Alright kiddies . . . we're almost there for this one. Maybe. Maybe not . . .


Sphinx glared at Ripley as she got ready to go. He didn't know what had gotten into her but she was out of her damned mind to think he was going to let her go and sit in that damned hospital . . . especially without someone else there. Normally he would send Atley but with him having to keep as low as he could-and Donnie pretty much trying to run as much for Otto as he could while keeping an eye on his guest- she didn't have anyone to go with her. She turned to him, shaking her head as she straightened her shirt. And he had no clue what had possessed her to start dressing the way she had but he both loved and hated it.

He loved the way she'd dressed before-all of the odd things coming together to make something uniquely her own- but he'd occasionally thought it could look too innocent. But now she seemed to be leaning more and more toward better fitting and . . . adult clothing. And while he loved the way her new clothes hung to her and showcased the figure that starting to fill out more and more he hated that it made other people look at her. She was his until she didn't want to be . . . and he was finding that other men-and women-liked what he'd claimed.

And this damned get up was no different.

The pale grayish aqua lacey tank top clung to her like it was painted on, cupping her chest and molding to her curves before coming to frilly end right at the apex of her thighs. The light washed jeans were just as bad, clinging to her long legs and almost covering the tops of her black satin flats . . . but the bolero cardigan she'd thrown on over the tank is what made it seem so bad. Because the jacket clung to her chest just like the shirt, while the long sleeves covered her knuckles. And the embroidered glittering silver and turquoise koi fish dancing across the left shoulder wasn't something she usually chose for herself . . .

He shook himself, watching her gather her book to put in her bag before she glanced up to him. And he fought back a groan at her makeup. The same way she'd been doing it since Christmas . . . which had only been for a few days but with everything that had gone on it seemed like a lifetime. She raised a brow, flipping her hair over her shoulder before she crossed her arms. Which just pushed her breasts up and made them even more evident. She wasn't going anywhere alone . . . not now.

God why did he have to go with bloody Hex to talk with Atley's informant?

She sighed, shaking her head before moving to him; wrapping her arms around his waist as she looked up to him.

"Penny for your thoughts, Lover . . . what's made you look so sour?"

He glowered down at her as she smiled up at him.

"You're not going, Ripley. I mean it."

She rolled her eyes before sighing again. And he knew she wasn't taking him seriously. Which was a severe mistake on her part. He was serious. She wasn't going to the bloody hospital. Not alone. And not looking like this . . .

"Silly bear I'll be fine . . . would you quit worrying so much?"

He snorted, rolling his eyes . . . before groaning as she stretched up and caught his Adam's apple between her teeth; scraping the flesh lightly before kissing it. God she couldn't do that or neither of them were going anywhere. Except right back to bed . . . which is where he'd planned to keep her anyway . . . She giggled as he shuddered, tugging him down to meet her mouth as she stretched as tall as she could.

"I love you . . . and its going to be fine. I'm going to be in a hospital with security . . . and I swear on my shoe collection I'll be careful . . . okay?"

He sighed, leaning into her as her mouth moved over his. And he didn't even care that his hands mussed her hair as his fingers threaded through her curls. Or that Hex was probably on the way to Otto's as he did this . . . All he cared about was getting her out of those clothes. And spread right back across his sheets . . .


Ripley shifted in the hospital chair, rolling her eyes as she watched Frankie toss in his sleep. He'd barely been awake at all, only coming around long enough to whine about how much his face hurt-and with all of the pain killers in his system that was heartbreaking enough on its own- before dozing back off. She glanced back to her book, looking over the chapters she'd been trying to review. She knew she wasn't in class yet but she needed to be ready.

Especially since the courses were going to be more hands on in the actual classroom and independent studying for the tests.

She sighed, turning to the next page. It was best to get as much of this done now as she could . . . because she seriously doubted that Sphinx was going to give her the opportunity once she got back to his apartment. He'd been overly verbal over how he'd wanted to spend the time before she went back to school . . . which was shocking in itself. But there was something more going on with all of this that had her worried . . . about their future. She could see he was (still) warring with the more emotional side of their relationship . . . and she was trying to limit how often she told him she loved him because she could taste how torn he was over it.

But as soon as she would go to stick with that decision he'd pop up and do something so sweet or thoughtful that she'd give in. And he would seem to melt and preen until he remembered himself. She shook her head, finally putting the book away as Frankie's monitor beeped again. This was all so confusing . . . and it didn't seem to be getting any better.

