I sighed. She walked over and sat beside me and put her head on my shoulder. I put an arm around her.
“I love you. I want to help you. Let me help you.”
“I love you, baby girl. And you are helping me. I wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for you. I’d be dead or rotting in jail. Come here.” I put my arms around her and then we got up and I hiked her up so her legs were around my waist. I carried her to the bed and then I gently made love to her, slowly, showing every inch of her body my full attention. Then, after she was asleep I went down to the kitchen. I saw Oliver heading into the pool house so I grabbed two beers and knocked on the door to the pool house. Oliver seemed like the kinda guy you could sit and shoot the shit with and chatting with a couple beers might be a whole lot easier than sitting at the computer staring at the guy’s mug on my screen.
Dare
I found Angel in bed, staring off into space.
“How are you?” I asked her.
She shrugged.
“Angel, do you want to see him? This could bring you some closure.”
“Do you think I should see him?
“I don’t know. Maybe?”
“What’s going to happen to him?”
“I don’t know yet. I just had a talk with Joseph Lucas. I told him I hadn’t decided. I haven’t talked to Jason myself yet.”
She shuddered and then asked, “Where is he?”
“Here.”
“Here? Joseph Lucas is here?” she looked horrified.
“No, Jason’s here. He’s in a horse stall in the barn. I’ve got six guys watching him.
Her eyes widened.
“You wanna talk to him, it’s a one minute walk. You don’t, I go talk to him. From there I decide whether or not to turn him over to Kruna or I take him out myself.”
I knew my expression was hard and some guys would never tell their girl that this was something they’d do. But she needed to know who I was. At my core, I was a Ferrano and I would not allow anyone to fuck me over, to take what was mine, to threaten my life or the lives of people I loved. Whether this guy started out as a good guy, whether he was just dealing with the hand he was dealt, or was a serious bad apple, I’d have a conversation with him and then I’d make my decision. I’d let her have a conversation first, if that’s what she wanted to do.
“I’ll talk to him,” she said softly.
“Let’s go. Baby, you can’t tell him anything about me and Tommy wanting out. You can’t let on that…”
“I know, Master,” she winked at me, “I’ll be your good girl.”
I smiled and took her hand.
Angel
We walked hand-in-hand from the house to the barn, which was only on the other side of the driveway, and I saw that there were, indeed, men surrounding the barn.
Nino winked at me and opened the door and then I walked down a path with stalls on either side, down to the middle where another guard, a young and good-looking blond guy with a bit of a boy-next-door face smiled at me.
“Please don’t go,” I whispered to Dare as he led me closer.
“I won’t,” he said firmly. We approached the stall and I could see it was gated with a thick iron gate, unlike the other stalls that’d been traditional horse stalls.
I saw Jason sitting on an overturned milk crate in the back corner and when his eyes met mine, they were filled with pain. He looked the same though. In two years he hadn’t changed. Tall, dark, handsome, well-dressed. I hadn’t seen him in over a year but hadn’t looked him in the face in almost two.
“Angie!” he exclaimed, and then his expression dropped when he saw Dare at my back.