Clean Slate (New Mafia Trilogy #2) (8 page)

The sun was barely
hanging onto the horizon, dark pink and orange clouds absorbing its weakening
rays, when I pulled into a parking space next to Jason’s BMW. It wasn’t quite
five o’clock so Dirty wasn’t busy yet and I wondered if I could lure Jason into
the alley again. Smiling at the thought, I checked my hair and makeup in the
visor mirror before getting out of the car.

I stepped inside the
bar and made my way to the back storage area, which doubled as an employee
break room. It was bare bones and nothing like the lavish employee lounge at
Crimson; a few folding chairs, a card table and cubed cubbies for our
belongings made up the furniture. I stashed my purse and left to go find Jason.
Callie intercepted me to let me know the other server on the schedule had
called out sick. I was going to be running the entire floor.

           
“I’ll help you out until 9:00, but then I have to get
home to the kids,” she said. “Sorry!”

           
“It’s okay. That means more tips, right?” I grinned at
her and she laughed.

Jason was busy getting
his bar ready, so I waved and went to get my tray from the kitchen area. Gary,
the cook who interrupted the kiss in the alley the night before, caught my eye
and winked. I blushed and quickly backed out of the kitchen’s double doors.

It wasn’t long before
the bar was packed and the outer tables began to fill up too. I went to work,
grateful for my experience at Crimson for teaching me how to weave gracefully
through a crowd while carrying a tray full of drinks and pub food.

Had the night been
slower, I probably would have been paying attention to who was walking in the
door.
 

DOMINIC

I sat in a rental car,
in a dark corner of the parking out lot outside the apartment building. I had
already knocked on Chelsea’s door, but no one answered and there weren’t any
lights on. So I sat in the car expecting Grant to call. Instead of both of us
waiting for Chelsea, Grant went to check our other lead; the bar where
Natalie’s altercation had been filmed.

I had the window rolled
down and relaxed my head back against the headrest. The night was warm and I
draped my arm over the side of the car, my fingertips detecting heat still
radiating from the asphalt. I closed my eyes for a moment. It was a long flight
to Vegas and a long drive from there to Los Angeles. I was wound tight and
hadn’t slept in close to 24-hours because I was so close to seeing Natalie, to
bringing her home. I’d sleep once she was in my arms again.

The throwaway cell
phone chirped from the cup holder. Only one person had the phone number.

           
“Are you at the bar?” I asked Grant.

           
“Yeah, and so is Natalie.”

           
“Do you see her?” I started the car and pulled out of the
parking lot.

           
“I’m looking at her car. It’s parked in the employee
section.”

           
“Wait for me.” I hung up, tossing the phone onto the
passenger seat. Reaching for the dash, I punched the bar’s address into the
GPS. Natalie had already found a job. She wasn’t wasting time putting down
roots, but she was also putting herself out in public. We caught a break that Johnny
found the You Tube video, but who else had seen it? For all I knew, the Five
Families in New York were already on Nat’s tail.

Within twenty minutes I
was parking next to Grant, who was in a deep blue Chevy Malibu; a rental like mine.
“Remember, we need to be cool about this,” Grant reminded me. “We don’t need
her to run again.”

I nodded and opened the
door to the bar. Loud music and the noise of a boisterous crowd greeted us. We
stepped inside and immediately started scanning the room. A stage where a band
was playing was on one side of the large room and the only bar was against the
opposite wall with small tables radiating out from the center. Three bartenders
worked furiously, the crowd around the counter was standing room only. I
stopped scanning when I saw the blond bartender, recognizing him from the
video. I nudged Grant and nodded in the bartender’s direction. That’s when I
saw a familiar figure moving through the crowd around the bar, holding a tray
high over her head with a toned, tanned arm. Bodies parted, allowing her
passage. She smiled at the blond bartender. He leaned forward and she said something
in his ear. He nodded and started mixing drinks in a silver shaker. When he
placed two martinis on Natalie’s tray, I saw their hands connect briefly before
the bartender started making more drinks.

