Dangerous Beauty: Part One: Destiny (5 page)

Well, that’s not the case anymore
, Nathan thought. He dared any motherfucker to try and take anything from him now.

Nathan walked into his kitchen and picked up his cup of coffee. He knew he shouldn’t go to Brooklyn alone, but he didn’t know if any of his boys were still in the City. They had all taken off after Nathan gave them the go ahead. Nathan didn’t blame them for wanting to take a break, to get the hell out. He was ready to get away from Manhattan himself. He didn’t want to pull any of them away from their little breaks, but he would rather have one of them with him than the team of security that his father kept trying to convince him to use. Nathan didn’t feel he needed them yet, he could take care of himself. He picked up his cell phone and dialed the number of the only person he knew might still be in the city.

After two rings he answered the phone. “What did he ask you to do? And it better not be out of the fucking country, Nathan,” Mickey said in a warning tone

Nathan chuckled. “Damn, somebody’s cranky, have I worked you that hard?”

“Yes asshole, you have. I’m not kidding, Nathan. The only plane I’m getting on is the private one taking me to Kyle’s beach house. Dante, Lucca, and Kyle are already there and I thought you were on your way there too.”

Nathan snorted. “There’s no plane involved, Mickey. It’s in Brooklyn. I still don’t know if I’m going. Kyle did make it sound okay, but I still don’t know about being in some tourist attraction during my off time. You guys can have a good time without you’re cranky ass boss ruining your fun.”

“Bullshit, Nathan, you are coming! You’re not going to keep taking these lonely ass trips every year. I know how you get around this time of year, you don’t need to keep disappearing like that,” Mickey said in a serious tone.

Nathan knew he was right but he never wanted to be around anyone when the anniversary of his mother’s death came around. He knew he would have way too much fun around his rowdy brothers too. They all had a tendency to act like crazy ass frat boys when they weren’t in business mode.

“I don’t know Mick, we’ll see.”

“Fuck that Nathan, you pick me up, we head down to Brooklyn to handle whatever the hell Angelo wants us to, and you and me can head to Hope Beach together. Once you get away from all this shit for a while, you’ll feel better man. Trust me,” Mickey said confidently. When Nathan didn’t respond, Mickey sighed. “Nathan, it will be good for you and the rest of us to go off somewhere and chill for a while. When was the last time we all got to just chill the fuck out? No guns, no money, and no blowing the brains out of some asshole that your father wants dead?”

Nathan thought about it for a moment then nodded his head, deciding Mickey was right. Nathan did miss the times when it wasn’t all business with his boys, it was just lately they’ve been too busy.

Once his father had realized Nathan’s talents he capitalized on them big time. Nathan and his small team, consisting of the only men he completely trusts, have become some of the most feared men in the criminal world, and Nathan didn’t want to lose the one thing he knew made them strong, their bond. They were brothers. They had each other’s back and protected each other because they genuinely cared for one another, not because of the money.

Coming to the conclusion that he should face this month head on with his brothers, he nodded his head and sighed. “Yeah Mick, alright. I’ll be there soon. Me and you will go and handle this Reeves shit and get the hell out of here.”

He heard Mickey chuckle. “I’m glad bro, you can tell me what’s going on with Reeves when you get here.”

Nathan hung up the phone feeling a bit better after deciding where to spend his time off. He grabbed his keys and his luggage and left his apartment, hoping that this trip would do him some good. Hoping that this time, he’d come back home in a month prepared to finally let go.

***

Nathan and Mickey finally made it to Brooklyn after dealing with hellish traffic. By the time they got there they were both ready to get this meeting over with quickly and get on to their next destination. Nathan didn’t want to be there, and the fact that he had to be there filled him with vicious rage, all directed at that bastard Reeves for not understanding the meaning of an agreement. People make agreements to avoid confusion, and Nathan didn’t understand why Reeves had to be continuously reminded of that.

As they exited the car Nathan knew that Mickey had picked up on his mood, which was good because Nathan didn’t want this to take but a second.

They quickly walked into Reeves’ Family Restaurant and found him sitting at one of the tables eating with two men. The restaurant was empty, which Nathan preferred He’d rather not have an audience of customers see what was about to happen. The only people that were present were Reeves, the two men, and the employees, which were members of Reeves’ family. The men were brutish so Nathan was sure that they were there for Reeves’ protection, but he didn’t give a damn if they were there or not. He came to make sure Reeves paid his father, and that’s exactly what he was going to do.

