At Peace (84 page)

I raised my eyes to his.

“I hate you,” I whispered.

He smiled.

Then I heard the gunshots.

Heartbeat

Frankie opened her eyes. She felt supremely
weird, confused and definitely not at her best. She looked around,
saw she was in a hospital bed and she remembered.

She was about to mutter something unladylike
when she saw Benny standing at the window looking out. His dark
hair was wet and had been slicked back but because it was drying
part of the front had fallen onto his forehead and the back had
begun to curl around in that sexy way it did. He had on a white
t-shirt and jeans, boots, the usual, mostly. He could dress up and
look good. It wasn’t better when he dressed up. It was just his
usual too… fucking… good.

She knew she was going to hell. She’d been
shot and she still was perving on her dead boyfriend’s brother.
Granted, he was hot, there was a lot to perv on. Still, she was
going to hell.

He turned, looked at her and she saw the
worry in his face. When his warm brown eyes caught hers and he saw
she was awake, he hid the worry and his face went soft.

Her mouth watered.

Yeah, definitely perv-worthy.

He walked to her bed, yanking a chair with
him so it was close and he sat in it and leaned even closer.

“Hey Frankie,” he whispered.

“Hey,” she rasped.

“How you doin’?” he asked.

“How you think I’m doin’?” she asked back and
he grinned when she hit him with her attitude.

“Never been shot, babe, but I ‘spect you
ain’t doin’ great,” he remarked.

“You’d be right,” she returned.

Benny looked to her belly then back to her
eyes. “Bullet didn’t hit anything major,” he informed her.

“Finally, good news.”

He grinned again. “You lost a lot of blood,”
he went on but she already knew that. She’d felt it. She didn’t
know if it was the right thing for Benny to do when he picked her
up and ran through the forest with her in his arms, straight to his
SUV but she guessed it wasn’t. Still, there was no stopping him,
even when she laid the attitude on him telling him to put her the
fuck down and call an ambulance. He didn’t listen. He was on a
mission. “They want you in here awhile,” he finished.

“Call the Pope, tell him I’m gonna miss our
meeting,” Frankie muttered and she heard his soft chuckle.

Damn, but she liked to make him laugh. She’d
sell her soul to make him laugh. Even before, when she was with
Vinnie, she liked to make Benny laugh. He had a great laugh, a
great smile, a great face. Expressive. But he’d been like a brother
then, a good one, a sweet one and she’d loved him. She’d loved
Vinnie’s whole family. Hers wasn’t great and she knew great when
she felt it. That had been the best gift Vinnie gave her. She
sometimes wondered if she loved Vinnie’s family more than Vinnie.
Then Vinnie would be Vinnie and she’d quit wondering.

How Benny went from sweet, funny brother
to perv-worthy, Frankie didn’t know. She spent seven years trying
to figure it out. She’d never thought of him that way instead of in
a detached way when she’d hear other girls talking about him. Any
woman could see it; Frankie just had Vinnie so she didn’t much
think about it. Then she didn’t have Vinnie and she found herself
thinking about it.

Definitely going to hell.

“Cops wanna ask you questions,” Benny broke
into her thoughts and she focused on him.

“Okay,” she replied and he shifted
closer.

“
Ma and Pop are here,” he hesitated, “they
wanna see you.”

Frankie stared into his eyes for half a
second then looked away. “No.”

“Frankie, babe…” Benny whispered.

She got it. She knew Theresa, Vinnie Senior,
Manny and even Benny had to blame someone. They loved Vinnie. He
was a great guy, a great son, a great brother. They needed to shift
the blame for all of Vinnie’s fuck ups to someone. And she loved
Vinnie enough to accept it.

But she’d paid enough of Vinnie’s penance.
She loved him and you do that kind of thing for someone you love
but enough was enough.

She looked back at Benny and whispered,
“No.”

He reached out and took her hand in both of
his. His were big and warm. Strong. He leaned in even deeper and
lifted her hand so he could rest his chin against her fingers and
his elbows in the bed.

“
Francesca,” he said quietly, “what you did
today was crazy stupid.”

“Thanks,” she was quiet too but it was quiet
sarcasm not quiet gentleness.

