Dirty Sex (30 page)

take to shove a couple scrawny kids into a car? At four minutes and

change, I heard a car. I sort of ducked down, but that just made my ribs

feel like shattered glass. I bit my lip and tried to ignore the sting.

Then it was there, a dark sedan with a thick-necked dude behind

the wheel. Next to him, Vito was scanning the garage as they drove

toward the exit. The first time he looked, his gaze slid right past me.

The second time he looked it clicked. He smacked the guy driving and

pointed. They sped up real fast. He probably thought I was going to

follow them. Nope, I was way dumber than that.

I punched the gas and aimed right for him. It was hard to steer

with the gun in my hand. First gear, second, third, and the engine

screamed at me. Vito raised his hand and squeezed off a single shot that

seemed unbelievably loud. When I slammed into their car, fuck. Bone-

jarring? Hell, no. Try enough impact to make my sides feel like they

were splitting open and shredding any remaining bone, flesh, muscle I

had left. Try my headache reaching levels I’d only imagined before that

fucker Vito.

All forward motion stopped as the driver’s side of the sedan

smashed into a cement pillar. The grill of the rental implanted into the

opposite fender. They were trapped and they were fucking mine.

I got out of the car with my hand already wrapped around Ryan’s

gun and pointed it at the driver. I yanked my H&K out of its holster and

aimed it at Vito’s head. At that point, I had few qualms about pulling

the trigger.

It didn’t look like I’d have a problem. Vito was definitely alive,

just sitting there staring at me, stunned. The driver was shaking his

head, trying to figure out what happened. It gave me enough time to

glance in the backseat at the twins. They had the same expression as

Vito.

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“Move,” I screamed.

They did. Everyone. Ryan grabbed Reese and hauled her out of

the backseat. His door opened fine. Vito started trying to muscle his

door open, but that so wasn’t happening. There was a car rammed into

the side of it. Dumbass. Same with the guy behind the wheel. His door

was glued to a cement post. They were lucky I hadn’t been going faster.

“Holy shit,” Ryan nearly whispered. Then he screamed, “Are

you fuckin’ crazy?” He was only a couple feet away so his voice was

deafening.

“Yes,” I told him without taking my eyes off their captor.

Vito realized his door wasn’t going to magically open. He

unloaded a couple rounds into the already cracked windshield then

kicked it releasing a shower of glass on himself. Not too smart. He and

his buddy started to climb out.

“Guys. Get in the fuckin’ car.” I yelled to the twins. It took a

second for them to understand. Finally, Ryan started pushing Reese

toward the car. Slowly. Vito and his buddy were scrambling over the

hood of their car when I shouted for them to stop. They paused.

“Why?” Vito asked. “You won’t shoot us.”

“You sure about that?” Maybe it was my tone or the way I was

grinning, but he actually stopped moving. Just stood there on the

hood of his car. The twins had also stopped. They were watching me,

studying me. I turned to tell them to get in the car. What I saw made

me freeze, a bright red handprint across Reese’s cheek. Immediately, I

spun back to face Vito.

“Is there a problem?” Vito sort of chuckled.

“Which one of you was stupid enough to touch her?”

“That was Jimmy.” Vito gave a nod to the guy next to him. Jimmy

laughed. That really pissed me off.

I dropped the gun in my right hand a few inches and squeezed the

trigger. I was close enough that I couldn’t miss. The kick from the gun

forced me to take a step back. Probably should have taken it to a range

to get a feel for it.

Jimmy screamed and fell clutching his knee. Blood seeped

through the cracks between his fingers. The shards of glass on the hood

scraped and echoed as he twitched. I felt oddly satisfied and only a little

nauseous.

At least I’d talked Reese out of the hollow points.

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“Was that really necessary?” Vito asked like he was trying to be

cool. Judging by the amount of sweat on his face, it wasn’t working.

“I’m not in the mood to fuck around.”

Vito took another step closer. “Let’s talk. Work this out.” His

hands were in the air like a surrender. Screw that.

