Breathless & Bloodstained (The Chicago War #4) (8 page)

Abriella tipped
her chin down. “Sorry. You’re right. I just meant that he’s not important to us
right now, Tommy.”

Tommas disagreed
entirely. Joel was the one and only reason why Tommas couldn’t have Abriella in
every possible way that he wanted to have her. Joel was the one thing keeping
Tommas from everything that mattered in his life. Joel was the road block to
the highest seat in the family and the wall keeping Abriella’s heart locked up
tight.

Joel was the
problem.

Abriella didn’t
understand just how much her brother was really in the way.  Regardless of
Tommas’ thoughts about Joel, he wouldn’t argue with Abriella about her feelings
on her brother.

“Keep talking,”
Tommas said.

Abriella smiled.
“I was actually at Alessa’s to help her with the final plans for the baby
shower. It was late. Joel called over and said I might as well stay there.
Alessa helped me to sneak out.”

“And you came
here.”

“Yeah. So, I lied.
A little.”

“I don’t mind.”

Abriella rocked
into his groin, reminding Tommas of how damned hard and aching he was. “No, I
don’t suppose you do mind.”

“Stop that. This
stage is awkward to fuck on. We learned that once, remember?”

Her shiver was a
gift to him.

“Take me home,”
she whispered.

Tommas cupped her
face in his hands. “Yeah?”

“Yeah, Tommy. I
want to go home with you. I want to sleep in our bed. I miss you.”

Shit.

Tommas didn’t know
how to deny Abriella when she said things like that.  He knew it was stupid as
hell and more dangerous than he could explain, but he just didn’t care. His bed
was fucking cold, and his sheets didn’t smell like her.

That was worse
than anything else.

“Go put your cup
on the bar. Meet me out in the parking lot. I’ll warm up the car.”

Abriella’s face
lit up with happiness and a sexiness curved her lips. She trailed a hand down
his middle and grazed her fingertips across his erection straining the zipper
of his pants. A shot of heat and lust coursed through Tommas’ cock.

“Quickly, right?”
she asked sweetly.

“
God
, yes.
Quickly, Ella.”

Tommas helped a
laughing Abriella down from the stage. He pulled the car keys attached to the
auto start for his Mercedes from his pocket.

“Grab my bag,” he
yelled over his shoulder.

“Got it.”

Tommas was already
half-way to the side of the club where a second exit door led straight into the
parking lot when he heard Abriella call for him to slow down. Pushing the door
open, he tossed his lover a wink over his shoulder. Abriella couldn’t run in
heels, and he told her that he wanted to get out of there.

She would catch
up.

The girl always
did.

Pointing the car
starter as he opened the exit door, Tommas hit the ignition button to start his
vehicle at the other end of the parking lot. His foot barely hit the slush
covered pavement when he was blinded by light and heat. Tommas’ ears rang from
the level of the blast. His breath was gone the moment his back hit the
building and his head snapped against the bricks with a sickening crack.

In the background
of the sudden pain ricocheting through his body and the confusion muddling up
his mind, he could still hear Abriella’s screams.

Fuck.

Predictable
,
Damian had said.

Joel was going to
answer for this one.

CHAPTER FOUR

T
he boom was volcanic.
It was so loud that it made Abriella’s ears ring even inside the club. Her
hands flew up to cover her ears, and she crouched low on the floor out of
instinct. She was only a few feet away from the door, but the instant reaction
of the bomb was unmistakable. Heat, blinding light, and flinging metal.

Abriella’s scream
caught in her throat when the exit door was blown wide open from the pressure
of the blast.

“Tommas!”

Dropping the
messenger bag on the floor, Abriella shot toward the exit and where she had
just seen Tommas only seconds ago. She stumbled in her heels, a pain blooming
in her ankle when it twisted hard to the left. A sickness rolled in her stomach
when she caught herself on the floor. In her chest, her heart raced as tears
streaked down her cheeks.

He had been right
there!

Abriella finally
gained traction on the hardwood floor and scrambled to the threshold of the
exit door. On wobbly legs, she staggered out of the building only to find a
still burning Mercedes at the other end of the vacant parking lot. The
surrounding brick walls were shadowed with marks from the blast, and pieces of
the car rested in various spots around the parking lot.

