I woke up late, and my fucking body hurt like a bitch. I sat up and groaned as pain flooded me.

“Morning.”

I looked up and saw Emma sitting in the kitchen, sipping a mug of coffee.

“How long have you been there?” I asked.

“Not long,” she said. “Didn’t want to wake you up.”

I sat all the way up, grimacing. “You got more of that coffee?”

“Sure.” She got me a mug, poured some, and brought it over.

“Thanks.”

I put my feet on the ground and sipped the coffee. “Take it easy,” she said. “You need to heal.”

“I don’t have time for that.”

She smiled. “I don’t think you have a choice.”

I pushed off against the couch and attempted to stand, but a sharp jolt of pain ran through my side, sending me collapsing back onto the couch.

“Stop,” she said, coming over. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”

I shrugged her off and then stood up, hiding the pain from my face. “See? No problem.”

She rolled her eyes. “Such a tough man.”

“Damn right I am.”

Just then I heard the phone start ringing. She went back into the kitchen and sat down, studiously ignoring me as I walked over to the phone and grabbed it.

“Yeah?” I grunted.

“Shit, you’re alive.”

“Dante?”

“The one and only.”

I blinked, surprised. The last time I saw him, he was hiding in the alleyway as the Spiders advanced on us. I didn’t see him get out and was just assuming that he’d died in the fight.

But apparently not.

“Glad to hear you’re still with us, Brooks,” he said.

“You too.”

“Come to the deli. We have shit to discuss.”

“Now isn’t a good time.”

“You think I fucking care? See you soon.” He hung up.

I frowned at the phone and then tossed it onto the couch.

“Boss mad?” Emma asked.

“Something like that.”

“Are you going out again?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“Okay. Have fun.”

I gave her a look and then went into the bedroom. I quickly got changed, wished I could shower, and then tucked my gun into my waistband. I made sure it was loaded first.

“Stay here,” I said to her.

“Where would I go?”

I opened the door and stepped out. She gave me a lingering look that made my cock half hard.

I’d heard her last night. Lying in the dark on the couch, I’d heard her soft moans coming through the thin bedroom door. I knew she was thinking about me, knew she couldn’t help it, but despite that, she put a wall up between us.

I understood. I was some stranger who had stolen her away and upended her life. Even if I’d saved her from a shitty life and a shitty death, I was still a killer, the guy who had murdered her father. There was no getting around that fact.

But she still fucking wanted me. The girl had been touching that nice little pussy in my bed, thinking about my thick cock fucking her deep and rough. I hadn’t been able to help but jerk myself off, imagining those full lips wrapped around my cock.

Fuck I wanted to feel her tight cunt. I wanted to wrap that pussy around my cock, fuck her deep and rough, and then make her swallow every bit of my come. I bet she sucked dick like she was born for it, especially with those lips. She was fucking fierce and sexy as hell, and I wasn’t even sure that she realized it.

As I got into my car and drove out to the deli, I knew I should try to get my mind right. Some fucking shady shit had happened last night with the Spiders, and there was a lot I couldn’t figure out.

But instead of wondering about that, I just kept thinking about Emma. She was the real problem in my life. I didn’t know what to do with her, and really I should have killed her already. Soon Dante was going to ask for a body, though I suspected this shit with the Spiders bought me a little extra time.

I wasn’t going to kill her. That wasn’t an option. But I still didn’t know how to keep both of us alive. Maybe we could go on the run, but I doubted she’d be willing. She’d have to stay close to me, listen to everything I told her, and it would be a lot of time before she was free again. The mafia didn’t forget easily, so we’d have to stay hidden together. She could barely wait a few days in my apartment; I couldn’t imagine what it would be like living in hiding with her.

But fuck if I didn’t want that anyway. I could only imagine all the different ways I could get her off. I could practically hear the way she’d beg my name, needing me to fuck her deeper and harder.

I pulled up outside the deli, my cock hard, and had to take a few deep breaths to calm myself down.

Hard on subsided, I climbed out and opened the back door of the building. I stepped into the familiar back room and looked around.

Dante was sitting alone at the table. His eye was black and his arm was in a bloody sling.

