Inseparable

He laid there silently, breathing heavily into my neck until every last feeling of pleasure had left him. I ran my fingers through his hair and down his back. He pulled me in even tighter as we laid there on the couch, cuddling and taking in the moment. When he had regained his strength, he pulled up, kissing my lips and sitting upright on the couch. He put his clothes on as I pulled the blankets around my naked body.

When he sat back down, I leaned into him, wanting to feel the comfort of his arms. He wrapped them around my shoulders, and I laid my head against his chest, feeling his heart slowly come back to a normal speed. We sat there for several minutes, but then his phone rang. He kissed me on the forehead and got up, walking to the table and answering it.

“Anderson, what’s up?” He looked over at me and shook his head. “Hold on. Let me put you on speaker so that Josie can hear as well.”

He walked over to the couch and sat down, looking at his phone and hitting the speaker button. I sat there, tense, waiting to hear the news. Hopefully, whatever it was could help us in the case.

“Hi, Josie,” Anderson said.

“Hi,” I said with as much cheer as I could muster.

“I’m glad you are home safe,” he said. “We are doing everything we can to help you.”

“Thank you,” I replied.

“So, what news did you find on Paulie and Harry?” Blaine leaned forward and listened closely.

“Well, it seems that they are definitely tied in with the mob,” he said, sinking my heart. “Paulie is Paul Giorntino, Jr., and is the son of an infamous mob boss, Paul “The Killer” Giorntino. His father has been on the run for years, and the authorities have yet to catch him. He was definitely a high-stakes gambling fiend that loaned money out to the locals. His tactics for recovery have not been out of the ordinary for mob bosses. Paulie has some minor crimes, but no one has been able to get him on any specific charges yet. This isn’t abnormal since organized crime figures are notorious for having others do their dirty work. Most of the time, Paulie is the voice, and from what it looks like, Harriet is the hands. Harriet “Harry the Hammer” Benetti is his right-hand man, or woman, I should say. She has a rap sheet as long as the Seven Mile Bridge. There are so many crimes on this woman’s record, I'm surprised she hasn’t gone away for life yet. She is the enforcer for the Giorntino crime family and has done a bang-up job ever since she came in contact with them. She has been on the cops’ shitlist for a long time, but they can never seem to pin the big crimes on her, like murder. Everything she has is so petty that Florida Judges can’t find the precedent to put her away for good. It’s a slick move by the family, but it works really well. They keep their people out of prison, which means they don’t need as much manpower to get the job done.”

“Is she still in jail?” Blaine asked. “I could go talk with her.”

“No, she was released just hours after Josie,” he replied. “Besides, you aren’t going to get anything out of her. She’s had some of the hardest men come down on her from the FBI and never once broke. That’s why they call her the hammer. She not only brings the hammer down on the mob’s enemies, but she is the breaker, not the one being broken.”

“So, she’s out there,” I said, shaking my head. “Has anyone found any news on my father? What if they have him?”

“No,” Anderson responded. “But we are definitely doing everything we can. We gave this info to the investigator, and he’s going to head over to that side of town and see if he can find out anything circling around Harry and Paulie. We will definitely let you know as soon as we find anything.”

“Thank you,” I said, grateful that Anderson was so good at his work.

Blaine switched off the speaker and walked away, talking to Anderson quietly by his notes. I looked down at my hands, trying to get them to stop shaking. I guessed that part of me thought it would be discovered that they were acting alone, not as part of a mob scheme that could get everyone involved killed. I had heard the stories about people being killed by the mob before court hearings. It wasn’t pretty. It still happened today, except the mob has gotten smarter, and they used outside forces to cover their tracks. It was no longer the tommy gun in the alley kind of murder. It was more like the slit your throat in your sleep and walk away kind of murders, the sleeping with the fishes being one of their favorite ways to hide the bodies. I watched as Blaine hung up the phone and walked over, sitting down next to me. I could tell that he was visibly shaken, and I couldn’t even fully comprehend what that might be like for him. I felt so bad, knowing that I had now gotten him and his firm tangled up in mob business. That was not my intention, ever.

“I’m so sorry,” I said.

Immediately, tears began to well up in the corners of my eyes, and I couldn’t help but begin to sob. I had done exactly what I didn’t want and gotten him involved in all of this. I cried hard, leaning into his shoulder and letting the emotion take over. Blaine wrapped his arms around me and shushed me, trying to calm my nerves. I could feel him running his hands down my arms and kissing the top of my head. He should not be comforting me when I just got him in a really bad situation. He pulled away and stood up, straightening himself. I looked up at him as he reached down and scooped me and the blankets into his arms. For a moment, he stood there cradling me, letting me hug his neck tightly. I could tell he wanted to comfort me so badly. He started walking with me in his arms toward the bedroom. Once inside, he clicked on the light and laid me down in the bed. He pulled the covers from underneath me and pulled them up to my chin. He sat down on the edge of the bed and leaned forward, kissing the top of my head.

