Hearts on Fire 5: Loving Frankie(43)

“Don’t,” she said.

His eyes turned darker. He clenched his teeth and forced her thighs open as he fell to the floor between them. His grip was painful on her groin, and he pulled her closer and forced her onto her back.

“You seem to forget who you belong to. I think you need a reminder, Frankie.” He ripped her blouse wide open then grabbed her taped hands and placed them above her head with one hand. His eyes were wide and bore into her skin as he stared at her breasts and pushed her thighs open wider with his own.

“Don’t, Kevin. Don’t do this.”

“You need to be reminded about who you belong to. Don’t fight me, Frankie. This can be pleasurable for both of us or just plain painful for you.” He leaned forward and licked along her skin, pressing his tongue into the cleavage of her breasts.

She was so angry and disgusted she didn’t think twice as she shoved her head forward and head-butted him.

The blood splattered from his nose as he pulled back and held it. She slammed her hands against his face and screamed at the top of her lungs.

He was disoriented as she pushed herself up and off the couch. As she turned to head toward the stairs, she heard his roar, turned, and side-stepped just as he swung at her. He caught her shoulder, and she slammed against the railing, cried out in pain, and fell to the step. He was struggling to get up when she screamed and panicked, crawling up the stairs and back into the open. Lights were flashing in the distance, and the boat was moving fast through the darkness.

She’d run toward the side when she felt the hands on her skirt, pulling her back. Kevin tackled her against the side of the boat, and she struggled against him. When she felt the gun on his waist, she pulled it from his waist. But then he punched her in the jaw.

The sky illuminated with colored lights. A chopper in the distance moved closer, the white spotlight zigzagging until it landed on the bow of the boat. There were other boats moving in closer, surrounded this boat.

With her hands taped, she could hardly grip the gun.

“You stupid bitch!” Kevin roared.

He pulled back, and she pulled the trigger, hitting him somewhere, but she didn’t know where. His eyes widened in shock, and she climbed higher, waiting to see if he were badly injured and unsure what to do. He reached for the gun when she dropped it, and she knew that look. He was going to kill her.

She ran up the side of the boat toward the front just as a deep voice echoed over some sort of intercom.

“This is the United States Coast Guard. Put down your weapons.”

The shot rang out as she turned back toward Kevin. The impact of the bullet hitting her arm sent her over the railing, and she plummeted into the darkness and the cold ocean water.



* * * *



“Jinx, he’s going to kill her. Hurry,” Nate yelled to Jinx as the Coast Guard boat sped in front of the boat with Kevin and Frankie on board.

They could see the struggle. Nate and his brothers saw her ripped clothing then her scrambling for the railing of the boat as Kevin pointed a gun at her.

The shot rang out. He saw her body swing backward, and then she fell into the darkness.

“Woman overboard. Woman overboard,” Raphael called out to the other crewmen.

In record speed, they approached the boat. The marine police were pulling up fast in the distance, but all Nate and his brothers cared about was getting to Frankie.

There were sirens blaring and lights flashing, and a spotlight landed on the water, trying to locate where Frankie fell in. It looked like a pool of black. There was chaos around them as men jumped into the water, and then Nate did, too. He couldn’t see a damn thing. He nearly hit his head on the boat as he surfaced, looked around, and saw others doing the same thing.

“Over there. Look over there, Nate,” Rye called from the boat.

They were all holding lights onto the water. He’d almost missed it. Her platinum-blonde hair then the piece of her blouse.

“There,” he yelled and pointed then swam to her, diving under water and grabbing a hold of her.

It felt as though it took forever to get her onto the boat, and then Turbo was helping him up. Mike was lying on the floor of the boat next to her doing CPR.

“Breathe, baby. Breathe,” Rye ordered as they stood over her. “God, she’s all beaten up. Look at her head.”

Nate looked toward the boat where Kevin was. They’d kill the fucker.

“Kevin is dead. Bullet wound to the stomach. No pulse,” Raphael told him as he spoke into a walkie-talkie.

