Life of a Fool (London Brothers Book 2) (14 page)

“You told her?”  Craig asked.

“Yes.  She needed to know, Craig.  She’s a smart woman and
capable of handling the truth.  If we are going to stay a step ahead of The
Italian, she needs to be a part of it.”

Craig let out a loud grown, then said, “Fine.  But listen to
me, Legs.  You need to be with Jason or me…or someone at all times. 
Understand?”

“Fuck, are you trying to scare the shit out of her?  She
will be with me.  So stop.”  I made eye contact with Craig and let his eyes
follow mine to Lori Ann’s stomach.  He immediately understood.

“No.  I want to help,” he said.  “We all want to help.”  He
tossed his head toward a beautiful petite, brunette woman that I knew to be
Keri. 

“I know.  Let’s get out of here.” 

After introducing Lori Ann to Keri, we carefully loaded her
and our bags into Craig’s black Tahoe and headed for the small townhouse that
would be home for us.  I pulled her close and she snuggled against me, her head
laying on my shoulder.  I kissed my girl’s forehead and whispered, “I love you,
baby.  It’s going to be okay.  I’m here.”

“Jace…I love you, too.”

We rode the rest of the way in silence until we stopped in
front of a nice-looking town home.  “We’re here.”  I helped Lori Ann climbed
out of the Tahoe, and Keri handed me the keys to our new temporary home. 

“You two get settled.  Keri and I will be by tomorrow to
check on you.”  Keri smiled and gave Lori Ann and me a gentle hug. 

I secured the door and watched as Lori Ann looked around the
nicely furnished house.  The small place was immaculately decorated in all
shades of neutral colors except for a few reds thrown in here and there.  The
garage was on the first floor with a small bedroom and bathroom.  Stairs led to
the main floor that, from the description Keri had sent me, had two bedrooms,
both with their own bathrooms.  I think she was unsure about where I would
sleep, so she made sure to throw that fact in.  The kitchen looked to be
remodeled with all the latest appliances in stainless steel and had a large
island with four barstools on one side, the sink and dishwasher on the other,
and granite countertops.  All this was open to the living room.  There were
frosted, opaque french doors that led to a large furnished balcony outside.  It
was a nice place for sure.

Lori Ann didn’t say anything as she carefully touched a few
things with one finger as she passed by.  She was beautiful…cast, bruises, and
all.  I couldn’t help but to slide up behind her as she was standing near the
kitchen island.  I circled my arms around her waist and breathed in her scent. 
“What are you thinking about?”

Her head fell slightly backwards onto my shoulder.  “Not
much.  I’m worried about you.”

“Why are you worried about me?”

“I’m consuming your life, Jace.  I know you have a job to
do.  You have a social life outside of taking care of me.  I hate that my
fucked up life is completely taking over
your
life.”  The sadness, the
grief in her voice was indescribable. 

I spun her around to face me, wrapping my hands behind her
neck and in her hair.  “Look at me.  You are my life, Legs.  You always have
been.  I’ve been consumed with you for years, baby. That’s nothing new.  I just
couldn’t do anything about it until now.  So stop worrying about me.”  I
pressed my lips against her and held her face to mine as my tongue gently
licked her bottom lip.

“God, how is it that I’ve missed this all this time without
even realizing it, Jason.”

“I know, but we have plenty of time to catch up.  First, I
want to order us some dinner and put you to bed.  Keri made sure everything was
completely set up for us.  I think the fridge is even full.”

“That woman is amazing, huh?”

“Yeah.  I’m pretty sure the moment Craig told her about
you…about us, she kicked that tiny body of hers into high gear and made sure we
were all set.”  I chuckled.  “She’s insanely organized, which is funny
considering she’s also some ‘free spirited’ musician.”

“Really?  I never would have guessed musician.  Hmm.  Well,
she’s seems very nice.”

“Come on, baby.  Let’s get settled.”  I led the way to one
of the bedrooms and helped Lori Ann undress, slip on the plastic sleeve to
cover her cast, and climb into the shower.  I tried not to stare at the small
amount of blood I saw in her panties.  She noticed it too, but didn’t say
anything. 

