Chapter Twenty-Four — Vinny
I woke up to an empty bed, the space beside me already cold.
Through the bedroom doorway, I could see the front entrance to the cabin swinging wide open.
The cold weight of the Glock Jamie kept for protection was in my hand before my brain even fully registered that I'd grabbed it from the nightstand.
I was moving on pure instinct, bare feet slapping against the wooden floorboards.
Bright morning light streamed through the open threshold. Directly outside, a black van with no plates idled in the dirt. A man leaned casual against the side panel, arms crossed over a massive barrel chest, his dark skin gleaming in the Florida sun.
I had the barrel of the Glock pressed flush against his temple before he could even turn his head.
"Easy there, killer," his voice rumbled deep, completely unfazed by the steel digging into his skin.
"Vinny, no!"
Jamie's voice cut through the morning air. She came around the back of the van, her arms loaded with heavy canvas duffel bags. She was dressed in a tight bodysuit—the exact kind she’d been wearing the first day we met. I recognized the look instantly. It was her armor. It wasn't the real her.
The man chuckled, the vibration rattling against my gun barrel. "Told you to get that iron out of my face."
Jamie dropped the bags with a heavy thud. "This is Moses. He's... an old friend."
Moses grinned, flashing perfect white teeth. "A friend who could be more, if she'd ever let me."
My trigger finger twitched.
Jamie rolled her eyes and smacked his bicep.
"Shut up." She turned her gaze to me, that familiar, guarded smirk playing at her lips—the exact one she’d weaponized when we first met.
"I needed a favor, papi. We needed real firepower, and I needed some leverage he was keeping safe for me. So I called him."
The gun stayed locked on Moses's skull. "You didn’t tell me."
Her smirk faltered for a fraction of a second. Then she shrugged, slipping back into that old persona like a well-worn jacket. "Didn't want to wake you. You were sleeping so pretty, papi."
The use of papi in front of this man made my jaw ache. She was intentionally detaching herself from me, drawing a line in the dirt between us. It set my blood on fire.
Moses clapped his massive hands together, intentionally breaking the stare down. "Alright, enough foreplay. You wanna see what I brought, or what?"
As Jamie moved toward the rear doors of the van, she brushed hard past me, close enough for me to feel the radiating heat of her skin. I finally lowered the Glock, though the tension in my face didn't fade. My hand shot out, my fingers wrapping tightly around her wrist.
She froze.
For a long, suffocating moment, we just stood there in the yard, the morning air thick with unspoken friction. I could feel her pulse racing erratically beneath my thumb.
“Wake me up next time.”
She let out a sharp exhale like I was testing her patience, pulling her arm out of my grip, but she gave me a single nod.
Moses whistled low from the bumper. "Damn. I see I won’t be getting that chance anytime soon. Not with the way y'all are making love to each other with your eyes."
Jamie shot him a lethal glare. "Just show us the damn guns already, Moses."
He laughed, completely unbothered.
“Fine. I brought the good shit,” Moses said, hopping up into the van with an agility that didn’t match his size.
He kicked the side of a wooden crate. “This one’s full of ARs—custom builds.
Lightweight, modded triggers, clean optics.
You can strip one of these in your sleep and still shoot a fly off a bottle at forty yards. ”
He pried open the second crate.
“Shotguns. Modified. Hollow slugs, dragon’s breath, beanbags if you're feeling generous.” He smirked, tossing a red shell into the air and catching it one-handed. “Didn’t think y’all would be.”
Jamie climbed into the van beside him, crouching low. Her hands moved over the polished black metal with a strange reverence that twisted something primal deep in my chest. She checked the weight of one of the heavy tactical shotguns, racked the slide back, and grinned.
“This is heavy as hell. I like it,” she muttered to herself.
Moses watched her the way a man watches something he used to possess and still desperately wanted. “Told you I know exactly what you like and need, beautiful.”
Jamie stood up, dusting her palms off on her thighs. “We'll take it all.”
“Thought you might. What the hell are you planning, Brownie?”
I gritted my teeth. I despised his little nicknames for her.
Jamie shrugged, but her doe eyes turned to absolute stone. “To keep living.”
I reached up to help her down from the van, and when her feet hit the ground, we stood close enough for our shoulders to rub. She immediately picked up one of the heavy duffel bags from the grass and handed it up to Moses.