Everything faded; I
didn’t hear the music and the room itself slipped into darkness. The only light
I saw was around Natalie. My girlfriend and the only woman I’ve ever lived
with, the woman who killed a man to protect me and the woman I wanted to build
a life with was looking at another man like she used to look at me. She was
more beautiful than ever. Her tanned skin glowed and her smile was radiant,
only it wasn’t directed at me. She had gained back most of the weight she’d
lost after Genovese assaulted her and her curves made me ache with longing, remembering
how good her body felt against mine, under me, on top of me. I closed my eyes
and swallowed.

I wanted to punch
pretty boy’s face in, but knew that violent reaction would only send Natalie
running. I wanted to claim her in front of the entire bar, but fear of her
rejection made me hesitate. I stood there, clenching and unclenching my hands.
Grant, as if sensing the source of my hesitation, said. “Come on, stay behind
me. I’ll go first.”

I nodded, the plan made
sense, so I followed Grant into the crowd toward Natalie.

NATALIE

One moment I was
turning away from Jason’s bar, with a tray loaded down with drinks, and the
next moment Dominic and Grant were standing in front of me. I cried out and my
tray dipped. Glasses crashed to the floor, liquid splashing against my bare
legs before they gave out, sending me to my knees among bits of broken glass.

           
“Natalie!” A chorus made up of Jason, Grant and Dominic’s
voices filled my head and I closed my eyes. How did they find me and how the
hell was I going to explain this to Jason?

***

It became increasingly
difficult to breathe and I stayed kneeling on the floor trying to regain
control.

           
“Natalie, breathe,” Jason whispered in my ear. He was
crouching over me, rubbing my back with small, steady motions.

           
“Who the fuck are you?” I heard Dom ask and then he was
leaning over the other side of me. My breathing hitched and everything started
to sound very far away, replaced by a roaring in my head. I felt really hot
right before the floor rushed up to meet me.

I woke to a harsh
medicinal scent, like concentrated cough drops, and opened my eyes to see
Callie stepping back holding a blue container of Vick’s Vapor Rub. I was lying
on the loveseat in her office and Jason stood behind Callie, his arms crossed
as he stared at me. My stomach was slightly queasy and I slowly sat up,
inhaling through my nose, the nasal passages wonderfully clear and the oxygen
having its desired effects on my body.

           
“What the hell happened?” I asked, rubbing my temples to
sooth the throbbing. That’s when I noticed my knees were trickling blood. Bits
of glass stuck to the skin. I reached down and started pulling the pieces out,
placing them in my free hand.

           
“Here,” Callie handed me a damp dish towel and an empty
glass. I dropped the shards into the glass and began cleaning up my knees. “You
had a panic attack and it was a pretty bad one.”

           
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” My cheeks flared in embarrassment.

           
“Don’t be sorry, I used to get panic attacks right after
Frank died. They can sneak up on you. Now, I want to know, who are those guys
that triggered it?”

Shit, Grant and Dominic
weren’t a hallucination. “Where are they?”

           
“Right outside the door and it was all I could do to keep
them from barging in here. I wanted to make sure you were alright. Jason said
all the color bled from your face the moment you saw these guys.”

Jason had moved from
behind Callie, but his arms were still crossed. “One guy claims he’s your
brother and the other says he’s your boyfriend?”

           
“Ex-boyfriend and yes, Grant is my brother.” I sighed and
sat back against the cushion, the weight of my past crushing down on me.

           
“That’s a hell of a reaction to seeing your brother,”
Jason said, drilling me with his bright eyes.

           
“I was very surprised to see him and Dominic. I had no
idea they were coming and well…it’s complicated.”

           
“It’s them you’ve been hiding from isn’t it?” Jason stood
taller and his hands balled into fists. “Will they hurt you?”

           
“No! They won’t hurt me and yes, I basically ran away
from my old life, but you already know that.”

           
“Jason, I need you to go back to your bar. Nat’s fine and
you can hash this out later,” Callie said before turning back to me. “Nat, I
hate to do this since you seem to be in the middle of a personal crisis, but I
need to get home and you’re the only server on tonight.”