“You know?” I moved both guns so one was pointed at his head,

the other at his body. “I’m not really feeling it. So just shut the fuck up

and don’t come any closer.”

“Oh, Cooper.” Vito sighed like I was a recalcitrant toddler. But

I wasn’t. I was a recalcitrant adult. Much worse. At least he wasn’t

walking forward anymore. Next to him, Jimmy screamed some more.

“What part of shut the fuck up did you not get?” More screaming.

“And make him shut up too,” I said as if Vito could make it happen.

“You just shot him in the knee. That’s pretty painful,” Vito said.

Damn, he was annoying. Condescending too.

“Whatever.” I couldn’t take my eyes of Vito, but I could still talk

to the twins. “Will you guys go get the car so we can get the hell out

of here?”

“Sure. Whatever you say.” Ryan backed away from me.

“I’ll stay here.” Reese finally spoke.

“Here.” I handed her Ryan’s gun, which she trained on Vito.

Jimmy finally stopped screaming. He must have passed out.

“I’ll be back in a sec.” Ryan got in the rental. When he backed it

out of the sedan, the shaking made Vito stumble and fall to the ground.

Ryan screeched away leaving Reese and me with their uncle on all

fours on the cement. Shit.

“Don’t try anything,” I said. “Just stand up real slow.”

“Sure, kid,” Vito assured me.

I didn’t believe him for a second. As he stood, I stepped forward

to cover Reese. Good thing too. Vito was clutching a handgun, which

he pointed right at me. I froze.

“Now we’re going to do things my way.”

“No,” I said.

“Drop the gun. Move away from Reese.”

“I said no, dumbass.” I pointed at the gun I was holding. “I’ve got

a gun too.” Was he fucking slow?

“What are you doing?” Reese tried to push me away.

“I got this, buttercup.”

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“Would you rather stand here and see who’s a better shot?” Vito

straightened his clothing with his free hand. “It won’t turn out well for

you.”

“What can you do, kill me?” I asked. Actually, that seemed pretty

shitty. I didn’t go through all that just to get killed in a parking garage

in Vegas. “I’m the only one who knows where your money is.”

“I don’t believe you, Vivian. You proved to be a pretty good liar

before.” Vito shrugged in a dignified way. “Besides, I was only asked

to retrieve the twins. No one said you had to be alive.”

“Would you two stop the pissing contest?” Reese grabbed the

waistband of my jeans and hauled me backward so she could step in

front of me.

“What the fuck?” was all I could manage.

“There’s the Reese I know.” Vito grinned. I could barely see him

from behind Reese.

“Shut up, Vito.” Reese still had the gun trained on him, but it was

kind of pointless. He’d let his drop so it was pointing at the ground.

“That’s my girl.” He sounded like he meant it. “You really haven’t

changed have you?”

“Please shut up?”

“Just like when you were little,” Vito continued, leaving no

question about who was in charge of the situation, guns or not. “You

know, once when you were just a tiny thing you pulled a stunt exactly

like that. Your grandfather slapped Ryan and told him he was a bastard.”

Vito laughed at his own story. Their grandfather sounded like a douche

bag to me. “You pulled Ryan away and stepped in front of him. Exactly

like that,” he repeated. “It was classic.” As he spoke, Reese started to

straighten. Her shoulders squared and her jaw started to clench. “You

couldn’t have been older than six. It was right before your mother ran

away,” he mused. “She wanted to keep you safe, kid. Carissa always

was naive.”

“Vito. Stop. Fucking. Talking.” Reese raised the gun as if she

suddenly meant it. “You don’t know shit.”

“Really, honey? I think I do.” Vito smiled. I believed him. “She

came back into the fold, you know? Couldn’t keep away. You’ll come

back too.” What the fuck was he talking about?

“No, she didn’t,” Reese screamed. It was like the petulant eight-

year-old I once knew was standing in front of me and I was just a fly

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on the wall. “And I’m never going back.” I half expected her to stomp

her foot.

