On the Rocks Page 9

  “What’s the matter, Tommy?”

  “I just can’t sleep. A lot on my mind. You are the one always telling me that we are in danger. I guess I am just feeling it now.”

  I wasn’t. I hadn’t ever felt safer in my life, but that didn’t matter. Nothing did, but keeping it all in. I felt like it was going to burst out of me at any moment, and I was going to be swamped by it all.

  “It is more than that, Tommy. I know something is going on, and I don’t want you to blow me off. I want to know what is really going on. After everything we have been through, I think I deserve to know what I have gotten myself into. Are there people coming for us?”

  I met his gaze and his jade-colored eyes were so clear and deep. It felt like he was looking right into my soul, and I was worried that he wouldn’t like what he saw. Would he know that I had lied to him, and would he call me on it? Would I lose him because of it? That was my biggest fear.

  “I think we are safe here. I can’t say the same thing for the house in Kent.”

  “How do you know that?”

  I shrugged and turned away so that my back was to him. “I don’t know. It just makes sense. It would be the logical thing to do. Take out the safe house, and everyone starts to scramble for the last safe place. If I was going after my dad and his crew, that is how I would do it.”

  “What about you?”

  “What about me, Jack?”

  “Aren’t you worried that you are going to be swept into that category of being your dad’s crew?”

  “Not really. I was never very active in the family business, and everyone knows that. I don’t think anything is going to happen to us, as long as we stay away from Nick and Kent.”

  He was fishing a bit too much for my taste, but there wasn’t much that I could do about it. All I could think to say was as close to the truth as I could get without spilling all the beans. It was a mess, I knew it, but the less Jack knew the better.

  “You know that this doesn’t make sense, Tommy. Why won’t you tell me what is really going on? How did you know that the safe house was going to be attacked, and what do you know about the house in Kent?”

  “I just know enough to know that we don’t want to be there. I am glad you felt like driving because putting some distance between us and that place was the best thing that we could have done.”

  “Your father is going to be there.”

  “That is the plan.”

  Jack sat up, and I turned back over. I had to see his eyes, and I had to let him see mine. I didn’t feel bad about the plan. I know that maybe I should have. He was my father after all, but in the end, he was nothing to me but my tormentor. Because of him, most of my life and my mother’s life had been hell. I wasn’t going to stand for it anymore, no matter how much I was supposed to go with it. I didn’t want a part of the business, his crew, or him any longer. I just wanted it to all be over.

  “I don’t know what to say, Tommy.”

  “Don’t say anything. You will get paid. My mother will pay whatever it is that Nick had promised you. Your job is not finished until all those men are dead. You just have a new boss, same objective.”

  “I can’t just let them get ambushed, Tommy. That’s not right.”

  “You spent all of that time as a cop. You were doing this very thing, but this way is so much more effective. You will never have to worry about the Corrello family again. That is something good for everyone, and it will be all because of you.”

  I was trying to get him to see the bright side of things. My dad was no prize, and he had given the city a lot of hell. No one was going to miss him, not really. They may miss a paycheck that was backed by him, but there was going to be no real love lost. I knew that I didn’t have an inclination at all to be upset about his passing. I had hoped for this day for a very long time.

  “Are you telling me that you know what is going to happen?”

  I shrugged. “I know what the future holds for them all, Jack, yes.”

  “I knew that you knew something, but I never would have guessed this.”

  He was upset, and I knew that he would be. I couldn’t help but feel a little hurt that he couldn’t understand. My father had hurt me, and I just couldn’t feel that sorrow I was supposed to.

  “Do you hate me?”

  Jack shook his head. “No, not at all, but I just don’t understand, Tommy. Why do it this way?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t know what to do. An opportunity came to me, and I took it. I won’t say that I don’t regret most of it, but this is the way it must be. At some point, I had to take a stand and say that I wasn’t going to live like this anymore. Some people won’t let that lie, so I had to do this. If they would have just let me go live my life, I would have. But they wouldn’t, so I had to make sure that I would be okay.”

  I wanted Jack to understand why I was doing this. I couldn’t tell him everything, but I wanted him to at least understand why. I had never cared what someone thought as much as he did. It was a strange feeling, but I wanted Jack’s acceptance so much more than I should have. I needed to know that he would still care for me after knowing my dirty little secret.

  Jack stood up, and I knew that he was having a tough time processing it all. It was a lot to take in, and I didn’t know how he felt morally about it all. He knew that a murder, or several murders if everything went right, was planned, and Jack was still a cop at heart. Would he feel compelled to share what he knew?

  “I need to go get some fresh air, Tommy. I will be back in a few moments. Don’t go anywhere.”

  The last part was a little gruff, but I could understand why he was mad at me. I had kept it all from him, and even though we hadn’t known each other long, it still felt like I was letting him down. I should have told him what was going on, but I didn’t want him to look at me the way he did the one time he looked back before he shut the door.

  Was he going to come back?

