Dimitri (29 page)

The sight of a bat shocked
me.
Where the hell did that come
from
?

Not caring about the details, I picked it up
and rushed into the fray. Two of the men held Dimitri's arms while
another one came at him with a knife. Already he had blood dripping
down his arm and neck. The sight of the man I loved bleeding
enraged me.

With the familiarity of a girl who had played
softball since second grade, I swung that bat like a champ and
connected with the back of the man nearest me. The scent of lighter
fluid saturated the air. This was the one who had sprayed my bakery
and the one Dimitri had squirted with his own weapon of
destruction. The man lurched forward in pain. I hit him again, this
time taking out his knees and dropping him like a sack of
rocks.

Dimitri stared at me in shock but didn't
hesitate. He grasped the jeans of the man on his right and swung
him toward the guy holding the knife. The dude I'd taken down with
the bat tried to get up so I hit him again. Groaning in pain, he
got smart and kissed the pavement.

Facing off against both men, Dimitri showed
exceptional skill. Even so, I knew he needed help. I reared back
with the bat, ready to swing at a moment's notice. My chance came
when Dimitri kicked one of the men my way. I slammed the bat into
his shoulder. The knife he'd been holding clattered to the ground
near my foot.

I kicked it out of the way and put the bat
against his jaw. "One move and you'll be eating out of a straw for
the next six months!"

The pop of gunfire shocked me. I glanced up to
see the only gang member standing aim his weapon at Dimitri.
Clutching his arm, he dipped forward. Blood oozed between his
fingers. My body slackened with horror at the realization he'd been
shot. "Dimitri!"

Always a damn hero, he stepped into the line of
fire, protecting me with his huge body. "Benny, run!"

"No!"

"Benny!"

"Houston PD! Drop that weapon!"
Detective Eric Santos burst into the alley, just behind the
shooter. Gun aimed at the man trying to kill Dimitri, he shouted
forcefully. "Hands in the air!
Now
!"

Dimitri slid to the side, blocking me totally
with his body, so I couldn't see what happened. I heard scuffling
and cursing and could only guess that Santos had taken down the
shooter.

When it was safe, Dimitri staggered toward me.
He grabbed my hand and jerked me around the moaning bodies on the
alley pavement. "Hurry, Benny. This place could blow at any
minute."

"Get her to the street," Santos shouted. "I've
got Fire and EMS on the way."

The bat slipped from my shaking fingers and I
gripped Dimitri's hand tightly. We hurried out of the alley and
nearly ran into the two officers who rushed around the corner.
Dimitri put his hand up and pushed me aside, ready to bear the
brunt of whatever mistaken violence we might catch.

"They're victims! Let them through!"

With Santos' help, we got the hell out of
there. Dimitri led me across the street to safety. He backed me up
against a wall, trapping my smaller body between his and the brick
masonry. He had a fierce look on his face. "What the hell were you
thinking? Why didn't you run? You could have been
killed!"

Breathless, I said the only thing that
mattered. "I love you. You wouldn't have left me behind. I wasn't
going to leave you."

"You stubborn, beautiful, brave
woman." With a rough exhale, Dimitri touched his forehead to mine.
"
Lyubimaya moya.
What the hell am I going to do with you?"

"Love me?"

A ragged sound escaped his throat. "I do,
Benny. I love you."

Our lips met in a passionate, crazed
kiss. The feel of his slick blood under my hand ripped me out of
the romantic moment. He winced when I pressed my hand to his worst
wound. "We have to get you to a hospital." I shot him a warning
look. "A
real
hospital."

He snorted with amusement. "I won't argue with
that."

Sirens grew louder and louder. Fire trucks,
police cars and ambulances poured onto the street. Side by side
with Dimitri, we watched the drama unfold. The backseats of the cop
cars were quickly filled with the villainous thugs who had attacked
and tried to kill us. The one I'd pushed down the stairs was carted
out on a backboard. The sight made my gut twist.