Without hesitation Nathan walked up to the table where Reeves and his body guards were eating, Mickey following behind him.

Reeves looked up from his food, wiped his mouth with a napkin, smiled, and ran his finger down the long scar on his face, something he always did to intimidate men he believed were a threat. The story of how he got that scar and what happened to the guy who gave it to him was different every time he told it.

“Well, I was wondering who Angelo would send, but I definitely didn’t expect him to send you,” Reeves said with a smirk.

Nathan stared at Reeves, his expression impassive. He spoke in a low tone, not wanting to give way to the irritation he was feeling just yet. “We need to speak with you privately, it’s a matter of some urgency,” he said.

Reeves chuckled and waved his hand dismissively. “I don’t feel like talking. As you can see I am trying to enjoy the meal my beautiful mama has made me.”

Nathan was able to maintain his impassive expression even though he was getting more irritated by the second. “Reeves, it would be best for us to have this discussion now, and since it would be inappropriate for us to talk business out here, with your family present, I insist we do it in private.” Nathan spoke as if speaking to a child.

Reeves scowled at Nathan, rage filled his dark eyes. “I don’t really like your tone, Salerno. Now, I understand that you are a man with an abundance of power, but not here,” he said raising his voice a bit louder. “If you haven’t noticed you are not in Manhattan. This is Brooklyn little boy,
my house
, so if I were you I wouldn’t come in here insisting anything.” He sat back with a smug smile and crossed his arms over his chest. “So unless you want to find yourself in a very bad situation, I insist you leave, baby Salerno.”

Nathan smirked, these people will never learn, he thought to himself. He shook his head and let out an exaggerated sighed. “You should have listened, dumb ass.”

Only two clicks from Mickey’s gun were heard as the bodies of the two bodyguards at the table flew forward. Blood spewed from their disfigured heads into Reeves’s face and he sat frozen in shock. In three long strides Nathan was beside him. Grabbing a handful of his curly black hair, Nathan slammed Reeves’ face into the table three times.

Reeves let out a loud howl in pain as the blood began to run down his face.

From behind him Nathan could hear women screaming, but they became silent when Mickey pointed his gun toward them and brought his index finger to his lips.

Nathan could hear Reeves’ labored breaths. “Now, that I have your attention,” Nathan said a bit out of breath, “we can have this discussion. You seem to have forgotten to make a payment on product you have already sold. The agreement that you made with Mitchell was that we supply you with a steady flow of his product and services and you pay him accordingly, am I right?”

When Nathan got no answer he slammed Reeves’ face into the table again. “Am I Right?” Nathan yelled.

“Yes! Yes! I’ll get the money! Just stop!” Reeves pleaded.

Nathan shook his head. “Now that was going to be the solution when I first came in here, but since you went all ‘this is my house’ on me, I have an idea more pleasing to me.”

Nathan heard a whimper escape Reeves’ mouth, and he slammed his face into the table again. “Be a man you little bitch!” he scolded.

When he whimpered again Nathan gripped his hair tighter. “Here is the new deal, there are two parts so listen closely. One, you’re finished in New York. Consider the business relationship between you and Salerno over, until I say otherwise. You will find someone else to buy your fucking guns from as well, and once you see how much better our services are you can come and beg ‘baby Salerno’ for forgiveness, and I’ll think about selling to you again. Two, you will pay the money you already owe plus an extra twenty percent of what you owe, just to show how much you appreciate me not killing you today. I’ll give you a week, my little gift to you.” Nathan leaned in closer to his ear, his voice was a low growl, “And if you decide not to comply with this deal, I’ll slice you up and send the pieces to your family to serve up to the parasites that eat in this piece of shit.”

Nathan stood up straight with his grip still tight in Reeves’ hair, pulled Reeves from his chair, and pushed his body back with so much force that Reeves’ feet left the ground, sending him flying over one table and crashing into another.

While Reeves laid there unconscious, Nathan looked around at Reeves’ family. The women stood crying and the men that came from the kitchen stood holding them protectively as they looked at Nathan and Mickey with pleading looks.
And here it comes, the guilt
, Nathan thought.

Yes, Nathan may be considered a ruthless killer, but he didn’t enjoy exposing innocent eyes to such brutality, he wasn’t an animal after all. At that moment he really wished Reeves would have just had the private meeting instead of being such an idiot.

