Against The Wall (7 page)

“This better be good,
vato.
It’s after midnight.” The man sounded just like his old cellmate. frustrationatayto

“Victor, I’m a friend of Chino’s. He told me I could call if I ran into some trouble.” Tanner waited for the man to make the connection, listened to sheets rustling on the other end of the phone. Moonlight lit the Pacific Ocean and waves crashed silver and black onto the beach to his right. Under normal conditions he might’ve stopped to enjoy the space, the freedom, but right now his side throbbed with a different need. Maybe one day he’d come back. If he didn’t get himself killed before then.

“Bryant?” Victor asked.

“Yeah.”

“You been out barely a month, dude. What kinda trouble you in?”

“Enough.”

“You know where I am?”

“Yeah. Chino gave me the address. It’s going to take me a few minutes to get there.”

“I’ll be here.” The connection ended and Tanner pocketed his phone, feeling the burn in his side with the movement.

“Who’s Victor and who’s Chino?” Jess asked as she kept a steady speed down Pacific Coast Highway. She was paying attention now, her senses visibly more alert than they were five minutes ago and relief eased through Tanner.

He had no reason not to tell her. After saving his life, he owed her the truth. “Chino was my cell mate. Victor is his older brother. A medic.”

“That’s lucky.”

“If you can call getting shot lucky.”

She glared at him before focusing on the road. “I think we’re both lucky we’re not dead.” He liked hearing the snap in her voice. Glancing at him again, she took a steadying breath, as if she needed it for strength. “Why were you in prison?” she asked.

He gave her credit for the question. If he’d been an ax-wielding murderer, she’d probably rather not know. But he wasn’t and she deserved some reassurance. She was safe with him. Relatively speaking. “Armed robbery and attempted murder.” No need to beat around the bush, since that’s what he’d done time for.

“You didn’t do it, did you?” Her tone very clearly implied that she believed him innocent, which meant she must have heard his conversation with Juneau.

“A judge and jury said I did. Apparently that’s all that matters.”

“Not to me,” she said.

She barely knew him, but her belief planted a foreign seed of warmth in his gut. Just as quickly as it blossomed, Tanner quashed it. Bitterness rose in his chest. He didn’t want her pity. Maybe that’s what spurred her sudden change of heart. Why the hell had she helped him at Juneau’s house when she could’ve been rid of him? Instead she’d wielded a baseball bat and saved his life. He should be grateful, but he was pissed. At himself, her, at Alex and Juneau…even his own father. At frustrationatayto the whole fucking world. He couldn’t face his family and barely tolerated his own reflection. He’d been railroaded seven years ago and all that time in prison had changed him.

“Don’t think that I’m some good guy because I didn’t commit the crime I was put away for. I’m not innocent. I’m just doing this backwards. I already served the time so I might as well do the crime and Juneau’s going to be the victim. I still need you to get to him. I’m still holding you to our deal.”

She nodded. “I know. I’m not backing out.” Instead of more questions, she kept a steady pace to Victor’s house in Inglewood. With no traffic and the phone’s GPS, they made great time. Jess pulled up in front of the house, scurried to Tanner’s side and helped him out of the car. His T-shirt and jeans had soaked up a healthy amount of blood, but Tanner had kept pressure on the wound and the bleeding had slowed. Jess wrapped his arm around her shoulders and the contact hit Tanner like a punch. She might be small, but she was strong. Did a damn fine job of taking his weight. Her back and shoulders tensed under his body, but not the way they had earlier. She wasn’t scared of him anymore.

He’d have to fix that.

Because he wanted her scared. Scared was better than the alternative. Scared kept people on their toes. Kept a person alive. He’d had to deal with fear every single day in the pen. Wondering if today was the day he got knifed in the back. Was today the day he wouldn’t be able to handle an attack? Being scared had kept him sharp and he needed Jess to be in that state of mind. It wouldn’t do her any good to think of him as the good guy.

He wasn’t, and hadn’t been in seven long years.

