Page 4 of Hot Blooded

“I will save you.”

My lips parted as he held my gaze. Fuck, this was not the time to start fantasizing about kissing him, about climbing onto his lap. We were in serious trouble—more than he even knew.

3

TONY

Iforced myself to break eye contact with Elio. I wanted to kiss him so fucking bad. And after that I wanted to push him up against the wall and claim him over and over. I wanted him to be mine.

I glanced out the window at a very dead Billy Dunn.

Vinnie was going to explode.

I wasn’t supposed to kill Billy. You can’t get money out of a dead man. I’d had that lesson literally pounded into me, but after what Elio told me, there wasn’t any way I was going to let Billy live. I’d have to convince Vinnie I’d done the right thing.

I could buy myself a little time by calling Micky.

Elio stepped back when I awkwardly tried to extract my phone from my left pocket using my right arm. He pushed my hand away, and my dick twitched when he slid his hand into my pocket and pulled out the phone for me. Jesus, what was it about his man?

His eyes widened, and he looked away. At least I wasn’t the only one affected.

He’s made for you.

I was in trouble from too many angles. The story of my fucking life.

Micky answered on the first ring. “I need a cleanup crew at my location.”

“This wasn’t supposed to be a hit.”

“I know, things went south. I’ll explain later. There was another party here. I’m bringing them with me.”

Micky sighed. “Vinnie’s going to go fucking ballistic.”

“I know.”

“Don’t fuck this up, Tony.”

“I’ll try. Just give me a chance to explain.”

Elio was shaking his head. “I can’t?—”

I held up a hand, and he scowled at me while I finished talking.

When I ended the call, he said, “What do you mean I’m coming with you?”

“You just watched me kill Billy.” Like that was the real reason.

“Jesus, did you kill him just for me?”

I wished I could kill him a second time. “Fuck yes, I did. The bastard hurt you.”

“But I’m nothing to you.”

“You’re wrong about that.”

“Tony, I can’t leave with you.”

“I didn’t say you had a choice.”