Nathan wiped the sweat from his brow and straightened a chair. “I apologize for the interruption. You don’t have to cry, I have no desire to hurt any of you. If you will excuse me, my associate and I will be leaving now,” Nathan said trying to soften his features and straighten a few chairs on his way out. “When he wakes up remind him that he has seven days, please and thank you.”

Once they made it back to the car Nathan heard Mickey chuckle beside him. He looked at him, confused. “What’s funny?”

Mickey chuckled again. “You are.”

Nathan gave him an inquisitive look. “And why’s that?” He asked while starting the car and navigating into traffic.

Mickey looked at him with a knowing grin. “Because you felt guilty, you always do that when we do jobs and some chick is around scared and crying or something. You looked up and saw his family and you felt guilty for beating his ass.”

Nathan frowned. “Yeah well, they didn’t deserve to see that shit,” he said mostly to himself.

Mickey looked at his friend with one brow raised and chuckled. “And straightening up a few chairs is going to make up for what we did in front of their innocent eyes, as you call them?” he joked.

Nathan chuckled, he knew it wouldn’t, but he couldn’t stop himself from trying not to look like a complete brute. “I know, I know, I can’t help myself when I do that shit. I just wish that Reeves would have listened the first time. We could have had that meeting away from the eyes of his family. It’s not easy to get that shit out of your head you know, watching someone you love hurt.”

Mickey looked at his friend with concern, he knew why Nathan thought this way and he understood his gesture and reassuring words to Reeves’s family. Nathan was very complex to Mickey sometimes. He could be cold and ruthless when appropriate, and he could show kindness and compassion to those that deserved it. This was always interesting to Mickey about his friend. How could someone capable of such brutal acts like Nathan, care so much about being viewed as a monster by innocent individuals?

Mickey slapped his friend on the back. “Yeah buddy, you’re right. I’m sure they appreciate you putting those chairs back in place on the way out,” he joked.

Nathan laughed. “Fuck you.”

“Let’s get to the plane and get the hell out of here,” Mickey said leaning back in his seat.

Nathan nodded his head in agreement.

The plane ride to Hope Beach was the most fun Nathan had experienced in a long time. He’d forgotten how much fun it was to hang out with Mickey, and even though he didn’t say it out loud, he was kind of looking forward to the trip with his brothers.

When they got off the plane Nathan was greeted by the warm winds and sunny sky. He was glad they made it to Hope Beach before dark so he could look around the “little piece of heaven,” as Kyle called it. And he was right. Hope Beach was beautiful. The sunny sky, warm breeze, beautiful luxury homes, manicured lawns, and the gorgeous Hope Garden, all took Nathan’s breath away. He couldn’t take his eyes off of the beautiful assorted flowers that gave the garden a rainbow effect. It made him remember his mother. She loved gardens and she’d spent most of her time tending to her own. Gardening was a skill she had taught Nathan when he was very young. His father would always tell her that it wasn’t a skill that a man needed to possess, but his mother continued to teach him anyway. Nathan didn’t mind it at all, as a matter of fact, it brought him peace. Together, with the help of professionals, he and his mother built a beautiful garden that Nathan hadn’t visited since her death.

Nathan was still admiring the beauty as he waited for the stop light to change. When he looked up he saw the light was still red, so he turned his attention back to the garden. He noticed a large rose garden full of beautiful roses of various colors and his eyes settled on the yellow patch, those were his mother’s favorite. He remembered how she used them as decoration in their home and on his favorite big white gazebo, and the memory brought a smile to his face. It was memories like these that made him miss her even more.

He was enjoying the good memories of his mother when he noticed a pair of gorgeous brown legs appear in front of the yellow roses directly in his line of sight. His eyes began to journey upward to see the owner of those beautiful legs only to find a woman with her back toward him. She bent forward and picked up a rose that wasn’t rooted in the ground, giving Nathan a mouthwatering view of her incredible ass in the pair of khaki shorts she wore.
Damn
, he thought biting down on his bottom lip. She had the perfect ass, round, plump, and it looked soft as hell. Nathan was sure it would fit so perfectly in his hands.

When she stood up, she flipped her beautiful long hair over her shoulder. Nathan didn’t know if he had ever seen hair that beautiful before. It was like a thick black cloud that made its way down, ending in the middle of her back. It looked so soft. Nathan yearned to feel it against his skin. His eyes traveled to her beautiful legs again and he admired her gorgeous skin tone. God, her skin looked as smooth as silk, and
so
sweet like a rich Hershey’s chocolate bar. He really wished she would turn around so he could see her face.

