He groaned. “Please, man.”
“Talk to me, Rodney.”
“You got to believe me.”
I took out my gun and hit him with the butt. He fell to the side and I hit him again.
“Okay!” he yelled. “Okay, please.”
“Talk, Rod.”
“It’s nothing I heard, just something I saw.”
“Tell me.”
“Russians. That night. They backed off, just a minute before the cops showed up. Almost like they knew.”
I looked at Rodney long and hard. “That’s a serious accusation, Rod.”
“I know, man. I didn’t want to say nothing since I’m not so sure, but shit. It’s what I saw.”
I believed him. I wasn’t sure why, since I had basically beat him until he told me what I wanted to hear, but there had been something weird about that night.
“Okay,” I said. “Okay, Rod. You did good.”
I patted him on the shoulder. He flinched away.
“We should go,” Vince said.
I noticed the crack heads were all out and watching again. “Sure. Rod, you take care. I’ll have someone come out and clean this place up, okay?”
“Okay, Lucas. Okay. Sorry I held that back.”
“It’s okay.” I nodded at Vince and we walked back out the front door.
“What do you make of it?” he asked me.
“I believe him,” I said.
“Makes no sense though. Why dime out their own shipment?”
“I’m not sure. But we need to get eyes on that truck again.”
“It’s impounded. Police custody.”
I shrugged. “Police custody doesn’t mean what it once did.”
He smirked. “Yeah, guess not.”
We climbed into the car together, and Vince began heading back toward the compound.
My heart was racing in my chest. Part of me loved the rush of violence, the thrill of it. I didn’t want to hurt an innocent guy like Rodney, especially one that worked well for me, but I couldn’t tolerate bullshit. I couldn’t appear soft in front of his people or my own.
Plus, it almost got me as worked up as seeing Natalie blush. It got my heart beating and my adrenaline rushing, though it didn’t get me off like Natalie did.
There I was, thinking about her again. It was like I couldn’t go fifteen minutes without thinking about her again.
As we sped back toward home, I couldn’t get her out of my damn head.
Chapter Eleven: Natalie
I woke up confused.
It took me a minute to figure out where the heck I was.
Still in the Barone compound. Still living in the shadow of my new mobster family.
Still thinking about Lucas, my gorgeous, asshole stepbrother slash husband.
I groaned, rolling over onto my side. I wanted to go back to sleep. Maybe then I’d wake up back in my old house, surrounded by my own things, and no longer married to my dangerous stepbrother. Maybe then I wouldn’t be in such an awful situation.
Instead, I sat up and sent a quick text to Pacey. At the very least I could see her and let her experience the absolutely surreal turn my life had taken.
I tossed my phone aside when I was finished and climbed out of bed. I brushed my teeth and threw on some sweats. I wanted coffee and maybe a banana, but I realized I had no clue where the kitchen was.
I pulled open the door and saw a small packet on the ground. I bent over and grabbed it.
Inside was a menu and a number.
Seriously? I thought. They seriously just deliver food to your room like a hotel?
Ten minutes later, they seriously delivered coffee and cereal to my room like a hotel.
Sitting on my couch, my television turned to some crappy but entertaining soap opera, I felt halfway decent for the first time in awhile. Frankly, who wouldn’t want food delivered to their room whenever they waned it?
I could definitely get used to that.
A couple hours later, I felt nervous for Pacey to show up. I felt like I hadn’t fully prepared her for what exactly was going to happen. I checked my phone for the hundredth time when suddenly it started to ring.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Uh, Nat? I’m at the front gate and some guy is telling me that I’m not allowed inside.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Seriously? Put him on the phone.”
I heard some muted words and the sound of someone else taking the phone. “Hello?” the man’s voice said.
“Hi. This is Natalie. I’m not sure what the proper procedure for this is or whatever, but can you please let my friend inside?”
“Sorry, ma’am,” he said. “You don’t have guest approval.”
“Guest approval? Are you fucking kidding me?”
“No, ma’am. Sorry about that.”
“I live here. This is my house now. Let my friend inside.”