Nate looked back at Frankie as Mike did the compressions on her chest then blew air into her mouth. He held his breath and then he heard the gurgling and Frankie choking. Mike pressed her onto her side.

“That’s it, baby. Good girl. Get it all out,” Mike said as he rubbed her back.

The medics came over with blankets and special covers that would heat her body. Someone placed one over Nate’s shoulders as he shivered, standing there watching her, relieved that she lived.

Mike looked at Rye then Turbo and Nate.

“You did it. You saved her.”

“We all did it together. Like always,” Nate said as the medics began to evaluate her injuries and call in for an ambulance to meet them by the closest point of the shoreline.

“Hey, are you okay?” Rye asked Nate as he stood next to him, placing his arm over his shoulder, hugging him, looking as though he had tears in his eyes.

Nate ran his fingers through his hair as he looked around at the chaos and at the federal agents who had now joined the other boats on another U.S. Coast Guard boat, carrying on and demanding to know what happened.

“We committed several felonies to get to her. You know that?”

Rye smirked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Nate. We were just out with our friends, who just happen to work marine patrol when we noticed that yacht moving at an excessive speed. Marine patrol called into the Coast Guard, and as we got closer to assist with the evaluation of the potential situation we caught glimpse of our woman and the marine patrol called in for backup. We were along for the ride and had to jump in to help once we noticed it was our woman on board being held against her will.”

“You seriously think that will work?”

Rye smirked.

“That’s the way it went down.”

“That’s what happened exactly,” Jinx added, and then the other crewmembers said the same thing.

Nate smiled at his brothers and the rest of them.

“Well, thank God we were all hanging out tonight then, huh?” Turbo added, and they chuckled.

Treasure Town was a close-knit community. Friends made were friends made for life. The bonds they shared with each other were unbreakable, and it was times like these, in the midst of serious danger, that those friendship bonds were tested.

He looked at Frankie, bent down, and caressed her lower lip, avoiding the cut.

She moaned softly.

“We’re going home, baby, and whether you like it or not, you’re moving in with us.”





Chapter 14




Frankie’s arm was wrapped and in a sling. The bullet wound to her arm was only a flesh wound but enough to give her twenty-four stitches. Her head was still pounding, especially right now with the federal agents and detectives from Chicago questioning her.

She saw the anger on her men’s faces, especially as the federal agents tried to order them from the room.

“There’s no reason for you to be present. Your John-Wayne ways could have cost us an entire operation. So don’t push me, Hawkins,” the one federal agent said to Nate.

Nate kept a straight face and remained by her bedside, along with Rye, Mike, and Turbo.

“If it weren’t for them, I would probably be dead right now, and you wouldn’t have the opportunity to use my testimony against Carlotto. So I suggest you start showing some respect to these four men because, as I see it, they’re the real heroes.”

“I understand you’re upset. You’ve been shot, sustained a concussion—”

“Was beaten and practically raped by Kevin and left to be collateral damage as part of your operation, so don’t try to sugar the bullshit,” she said, finishing his sentence and shutting him up.

She held her hands to her head and closed her eyes.

“You don’t need to do this now. They can wait,” Jake said from behind the agents.

She opened her eyes and held the one federal agent’s gaze. He was the one who’d threatened Nate with jail time, for interfering with a federal case and a list of other charges. She didn’t like him, nor did anyone else seem to.

“I’m fine. This is the deal. I want all charges, by you and the government, dropped against Nate Hawkins and his brothers. I want them commended, government-style, for their quick thinking and use of obvious military skills to save me as they stumbled upon the scene. In return, I will cooperate and testify against Carlotto and be a witness to his admission of being part of killing Officer Oscar Finerty. Oscar’s family should receive his medal, the one acknowledging his sacrifice to help bring down such a large and wanted gangster as Louie Carlotto and a cop killer like Kevin Lang.”

“That’s a lot to ask for. I’ll have to speak with my superiors and determine if that’s enough to accept and give into your demands,” the federal agent said.

She looked him over.

“You do that, and perhaps mention that I may, or I may not, have other information that could prove to be vital in putting Carlotto away for life.”