AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Five minutes to the barn,” he says, and his cold tone makes unease cruise down my back. “It’s half an hour to a boat ramp where a dinghy waits to take us to the yacht.”
We’re yacht people now. Okay. Whatever. “You’re going to have to hang in there, Burley,” I mutter, grappling with the idea that he needs to move twice, and Matteo said nothing about going to a hospital.
“I’m hanging, luv, but I’m not sure why you’re botherin’. You nearly gave me a heart attack this morning. Which is a very clean way to kill a guy if ever there was one.”
I glance down at my hands, which are stained with blood, my arms splattered with it. I want to retch, but my stomach is empty. I nearly killed a man. When I look up, Matteo’s gaze is still on me.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. I tried to stop that man from getting to him. My kidnapper, who I wanted to kill days ago. I’m sorry for trying to save myself. And for jumping. For my dad’s crimes. For everything that got us to this point.
“You did what you needed to do,” Matteo says. “We got out.”
I nod but find no assurance in his words. With one well-aimed stab I’ve been baptized into their inner circle.
The car speeds along the road. There’s nothing out here, not even a vineyard or an olive grove. It’s almost desert-like with barren land. We were totally isolated, which is great if you want to make sure nobody gets close to you. Or if you want to torture and kill people.
A scatter of farmhouses appears, and next thing we are turning into a gravel road that leads to a barn.
“We’re good,” Matteo says as no one follows us.
The barn is open, and we drive right in. The massive door rattles closed as soon as we’re inside. We’re draped in darkness again, but my eyes adjust quickly with light coming from missing tiles in the roof. Another driver is waiting in a white SUV with clear windows, a scented pine dangling from the rearview mirror. It looks like a taxi.
“Let’s get you sorted, Burley,” Matteo says as he opens the door and peels off his bulletproof vest. He strides over to the white SUV and the driver opens the trunk as if on cue.
“Come on, luv,” Burley says with a weak smile. “He’ll expect you to do one or the other, becoming a doctor as you are.”
“What?” I give him a wide-eyed stare as he gingerly eases out of the car and stands.
I clamber out and watch in fascination as Matteo spreads a sterile pad inside the open trunk. A medical case stands ready, and he pulls out everything needed for a bullet wound emergency.
“You need a hand, old man?” Matteo shoots back as Burley limps in his direction.
“Fuck you, boss. If I take another bullet in my butt for you?—”
“I retire you with a very lucrative package.”
“You’re my witness, luv,” Burley groans as he makes it all the way. “A very lucrative package.” He shrugs off his bulletproof vest, his arm just hanging.
Matteo is putting surgical gloves on and glances in my direction. I stand closer, thankful for the distraction. Less so when Burley unbuckles his belt in one swift movement and unbuttons his pants. “Sorry, luv,” he says as he turns his back to me, drops his pants and scoots his boxers down just far enough. He makes himself comfortable by lying down, half in, half out of the car’s trunk.
“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” I lie. I knew it, but knowing and seeing firsthand is different. Burley is built. As in heavy-weight wrestling built. Thighs that flex as he settles, sculpted ass in the air. An ass to die for, except for the round bullet hole leaking blood.
I look at Matteo, but he is already busy opening a bottle of disinfectant. He splashes it over Burley’s butt and the man growls. Once some of the blood is cleaned away, Matteo looks closely. “This one’s a keeper.” He glances up to me. “Gauze and tape to stop the bleeding.”
It’s as if his instructions zap me into motion. I pull on surgical gloves and do as instructed while Matteo cuts Burley’s shirt sleeve off. “You have everything here,” I say as I go through the medical kit.
“Not our first rodeo,” Matteo says as he tosses Burley’s blood-soaked sleeve to the side. He lifts Burley’s arm and inspects it. “The bullet went right through. You’re good.”
I shoot Burley’s arm a glance. The blood is already coagulating.
“Do the same here,” Matteo says. “Just stop the bleeding.”
I pause midair with the gauze I’m holding. “That’s it?”
“For now.”
“Aren’t you getting him to a doctor?” I’m weak in the knees.
“I’m good, luv,” Burley chirps in.
