Out of Time (Fall of the Morelli Crime Family #3)

13. Chapter 13

thirteen

Mark

I n the early morning hours, the sun yet to make an appearance, I was wide awake, doing my best to ignore Bianca’s wandering hands in her sleep. When that proved impossible, I just focused on keeping my own hands to myself.

Consent was a funny thing, but non-negotiable, and a sleeping Bee didn’t know she was cuddled up close to me, didn’t know whose arms and chest and stomach she was touching. One leg rubbed against my own and she hummed in contentment. I recited baseball stats in my head, but knew if I kept it up I wouldn’t be able to watch a ballgame without getting a hard on, so I put my hand over hers, trying to still those fingers as they continued to wander south.

Bee gasped when I made contact and I darted my eyes over to hers—this woman was wide fucking awake and messing with me.

Really now…

“Whatcha doing, Bee?” I asked with a grin.

“Busted,” she smirked. “I thought you were asleep. I was having fun.”

“What, watching my dick bounce around in excitement? You thought I’d sleep through that?”

She blushed, but kept her gaze on me. “I was kinda hoping to rile you up before you were awake enough to think properly.”

“Are you trying to take advantage of me in my vulnerable state?” I grinned. “How very frat boy of you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, you’re the one making decisions for me as far as what I do with my body. How very old-white-man-politician of you.”

I choked on my laughter. She was right, but it was important to me to wait. If she changed her mind after we went past the point of no return, how would we deal with it if she actually got pregnant?

But she was right. Her body, her choice.

“How about a compromise? Just hand stuff then?” She smiled, shifting her grip so she could lace her fingers together with mine. “Okay, okay, mouth stuff.”

She threw her head back, letting out a full laugh that shook her tits in the best way possible.

“Want an honest answer?” she asked when she calmed down.

“Always.”

“I think that it would be too hard to stop if I had any part of you touching my bare body. I’d want it all.”

“Got it. Dry humping, clothes on.” I rolled over on top of her, fitting my hips perfectly between her legs. Henry Cavill was standing at attention, close to where he loved it most.

She laughed again, her smile sweet and sincere when I reached a hand up to her face, brushing the hair out of the way. “Besides, I bet I could make you come without putting a damn thing inside you. Wanna take the bet?”

She shook her head, her smile wide. “I believe you could. You’re just so…you. Practically perfect. In every way.”

“A regular Mary Poppins,” I grinned.

“Exactly. Marky Poppins.”

I choked out a laugh. “And don’t you forget it. I could be your practically perfect man if you’d let me.”

Her sigh was exhausted. “I’ve told you several times now that I’m yours. What's it going to take for you to believe it?”

I gave her the respect of giving her question some real thought.

“I don’t know. I see you struggling, hurting.” I swallowed. “I think I’m scared of you changing your mind again because I was so sure that first night together was the beginning of forever until it wasn’t. I think my brain is trying to protect my heart from that kind of pain again.”

“By refusing to believe me when I tell you I’m with you? That I’m done with my father?”

I shrugged. “I’m not saying it’s logical. I understand why you left me, Bee, and I’m not angry or upset. But that feeling of heartbreak was intense. It’ll take some time to get past it.”

She gave me a small, sad smile, settling closer into my arms and head resting perfectly against my shoulder. When our legs tangled together and her pelvis pushed against me, it just felt intimate, not like the start of something urgent.

“It’s the same with me, know,” she whispered against my chest. I stroked her hair while she continued. “I loved my father for twenty-eight years. It’s in my nature to jump to his defense, to try to avoid the tough stuff and just see the good things. So yes, it does hurt to know that he’s done bad things. But the hurt doesn’t affect my choice to be with you, Mark. It has nothing to do with you, only my sense of betrayal from him. It’ll take some time to get past that.”

I met her eyes and paused for dramatic effect.

“Okay, that makes sense. I concede. So do you want to make yourself comfy here in bed and touch yourself while I go masturbate in the shower or vice versa?”

