Life of a Fool (London Brothers Book 2) (3 page)

“I know that’s not exactly true.  And I want you to know
that I really appreciate it.”  What she didn’t know was that just by being nice
to me, she calmed my nerves and settled my body enough to help me sleep
restfully so that I was 100 percent for Lori Ann.  It had been ages since I’d
slept eight solid hours, even with the sleeping pills. 

Kim’s cheeks flushed, and I could see she was slightly
embarrassed.  An odd reaction, I thought.  “Anytime, Jason.  I hope your trip
to Milan goes smoothly.”  She smiled and walked to the front of the plane and
began her speech.

I sat up taller in my seat and tried to organize my
thoughts.  I needed to prepare myself for possibly having to force Lori Ann to
leave and come back to the States with me.  I sure as hell hoped Craig wasn’t
far behind me.  I might need him to run interference with the Italian douche
bag or even the police.  Getting our girl out was my priority. 

“We are making our final descent into Milan.  Please make
sure your seats and tray tables are in their full, upright position.  The
captain has put on the ‘fasten seatbelt’ sign, and all passengers need to be in
their seats.  We thank you for flying British Airways.  We know you have many
choices when it comes to flying, and we appreciate you choosing us.”  Kim
smiled directly at me, making me grin.  “If you are making a connecting flight,
be sure to check the kiosk located right outside the gate area for
information.  Thank you, and enjoy your time here in Italy.”

I waited patiently as we landed and taxied to our gate.  As
soon as I was able, I turn on my phone and saw that Craig had texted me.

Craig:  Hey, Jace.  Just landed.  You here yet? 

What the hell?  I looked at the time of his text, and it was
sent just fifteen minutes earlier.  Damn, dude.

Jason:  Just landed too.  You didn’t waste any time, huh?

Craig:  Right.  I lucked out.  I was supposed to be 30
mins behind you, but for some reason we arrived early.  Who knows.  I’ll be
waiting by the gate.

Jason:  Sounds good.

I made my way off the plane, legs stiff, my whole body sore
from sitting so long.  As I walked, I tried calling Lori Ann, but her phone
just kept ringing.  As I looked down to try the number again, I nearly ran
right into Craig. 

“Watch it, dude,” he joked.

I smiled and went in for a man hug.  “Man, am I glad to see
you.  Thanks for coming, brother.  I have a feeling I’m going to need you.” 
Craig was about my same height, but we wore our six feet, two inches
differently.  Where I was a little more broad shouldered and thicker from years
of weight training and boxing, Craig was lean like a runner, moved quickly too,
which had its advantages when he was in combat with me years earlier.  I was a
lucky bastard to know him.

“Yeah, me too.”  Craig punched me in the shoulder and
laughed.  “No doubt you’ll need me to get your ass out of trouble.”

“You know it.”  We turned and started walking toward Baggage
Claim.  Like me, Craig had packed his weapon, requiring us to check our
backpacks and gather all the necessary paperwork for an American to carry a gun
in a foreign country. 

“You talk to her yet?” he asked as we stood waiting at the
carousels. 

“No.  I was trying to call her again when I walked right
into you.”

“Well, it’s early.  Let’s just find out how to get to her place,
and we’ll go from there.  Unless you have a plan?”

“Not really.  Like you said, I don’t even know what we’re up
against.”

“Right.  Well, let’s just hope the Italian is at work so we
can really assess what the hell is going on.” 

“Yeah.”  I spotted my backpack, snatched it up, and unzipped
it to make sure my Glock was still in its locked case. 

Craig motioned for me to follow him two carousels away to
grab his backpack.  He went through the routine of checking for his gun as well
before we walked toward an airport exit.

We decided to take a private taxi to Lori Ann’s house.  She’d
given me the address once a few years back after she and The Italian bought a
place on the eastern side of Lake Maggiore.  So, I dug around in my desk at
home before I left and typed it into the notes on my phone just in case I
needed it.  Good thing I did, too, because she wasn’t answering her damn
phone. 

I gave the driver the Lake Maggiore address and he conveyed
that it was about thirty minutes away.  “Well, here we go, man.  Let’s hope
this goes smoothly.”

“I think it will, as long as her husband isn’t home.”  Craig
raised his eyebrows in concern.

