ducked as he swung at me again and landed a side kick to his right thigh. He winced but said nothing. I knew it hurt.
“Most men are, Mo. Most women are too, but hey, I got no complaints.”
“Wanna hear ‘em now?” I hit with my right fist and tried an upper hook, deflected at every turn, I tried a front kick then spun into a roundhouse.
He gripped my leg and flipped me on my back, hovering over me. “You’re too slow.”
“Am I?” I twisted my legs around his waist and flipped him onto his back, as I landed a blow to his cheek.
His head barely moved as a smile curved across his lips. “So what? I let you beat me and you feel better about being abandoned?”
“Why are you tailing those men?” I punched him again, my knuckles starting to hurt.
He grinned. “I’d die before telling you.”
“So die.” I grit my teeth and landed another blow to his temple before he gripped me by the waist and lifted me into the air, slamming me onto the cement then pulling me up like I weighed nothing.
“Why can’t you just be a normal girl?” he raged pushing me against the wall, trapping me with his body. “Why can’t you go cry and spend money and drink wine? Throw darts at my face. Why can’t you be normal?”
I tilted my chin towards him and whispered. “You wouldn’t love a normal girl.”
His eyes shifted, his breathing ragged as his warm body pressed me harder against the wall. “I can’t protect you if you keep following me.”
“Who said I need protection?”
“Those men would rape you.” Tex pounded his hand into the wall next to my head. “They would rip you apart limb by limb for as much as breathing their same air, you wanna keep tailing me? Fine, just don’t expect me to be able to save you when they sell your body to the highest bidder.”
Air whooshed out of my lungs. “Alfonso’s men?”
Tex froze.
I quickly did the calculations. “Will they be there Thursday?”
“Mo.” Tex shook his head. “Go home. Go to bed. This is done. I don’t know how else to tell you without freaking losing my mind. We are done.” His voice wavered. “We are nothing.”
I stood on my tiptoes and gripped his face with my hands. “Liar.”
His mouth opened.
And I kissed him.
CHAPTER SIXTY
Kissing the enemy is always a rush. It’s why people do it.
Tex
M
Y MIND ONLY REGISTERED
her kiss; nothing else existed, nothing else mattered. I gripped her elbows with my hands and slid her up the wall. I had nothing left, no control. There was nobody there to stop me, nobody there to tell me what to do.
And that’s when it clicked.
I don’t know how or why.
But by doing things Phoenix’s way, I was still allowing myself to be a puppet. Used in order to put an end to something horrible.
But what if… I moaned as Mo’s grip tightened around my neck, her hands dug into my hair. What if I trusted someone?
What if I trusted her enough?
What if I loved her enough?
“Mo.” I gasped.
“If you say we can’t do that again, I’m shooting you, Tex. I’m dead serious.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it.
“Are you laughing at me? Swear I’ll do it, Campisi.”
“Cool your jets Abandonato.” I set her on her feet and took a step back. The woman wouldn’t stop. I’d done everything I could short of injuring her to get her to understand that we couldn’t be together.
And here she was.
Nixon hadn’t tailed me.
Neither had anyone else.
Mo. Leave it to Mo.
“So.” She crossed her arms. “You ready to tell me why you’re being such a jackass to everyone and going all storm trooper while everyone else is Jedi?”
“Admit it, I’d look like hell in white, Mo.” I leaned back against the table and crossed my arms.
“Ah.” She stepped forward and mimicked my movement, crossing her arms. “So this is about the Family color? No one’s gonna be mad if you wear black, Tex.”
I hung my head, my smile growing to epic proportions. “Yeah, I’ve really been losing sleep over it.”
“Just think… all those sleepless nights, solved by one fight with me.”
“Right.” I swallowed. “Mo Abandonato, the answer to everything.”
My eyes widened at the sudden idea popping into my head.
“What’s up crazy eyes?”
I opened my mouth then closed it. “What if?”
“What if… what? The earth was flat?”
