Page 22 of Unruly Protector
CHAPTER SEVEN
Deep underneath my skin
— CLEMENTE —
My heart is pumpingon overdrive when I jump out of the car.Arturo is right behind me when we enter the nightclub and have to move through the crowd of people to get to the bathroom where Beck said he’d meet me.
To think I didn’t even want to take his damn call when we were interrogating the guy who wanted to snatch whores away from our whorehouses.The little shit obviously worked for someone but he’s tough and didn’t so much as make a peep.Not even when I broke one of his fingers or when Arturo started to play around with his knife.
Like I said, I didn’t even want to take Beck’s call, but the second I did, nothing else mattered except getting here as soon as I could.I didn’t want to take it because I missed Rina’s call before his and I was trying to call her back.
I finally answered Beck’s call and he told me Rina called him to ask if Flora was with him and to keep her safe.She mentioned something happened in the bathroom and to hurry, and how she couldn’t reach me.Their call disconnected and when Beck got to the bathroom the door wouldn’t open and no one answered when he called out, neither did Rina pick up the phone.
I told him to stay put.I was already in the car, and now—less than ten minutes later—Arturo and I are making our way through the hallway until I see Beck, Flora, and Donya guarding the bathroom door.
“Where’s Mattia?”I wonder out loud.
Beck points at the bathroom door.“I think they’re still in there but it seems locked from the inside out.”
One look at the floor and my blood runs cold at the sight of a crimson trail heading for the emergency exit.
I point at it and Arturo palms his gun and rushes forward to follow the trail.
I inch closer to the door and try the handle.I don’t want to waste time to get the keys from the manager or the cleaning lady, and so I bellow as hard as I can to carry my voice over the booming sound coming from upstairs, “Rina!Step away from the door, I’m gonna kick it in.”
There’s no sound and at this point I’m overcome with different kinds of emotions, and some of them are foreign.Fear.Fear is ripping through me at the mere thought of Rina being hurt, or worse, ripped from me.
I take a step back and kick the door.It takes two hard kicks before the lock gives way.What my eyes and brain process the second I step inside slices through me with the force of a thousand knives.
There’s a large pool of blood and both Mattia and Rina are surrounded by it.Her eyes are dull and locked onto an oblivious stare.My knees hit the blood covered tiles and I take her head in my hands.
“Rina,” I croak.“Please.”
Lifeless.Utterly lifeless and without any strength I pull her against my chest.
“Please Rina,” I mutter and let my fingertips slide to her neck while I let her body lean against mine like a sack of potatoes.
There!I pull back and try to assess the damage.The only thing I can find is a flesh wound on her upper arm.All the blood seems to be from Mattia.
“Talk to me Rina,” I try again.“You’re okay, aren’t you?Or were you shot anywhere else?”Her eyes fall down to land on Mattia again.“Rina,” I snap, trying to break through the shock she’s clearly sucked into.
There’s a huge difference between training for something—knowing what’s out there and what might happen—and actually experiencing something as brutal as getting your friend killed right before your eyes.
Or I imagined that’s what happened, but I just stumbled onto this scene.And I am a big asshole for thinking it, but I’m damn grateful Rina is still breathing, even if Mattia is lying dead in her lap while they’re surrounded by a pool of blood.
“I told Beck to take Flora home.He prevented her from glancing inside.Cops are on their way.I called Detective Black, he’ll take this on as usual,” Arturo says.
Detective Black, one of our contacts within the force who is on our payroll.Knowing this part is handled I can now fully focus on Rina.I take her in my arms and at the same time Leandro comes rushing into the bathroom, cursing loud.
