Beautiful Bounty(74)

***



An hour later, Nikko was on the phone with one extremely pissed off angry Marino. Ronnie could hear Andreas pitching a huge ass fit through the receiver.

“You fucking bring her to Florida, now!” Andreas screamed into his phone.

“Andy,” Nikko started trying to explain again what happened and what they wanted to do.

“Don’t fucking Andy me,” he yelled. “Don’t screw this up.”

“I’ll bring her back. But there were no flights tonight. We couldn’t make the last one. I just need twenty-four hours. This plan will work. I know it will.”

His brother was lost, Andreas thought. Andreas raked his hands through his jet black hair trying to calm the fuck down. He was in complete shock. His brother woke him up to tell him he and Ronnie had gone to Maine. They wanted to set up this Gary, and get a confession out of him. What the hell were they thinking?

His baby brother then tells him, he loves the girl. Holy fuck? What a way to wake up! Blond hair, big boobs, and the kiddo thought he was in fucking love. He knew he wouldn’t be able to talk his brother out of it. And here he was in Florida over a thousand miles away. He knew his screaming wasn’t going to change Nikko’s mind either. He was a man, and not the boy he once could boss around. And Andreas had to admit, his plan was okay, but hell, he didn’t want his brother to get in over his head with no back up. But, still. He should have included him from the get go. In love? He shook his head to clear it. His brother was still rambling about the merits of the plan. He was going on about her possibly going to jail. He could hear it in the kid’s voice. He did fucking love her. That was what shocked him the most. Yup, he knew there would be no talking him out of it.

He finally relented. “Okay. Okay!” He sighed into the phone glancing at the clock, and thinking of all that had to be done. “Just don’t do anything till I get there, you hear me, you stupid ass,” he threatened.

“What?” Nikko stammered unsure of what his brother meant.

“If you stupid morons who think you’re in love after a few weeks are going to do this, then you are going to have back up.” Andreas sighed.

“What?” Nikko was at a loss. “Back up?”

“I’m renting a plane first thing in the morning, and I’m bringing Blaze and Gio. I don’t want you two going halfcocked on this thing. If it’s gotta be done, it’s getting done right,” he exclaimed, rubbing his temple with his free hand. His baby brother was in fucking love. Fuck this shit!

“Hey, I can handle it,” Nikko added defensively.

Yeah right. When love gets in the way you make mistakes, he thought to himself. But he kept those thoughts to himself. “Yeah, small potatoes. But I’d rather be there when this shit goes down. Just in case. We ought to be there by noon, hopefully earlier. Think you can sit on her for that long,” he added sarcastically. He was sure the love birds wouldn’t be doing much sitting.

“Yeah, but . . .” Nikko trailed, glancing back to Ronnie and shrugging his shoulders. She heard everything so he didn’t have to repeat it.

She nodded her approval. Might as well have more help, she thought. It couldn’t hurt.

“No God damn buts,” Andreas interrupted. “You wait for me. Got it?”

“Yes, I got it,” Nikko answered. He knew that tone from Andreas. He would wait for back up. He shut the phone and turned to Ronnie. His brother had already hung up. He knew he could have handled it, but the idea of using Ronnie as bait, well, it just made him more comfortable to know they’d have more back up . . . for her.

“Ronnie, you okay with waiting?” he asked sitting next to her.

One more day, she thought and this would all be over. Too emotional to speak, she nodded silently. At least they would have tonight, and he leaned down for a kiss. And again, they made love, him showing her and telling her again and again just how precious she was to him. But despite it all, she couldn’t find the nerve, or the courage to say it back. Not yet. Not now.





Nikko winced sympathetically when he turned to face Ronnie. He’d just gotten off the phone with his brother. Andreas called back to let Nikko know their flight would be arriving at early in the morning. He also informed him they were renting a vehicle in Bangor, and then they would make a pit stop at a friend of a friend of Gio’s who lived in the area to get some supplies, and would then proceed to their location. Andreas still hadn’t sounded happy on the phone, but he was pleased they’d waited and hadn’t gone off half-cocked on their own. He again reminded them to wait for his arrival.