Bare Hearts Page 8

  Tears fill my eyes, but I refuse to let him see me cry. A lump forms in my throat as I try to swallow it down. Tony is in his usual suit attire, wearing glasses, and his hair is starting to silver around the edges. He is tall and his Italian accent is thick.

  “What the fuck do you want?” I ask angrily as Parker sits with a gun to his head, his eyes never leaving mine.

  “I think you and I need to spend some one-on-one time together. So I suggest you get yourself ready, or I put a bullet in his head,” he responds, pressing the gun into his head.

  “Lily, don’t do this,” Parker pleads. But I know I have to do this or Parker will pay for it. I head upstairs, trying to hold myself together. My heart feels like it will burst out of my chest. I quickly dress and grab my purse, making sure the gun is inside.

  I run back down to the kitchen, my eyes clouded with tears. “Parker, don’t do anything stupid. I’ll be okay,” I tell him with tear filled eyes. His eyes plead with me, but there is no reasoning with either so I know it’s best just to go along with Tony. He always gets what he wants or you pay the consequences. I take one last look at Parker before walking out of the door.

  “What the fuck do you want from me?” I ask as I’m shoved into the back seat of the SUV.

  Tony doesn’t answer any of my questions as his bodyguard drives us to some location. I decide to save my voice for a later time. Once we have arrived at a broken down warehouse, I’m pulled out roughly, pulled into the place, and seated in a chair in what looks to be an office.

  “Okay, sweet daughter of mine, do you know why you’re here?” Tony sits at a desk across from me.

  “No but I’m sure you’re going to tell me,” I say, gritting my teeth.

  “I don’t know why you hate me so much,” he says.

  “Are you fucking serious? You practically beat the shit out of me and mom any chance you got. Don’t try to deny it. I have no interest in having a relationship with you now. Matter of fact, I hate your guts. I’m so thankful Mom isn’t alive to see this,” I spit out, seated across from him. His brows furrow.

  “Okay fine. I know your mom hid some money of mine before I got locked up. All you need to do is tell me where it is,” he tells me.

  It takes a moment for me to process this information. Did I just hear him right? I can’t believe my mom would be involved in such activities that involved my father’s dealings. He must be mistaken. How could my mother do such a thing?

  “You’re lying,” I spew at him.

  “No, I’m not. And I suggest you look for it in that house of yours.”

  “How did you even find us here, anyway?” I ask. My mom and I moved away after my father was arrested. We moved to a small town in Pennsylvania where no one would know us. Where it was quiet and we could exist unnoticed.

  “Do you think I didn’t know where my angel was at all times? I had eyes on you and your mother all the time. I always knew where you were.”

  “You are unbelievable, you know that? I liked my life much better before you came walking back in it,” I say, shaking my head in disgust at him calling me angel. He used to call me that all the time when I was little. The thought literally makes my stomach turn and coil.

  “You are an ungrateful little bitch! I suggest you look for that money and distance yourself from that trash you call Parker!”

  “You leave him out of this! Whatever game you’re playing won’t work. I suggest you stay the hell away from me and Parker, or I will get a restraining order against you.” I stand to leave.

  “You mean he hasn’t told you his little secret? He is no good for you! I’m sure I can set you up with a buddy’s son.” He tilts his head as he laughs.

  “I’d rather eat shit. Besides, you don’t know anything about Parker. He is the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” I say as I walk outside to leave. I’m surprised he just let me leave, and I can hear him laughing; it echoes through the building. He sickens me. Its pitch black outside and I remember I have no way home and I’m not sure where I am exactly. Stunned by the turn of events by my father, I put one foot in front of the other and force myself to walk, in a daze. What money is he talking about? And how does Parker fit into all this?

  I finally come out of my daze and realize where I’m at. Digging in my purse, I reach for my new phone to call Parker to come get me. He answers on the first ring.

  “Lily, are you okay?” He asks in a rushed tone, before I can get a word out.

  “Yes, I’m fine. Can you come get me? I’m at the corner of Clement and West at Tanner’s Convenience Store.”

  “Stay put, I’m on my way.”

  I hear the engine grow loud before he even hangs up. I sit on the bench outside of the convenience store. Before I can think too much about my situation, I hear Parker’s car squealing into the parking lot. He quickly pulls into a parking space and rushes to where I’m sitting. Tears stream down my face as soon as I see him. He bends down in front of me.

  “Did he hurt you? You need to tell me now if he did. I swear to god I will kill that mother fucker if he laid a hand on you,” he says, trying to look me over.

  All I can do is bury my head in my hands and shake my head no. I wish I could kill him myself. Tony is a bastard. Parker helps me stand and guides me inside his car.

  “What happened? What does Tony want from you?” He asks as he slides into the driver seat. His baby blues show me empathy and he is being patient as I gather myself together. He hands me a tissue from the console.

  “He didn’t hurt me. But he did say my mom hid some money for him, and he wants it. And he basically said you are hiding something from me. I don’t believe him, of course. He is the devil’s spawn, and I can’t believe I am even related to that fucker,” I say as my hurt turns to anger.

  Parker moves my hair behind my shoulder, and caresses my cheek with his thumb. “I hate him and everything he stands for, and everything he’s done to you. You don’t deserve this. He deserves to rot in hell.”

  “Parker, there are things you don’t know about my family; things I’ve never told anyone. Not even my friends or anyone that’s close to me.” The tears start to stream down again at the very thought of mentioning my past. It is just too painful to endure.

  “You don’t need to explain anything to me. I accept you for who you are now, not your past,” Parker says as he squeezes my hand. “Now, stop those crocodile tears; you are stronger than this.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  PARKER

  My heart literally breaks for Lily. Seeing her cry is making my heart crumble into a million pieces. She doesn’t deserve any of this. She can’t help being born to a mobster. Whatever he thinks he will accomplish we will come back ten times stronger.

  I pull out of the parking lot and head back to my house. “You’ve been through so much already at such a young age. Whatever he has planned you can’t let him get to you or us. And I’m sure that is not the last of him we will see. Just stay strong and know I’m here for you no matter what. I will protect you, whatever it takes.”

  She dries her tears and gives me a weak smile. It’s the middle of the night and the sun will be coming up soon. When she left with Tony I was so worried he would hurt her or worse. I had paced the floor until she finally called. Thankfully, we got her another phone when her Aunt left.

  “Thank you for coming to get me.”

  “Just try to get some shut eye before work,” I say, pulling into the driveway.

  Exiting the car, I help guide her inside. We walk straight upstairs and she quickly lies down to go to sleep. Leaning my body against her backside, I stroke her hair to try and calm her down. Her hair is so soft and silky smooth, and her body is flawless. Putting my arm around her middle I try to get some sleep as well.

  *****

  A few hours later, I wake and her side of the bed is empty. Pulling on my lounge pants, I head downstairs to find her sitting at the table, looking out the sliding glass doors with a cup of coffee in her hand. />
  “Did you get some sleep?” I give her shoulder a light squeeze.

  “A little.” I can tell her mind is somewhere else.

  “I’m sure you can get someone to look after your shop today if you wanted to stay here,” I offer, trying to ease her mind.

  The anger boils my blood at the thought of her hurting like she is. I wish the guy would just rot in hell and leave her alone.

  “I might do that. I need to go to my house, to look for that money he is talking about. Maybe if I find it he will be out of my life forever.”

  “I’ll go with you. I can help if you want; two heads are better than one,” I offer.

  “Sure, that would great.” She offers a weak smile.

  Pouring myself a cup of coffee, I refill hers before taking a seat at the table. I sit and just watch her taking in the view out back.

  “Maybe we should cool it for a while. Spend a few days apart, so I can get some things in order. Maybe we shouldn’t rush what we have going on. This is all too much for me to process.”

  My heart sinks at the very thought of losing her. “How could you say that? After everything we’ve been through together. Can’t you see this is what he wants?” I yell, slamming my fist against the table, causing Lily to jump. “If you think breaking us apart is what you want, go for it. But I can guarantee I won’t go down without a fight. I will fight for us.” My body coils at the thought of losing her. I can’t let her do this. “I can’t lose you now, not like this. I won’t live without you in my life. I refuse to let him win,” I tell her.

  “I’m trying to protect you; I just don’t want you to get anymore hurt in the process. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you,” she says with worrisome eyes.

  “Just let me in, Lily. Whatever happened in your past, I don’t care about that. I care about now, being with you. You came into my life at a time when I lost everything; my world crumbled around me and you were the only light in my darkness. Can’t you see my feelings for you have evolved into something I’ve never felt before? Yes, it’s scary; I know, but don’t give up on us now,” I tell her. She sucks in a breath and brings her lips to mine, kissing me deeply.

  “Now, let’s get a move on it before the day gets away from us.” Lily makes a phone call to her flower shop to get someone to cover for the day.

  We make our way over to her house and once we’re inside she looks around, as if the place is foreign to her.

  “I guess we start in her room. That might be the most logical place to start,” she instructs.

  Lily starts going through her drawers, while I look under the mattress and closet. After several hours of searching the house from top to bottom, we come up empty handed.

  “Now what?” Lily asks feeling deflated.

  “Where is the most unlikely place she would hide something? A place she wouldn’t want anyone else to look?”

  She ponders the question, giving it some thought. “We’ve literally looked everywhere.”

  “I think there is one more place we should check out,” I say as she follows me into the kitchen. Opening up the freezer we both hurriedly start placing everything on the island counter. Way in the back I pull, out a block of what looks to be ice inside a plastic bag.

  “Do you think that’s it?” She asks curiously.

  “Let’s thaw it out and see. But I think this could be it.”

  We place the other contents back into the freezer. While we wait for the block to thaw we decide to pop in a movie to take our mind off all this stress for a while. She picked a romantic comedy, because that’s all she mostly owns. I suffer through it, just so I hear her giggle or laugh at the cheesy parts. The way she giggles and her eyes crinkle warms my heart. And for the most part we did forget about the real world for a little bit. But life has a funny way of creepy back up quickly.

  “Okay, let’s go check on it,” she says, jumping off the couch once the movie ends.

  We go to the kitchen and see what’s inside. That is definitely a hefty stack inside.

  “How much do you think is there?” Lily asks with wide eyes.

  “Probably more than either of us will ever make, together. It looks like it might be all hundreds. Whatever it is, it’s blood money and you need to just get rid of it and get him out of your life for good. Maybe he will leave us both alone,” I say, hoping that we can live in peace without looking over our shoulders.

  “Should I call him now so we can get rid of it?” She asks, looking up me as we stand staring at the stack.

  “Sure, have him meet you at that abandoned air strip just on the edge of town. I’ll go with you, because you aren’t going along. I don’t trust him.”

  I watch as she puts his number into the house phone. She puts it on speaker so I can hear.

  “Hello, my darling daughter,” Tony says before Lily can say anything. His voice makes me cringe.

  “I have your money; meet me at the abandon air strip on the other side of town. I’m sure you can manage to find it,” Lily says coldly.

  “No formal meeting?” He chuckles

  “Just meet me there at six this evening,” she says before hanging up on him. “That guy disgusts me,” she says sitting on the stool positioned at the island.

  “How ‘bout’ we get something to eat; I’m sure you’re starving after all that searching and you only had toast this morning,” I offer as I wrap my arm around her, nuzzling her neck. A smile appears as she nods in agreement, turning back to kiss me.

  *****

  Six O’ Clock comes quickly. “Are you ready?” I ask as we manage to get the money in a brown paper bag.

