Chapter 37
My eyes open and close a couple times before I reach behind me, hoping to find Carlo still there. When all I’m met with is a cold sheet, I turn over and find I’m alone in the room.
I pick up my phone from the nightstand and look at the time. It’s only three minutes past eight.
As I stretch, I internally catalog every part of my body that’s sore, but it puts a small smile on my lips.
After we got cleaned up last night, we got back in bed together, legs tangling under the covers as we talked about nothing and everything.
Carlo fell asleep first, but a few hours after I had closed my eyes, I woke up to his hand curving around my hip.
He ended up going down on me, jerking himself to completion in the process.
We quickly fell back into unconsciousness, and I assumed we’d both sleep in today, but since he’s not here, I wonder if he’s stuck in that head of his.
When I get out of bed, I pull on my boxers and head to the bathroom for my morning routine. With an empty bladder, clean teeth, and smelling of deodorant and lotion, I stroll into my living room, looking for my naughty priest.
Dressed in a pair of black slacks, a white button up with the sleeves pushed to the elbow, he stands in front of the large window with his phone pressed to his ear.
My steps get his attention, and he turns, looking me up and down, his lips curling up in a small smile.
“Yeah,” he says into the phone, turning to the window again. “When will that be? I’ll let him know. Sure, it’s fine. Okay. Bye.”
He pockets the phone and turns around to face me. “My dad.”
“Ah,” I say, moving forward, my fingers sliding into the front of his waistband, pulling him into me. “And what did he say?” I question, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth.
His hand cradles my jaw before giving me a harder, lingering kiss on the lips. “He’ll be calling you soon. I guess you two have something to do today.”
“I see,” I reply, running my hand through his soft hair as I stare into his eyes. “I don’t want you leaving here.”
He flattens his lips and narrows his eyes. “Am I your prisoner?”
I smirk. “We can play that game if you want. I am into role playing.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“Listen, Carlo,” I say, stepping away from him.
“My job is to keep you safe. I know you’re a grown man, but you don’t know the people we’re messing with.
You’re not even armed. All it’ll take is for you to step outside for one second and you can be cut down like that,” I say with a snap of my fingers.
“I didn’t plan on leaving,” he says with an exhale. “But maybe it’s time I keep a gun with me.”
I eye him for a few seconds, then walk over to a corner cabinet. I pull open a drawer and grab the Glock that’s inside, then I grab a fully loaded magazine from another drawer and insert it.
“This has seventeen rounds,” I say, handing it to him. “Safety is on. You should probably learn some basics. I’ll take you somewhere when I have some time.”
He nods, inspecting the gun in his hand.
My phone rings from the bedroom, and knowing it’s likely Cortez, I rush toward it.
“Hello?”
“I have to meet with Aurelio today. We only have an hour before he has to meet with Sammy. This is the only time we have to convince him to keep things cordial between our families once we take out the top brass.”
I suck in a deep breath. “And if he doesn’t appreciate your plan to take out half his family…”
“He wants to be boss. This will be his chance, so he’d be stupid to run and tell Sammy the plan, but if he does, then we have to be prepared for what comes after that.”
“And if all goes according to plan?”
“By the end of the week.”
“I see.”
“You think Carlo will be all right at your place?”
“Yeah. I told him he can’t leave.”
Cortez snorts. “I’m sure he loved that.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“You’re right. Okay, well, I’m gonna send you the location as soon as I know it.”
“Sounds good.”
He ends the call and I go back into the living room, finding Carlo staring out the window again.
“Is it going to be dangerous?”
“Shouldn’t be,” I answer, putting my phone on the coffee table.
“But you can’t anticipate what someone else will do.”
“Right, but if anything happens it shouldn’t be for a few more days.”
He runs a hand through his hair. “I’m ready for this to be over.”
“I know.”
His phone dings from in his pocket, and he pulls it out and reads the screen. He turns to look at me.
“It’s Johnny.”
I rush forward and take the phone, reading the message myself.
Can you meet me today?
I look at him. “No. You’re not doing anything today. We don’t have a place picked out for this plan of yours yet.”
“When will we know? The longer I put him off, the more suspicious he’ll be.”
“We can’t pick a safe house he knows about. We can’t do it in a public place either. If we lure him too far out, he won’t go.”
I watch as he chews on his bottom lip, eyebrows furrowed as he stares toward the floor.
“The rectory,” he says. “It’s still being worked on, but the work stops on the weekends, and we can choose a time where the church will be empty. There’s no houses nearby. Only a cemetery.”
“He’d probably assume you were there for work purposes, so he wouldn’t think it would be weird.”
“Right. I could tell him I stay there sometimes when I'm preparing for mass. Though I doubt he’ll ask too many questions.”
“A cemetery,” I muse.
“We will not desecrate a grave,” he says, and the look on his face lets me know there’s no budging on that.
“I wasn’t going to suggest that, but if there’s a newly dug grave, and it remains unmarked…”
He nods once. “We can figure something out.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to Cortez when I meet him.” I hand Carlo his phone. “Respond and tell him you’ll let him know when you’re free, but that it’ll likely be this weekend. I have to get ready.”
“Okay.”
As I get dressed, I think about how too much is happening around the same time.
We can’t allow mistakes, so everything will have to be well-planned, but dealing with Johnny the same weekend we’re supposed to be taking out the Bonetti family means a lot of blood will be shed.
In war, anything goes, but unfortunately we can’t guarantee that that won’t include any of us.
This could be the last week we have on this planet, but I plan on doing everything in my power to keep the Gallo men alive.
Strapped up, I go back into the living room. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
Carlo comes toward me, his hand snaking around my waist as he leans in. “Be safe.”
I grin. “Always.”
His fingers rest over the spot where I was stabbed before, pulling at the fabric of my shirt. “Not always.”
I kiss him. “I’ll be back,” I state with finality. “And I’ll punish you for doubting my ability to keep myself alive.”
His lips twitch slightly. “Okay.”
Outside my apartment door, a switch flips.
I have the ability to turn it on and off as needed.
I can be a normal person, wanting mundane human things like love, sex, food, and entertainment, but when I’m on the clock, I shed as much humanity as possible, and I become the only thing that’s kept me alive all these years—a cold-blooded killer.