I moved towards the bed. “If I hear a loud thunk I promise not to scream.”
“Right, it’s just my head shaking hands with the nightstand, no big.” He winked and pulled the covers back. “Need something to sleep in?”
“Uh, yeah.” I looked down at my jeans and white t-shirt self consciously pulling it over my stomach. My dad always yelled at me for wearing skanky outfits but it wasn’t for lack of trying to wear normal clothes. We had no money, and I didn’t exactly have funds for shopping. How was it my fault I hit a growth spurt?
I hoped Ax didn’t notice the blush on my face. I was ashamed that I couldn’t even afford to go to Walmart.
I was even more ashamed that my father blamed me for his inability to stop gambling.
“He a made man yet?” Ax asked once we were settled into bed.
“No.” I wrapped my arm around his chest, my usual position when I spent the night. “And it’s not like things would get better even if he was, but you aren’t supposed to know any of that. It’s not like the mafia smiles on people who know their business.”
He snorted, his body tensed. “Right.”
“I mean it, Ax. I can’t lose you.”
“I’m a mechanic, hardly a threat.” He kissed the top of my head. “Now try to sleep.”
I closed my eyes and took a relaxing breath just as a loud gunshot rang my ears, jolting me awake.
“Stay down.” Ax pushed me against the bed, his body hovering over mine. His entire face changed from calm to rage in that instant. His muscles flexed as he reached into the nightstand and pulled out a .45.
“Ax?” I whispered. “Why do you have a gun?”
“Shh.” He held the gun to his lips. “I need you to be quiet.”
I nodded, tears already pooling in my eyes.
Another gunshot rang out and then his bedroom door flew open. It was his older brother Sergio. “Time to go, cover’s blown.”
The door slammed shut as he took off as quickly as he had appeared.
I stared at Ax.
He stared right back.
More gunshots.
More bursts of light. Fear rippled through my body as I stared at Ax even harder, too shocked to do anything else. His gaze was calm…collected.
And then Sergio was back in our room, slamming the door behind him. “So we have to go to plan B. They’re pissed we’ve been spying on them. We have to go, now!”
Cursing, Ax flew off me, grabbed another gun out of his nightstand, and started throwing stuff into a duffle bag.
“She comes with us,” he barked.
“She’s a De Lange,” Sergio spat. “She sure as hell is not coming with us.”
“She’s not like them,” argued Ax. “He hits her. She needs to come.”
The sound of male voices yelling had me running into Ax’s arms. He kissed my forehead just as I was jerked away from his arms.
“No!” Sergio said in a stern voice.
“Yes!” Ax pulled me back. “We’re not leaving her. She stays I stay.”
The bedroom door burst open and it seemed everything happened in slow motion as a man held up a gun and pointed it towards Ax.
Bang! The gunshot rang out.
Ax stumbled. “Take her Sergio. Protect her. I’ll cover you. Just take her.”
With a curse Sergio pushed me out the window then followed.
“Ax!” I screamed, but Sergio covered my mouth.
Just as another bang rang out, lighting up the once dark bedroom.
Sergio pulled out his cell. “Pick up at The Spot, thanks Nixon… I owe you.”
“What about Ax?” I tried to fight against Sergio.
“Either he’s dead or he’s going to be.” Sergio pushed me down the alleyway, keeping to the shadows. “And it’s your fault. Never forget, it’s your fault my brother’s dead. But what should I expect from the De Lange bloodline? You were born to kill… born to die.”
My world shattered that day.
I lost my best friend.
I lost my heart.
My shield.
My soul.
And buried it right along with his body. The boy who hadn’t been who he said he was — the boy who’d protected me from my own family.
The boy who took two bullets for me and paid with his life.
Bang, Bang was the new soundtrack to my life.
Welcome to the Mafia.
CHAPTER ONE
5 years later, Chicago
Axton
THERE WAS ONLY ONE reason for him to call me. One reason and one reason only, other than him losing his damn mind that is.
The minute he’d sent her away from me, he’d sealed his fate.
“You’re dead to me!” I screamed, punching him in the face over and over again until blood caked both my knuckles and his face. But Sergio did nothing, simply took each punch as if he deserved it —we both know he did. After all, he’d sent my best friend away and made it impossible for me to reach her lest I put her in more danger than she was already in.