God
.

It was almost like
a daze had settled over Abriella as she stupidly stared around at the
smoldering mess and the black plume rising toward the sky. The world around her
moved slower than what was normal as she took a hesitant step forward, and then
another.

Abriella couldn’t
breathe.

“
Tommy
!”

“Ella.”

Tommas’ quiet call
came from Abriella’s left. Still feeling sluggish and confused, she turned to
find her lover on his knees with one hand pressed to the pavement and the other
wrapped around his chest. Even with his head bent low, Abriella could tell
there was something wrong.

Somehow, she managed
to make it to Tommas’ side without falling again. Her knees hit the wet, slushy
pavement and she reached for him. Something stopped her hands from grabbing him
at the last second.

A dark trickle of
red oozed down in a thin line behind Tommas’ ear.

“Oh, my God,”
Abriella cried. “You’re bleeding.”

Tommas shook his
head. “I’m okay.”

“You’re not.”

“I am, Ella. Give
me … just give a second, okay.”

His words came out
mumbled and slow. All of Abriella’s training from school came rushing back in a
blink, but she didn’t know where to start.

“Chill out,” she
heard Tommas whisper.

“Look at me,”
Abriella demanded.

Coldness seeped
through her dress and chilled her skin, but Abriella barely felt it at all.

Tommas’ slate blue
gaze lifted again. The dilation of his pupils were worrisome. Abriella held up
one finger and moved it back and forth.

“Can you watch
it?” she asked.

“Stop it, Ella.”  

“Tommy, come on.
Don’t be difficult.”

“I see your
fucking finger.”

“Then why won’t
you follow it like I ask?”

Tommas didn’t
answer. Abriella didn’t need him to. He couldn’t follow it. He was trying, she
could see how his eyes flicked in the direction they wanted to go but quickly
zoned back in on her.

“How many fingers
am I holding up?” Abriella asked.

Tommas swallowed
hard. “Four.”

Wrong.

Two.

This whole
situation screamed bad to Abriella. She believed that Tommas had suffered some
kind of concussion. He had been a great deal closer to the car bomb than she
was when it went off. The pressure of it probably sent him flying right off his
feet.

“Did you hit your
head?” Abriella asked.

“Yeah.”

“On what?”

“The wall, or
maybe the door. I don’t know.”

“Sit down for me,
please, Tommy.”

“Kind of hurts to
move right now,” he confessed under his breath.

Damn.

“When you
breathe?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“Too bad. You’ve
got to sit up or lay back.”

Despite his
protests, Abriella managed to get Tommas rolled over onto his back. His hands
shook and his eyes became unfocused the more he moved. Abriella used his jacket
and placed it under Tommas’ head to give him support and keep him higher. With
Tommas on his back, Abriella could see that he sported a nasty, bleeding cut on
his right cheek directly under his eye.

As she was
removing her hands from under his head, something warm and sticky coated her
fingers. She had a feeling she knew what that substance was—blood. Pressing the
tips of her fingers gently along the base of Tommas’ skull, she found a lump
that was hard and hot to the touch. Behind his ear, she found the spot that was
bleeding.

“Does this hurt at
all?” Abriella asked.

“No.”

That couldn’t be
good.

“How’s the
breathing on your back?”

“My phone,” Tommas
mumbled.

“In a second.”

“No, you need to
call—”

“Tommy, shut up,”
Abriella barked. “Just answer my question.”

“What question?”
he asked, confused.

Well, that
actually answered a lot of things for Abriella. She asked about his breathing
not even five seconds before. Tommas should have remembered what she just asked
him. Her fear climbed higher, but her resolve never wavered.

“You need to go to
a hospital, Tommas,” she told him quietly.

“I’m fi—”

“You’re not fine,
so don’t even start. At best, you’ve got a concussion. At worst … It doesn’t
matter, but we need to get you to a hospital.”

A calm head, a
firm demeanor, and confidence was the best thing to show in a bad situation.
Tommas had taught her that a long time ago. Abriella couldn’t forget it even if
she tried.

“Christ, what is
that sound?” Tommas growled.

