Jerking my head toward the door, I saw Carver clearly for the first time. At one point in
his life, he had gone through terrible trauma. Perhaps a fire. His skin blotchy red in one part and paper white in another, all with bumps and welts.
Had he been a good person, I would’ve felt bad for him. The carving knife he wielded in his hands demolished that pity.
I scanned the room for something to defend myself with, but there was nothing, and I was still hooked up to an IV. Breaking the IV stand over his head came to mind. I’d just have to take the needle out of my arm. Extreme dizziness followed that thought.
“Don’t bother,” he said, seemingly reading my mind. “I don’t plan on staying long.”
He brought back his arm, aiming his knife at me. Behind him, the door cracked open and a man I’d never seen before slid in. It only took one second for the assassin to do his job. Carver plummeted to the floor, his neck broken.
The assassin took a picture of Carver with his phone and then looked up at me. I knew instantly that I’d be his next victim. No witnesses.
“If you want your two million you’ll leave me alone,” I rasped.
“Viper?” he questioned.
I nodded.
“Payment due,” he said and was gone as quickly and as quietly as he’d come.
I closed my eyes and let out a shuddered breath.
Rand came in next and nearly tripped over Carver. “What the fuck happened? I left you alone for one minute!”
“Carver,” I whispered, pointing to the crumbled body. “Then hitman.”
“Where is he now?”
I shrugged. “Gone. Payment due.”
Rand rubbed his face. “I’m starting to understand Brett more and more,” he muttered. He cracked open the door and called for help.
Within a matter of minutes, Carver was removed and two officers were at my bedside to question me.
Rand answered most of them while I nodded along, adding to the story when necessary. It was mostly true, but Brett’s involvement became that of worried boyfriend and nothing more. The rest, beginning with Annie and ending with Carver was the truth. The police were too surprised by the cemetery revelation and the possible number of victims buried there to drill us further.
“I’m just an anxious boyfriend?” Brett questioned when the police had left.
Rand and I looked over at him, wondering when he had regained consciousness. We found out right away that it was a drifting state. He promptly fell back asleep.
I smiled and texted Brandy to overnight my
passport. We’d be out of here by tomorrow.
* * *
“Where am I?”
I turned from the window to the bed where Brett had been sleeping. “Venice.”
“Florida?” He propped up on his elbows to look around, squinting at the midday sun.
“Italy.”
He blinked. “How did I get here?”
“Rand and I dragged you here.” Almost quite literally a couple of times.
“Rand?” Brett scanned the room.
“He’s probably over at your parents’ suite right now.”
Brett groaned and fell back to the bed, his arm slung over his face. “Sweet thing, you’re making my head hurt.”
“Would you like me to start from the beginning?”
“Yes.”
“Carver knocked you senseless at the cemetery and dumped you into an open grave.”
He peeked out from under his arm. “I remember coming at him from behind but then he somehow shifted and that was the last I remember.”
“No thanks to you, the bikers were freed shortly after you had them arrested. They came and rescued you. You were in the hospital for a day. Evan was able to shove papers through for your release with my promise that I’d keep you drugged for another day.”
“Which is why my head feels like a dump truck ran over it.”
“Probably. That, and the wallop to your head.”
“Come here,” he said, stretching his arm toward me.
I crawled up on the bed.
“Are we good?” he asked. “I can’t remember if you’re mad at me or if I was mad at you.”
“We’re good. But you might be upset with me later.”
“Why?”
“I maxed out one of your credit cards getting everyone here. Carver was still alive, and I was afraid he’d go after your family.”
“Was still alive? Did that change?”
“That’s the other part you might be mad about.”
He eyed me as if afraid to ask.
“He’s no longer alive,” I said. “Annie is dead too. Carver killed her.”
Relief washed over Brett, but then he froze. “You said I’d be mad. Why should I be mad about that?”
I twisted my lips.
“Mars, tell me.”
“Carver was killed by a hitman for two million dollars. Paid in full.”
Brett’s eyes widened.
“Sorry,” I said.
After the initial shock, he laughed.
“You’re okay? You’re as broke as I am now.”
He nodded. “I’d trade that money for your safety any day. It was a fitting end. I’m just sorry you had to be the one to do it.”
“It was a team effort,” I said. “Rand posted the hit. You paid it.”
Brett studied me for a moment. “You like him.”
“Rand?”
Brett nodded.
“Yeah,” I admitted. “He’s a screwed-up man. But I like him.”
Brett frowned. “I don’t like him around you.”
“Too bad. He’s family.”
“He’s family?” Brett repeated, suddenly looking at me differently. “And when did he become family?”