And he got his wish.

When she turned around, for the second time in minutes, something in Hope Beach had taken Nathan’s breath away.

He was stuck, gazing at the stunning woman standing in the rose garden. She looked to be far away in thought as a small smile appeared on her beautiful face. She brought the rose up to the most beautiful full lips Nathan had ever seen, and placed a soft kiss on it. Nathan’s breath caught as a rush of memories flashed through his mind of him and his mother in their garden. His mother would pick up one of her roses and kiss it then recite something she made up that Nathan just couldn’t remember at the moment.

Shaking his head of the memory, his attention went back to the beauty in the garden. Her hair blew in the wind, and the sun kissed her smooth milk chocolate skin perfectly. She looked like an angel. Nathan was fighting to stay in the car, but it was like an invisible force was pushing him to jump out, take her in his arms, and kiss her senseless. He wanted to know her name. No, he
needed
to know her name. He needed to know the memory that put that beautiful smile on her face. He needed to know—

“Nathan! Hello, Earth to Nathan!”

Nathan blinked rapidly and shook his head. What the fuck was wrong with him? Was he actually considering jumping from his car to run across the street and confess his love to a complete stranger?
Holy shit.

He looked at Mickey, who was giving him a striking
what the fuck
look. Nathan frowned. “What?”

Mickey pointed to the traffic light. “It’s green. It’s been green. Where the hell were you man?”

He could hear the horns blare from the drivers behind him but he wanted to steal one more peek at the beautiful stranger. When he looked her way once more, his breath caught in his chest. She was looking at him! She had a confused expression on her face, most likely wondering why the idiot in the black BMW was holding up traffic. Their eyes met, and damn it, Nathan was stuck again.

Her eyes were the most beautiful hazel with a hint of green and they held him captive, he was powerless against them. A slow smile appeared on her beautiful face and Nathan couldn’t help but mirror her smile. She raised her hand and waved at him which made him smile wider. She let out a shy giggle and shook her head, and Nathan could have sworn he swooned like a little bitch.

Nathan was completely captivated by her. Her smile was warm and her eyes were expressive, it was like they were having a conversation without even speaking to one another. He was going to run to her, he needed to run to her. God, why the hell did he want to run to her? What the fuck was wrong with him?

“Nathan! What the fuck?”

Nathan snapped out of yet another daze and his attention went to Mickey.

“What?” Nathan snapped, angry at Mickey for interrupting his silent conversation with his beautiful stranger.

Mickey glared at him. “What the hell do you mean what? you just missed the light man. What the hell?”

Nathan looked up at the light. W
hoops,
he thought and chuckled. “Shit, I’m sorry man.” But he wasn’t sorry one bit. Now he could steal another look at his beautiful stranger. Just one more look, he was sure he’d be able to leave after one more look.

“What the hell is so funny Nathan? And what the hell are you looking…”

Nathan was gone, lost in another silent conversation with the beauty in Hope Garden. When their eyes met again she laughed, a fucking beautiful laugh that he could listen to over and over again for the rest of his life.

Wait, rest of his life?

Ok,
now
Nathan
knew
something was wrong with him. But right now, he didn’t care. His eyes remained locked to hers, neither one of them wanting to leave their silent conversation. They remained that way until a pretty redhead walked up to his beauty. Nathan watched as the redhead said something to the beautiful stranger and she tossed her head back and laughed that musical laugh of hers. The redhead just glared at her and grabbed her arm pulling her down the trail, and away from Nathan.

No!

Nathan fought the urge to run from the car and snatch her away from the redhead. He gripped the steering wheel tight and prayed for strength as he silently pleaded with his beautiful stranger to acknowledge him one more time. Anything, a wave, a nod, the finger, anything to show that she remembered he existed.

Once again his beauty did not disappoint.

While being pulled by the insistent red head, she looked over her beautiful exposed shoulder at him with a playful smile and winked. Satisfied with the acknowledgment, Nathan smiled and leaned back in his seat with a girly sigh.

“…and you better not miss this one too. Get your head out of your ass and watch the road man,” Mickey said.

Nathan looked at Mickey, bemused. “Huh?”

Mickey gasped and gave Nathan a look combined with shock and outrage. Nathan didn’t know he had been talking the entire time. He had been too caught up by his beautiful stranger.

“Are you kidding me?”

