Endings & Beginnings (New Mafia Trilogy #3) (29 page)

   “Not really. I mean she likes her clothes,
jewelry and furs, but she donates a lot of money to charities. Damn Catholic
guilt, you know?”

   “Don’t I fucking know it? Dom, if you ever settle
down, go for low maintenance, man, and get a pre-nup signed.”

With the unexpected relationship advice out of the
way, Gio quickly returned to business. Leaning forward with his elbows on the
desk, he held my gaze. “The distributor somehow heard that there were issues on
your end. It didn’t bother me because I got my money and he got his money, but
he’s concerned that there are going to be issues going forward that might cause
some disruption in the deal. Like me, he wants a steady revenue stream so he
needs some assurances.” Gio switched his gaze to my dad. “Actually it’s good
you’re here, Rico. I know you have some history with this guy that could work
in Dom’s favor.”

   “That’s what I thought too,” he agreed.

After handing my dad a cup of coffee, I poured
myself a cup and added a teaspoon of sugar. Gio explained that we were meeting the
distributor at an undisclosed location. Reasons being the guy didn’t want to
reveal his operations hub and Gio didn’t want the guy to know where he lived.
We were all such a trusting group.

   “Alright, let’s get you guys some weapons and
we’ll get out of here.” Gio gestured towards Jimmy who crossed the room and
opened a closet door. Sliding back the dummy panel, he pulled out a rack. It
slid smoothly on the tracks and held a variety of hand guns. He handed a Ruger
to my dad and I. We checked the safety and popped a magazine, chambering a
round.

Instead of taking our vehicles, we climbed into one
of Gio’s Cadillac Escalades. Gio got into the middle vehicle and we were in the
last one. A mini-convoy of these black, tinted and chromed out SUVs rolled
through his front gates and out into the quiet street. Once we were clear of
the windy roads, we were on the 405 and heading northeast into the undeveloped hills.
I wasn’t familiar with the area and being passengers, my dad and I were
basically at Gio’s mercy. It was one of the most uncomfortable rides of my life
and the tension built in my shoulders as we turned off the highway and the
further we went on surface streets, left signs of civilization behind. When the
convoy turned off onto a dirt road, I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and
the tension ratcheted up a notch when I saw “no service”.

Sensing how tense I was, my dad leaned over and
whispered in my ear. “Relax, this is normal.” I glanced over at him and he
actually appeared relaxed.

   “Okay,” I said. Taking a deep breath, I leaned
back and made a conscious effort to keep my left leg from bouncing, a nervous
habit I’d had forever. I put my phone away and ran a hand through my hair. Two
of Gio’s men were in the front seat, but they didn’t appear to be paying us any
attention and that helped me to relax further. We bounced along ruts that made
the suspension squeak below our feet. Minutes later the scrub brush and trees
opened up to a clearing. A small, rustic cabin was the only structure and a
silver Lincoln Town Car was parked out front. The SUVs rolled to a stop behind
this car and we stepped out. Blinking at the sunlight, an adjustment from the
dark tinted interior, I reached for the sunglasses that were tucked onto my
shirt collar and slipped them on. A short Hispanic man with a barrel chest
stepped out of the cabin and stood on the front porch. His skin was dark and
deep wrinkles creased his face that was framed by thick, steel gray hair. He
was accompanied by a man on each side and they were armed to the hilt. Each
were carrying an AK-47 and had hunting knives clipped to their belts. The knife
holders were bedazzled in silver and turquoise that stood out against the all
black suits they were wearing.

   “Hola, Gio,” the barrel chested man said and
started down the stairs with his men right behind.

   “Hola, Miguel,” Gio responded and they shook
hands. Gio turned to me and waved me forward. “Miguel, this is Dominic and you
know his father, Rico.”

   “Si, hola Rico,” he shook my dad’s hand first
before mine, which pissed me off. I was the fucking boss, not my dad. I ground
my teeth together and smiled cordially.