“You look like shit,” I said.

“You do too.”

I shrugged and grimaced. “How’d you get out of there?” I joined him at the table. The deli up front was pretty busy, but the staff knew not to come into the back when Dante was there.

“Not ashamed to admit that I hid underneath a dumpster.”

“So that’s what that smell is.”

He smirked. “Good one. Those fucking Spiders, man. They tore us to pieces.”

“How many did we lose?”

“Six,” he said. “Everyone else is injured.”

“I got shot twice in the fucking chest. Vest saved my life.”

“What happened to you?”

“Pushed those cars out and tried to escape, but I took those bullets, like I said. When I woke up, I was lying facedown on the sidewalk and everyone was gone, except the bodies, of course.”

He nodded. “They must have thought you were dead.”

“Yeah, well, lucky me. I got up and walked the fuck away from there as fast as I could.”

“That shit with the cars, that was good work.”

“Thanks.” I leaned back in the shitty folding chair and crossed my arms. “Figured someone had to do it.”

“Seriously, Brooks. That sort of shit is why Gian is so impressed with you.”

“Anything to impress him.”

Dante grinned at me. “You want to move up in this organization, right? Maybe get my job one day?”

I nodded guardedly. “Sure. One day.”

“Then you need to play ball, Brooks. This shit with you refusing to kill women, it just looks bad.”

“I’m not sure I give a fuck how it looks.”

Dante laughed. “See, that’s why I like you, big fucking balls.”

“Why’d you call me down here, Dante?”

“I got another job for you.”

I cringed. “I’m not exactly up for a kill right now.”

“Not a kill, although it is something of a hunt.”

“Spit it out, Dante.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a long cigar. I watched as he took his time unwrapping it, cutting it, and lighting it. It was such a stupid fucking power play, but I sat there patiently anyway.

He puffed on his cigar. “We got most of the girls back last night,” he said. “Spiders took a few, and a few others are missing. It’s your job to figure out if they’re still loose in the city or if the Spiders took them.”

The memory of those girls came back to me. I’d let them go. Hell, I’d made them run away. Now Dante wanted me to hunt them down.

“Fine,” I said. “That all? Find a bunch of lost hookers?”

“That’s it. Gian wants them found and brought back if you can. Kill them if you can’t.”

“Why not have someone else do it?”

Dante puffed again, blowing smoke toward me. “Because I fucking want to see you do it, Brooks. That okay?”

“Guess so.”

“It’s going to have to be. Find the fucking girls. Bring them back, dead or alive.” He laughed.

I stood up. “You got it.” I turned to leave.

“How’s your little prize doing?” Dante asked.

I turned slowly back toward him. I’d been hoping he’d forgotten about that, but apparently not. “Why?”

“Was wondering if she’s dead yet or if you’re the long and slow type.”

“She’s taken care of.”

He gave me a look. “She better be, Brooks.”

“We done now?”

“We’re done. Good luck.”

I turned and left, pushing back out through the door.

I got into the car and started the engine, pulling out into traffic.

This fucking guy. Dante just wasn’t letting this girl thing go, and I didn’t understand why. My decision not to hurt women hadn’t been much of a problem before, so I didn’t understand why he gave a fuck now.

Unless it was because of what he’d said. Unless they were thinking about promoting me, but Dante didn’t think I could be trusted yet. He wanted me to prove that I cared more about the mafia than I did about my moral code.

That had to be it. I couldn’t think of any other reason why he was pressing now. Gian wanted to promote me, maybe to a local captain or some shit, but Dante didn’t trust me. Simple as that.

And now I was stuck finding these girls. I was willing to bet that Dante wanted me to kill them all, would be much happier getting all their heads in a bag than getting them back alive and unharmed.

I couldn’t let the girls go, but I couldn’t find them either. I wasn’t going to be the one to drag these girls back into captivity.

My problems were only getting fucking worse. Shit on top of shit.

And meanwhile, Emma was alive and well back in my apartment, and she was going to stay that way.

Fuck. I needed to find a way out of this, and fast, before Dante fucked everything up.