Alex POV
I've got to admit, I wasn't expecting Dino to come out of that other apartment. My heart jumped into my throat when I felt his hands on me and for that first instant, I was in full panic mode.
But then I got control of myself and I remembered who I was dealing with. Masarro wanted me to suffer. And the fact that Dino didn't stab me right away meant that was still the plan. So I had time. And I had Bobby. Bobby could talk a starving man out of his last morsel of food.
But first I had to get Bobby out of panic mode. I'm sure the visual of me with a knife to my throat was one he would be carrying with him for awhile, but we would deal with that later. Come on, Goren, I chanted in my head. I kept my eyes on him, silently willing him to meet my gaze. And then he did. We breathed together for a moment and then I saw the shift in him. He was back.
As Bobby tossed his gun onto the floor, Dino felt around for mine and pulled it out of the holster. He tossed it next to Bobby's. Masarro bent down and picked mine up and pointed it at Bobby.
"I am going to enjoy this so much," Masarro crowed.
"Hey Dino," Bobby said. I felt Dino tense behind me. He still held the knife tightly against my throat but he had moved his other hand off of my mouth.
"Did you know that Masarro here ordered the hit on Paulie? Mariella killed him."
"Shut up!" Masarro shouted. "That's not true, Dino. He's just trying to get to you. You," he continued, pointing at Bobby. "You talk to me, not him."
"He had two taps to the back of the head, Dino," I said. "Who else kills people like that? Do you think we did it?"
"Shut her up, Dino!" Masarro yelled. But Dino loosened his grip on me slightly. Bobby started up again.
"It was Mariella. I don't know why she did it, but she did, and I bet she called the old man here first."
"That's enough. Bring her over here." Masarro used the gun and waved it toward the island kitchen counter. Dino started pulling me in that direction. I struggled with him, but he was a pro and he had quite the size advantage. In a minute, I was shoved up against the counter with Dino's weight behind me. He set the knife down and then held my hand down flat on the counter. Masarro stood on the other side of the counter. He picked up the knife in one hand and kept the gun pointed at Bobby with the other.
"You're a tough lady," he said to me while still looking at Bobby. "You didn't make a fuss over the present I left for you. You didn't scream when Dino grabbed you. I wonder if I can make you scream?"
I fought hard against Dino to pull my hand off the counter top, but I couldn't get free.
"Hold her still," Masarro said gruffly to Dino.
"Dino, let her go," Bobby said. "You don't want to do this. He killed your cousin!"
"Paulie was a fuckin' idiot," Dino said finally. My heart sank. I thought we could get to him. I thought he would bow out of this fight, but he didn't. Masarro laughed and ran the blade slowly over my fingers.
"Which one should I start with?" he asked Bobby. "I'll let you pick."
And then all hell broke loose.
The door was kicked open and in came Logan, followed closely by Barek and Ross.
"Drop the weapon and let her go!" Logan shouted. He pointed his gun at Masarro and the others were pointing at Dino.
Masarro fired my gun haphazardly in Bobby's general direction and then brought the knife down, hard. I bit back a cry of pain as the blade pierced through my hand.
A hail of shots rang out, hitting Masarro in the chest and carrying him halfway across the kitchen. Dino let go of me with one hand to reach for the knife, but his loosened grip allowed me to fight back. I struck out blindly behind me and caught him in the side of the head just as he pulled the knife from my hand. Damn that hurt.
"Eames!" Bobby called out as he made a dive for Dino's legs. He caught him at the knees and all three of us went to the ground. It was a scrum. The three of us scrambled madly for position, but in the end, Dino managed to get behind me and once again, he brought the knife to my throat. He dragged me back to my feet and Bobby got to his, a few feet away but unarmed and unable to do anything considering the position I was in.
"Drop the knife!" Logan yelled as he moved in us.
"Let me out of here, or I'll kill her."
"Last chance," Barek said as she settled in beside Logan, her sites aimed at Dino's head.
"Your boss is dead," Ross called out, having gone to check on Masarro. "Give it up."
Dino's arm flexed fractionally, bringing the knife slightly away from my skin. Now, I thought. And Bobby was with me. He lunged for Dino as I made my legs go limp, letting all of my weight drop towards the floor. Dino tried to hold onto me, but the force of Bobby sent them both sideways, back towards the foyer. The knife went skittering across the floor.
Dino crawled after it.