"He'll be fine." Santos must have seen the
worried look on my face as he approached us with an EMS crew and
two police officers in tow. "You broke his collarbone but he's not
paralyzed or anything." He flicked his fingers and pointed at
Dimitri. "This one has a gunshot wound."

I stepped aside as the medics descended on
Dimitri. He wore an aggravated expression as they poked and prodded
his injuries. Santos questioned Dimitri first and then
me.

"Do you know any of those men,
Benny?"

"Just the fat one," I said and pointed to the
stretcher where Carl rested. "He works for Jonah Krause. A few
mornings ago, he showed up at the bakery to try to intimidate
me."

Santos rubbed his jaw. "Krause, huh? Yeah,
that's not the first time I've heard his name mentioned in
circumstances like this. But never with a Latin street gang," he
commented and frowned. "Some strange bedfellows."

"Not really," Dimitri interjected. "Jonah
threatened Benny yesterday when she wouldn't accept his offer. He
tried to blackmail her with threats of turning Johnny over to the
rival gang and calling Immigration."

I replayed the conversation I'd had with the
nasty real estate developer. "He did say I was playing with
fire."

Santos' pen scratched away at his notebook. "I
think it might be time to pay Mr. Krause a visit." He glanced at
Dimitri who grunted in agreement. "In my official capacity with the
Houston PD," he amended.

Dimitri didn't reply. Would he go behind
Santos' back to get revenge on Jonah Krause for orchestrating
tonight's diabolical act? I decided then and there I was going to
have a talk with Dimitri. With the police department involved, this
whole mess could be dealt with legally. I didn't want him to cross
that line for me.

"So you kicked that guy down the stairs and
then what happened, Benny?"

"I saw the baseball bat. I grabbed it and
started swinging."

"A baseball bat, huh?" Smiling,
Santos shook his head. "Man, that brings back memories! Remember
that time I dragged you down to the park for my home run derby
team? Damn, we were so late getting home. I thought for sure your
grandma was going to whip off her
chanclas
and give me a good
smack."

The happy memory seemed so out of place in this
nightmare I was living but I couldn't stop the smile spreading
across my face. "Seems like forever ago, doesn't it?"

"Not that long," he said. "I was, what, a
senior? You were a freshman?" He shrugged. "That's what? Ten
years?"

"A lot can change in ten years," I said and
stared at the inferno across the street.

"I'm really sorry, Benny." Anguish was clear on
Santos' face. "I wish I'd gotten here sooner."

"What were you doing here in the first
place?"

"I was worried Johnny might try to hide out at
the bakery or with Dimitri. I'd heard that some private
investigator was shaking down Hermanos members looking for him.
When I drove by, I saw the flames and called it in. The gunshot
caught my attention damn quick." He shook his head. "I'm glad I was
able to reach you two in time."

"Thank you, Detective." Dimitri extended his
hand, the skin caked with dried blood. Santos didn't hesitate to
grasp and shake it. "You saved our lives. I'm in your
debt."

"Just doing my job," Santos replied. He glanced
at the crime scene tech who came forward with three white boxes.
She opened them to reveal guns they'd taken from the alley. I was
stunned by how quickly they'd grabbed and tagged all that evidence
but apparently they worked quickly when the threat of fire and a
deluge of water were imminent.

"We recovered three guns in the alley. Is one
these yours, Dimitri?" Santos gestured to the weapons.

"That one," Dimitri said with a lift of his
head. "And, yes, I have a concealed handgun permit. It's all
legal."

Santos' lips twitched. "I didn't say it
wasn't."

"You didn't have to," Dimitri replied and then
hissed with discomfort. One of the medics palpated his belly. "Hey,
take it easy, yeah?"

"Sorry," the medic said with an apologetic
smile. "You're going to need scans and x-rays when we get to the
ER."

Dimitri grunted but didn't refuse treatment.
Probably because he knew I'd raise living hell if he tried to avoid
a trip to the hospital. The cut on his arm needed stitches and that
awful bruise on his belly scared me.