“You’re a genius.” I rushed towards her and grabbed her face, kissing her mouth so hard I felt her wince.
“Huh?” She almost tripped when I released her.
“Make it real.” I laughed out loud. “Well damn, Phoenix, you could have just spelled it out for me.”
“I’m Mo.” She waved in front of me.
“Can Trace and Mil keep a secret?” I asked.
“Yeah.” Her eyes narrowed. “I can too, you know.”
“No secrets from you. Well, I mean one secret, but what I need to know, is this… how good of an actress are you?”
She put her hands on her hips. “I once convinced Nixon I saw dead people, and he believed it for two years.”
“Good girl.” I held out my hand. “Now, I need you to listen very carefully.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
And the lies continue…
Mo
“
A
RE YOU READY?”
Tex asked once we pulled up to the house. It was dark and I knew that Nixon was going to be pissed I’d been out so long. I’d texted him that I’d taken a drive after my run but I knew he was still going to unleash on me.
I popped my knuckles. “Yup, I can do this.”
Tex laughed. “Right, more like you’re going to really enjoy it.”
“That too.” I smiled. “Think of it as payback for breaking my heart.”
“You know.” He nodded. “If we weren’t sworn enemies I’d totally love you.”
“Aw.” I elbowed him hard in the ribs. “I’d still hate you.”
“Fine.” He grinned.
“Fine.” I chewed my lower lip.
With a curse he pulled me into the shadows and kissed me soundly, his mouth dancing with mine like it was meant for me, like he was meant for me. My heart hammered in my chest as he kissed each cheek and then kissed me on the mouth again, his tongue sliding past my lower lip only to retreat as he stepped back. “Yeah, good thing we’re enemies.”
I straightened my leather jacket. “Until the end.”
He held out his hand and enclosed it around mine. “I’ll hate you until the end.”
I nodded. “Try not to cry.”
Wincing, Tex stepped back. “I want to have kids someday, remember that, Mo.”
“Can’t make any promises,” I sang. “Now let’s go.”
I walked in the house, fury etched in my every movement as the door slammed in Tex’s face.
“Mo! Get back here! Now!”
“No!” I roared turning on my heel. “You sick bastard! How could you!”
Silverware clattered to the ground as every head around the dinner table was focused in on us. It seemed even Luca and Frank were visiting for a nice calm normal dinner.
Too bad, so sad.
Tex reached for my arm and pulled me roughly against him, I turned around and slapped his face so hard my hand stung. “Don’t you dare touch me!”
“I’ll touch whatever the hell I want.” He grinned crudely. “You keep forgetting… I could own you if I want.”
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Nixon stand.
“Aw, baby.” I angled my head and threw a right hook to his face. He staggered to the side. “You wish.”
Tex rubbed his jaw. “Well now I don’t, hell you never brought that type of violence into the bedroom. I had no idea Mo… I could have totally tied you up—”
I slapped him again.
He gripped my hands. “Do it again, regardless, you’re nothing to me. You, you’re family, in a few days I’ll be a distant memory.”
I smiled sweetly. “Not if I kill you first.”
“I’ll sleep with one eye open.”
“And one finger on the trigger, lover.” I kneed him in the balls for good measure then stormed into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of wine. When Tex was done cursing I slowly made my way to the freezer and pulled out one solid ice cube. “I know it’s kind of big considering what you got down there.” I tossed it at his face. “But try to make it work, Campisi.”
“You’re lucky I don’t shoot you for your disrespect,” he sneered, batting the ice out of the air with his free hand.
“To kill me you’d have to kill Nixon, and Chase, and Sergio, probably Phoenix, definitely Luca, wow, bringing down all the families on yourself. That your big bad plan, Godfather? Make everyone hate you?”
“If I have to.” He stood to his full height. “Besides, what’s a few more deaths on my hands after Thursday? Hmm?”
With that he walked out of the room leaving me scowling in his direction.
