Page 11 of Vigilante

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My eyes widened briefly before we both burst into laughter.

“What the fuck am I doing?”I groan to nobody but myself. I drop my head back against the headrest of the car seat, close my eyes, and think back over the last four hours with Rocco. After he dropped me off in the tree line, I scrambled into it, making sure to cover my presence in as much of the darkness as possible. I didn’t want to be seen, as this was our only chance. If this didn’t work, then a more standard way of kidnapping would be on the cards.

But thankfully, Lady Luck was on our side tonight. While my cousin had the hood of his car up, fake smoke billowing from it, wearing a suit that made him look decent—fuck if I’d tell him that, though, we waited. After a few lonely minutes on the road, John Richardson came to a stop in his car. He rolled down his passenger side window as he passed and leaned forward.

“Hey there!” He called with a smile and concern on his face, “Need some help?”

My cousin played the part beautifully, complaining about car trouble while looking as though he was worth a million dollars had that fucking piece of shit hooked. John hopped out of his half-a-million Rolls Royce Phantom and came to the aid of a man he believed to be rich and powerful…just like him.

When he finally realized what was going on, it was far too late. Rocco cracked him in the jaw so hard that he went down like a sack of shit. “Shall we give him some cement boots and drop him in the river?”

I snort at the memory of our exchange.

“Stai bene?”

“What?”

“We’re not Cosa Nostra, cousin.”

Rocco held his hands up in surrender. “We’re from Sicily, that’s all I’m saying. You don’t know what our fathers were into.”

Clapping him on the back, I stepped over John Richardson’s body and chuckled. “You’ve been watching far too much Goodfellas. Your mother owns a restaurant, and your father a fucking vineyard.”

“Dead bodies in barrels, and some in pies.”

“Dio mio.”

Pulling a silver coin from my pocket, I tossed it, caught it, and flipped it onto the back of my hand. “Heads or tails?” I asked him. The result of the coin flip would decide what end of the body we got to hoist up and stuff into the trunk.

“Heads.” He shrugged after lighting another cigarette.

“Tails. You got the ass end.”

“Fuck!”

Shaking my head, I smile further at everything.

I think back to how we took John to an abandoned building just off the Cedarwood Forest, tied him up, blindfolded him, and had two of my father’s friends watch him. Yeah, I can see why Rocco believes we could be made men. For all intents and purposes, I was planning to go home to the cabin my father still owns on Lake Gardini, which is about a three-hour drive north of here, but instead…that’s right…I’m here…with my head pressed up against the cool glass of the tinted driver’s side window, looking up at flashing Christmas lights.

It’s 10 p.m., and I know she’s home. I can see the TV flickering through the little space of her apartment window that’snotcovered in festive décor. Seriously, what is it with this woman that I can’t seem to stay away from. I mean, sure, she’s beautiful. Scratch that she’s fucking stunning. Her laugh is infectious, her shapely curves I can’t keep my eyes off of, and those soft little whimpers she made when I kissed her a week ago made me want to find out just how delicate they would sound coming from underneath me.

Fuck…I’m truly fucked!

“Just stay in the car,” I tell myself. “In fact, start the car.” After a few more seconds, I groan. “Fuck it.”

Jumping out of the car, I search the ground and find a few small stones, launching them up at her window. They clink against the pane of glass, and when she doesn’t answer the first few times, I collect more and keep throwing. She finally pushes the window up as soon as the sixth stone is thrown, leaning out.

I knew she was gonna be pissed at me. Christ, I walkedaway from her without even so much as giving her my number.

It was the right thing to do.

So why do I feel so shitty about it?

She doesn’t say anything for a beat. She just stares down at me. One of her perfectly shaped eyebrows lifted up, watching further, waiting for me to say something, anything.

“Oh, would you look at that! It’s Mask Guy!” Another woman says after popping her head out next to Julia. “See, I told you he’d come back.” She smacks her arm playfully.

“Shut up!” Julia snaps, and I can’t hide the smirk on my face. “I’m mad at you.” She calls down to me.