"What if he has internal bleeding? Shouldn't we
hurry?"

The medics and Dimitri glanced at me. "It's
fine," Dimitri said. "It hurts but I'm not dying. I've had
worse."

"I don't find that comforting,
Dimitri."

He held out his hand and I moved closer to the
stretcher where he now sat. He didn't have to say anything. The
look on his face told me everything I needed to know. As he gripped
my hand in his, the medics wrapped his arm and slapped dressings on
his other bloody wounds.

Behind him, the blazing bakery lit up the night
sky. Tears burned my eyes as I watched my family's history go up in
flames. The firefighters battled the blaze and got the upper hand
but the damage was done.

I'd been preparing to say goodbye to this
chapter in my life but not this way. To lose it all because of
arson and revenge and blackmail? It made me sick.

"Oh, Dimitri, what about Yuri? Do we still have
a deal? Does he get this awful, burned shell of a building? That's
not right! It's not fair to him."

His gaze skipped from my face to the street.
"You'll have to ask him."

I looked back and spotted Yuri and Nikolai
striding up the sidewalk toward us. Both men wore stony
expressions. The cold glint to their eyes would have struck fear in
the heart of even the most hardened man. I sure as heck didn't want
to be on the receiving end of their wrath.

"What in the world? How did they get here so
fast?"

Santos snorted. "The king's eyes and ears, I'm
sure."

I frowned. Did he mean Nikolai? It didn't
surprise me that Nikolai had a network of informants on the streets
but why would they be watching us? Nikolai struck me as the kind of
man who believed deeply in protecting his friends. Did he have some
sort of tail on Dimitri?

Santos stepped back to speak with his
colleagues but I noticed the way his gaze strayed to Nikolai's
face. The men shared icy glares but neither formally acknowledged
the other. Apparently there was some history there.

"Benny!" Yuri shocked me by engulfing me in a
bear hug that squeezed the air right out of my lungs. He set me
back at arm's length to look me over. "Are you all
right?"

"I'm fine, Yuri. Your building—"

He waved his hand. "I don't care about the
building. It's just bricks and mortar and money. I can replace any
of those easily, but you and Dimitri?" He shook his head. His gaze
fell on Dimitri. Carefully, he clasped his friend's shoulder. They
spoke briefly in Russian. Whatever Dimitri said put Yuri at
ease.

"Sir?" The medic who had been assessing Dimitri
gestured to the ambulance. "We need to get you to a hospital
now."

Dimitri glanced at me and then at Yuri and
Nikolai. Before he even had to ask, Nikolai assured him, "We'll
take care of her."

I opened my mouth to protest because I wanted
to go with Dimitri. He caught my worried gaze and shot me a
pleading look. I finally understood why he wanted me with his
friends. At the hospital, we'd be separated and I would likely end
up alone in the emergency room waiting area. I could only imagine
how anxious he would be about my safety in that
situation.

Desperate for him to be patched up and healthy
again, I brushed my lips to his mouth. "I'll be fine. We'll see you
as soon as possible."

Dimitri gripped the back of my neck and drew me
down for the kind of kiss that left me dizzy and trembling inside.
"When I'm out of the hospital, we're picking up right
there."

All I could do was nod. "Okay."

The medics moved closer to the stretcher and I
backed out of the way. Yuri put a hand on my shoulder, steadying me
as I watched them load Dimitri into the ambulance. He got the name
of the hospital where they were taking him. The doors closed and I
experienced the crushing sadness of watching the man I loved be
taken away in an ambulance—and it was all my fault.

"No." Nikolai dared to touch my face, using his
heavily tattooed fingers to tip my chin. "I know that look. You
have no reason to feel guilt."

"Don't I?" I gestured to the ambulances, fire
trucks and police cars lining both sides of the street. "Dimitri
never would have been hurt if it wasn't for me." I wiped at the
tears dripping onto my cheeks. "Look at what getting involved with
me has cost him! I'm, like, the worst thing that's ever happened to
him."