Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
ELENNA
Finley helped me back into my coat. While I pushed the buttons through the holes, he wound my scarf around my neck. Eyes on mine, he pulled it firmly around my throat, not enough to cut off my air, but enough to send another shot of hot blood straight to my pussy.
"Thank you," I said, my breath catching in my throat.
He shrugged into his black wool coat and brushed the back of his hand over my cheek. "You're welcome." I thought he might kiss me. Instead he took my hand.
"It's not far to walk from here. Unless you'd prefer me to call for a car?"
"I don't mind walking," I said. "It's a nice night out." The air was frigid, but the sky was clear. If we weren't in the middle of the city, we would have seen the stars glittering.
Instead, we'd enjoy the city lights, and the hum of passing traffic. The feeling of life, the pulse of Dusk Bay.
"It's beautiful," he said, looking straight at me. "Romantic. I have a feeling you don't get enough of that."
"Romance?" I asked. "I suppose not." Aidan and I were lucky to eat dinner together most of the time, much less go on walks through the city at night.
"Then that's what I'll be," Finley said. "The one who does romantic gestures." He swung our hands between us.
"You don't have to do that," I told him.
"Maybe not, but I want to," he said. "It's been a long time since I had a woman to spoil."
"How long?" I asked without thinking. I quickly added, "I mean, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." The evening was going so well, I didn't want to screw it up by being nosy.
"No, it's okay." He glanced down at the footpath. "Four years. Siobhan and I were engaged. The plan was for us to live the rest of our lives together."
"What happened?" I asked gently.
"The Fiorelli family happened." He looked over at me. "I managed to get her involved in something she shouldn't have been. She was killed because of me. Not a single day passes when I don't want to put a bullet in the brain of anyone from that family."
My hands were drenched with blood and brain all over again.
The gun was cool in my hand. Aidan stood behind me, holding me steady before I squeezed the trigger.
I heard the gunshot, just one. Oscar Fiorelli was alive in one minute and the next…
He was a corpse, slumped in the chair, his life blasted away by my hands.
"Why don't you?" I barely managed to keep my voice even, in spite of my racing thoughts. His death was the past. This, right here, was the present. Everyone was right, I needed to put it behind me. How could I, when everything reminded me of that night?
"Because if there's anything I'm good at, it's biding my time," Finley said. "Besides, the only way to avoid them coming back at me is to take them all out at once. For that, I'd need help."
"The Brantley brothers?" I guessed.
"Right. Reuben and Caleb at least. Possibly Hunter and Parker as well. The twins would be all for killing them, but Reuben and Caleb have their own agenda. One they don't share with the likes of me. Or Aidan."
Of course not. Men like that, with money and power, rarely felt the need to explain themselves to the people that worked for them. They expected people to do as they were ordered, and if they didn't, they'd be screwed. End of story.
"Four years is a long time to wait for justice," I said.
He grunted bitterly. "You've got that right. But Siobhan is cold in her grave and we aren't. In the interest of keeping it that way, don't look back. We're being followed."
Of course, the first urge following his words was to look back. Instead, I squeezed his hand tighter.
"Any idea who?" My tongue darted over my cold lips.
"I can't see any specifics, but I know they're there. If I had to guess, I'd say their last name starts with an F." He put an arm around me and pulled me closer.
"Fuck," I said softly.
"Different F, same meaning," he said with a grunt-laugh.
"I don't know how you can—" I started.
"Play it cool," he insisted. He tilted his chin back and laughed. "We're having a relaxing, romantic night out."
I swallowed. "Right, yes." I forced out a strained giggle. It was inevitable that sooner or later the Fiorellis would come after me or Aidan. They had no way of knowing who pulled the trigger, but they'd have a fair idea of who was responsible for Oscar's death.
Even if Aidan pinned it on someone else, they knew the minute Oscar killed Ike, one of us would want justice. For my brother, and for one of Aidan's players.
In spite of suggesting he'd let me kill half of the team, Aidan would go after anyone who fucked with any of them. The team was a dysfunctional family right now, but it was still a family.
"Gianna's really does have the best pasta I've ever had." My voice sounded more normal now, although I wondered if it might be my last meal.