As if the night
couldn’t get any worse, poor Callie was late getting home to her kids and it
was my fault. “I’ll be okay, Callie. Can I have a few minutes alone in here to
talk to my brother? I won’t be long, promise.”

She gave me a once over
and shrugged her shoulders. “Fine, five minutes, that’s it.” She turned to
leave, grabbing Jason by his elbow and taking him with her. Like the changing
of the guard, as soon as they left, Grant and Dom filed into the office.

The first thing I
noticed was that they both looked like shit. Dom’s hair stuck up all over, I
imagined from his nervous habit of running his fingers through it, and he had
dark shadows under his eyes. Grant’s eyes were bloodshot and his clothes were
wrinkled, definitely not his usual put together self. They both had at least
two days’ worth of stubble growth, with Dom's bordering on a beard. The second
thing I noticed was how my heart accelerated when I saw Dominic and not out of
panic, but excitement to be in the same room with him again. My mouth was dry
and I cleared my throat to say something, but didn’t know how to begin. “Hi,
how are you?” wasn’t going to cut it.

Grant beat me to it. “Nat,
what the hell were you thinking?” I refused to be chastised and opened my mouth
to defend myself, but he held up his hand to silence me. “If we were able to
find you, chances are other people will too, if they haven’t already. Is that
what you want – to be unprotected and most likely killed?”

           
“I can’t get into this with you now because I need to get
back to work. You can hang out at the bar or go back to Chelsea’s apartment and
wait for me there. I assume you already know where that is?” Both Grant and Dom
nodded. “On second thought, you’re better off waiting for me here. Chelsea will
shit her pants if you show up at her door.”

Dominic squatted down
in front of me and I was forced to look at his face. My heart betrayed me and I
felt myself go soft when his eyes met mine. “We will wait for you and we will
talk about everything – tonight.” He leaned over and lightly kissed the cuts on
my knees before standing. He held out his hand and I instinctively grabbed on
to it. He pulled me up to my feet. A wave of dizziness threatened to send me
back on my ass, but he sensed it and put an arm around my waist, steadying me.
I sucked in a breath as a bolt of longing ripped through my body.

           
“Are you alright?” he asked and I nodded, stepping away
to create some distance between us because I was acutely aware of how my body
reacted to being so close to his.

Grant held the door
open and we all stepped out into the hallway outside of Callie’s office. To the
right of us I heard the standard kitchen racket of sizzling food and cooks
yelling out orders. As we moved to the left, towards the bar, those sounds
faded and were swallowed up by live music and loud drunks.

I led Grant and Dominic
into the main area and spied my tray at the end of the bar. Jason initially
smiled when he saw me walk in, but that quickly vanished when he saw Grant and
Dom behind me.

           
“Hey Jason, this is my brother Grant and this is
Dominic.” Jason reached across the bar to shake and when he shook hands with
Dominic, didn’t let go right away. They studied each other and I noticed their
hands were turning an alarming combination of red and white as if they were
asserting all of their maleness through their grips in a true test of
dominance. Oh Jesus Christ, really? I didn’t have time for this and for once,
was grateful I had to go back to work.

           
“Grant, please make sure they don’t kill each other,” I
pleaded before heading into the crowd, holding the tray up in front of my chest
like a shield.

Work was a wonderful
distraction. After a few initial glances in Dom and Grant’s direction, I
realized the threat of a fight with Jason was over and I was able to focus on
taking food and drink orders. When I went by the bar to get the drinks, I
avoided where they sat and favored Collin’s side of the bar.

           
“So, what’s with all the drama?” Collin asked when I
first went up to him.

           
“More than I can explain in a few minutes.”

           
“I see the way that guy with the dark hair is looking at
you and Jason’s my bro, is he going to get burned?”

           
“I hope not,” I answered, looking across the bar at Dom
and sure enough he was watching me. Shaking my head I turned my attention back
to Collin. “I really like Jason.”

           
“But?”