How had he kept his nose clean his whole life, only to blow everything when he landed in college? The answer blasted in his brain. His family. His older sisters had kept him on the straight and narrow in school. He hadn’t thought much about it then, but all those years in a cell had cleared the picture. They’d never bullied, but they’d suggested and guided. They’d helped him make the right decisions. Maybe that was why he’d hooked up with Alex so quickly in college. He’d had the chance to cut loose, to be the life of the party. Those four months with Alex in Los Angeles had been wild. Look where that got him.

A shot of pain took Tanner out of his thoughts as he took the first step onto the uneven sidewalk.

The small house had a weak yellow porch light that threw gloomy shadows across the front walkway. Dark shutters surrounded two front windows and set off light stucco walls. Spring flowers bloomed in the planter boxes surrounding the yard.

The front door opened and a man stood in the doorway. He was a smaller version of Chino with the same wide shoulders and pit-bull stance. But unlike Tanner’s bald cellmate, Victor had jarhead stubble and a dark mustache.

“Bryant?” At Tanner’s nod, he held out a hand and Tanner took it. “I’m Victor,” he said. “C’mon in. I’ve got a room in the back. Let’s see what you’ve got going on.” He led the way through a small, homey house, past a den and kitchen until they reached another room full of medical supplies. A gurney occupied the far cor master list of passwords. mt him ner and shelves stacked with equipment covered the walls. He turned on bright overhead lights that made the space resemble a treatment room.

“Have a seat.” He gestured to the gurney and Tanner eased onto it. “Take off your T-shirt,” he said, glancing over his shoulder.

Tanner hadn’t wanted to with Jess standing there, but he couldn’t really argue if he wanted medical attention, so he stripped off his T-sp>

Her eyes widened in her pale face and she quickly turned away. It could’ve been the wound that had her squeamish or the handful of scars that marked his chest…all courtesy of a prison stay. The day he lost count of the times he’d been forced to fight was the day he decided Juneau had to suffer. Tanner took his first look at the wound. Not as bad as he’d first thought. The pain had ebbed to a dull throb. The bullet had whizzed past, taking a small chunk of his side with it.

Victor snapped on some latex gloves. “Lie down,” he said. “Let’s take a look.” Tanner complied and Victor splashed brown disinfectant over the wound then probed and prodded until his side burned with fresh pain.

“Chino’s worried about you,” Victor muttered as he cleaned out the wound.

“That’s his problem,” Tanner hissed through gritted teeth. Hot pain lanced his side. “Fuck. Take it easy, man.”

“Why? You can take it. You’re a tough guy. Don’t need anybody or anything as long as you get your revenge. You finally get out of that pit just to do something that’s going to put you back? Stupid
pendejo,
” he muttered.

Another arc of pain pierced Tanner’s side and he hissed out a breath. “Chino’s got a big mouth. I didn’t need his lecture and I don’t want one from you.”

Victor smiled grimly and lifted thick dark eyebrows. “He knew you’d get yourself into fast trouble and he was right.” He pulled out a hooked needle and some suture line. “Do yourself a favor and stop now. Go back to your family and fix your life.”

As if that was even possible. He wouldn’t be able to face his family even if he wanted to. He’d hurt his mother and his sisters and the damage was irreparable. He’d shut them out to the point of no return. He might have had a shot with them before his father died, but now… “It’s too late for that. I don’t have a family.”

“Bullshit,” Victor said. “You’re just too fucking stubborn to open your eyes and see the truth.”

____________

Jess made herself as still and small as possible while she listened to the hushed conversation between Tanner and the medic. Though she didn’t pride herself on eavesdropping, it seemed to be the only time she got any useful information about the man who’d suddenly fallen into her life.

The conversation came to a halt when Victor started stitching the wound. At least she thought that’s what he was doing>

Tanner wasn’t what he wanted her to believe. He intimidated through his bulk, his attitude, but underneath lurked someone very different. One sign of his vulnerability came when he’d seen the blood on his side. The surprise in his eyes showed a picture of a man not so full of confidence. He may have thought himself invincible, but obviously he’d learned how wrong he’d been. The more she replayed the night’s events the more convinced she became. His expression when she’d opened her eyes in his room. His consideration of her injury…and the guilt she’d seen in his eyes, when she mentioned it. He’d taken her not because she’d seen him, but because he felt obliged to make sure she was all right. He hadn’t tied her or gagged her. Instead, he’d made a deal with her.