Nixon was the first to speak. “Mind telling me what that was about?”
“Mind telling me why you didn’t shoot him?” I fired back.
Nixon rolled his eyes. “Shooting Tex wouldn’t help the rage, Mo, plus regardless of how awful he’s being, I kind of need him to live for at least three more days.”
“And after?” I asked.
“We’ll pick straws.” Nixon grinned.
Chase snorted. “Dibs on the short one.”
“You cannot kill him.” Luca slammed his hands onto the table, and stood. “He is the key to everything. You kill him and you sign your own death sentence.”
Frank stared straight ahead, his mind appearing to work a thousand miles a minute.
Phoenix met my gaze, his eyes piercing, knowing. I rolled my eyes at him and gave him the finger. Let the countdown begin.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
There is no truth, only suspicion.
Phoenix
“Y
OU DIDN’T FIND
that weird?” I asked again. “Not weird at all?”
Sergio took a long sip of his wine and stared out the living room window. “Mo’s always been a passionate girl and Tex, well, he’s coming into his own. After Thursday…”
“You mean after everyone dies…”
“Right.” Sergio shrugged. “Things will fall back into place.”
I rolled my eyes at his back and walked off. He was too calm. If anything, that irritated me even more. He reminded me way too much of Luca, calm, cold, calculating.
I’d officially had enough drama for the evening. With a yawn I made my way to the guest room and stepped inside.
Bee was sitting on my bed reading.
“What the hell are you doing?”
She didn’t look up, just turned the page. “Reading. Why what’s it look like I’m doing?”
“You’re in my bed.”
“It’s Nixon’s house, Nixon’s bed,” she said in a bored tone. “Did you know that Edward’s a vampire!”
Dear God, deliver me.
This was my penance for being a bastard, torture by Twilight. Not okay. “You’ve been sheltered entirely too much, who gave you the book?” Name and social security number, if you please. I had someone to murder.
“Trace.”
I held back a groan. There went that plan. “How… kind of her.”
“He’s so hot.”
“You can’t see him.”
Bee looked up from the book. “In my head I totally can.”
Rolling my eyes seemed childish but it was exactly what I wanted to do. “Please don’t describe him. I’m tired and the last thing I want to talk about is fake vampires.”
She sighed. “Your loss, man.”
Man? What? Like we were bros hanging out now?
“Bee.” I licked my lips and tried a different tactic, one that didn’t have me sobbing and begging for her to get out of my room. “I really need to get some sleep.”
She lifted a shoulder. “So sleep.”
“In my bed.”
She scooted over. Her vanilla perfume hit me full force with that simple movement. Clenching my fists, I took a few deep breaths. It didn’t help.
Sweating, I croaked. “Bee, I sleep alone.”
Finally, she put the book on the nightstand and crossed her arms, making her body look that much… better, if that was even possible, in her tiny tank top and shorts. “But when you protected me you stayed with me.”
“To keep you alive.” I clenched my jaw until it popped. “Trust me, you’re safe here.”
Her eyes welled with tears. “Please, Phoenix?”
Tears. I did not work well with tears and she knew it.
Sighing, I reached back and peeled off my shirt then walked over to my dresser, pulling it open to grab a pair of track pants then slamming it shut. Without another word, I dropped my jeans to the floor and put on the pants then turned off the light.
“Thanks.” Bee whispered. “I just—thanks.”
She had no idea that her version of safe was deranged… almost sick. She was lying next to a rapist, next to a murderer, next to an absolute monster and yet, that was how she found peace at night. While, me? I found none. None at all. Not when I heard her finally succumb to sleep, or when her arm reached for my body, or when she curled next to me and sighed.
It was Hell.
And I knew she might sleep like the dead.
But I was a live wire. Staring wide eyed at the ceiling, telling my body it wasn’t responding. Forcing my breathing to even out. And lying to myself once again that I felt nothing for that vanilla scented beauty asleep in my arms.