“What do you think you’re doing right now? That gun feels good

doesn’t it?” His voice was low, taunting, like tainted honey.

“Shut up. Just shut up.” Her gun trembled.

“You have a choice, kiddo. Come home now. We’ll protect you.

Give you everything you ever wanted.” Stern tone now, very fatherly.

“If you don’t, you’ll end up just like your mother.”

Reese let go of the gun. The sound of it dropping echoed through

the cement surrounding us. “It was an accident. He told us it was an

accident.”

“You believed Christopher?” Vito asked incredulously. “You’re

smarter than that.”

Reese looked like she was going to cry. I was so totally lost. What

the fuck was going on?

Ryan chose that moment to pull up in the second rental car.

Reese was just standing there gasping for air and trying not to cry or

hyperventilate. It wasn’t working. Vito looked like he was waiting for

her to rush back into his arms. I could have just walked away. No one

would have stopped me.

Instead, I raised my gun again and pointed it at Vito’s head. Ryan

stepped out of the car. I put my other arm around Reese’s waist and

steered her toward Ryan. He put her in the backseat. I picked up the gun

Reese had dropped and shoved it in my holster.

“We’ll never stop looking, Reese,” Vito said right before her door

slammed shut.

“You’ll stop right fucking now,” I said as I backed toward the car.

“Do you even know what we’re talking about?” Back to the

pissing contest.

Nope. “I know as much as I need to.” He was right though. I didn’t

know anything about them. Not like I thought I did. And not knowing

was starting to worry me.

Behind me, Ryan started the car.

“They’ve already marked you as one of us,” Vito said as if I knew

what the hell he was talking about. “That necklace was Carissa’s,

wasn’t it?”

“Jealous?” I guessed.

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Vito laughed. “You should ask them where they came from. What

it is that they are dragging you into.”

I went around the front to get in the passenger side. My gaze never

left Vito’s face. “I already know more about them than you ever will.”

“I doubt that.”

I got in the car. Ryan gunned it out of there. Vito watched us drive

away without moving.

“What just happened?” Ryan asked once we were on the main

road.

Reese didn’t answer. Neither did I.

“Guys, what happened?”

“Nothing. Vito’s just a douche.” Reese wiped her eyes and

straightened her shoulders.

“I’d like to know what happened.” I pivoted to look at Reese.

“Nothing. He was just trying to get to me. It worked.” She lied.

“What was he saying about your mom?” I chose to ask the question

I was sure would get an answer. Even though I knew I wouldn’t like

the answer.

“That she was murdered.” Reese didn’t break our eye contact as

she said it.

“What?” Ryan yelled. He turned away from the road to study

Reese. His grip on the wheel tightened.

“Drive, Ryan,” Reese said.

“What the fuck?” He did what she told him, but his eyes flickered

between the road and the mirror.

“Come on. We knew it. We just didn’t want to.” She sounded

surprisingly calm.

“Fuck.” He took a deep breath, drummed his fingers on the steering

wheel, took another breath. “Yeah, but we didn’t
know
know.” He was

kind of pleading. Hoping she would take it back. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Reese nodded. She looked so sad and adorable, I just

wanted to climb back there and hold her. Not really an option. Also I

was pissed. And weirded out. Something was going on. Vito was right.

I didn’t know shit.

“Are you two fuckin’ high?” They just found out their mom’s

death wasn’t an accident and that was their reaction?

“No, why?” Ryan was either callous or stupid.

“Indulge me. Tell me you’re stoned. I’ll feel better.”

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Dirty Sex

“Coop. We knew,” Reese told me. “We just never admitted it.”

“You knew your mom was killed?” They had to be high.

“There are just things you know.” Ryan twisted his grip on the

wheel. The sound of creaking leather made me glance at him. There

were tears in his eyes.

“Does anyone want to tell me what exactly is going on?” I asked

even though I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like that answer either.