  ***

  When I woke up, Jack was back and was lying next to me. He wasn’t under the covers though and he still had all his clothes on. He wasn’t into having relations with me and even though I wanted to badly, I knew that I was just going to have to go with it. He would get over his anger soon enough, and then we could move on to other things. I still held out hope that Jack would see it from my point of view. He had to see that this was the only way that I was going to be able to be free of my dad and this life. I hadn’t picked it, and at the end of the day, I just wanted out of it.

  I got up, making sure not to wake Jack. I didn’t want to fight with him, and if he wasn’t on board with it all, I didn’t want to see the judgement in his eyes. I knew it was going to be there, and that was going to bother me more than anything else.

  Going to the small entrance-way where the television was, I turned on the local news trying to see what was going on. I had a feeling that I was going to get my answer, even if my phone didn’t ring. It didn’t take long for the top story to come out, and it was about a fire not too far from here in Kent. Kent was the next small city north of where we were, and the big story was how many people were in the house at the time of the fire. No one was going to survive, and it was still too hot to do a full body count, but the number was expected to climb to the double digits.

  I didn’t feel joy watching the feed of the smoldering and in some cases, still-burning house. That was where I was supposed to be right now, and I wondered if it still would have happened even if I had been there. I was in bed with snakes after all. I could never truly trust who I was working with. That was why I had panicked when he had suggested that we go there. I knew something was going to happen, but I wasn’t prepared for the destruction that was on the screen in front of me.

  “Is this what you wanted, Tommy?”

  Jack was standing behind me, and I could tell he was as disturbed as I was. This was not at all what I wanted.

  “I never wanted any of this. I just didn’t think I had another choice.”

  Jack
shrugged.

  “You probably didn’t, not really. I can’t imagine what you had to go through to get here, Tommy. But I am glad to have met you, and I understand why you think you had to do this. I really do.”

  It was all that I had ever wanted to hear, and it felt better than anything that had been said to me before.

  “Thank you for understanding, Jack. That is all I ever wanted to know.”

  “It doesn’t matter what I say, Tommy. It is going to matter if your dad finds out about this. He would not be very happy about it, and I think you know that.”

  “I do, but I have a feeling that I am not going to have to worry about him again.”

  “You don’t know if he was in there yet.”

  “I have a good feeling about it. I hope he was in there.”

  As soon as I said the words, I regretted them. I didn’t want him dead, I didn’t want most of them dead, but I didn’t want to keep going on this way either. If there had been any other way to stop him, I would have done it. All I really wanted was peace, and this was the only way to do it.

  My phone rang. I had to find my pants since the phone was in one of the pockets, and I knew that I was going to have to answer it. It was who I hoped it was. Now I was going to get the news that I had been waiting for. Everything was going to have worked out somehow, and I knew exactly how it had happened. Now the Corrello territory would go to the Ash family, and I was going to be free to live my life without the shadows of the mob behind me. Everyone that was important should have been taken out. The only one that I wanted to save was Tony. The rest were gone if the plan went as it should have.

  “Vito, give me some good news.”

  He didn’t answer me, and I looked at the caller ID one more time to make sure that it was the right number. Vito was the guy who was my contact in the Ash family but there was no answer, just silence on the other side of the phone. This sinking feeling filled me up and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say. I said his name one more time before I hung up. Why did I have such a bad feeling all of a sudden?

  “Who was that?”

  “I thought it was my contact, the one that called me earlier, but maybe not. It was strange. He called, and then didn’t say anything. I didn’t hear anything either, so I am not sure what just happened.”

  There was a look of concern on Jack’s face. “Well, there is nothing that we can do tonight. I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens.”

  He pulled me back into bed, and I just let my body fall against his. It wasn’t long before Jack was touching my body and making me hard. He knew exactly what he wanted, and I could feel him getting ready for me. It seemed like that guy was always ready and hard. He was thick and so damn long that I thought I was going to faint. Just when I thought I could take it all, it seemed like there were a few more inches that I hadn’t been warned about.

  After the night before, I would have thought that I would be able to handle him easier, but Jack had more energy and dare I say that he was actually bigger this morning.

  I whimpered as he entered me. It was all I could do not to pass out right then and there. I felt raw and his need was like a hot poker, reminding me of how he had used me the night before. Now we were face to face and as he moved deeper, I finally shut my eyes. I could take the intensity in his green ones and I needed a moment to collect my own thoughts. Not only did he bring me immense pleasure, but he also brought up so many emotions.

  “Open your eyes, Tommy. I want you to see me.”

  And then he said things like that…

  Chapter 18

  Jack

  “Come on, Jack. As much as I would like to stay here in bed with you all night, there must be something else we can do. I want to go out.”

  My mind instantly went to that place where he had run off to last time, and my first knee-jerk reaction was no. “I don’t think that it is such a good idea. I am not in the mood to go out to a bar and drink. I need to stay alert, and you in a crowded dark place doesn’t sound like the best way to spend the evening. We still have a lot on our plate and a lot of unknowns.”

  “I already told you about it.”

  “You did, but that doesn’t mean that you are in the clear. We don’t know who was taken out, and you still haven’t told me who you are in bed with. I know this wasn’t all you.”