The only sound
that Abriella could hear was the siren of the club going off, and the hisses
and pops from the burning car across the lot. Other than that, a lot of
Abriella’s senses still felt numb to her, dulled like she was under water.

He tried to push
up from the ground, but a confusion settled over his features before he dropped
back down just as fast. He pressed his shaking hands into his eyes and mumbled
something unintelligible.

“See, you can’t
even sit up,” Abriella said. “Where is your phone? I’ll call for an ambulance.”

“The cops are
going to come,” Tommas forced out through gritted teeth.

“What?”

“Cops, Ella.”

It took her far
too long to understand what he was saying.

“So?”

“You need to go.”

Abriella’s fingers
fluttered over Tommas’ hands to push them away from his face. She held on tight
to him, making him look at her. “I can’t go, Tommy.”

She had to make
sure he was all right. She needed to see him go into a hospital. She wouldn’t
leave.

“Abriella … babe,
you gotta go. It’s okay, sweet girl.” Tommas’ hand found Abriella’s cheek and
his thumb swept under her eye. “Don’t cry, Ella.”

“Don’t make me
go.”

“Here …”

“What?”

Tommas dug into
his pant pocket with his trembling hand and pulled out his cell phone. The
screen was cracked, but it turned on when Abriella hit the home screen.

“Call my cousin,
Ella.”

“Damian?”

“Call him. Go back
to your sister’s place.”

“Tommy—”

“Do it, Ella.”

“But your head,
Tommas.”

“Cops. You need to
go.”

Abriella cried
harder, sobs catching in her chest. She didn’t even have to ask who had done
this, because she knew without question that this attack had Joel’s name
written all over it. How was she supposed to wake up tomorrow and face her
brother only to act like she didn’t know and like she hadn’t been here?

“I hate him,”
Abriella whispered.

“Go, Ella.”

“No.”

“
Go
.”

For the next
thirty or so seconds, Abriella watched as Tommas’ clarity and wakefulness began
to drift away. Tommas stared beyond Abriella, like he wasn’t seeing her at all.
The paleness taking over his usual olive-toned complexion was worrisome. Laying
on the wet, cold pavement couldn’t be helping anything, either. He needed a
hospital, and soon.

A siren blared in
the distance, waking Abriella from her stupor. She recognized the sound
instantly as a police cruiser.

Someone was
coming.

Someone would
help.

She still held
tight to Tommas.

Go
.

His voice was
louder in her head.

“I’m sorry.”
Abriella bent down to quickly kiss Tommas’ mouth. She wiped a bit of the blood
from his cheek with her thumb. “You’re not allowed to die, Tommy. You’re not.
You’re mine, okay?
Mine
. So, I’ll go, but you can’t.”

She rambled,
knowing it was pointless.

Abriella still
hoped Tommas had heard it.

Abriella fell into
an alleyway, frozen and shaking. The numbness that had been plaguing her was
finally gone, but now she was left feeling useless and incapable of doing
anything else. The cell phone in her hand practically burned against her skin.
With trembling fingers, she turned the phone on and typed in the passcode.

Tommas hadn’t
changed the six digits in four years.

Somehow, through
teary eyes and chattering teeth, she found the number tagged onto Damian Rossi’s
contact information, and hit the call button. Abriella pressed the phone to her
ear, and three rings later, Damian picked up.

“Cousin,” Damian
greeted. “Have you left the club yet?”

Abriella choked
out a sound that even she couldn’t decipher.

Instantly, Damian
reacted. “Who is this?”

“Abriella.”

“Where’s Tommas?”

“Something
happened—Joel, I think. We were getting ready to leave, and Tommy went out
first to start the car. It was really, really fast and loud. I didn’t see what
happened until I got outside, but he must have hit the wall or something. He
was so confused and talking slow. He hurt himself and—”

“Slow down,”
Damian hissed.

Abriella sucked in
a deep breath, desperately wishing she could calm herself. “He made me go, but
I didn’t want to.”

“His car, you
said?”

“Yeah.”

“Start there,
Abriella.”

“Someone blew it
up. Tommas hit the car starter and it just … blew up, Damian.”