AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are you all right?” he shouts into my ear. Even so close, his voice barely rings out over the chaos that has erupted. I can only nod firmly to assure him while trying to wrap my head around what’s happening.
Suddenly, the lights go up, and the music cuts off. “Everybody out!” a man shouts, though I get the feeling he doesn’t need to. Everybody is already determined to get the hell out of here. I still don’t entirely understand what’s happening. Only a few moments have passed since I hit the floor, and it’s all a blur. I think one of the bouncers is herding people out, and broken sobs and panicked shrieks fill the air before things start to quiet down.
Finally, Luca pushes himself up on his knees and helps me sit up. His hands run over my body, and for once, he’s not looking to play around. “You’re sure you weren’t hurt? You weren’t hit?” There’s an edge to his voice, dark and primal.
Something deadly.
“No, really,” I insist. The acrid odor of burnt powder fills the air, and adrenaline floods my system, but dammit, I feel alive. For the first time in weeks, I’m completely alive. I glance around, taking in the scene and assessing the damage as Luca helps me to my feet.
Nearly all the guests have fled by now, and the servers and bartenders are clustered behind the bar in a tight, wide-eyed group. “Go on home,” Luca orders. “Everything will be fine here.”
That leaves the bouncers to clean up the mess left behind that so many drunken partygoers dropped in favor of running for their lives. Nobody thought to stay and talk to the police. Maybe they figured it would be safer to get the hell out and pretend they weren’t here.
I wonder what this will do to business.
“You okay, boss?” Vinny turns away from the body in the center of the sunken dance floor. “He didn’t hit you, did he?”
“No, he was either a shitty shot, or my reflexes are quicker than he figured.” Luca’s arm snakes around my waist and pulls me close to him, and I’m glad for it. I need to be close to him now. If he had been only a second slower to realize what was happening, this could have gone much differently.
“You shot him?” I ask Vinny, who nods.
“Shame you couldn’t have stopped at subduing him,” Luca growls out. “I’d like to have had a word with the fucker.”
I know what that means. I’ve seen it for myself back in the office. “We can assume who he was working for, though,” I point out. “He probably has a record. Craig could look him up once you get an ID. You should call him directly and have him come down, take prints in case the guy isn’t carrying an ID.”
When all I get in return is silence, I look up to find Luca scowling. “Uh… yeah,” he murmurs, stroking my cheek. “We’ll do that. We have a procedure for when things like this happen.” He might as well pat me on the head and offer me a cookie, but I get it. I might have been a cop, but this is the world he was raised in. He’s probably been dealing with situations like this since I was in middle school.
“Of course. Force of habit,” I offer with a shrug.
He runs a hand over my head, taking me by the back of the neck and pulling me close. “I wish I could kill that son of a bitch myself,” he grits out through clenched teeth, closing his eyes and touching his forehead to mine as he takes one ragged breath after another. I feel his desperation, the hunger for vengeance fighting with hunger to be with me now. I know that feeling since I want nothing more than to be alone with him after such a close call. “Fuck, if I had lost you…”
“You didn’t,” I remind him. “I’m right here.”
“Maybe you had better go now.” He straightens, frowning but resolute. “Go home, wait for me like you were going to. I’ll oversee the cleanup and make sure to handle things if anybody was stupid enough to call the cops. You can’t be here if they show up. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
“You’re sure you’re going to be all right?” I ask, something compelling me to cling tightly to him. Maybe it’s because I understand how easily things could’ve gone much worse. He could’ve been hit. He was trying to protect me, but he could’ve taken a bullet. What would I do? What would I have then? He’s everything to me. He’s my whole world.
“I’ll feel better knowing you’re home, safe.” It’s the way he says it before kissing me that leads me to think this is my last night out for a long time. The only place he can really trust I’ll be safe is within the compound’s walls. I have to force myself into offering a reassuring smile as Luca orders Vinny to take me home.
Vinny goes out first to get the car, and one of the bouncers signals for me when he pulls up at the curb. Only once he’s sure the coast is clear does Luca rush me out to the car and hurry me inside. I hate to think somebody could be watching and waiting, hoping to flush us out of the club for the real attack to begin. It doesn’t seem to be that way, thank God, but what about next time? I won’t pretend the possibility isn’t there. I can’t.
And now that I’m on my own in the back seat, I don’t have to fight off the trembling when I consider how long this could go on.
* * *
It’s closing in on four in the morning when Luca steps into the house. I’m waiting for him on the couch, stretched out with my left leg propped up on a few pillows. He looks exhausted as he falls to his knees at my side. “What happened? You did get hurt, didn’t you?” he asks, looking me over again, just as anxious as he was in the moments after the shots were fired.
“I’m just a little sore. I went down pretty hard, but it’s nothing a couple of ibuprofen couldn’t handle.” Now he’s here, after hours of me staring at the television without paying attention to anything playing. How could I with my mind so far away? Looking at a bleak future without the man who is now holding me close, breathing hard, running his hands over me like he needs to remind himself I’m alive and well.
“Did the police show up?” I ask as he kisses my forehead.
Burying his face in my hair, he grunts. “No. I called Craig. He knows what to do to keep things quiet. He has procedures too.”
I don’t want to know about that. The sense of betrayal is still too strong. “Everything’s okay now?”
“Everything is better than okay.” His arms wrap around me and squeeze me tight. “It was torture not coming home with you. Not being with you when I think of fighting the way we did.”
“I know,” I whisper. I could only curse myself for wasting precious time bickering when I got home and changed, having nothing left to do but think. What if those had been our last moments together? I’d never forgive myself.