  “Yeah,” she says with a nod, strapping her bag over her shoulder. Then she pulls her hair into a ponytail and we head out the door.

  We arrive at the abandon air strip first. Looking around, the place has an eerie feeling to it; the hangars are old and decaying. The strip itself isn’t very long, but long enough for a small private plane to land.

  “Are you nervous?” I ask, placing my hand on her leg to keep it from bouncing up and down.

  “I’m not nervous. I just want him out of my life.”

  I know she is nervous. I know I would be. I mean. I am nervous. Carrying a huge stack of money like that would make any person nervous.

  Waiting in the car, we see a black SUV pulling up, positioning themselves in front of us. Tony gets out the back with sunglasses on and his signature dark suit. He looks every bit of a business man. Does this guy ever take a day off? He buttons his suit jacket and approaches us alone while others wait at the SUV.

  Lily digs around in the back seat, looking for the bag of money while I get out and stand next to the car, waiting for her.

  “Here, now leave me the hell alone,” she says with furrowed brows and a serious tone. She hands him the money and takes several steps back, keeping her distance. I watch his every move so nothing goes down. I have my gun tucked in the back of my jeans, just in case.

  “Thank you,” he hands the bag over to one of his men that had gotten out of the SUV and made their way over to us. “I see you haven’t dumped lover boy, yet.”

  Lily just shakes her head in disgust, and doesn’t bother giving a response. The evening sun is beating down on us and I wipe the sweat from my forehead; it feels like a hundred degrees out here.

  “Don’t you think you’ve done enough to the girl? Can’t you just let her be?” I growl.

  Tony looks around. “You believe this guy?” He says in his thick accent to his bodyguard and shakes his head.

  Chapter Seventeen

  LILY

  “You don’t have room to talk. I know you haven’t told her your little secret. If you did, she would have dumped you by now,” he continues.

  “You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about. Lily, get in the car,” Parker instructs, pointing to his Camaro. My heart is already beating so rapidly and loud from encountering Tony, and I fear for both our lives, but mostly I’m worried fo
r Parker. I know he won’t back down if it comes down to it.

  “Just let it go, Parker,” I say tugging on his arm and, pulling him toward the car. Finally I manage to get us both in the car and the SUV floors it out of the air strip field, leaving a trail of dust behind.

  Parker slams his fists on the steering wheel, causing me to jump. “I swear if I knew what he was talking about I would tell you,” he says angrily. He puts the car in drive and drives really fast down the air strip angrily. Quite frankly, he is scaring me.

  “Parker, stop!” I yell as he slams on the brakes, halting the car. “Just let it go,” I say lightly touching his arm. He jerks his body back and gets out of the car, slamming the door shut in his wake.

  I get out of the car and walk over to him on the driver’s side. His arms are crossed over his chest and one ankle is overlapping the other as he leans against the car door. The pain his face shows; is breaking my heart. He just stares out in the distance at the wide open nothingness.

  “You have to know I would never do anything to hurt you.” He stands upright, gripping my neck while his thumb grazes my jawline, looking deeply into my eyes. I could stare at his blue eyes for eternity; they show so much emotion, and they grow dark when he gets mad. His touch calms my heart and that’s enough for me.

  “I know you wouldn’t.” I close my eyes enjoying the feeling of his hand against my face. I feel so much loyalty from Parker and the spark between is something I don’t think I’ll get use too. I’ve never felt this with anyone else.

  “Let’s go,” he says, turning to the car.

  We arrive back at his house in less than ten minutes. Once inside, I grab a bottle of water and throw him one as he sits on the couch. “How’s your rib?” I ask, concerned and trying to change the subject.

  “Still a little sore,” he catches the bottle and lifts his shirt up for me to see.

  He doesn’t wince with pain when I lightly touch it. “You should still ice it some while we’re here. Maybe we should go upstairs and get some rest. I need a shower first, though,” I say pulling my shirt away from my chest from the stickiness outside.