Fact of the matter was that she
would
need him when it came to Maurice. Maurice didn’t think she’d do anything further to get the money she needed. He’d blown her off as usual. He didn’t realize how desperate she was. Idiot. But Tanner might be able to scare the money out of him. A gun should make a man do about anything to stay alive and from the way Tanner spoke, he had no qualms about killing Maurice. Which seemed fair since Maurice didn’t show any remorse when it came to “taking care of” Tanner or not helping her family. She wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t heard it for herself. Maurice was Mr. Slick. Had he always been so heartless and she’d just never seen it before? How could a man just order another man’s death?

How could Facinetti threaten her entire family? Jess wanted to scream thinking about her parents and brothers bound and gagged, waiting to die. It made her angry enough to kill. A shiver raced down her back. Being a party to murder didn’t sit well with her no matter what the circumstances.

But if they really did trade Maurice for her family, then Tanner wouldn’t have to murder him and what Facinetti did was his problem. At least Tanner would be clear of Maurice’s death and wouldn’t have to go back to prison. Would Tanner care who killed Maurice as long as he died?

Was she really arguing with herself about
who
would kill Maurice as opposed to finding a way to keep the man alive?

Either way, the trick was getting to Maurice. She—they—should do it tonight in case his guys woke up, escaped the wine cellar and gave him the news that Tanner had escaped. Of course, Maurice had no reason to think she and Tanner were allies. Even though she’d quit her job, she still had access to everything. Maurice wouldn’t start changing things until tomorrow at the earliest. No, the trick wasn’t how she’d get into Maurice’s penthouse on Wilshire Boulevard, the trick was getting him out, and she didn’t have much time to work with.

After a few minutes, Jess peeked over her shoulder and watched Victor work. His body still blocked the wound, but her gaze roamed to Tanner’s very impressive chest and shoulders. She’d never seen a man as cut. Absolutely around her waist and pulluratripped. His biceps curved impressively as he clenched his fists against the pain. A handful of scars marred his chest and arms. Long slices and round puckered nicks. The man had seen pain before tonight. A layer of sweat coated his skin and he gleamed under the bright light.

“Can’t you give him a local or something?” Jess asked. She hated pain. Hated seeing other people in pain even worse. Maurice had broken his collarbone two months ago and had been in serious pain for weeks because of an infection after surgery. Every grimace had gone straight to her heart and she’d done everything in her power to make him more comfortable. Now she wished she hadn’t been so sympathetic.

Victor glanced over his shoulder. “I could give him some lidocaine, but I try to discourage action that lands my patients on this gurney. They tend to stay clear of stupid activity if the visit here hurts as bad or worse than the actual injury.”

“Spoken like a man who’s never had stitches without painkillers,” Tanner muttered.

The medic finished stitching Tanner’s side and gave him antibiotics. Showed him how to clean the wound, change the bandages and included her as he spoke. “I used catgut, so your body will absorb the sutures.” Maybe he thought she’d be helping. He didn’t know the sight of blood was one of the triggers for her passing out.

“When was your last tetanus shot?” Victor asked.

Tanner shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Victor opened a cabinet and took out a huge needle. With his back to her, he worked at the counter and when he turned around, he took Tanner’s arm and gave him a shot.

“Fuck!” Tanner clenched his jaw hard.

“Did I forget to say this might hurt?” Victor asked. He smiled grimly. “Where are you going after this?”

Tanner’s dark gaze captured hers. Where were they going? It seemed crazy to try for Maurice again now. He’d probably be taking extra precautions after everything that happened tonight. There was always Tanner’s place in Hollywood, if he’d deign to tell her the address. Did he expect her to stay glued to him until this got resolved? Didn’t he understand the time bomb hanging over her family’s heads?