I quickly tore off my clothes and climbed in with her.  “Let
me help you.”  I carefully lathered up her body and forced myself not to linger
too long on her taut nipples or pretty pink pussy.  God, I wanted her so bad,
but knew I couldn’t take her.  My breath was ragged as I squatted down to wash
her long legs.  I felt her fingers curl into my short hair and pull me toward
her body.  “Baby, I can’t.  As much as I want to taste you, I can’t.”

Her body stiffened, and she released the grip she had on
me.  “I know.” 

I slowly stood, allowing my hands to gently caress her legs,
hips, waist, and arms.  “I want you.  But we can’t take a chance on hurting
anything.”  I kissed her pouty lips.

She smiled, but it was off.  I couldn’t tell if she was sad,
mad, embarrassed, or disappointed, but there was something in her eyes that
told me she wasn’t okay.  And if the look wasn’t enough, the fact that she
stepped around me and got out of the shower was certainly a sign.  I watched as
she struggled to wrap herself in a towel.  I rinsed my body and jumped out
right behind her, wrapping a towel around my waist as I reached to grab her
right elbow before she made it out of the bathroom.  “Hey, stop.  What’s wrong?”

Without turning to face me, she said, “I’m tired.  Ready to
get in bed.  That’s all.” 
Bullshit.

I continued to grip her arm.  “Don’t do that.  Please.  Don’t
shut me out.  Let me help you get your pajamas on.”

“No.  I can do it, Jason.”  She still wasn’t looking at me
as she pulled her arm away from mine. 

I immediately wrapped my arms around her waist, stopping her
from moving.  “You are the most stubborn woman on the planet.  And as smart as
you are, you’re a terrible actress, and I can see right through what you’re
doing.”

She turned to face me, completely pissed off.  “What the
hell do you think I’m doing?”

I smirked, feeling happy that I could see the fight back in
her eyes.  “You’re trying to put on this brave act of taking care of yourself
to prove
God knows what
to me.  But I know you too well, Legs.  You’re
freaking out about this baby, about how I’m handling it, about what Antonio is
going to do if he finds you and realizes your pregnant…I get it.  There’s no
point in trying to hide what you’re feeling, baby.  I can see right through
you.”

“You pompous asshole!  You think you know everything, don’t
you?  Well, you haven’t been around me day in and day out for YEARS!  So you
don’t know me as well as you think you do, Jason.”  She backed away a few
steps, then continued yelling at me.  “Yes, this baby is not what I want right
now, especially with a man I hate, who beat the shit out of me more than once,
who just fucked two girls in our bed then sent me a picture and is still
threatening to come find me just to take me back and torture me…most likely
killing me.” She casually added the last part with a sarcastic tone as if it
wasn’t a big deal.  “This isn’t just about how I feel about you, or my fear
that adding
this baby
to our
relationship
will destroy us, or the
fact that I want to stay here and start a new life with you.  No, this is about
doing what’s right for you, for me, and now for an innocent baby that didn’t
deserve to be a part of this fucked up mess.  I need to get back to taking care
of myself, and if that begins with dressing my fucked up, broken body all on my
own, then that’s what I’m going to do.  I. DON’T. WANT. YOUR. HELP. RIGHT. NOW.”

There were so many things in Lori Ann’s rant that I needed
to correct, but first things first.  She’d been keeping something from me, and
now I was fucking pissed.  She was still standing in front of me, seething with
anger.  I stepped close.  “Feel better?” I asked with a measured amount of
amusement.  I knew she needed to let some of her anger out, and I could
certainly take it. 

“Yes!”  She tried to fold her arms over her chest, but the
cast on her left arm prevented it and I could see the resolve of defeat flash
in her eyes for just a second. 

I stepped even closer until our chests were touching.  We
were both still wrapped in towels and breathing heavy with frustration, anger,
and want.  “Good.  Now, you are going to sit your sexy ass down on that fucking
bed and tell me what the hell you’ve been keeping from me.  Don’t think I didn’t
catch it in your little rant, Legs.”  She gasped, and I could see her mind
going into overdrive trying to recall what she’d let slip.  “Sit.”  She backed
toward the bed and carefully sat down.  “Spill it.  Now.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit!”  We sat in a staring contest for almost a full
minute.  “Fine, how about this…first of all, let’s put aside the ‘beat the shit
out of me more than once’ statement for just a few minutes and move straight to
the ‘sent me a picture and still threatening to come find me, torture and kill
me’ epiphany that you just laid at my feet.  Care to enlighten me on that
little tidbit a little more…seeing as how Craig and I are fighting like hell to
protect you?”  I didn’t mean to sound so angry or like protecting her was some
sort of painful chore, but I could see by the look of shock and hurt on her
face that my tone had damaged any ground I’d gained with my earlier argument. 
Fuck!

