Endings & Beginnings (New Mafia Trilogy #3) (32 page)

   “You’re amazing.”

He laughed at my response and set a platter of
pancakes and bacon down. He grabbed his own mug and sat next to me.

   “Hungry?”

   “Yes, my stomach growling is what woke me up.” I devoured
four pancakes plus four pieces of bacon. We chatted about work and Chelsea’s
barbecue. Dom said he had to make some calls. Apparently Johnny was finally
able to hack into the FBI’s server again and he was downloading evidence from
Agent Phillips’ murder. Hopefully it would reveal a clue as to who was
responsible.

   “You don’t have to work until six tonight,
right?” he asked and I confirmed. “Victor invited us out to the range. I want
to see you shoot and see if I can offer any pointers.”

This made me raise my eyebrows at him and I set my
mug down. “I didn’t think you were thrilled with the idea that I have a gun?”

   “I admit having the gun fall out of your bag at
Crimson was a shock. So was finding out Victor had been giving you lessons.
But, I’ve had time to think about it and you should know how to protect
yourself. Victor says you’re a good shot. I want to see for myself.” He leaned
over and kissed me. I tasted maple syrup on his lips.

   “You’re not afraid of your girlfriend packing
heat?” I teased. He looked at me with such intensity then.

   “Say that again.”

   “What?”

   “That you’re my girlfriend.” He smiled and kissed
me again, his lips forced mine apart, causing me to moan. With a growl he
pulled me onto his lap. That’s when he realized I didn’t have anything on
underneath his shirt. Breakfast was forgotten.

Natalie

Dominic was impressed with my gun handling skills
and praised me the entire way back from the range. He said he felt better
knowing I could defend myself. He cited the mall shooting and I shivered.

   “I hope that was a once in a lifetime
experience.” It made me think of Grant’s heart stopping and watching, helpless,
as blood leaked out of his multiple bullet wounds. Grabbing my phone from the
cup holder, I called Grant.

   “Hey Nat! What’s up?”

   “Just wanted to check on you – how is
everything?”

   “Good, well aside from the business stuff. Dom
told me he filled you in.”

   “He did. You’re good though, Miranda and the baby
too?”

   “Yeah. What brought this on? Are you okay?”

Dom was looking at me funny too and I shook my head
letting him know not to worry. “I’m fine, but was just thinking about the mall
shooting.”

   “Ah, I understand. Well, we’re all good. The
nursery is almost done. Roman has the sickest crib! Think you’ll be back for
the baby shower? Mom has been heavily involved with the planning. It’s more
intense than the wedding.”

Homesickness hit me like a punch to the gut. I
missed my brother and was missing out on so much. “I want to be there,” I said.
It was a non-committal answer. Hell yeah I wanted to be there, but the current
state of my finances made it impossible. “Guess where Dom and I just were?” We
spent the next ten minutes chatting about the shooting range, what kind of hand
gun I used and then Dom got on the phone to razz Grant, telling him I was a
better shot. I was in a great mood after that.

 My phone rang as we were walking in the door. It
was Chelsea. I didn’t have a chance to say hello before she started chewing me
out. “You little slut! How come I have to hear from Derek, who heard it from
Collin that you’re back with Dom? When were you planning on telling me this
latest development?”

   “I’m sorry I’ve been busy and a little wrapped
up.”

   “Uh huh, more like wrapped around an Italian
stallion!” She said with a laugh. “I want details, Nat. You’re still coming
over tomorrow, right?”

   “Yes and Dom is too. Do we need to bring
anything?”

   “He’s coming? Oh, we definitely need to talk.
Just bring something to drink.”

   “Okay, see you tomorrow!”

Dom was laughing when I ended the call. The faint
laugh lines around his eyes crinkled up. “What?” I asked, setting my phone down
on the kitchen counter.

   “She actually called me an Italian stallion?”

   “OMG you heard that?” I felt my cheeks burn which
made Dom laugh even more.

   “Chelsea doesn’t exactly have a quiet voice.”

   “No she doesn’t. But Chelsea is right.” I stepped
up on my tip toes and whispered in his ear. “You are my Italian stallion.” 