She laughed again. “How about we just enjoy the feel of each other right now. I’m processing my stuff. You need time to process yours, too.”

“That could work,” I said.

“Good,” she sighed, snuggling in ever closer.

“I love you,” I reminded her.

“I love you, too,” she said, squeezing my middle tightly to her. “In a way I never knew was possible. But now I know how much freaking nonsense I had clouding my head my whole life. I always hated that saying: blood is thicker than water. I was an engineering major at one point. I know my physics. Viscosity is a science; Love isn’t supposed to be methodical or peer reviewed.”

“That phrase gets convoluted a lot. It’s actually ‘the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb’ so it means the exact opposite of what everyone thinks it does. The family you choose is stronger than those you shared a womb with.”

“Great, so my dad’s talk about blood ties was wrong from the start.” She planted a gentle kiss on my chest even as an edge of bitterness leaked into her voice.

“At the risk of sounding insecure again,” I began, “what are you going to do about your family?”

“At the risk of sounding like your worst fear,” she repeated, leaning back so I could see the light grin on her face before she tucked her face back into my chest, “I don’t know if I can give you everything you need.”

I forced my body to stay relaxed, not to show the panic her words brought about in me.

“Don’t get me wrong. I am never going to change my mind about you. But I’m not sure I can betray my blood. I wasn’t raised that way. Even if my father distrusts me, has done evil things, I can’t imagine turning on him.”

Turn on him? She didn’t need to become a fucking mole to be with me. Hell, Lucas and I already picked out who our soon-to-be rodent (are moles rodents? Either way) would be: Theo Gates.

“No one will ever ask you to turn on him. I’m not going to ask you—hell I don’t want you—to become a CI or go on a witness stand. That’s too dangerous for you. We could never talk about Carlo Morelli ever again and still be together.”

“But will my mother ever forgive me when she finds out I’m shacked up with a cop? The same cop who worked to put her husband behind bars? It’s just complicated, you see.”

“That’s easy. I can quit. I’ll do it today.”

I’d worked hard to get where I was. I went down this specific path for dearly departed Danielle Louise Meedes, Lucas Blake’s younger half-sister, my ex-girlfriend. I didn’t want other families to suffer like we did when we couldn’t solve her abduction and murder. But Dani was my past.

Bianca Rose Morelli could be my future.

Bee said nothing, just continued to run her fingers over my chest and arms, re-familiarizing herself with my body. She answered after several minutes.

“You’re not going to quit. We need more good men like you working in law enforcement. That wouldn’t make the world a better place.”

My beautiful, selfless little hippie.

“Okay, I won’t quit,” I conceded. “How do you feel about the rest of your family? How much will it hurt if you get cut off from all of them?”

“I’m realizing they’re not perfect, but I still love them. My mom, cousins, aunts. I would survive if they chose to never see me again, but I'm hesitating because I couldn’t live with myself if I was forced out of their lives and left someone younger and more vulnerable than me to deal with the horrors of the family alone.”

I kissed the top of her head and gave her shoulder a quick squeeze. She was making sense again, dammit. I wouldn’t be able to keep holding myself back if she insisted on discussing these things and alleviating my fears like a rational adult.

“I think we should both call in sick today,” she said. “I don’t have any customers waiting to pick up orders, and I really want to avoid my bookkeeper after the mess with the shop’s finances right now. I just want to stay in bed and feel your skin against mine for a little while longer.”

“That’s the best idea I’ve ever heard.”

She kissed my chest again, one hand resting over my heart. If I was willing to quit my job for her, of course I’d be willing to call in a sick day for her. But I still needed to be responsible.

“If I’m not going in, I need to call Lucas and tell him about that note. He’ll probably come over so we can talk. Is that okay with you, or do you want me to wait until later?”

“Wait. Let’s just have it be you and me for as long as possible.”

“Can do. But if you’re hungry I need to go scavenge for some food. I’ve got nothing. Again.” I would need to start going to the grocery store on a regular basis if Bee was going to stick around.