I reached out to cup her face, but she pulled away and
looked down into her lap, trying to hide her eyes from me.  “I’m sorry.  That
didn’t come out right.  I’m just pissed off that you’ve been hiding things from
me.  I need to know if what you’re saying about Antonio coming for you is
something you
think
he will do or something you heard…” I paused as my
mind caught up with her statement. “You heard it, didn’t you?”  She wouldn’t
look at me, so I lifted her chin with my fingers.  “Answer me.”  I worked to
soften my tone.  “You heard those men…Antonio’s men say something at the
hotel.  Am I right?”  Lori Ann closed her eyes and let two tears drain down her
cheeks as she barely nodded her head.  I let go of her chin and stood to pace
the room.  I needed to calm down before I asked any more questions.  Two
minutes went by, and the silence was only making my blood boil more.  Finally,
I turned to stare at Lori Ann and said, “Tell me what they said…
everything
they said.”

I took a deep breath and tried not to let the hurt that
filled my chest show on my face or seep through my voice.  Jason was really
angry and his words screamed with regret for leaving his life to help me when I
wasn’t completely honest with him.  He was right.  I’d put both Jason and Craig
in danger, made them targets without sharing everything I knew about the devil
I was married to.

I stared into Jason’s face and told him what I’d heard.

“Antonio’s men were talking to each other about their orders
to keep me in one piece
until
they got me back to our house.  He wanted
to be the one to hurt me.  They laughed and said Antonio promised they could
watch him fuck me, then would give them a turn if they were successful in
bringing me to him.  He was going to kill me, they said…for turning to you for
help and running away.”  I wanted to throw up, but I held my breath until the
nausea passed.  Jason sat there silently, not uttering a single sound.  “Then
last week, right after we got back here, I turned on my phone to find a text
and a picture from Antonio.”

“A picture of what?”

“He had two girls tied to our bed, naked with his cum all
over them.  His text said he was going to let his men do that to me as much as
they wanted and when they were done, he was going to send you a picture…of me.” 
I put my face in my hands and tried to take a few deep breaths before I
continued. 

“What else?”

I shook my head.  I didn’t want to tell him.

Jason moved my hands and lifted my chin so I would look at
him.  “What else?”

“He said he was going to send you a message that said ‘She
has to die because you have to be punished,’ and told me I should never have
left him.”

Jason didn’t say anything.  He just watched as a few tears
rolled down my cheeks.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.  At first, all I cared about
was getting out of Italy and as far from him as possible.  I was afraid you and
Craig would get angry, veer off course by going to try to find Antonio, and we’d
never get out of that country.  And then I saw that stupid fucked-up picture
and it made me sick.  I didn’t want you to see what I had married—the monster
that not only beat me, but was evil enough to send that to his own wife.  I was
scared to tell you, Jason.  I knew I was never going to let him get his hands
on me again.  I’d do whatever it took…whatever it takes…to keep him from
getting to me.”  I paused.  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.  I don’t want to
think about Antonio anymore, but this baby changes things.”

Neither of us moved.  I knew I needed to gather the strength
to pack up and go somewhere else, somewhere away from Jason and Craig so I
could protect them.  This baby thing added a whole new level of danger to all
of us, but especially to them.  Antonio would see Jason as more of a threat
now.  If he got his hands on either Jason or Craig, he knows I’d go back to
Italy with him to protect them.  And I knew he was just sick enough to keep me
alive until the baby was born. Then, I’d be useless to him.  I’d seen and heard
enough to know this to be true.  I stayed married to him longer than I should
have hoping to gain enough control, enough leverage that he’d never come after
me once I’d left, but things fell apart and I let my cards show that night we
fought.  I had to protect my boys now.  I couldn’t let them get hurt or taken
by Antonio and his men because I didn’t want to ever go back.  But the reality
of it was this baby was my insurance policy.  It would buy me some time to
figure out another way to get rid on Antonio for good.