Packing Heat: A Bad Boy Secret Baby Romance (Barone Crime Family) (38 page)

I
looked
down at the ring on my finger and smiled.

It was funny how things could start to mean something else. One second it has all these bad feelings, this negativity, and the next it feels completely fresh.

Once upon a time, my engagement ring had made me sad. When I looked at it, I knew that it was just a lie. Maybe I felt something for the man that had given it to me, but that wasn’t reality. We were lying to the world, all because I needed money and he wanted a better job.

Then, things happened. Lots of things happened. Lots of dirty, sweaty, incredible things happened. And the ring began to mean something very, very different.

When I looked at my ring over a year after he had first given it to me, it stood for love. It wasn’t a lie, not anymore.

I leaned back in my chair, smiling up at the little bungalow. The sun was bright in the late afternoon, and I felt a bead of sweat roll down my back. The glass of iced tea next to me was sweating, just like I was.

What a lovely day. The garden was coming in nicely, especially since I had so much time to work on it. Ever since we’d gotten the news all those months ago, Nash had been adamant that I never worked again. I missed my little part-time job, but I had a bigger full-time job coming up, growing inside me.

I looked up and saw him standing in the doorway to our little house in the hills, smiling at me.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said, walking toward me. He was wearing a pair of cutoff jean shorts and nothing else, his muscles tanned and tensed, incredibly sexy.

“Do you ever wear a shirt?” I asked.

“You know the answer to that.”

I laughed as he kissed me on the cheek and crouched down next to me. He kissed my stomach next and smiled. “How’s Chris doing today?”

“He’s good,” I said.

“And how are you?”

“Fine,” I said. “Bored. Ready to give birth already.”

He laughed. “We have a long way to go before that happens.” He paused and looked back at the house. “Your mom said she’s going to move out here,” he said quietly.

“I know,” I admitted. “Ever since Dad died, well, she doesn’t want to be alone out there anymore. You know?”

He sighed. “Does she have to live with us?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Fine,” he grunted. “But we’re getting a bigger house.”

“Fine with me.”

He kissed me again and stood up.

“Look at you, my pregnant wife. How’s it feel to know that we never have to lie to the media again?”

“Speak for yourself,” I said. “I love lying to them. Makes me feel alive.”

He laughed. “Do what you want, babe. Just don’t tank this movie.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

He shrugged. “Part of me thinks it’s going to fail. But part of me doesn’t give a fuck.”

“General Prick will give a fuck.”

He smiled at my little nickname for his commanding officer. “Yeah, well.”

After our first month together, he told me everything. He told me about how the media tour was a propaganda thing set up by the government, how the book was ghostwritten by some guy working for them, and how it was technically his mission to go through all the media shit he went through.

Including the movie, which was actually getting a lot of good press. They were showing it to small festivals before the big release, and everyone was reacting really favorably to it. Still, Nash worried, but he was just like that. My husband, Nash the perfectionist.

“It’s like an endless summer here,” he said.

“Yeah. It’s nice. I hated shoveling snow.”

“Makes people soft.”

I laughed. “We don’t have to stay, you know?”

“Yeah, I know. But you like it here, and I guess I don’t give a fuck where we are, so long as you’re there.”

I laughed and stood up. He want to help me, but I pushed him away. “I’m barely pregnant. Relax,” I said.

“Look at you,” he said, laughing. “You’re six months pregnant.”

I looked down at my belly and frowned. “I’m fat.”

“You’re pregnant.” He kissed my lips. “And fucking sexy.”

“Oh yeah?” I smiled. “You still want me?”

“God, if your mother weren’t inside, I’d fuck your sexy pregnant pussy right here on the lawn.”

I laughed and kissed him softly. “Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me,” he said. “Just let me have my way with you. That’s all I ask.”

“I can handle that. Now put a shirt on before my mom starts complaining again.”

“Yes, sir,” he said, and walked back inside.

I smiled as I watched him go.

This was life for me now. No more lying, no more running around. I was literally barefoot and pregnant, standing in the backyard of our beautiful bungalow. Nash worked in the movie industry doing part-time consultations on military tactics while he waited for news from General Prick. It was only a matter of time before we were ordered on another tour to support the movie.

But that was okay. I’d have the baby and my mom would help me take care of him. Nash would come home as often as he could. Living in L.A. was easier, since a lot of the media stuff was pretty local.

I didn’t need to go anywhere, didn’t need anything else. All I needed was Nash and my baby boy, Chris, growing inside me.

Back then, back in the airport, I never thought I’d see him again. But I could still remember the way he said he loved me a week later, the chills that ran down my body when I knew I loved him back.

I smiled to myself and looked up at the sky. It was a beautiful, clear day.

Just like every day was with Nash.

I
wasn’t normally
the type to try and drown my sorrows, but these were special circumstances.

The dive bar was loud and crowded. I had pulled into the parking lot of the small, backwoods building a half hour ago assuming that I could have a few quiet minutes to myself, but I was totally wrong. Apparently every redneck in the area wanted to get hammered at this bar and yell loudly about what gun they were currently trying to buy.

I sipped my gin and tonic and sighed to myself. I came to Knoxville months ago with the best of intentions, but, like everything else in my life so far, nothing seemed to work out right for me.

I had finally decided to pack it up and run. I was going back home, back across the state to my family’s farm. Maybe I’d be coming home in disgrace, but at least I’d be home.