And that was just the shit between them . . .

All of this with Frankie and the crew was finally wearing on her . . . and she was seriously beginning to consider taking Cacuzza's offer to have the meddling cop offed. If for no other reason that to give them one less thing to try and fight against.

Atley's contacts had al but gone silent . . . and Hex was stepping up to be the front runner in their . . . seedier dealings. Which was pretty amazing in itself because she couldn't honestly believe other criminals weren't trying to skin the idiot alive. Hell, she'd had to run with him alone and deal with him in pretty moderate doses . . . and she still wanted to gut him. He was a sweet crazy idiot . . . but she couldn't handle him. Not without extreme periods of separation to give her nerves time to soothe.

She stood, stretching as she glanced to her watch. It was almost time for San to get here . . . and she could go ahead and dip out a few minutes early. She grabbed her bag and turned, nearly jumping out of her skin as she saw the same damned boost she'd just been thinking about. She glared at the Irishman lounging in the doorway before shaking her head and going to push past him.

"I thought you were with Sphinx . . . Or did you bail on him just to aggravate me?"

Hex grinned, shrugging his brows before shaking his head. And he moved to follow her as she went to go down the hallway to the elevator.

"Oh trust me lass, aggravatin' you is probably one of the few things ta get me killed quick. Yer boy'd gut me fast fer making you angry . . . San ended up goin with the beastie. And I volunteered to come an' sit with Frank . . . Where you headed of ta then?"

She rolled her eyes, hitting the button before glancing at him. He was dressed in a snug fitting charcoal thermal shirt-with the sleeves pushed to his elbows- loose over the faded but well fitting jeans, with black scuffed boots on his feet. But his hair kept drawing her eye. It was wild and everywhere . . . and seemed lighter from his time out in the sun the past few days. The elevator dinged and he held a hand out for her to go ahead, making her shake her head as she stepped inside. She hit the button before settling against the back wall. And decided to answer him. He was one of them now . . . even if it was an annoying part . . .

"Back to Sphinx's apartment. I'm going to meet him there and see what he wants to do. Memphis is going by Manday's to see what you guys are running tonight . . ."

Hex nodded, looking ahead as they waited for the doors to open. And she was shocked by his next words.

"I'll walk ya ta yer car before I go back up ta watch over tha Fish. You go straight there, lass . . . Streets aren't friendly ta anyone right now . . ."

She glanced at him before nodding once, letting him step out ahead of her before he fell instep beside her. She sighed, shaking her head. All of the men in their crew had gone beyond paranoid over the stuff with Atley . . . and none of them would confess as to what was really going on. She knew that someone had set Frank up . . . and that he'd been sliced and diced for it. But they were all super skittish now. And they refused to let her or Sway go anywhere on their own . . .

She rolled her eyes, stepping through the sliding glass doors and into the brisk air with a sigh. She loved summer but winter definitely had its perks . . . like Sphinx in the snug sweaters he kept in the top of his closet . . . and not sweating to death all of the time. She motioned for Hex to follow her before starting towards her car . . . only to nearly die as she saw who was leaned against it.

There in the flesh was J . . . and he was lazily tossing a box of candy from hand to hand as he lounged on the hood of her Chevelle. She glanced at Hex as he stilled, hand going to the waist of his pants and she saw for the first time he was packing some kind of large semi automatic gun . . . And she knew for fact that all of Johnny B's boys always carried. Christ they were going to kill one another before she could find out what in the hell was going on . . .

Hex glared at the gangbanger as the man grinned, nodding his chin up once before giving the Irishman a smile that more of a sneer . . . full of golden teeth. Hex snarled, going to pull his piece as J stepped away from her car. She growled, stepping between them and glaring. Before sending up a silent prayer that they didn't shoot her so they could go back to trying to kill one another. She didn't put it past J . . . and Hex was unstable.

She turned to J, making sure to keep a peripheral on her newest crewmate before she spoke.

"What are you doing here J? Visiting family?"

The man laughed; the same loud laugh he'd given when she'd slugged him before he pushed away from her car to step closer. Which just made Hex frazzle even more. She tried not to sigh. God men where so damned stupid . . . and they were about to get her killed. But J's words brought her full attention back to the dark, lanky thug. And she felt her own hackles rise at what he said. What in the fuck was he talking about?

