Cowboy Gangster 02 - Gunnin' for Love (CMS) (MM) (10 page)

“What?” Angel stared at him, eyes wide. “Well…what happened? Were you hurt? Did they just want money?”

Axel swallowed hard and his eyes burned. “They didn’t want money,” he whispered, an audible tremor to his voice.

“Then what…” Angel frowned as quiet horror filled his eyes. “They didn’t…?”

“No,” Axel sniffed and cleared his throat. “I-I mean, they were going to, but…” he released a shaky breath. “A guy who lives in my apartment building…Jimmy…he showed up and stopped them.”

“How many were there?” Angel asked.

“Two.”

“And this Jimmy…” Dane stared at Axel. “He handled them both…by himself? Did they have any weapons?”

“A knife,” Axel said quietly. “But Jimmy knows a lot of self-defense stuff, and martial arts.”

Dane nodded slowly, thoughtfully. “Well, thank God for Jimmy.”

“I do,” Axel whispered.

“Indeed,” Angel murmured. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Axel glanced away and nodded, his stomach queasy. “Thanks,” he said quietly.

“Hey,” Dane said and forced lightness back into his voice. “How about I grab us some dinner fixin’s and a couple movies off the rental rack, and we can have us a night of entertainment that doesn’t involve anyone taking off their clothes.”

“Ahh,” Angel pouted, then laughed as Dane clutched his arm around his neck.

Axel smiled, his anxiety easing. “It sounds good to me,” he murmured. “I mean…if you guys want to hang around that long. You don’t have to if you have other things you want to do.”

“Nothing else to do but have sexy time with this boy,” he sighed, squeezing Angel against him. “And that’s getting kind of boring, now that I think about it.”

“What?” Angel squawked and looked at him sharply.

Axel laughed as Dane looked at Angel innocently. “What? Did I say something wrong?”

“Uh!” Angel punched him in the arm. “Just for that, you’re cut off.”

“No, I’m not.” Dane hugged him as Angel fought his arms, trying not to laugh. “You know you can’t resist me.”

“Get off me,” Angel choked on a laugh, struggling to feign anger. “I can so resist you –you punk.”

“Punk?” Dane drew back, one eyebrow cocked, a smirk on his lips. “I haven’t been called a punk since…well, since I
was
a punk.”

Angel scowled and straightened his shirt. “You can just forget about me doing that thing you like so much,” he muttered, a dark smile twitching his lips.

“No,” Dane shook his head. “No, no, no…you are not taking that away from me.”

“After that little remark,” Angel sniffed and turned up his nose. “You are going to have to earn it back.”

Axel chuckled. Who needed movies? These two provided ample entertainment all on their own.

♦

“Can I assume you’re here to deal with our special guests?” Anthony asked.

Clint walked back to the bar. “You can.”

“Good,” Anthony nodded. “I was never much of a babysitter.”

Clint chuckled. “I can imagine. Something tells me Cory’s mama was his saving grace.” He smirked. “Although I suspect he got his incorrigible ways from his papa.”

“I second that.” Angelo, sitting next to Anthony, held up his hand and smiled.

“What?” Anthony twisted on the bar stool and looked at the other man. “What happened to us old fogies sticking together?”

Angelo shrugged. “Hey, Mary was a sweetheart. Cory didn’t get it from her. So I must deduce…” he splayed his hands and smiled.

“Maybe he got it from
you,”
Anthony suggested with a cocked eyebrow. “You’re in the bloodline.”

“True. But my genes aren’t as dominating as yours.”

Anthony dropped a skeptical glance at the man’s crotch. “I don’t know about that.”

“Incorrigible,” Clint murmured, grinning. “Cory definitely got it from you.”

“Exactly,” Angelo smiled.

When Anthony muttered an incoherent response, Clint and Angelo both chuckled. Cory’s mother had passed away just before Clint had been “inducted” into Nathan Sanitini’s
family.
Cory was just three at the time, and up until the death of his wife, Anthony had kept them away from “the life”. It had never been his intention to bring Cory into the business, but with Mary gone –this became his sole family, the sum of his life. It hadn’t taken long for Cory to become the collective beating heart of the family; a bright-eyed, curious little boy with a natural charm, even then. Somehow he’d managed to work his way into both Clint and Cochise’s hearts –when no one else really could. Something in his eyes had pulled at Clint, and the kid had taken a special liking to him. The feeling was mutual.

Clint emerged from behind the bar and Anthony held up his hand, a sudden knit in his brow. “Wait.” His eyes settled on Clint’s waist. “Where is your belt? I’ve never seen you without it.”

