AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hey, get your hands off her? Leave her the fuck alone!”
He obviously didn’t hear me. He didn’t move from his position on top of her inside the car. “He must be the one you’re spending so much time with at the grocery store! What’s this shit I’ve been hearing about you spending time with a man at the store?”
She raised her hand as if his words had physically struck her. “Desi, I just— I—”
“You fucking around on me?” he yelled from inside the car. “Are you out here fucking instead of buying my damn groceries?” Spittle flew from his mouth and landed on her face. He looked like an angry pitbull, preparing to bite off the head of its prey.
I only had one option, and the defeated tone of Nicole’s voice made me more than willing to take it. I could feel savagery from deep within brewing. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll take your hands off her right now,” I warned.
Desi’s head popped out of the car as he stood to his full height. He sized me up. We were about the same height and weight and in the same physical shape. Being the boss willing to put in the work beside my men in the construction business the past eight years did my physical condition many favors. I was thankful for the favors as I readied to put this guy in a body bag from brute strength alone. It had been years since I murdered someone with my hands and ordered a scene clean-up, but I wasn’t new to this. I was true to this.
“This doesn’t concern you, man. I’m talking to my girl!” Desi growled.
“Didn’t sound like talking to me.”
“Is that right? What did it sound like then?” Desi did what I wanted him to do. He left Nicole’s side and walked toward me with his hands balled in fists. That was fine with me. My goal was to get him off of her.
“Sounds like you’re about to get your head knocked off your shoulders,” I warned.
He chuckled menacingly. “Is that right? And do you think you’re going to be able to do that?”
“Damn right!” I roared before landing a right hook to his jaw.
The force sent him stumbling into oncoming traffic. Unfortunately, he gathered himself before a Ford Explorer could strike him.
I chuckled when he stumbled toward me for more. “Bring your bitch ass back over here. I can do this all day,” I said.
“No.” Nicole scrambled out of the car and to the street to stand between us. “Des, we can handle this in the house. Please—” She paused, glaring at me to let me know she meant what she was about to say. “This is our business, so let us handle it, Vito.”
“You know him? Wait, who did you say he was?” Desi narrowed his eyes, studying me. A glint of recognition traveled across his orbs. I could almost see the tales of the DeLucas travel through his mind. Realizing who he was speaking to, he removed his eyes from mine and grabbed Nicole by the arm. “Come on.”
“You don’t have to go with him,” I told her.
“Just leave, Vito. Go,” was her reply.
My feet pounded the pavement when I turned around and marched to my vehicle. I opened the door but couldn’t get inside. I looked back and watched that punk haul her toward the curb. “Nicole,” I called out for her. “You don’t have to let him treat you like this.”
She didn’t answer. Instead, she grabbed the grocery bags from the car as her punk-ass man stood there and watched her fill her arms with bags.
I punched my left palm with my right fist so hard that the pain threatened to draw my attention away from the retreating couple. I halted a millisecond from going back over there when she bestowed me with a pleading look.
She shook her head slightly, letting me know she didn’t want me to interfere.
My neck muscles flexed involuntarily. Thunderous blood coursed through my veins. I hated men that used their male dominance to abuse their women. The shit was lame, weak, and plain fuckery.
Desi shoved Nicole in the back, pushing her into the house. He slammed the door behind them, leaving me in the dark.
I stood by my Jeep’s door, waiting for the sound of her wails. They never came.
Ten minutes later, I still stood there, waiting for any sign that she needed me to rescue her. It never came.
My heart trembled wildly as I thought about what could happen in the little house across the street, nestled in this quiet, historic district. Had I let her down? Had my persistence in talking to her every week subjected her to more abuse? Had I gone soft? The old Vito would do something. The old Vito would have already ended this punk.
Nicole’s eyes had pled for me to let her handle it. She wanted me to leave. She had asked me to leave. She didn’t want me to interfere. He was her man. I wasn’t. She chose to walk away from my protection and to his house.
Pissed to high hell and murderous, I had no choice but to hop back inside my vehicle and give Nicole what she wanted—to handle her business with her man.
