My brain screamed at me to pull away from her. We knew nothing about each other, and Bones was right: Markiewasthe kind of girl who'd rather pick out wedding rings than condoms. I had no business fucking with her. My body didn't seem to care. I set my beer on a table and brushed a stray curl back from her face, tilting her chin up to look at me. She was so goddamn beautiful, it physically hurt me to look at her and know I couldn't have her.
"Ten, Nine, Eight..."
Why? Why the fuck couldn't I have her? I wanted her. I needed her. Her hand felt like a lifeline to everything clean and good about humanity. Clinging to it, I leaned in and covered her lips with mine.
"Seven, Six, Five..."
She opened her mouth to me and I released her hands to wrap my arms around her and deepen the kiss. She tasted like wine, sin, and freedom, and I drank her in like a convict busting out of prison.
"Four, Three, Two..."
We were almost at the top, but I'd already fallen.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Angel
BY THE TIME Bones and I dropped Markie and Ariana off that night, I knew I was fucked. I walked her to her door and I leaned in to kiss her again, right there in the goddamn open.
She turned, so my lips landed on her cheek. "We shouldn't do this," she said, looking away.
"Why the fuck not?" I asked, putting my hands on either side of her, trapping her against the door.
"It's..." She shook her head, still not meeting my gaze. "Complicated."
"Then uncomplicate it for me. I had fun tonight and I want to see you again."
Her expression torn, she chewed on her bottom lip for a moment before rifling through her purse. When her hand emerged, a business card was between her fingers. She held it in the air between us. This time she looked at me with a challenge in her eyes. "Okay, prove it. Volunteer with me."
I took the card, turned it over, and read the information. An orphanage. She wanted me to volunteer at a goddamn orphanage. Of all the shit I'd been asked to do, this was a first. Markie didn't wait for an answer before letting herself in and closing the door. Shocked, I looked from the card to the door. Then, stuffing the card into the pocket of my jacket, I laughed my ass off and headed back to the Hummer. I had a business to run and an empire to grow, and I couldn't volunteer at a fucking orphanage.
"What did she give you?" Bones asked as soon as I got behind the wheel.
"Doesn't matter. I'm not gonna do it. I'm done with her." I had to be. Markie was right, and things were too damn complicated. We were from two different worlds, and nothing between us would ever work. Still, I couldn't help the way my gaze cut to her door, already wishing I could catch one last glimpse of her.
Bones looked sideways at me.
"I know, I know, One Nut Brizio. I fuckin' get it, Bones."
"You gonna let me run a background check on her now?"
I stopped for a light. "No. I told you, I'm done."
"Right," he said.
Neither of us believed me.
***
Thoughts of a certain blonde kept me from getting much sleep Wednesday night, so Thursday was brutal. Bones and I picked up one of the self-checkout terminals and took it to my office. The seventeen-inch touchscreen monitor was the first thing I salvaged. While disassembling the body, I sliced my arm open. Bones stitched me up--one of the many skills he'd picked up in my old man's mobster boot camp--and I popped three ibuprofen and went back to work, salvaging the sixteen-gig DDR memory stick and octa-core CPU. I called Renzo to let him know that once they were all disassembled, a decent fence would be able to fetch maybe five grand for the parts. Hardly worth the time.
Once I finished up, Bones and I headed for the shooting range. Operated by a friend of the family, not only could we bring in our own handguns, we had free rein of the VIP room and all its weapons. We brushed up on our pistols then tried out the M4, the M249 S.A.W, the Remington 700 sniper, the Beretta M9, and the goddamn Tommy gun. Acting out our favorite gangster movie scenes, we spent hours competing to see who could destroy the most targets. After the range, Uncle Carlo sent us out to wire a hotel room and get footage of a local judge cheating on his wife with a prostitute barely out of high school.
It was after midnight by the time we stumbled into the condo. I was exhausted and my arm was throbbing, but no amount of staring at the backs of my eyelids would take my mind off Markie. Finally, I got up and poured myself a glass of scotch. Bones joined me when I was on my third glass. I'm sure he knew what was bugging me, but thankfully he didn't say a damn thing. We took the bottle to the coffee table, turned on the television, and drank until we passed out.
Over the next two weeks, my schedule was more of the same. Every time we were out, I caught myself watching for Markie. It was killing me that I knew where she lived, but I couldn't stop by. Not without giving in and letting Bones run her background.
I made it two weeks and four days before navigating to the address on the business card Markie had given me. As I parked in front of the orphanage, Bones just looked at me and shook his head.