For the first time, Angelo took notice of the missing accessory as well. “I thought that thing was permanently attached.”

Clint shifted and wiped his hand across his mouth. “It’s…safe.” His eyes tightened and he offered no more information on the matter. The two men exchanged a curious, puzzled glance but didn’t press the issue.

Cochise entered the room moments later, and immediately noticed the missing belt and buckle, his stare critical, cutting into Clint’s face. But he said nothing of the belt. Despite the chill wafting off him in Clint’s direction, he appeared in the proper frame of mind to lend a hand with the special guests.

“You up for getting your hands dirty?” Clint asked.

The Egyptian was well aware of what equated “dirty” in their world. “Yes.” Simple. Blunt. No questions asked. Clint could appreciate that quality in the man.

Clint nodded and walked toward the door. “We’ll need your bag of special toys.”

“The fun,
sharp
ones?” the man muttered, falling in behind him.

“Those would be the ones.”

♦

Axel wasn’t sure how he saw it, perhaps it was the sunlight glancing off the front window of the shop that caused him to look that way, but once he laid eyes on the item –he knew he had to have it.

He placed the bag of puppy products in the back seat of Dane’s car and walked next door to the pawn shop. The necklace hung on a makeshift rack with other jewelry but nothing else was of interest to him. He stared at the medium-sized sunburst pendant suspended at the end of the silver chain. What held his focus, though, was the small skull in the center of the sunburst design.

His fingertips played absently over the metal buckle, the weight of it even reminding him of its presence. Not that he would ever forget it was there. Axel glanced toward the market as Angel and Dane emerged with two grocery bags. His gaze returned to the necklace and his heart beat a little faster as he experienced the need to hold it.

“What you looking at?” Angel walked up and peered through the large plate glass window.

Axel pointed at the necklace. “Do you think it costs very much?”

Angel shrugged and smiled. “One way to find out.” He hooked his fingers around Axel’s elbow and tugged him inside the shop, up to the counter.

A heavyset man in his late thirties, with thinning hair and bored eyes, looked up. He wore a black t-shirt that surely had to be at least a 4-5 XL size. “Yeah?”

“That necklace in the window,” Angel spoke before Axel could respond. “With the sunburst skull pendant. Could you tell me how much it is?”

The man grunted and stepped out from behind the counter. “I have a shitload of jewelry. Show me which one you’re talking about.”

At the front window display, Angel pointed out the item in question.

The clerk plucked it off the rack and looked it over. “Just a piece of shit trinket. Ten bucks.”

“Can I look at it?” Axel asked. The man dropped it in his hand and walked back to the counter. The pendant had weight to it and didn’t
feel
cheap.

“It’s all tarnished,” Angel said. “Kind of worn out looking. Sure you want it?”

My armor was tarnished a long time ago.
“I don’t mind,” Axel whispered and caressed his thumb over the small skull. He felt angel’s eyes on him and glanced at the young man.

“It reminds you of Clint,” Angel said softly.

Axel nodded and lowered his eyes to the necklace. He turned it over in his palm and discovered why it felt heavier than it appeared. A tiny latch opened the back, revealing a hidden locket. He smiled.
It’s perfect.

“Axel…” Angel murmured and Axel raised his eyes. “Is he…good to you?”

He felt Clint’s fingertips on his cheeks, in his hair…the tender strength in his arms as he held Axel against him and made love to him…

“The best,” Axel said quietly.

Angel smiled warmly. “I’m glad,” he said. “That you have someone who treats you good.” His eyes misted a little. “You deserve it…even if you don’t think you do.”

Averting his gaze as his eyes began to sting, Axel sniffed and closed his hand around the necklace. “I’m going to go pay for this.” Angel waited up front by the door while Axel paid the shop clerk, then they returned to the car together.

Dane leaned against the trunk, the pup in his arms. “There you are.” Dane grinned and spoke to the pup. “See? I told you they didn’t desert us.” He looked at Angel and Axel. “Jonah thought the two of you had abandoned us to a life of loneliness.”

Smiling, Angel approached him and pet the dog. “Oh, we would never abandon you. Dane, maybe, but never you.”

Dane snorted. “Jonah is the dog, but
I’m
the one in the doghouse?”

“Yep,” Angel nodded.

“But, baby,” Dane moaned. “I was just joking.”

Angel cast him a haughty look. “Did I look amused?”

Dane groaned and handed the pup to Axel. “Jeez. Can’t even joke with the guy,” he grumbled sourly, a quirk to his lips. Turning away to hide a grin, Axel cleared his throat and hugged the pup against him.