Shit, Collin was
perceptive. He knew there was a “but”. While I liked Jason, I didn’t love him.
No matter how hard I tried to deny it, I still loved Dominic. Having him in the
same vicinity only reinforced this fact. “Collin, I can’t talk about this now,
the people at table eight are thirsty.” I looked pointedly at the pint glass
underneath one of the taps that was overflowing.

           
“Fuck!” He quickly turned off the flow of beer and wiped
the glass off with a towel before setting it on my tray. “Guess I’m out of the
running for you anyway, huh?” He winked and I laughed before leaving for table
eight.

I set down coasters on
the wood table before setting three full pint glasses down. “Do you guys want
the check now or want to start a tab?” I asked.

One of the guys, who
looked vaguely familiar, handed me a fifty dollar bill. “Just keep checking on
us.” I smiled and stuck the money in my apron before moving onto my other
customers. Fifteen minutes later I circled back to table eight and they ordered
another round. When I returned, the guy had a twenty dollar bill in his hand.
He really looked familiar and it was bothering me. “Have we met before?” I
asked.

           
“Yeah, well, not officially. I work at Vettucci’s; you
were in the other night.”

           
“Oh, right! Good memory.” I remembered now, he was our
server during dinner. “Got the night off, huh?”

           
“Yep, came in to checkout this band. They’re not bad.”

           
“They are good – kind of a Black Keys sound. Can I get
you guys anything else?”

           
“No, we’re good Natalie. I’ll see you again soon.” He
winked at me before turning his attention back to the stage. “Oh and keep the
change.”

I thanked him and
walked away. Only when I got through the crowd to pick up an order of wings at
the kitchen window did I realize how creepy his words were. He seemed pretty
confident about seeing me again soon. You’re just being paranoid, I muttered
under my breath, but no matter how hard I tried to convince myself of this, a
sense of unease refused to leave. Once I dropped an order wings off I hurried
over to where Dom and Grant were sitting at the bar. They each had a signature
dirty martini in front of them.

I must have looked
spooked because they instantly had their guards up and Dom reached for my hand.
“Nat, what is it?”

           
“I’m probably being silly and paranoid, but my gut is
telling me something isn’t right.”

           
“About what?” Grant asked, leaning closer.

           
“There’s a table of three guys and one of the guys looked
familiar. Turns out he’s a server at a restaurant Chelsea and I went to
recently. Anyway, he just, I don’t know. He said he’ll see me again soon and I
don’t think he was being flirty.” Now that I said it out loud, I sounded
ridiculous. For all I knew, they guy could have been interested and I was
reading too much into it.

           
“What restaurant?” Dom asked.

           
“Vetucci’s.”

Dominic and Grant
exchanged a look. Small beads of sweat broke out on Grant’s upper lip. “Which
table?”

Without being too
obvious, I discreetly pointed to table eight. First Grant spun around on his
stool to take a look and then Dominic. He swore under his breath and tightened
his grip on my hand. “You’re instincts are good, Nat. Vetucci’s is owned by the
Bianchi family. They control the Los Angeles area. I suspect those are some of
Bianchi’s men.”

           
“Oh shit.” My heart rate accelerated and my breathing
began to sound more like the pants of an overheated dog.

Dom pulled me against
him so he supported my body weight. “Nat, what’s wrong?”

           
“She’s having another panic attack,” Jason said and
minutes later he was next to me, rubbing the small of my back, helping to get
my breathing under control.

           
“Does this happen often?” Grant asked and Jason answered
for me, giving Grant a hard stare.

           
“Yeah, actually, whenever anything reminds her of Philly
she starts to freak out.”

Grant’s eyebrows came
together in a frown and he looked over my head at Dom. I was more alert now and
breathing evenly so I noticed that they silently communicated something.

           
“Jason, Natalie might be in danger and we can’t take her
back to Chelsea’s apartment. Do you know a safe place where she can stay for a
few days?” Grant asked. I started to shake my head in protest, not wanting
Jason to get involved, but I might as well have been invisible with the
testosterone army surrounding me.