   “Were you followed?” Miguel asked and Gio assured
him we weren’t. “Good. We’re not exchanging anything today, so I won’t take
your weapons. Come, let’s get down to business.” He spoke English well, just
with a heavy accent.

Victor and Jimmy followed us inside the cabin and took
up positions behind Gio who sat down on a rocking chair. I sat down next to him
in another rocking chair. The wood creaked under my weight. My dad walked
around to stand behind me. A dark brown leather love seat, cracked and faded
with age, is where Miguel sat, facing us. One of his men stood behind him while
the other stayed by the front door as a guard. There wasn’t much to guard.
Besides the room we were in, there was a loft above us, which I imagined served
as a bedroom. The cabin did have plumbing and in the brief time I had to look
around, noted a bathroom and small kitchen, but that was it. This wasn’t a
luxurious mountain retreat.

Miguel didn’t waste any time getting down to
business. He leaned forward with his hands clasped in front of him and held my
gaze. “I’m going to be straight with you, kid. I don’t like change and I don’t
like working with people I don’t know, but Gio vouched for you, so when I heard
about your recent troubles, I couldn’t just take Gio’s word anymore.”

   “I understand. It’s good business.”

He nodded and leaned back, crossing his left leg
over so the ankle was propped on his right knee. “When bodies start appearing
around my product, I get concerned. I understand it’s going to happen every
once in a while. That’s the nature of the beast, but our first time doing
business together and this shit went down?”

   “Believe me, that’s not how I like to do business
either. I lost a good man that day.”

   “Did you find out who is responsible? I need
assurances that this isn’t going to happen again.”

   “I’m not going to lie to you and tell you yes
because I haven’t, not yet anyway, but it’s my top priority right now and
everyone is working on it. I’ve narrowed it down and it has to be one of my
associates, I just haven’t determined who. My cousin has hacked into the police
computer systems and we’re waiting on their forensic results. I’m hoping that
gives us a lead.”

   “And if it doesn’t?” Miguel asked, leaning
forward again. It might as well have been only us in the room as everyone else
faded into the background while we hashed things out. I could have gone back to
Uncle Marco’s contact in Afghanistan for heroin, but it was more expensive so
we got less of a cut. Miguel gave us a fair price and dealing with an arm of
the Mexican cartel was easier on the conscience than contributing to the income
of a person indirectly involved with the Taliban. He was the lesser of two
evils.

   “I won’t reveal any drop details until the last
possible moment to avoid anyone having prep time. The details won’t be revealed
to all of my associates - only one on one for their particular drop. In
hindsight, I should have done that the first time.”

   “You’re still green, Niño.”

   “He may be young and still learning, but he’s
turned the organization in the right direction again. Marco was fucking things up.
You know this,” my dad jumped in.

Miguel lapsed into silence again and stared at me,
not blinking. It was unnerving, but also a test. I returned the stare, not
backing down. His lips slowly turned into a smirk and he looked over at Gio.

   “You and Rico stay, we have some things to
discuss. Wait for us outside, Dominic.”

I wasn’t about to be so easily dismissed so I stood
up and glared down at Miguel. My dad placed his hand on my shoulder and I
shrugged it off.

   “You’re doing business with me – not Rico. You
either want this deal or I walk away. You’re not my only option.” My fingers
twitched, itching to reach for the gun tucked in the back of my pants. Everyone
in the room tensed up, their bodies hovering on the same tipping point. If I
went for my gun, things would turn bloody really fast. Out of the corner of my
eye I noticed Gio shake his head.

Once again another moment of uncomfortable silence
passed between us. I felt sweat slide down along my spine in a slow crawl. Even
though the windows were open, it was hot and dead still outside, making it
hotter than fuck inside the cabin. Finally Miguel responded.

   “You’ve got cajones, Niño. I ‘ll give you that.”
He uncrossed his leg and leaned forward, gesturing to the rocking chair I’d
recently vacated. “Please, have a seat and let’s finish our discussion.”

