Lethal Temptations (Tempted #5)(112)

My hand never came down as Victor grabbed my hand from behind and twisted it behind my back before he pressed his knee into my back and forced me down onto the floor. Jimmy stumbled out of my arms and fell onto the floor.

“What’re you doing?” I hollered as Victor stepped over me, dropping the bible onto the floor beside me.

He never answered my question as he kneeled over Jimmy.

“Father forgive me,” he hissed as he took the blade to Jimmy’s throat and sliced him from ear to ear, blood poured out, leaving Jimmy in a sea of crimson.

Vic dropped the blade, turning his palms over to stare at Jimmy’s blood that covered his hands before he wiped down the front of his prison blues.

Victor Pastore was a man of his word.

Deal done.

He glanced over his shoulder at me.

“Tell my wife I love her and tell my girls their dad will always watch over them,” he said hoarsely before he stood on his feet, carefully stepping over the body, making sure he didn’t get another speck of blood on his fresh white kicks. He walked over to the door and pounded his fist against it until the guard opened the door.

“Take him to the morgue,” Vic muttered, looking at me one final time. “And take him back to his cell.”

I turned back to Jimmy’s body.

“Tomorrow when you get yourself released, remember you’ve got a little life left and make it count,” Vic said before walked out the door.

I didn’t see Vic after that.

He was never brought back to our cell.

And the next morning I was released.

Just as he promised.

Victor Pastore was a man of his word.





Chapter Forty-one





I strode pass the barbed wire fences; the sun beating down on the worn leather jacket on my back and I spotted Riggs leaning against his truck. He pulled his sunglasses off and smirked at me, spreading his jacket wide and revealing a t-shirt that read Free Blackie.

“How f*cking great is that? Wolf had them made,” he said, pushing off the car and taking a step toward me.

I glanced down at the writing on his shirt and then back at his face.

“They sent the pretty boy to pick me up?” I said, reaching for him to pat him on the back and do the manly hug thing.

“Yeah, it’s your lucky f*cking day,” he quipped, pulling back to take a better look at me.

“Heard through the grapevine you got yourself a little boy,” I smiled as his whole face lit up at my mention of his son.

Wow, that was a change.

He whipped out his phone and pulled up a photograph when I spotted the ink that covered the knuckles on his right hand spelling out the two words…Own it. He turned the screen around, displaying a photo of a baby boy with a Harley Davidson onesie and a sideways Yankee cap on his tiny head.

“That’s my Eric,” he beamed, proudly. “Pretty f*cking awesome, huh?”

“Amazing,” I said, taking the phone out of his hand to get a better look at the kid.

Truly amazing…God takes but God gives.

“So what do you say? You ready to blow this popsicle stand or what?” He asked as I handed him back his phone.

“Yeah,” I said, grabbing a hold of his forearm before he turned around. “Hey…I’m sorry about Bones.”

“Yeah, me too,” he rasped, drawing in a deep breath. “But he’ll always be with me,” he added as he made a fist and brought it against his chest. Like the other hand each knuckle had a letter only this hand was dedicated to his best friend, our brother…Bones.

He dropped his hand and his eyes darkened before he placed his sunglasses back on his face. “I took care of that cocksucker,” he growled. “Made sure that motherf*cker never gets to hurt another person I care about.”

He tipped his chin toward the car signaling for me to get inside as he walked around and climbed into the driver’s seat.

“What about you?” he asked as he started up the truck.

“What about me?”

He shrugged his shoulders, placed one had on the steering wheel and with his other hand he opened the console. I leaned over and saw my gun sitting pretty inside.

“Thought you might want to take care of business before you go off and get the girl,” he said, closing the console with his elbow.

“Who said I’m going to get the girl?”

“You better go get the girl after how many times I put my ass on the line,” he warned.

I smiled.

I couldn’t wait to go get the girl.

But Riggs was right.

First things first.

I reached over, opened the console and took my piece out. I checked to see if it was loaded before dropping the safety on it and opening my jacket to tuck it back where it belonged.

“My man! Now, that’s what I’m talking about,” Riggs enthused, grinning. “Blackie’s back…back again,” he rapped, mocking the Eminem song, Back Again.

Yeah, I’m f*cking back.

One more chance to get it right.

“Take me to my bike.”

Throughout the drive Riggs brought me up to speed on everything I had missed while in lock up. It seemed like everyone was getting hitched and the club that used to be about drugs and corruption was turning over a new leaf. Pipe was doing big things with the garage, expanding it was definitely a good move because Jack took over the union contracts Vic had with the Atlantic Express buses. Riggs was trying to get the club on board with opening a security company, and I told him he had my vote at the table. I think it’s good we start making legit money. That doesn’t mean we’re a bunch of *’s though. Jack put up his house, took the equity out and handed over a lump sum to Pops to repair all the damage done to the shooting range. We have a new buyer for our guns too, Rocco Spinelli, the mobster moving in on Vic’s territory.