I started to move away, but Dom held me in place,
his hands on my hips. “Damn fucking right I am,” he growled and slanted his mouth
over mine. My heart was racing plus I was breathless and flushed when he ended
the kiss and I had to hold onto the edge of the counter to stay upright.

Dom moved passed me to head to the bathroom. While
he was busy, I went through the stack of mail that had been accumulating all
week. The bills, including yet another one for my student loans, were set aside
in one pile while junk mail was sorted into another. An alumni newsletter from
the University of the Arts got my attention so I plopped down on the futon to
read. The center spread of the newsletter was devoted to the grant program to
start a small creative business in Philadelphia. The university had extended
the application deadline through the end of June. Was this a sign? When Dominic
sat down next me I showed him the article.

   “Dom, is that gallery space you offered me still
available?”

   “Yeah. Oh…are you considering this grant to open
a gallery? You know I’ll help you out, you don’t need grant money.”

   “If I do this, I want to do it on my own and do
it right. The fifty grand from the grant will cover overhead like rent and
utilities. If I get artists to work on consignment, I won’t have to pay upfront
for inventory. Danny’s boyfriend offered to do my books for free too.”

   “So you’ve been considering this?”

   “I was and almost approached you in June, but
then…”

   “I pushed you away.”

   “Well, um, kind of.”

   “I’m such a fucking idiot,” Dom said and leaned
back against the futon with an exaggerated sigh.

   “Seriously? I’m the idiot for letting you push me
away. My first instinct is to run, to protect myself.” I curled up against his
side, placing my head on his chest. “I can’t be happy without you in my life,”
I admitted.

Dom wrapped his arm around my waist and hugged me closer,
kissing my forehead. “I’m miserable without you.”

   “So, we need to work some things out. I’ll start
by applying for the grant to open a gallery. Are you sure about that space?” I
twisted my head so I could see Dom’s expression.

   “Baby, I bought it for you.” He paused and was
absentmindedly rubbing my back as he stared at the blank television screen.
“What if you stayed her in L.A. and I move in?”

   “Wait, what?!” I sat up and slid away from his
side, staring at him in disbelief. “You can’t give up your life, Dom.”

   “Isn’t that what you’ll be doing?” He lifted a
hand and cupped my cheek.

   “No,” I shook my head for extra emphasis. “Think
about how much I’m missing by being out here. I was beginning to patch things
up with my mom and there’s Grant and the baby…aside from Chelsea, there isn’t
anything here. I appreciate what you’re offering, babe, but think about your
family’s reaction. I need you to keep my brother safe too.”

He grinned and pulled me onto his lap, which was
quickly becoming one of my favorite places to be. “Does this mean you’re moving
back to Philly?”

   “Yeah,” I grinned in return, finding his reaction
infectious. “I guess I am.”

Holy shit! What the hell did I just commit to?

DOMINIC

While Natalie was gone at work that night, I stayed
at her apartment to take care of some business. Johnny had downloaded all of
the evidence collected from the scene of Phillips’ murder. He used a secure
file sharing service to send the information to a new Gmail address created
just for this purpose. I grabbed a bottle of beer and sat down with Dante on
speaker phone to go through the information.

In the first pictures of the crime scene, the focus
was on Phillips. He was in the driver’s seat, slumped over to the right and was
wearing his standard navy blue suit. Bits of glass from the shattered driver’s
side window had rained down and covered his inert body like diamonds. The next
series of images focused on the interior of his government issued sedan; rusty
brown stains had seeped into the dark gray upholstery. The actual entrance of
the bullet was small, about the size of a dime, but when the bullet made its
exit, it took half of Phillips’ skull with it. Blood and other matter had
sprayed the passenger side window and then dripped down to collect along the
edge.  The way the flash illuminated the blood told me it was still wet and
fresh when the pictures were taken.

I took another sip of beer and moved onto the other
details. Cameras at the intersection picked up the shooter’s vehicle. It was an
old Pontiac LeMans corroded with rust. The shooter wore a mask making him or
her unidentifiable. Notes indicated the vehicle had been found torched, it’s
smoldering chassis discovered inside an abandoned factory warehouse in West
Philly, which was Demetrius’ territory.