"I told you they did." Finley grinned. "If you ever want to go back, Gianna owes me lots of favours." His gaze flicked over to a shop window beside us. He drew us to a stop and pointed. "I'm no expert, but I've heard that's the best kind of vibrator you can get."
I peered into the shop. "I'm not saying I need a vibrator, but I've heard that too." I wasn't short on clit stimulation, but it was a nice shade of red, and the rose shape was pretty.
I saw no one but us in the reflection from the glass.
"My tongue is much better than a vibrator," Finley agreed. "Let's keep walking." Only the slightest twitch of his eyeballs suggested he was looking anywhere but at me, but his face was angled so the corner of his eyes could see behind me.
"How am I supposed to keep walking when you say things like that?" I teased. The effort to keep from turning around was driving me crazy.
"We could stop walking and give the whole road a show?" Finley teased. "They might learn something."
His suggestion sent a shiver through me. Part lust, part overwhelming desire not to be shot in the head while Finley's face was between my legs. With a healthy dash of 'it's fucking cold out.'
"Why don't we save it until we get to your place?" I suggested. "We wouldn't want your cum to freeze."
He chuckled. "I wouldn't want my cock to freeze either. Or your pussy." He let one hand drift across my stomach and down across the front of my skirt.
"Definitely not." If my voice was strained now, blame it on the fire he sent coursing through my body. Not just because there was someone behind us who might very well want one or both of us dead.
Okay, maybe it was a combination of the two things. I seemed to thrive on fear and need, not necessarily in equal measure.
"Not far now," he said softly. "The anticipation is making my balls hard as hell. My cock is desperate to get inside you."
"I'm desperate to have you inside me." When I glanced over at him, it was with a meaningful expression on my face. Was he so sure we'd even reach his place alive and intact?
Whoever was tailing us would assume Finley had something up his sleeve. They'd expect us to pull out something once we knew they were there. They were likely biding their time, waiting for the right moment. The right place.
We might be screwed before we were fucked.
"I know you are." He returned the look, but his was with confidence. His head inclined slightly.
Trust me. I won't let anything happen to you. Because I won't allow it and because Aidan would tear my nuts off with his bare hands and shove them up my ass.
He said all of that with his eyes.
"Across the next set of traffic lights. My building is on the corner." He stopped before the curb and carefully looked both ways, as if the traffic was so heavy we'd have to wait, or watch carefully. One car slid past before we started across the road.
I knew where Finley’s apartment was. I'd been there a bunch of times before, always with Aidan.
His place was only a couple of minutes from Aidan's.
Ours, technically, but it still felt like Aidan's apartment to me.
The only thing I contributed to it was a bag full of clothes and myself.
Everything else was his. He never made me feel like I wasn't welcome to change things around, but I hadn't.
Instead, I was working up to the day when I suggested we move into our own place.
That never seemed to be enough of a priority so far.
Now, I would have liked one of those mansions on the side of the cliff overlooking the bay, with more security than the average bank.
Not that our place lacked security, but we shared the building with twenty other apartments.
With neighbours always came risk, even if Aidan had anyone vetted thoroughly before they moved in.
"This is the place," Finley said lightly. "There's an elevator, but I prefer to take the stairs."
"A bit more exercise never hurt anyone." Plus we couldn't get stuck in an elevator if we didn't step into one.
"Not yet," Finley agreed. "It's a good place to meet my neighbours anyway. They're often coming down when I'm going up."
I got the message, loud and clear. He was expecting someone to be at the top of the stairs, waiting for us.
If whoever was behind followed us, we'd be stuck between both of them.
I mentally corrected myself. When they followed us.
Presumably that was the plan all along. The question was, why?
If they wanted us dead, they could have shot us outside Gianna's without anyone seeing a thing.
"I'm sure you have an interesting set of neighbours," I said.
"We get all sorts in here," Finley agreed. "Men, women and a few non-binary. Half a dozen different nationalities. A former nun. It's an eclectic mix."
So he didn't know who to look out for. We'd have to be careful not to make any assumptions, in case someone innocent got caught in the crossfire.
Assuming anyone innocent actually lived here.
"Don't tell anyone, but Danny from the band Blazing Violet lives in the building." Finley shoved open the door that led into the stairs and guided me inside.
"He's the drummer, right?" I asked.