Page 71 of Dirty Deeds

“I gave up on love,” I start, my voice catching as those brown eyes meld with mine. “Until you. I gave up on myself, on my dreams. I gave up on ever finding a man that loves me the way you love me.”

His opens his mouth to say something, but I place my finger against his lips, silencing him. He doesn’t have to say the words.

Ifeelthem.

They are in his touch and the way he looks at me.

They are present in his actions.

And most of all I feel his love through his sacrifices.

He’s not a vicious man. He doesn’t break the law and yet he’s done it twice for me. I don’t think there isn’t anything he wouldn’t do for me.

“I can’t lose you, not in the way I lost Derrick. So you have to go. I will tell the cops exactly what happened. That he said up that phony appointment and kidnapped me. I’ll tell them about Guthrie too. And then I will them I feared for my life. That I watched him throw Guthrie overboard and thought I was next. I hit him with the tire iron.”

It’s his turn to silence me, and he does it by placing his lips firmly against mine. Tears slide down my cheeks, as he pushes his fingers through my hair and kisses me with an intensity so strong, it rattles me to my core. The sound of motorcycles approaching blares around us but neither of us make any move to pull away from one another. He tugs on my hair, tilting my head to get a better angle and his tongue swipes at my lips. I open for him, our tongues tangling in a desperate kiss, one that conveys what words can’t.

Enzo eventually breaks the kiss, but he doesn’t pull away. Instead, he touches his forehead to mine, his thumb tracing the side of my jaw.

“I’m going to marry you and I’m going to put a baby in you as soon as you let me. You’re going to take me to meet Derrick. We’re going to have the house with the swing and a couple of dogs running around making a mess of things. Mark my words, baby, we’re going to have it all.”

I close my eyes and I see it.

Such a beautiful dream.

“Enzo.”

My eyes spring open at the sound of Wolf’s clipped voice. Quickly pulling away from me, Enzo turns to his father who is accompanied by Jack Parrish. Wolf advances toward Enzo, and I inwardly cringe, bracing for the worst, but to my surprise, he pulls his son into his arms, relief etched across his face as he envelopes him in a tight embrace.

When they pull apart, Wolf visibly swallows, as he tries to find his voice. Seeing that the man is struggling to hold himself together, Parrish speaks up.

“What the fuck happened? Where is the cocksucker?”

“He had her tied up on the boat, but he wasn’t alone. His partner was there, and they were arguing.”

Enzo shares, glancing over his shoulder at me. I swing my legs over the side of the passenger seat to face them better.

“Brent freaked out when he realized what he had done, and he called Edwin to help him escape with me, but Edwin had other plans. He asked Brent for money. He said something about Yankovich and everyone finding out about his involvement with some ring. I think they were referencing the money they embezzled from Frankie’s House, but I’m not sure.”

“Things got heated between them and they started taking blows at one another. I could tell Brent had lost his grip on reality and before he hurt Danica, I went to my truck and grabbed the first thing I could find which was a tire iron.”

Parrish quirks an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything.

“I wanted to make a clean break. All he had to do was let me leave with Danica and none of this would’ve happened.”

“What did you do?” Wolf asks.

“I cracked him in the side of the head. I found a pulse but it’s weak and there’s a lot of blood. I don’t know if it’s from the gash in his head or if it’s coming from somewhere else. He was bleeding.”

“Where’s Guthrie?” Parrish questions.

“Brent threw him overboard,” Enzo answers.

Both men immediately turn toward the dark murky waters.

“He could still be alive,” Parrish mutters.

“I don’t think so,” Enzo says.

---