  He bit his lip, and then changed course. I could tell that he didn’t want to talk about it, and I had a feeling I knew why, but I had learned with Tommy that I had to be a little more patient.

  “Why don’t we just go out to a real restaurant? Have some decent food and then you can come back here and have me for dessert. I wasn’t even thinking about going to a bar.”

  “Good, I think I can swing that. Let me make a couple of calls first.”

  Tommy agreed and got up from the bed with a smile. His slim form and hard ass distracted me enough that I didn’t even remember what I was doing. Staying in bed sounded like the best course of action as far as I was concerned. Was it wrong of me to want just one day that I didn’t have to deal with it? Tommy was safe so why did I have to keep reminding myself that this was going to be over so quickly? It was torture, and it didn’t seem right.

  “Are you sure you want to go out. This place has room service.”

  “Yes, Jack. As much as I love sex with you, we are going to turn into mushrooms if we don’t get any sun. Please don’t call my dad though. I know you are supposed to check in. Can you just do it when we are done, and we get back?”

  I could tell that he was nervous, and there was a part of me that felt the same way that he did, but my curiosity was strong, and I wanted to know that everything was going to be okay. I wanted him to be okay, and that meant that I had to know the whole story. I didn’t have it yet, but it was coming soon.

  “I won’t make any calls. Let’s us go out and have a good time. We can deal with it all when we get back. I just want to have a good night with you.”

  Tommy smiled, and I melted a little inside. He did get his way quite often, and I knew that it was because of the way that he looked at me. I wanted him just as much now as when I first met him. Before he was just a young man that had a dirty mind and the same kind of mouth. Now he was so much more to me, and I loved to see him smile. Who would have thought that this job would have made me fall in love with man ten years younger than me and a mob boss’s son? It really was rather strange, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized I did love him, and I wanted him to be safe. I wanted more than that. I wanted Tommy with me well after this job was over.

  “Why are you looking at me like that, Jack?”

  I was staring, and I hadn’t meant to. I knew that there was going to be a reason for all of this, I just still wasn’t sure what it was.

  “I don’t know, Tommy. Let’s just go.” I didn’t want to talk or explain anything else. I didn’t want to tell him that I stared because I thought I was in love with him. I didn’t want him to see my vulnerable side, even though I had showed it before.

  “Sounds like a plan to me. I have felt cooped up in one place or the other for days.” Tommy stopped and paused in contemplation. “The funny thing is that I didn’t think that my dad cared enough to hire a bodyguard for me. I really thought he was just going to let me go and see what happened.”

  I did make one phone call before we left, to Annika. I just wanted to check in and make sure Adam and she were okay. I worried a little more than usual because of the people I was around now, but I didn’t want to be. I just had to make sure that they were okay, and then I could go on with what I was doing. I told Annika that I would be there to see Adam in a couple of days.

  “Do you know when you are going to be back, Jack?”

  “I don’t, but I promise as soon as I can make it, I will be there. I miss you two so much.”

  “You sound worried. Are you sure you are okay?”

  I wasn’t okay, but I wasn’t going to tell her what was going on. She would never under
stand it, and I wouldn’t blame her. If I was her, I would wonder where she was if she disappeared like I had. It wasn’t a good thing, but it was going to help our money problems, and it was going to keep her from moving away. Somewhere along the line I had forgotten why I had taken this job to begin with and why I had asked Cal to track something down for me. It was because I knew that I had to do this. I just didn’t know that I was going to fall for the person I was supposed to be keeping safe. I hadn’t seen Tommy coming if I was completely honest with myself.

  When I got out of the bathroom, he was close to the door sitting on the bed, and I would have guessed any amount of money that he was listening in. Tommy was most likely worried that I would tell someone more than I was supposed to. I wasn’t going to say that it didn’t cross my mind, but if what he told me was true, which I now knew that it was, the last thing I should be doing is calling Nick. If he was alive and if he found out that his son had anything to do with all of this, Tommy’s well-being would be in jeopardy.

  “Ready?”

  Tommy nodded that he was, and I smiled back at him. We didn’t have far to go, using the hotel restaurant instead of venturing out too far, so we just walked downstairs. The place was fancy. Tommy’s eyes lit up when he saw some of the food in a waiter’s hands. “I didn’t realize how hungry I am. You really know how to wear me out.”

  My face got a little pink because he said it in front of several people that we passed by while the host brought us to our own table. I didn’t know what to say to him when he said that, but I could feel eyes on me. It wasn’t hard to imagine what the people that overheard him thought. Tommy was still far more flagrant with his sexuality than I was. I didn’t want everyone to know my sexual orientation. It was none of their business.

  “Loosen up, Jack.”

  “I am loose, Tommy.”

  “No, it was actually tight as all get out, but I am talking about your attitude. We are gay, and we just had some of the greatest sex of our lives. I am not going to pretend anything other than that. You know how I feel about you, Jack. Let’s not ruin it by being worried about what a bunch of strangers think of us. It is just me and you.”