   “Grill Demetrius, find out if that location has
any significance for him,” I told Dante. “Bring Joey D. with you.”

   “Got it.”

Scrolling to the next page, the details continued.
“So the LeMans was reported stolen. That’s typical and another dead end.” Dante
murmured in agreement and I was getting ready to move on when the address where
the car was reported stolen from made me stop.

   “The block where the car was jacked from…does it
sound familiar to you?” I asked.

   “Nah, it’s somewhere in North Philly.”

I highlighted this information, making a mental note
to research the address further. There was something familiar about it and my
gut told me not to ignore it. Dante and I scrubbed through the rest of the
files, but didn’t unearth anything. We hung up and I called Grant next.

   “Hey, Dom, how’s my sister?” he asked and I
laughed.

   “No hi or how are you, just right to Natalie,
huh?”

   “Well, yeah. I miss that little shit. How’s she
doing and I know you won’t blow smoke up my ass.”

   “You’re right about that. She was struggling and
too stubborn to ask for help.” Grant snorted in acknowledgement. A strong
stubborn streak ran in the Ross genes. “She was days away from being evicted
when I showed up.”

   “What?” he yelled. “Why didn’t she say anything?”

   “Chill, bro, I paid her rent and bought her some
groceries. She’s good now and will be even better once she’s back in Philly.”

   “Thanks for taking care of her, man. Wait, did
you say she’s moving back?”

   “We haven’t worked out all of the details yet,
but we’re together again and she has great ideas for a gallery.” I filled him
in on how his sister and I had worked things out and about the grant program
through her university.

   “Holy shit, man, you’ve been busy. Congrats,
though. I may have hated your punk ass when you first started dating, but you
make my sister happy and that’s all I can ask for. Fuck it up and your ass is
mine, though.”

   “Don’t worry; I’ll kick my own ass if I fuck
things up. I love Natalie.”

   “I know you do.”

Miranda said something in the background and Grant
told her the news. She squealed and I could hear her clapping. “About time you
guys pulled your heads out of your asses!” she yelled and I started laughing.

Before I ended the call, I remembered the North
Philly address and asked Grant if he recognized it.

   “It does seem familiar. N. 18
^th
St,
huh? Hey Rand, have you heard of this address?” He rattled it off and I heard
her respond, but couldn’t understand what she said.  “No shit, are you sure?”
Grant turned the conversation back to me. “Remember where we had that meeting
in that old warehouse on Indiana Ave? You know, where Egan’s second was
killed?”

   “Yeah.”

   “That car was jacked from one block over.”

A chill ran down my spine, but that didn’t quell the
anger beginning to simmer in my gut. “I don’t think that’s a coincidence,” I
said.

   “Me either.”

All the evidence was pointing to someone in our
inner circle of business associates, but which one?  “Dante is meeting with
Demetrius to ask him about the location where the car was found. I need you to
pay a visit to Egan. Watch him closely to see if he’s lying. Bring back up with
you. I never trusted that son of a bitch.”

   “Do you think it’s him?”

   “I don’t know, but we need to stop whoever it is
and fast.”

We hung up and I sat there, my leg bouncing as I
thought through everything. I was missing something, but it was evading me. I
grabbed another beer and paced the length of the apartment, trying to keep up
with my mind. I’d practically worn a path in the carpet by the time Natalie got
home. She walked in the door and stopped, taking in my appearance.

   “Okay, what’s going on?” she asked, setting her
bag and keys down on the counter.

   “It’s business. Do you really want to know?”

   “Not really, but maybe I can help – provide some perspective?”
She grabbed my hand and led me to the bedroom. “First I need to get out of
these clothes. I smell like a bar.” She wrinkled up her face when she sniffed
her hair. “Ugh. I need a shower.” Natalie stripped her shirt off over her head
and I stood mesmerized at the sight of her sheer bra that barely covered her
tits. Her shorts were next, dropping to the carpet with a whisper. I watched
her naked form retreat into the bathroom.

   “Care to join me?” she called over her shoulder,
leaving the door wide open. She didn’t have to ask me twice and she certainly
gave me another perspective that took my mind off of everything except the way
her body arched into mine and how perfectly we fit together.