Nathan didn’t want to laugh at Mickey’s outrage, but his facial expression made it impossible to hold back. He couldn’t help himself.

Mickey glared at his friend. “Fuck you, Nathan.”

“I’m sorry, man. I’m so sorry,” Nathan said through his laughter. “Okay Mikilo. What were you saying?”

Mickey just gave Nathan the finger, which for some reason caused Nathan to burst into laughter again.

Soon after that, Nathan and Mickey finally made it to Kyle’s extremely large beach house. Nathan thought it would be more fitting to call the place a castle. They walked up the concrete pathway to the stunning modern style house and opened the front door. Once inside, Nathan felt as if he was walking into a tropical retreat. The plush white furniture sat on the polished hard wood floors, the contemporary style was the perfect choice in Nathan’s opinion. He had always been a fan and it seemed that Kyle shared the same fascination. Every room in the six bedroom, five bathroom mansion was decorated with contemporary style furniture and modern style paintings. The large wall of windows located in the living room of the mansion had a breathtaking ocean view.

Nathan was glad that the house was so close to the ocean, he couldn’t wait to get out in the open water and let the waves carry his stress away.

“Well, well, well, looks like I owe you some money, Lucca,” Dante said from the kitchen. He was leaning against the island looking at Nathan in surprise.

“I told you Mickey would talk him into coming,” Lucca said sitting at the table in the dining room, grinning, while stuffing potato chips in his mouth.

Mickey walked over to the living room and dropped his bag. “How much you lose, Tae?” he asked through a chuckle.

Dante sighed and held up one figure. Nathan looked at him bewildered, “You lost one dollar?”

Dante rolled his eyes, walked over to the couch and plopped down. “I wish,” he said with an exasperated sigh.

Lucca chuckled. “Not one dollar, cousin, one
thousand
dollars,” Lucca grinned widely. “I think I’m going to get a new leather jacket with the cash.” He put emphasis on the word cash to let Dante know he wouldn’t accept it any other way.

Nathan chuckled and shook his head at their antics. “Where’s Kyle?” he asked.

“He’s upstairs in his room, we were waiting for you guys to get here so we could hit up downtown and get some food. What the hell took you guys so long?” Dante asked looking up from the couch over at Nathan and Mickey.

Mickey frowned and pursed his lips while jerking his head toward Nathan.

Nathan rolled his eyes. “We had to handle something last minute in Brooklyn, and uh…then we got held up in traffic.”

Mickey snorted. “No, Nathan held up traffic for reasons only God knows. It was like he was a damn zombie staring at nothing.”

Nathan frowned. “That’s not true. I was looking at some of the sites. I missed the light and Mickey got all bitchy about it.” Nathan lied. He wasn’t going to tell them he held up traffic because a beautiful woman held his attention captive. He wasn’t going to tell them that he couldn’t take his eyes off of her for more than a minute even if he tried, and he definitely wasn’t going to tell them that if she hadn’t gotten dragged away, he’d probably still be in traffic grinning at her like a fucking idiot. Nope, telling all that would just be too much.

“Bullshit. I was trying to get his attention, and once I got it he was looking at me like he had just come out of a fucking trance,” Mickey said scowling at Nathan.

“See what I was saying? Bitchy.”

Dante fell back on the couch laughing.

Mickey glared at Nathan. “Kiss my ass, Nathan.”

Nathan laughed, messing with Mickey amused him. Mickey was the youngest of them all, not by much, but it was still fun to tease the kid.

Lucca walked over and slapped Mickey on the back good-naturedly. “Don’t let Nathan piss you off, kid. He’s just being a smart-ass.”

Mickey waved Nathan off. “Screw you, Nathan. I know what I saw you bastard. Anyway, I’ll be in my room. Call when Kyle comes down and we leave for food.” He walked up the stair case holding a suitcase in one hand, and holding up his middle finger at Nathan with the other.

Nathan chuckled and turned to Lucca. “I suppose you guys have already chosen a room, so I’ll just take what’s left, it doesn’t matter to me.”

“I got you cousin. I’ll show you where your room is.” Lucca grabbed Nathan’s bag and led him up the steps.

Nathan grabbed his second bag and followed up after Lucca.

Once they made it up the white marble staircase they walked down a long hallway with a skylight.
Good idea
, Nathan thought, as he admired the architecture of the house.

“We know how much you like your privacy Nate, so we saved you one of the master bedrooms. It’s some distance from the rest of the rooms but you’ll love it, trust me,” