A Devilish Christmas (The Marchesi Family)

Joe leapt out of the car before it stopped moving. I shoved it in park and followed him.

“Oh fuck.”

I didn’t need to ask what was wrong. The man on the porch wasn’t a threat. Someone had put a bullet through his chest, leaving a huge whole. His torso was covered in blood and gore, but he’d been tied to the chair so he appeared to be sitting upright and watching for us.

I spun around, checking our surroundings, and Joe did the same. “Donaldson’s out there.”

I nodded as a shiver ran over me. I had to protect my man.

17

Joe

Donaldson had gotten way too close. “We need to end this. Now.”

Devil pressed a hand to my back. “Agreed.”

“What the fuck are we going to do about the dead guy?” When I was a cop, I would have called it in and started an investigation to discover his identity and everything we could learn about the murder, but as a vigilante married to the mob, that would only end up causing more trouble.

“We’ll move him to the shed for now, and once Donaldson is dealt with, I’ll get a cleanup crew out here to deal with this guy.”

“But we don’t know who he is or whether he was involved with Donaldson or an innocent bystander. He looks really young.” Jesus, he might be in his late teens. “If we hadn’t gone into town, if I’d focused on hunting Donaldson—”

“No. You’re not responsible for what that bastard has done.”

“We could have tried harder to look for him.”

“So could the people whose job it is to find him and lock him back up.”

Devil started to pick up the body, and I pointed to his hat. “Making out with you in a Santa hat is one thing, but it’s going to make it too easy for Donaldson to track us.”

“Shit. You’re right. And I want you to associate it with fun, not dead people.”

I stared at him. “You’re…”

“Trying to lighten the mood.”

“I love you.”

Devil winked. “I know.”

He stuffed the hat into his coat pocket, and we carried the body to the shed. I said a quick prayer for him as we shut the door. “We have to figure out who this man is, not just dump his body.”

“We will. I promise. Do you think Donaldson is still out there?”

I surveyed the woods, looking back and forth. “I’m sure he is. He would want to see our reactions.”

I saw something then, just the barest suggestion of movement, but my instincts screamed that it was him.

“There!” I yelled and took off.

“Joe, don’t.” I ignored Devil, and he cursed loudly as he ran after me.

I didn’t dare slow down to let him catch up. Donaldson had begun to run too. He was fast as fuck, and I had to assume he knew his way around these woods much better than I did.

I managed to close much of the distance between us until he turned and fired his gun. The shot missed me, but Devil yelled “Fuck,” and I heard him stumble. I glanced back and saw him waving me on. Maybe he just tripped. I raised my gun and aimed. I knew Donaldson was too far ahead for me to make the shot, but I had to take the chance.

I missed. Shit. He was starting to outdistance me again. No wonder he’d eluded capture. He was a fast motherfucker. I glanced back, expecting to see Devil on his feet again, but he was still on the ground with a hand pressed to his side.

Oh God, he’d been hit. Even if I pushed myself as hard as I could, I doubted I could catch Donaldson, and helping Devil was way more important. No way would I leave him injured and alone. It was time for us to call in his cousins or some members of Vigilance. We were going to bring Donaldson down by any means necessary.

I ran back to Devil, praying he wasn’t hurt as badly as I feared.

“You lost him?” His voice was shaky and his breathing shallow.

“How bad is it?” I did not like the amount of blood I saw pooling under his hand.

“Not bad. You didn’t have to come back for me.”

“I will always come back for you. You come first for me.” I cupped his face in my hands and forced him to look at me. “When will you realize that? Would you leave me here, bleeding and vulnerable?”

“I’ve got two guns and a knife. I’m fine.”

“Jesus, Devil, you’re not invincible.” I dropped my hands and tugged on his arm to get him to ease the pressure on his wound. “Let me see.”

“I would’ve been fine.”

“I wouldn’t have caught him even if I’d left you. He’s too damn fast.”

“Thank you.” Devil’s words were low and rough.

I leaned in and kissed him. “You don’t need to thank me for taking care of you.”