“Agreed.”

We rode in silence, both of us lost in our own thoughts,
scheming and planning what we were going to do—what we were up against.  I
tried to enjoy the sights as we drove through a beautiful countryside, but it
was hard to concentrate. 

Our car slowed down near a magnificent garden wall, fully
covered in a flowering type of ivy or climbing plant of some sort.  We turned
into an opening onto a patterned cobblestone driveway that wound around more
beautifully manicured gardens and up to a circular drive that stopped right in
front of a three-story, off-white villa…shit, it was more than a
villa
. 
It was a freakin’ mansion.  If you were to look at it from a distance, you
would think it was a brand new home.  But up close, it was several decades old
and in great shape. 

I could see a placard near the door that listed the year it
was built and the architect.  “Giuseppe Petrolo, 1906.”  Wow…

There was no movement anywhere around the house or on the
grounds.  That was a good sign. We paid our driver, but asked him to stay in
the drive until we decided if we needed him, and carefully made out way to the
large, double iron and wood front door.

“Geez, man, I feel like I’m in the middle of some sappy damn
girly movie.” 

I let out a small laugh at Craig’s statement, then followed
it with, “Yeah, or some James Bond ‘gonna get fucked up’ kind of movie.”

Craig chuckled. “Yeah.  Exactly.”

“Here goes.”  I rang the bell next to the door and waited. 

I heard the click-clack of high-heel shoes coming toward the
door and sucked in a breath just moments before the front door swung open. 

“What the fu…?”  Craig growled behind me as I took in the
scene and instinctively rushed forward and started to—more or less—grope Lori
Ann.

“What the hell happened?  Where else are you hurt?”  She was
sobbing, standing in her doorway, her left arm in a cast up to her bicep and in
a sling.  Her face was swollen on the right side like she had been hit across
her cheekbone.  Without a single thought other than checking her injuries, I
felt all over her body from head to toe, continuing to ask “where else?” When I
touched her ribcage on the left side, she winced and let out a small cry. 
Shit. 

I cupped her face and kissed the end of her nose as she
leaned her forehead against mine and softly cried as her knees buckled, causing
her to fall into me.  “Jason, you’re here.”

“Yes, Legs.  I told you I’d come.  Now where else are you
hurt, babe?”

“I don’t know.  I can’t…can we just go?  We need to go.” 
Lori Ann pulled her face away from mine, and I could see the fear in her eyes. 
I turned to see Craig on alert, pacing back and forth behind me. 

“Jason, we need to get out of here. If he did this to her,
what do you think he’ll do if he finds us here?”

Lori Ann gasped. “Craig.  You came too.”  She hadn’t noticed
him standing there. 

He walked up to her and gently held her face just as I had
and said, “Of course.  My man here needed someone to keep him on the leash,
especially when we…well, when
he
suspected you were in trouble.  Now,
let’s get the hell out of here.”  I fought like hell not to punch him for
touching her, but I heard a small laugh seep out of her mouth so I decided I’d
let it go.

I gently pushed Craig aside…well, it might not have been
that gentle.  “Legs, do you have what you need?  Tell me you’re packed and
ready to get the hell out of here.”

“Yes.  I just need my purse.  Craig, I have a small suitcase
in that closet over under the stairs.  Would you grab it for me?”  I followed
Lori Ann through the foyer, down a long hall, and into the kitchen.  I could
hear Craig wrestling with getting the bag out of the closet.  Just as we
reached the counter where the purse was sitting, we heard the rumble of a
sports car coming up the drive.  “Oh God.  He’s here.  What is he doing home?”

Shit.
  I was yanking her good arm through the house
as I asked, “What door does he use?”

“What?”

“LEGS!”  I yelled, causing her to jump.  “What door, babe? 
We have a car out front.”

“He…oh, God.  He uses the side door, near the garage.  He
comes in the back way.  We have another drive…a private entrance.” 

“Okay, come on.  We’re leaving.  Now.”  I found Craig
standing, gun drawn near the front door.

“Is that him?” he asked.