"Get out of the way, Goren!" Logan called. Bobby rolled to the right just as Dino grabbed the knife. He held it up over his head, ready to bring it down on Bobby, when two shots rang out. The knife clattered to the floor and Dino fell like a sack of lead.
I looked up from my position on the floor and saw that Barek and Logan had each shot Dino. Two taps to the head. Poetic justice, I suppose.
Masarro was a bloody mess. It would take Liz a while to figure out exactly whose shot had been the fatal blow for the mobster. At first glance, I counted at least seven chest wounds.
"You okay, Eames?" Ross asked as he holstered his weapon.
"I'm fine," I said, feeling a little dazed. And then I realized I was still sitting on the floor. And I was bleeding profusely from my hand. Ross walked off to look through the apartment. Bobby hurried to me and bent down close, pulling my head against his chest. I closed my eyes and breathed him in.
"This place is clear. Where's the lady who lives here?" Ross asked when he came back. Bobby answered without pulling away from me.
"She's probably at her sister's. She goes there a few nights a week."
"Well, she sure picked a good night to go," Logan added.
"I'm…uh…I'm going to uh…go next door and call this in," Ross said. He must have just noticed our intimate position considering he began to stutter uncharacteristically. I heard his footsteps as he left the apartment and went across the hall.
Bobby finally eased back from me and took a look at my hand. He reached up and grabbed a towel from the counter top and wrapped it tightly around my hand.
"God, Alex, are you okay?" he asked as he helped me stand. I was a little wobbly and he kept his arms around me.
"I'm okay. I'll probably need a few stitches, but I'll be fine."
"Thank God," he whispered. I happily let him hold me for a few more moments and then I stepped away. I swiped the hair from my face and looked at Logan.
"How'd you guys know we were in here?" I asked him.
"We heard the key in the lock, but then you didn't come in, so we checked the hall."
"And?"
"Do I have to keep reminding you guys that I used to be a detective?" he asked with a slow grin. I loved him for cracking a joke. I smiled back at him.
"Are you sure?" I asked. He was so much fun to tease. He rolled his eyes dramatically.
"You guys still have ash on your shoes. There were prints on the floor."
"I'm sorry guys," Carolyn said. "I really blew this one."
"What do you mean?"
"I didn't think he'd let Alex out of his sight, but I was wrong. He must have known the trap was coming, and he followed us instead to try to get a step ahead."
"It was pretty smart. But very unusual," Bobby said. "There's no way you could have predicted that behavior."
"And it worked out fine. You got him, didn't you?" I asked.
"Well…I got him," Logan said.
"No, I don't think so," Carolyn argued back. "You always shoot wide left. I'm the one that got him."
I started laughing. The adrenaline was replaced by a tremendous rush of relief and I almost felt giddy.
"Alex, are you sure you're okay?" Bobby asked me with concern. In the distance, I could hear sirens approaching. The ambulances were coming and cops would need our statements…but it was all good.
"I'm fine. I'm just so relieved that this is over."
Ross came back into the apartment just before back-up arrived.
"Let me handle the statements," he said. "We can all meet in my office in the morning and take care of everything."
"What's the chief going to say?" Logan asked.
"Let me worry about that. An escaped Don and his right-hand man were killed while holding two detectives at gun and knife point. I think this will turn out fine."
The paramedics came in and took a look at my hand. I didn't want to go to the hospital, not yet anyway. The EMT secured the gash with steri-strips before wrapping it with gauze and medical tape. He warned me that if I didn't come to get it stitched within twenty-four hours then they may not be able to stitch it at all and it wouldn't properly heal. I ignored him. It had been a long enough day without adding a trip to the hospital.
"Have you been checked out, Logan? You look like hell," Ross told him. And he did, especially considering bruises tend to look worse before they get better.
"It's not the first beating I've ever taken," he said, waving off the paramedic. "I'll be fine."
Liz arrived after a few more minutes and made short work of packing up the bodies.
"I'll get them on the table first thing tomorrow," she assured us. "I can stitch up that hand for you if you want, Detective."
"I may take you up on that. It'll be better than four hours in an ER."
"You all okay otherwise?" she asked. The worry lines were etched clearly across her face.
"We're fine, Doc," Logan said. "Thanks for your help."
"Well, it was the least I could do."
I was ready to go back to Bobby's, so we excused ourselves and headed across the hall. Ross was still finishing things up and Liz was going to wait for him. Logan and Carolyn followed us out.