“Your money. You know I got you on the rest when this is all finished.”
He nodded, his expression finally turning serious. “You need extra bodies? Help?”
I stepped into his line of sight. I hated the way he looked at her, hated how comfortable her history made them. I wanted him out of our space. “I appreciate you coming,” I said, my voice dangerously flat, my eyes locking onto Jamie. “But we’re good. You can go.”
Moses didn’t move. He kept his eyes on her.
I snapped, "You need her permission?"
He smirked, challenging me. I took a step forward, ready to repaint the grass in his blood, but Jamie’s palm shot out, landing flat against my chest and holding me back.
“I’m good, Moses," she intervened smoothly. "I know how to contact you if things change.”
Moses raised his hands in a mock surrender. “Say less. I’m gone.” He cast one lingering look at Jamie before slipping into the driver's seat.
She didn’t watch the van pull away. It should’ve eased the pressure in my chest, but the heat under my skin stayed constant. The second the sound of his engine faded into the trees, I gripped Jamie’s arm and hauled her toward the cabin.
“Vinny,” she warned, her tone sharp, but she didn’t fight the pull.
I didn’t say a word until the heavy deadbolt clicked shut behind us. Then I turned on her.
“What the fuck was that?”
Her eyes narrowed instantly. “What are you talking about?”
“You told me nothing about a plan. Then I wake up and find you flirting with a goddamn arms dealer in the yard.”
“Oh my God.” She let out a mocking laugh. “This is jealousy? Really? That’s what this is, papi?”
“Don’t fucking call me papi.”
Her mouth dropped open slightly. “Are you serious right now?”
“Dead serious. Why the fuck did he look at you like he’s seen you naked?”
Jamie took a aggressive step forward, her eyes blazing with fire.
“First of all, I got us the firepower we need to stay alive. And yeah, I flirted. Because that’s what he expects from me.
I let him think there's a chance he might fuck me because it gets him to move product quick and cheap. He has never betrayed me when he easily could have. Do you want to survive this or not, Vinny?”
I didn’t answer. I couldn't. I started pacing the tight living room, my adrenaline running too high to stay still.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I demanded, stopping.
“Because you were sleeping! I already told you that.”
I closed the distance between us until we were standing toe-to-toe, our breathing erratic. “And how long have you known him?”
She crossed her arms tightly over her chest. “A while.”
“How well, Jamie?”
“Well enough to know he’s not a threat to us.”
“No. You know damn well that’s not what I’m asking," I growled, the words tearing out of my throat. "Did you fuck him?”
She tilted her head, her gaze dropping into dangerous, icy waters. “You don’t get to ask me that.”
“The fuck I don’t.”
The words echoed in the quiet cabin, and the instant they left my mouth, regret tasted bitter on my tongue. Not because it was a lie, but because of how violently quiet she went.
She blinked once, slowly. Her arms stayed crossed, but her shoulders dropped just a fraction of an inch, a sudden vulnerability cracking her armor. “Tell me why you think you have the right, Vinny. Because I remind you of Sophia?”
The air left my lungs in a rough hiss. "No. Fuck that. Who the fuck is talking about Sophia? You’re you. I see you."
I stared down at her face for a long, silent stretch. Her chest was rising and falling in rapid, shallow bursts, her jaw locked tight. But beneath all that defensive fire, I could see the truth. She wanted to be seen.
I stepped completely into her space, my hand sliding up the smooth skin of her neck. My thumb caught the tight edge of her jaw, forcing her to look at me.
“I don’t want to fight with you. I don’t see a ghost when I look at you, Jamie. Sophia couldn’t ever make me feel the way you do.”
We stood frozen in the center of the room, breathing in each other's air. The leftover anger was still vibrating between us, but it was mutating rapidly into something heavy, thick, and demanding.
Suddenly, her head tilted up, and her teeth sank sharply into my bottom lip, drawing a small gasp from my throat.
“How do I make you feel?” she whispered against my mouth.
I leaned in, pressing my forehead firmly against hers. I couldn't find the words—couldn't admit how completely she had ruined the memory of everything else—but I prayed she could feel the desperate hammer of my heart against her chest.
“Next time,” I murmured against her lips, “wake me.”
Jamie didn’t pull away. She just nodded against my skin.