   “Fine,” I straightened up and shook my arms,
feeling the rest of the tension drain out. I sat down and my dad briefly
squeezed my shoulder. I knew he had my back, but I had to prove that I was the
boss here – not him.

Over the next hour we hashed out the details. Miguel
agreed to stay on as our supplier, but if anything went wrong again, he was
out. We shook hands and to seal the deal, one of Miguel’s men appeared with a
bottle of tequila. We each took a shot and then one more for good measure. By
the time we left to drive back to Gio’s house, I was exhausted and could have
easily fallen asleep, but thoughts of seeing Natalie kept me awake. Would she
be happy to see me?

By the time I followed someone in through the gates
and Natalie’s apartment complex, I was so jacked on nerves and adrenaline that
I could barely blink. The tequila and three cups of coffee I’d had earlier
churned in my stomach like a hurricane. On unsteady legs, I climbed the steps
to her apartment. When I reached her door a paper taped to it stopped me from
knocking right away. It was an eviction notice. Natalie had three days to pay
her rent, plus the accrued late fees, or she was out. Ripping the paper off the
door, I knocked. There wasn’t any movement in her apartment. I knocked again,
but knew she wasn’t home since her car wasn’t in her parking spot.

Following signs for the leasing office, I entered
and went to the first desk. An older woman wearing a white polo shirt with the
complex’s logo looked up at me and blinked twice.

   “Sir, I’ll be with you in a minute,” she snapped
and that’s when I noticed the two chairs in front of her desk were occupied.

   “I need to talk to somebody now,” I demanded.

   “Sir,” a voice said from behind. I whirled around
and another woman in a matching polo took a quick step back. “How can I help
you?” she squeaked.

At 6’ 3” with my muscular build and bloodshot eyes
from going on over 24-hours without sleep, I must have looked fucking
intimidating because this woman looked at me like I was Frankenstein.

   “I’m here to take care of my girlfriend’s rent.”
I took a deep breath and ran a hand through my hair, beginning to calm down
knowing that Natalie’s problem was soon to be resolved.

   “Okay, come with me. I’m Val, the assistant
property manager,” she explained and I followed her into a small office that
had a view of the visitor parking area. Taking a seat behind her desk, she
turned her computer monitor so it was blocked from my view and with her
manicured hands positioned over the keyboard. “What’s your girlfriend’s name?”

I sat down in one of the two chairs that were in
front of her desk and gave her Natalie’s name and apartment number. Val typed
in the information and her face went blank before she looked up at me with a
fake smile plastered on her face. “Um, Ms. Ross is a little past due.”

   “I know,” I set the eviction notice down on her
desk. It was a crinkled mess from being clenched in my fist. “What’s the total
she owes?”

   “$2,250 sir, and that needs to be in a money
order or cashier’s check. We can’t accept personal checks for late balances.”

   “Do you accept cash?” I asked, leaning back to
pull the money clip out of my pocket. Val’s perusal of my body didn’t go
unnoticed and she had the courtesy to blush before her eyes lit up at the wad
of money I pulled out.

   “Um, y-yes,” she stammered. “Cash is fine.”

I leafed through the money and left a stack of one
thousand and one hundred dollar bills on Val’s desk. “I don’t need change. I
assume the fifty dollars will be applied as a credit to Natalie’s account?”

   “Yes. Here I’ll print you a receipt.” A desktop
printer located on a stand behind Val came to life and spat out a piece of
paper, which she handed to me. Satisfied that all was in order, I thanked her
and quickly left the office aware of the leasing agent’s stares as their eyes
followed my progress out the door.

I went back to the rental car to sit and wait for
Natalie to return home.

Natalie

The lunch shift at House of Blues was finally over
and it had been a busy one. I sat at the bar area counting out my tips,
relieved to find that I had earned enough to avoid getting evicted with ten
dollars to spare. I stopped for gas and money orders on the way home and even splurged
on a Mounds bar. The extra sugar gave me a much needed boost. After working
close to seventy hours the past week, my body was running on fumes, but I had
done it, rent was the last of my bills…then I’d get to start all over again.