“
Babe, listen to me,” Benny ordered, “it
was also crazy brave.”

She didn’t reply. She just stared into his
dark brown eyes.

“What you did, for family, they’re gonna
wanna heal the breach.”

“Too late,” Frankie whispered and Benny’s
hands tightened on hers.

“Honey –”

“I got a job in Indianapolis,” she
announced.

“What?” he whispered, sounding surprised and
maybe a little pissed like he knew everything about her and wasn’t
expecting a surprise.

“Finally leavin’ this shit behind.”

“Frankie –”

“Not sayin’ I’m not glad maybe they don’t
hate me anymore, you’re here, bein’ nice, maybe you don’t, that’s
all good but I’m gone.”

“You’re not movin’ to Indy,” he declared.

“Waited too long. It’s time to start over.
Clean slate,” Frankie said.

“Babe –” he started but Frankie looked away
and closed her eyes.

“I’m tired,” she whispered and his hands
tightened again on hers.

“Frankie –”

“Go away, Ben, I need to rest.”

His hands tightened even further. “Look at
me.”

She tried to pull her hand away.

“Francesca, fuckin’ look at me.”

She opened her eyes and looked at him.

“You’re not movin’ to Indy,” he repeated.

“Go away.”

“We gotta talk.”

“Nothin’ to say.”

“Frankie –”

It took a lot of effort and the rest of the
energy she had but she yanked her hand from his.

Then she whispered, “I took my hit for your
family today. I atoned. It’s done. All I did was fall in love with
Vinnie but you took your penance from me like I did wrong and I
loved you all once, so I gave it. I bled for you today. This is
good this happened. It gave me my chance to do what you needed me
to do. But you aren’t gettin’ anything more.”

Benny left his seat but he did it in a bent
over squat, his face getting in hers.

“
You’ve had a bad day,” he stated, “so I’ll
give you this shit right now. Then I’m comin’ back and we’re gonna
talk.”

“No, we aren’t,” she replied then sucked in a
painful breath when both his hands came up and framed her face and
his got so close all she had to do was tilt her chin and his lips
would be on hers.

“Yes, we fuckin’ are.”

Then his eyes dropped from hers to her mouth
where his thumb traced the lower edge of her lip while he watched
it move and she held her breath. Then he released her and she
watched him saunter out of the room.

* * * * *

Sal avoided Theresa and Vinnie’s eyes and
looked to the couch.

Cal was sitting there, hair nearly dry after
his shower, wearing new jeans and a t-shirt that Theresa had run
out and bought him. The bandage on his arm could be seen under the
sleeve of his tee.

His woman was curled on her side on the couch
beside him, her head resting on his thigh, her hand curled there in
front of her face. She was wearing new jeans and a long sleeved
t-shirt that Theresa also bought. Her hair was wet too but it was
drying fast since Cal was sifting his fingers through it. Her knees
were curled up to her chest and she didn’t have shoes on. The
bottom of her feet were clean and glistening with antibiotic goo.
Being clean, you could see the redness and scrapes.

She’d stayed at the hospital wearing nothing
but Cal’s t-shirt which was spattered with Daniel Hart’s blood,
getting her feet seen to, talking to the cops, eating the
cannelloni Gina brought, speaking to her daughters on the phone and
waiting for word to come out about Frankie. Once they knew Frankie
was all right, Cal carried her to Benny’s car, he climbed in with
Benny and they all went to his house to shower. Just over an hour
later, they all came back.

Sal studied her sleeping face. He was a
younger man, he’d want in there. He could see Cal going all out for
that. He could see something like her healing a bad break in a
strong man. He could even almost see Hart being willing to losing
it all for his shot. But only almost.

Benny walked into the waiting room and Sal
noticed he looked pissed. He didn’t have to guess why. Francesca
Concetti could throw some attitude and Sal figured she was so good
at it she could even do it after being shot. She had a lot of
different blood in her but Italian always won out.

Sal wondered when Benny would get his head
out of his ass about Frankie. Seven years the boy had been dicking
around. Sure, it’d be strange, Frankie moving onto Benny after
she’d been with Vinnie. But heart was heart, gut was gut and balls
were balls. You want something and that something was worth you
wanting like Frankie was, who gave a shit?