"Just checkin' to see if your boy's still breathin . . . whoever fucked 'im up did it good . . . Jackson shouldn't a gone diggin' . . . "

She straightened, looking him over before shrugging. She knew that his crew knew about all of their runners but she wasn't about to start doling out information when she didn't have to. That was a good way to get killed.

"What's it to you, J? For all I know it was your boys that did it . . ."

He looked her over before shrugging; tossing her the candy before pushing his hands deep into his pockets. But his words left her feeling cold. He knew what he was talking about . . . and despite how calm she was trying to act she was terrified. She had no clue what was going on . . . and when she found Sphinx and Atley she was going to kill them. They were keeping things from her . . . and she didn't appreciate being left to deal with it.

"Here, doll. Feed the Fish. And a warnin' for you . . . the boys that cut him up ain't squeamish about doing it to women either. They know ya'll run for Cacuzza . . . and if they can't flip you then they gonna cut and gut you. Just like they did Frankie boy up there. Only it'll be worse . . . He was just a warnin' . . ."

She looked down to the candy before nodding once and when J shot forward she didn't even think about bringing her elbow up and going for the left side of his jaw. He caught her arm, shaking his head at her as Hex pulled his gun. But he couldn't see what she had pulled from her purse . . . and had pressed against the man's jugular. And even though the blade was biting into her arm with the way she was having to hold it she knew if push came to shove she could slice him before he could do any serious damage to her.

She hoped anyway . . .

J laughed, his gold teeth glinting in the dim light of the parking complex. But he eased up enough to put less pressure on her arm.

"Damn . . . you are fast ain't ya babydoll? But being fast ain't gonna save ya. Someone near an' dear's been flipped, doll. And we all know it wasn't the Fish . . . No gain for him. And whoever the bastard is, that damn rat cop Johansen is covering his ass. You tell Raines I'm gonna do him a favor and find out . . . and him and Jackson need to meet me at midnight to hear for themselves . . ."

She looked up at him, searching his dark eyes for any sign of trickery or dishonesty. But all she saw was determination and deadly sincerity. Christ . . . who had he killed to find that out? She nodded, letting him move away . . . and she saw the crease in his skin where the blade had been against it. Hex seemed shocked by the stiletto blade in her hand but she didn't have time for that . . . she had to get somewhere to call the others. He turned, going back past her Chevelle before merging back into the shadows of the complex. And she took his parting words to heart . . .

"Get somewhere safe to ride this out, doll. Cause its gonna get messy . . . and your boy ain't gonna have no reason to come or my head . . ."

She turned to Hex, waiving his gun away before she dug through her bag. She needed to find her keys and then she needed to get somewhere quick . . . the problem was where?


Atley looked around Donnie's living room, shaking his head as Memphis and Astricky both paced while they waited for Otto. He'd called both of them as soon as the kid had called him. And he knew they weren't happy with where he'd sent her but it was the safest place he could think of. Because seriously, who was crazy enough to try and go into Luka Cacuzza's place and start trouble? She would be fine . . . . nw they just had to wait on San and Sphinx to get back before they went to get ready for this meet.

He sighed, looking out the window. He didn't like it but he would do it . . . because Memphis was going to need someone there. And the others were going to run this sheet for Manday. The man had picked it up from the Triad earlier in the week . . . and no one aside from him had even glimpsed it. So he didn't really have to worry about that end too much . . . Now it was just going to be trying to keep Sphinx from gutting all of them for sending Ripley off to Cacuzza's alone while Hex stayed to babysit Frankie.

He shifted in his seat before finally closing his eyes. At least the kid was safe from all of the craziness going on tonight . . . and even though him going out now was a big risk he felt better knowing it was for a good cause. If they found out who had flipped then they could let the gangbangers or the mobsters take care of it . . .

And then life could go back to normal . . .


Sphinx looked at Atley and Raines like they were insane. Because they seriously weren't sitting here trying to tell him that they'd sent his lover to the fucking mob . . . and expected him to be okay with it. He turned his head slowly to Jackson, trying to keep his left eye from ticking as he glared at the man. But Jackson wasn't being moved. He thought this was best and he wasn't going to even attempt to be repentant . . . but at least Raines looked ready to shit himself.

Sphinx turned, nearly knocking San over as he moved to go out the door. And he didn't even stop to try to listen to Atley as he started yelling at him to stop. He didn't care what they were doing tonight. He was going to get his girl . . . and then he was going to run this damned sheet and take her home. Where they were staying until they absolutely had to leave.