It didn’t take long to get back to my apartment
complex and I pulled into the visitor parking out front of the leasing office. Suzie
was the only leasing agent in the front reception area, but she was busy so she
directed me to Val’s office. They knew I was coming in since I called daily to
update them on my progress as if that would hold off the eviction process.

Val looked up from her computer with her usual smile
in place, but it quickly faded to a confused expression. “Natalie, did you need
to put in a work order?”

   “No, I spoke to yesterday and said I’d be in to
pay my rent.” Reaching into my bag, I pulled out the money orders and tried to
hand them to her.

   “But your boyfriend was just in here and paid
it.”

   “My boyfriend? I don’t have a boy…wait, what did
he look like?”

   “Well, he was tall with gorgeous dark hair and
intense green eyes. Intense – that’s the best way to describe him.”

I sunk down in one of the chairs. The money orders
slipped from my hand and drifted to the floor. What the hell was Dom doing
here? It took a few seconds for the shock to wear off.

   “Natalie, are you okay?” Val asked. She leaned across
her desk, her fingertips lightly touching my arm.

   “Uh, yeah, just surprised, I think.” I bent over
and grabbed the money orders before standing up. “Thank you.”

I was still in a daze when I parked in my spot and
got out. A car door shut right after mine, like an echo, but I didn’t pay
attention until I heard someone rapidly approaching.

   “Nat!” I recognized the deep voice and spun
around to see Dom walking towards me and damn it, he looked amazing while I
knew all of the seventy hours I had worked showed with my hair pulled back in a
messy ponytail and the grease stained t-shirt I was wearing. That just pissed
me off even more.

   “What are you doing, Dom?” I stood in front of
him with my hands on my hips.

   “I came to see you.”

   “Obviously,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Why now?
And who do you think you are paying my rent?”

   “I saw the eviction notice. Why didn’t you tell
me you needed help?”

Unbelievable! I snorted and shook my head. “Because
I’m not your freakin’ responsibility! You sent me away, remember? I had it
handled and was paying my rent today.” Fishing into my bag, I found the money
orders and threw them at his broad chest. “There – I paid you back.”

Dom ignored the money orders and glared at me, his
green eyes sparking. “I don’t want your money.”

   “I don’t want yours either!” I yelled and felt
the tears well up. Damn it, this always happened when I got angry. He read them
as me being upset and pulled my resistant body against his.

   “Hey, I don’t want to fight,” he whispered in my
ear, rubbing the small of my back and damn it, it felt good. I almost gave in, felt
myself loosening up, but knew I couldn’t.

   “Stop!” He froze and I stepped out of his arms. A
light breeze threatened to blow the money orders away so I quickly crouched
down and scooped them up. “What are you doing here, Dom?” I asked, in a less
hostile tone. I had tucked the money back in my bag and resumed my stance with
my hands on my hips. 

He opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it
shut. He exhaled sharply and grinned, running a hand through his hair making it
stand up even more. “This went a lot better in my head,” he finally said.

   “What did? Is everything okay? Where’s Grant – is
he…”

Dom cut me off. “He’s fine. Everyone is fine. Well,
that’s not exactly true. I’m not okay, that’s why I’m here.”

   “What’s going on?”

He hesitantly reached out and grabbed my left hand,
pulling it off of my hip. His hand was warm and his grip strong. “Can we talk
inside?” He tipped his head in the direction of my apartment.

   “No, say what you have to say.” I withdrew from
his grasp and crossed my arms over my chest.

   “Fine,” he said, leaning back against the side of
my car. “I fucked up, Nat. I shouldn’t have pushed you away.” He looked over at
me and I nodded for him to continue. He took a deep breath. “You’re not going
to make this easy are you?”

   “Nope.”

His lips twitched like he was suppressing a grin and
I narrowed my eyes at him. At that he did smile and chuckled, shaking his head.
“I forgot how freakin’ adorable you are when you’re mad.”