"Hey, I want to thank you guys," Logan said once we were all in the hall.
"You want to thank us?" I asked in surprise. "I think it's the other way around."
"When I called you a few days ago, you dropped everything and came to Boston," Carolyn said softly. "I don't know what I would've done without you guys there to help."
"Logan escaped all by himself," Bobby reminded them. Mike shook his head.
"Don't sell yourself short. I'm not going to get all gushy on you, but just accept my thanks." Logan held out his hand and Bobby grabbed it to give him a shake and then Logan pulled him into a hug.
"Thank you," Logan said again. Bobby didn't say anything. I don't think he could. I couldn't remember a time when I had ever seen him hugged by another man, and a wave of affection for Logan swept through me. There was so much more to him than I had ever given him credit for. It was perfectly clear to me why Carolyn loved him.
"You guys want to come in for a beer?" I offered. It was late, but it would be awhile before the energy subsided. And besides that, I was extremely grateful to them for their help.
"Nah, but we'll catch up tomorrow night," Mike said as he took Carolyn by the hand. "Get some rest."
"You, too."
"Oh, and Eames," he said before he walked away. He leaned in close and whispered in my ear. "Your boss is right across the hall. You might not want to yell out God, don't stop at the top of your lungs any time soon."
I think the blush started at my toes and went all the way to the top of my head. But Mike just grinned at me and they walked away.
"What did he say?" Bobby asked curiously as we went into his apartment.
"Oh, please don't even ask," I said, shaking my head. I tossed my jacket on the table and looked around.
"So, you still want this to be home?" Bobby asked quietly from behind me.
"It is home."
"I'll make more room for your things in the dresser, I promise." I turned around and slipped easily into his arms. I kept my bandaged left hand still on his back, but my right hand stroked up and down, each time drifting a little lower.
"You know, you made me another promise," I said cryptically. In fact, Bobby had made me a lot of promises, and I had no doubt that he would keep every one.
"To love, honor and cherish you?" he asked, but I could tell from his tone that he knew exactly which promise I was talking about, and that wasn't it. It was after four in the morning and I should have been exhausted, but I guess my body missed that memo.
"Isn't there something in the vows that talks about a nice, hard fu…" His mouth crashed down onto mine, stealing the word from my lips. It might have been several hours since he had pushed me up against that hotel wall in Boston, but the emotion of tonight's events still had us on edge. And I never had reached those heights I'd been looking for.
"I don't want to hurt you," he said, his rough voice a contradiction of his words.
"You couldn't possibly," I countered as he picked me up and turned me around, pushing me into his kitchen wall.
His hands went to work on the buttons of my shirt while I marked up his neck with my lips.
"Hurry," I said, having lost all patience. Bobby's fingers were struggling with the delicate buttons, so I reached down and ripped the fabric apart. He growled appreciatively and pulled his shirt over his head, once again keeping me in place with his thigh. But then he moved away.
"Bobby, I swear…"
"Sshh…I can't get either of our pants off when I'm holding you up like that." Oh. Okay, so I was really getting impatient.
As soon as he unbuttoned them, I grabbed his jeans with one hand, pulling them roughly from his hips and taking his boxers right along with them. He kicked them out of the way while unbuttoning mine at the same time. And then he picked me up again, and I was anticipating the slam of the wall at my back, but instead he was gentle. He held me against him and slowly pulled me down onto him until he was buried deep inside.
"I thought we should slow it down a little," he murmured. Who was I to argue? Fast or slow, I was rapidly approaching the point of no return. And Bobby was a master of the game, bringing us both right up to the edge together. I didn't care who called or who knocked on the door, there was not going to be any stopping this time around.
And there wasn't. It was a miracle. No interruptions, no pictures, no crisis.
"Hey Alex," Bobby whispered as we settled on his couch together. We didn't want to get in the bed when we knew we had to be back up in only a couple of hours.
"Yeah?" I ran my fingers through his hair, loving the feel of the soft, graying curls.
"You were right, about not killing Masarro. I would've regretted it if I did it out of anger. I mean, I would've done it in a second to save you, but to kill him just to get him to leave us alone…"
"Well, it was tempting."
"Thanks for reminding me who I am."
"I always know who you are," I told him. "You're Bobby Goren. You're my husband."
"I like the sound of that," he said. He closed his eyes and a smile spread across his face.
"Me, too."
The End