Alone.

Even if he had to push the damned couch in front of the door to keep Jackson out.


Memphis sighed, watching Otto drive to Carilonne's as fast as he could without getting pulled. Which was still pretty damned fast . . . He turned, looking out the window as Atley grumbled in the back seat. The man was pissed that Sphinx wouldn't listen and just be okay with Ripley being alone with Cacuzza. But Memphis could understand the hang up . . . especially if the mobster had been as attentive to the girl as he'd thought he'd been.

They moved through the block, going to park . . . and Memphis knew that Otto was wincing just as much as he was . . . because the Malibu was parked right beside Ripley's Chevelle. And from the looks of things this was going about as well as they'd all thought it would. Otto glanced back at Atley, shaking his head.

"Well there's no blood everywhere . . . yet. The next time you want to send him into a homicidal rage Jackson, do us all a favor and don't use my goddaughter as bait . . . She's liable to get hurt trying to stop him."

Atley snorted, moving to try and get out as Memphis stepped out of the Vette. And he knew that the only reason Atley wasn't agreeing is because he knew it would confirm he'd been wrong . . . and that he'd instigated the mugging of about twenty gangsters that went to try and stop the sinister boost form getting to what was his.

Otto sighed, slamming the door and going towards the steps; letting them follow behind him. And Memphis found himself praying that Sphinx had kept his cool . . . but as they stepped inside they knew it was pointless. There were two men-both in rather expensive looking suits- strewn out on the floor. Unconscious and bleeding. While the same man that had hidden in the shadows- the one that Atley had told him later was Cacuzza's personal bodyguard and freaking assassin- was trying to keep Sphinx from stepping out and onto the balcony . . .

They watched the man-Paulo- extend a hand and push against Sphinx's chest . . . before Sphinx finally seemed to lose his patience. And his unusually nonviolent methods . . . His blade was out and slashed across the tall Italian's chest and torso four times before any of them could react. And as the man fell to his knees Sphinx just snorted, shaking his head before he stepped over him . . . leaving one of the quintessential boogie man for the Cacuzza crime family kneeling and gasping in a growing puddle of his own blood.

Memphis stilled, looking to Atley as Otto moved forward to help the man to his feet and hold pressure to the pouring wounds. Atley shook his head, motioning for them to follow Sphinx.

Maybe they could stop this before it got any worse . . .


Ripley sighed, flipping through her book and making another note in the margin when the door to the restaurant opened. She turned, looking back and expected to see Paulo coming back with her coke . . . but was shocked to see Sphinx instead. He moved through the doors slowly, his eyes locked on Cacuzza as he lounged in the seat across from her; smoking as he sipped his wine. And she suddenly wondered what was going on that he was here . . .

She pushed to her feet, turning to him. He reached out, tugging her into him before his eyes grazed over quickly . . . only to lock with Cacuzza's as the mob boss spoke.

"Well, I can see Paulo didn't fair well against you after all . . . Pity. I had money on him with Jackson . . ."

Sphinx's face darkened dangerously as she looked him over. She reached down, going to get his hand when she jumped. She pulled her hands away, shocked by the sticky warmth clinging to her fingertips. She looked down, seeing the blood before noticing the dripping blade in his hand. She looked back up, eyes wide as the realization sank in. He'd cut his way through to get to her . . . and as wonderful as that made her feel it also infuriated her.

She reached out, smacking him in the chest . . . which brought his gray-green eyes down to hers. And even though the flash of heat that shot through them made her want to melt she still gathered herself up enough to yell at him.

"Are you crazy? Did you seriously cut that guy up?"

Sphinx shrugged, turning to glare back to Cacuzza as he shook his head chuckling; taking another sip of his wine. Atley and Memphis busted out onto the balcony, making both of them jump as Cacuzza laughed. She glared, smacking Atley as he stepped closer to her. Who just looked at her incredulously.

"Why the fuck did you hit me, Kid? I'm not the one who nearly gutted anybody . . ."

She crossed her arms, glaring even harder at him as he looked at her.

"You bet on us . . . again . . ."

Atley looked her over confused before he seemed to key into what she was saying. And he turned to glare at Cacuzza as hard he as he could . . . while the Sicilian laughed into his glass.

"Oh for God's sakes, Luka. You couldn't keep your damned mouth shut could you? You just had to go and get me and trouble!"


Atley can't stay out of trouble if he tried . . .