“Later,” she sighed, stroking her thumb over one of my nipples and planting a lingering kiss on my chest. Damn temptress.

“You just can’t keep it in your pants, can you?”

She laughed, deep and loud. “I’m sorry. It’s hard.”

“You’re telling me.”

She giggled again in delight, hand moving down as if to touch me, but I caught her wrist.

“I admit that you’re starting to make a believer out of me, but you’re forgetting something pretty important.”

“What’s that?” she asked, those beautiful eyelashes fluttering over her dreamy dark eyes. She wasn’t even trying to be alluring—she just was.

“There’s a certain someone threatening your life. Even if they don’t know it’s you, someone is spying on me, taking pictures, and isn’t afraid to threaten an innocent person in this mess. I don’t know if we should go down that road until we know it’s safe.”

“Whether or not we have sex isn’t going to affect the case. If anyone finds out about us they’re going to assume we’re doing it anyway.”

“I’m not talking sex. I’m talking about the whole shebang: marriage, babies.”

She looked at me like I was crazy. “You know, we don’t have to get married right away. We can wait as long as we want.”

“And what about you getting knocked up? You have enough sex it’s bound to happen eventually. Is it responsible to risk it when there’s a target on our backs?”

“You know, there's these things called condoms.”

I blinked at her, feeling like a fucking idiot.

“My friend Mariela mentioned them last night. They exist so there’s no proof that a couple has been making love, but it still lets people have sex.”

“Fascinating. I’ve never heard of those before,” I said, groaning when she began kissing and sucking at my neck.

“It’s true. It’s a magical solution.”

“So if I put a condom on my hard cock, then I can fuck you with it as often as I want?”

She moaned, her hips rubbing against mine again. “Why is that just as hot as talking about sex without a condom?”

“I think it’s just the sex thing that’s hot. Doesn’t matter how, where, when. Anytime I can be with you is the sexiest fucking experience in the universe.”

She hummed her agreement against my throat, hand inching toward Henry again.

“I said it yesterday, Bee, and it still hasn’t changed. I don’t have any condoms here.”

She blinked, her fingertips stilling on the sensitive skin below my bellybutton.

“And where could we procure some in your neck of the woods?”

I snickered. “It’s too early for any bodegas to be open. But I do believe there’s a 24-hour Walmart a ten minute drive away. Do you think you can keep your hands to yourself long enough to drive there and back? I don’t want to risk getting pulled over again with my dick out.”

She snorted. “I think I can manage.”

“Awesome. Get dressed, baby. I’m not leaving you alone here.”

The sun had risen by the time we made it back home with contraceptives and groceries, and unfortunately, there was a new OUT OF ORDER sign on the elevator doors. Funny. It worked just fine on our way down less than an hour ago.

I already had all the grocery bags—hell if I was going to let my lady carry them when there were only seven—but still offered to give Bee a piggyback ride up the stairs to the top floor. Thankfully she declined, preferring to walk up the steps with her phone out, googling what made an elevator run, convinced she could teach herself to repair it if she had the proper tools.

“What? I almost became an engineer, you know,” she said when I couldn’t hold in my amusement. But that laughter didn’t stay with me long once we made it upstairs because my apartment door was bashed in.

I pushed Bee into the corner of the hallway, far from my open apartment door. I dropped the grocery bags at Bee’s feet and pulled the hood of the hoodie I lent her farther over her face. Finally, I removed the gun from my waist, holster and all, and handed it to Bee. Thank god I showed her the basics of how to use it last night.

Then I crept toward the open door, peeking inside before sliding sideways through the narrow opening. I didn’t see anyone, didn’t hear anything, so I quietly opened my coat closet to get to my gun safe, putting in my code and wincing at the beep, before grabbing my spare, recreational sidearm.

I held it up in front of me, safety off and finger on the trigger, as I walked the apartment, clearing each room and closet before I returned to Bee with the all clear.