“I’m going to get some more work done,” he whispered. “You don’t need to be sorry for anything. You didn’t get yourself into this mess, and you didn’t get me into anything that I wasn’t ready for. I want you to get some good sleep in a real bed. I’m sure the cots were not comfortable at all.”

“Thank you,” I said, grabbing his wrist.

He smiled at me and kissed me one more time before walking out of the room and turning off the light. I laid there listening to his footsteps as he walked back to his desk and pulled out the chair. I could hear his fingers quickly tapping on the keyboard. I turned over and faced the window, looking out over the ocean. The skies were gray, and the sea was angry, and I felt like it was exactly how I felt. My heart hurt so bad and for so many reasons that I felt I was swinging angrily around but never actually coming in contact with anything. My mind couldn’t even start to wrap itself around what had happened.

I cuddled into the pillow and shut my eyes, knowing that I needed to get some good sleep. The bed was so warm and inviting that it didn’t take me long to drift off, but peaceful sleep wasn’t what came my way. Instead, I saw my father’s body floating in the water. I ran down the pier, but when I got there, he was gone. I stood there looking at the angry sky and wondering what was going on. Behind me, I heard a creak in the pier, and I whirled around, trying to figure out where I was. Standing in front of me were a thousand men, all lined up in really nice suits. On their faces, they were wearing masks that resembled Paulie’s face. I looked down at their hands, and they all were carrying bats, and I stepped back, crying out for them to leave me alone. As I stepped backward, the pier disappeared from under my feet, and I screamed out, my body falling and falling with no reprieve.

Chapter 25

Blaine

I walked through the living room, unable to fully grasp what Anderson had told us on the phone. My mind was completely blown away, and I needed a second to really come to terms with all the facts. How had a woman as sweet and kind as Josie fallen in with the mob? She was not the kind of person that came to mind when you thought about gangsters, and she definitely was not the kind of woman that could hurt a fly, much less kill a person. I had thought that I knew everything about Josie, everything big at least. How could I have missed a sign that huge? Was I completely wrong about my perception of her? Was she not actually as kind and sweet as she had shown herself to be? My mind was swirling in circles, and I stood at the window, staring out at the gray skies and raging sea. The ocean looked how I felt, completely off-kilter. Outside influences forcing me to act completely out of character.

Anderson had asked me how I really felt about her. He had asked me if I could actually trust the woman that she seemed to be. I had told him yes, easily, with no question, but m

aybe I was wrong. Maybe I had gotten caught up in a love affair with someone that was the opposite of how she appeared. Anderson was right about one thing. I had only known Josie for a week, a week to the day to be exact, and I had already professed my love and put myself in harm’s way to protect her. What if she was playing me for a fool?

Maybe that sweet demeanor and that kind smile were all an act. Maybe deep down inside of her, she was really an evil person. Just thinking it made me shake my head, but I had seen men tougher than I get played by a woman before. If she was this murderous mobster, then why was she clinging on to me? The evidence, at face value, pointed straight to her, no questions asked. Any other time, it would be an open and shut case. I had a hard time believing this sweet school teacher was a mob boss, but I had been wrong before.

I had really changed everything about me in the span of a week, giving up my bachelor status, changing the way I thought about life, and jumping back into the firm, full speed ahead. Maybe I had made a mistake doing all of that so quickly. Maybe I should have taken my time and gotten to know Josie before giving up everything I knew and taking her life as my own. In reality, the changes I had made weren’t bad, but they were definitely geared toward a different type of life than just hooking up with chicks and drinking whiskey. I was starting to feel like everything was blowing up in my face.

I turned away from the raging ocean and walked through the house, trying to ease my mind. I tiptoed down the hall and stopped, listening to Josie whimper quietly in her sleep. I poked my head around the corner and saw her laying there, tangled in the covers. She was tossing and turning, and her face was scrunched up as if she were in pain or scared. Sweat was starting to bead up on her forehead as she flung her arm over and grasped onto the bedspread. It was obvious that she was having a nightmare. I walked into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed, stroking her back and whispering to her. She wasn’t waking up like she normally did at my touch, so I leaned over and gripped her shoulders, lightly shaking her awake. When her eyes flew open, she took in a deep breath of air and grabbed onto my wrists.