Hopelessly Yours by Ellery Rhodes Read Free Book Online Page B

room as Macone and not look at him. And once you looked at him, it was difficult to look away.
    He was a big man, 6 feet tall and 275 pounds of muscle. He always dressed in a suit, with a blood red rose on his lapel. His skin was the color of bronze, and his eyes were a dark brown, nearly black when you had the misfortune of pissing him off. His nose was somewhere between feral and aristocratic. A feature belonging to someone royal, but something gritty ran underneath. But it was his mouth that made one’s blood run cold. His thick lips were always curled into some version of a smile. He smiled when he kissed his mother on the forehead, or congratulated someone about good news...and he smiled when he gave the order to beat a man within an inch of his life and leave his broken body for his wife and young daughter to find.
    He took a sip of his wine, his eyes shifting beside him to Damien Scott, a rail thin man who got entirely too much pleasure out of taking delinquent clients on ‘vacations’.
    “Remind me, who was Jace supposed to have a talk with?”
    “Mark Benton,” Damien answered smoothly, all but twirling a villainous mustache.
    Macone looked to me, eyes smoldering with that damn smile. “And did he get the message?”
    There was only one right answer. “Yes. Loud and clear.”
    Macone nodded at a third man, the money man, who was in a similar suit as Macone. He opened his briefcase in a single, fluid motion. I didn’t know his name. I guess his name wasn’t really important anyway. All I needed to know was that I got the names from Damien, beat the shit out of them, then I got five hundred dollars in cash.
    Our business was done, so I told Macone thank you and tucked the Manila envelope in my jacket. I turned to go, my conscience making me nauseous.
    “Don’t use it all in one place, kid,” Damien said with a chuckle. It made me want to punch him in the face until he was an unrecognizable mass of tissue and bone.
    I made an excuse and took my pizza to go. I sat at the curb, sipping the Coke and watching the geezers outside. Word was they were all like me once upon a time. They worked for Macone’s father, collecting dues and keeping accounts current by any means necessary. Disgust soured my drink and I dumped the rest before I started the car. I was just saving up, then I’d disappear. Nothing was keeping me here.
    I gripped the steering wheel, Victoria’s smile making me a liar. There was one thing, one person that made this town worth it. Don’t kid yourself. Last night was proof that you two are on two different paths . Hers was love—I’d had so little in my life that I knew it when I saw it. She’d tattooed the words of my letter on my heart.
    You deserve better.
    My throat tightened with regret. She wanted more than I could give. The best thing I could do for her was walk away.
    And then I saw her.
    Arms filled with groceries, walking down the sidewalk in front of the natural food store I avoided. But I couldn't avoid Vix. Not in the blush colored spaghetti strap top she wore, and khaki shorts that hugged her hips and ass in a way that made me harden—and swerve into oncoming traffic.
    The driver of the car I nearly collided with laid on his horn and I snapped my middle finger up in response...just as she looked in my direction.
    A curious expression flitted over her face as she slowed. She didn’t stop. I smiled to myself when I realized she was giving me a chance to drive away. She was putting the ball in my court.
    I guess I really was a bad guy, because I cut off the next guy in line and pulled into the parking lot.
    Victoria picked up speed. Suddenly, she had somewhere to be.
    I killed the engine and hopped out, watching her perfect ass twitch to the left and right as she scurried toward her car.
    “Not that I don’t love this view of you, but let’s not pretend you weren’t hoping I’d stop.”
    My words had their intended effect and she froze, deathly still until she whirled to