“We gotta get on the road,” Sal heard Cal say
and his eyes went to Cal.

Violet was awake, eyes blinking, she’d lifted
herself partially up but she still had her fingers curved around
Cal’s thigh.

Benny stopped in front of them. “Right. Let’s
go.”

She looked at Benny then twisted to look at
Cal. “Can I see her before we go?” she asked.

Sal watched as Cal didn’t even hesitate. He
just shifted her so she was in his arms and he carried her out of
the room and down the hall toward Frankie’s room, giving her what
she wanted without argument.

Sal grinned to himself and then his eyes
scanned the room and he saw Benny, Theresa, Manny and Vinnie Senior
all looking after Cal and Violet. Benny still looked pissed. The
rest of them were smiling.

Sal’s phone rang and all their eyes came to
him and none of them were smiling.

He pulled out his phone, looked at the
display, flipped it open and put it to his ear.

“You got me,” he said into it.

“
Weird,” he heard one of his boys say in
his ear, “cops are scratching their heads seein’ as that footage of
Callahan has been in evidence less than a day but the hard drive
has been wiped.”

Salvatore Giglia grinned.

* * * * *

“Christ, they havin’ a party?” Benny muttered
as he drove up Vi and Cal’s street which was lined with cars around
Vi’s house.

It was late, dark and Vi was out in the
backseat.

“People like Vi,” Cal muttered this truth and
he was glad the girls had that support but he was so fucking tired
he didn’t want to put up with this shit. He wanted to see Kate and
Keira and he wanted to go to bed and sleep for a year.

Benny pulled into Vi’s drive, parking behind
her Mustang. He didn’t even shut down the ignition before the side
door to the house opened and both girls flew out.

Cal opened his door and jumped down and his
feet hadn’t hit the cement before he went back into the SUV when
the power of two teenage girls slammed into him. Their arms wrapped
around him in a fierce way and both of their faces burrowed into
his chest. How they both got in there, he had no clue, but they did
and they were glued to him.

They were also both crying, relieved tears
but totally uncontrolled.

Listening to their emotion, experiencing that
kind of relief after what he knew they endured that day, he had a
chance at a life rewind, he’d take it and put another bullet in
Daniel Hart.

He gave them a minute, his arms moving around
both of them and then he said, “Katy, Keirry, I gotta see to your
Mom.”

They didn’t let go at first. Then Kate moved
away, pulling Keira from him. They both wiped their faces as they
looked up at him.

“Okay, Joe,” Kate whispered.

“Got some of that for me?” Benny asked and
they turned and treated Benny to much the same. It wasn’t as
intense but he knew it felt good when he saw Benny’s face get
soft.

He moved to the back passenger door and
opened it. Vi had missed all this. She was still out. She didn’t
rouse until Cal undid her seatbelt and shifted her out of the
car.

She lifted her head, looked around and then
asked, “My babies?”

“Here Mom,” Keira called.

She was craning her neck and looking around.
Then she demanded, “Cal, put me down.”

“When we’re inside.”

“I wanna –”

“Buddy, they slammed into me and nearly took
me off my feet. They can say welcome home when you’re sittin’
down.”

He made his order but he didn’t fuck
around so she didn’t complain. He got her inside and set her down
in the couch and then both girls jumped her. He stepped back,
looked around and saw it looked like a party. Feb, Colt, Cheryl,
Jessie, Mimi, Dee, Morrie, Josie, Sully and Mike.

He moved away and Benny, Colt, Sully,
Morrie and Mike moved with him as the women moved in on
Vi.

He hit the kitchen and the men huddled.

“Any word?” he asked Colt.

Colt knew what he was asking. While Vi was
showering, Cal was on the phone with Colt getting briefed.

“Chris is stable. Adam’s critical.”

“How’s it lookin’?” Cal asked.

“He survives the night, they’ll feel better.
Now, touch and go,” Colt answered.

“You get word on Lindy?” Cal asked.

“She discharged herself when her father and
brother showed. She got home a coupla hours ago,” Sully
answered.

“Just a head’s up, you need to flag her. She
goes for a gun permit, it needs to be refused,” Cal noted.