“Come on, honey, there’s no one in here.” She nodded, following me inside, but I stopped her before she took off the protective hoodie. “I don’t know if there’s any recording equipment yet, so stay covered up, alright? And don’t talk. I just didn’t want you alone out there in the hallway.”

She nodded again, and I pulled her close to my side as I called Lucas.

“Really? Why so goddamn early?” he groaned in greeting.

“I got a threatening note in the mail last night and now someone broke into my apartment this morning while I went to the store.”

“Is the apartment clear? Are you alone?”

“The apartment is clear, and I am not alone. We need to sweep the place for bugs.”

“Understood. I’ll be right there.”

Fifteen minutes later, Lucas walked inside my open apartment door and I had a bit more details for him.

“Nothing is stolen, but the place is trashed, especially the bedroom. They were looking for something. I can guess what.”

I showed him the contents of the envelope from last night and he gave me a grim look. They were trying to identify the girl in the photos. They wanted more info to blackmail or threaten me into submission. He glanced at Bee, who still sat curled up on the couch, hoodie pulled over her face to hide her features.

“Okay there?” Lucas asked her. Bee gave a thumbs up, keeping her mouth shut tight.

He took her word for it and pulled a small black device out of his pocket, turning it on to search for hidden bugs transmitting information to an outside source.

“Document everything,” I called to him after I settled next to Bee on the couch. We couldn’t get the place taped up as an official crime scene—couldn’t report it at all without lying on official paperwork—because no one could know Bee had been to my apartment. The best we could do was take photos and video to use as evidence once a trial was underway.

I heard the change in frequency as the device picked something up. The hair on the back of my neck rose and Bee squeezed my hand harder, meeting my eyes in a panic.

I could hear Lucas walking around, then the toilet flushing. The bug was gone. I waited while he continued his sweep of the apartment, but he returned to the living room empty-handed. Just the one bug, but one was dangerous enough.

“One computer chip, fixed to the back of a nightstand in the bedroom, but we’re all clear now.”

“How big was the computer chip?” Bee asked, removing her hood and shaking out her hair.

Lucas held his fingers up, showing about a quarter inch.

The disappointment in her eyes told me it was the same size chip she’d been working with. Another dot connected for our case, and another sting of betrayal for Bianca.

“Not to get off topic,” Lucas said, pretending he cared about getting off topic, “but why are you here so early, Bianca? Are you two officially a thing now?”

And because the fates had cruel timing, the bags of groceries I’d thrown on the counter decided at that moment to tip over, a jumbo box of condoms falling out, bursting open and spilling foil packages all over the floor.

“At least you’re being safe. Does that mean she’s not actually knocked up?” he added, gesturing to the envelope on the coffee table. Bee turned bright red.

“Nobody is pregnant, but that’s not the point. The point is that the bad guys know I’m dating a mystery brunette and they don’t give a damn whether or not she’s in a family way before threatening her and bugging my fucking bedroom to try and find out who she is.”

“Are you sure my father is the only case you’re working? I don’t think he’d try to hurt a pregnant woman. There’s some lines even he wouldn’t cross.”

I met Lucas’s eyes and saw the pity there. I looked at Bee, seeing the guilt on her face. It was like she said: a gut reaction to come to his defense. She was still learning how fucked up her family was, and it was difficult to separate the father she grew up with from the cold-blooded man who ran San Francisco’s mafia syndicate.

“I’m on a task force, Bee, this is my only project until it’s done.”

“Well, maybe my uncle Angelo is acting alone? He’s got a wicked temper and he’s really skeezy.”

“A second in command wouldn’t do something like this without the approval of the leader,” Lucas said. “This had to be under Carlo Morelli’s orders. There’s no other way.”

I had to drill it into her: we needed to assume the worst with Carlo Morelli, not hope for the best. “Your father wants to threaten your life to get me off the case. Whether or not he knows it’s you, no matter what condition he assumes you’re in, he's not afraid to use you as leverage against me.”

Her lip trembled, but she didn’t say anything. I drove the point home.

“You’re not safe, Bee.”

Loving me wasn’t safe. I really was cursed.