I hated Knoxville. I hated everything it represented, from the center of town where I worked in a diner all day and all night to the tiny, run-down apartment where I spent whatever time I had to myself sleeping. I hated the people and, most of all, I hated my own stupid mistakes.

But it was going to be okay. I was going to run and let things shake out on their own. I had tried to fix things, tried my hardest, but it was way too late.

I glanced up from my drink for a moment, and that was the first time I spotted him.

He was sitting across the bar from me, nursing a whisky. I hadn’t seen him come in, but I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Handsome face, a hint of stubble on his perfect jaw, and these deep blue eyes that made me want to cross my legs. His arms were strong and defined, and I could only imagine what the rest of him looked like.

He didn’t seem like he belonged. Where everyone else was a hick or an asshole, he seemed quiet, subdued. His black button-down shirt was understated and practically boring compared to the camouflage and the flannel on everyone else.

I watched as he slowly caught my eye and a grin spread across his face. I would come to know that grin so damn well, and part of me would hate it. But in that moment, I felt a pulse of desire rush through me.

He didn’t look away. Most men did when you caught their eye, but not him. He just smirked at me and slowly nodded, catching me completely off guard.

Who did this guy think he was? I’d never seen a man with so much confidence before. I quickly looked away, not sure what to do.

That was when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“Don’t move, Hartley.”

Shit. I recognized that voice.

“What are you doing here, Guff?” I turned and saw him looming behind me, smiling his yellow-toothed grin.

“Came looking for you,” he said. “I heard you were leaving town.”

I frowned. I didn’t know how he could have known that, considering I hadn’t told anyone. Frankly, I didn’t really have any friends in Knoxville, which was a big reason why I was trying to get away. I missed my hometown in Dade County, yearned to see my family’s farm again.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said, trying to play it off.

“Good,” Guff grunted. “Because you still owe my boss a lot of money.” I felt his hand squeeze hard on my shoulder.

“Get off me,” I said. Guff and the two goons standing with him only laughed.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “In fact, I think you’re going to come with me.”

“Why the hell would I do that?”

“Because you’re a fucking liar, Hartley. You think we didn’t see that bag in the back of your car?”

My heart started hammering in my chest, and I knew I was in a really bad situation. These men may have been greasy-looking rednecks, but they were dangerous, very dangerous.

I owed money to the Dixie Mafia, and they were coming to collect. At least, my family owed them money. Back when the housing market collapsed and the economy went to hell, my father took a loan from the Dixie Mafia out of desperation. Now, years later, they wanted that money back.

I’d come to Knoxville to try to work something out with them. I worked my ass off day and night, giving them every cent I made, but it wasn’t even close to enough. I tried everything I could think of, but they weren’t interested.

There was nothing I could do. I was going to run back home in shame and pray that my father could figure something out. It killed me to imagine the mafia getting a hold of our farm or, even worse, the bank bulldozing the whole thing.

Looking up at Guff’s dark eyes, at his long stringy hair and the sick smile on his face, I knew coming to Knoxville had been a serious mistake. I was so stupid and naïve to think that I could really fix any of this. My family thought I was just out here staying with a friend. They had no clue what I was up to.

“Come on,” Guff said, yanking my arm. I stumbled to my feet. “Let’s go for a fucking walk.”

“Get off me,” I said, terrified. I looked around but nobody seemed to care. Most of the men simply looked away, too ashamed to even make eye contact with me.

Guff and his boys, they were known here. Everyone knew the Dixie Mafia in Knoxville. They practically ran the town, and if you wanted to survive you had to make good with them. Nobody crossed the mafia and survived, not for long at least.

As I was learning. They dragged me across the room and out into the parking lot, pushing me toward my car.

I stumbled and tripped over a rock, tumbling down to the ground. The men laughed as Guff roughly pulled me to my feet.

“Open the car,” he ordered. I listened and unlocked the driver’s side door.

One of the goons tore open the door and grabbed my bag. He ripped through it, throwing the contents around. He looked at Guff and shook his head.

“Where’s our money, Hartley?” he asked. “Where’s our fucking money?”

“You know I don’t have it,” I said. “I gave you everything I could.”

“That’s not how this works,” Guff said, and shoved me against the car. “Your people took lots of money from us, and you showed up asking how you could pay us back. We gave you some options, but you didn’t like ’em. Now you want to leave?”

I clenched my jaw and looked away. Their idea of paying them back involved me whoring myself out to their customers. They wanted me to sell myself into sex slavery in exchange for my family’s debt, and I just couldn’t do it. I’d tried to think of something else, tried to make enough money to show that I meant to make good, but they weren’t reasonable men.

“I had no choice,” I said. “You really expected me to do that?”

“Hell yeah, girl,” he said. “I expect you to suck every fucking cock in this state if you want to get out of debt.”

“Screw you, Guff,” I said, surprising myself. I didn’t know where I was finding this anger, but it was there, deep inside me.

The men all laughed. “All right then, Hartley,” he said. “You can screw me, all right.” He reared his hand back and then punched me in the face.

I would have fallen if I weren’t held up by the car. Pain flashed through my face, blinding me, shocking me with its intensity.

“I’ll let you screw me right here,” Guff said, cackling like a madman. “Boys, go make sure nobody bothers us.”

Guff grabbed me and spun me around. I had the sense to try to fight him off, but he was too strong.

“Go ahead,” he whispered in my ear. “Struggle.”

I couldn’t believe this. I couldn’t believe this was going to happen, in the middle of the day, in the parking lot. I was so close to getting out, so close to running.

I should never have come to Knoxville.