I bit on my lower lip, keeping a smile in check, and
raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you know how much I love you, Natalie?” he asked
and I released my lip with a pop when my mouth dropped open.

   “I thought I knew,” I said and moved closer to
him, realizing this was turning into a personal conversation that was meant to
be held in private, not in a parking lot. Besides, it was fucking hot standing
out in the late afternoon sun. “Come on, let’s go inside.”  

Dom followed me upstairs and I was very conscious of
how my ass looked in the khaki shorts I wore because I knew he’d be checking me
out. I unlocked the two deadbolts and walked inside my cool apartment. The
blinds were drawn to keep the sun out to help keep my electricity bill down.
Without sunlight streaming in and heating up my apartment, the air conditioner
didn’t run constantly.

   “Can I get you something to drink?” I asked.

   “Just water. It’s dry out here, huh?”

I nodded in agreement and filled two glasses with
ice then grabbed a gallon jug of water out of the fridge. Dom took a glass from
me and we sat down on the futon.

   “Is this new?” he asked, observing the different
color of the cover.

   “Yes. Um, Victor bled all over the old one.”

Dom drank half of the water in one deep swallow and set
his glass on the coffee table. “Right…I wish you felt like you could have told
me about that, but I know we weren’t together. It’s just,” he paused and rubbed
his face with both hands before looking at me. “You say you’re not my
responsibility, but I want you to be. I need you in my life, Nat, I miss you.
Only after I pushed you away did I realize what a dick move it was and what a
lonely existence my life had become.” 

He looked down at his hands, which were gripping his
knees tight and I noticed his left leg was bouncing. “Do you feel the same
way?” he asked in a lower voice, barely a whisper, and captured my gaze. His
eyes were bottomless green pools and I saw the vulnerability in their depths.
This was a side of Dom his men could never see; emotional and exposed.

I held his stare and swallowed hard, my mouth dry
despite the recent sips of water. “Yes.” Relief washed over his face and a
trace of a smile curved his lips. “But, I’m afraid,” I admitted.

   “Afraid of me?”

   “No, definitely not of you,” I leaned over and
placed my hand on his forearm, giving him a reassuring squeeze. “I’m afraid of
getting hurt again. Your lifestyle is dangerous but, and I can’t believe I’m
going to say this, my mom pointed out to me after the mall shooting that violence
is everywhere. It’s just your world has a greater concentration of violence.”

   “This is true and I understand. You know I will
do my best to keep you safe though,” he said, taking my hand in his. He ran his
thumb alongside in soft, soothing strokes. I wanted to give in. It felt so good
being near him again. Every once in a while I caught a whiff of his cologne;
spicy and masculine with a hint of pine,  a smell forever engrained in my
memory and one that instilled a calm over my nerves. The past few weeks had
been tough. I was physically exhausted from working long hours, but also felt
isolated. While I was around people every day, the rest of my life was
solitary. Chelsea was busy and our schedules didn’t mesh. Collin created a
hostile work environment so I didn’t linger after hours at Dirty. It was just
me, my apartment and monthly bills. Was it possible to go back to Dom? Chelsea
told me if I loved him, I needed to accept all of him. Aside from the whole
organized crime thing, he’d had a more conventional upbringing than me and I
had my own flaws.

   “I need time, Dom.”

He gently squeezed my hand. “Okay.” He paused and
grinned at me.

   “What?”

   “I was hoping to stay here tonight? I’m flying
back to Philly tomorrow since the business part of my trip is already taken
care of.”

   “Uh huh and I take it I’m supposed to be the
pleasure part?” I withdrew my hand and inched away from him, leaving a wider
gap between us.

   “No! I didn’t mean it like that, okay, maybe I
hoped.” He flashed his dimples at me and I shook my head, but couldn’t help
smiling back.

   “You’re such a guy!” I smacked his arm. “You can
stay here…on the futon. It’s quite comfortable.”