I floundered. When Brett repeated my words, it sounded as if I’d inserted myself into the family. And, in a way, I had. But I didn’t want him to think I was fishing for a proposal. Not now. Not with him groggy.
Brett wrapped his arm around me, tugging me closer. “Well?” he asked.
“I just meant that he’s your family, and I like your family. All of them.”
“You didn’t mean anything else by it?”
“No.”
He kissed the corner of my neck and whisked all my breath away. “Are you sure?”
“Positive,” I said weakly.
“We could change that.”
Stunned, I scurried out of his arms and off the bed. “No.”
“No?” he asked, sounding hurt.
“You’re still dazed by the drugs and the injury. Just . . . just don’t.”
“Mars, I love you,” he started.
“And I love you,” I said. “And right now we’re in Italy with your family. Let’s just have a good time. We don’t have to rush anything.”
“How can it be rushing when you’re all I think about?”
I smiled, but then said, “It’s rushing because there are things I need to say.”
“Then say them.”
I let out an exasperated breath. “I don’t want to do this here.”
“Then where?”
“Home.”
“Your home or mine?” he asked tersely.
With that simple question, I was back to square one of not knowing how this relationship would work.
“Either.”
The muscle in his jaw twitched.
This was not going according to plan. But, really, I had no plan. My hope had been to have a wonderful time in Italy and then sort things out later.
“You really want to do this now?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Fine. If we’re going to have any kind of life together, you have to stop defaulting into cop mode every time there’s a whiff of danger. You keep too many secrets, and I’m obviously too bullheaded to let them stay a secret for long.”
“Cop mode?”
“You clam up and evade questions. You focus solely on fixing whatever problem is at hand. I feel like a porcelain doll stuck on a shelf that no one remembers to dust. I get one-word answers from you, and I don’t like it.”
“I do it to protect you.”
“We almost died.”
He stopped. “We?”
“We were buried alive in the grave. The bikers that you had arrested came and saved us. You can’t always protect everyone. Sometimes you need help.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s the way it has to be. No more secrets. No more cop mode. You don’t like it when I’m in danger. It’s the same for me. I don’t like it when you are either, and I hate even more when I’m in the dark.”
He looked over at me. “No, I’m sorry,” he said, stretching out his arm again. “Come here. Please.”
I sat at the edge of the bed. His arm curled around my waist, holding me near. He closed his eyes.
“You’re right,” he finally said. “This is not the time or place to have this discussion. But since we are, I think you should kiss me.”
“What?” I asked, wondering if I’d heard him right. But, then again, it was Brett, and he was looking playfully at me. My Brett was returning.
“You heard me.”
“I know, but we were being serious.”
“And you said you wanted to have fun in Italy. What could be more fun?”
“You’re listening to me now?” I asked incredulously.
“You’ve laid serious charges at my feet,” he said. “You’re right. I’m half drugged and shouldn’t always leap over mountains when there’s beauty right in front of me.”
The heat of a blush started spreading over my cheeks. “So we can enjoy Italy?”
“Starting now,” he said, tugging me down. I squealed when his lips touched a ticklish spot.
A loud rap on the door broke his kiss.
“Were we expecting someone?” he asked.
“No, but we should go and say hello to your family. I said I’d meet them for dinner. I wasn’t sure if you’d be awake.”
Brett stood, but a wobble had him sitting back down.
“I’ll get it,” I said, hopping over him to the door. It wasn’t a large room, in fact it was tiny by US standards. But it was quaint and had views of the canal with gondolas coming and going.
I opened the door only to want to slam it closed again. Emily. She’d been breathing down my neck, waiting for Brett. It was as if she was blind to the fact that Brett and I were sharing a room, that he was unavailable. At least I hoped he was unavailable. I didn’t stop his impromptu proposal because I didn’t want to marry him. I stopped him because there were things to discuss, and I’d like a little romance out of it. It’d be my first and hopefully only proposal. But even without the discussion or the romance, I’d still say yes. When it came to Brett, I was hopeless.
“Is Brett awake yet?” Emily asked.
“He just woke up.”
She nearly knocked me over in her haste to get to him. “Are you feeling okay?” she cooed. “I was so worried about you.”
“I’m fine.” He batted her hands away.
Rand chose that moment to walk past the door. He was about to smile at me when he caught Emily fawning over Brett. His smile gave way to a storm cloud. I stepped in the hallway and shut the door to block his view. I had no worries about Brett. He could handle himself. But Rand . . . well, he was hopeless when it came to Emily. I had no idea why, but he couldn’t help it. It was like catching the flu.
“Want to get some air?” I asked cheerfully. I didn’t bother to wait for a snide answer, which was always the case when Emily was oh-so-Emily and Rand brewed. I dragged him downstairs and through the lobby, only stopping once we reached the patio. It wasn’t very big, same with the entire hotel, but it was charming with its topiary and small marble statues. The canal drifted below us.