“Yep.  Let’s go.”  I kept pulling Lori Ann’s arm, possibly
too harshly, but we had to get out the front door before the Italian douche bag
found us and realized what we were doing.  It took everything in me not to rush
in the other direction and beat the holy living hell out of him.  I wanted to
show him what it was like to be on the other end of a beating.  He deserved
it.  He deserved a lot more than just a beating.  But my priority was
protecting my girl… and she was
my girl
.  I’m the one steady part of her
life.  I’m the one she trusted.  I’m the one she called to come and take her
away from here, from that Italian asshole.

“Get in the car.”  I helped Lori Ann climb in the back seat
of the black sedan and slid in beside her.  Craig took the front passenger seat
next to the driver. 

“Let’s go!  Now!”  Craig yelled at the driver, and he took
off.  I was grateful we had a young, fit-looking driver that seemed to
completely understand English.  I’d originally pictured some little, old
white-headed man, who could barely see over the steering as our driver.  Don’t
ask me why.  I just did.

We were out the drive and headed back to the airport in
seconds.  I chanced a glance back and saw a tall, dark-haired schmuck in a
fancy Italian suit running out the front door, waving his hands at us and
making his way down the driveway.  It didn’t take a genius to figure out he was
yelling for his wife.  But Lori Ann didn’t look back.  She knew he was there. 
Instead, she carefully laid her head on my shoulder and sighed.  I moved
slightly so that I could wrap my arm around her shoulder and hold her close.  “I’ve
got you, Legs.  You’re safe.” 

“I know, Jace.  Thank you.  I couldn’t have made it another
day.  He would have killed me.”  She whispered the last part, and I felt my
heart stop beating in my chest.  She was too strong a person to just carelessly
say something so profound.  That meant she believed it 100 percent, and I was
suddenly filled with dread.  What if I hadn’t come? 

I closed my eyes, kissed the top of her head, and said, “I’ll
always come for you, Legs. You’re my girl.  Always have been.”  I didn’t care
how corny or crazy the words sounded.  It was true, and she knew it…otherwise,
she wouldn’t have called me to save her.

I felt Lori Ann’s body shake in my arms as she cried.  I
brushed my hand across her arm and through her hair, trying to calm her.  Craig
kept looking back at us every so often, and I could see the worry etched across
his face.  When I made eye contact with him, we spoke a silent language to each
other. 

“What the fuck did he do to her?”

“What are we going to do to him?”

“He won’t stop.  He’ll come looking for her.”

“We have to get her back to the States.  We can protect
her there.”

“Agreed.”

“Hey, Legs, you have your passport, don’t you?”

She paused for a moment, causing Craig and I to look at each
other and panic.  “Yes.  It’s in my suitcase, though.  Craig, you got it, didn’t
you?”

“Yes, babe.  I did.  It’s right up here with me.”  He lifted
the bag for us to see, and I glared at my friend for daring to call Lori Ann “babe”
in front of me.  She didn’t seem to skip a beat at the term, though. 

Craig obviously caught my stare, but he just smirked and
raised an eyebrow. 
Bastard.
  He knew I wouldn’t like it, but one thing
Craig
never
was, was scared of me.  He could match me toe to toe, fist
to fist in any fight and truthfully, I didn’t know who would win.  We were both
hot-headed, macho adrenaline junkies who were right in our element when we
served in the Army together. 

The sound of a phone buzzing caused all three of us to
freeze for a second before we all started scrambling to see which of our phones
was going off.  I already knew. 

“Lori Ann, if that’s
him
, don’t answer it.  Got it?” 
I tried to sound calm, but I was anything but calm.  Even the fact of having
her right beside me, keeping her safe, didn’t diminish the huge task of getting
us all out of the country in one piece.  I had no idea what kind of connections
the dude might have that could easily stop us. 

I watched her face closely, reading her reaction to the name
and number dancing across her phone.  She blinked slowly, took a breath, and
hit “ignore” on the screen.  “It was
him
.”  A single tear escaped Lori
Ann’s eye before she put her phone away and laid her head back on the car seat.

“You okay?”  I asked.

“No.”  She didn’t look at me…didn’t open her eyes.  She just
let a few more tears drain down her face as we continued toward the airport. 

“Jace?”  I snapped my head toward Craig at the sound of his
concerned voice.

“Yeah?” 

“Are you sure we can catch a flight back right away?  I’m
looking here, and we might have to wait until morning to fly out.”