Angel nudged his arm as Dane walked around to the driver side. “Just wait till Clint gets himself in hot water with you,” he nodded and winked. “You’ll see how much fun this is. Fair warning, though –they’ll try to use sex to get out of trouble. So you got to stand strong.”

“I’m in trouble then,” Axel mumbled, smiling.

Angel laughed and dropped his voice. “Me, too. But when I finally give in, I make him think it was of my own free will –not his irresistible sexiness. Very important.”

Casting a suspicious glance across the top of the car, Dane muttered, “Don’t be giving him advice to use against poor Clint.”

“What advice?” Angel asked innocently and slid his arm across Axel’s shoulders. “We’re just having a brotherly chat.”

Dane smirked skeptically. “Yeah.”

Angel grinned and climbed in the front seat as Axel slid into the back with Jonah and the purchased necklace.
Brotherly chat
. Gentle pressure swelled his heart as he watched Angel make Dane beg for a kiss, and finally relent –of his own free will, of course.

The ease with which Angel accepted him was something he had yet to understand or comprehend.

The pup squirmed in his lap and Axel stroked its back. He gazed at the necklace of tarnished silver. At first glance, it might be hard on the eyes, even unappealing to some, but the longer he looked upon it, the less he noticed the flaws…and the more the beauty beneath began to shine through.

♦

The blindfold compressing his eyes ripped away roughly. His eyes hurt and he couldn’t focus. The urge to rub them was strong, but he had no mobility –his hands were bound painfully down at his sides, strapped to the legs of the chair with thin cord that cut into his wrists. The slightest movement now caused them to bleed –after struggling until they were raw the first night they’d been brought here. In two days, this was the first time the blindfold had come off. He had been sure he would die in the alley when that fucker had come after him with the knife, but rather than stick him –he’d taken great pleasure in beating the fuck out of him instead. His body and face still hurt like a motherfucker, but it wasn’t the beating that had been so bad –but the fact that they had been left alive.

You just dug your own graves, motherfuckers. That kid you grabbed –he belongs to the cowboy. And he isn’t gonna be none too happy that you put your hands on him and scuffed him up.

Stale urine tainted the air. He was pretty sure Tucker had pissed his pants the second he’d awaken tied to the chair. When the guy from the alley didn’t snuff them, they knew the fate that awaited them would be much worse than death. The cowboy was known for his “creative” brutality. And that was with those he had no personal connection to, no reason to torture his victims except that it was his job to do so –and perhaps for the sheer pleasure of it. What the fuck would he do to them? They had fucked with something
personal
of his.

Tell him the truth. You didn’t chose the kid.

A sharp gasp burst from Tucker as his blindfold was yanked off as well, jerking him from shallow slumber. “What…what’s going on? Who’s there?”

A scrape of hard-soled boots on the concrete floor. “Your worst fucking nightmare.” The voice was low, deep…and dripped with a southern drawl.

“It-it wasn’t us!” Tucker cried in instant panic. His voice tightened with fear and he choked on his words. “We-”

A hard grunt and loud thud as Tucker’s chair sailed over backwards. The crack of skull against cement was followed by a gasping, gagging sound.

“Don’t fucking speak until spoken to,” the cowboy growled. “Didn’t anyone teach you to respect your elders?”

“Smells like the fucking Grotto in here.” A new voice, with a foreign brogue. Sounded like a fucking rag head.

“Gutter rats prefer to wallow in piss and shit,” the cowboy muttered. “Sit him up.”

Chair legs scraped coarsely on the concrete floor then a hard thump as Tucker was upright again. The light in the room was dim and his vision was taking its time finding focus. All he could see were the occasional shadow –but the presence of the two men was powerful.

Tucker coughed but kept his mouth shut. Smart move, if uncharacteristic for the man.

“You’re awful quiet.” A tip of a knife blade touched his chin and lifted his face. He blinked and
remained
quiet. He was capable of learning from the mistake of others. The blade tapped him firmly. “What’s your name?”

He struggled to keep from pissing himself again –yeah, Tucker wasn’t the only one who’d lost control of his bladder. “Ryder,” he rasped through a dry throat.

Silence settled over the cold room, but for Tucker’s wheezing and coughing.

“You thirsty, Ryder?” the cowboy murmured. “You sound a little parched.”

Ryder hesitated. Right now, he’d do just about anything for a drink of water –but suspected, upon admitting his thirst, it wouldn’t be
water
that whet his whistle.