“Mike and Lil seem to be enjoying themselves,” I said.
“Stop the small talk,” he said. “I know what you’re trying to do.”
“It wasn’t small talk. They’ve been smiling and laughing. I think this was the best thing for them.”
“The best thing for them was the Sledgehammer’s death.”
I shrugged. “For me too. But I’m ready to have a wonderful vacation.”
“Even if Emily can’t keep her hands to herself?”
“Brett’s a big boy. He can handle himself. I’m determined to have a great time.”
“Not jealous at all?”
“It’s annoying,” I admitted. “But she’s only pushing him farther away.”
Rand lit a cigarette, inhaling deeply. “What are your plans when we get home?”
“Work as hard as I can to reopen the Hog.”
“The ladies told me about that place. Said it smelled like a sewer.”
“That’s putting it politely,” I said. “I’ve tried everything I can think of to get rid of the odor, even hanging air fresheners on each chair and stool, but nothing works.”
“Have you tried cleaning the place?”
I scowled. “Of course I tried cleaning the place. Everything except the kitchen. That’s Jack’s domain, and the floors are too sticky.”
“Then why bother trying to reopen?”
“I don’t know. It’s sort of grown on me. I might not like the building or the smell, but the people are great. It’s just something I want to do.”
“Have you thought of rebuilding?”
“It’s not my place, nor do we have the money.”
“Hank is the owner?”
“Yes.”
Rand smiled. “I should say he was the owner.”
“What do you mean?”
“It switched ownerships.”
My eyes widened. “You bought it?”
His grin grew ear to ear. “I’m your new boss.”
“What about Hank?”
“He’ll still work there, but he’ll actually get a paycheck now.”
“Then what will you do?”
“Rebuild it, make it profitable.” He shrugged.
“But why?”
“I don’t know. When I spoke with Hank at one of the stops, he confided he was up to his neck in bills and said you were adamant about reopening, even though there was no way he could keep the lights on. He was heading toward bankruptcy.”
I groaned. “I wouldn’t have pushed so hard if I had known. I knew he was late on bills, but I didn’t realize the extent. Why would you buy it from him?”
“A pet project. I always wanted to try owning something that didn’t also have Mike’s name attached to it, and I like bars. It seemed like a good fit.”
“But you live in Texas.”
“I’ll build a house in Wisconsin. I can design anywhere and travel back and forth when I need to,” he explained. “We all win. You get a bar to rebuild, Hank finally gets a paycheck, and I get a new project.”
“And I get a paycheck too?”
He nodded.
I bounced up and down on my tiptoes, hugging him. Everything was perfect!
“I’m so excited! I can hardly wait to get started.”
Rand looked over my shoulder, a mysterious smile curved on his mouth. “We have company.”
I turned around to find Brett and Emily in the doorway, glaring at us. Were they mad? I guess Brett might be mad if he saw me hugging Rand and didn’t understand the reason, but why was Emily upset too?
“You’ll never believe the news Rand just told me,” I said, trying not to flinch as they both crossed their arms in a united front. “He bought the Hog, and he’s going to rebuild it. Isn’t that exciting?”
Brett glared daggers at Rand.
Rand leaned down to whisper in my ear. “Oh, there might’ve been one more reason I bought the Hog. It’d piss off Brett. We both know how much I love doing that.”
At Brett’s reaction to the news, I’d say Rand ticked off the box on that checklist item.
Here I thought I was going to have a lovely time in Italy. It was silly to think it’d happen with Rand and Emily both here. Together, they brought nothing but the plague. And now Rand was my new boss.
At Rand’s wicked smirk and his hand stroking my shoulder, Brett charged, sending them both down into the canal. Emily and I ran to the side to look over. We watched as they continued their fight, dunking each other as if no older than school children.
Idiots.
While one half of me was flattered by Brett’s jealousy, another part added that same jealousy into the “serious discussion list.”
Maybe it was just a brother thing. Brett and Rand were raised nearly like brothers. Perhaps all brothers fought like this, I thought, wondering if I should be outraged or amused by their ridiculousness. For the sake of my sanity and the remaining time in Italy, I chose amused.
“Is Wisconsin all cows and farmers?” Emily asked, nose scrunched.
“No, why?”
Emily lifted one shoulder. “Well, if Brett and Rand will be there, I might as well come too.”
Here I thought I’d head back to my peaceful life in Wisconsin, hopefully with Brett.
And now Rand.
And Emily.
And the fearsome foursome.
I groaned.
Life was not looking brighter.
I looked down to find Brett smiling up at me as if he was having the time of his life.
Well, a little brighter.