His grin faded, but didn’t disappear completely. “As
long as I’m in the same place with you, that’s all I need, Nat.” Leaning
forward, he kissed my forehead and then stood up. “I’ll go grab my bag. Are you
hungry? Let me at least buy you dinner in exchange for your hospitality.”

My stomach growled at the suggestion of food. Dom
heard and he laughed. “There’s my girl,” he teased before leaving to get his
things. He’d be upset if he knew the only thing I’d eaten that day was the
candy bar and half of a bagel with cream cheese. Scraping enough money together
for rent cut into my grocery budget, but the stress had also impacted my
appetite. I wasn’t going to turn down a free meal. I’d set the boundaries and
knew Dom respected me enough that the dinner wasn’t going to come with strings
attached.

Instead of picking a fancy sit-down restaurant, I
chose my favorite taco stand. We took my car with the convertible top down. Dom
drove while I gave him directions. Less than an hour later I was stuffing my
face with carne asada tacos. Juice from the Pico de Gallo dribbled down my chin
and Dom chuckled when he handed me a napkin. “This is fucking delicious,” he
said. Dipping a chip in the habanero based salsa. A light sheen of sweat broke
out on his forehead after a few bites.

People came and left, but we sat there for a while
enjoying each other’s company. We didn’t have to talk and the long stretches of
silence weren’t awkward. We stared at each other a lot, mainly because I liked
looking at Dom. The sun setting was at an angle and illuminated the green of
his eyes. He had taken his sunglasses off to look at me and they hung off the
collar of his shirt. His dark stubble covered the scars on his neck from where
he took a bullet that almost killed him.

   “So you came out for business?” I asked then
lifted a bottle of Corona to my lips.

   “Yeah, my dad flew out with me. We had some
negotiations with a distributor.” He didn’t elaborate and I was okay with that.
There were people sitting around us and honestly, I didn’t want to know all of
the details.

   “Everything okay?”

   “Yeah. You heard about Giant, right?”

   “I did. Grant told me. I’m sorry for your loss,
Dom.” I reached across the picnic table to hold his hand when I saw the shadow
of grief pass over his face. “I always liked Anthony.”

   “We grew up together and he always had my six, ya
know?” He sighed and squeezed my hand. “I’m going to make damn sure shit
doesn’t go down like that again.” His jaw clenched and his eyes flashed. The
moment of vulnerability had passed.

We finished our beers and headed back home. Dom yawned
so hard that his jaw creaked.

   “Tired, huh?” I asked.

   “Yeah, I haven’t slept in close to two days,” he
admitted.

   “Dom! Should you even be driving? You need to
take care of yourself!”

He turned and smiled at me. “I’m fine, baby, but I
love it when you worry about me.” He winked before focusing on the road again.

Once we got back to my apartment, I grabbed spare
sheets and a blanket from the linen closet in the bathroom. I didn’t have an
extra pillow so I snagged one off of my bed. When I went to change the pillow
case, Dom stopped me. “Your scent will ensure sweet dreams,” he said. “I
refused to wash my sheets for the longest time after you left because your
smell helped me sleep.”

   “Well that’s not creepy at all,” I said with a
laugh and tossed the pillow at him. “Okay, well good night and sweet dreams.” I
turned to leave the living room, but Dom reached out for my hand, stopping me.

   “Thank you for not throwing me out, Natalie. I’ve
really missed you and hopefully one day we’ll share a bed again.” He lowered
his head and his lips gently brushed against mine. When I didn’t pull away he
pressed a little bit harder and I opened for him, allowing his tongue to slip
inside. He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer. I moaned, slipping
my hand into the back pocket of his jeans, feeling the firmness of his ass. It
was just a kiss, but it held the promise of more. Our attraction to each other
hadn’t faded with our time apart. Any reservations fell away the longer we
kissed. I felt him grow hard, and increasing pressure against my stomach, and
that was my sign that I needed to put some space between us. I broke off the
kiss and stepped out on his embrace.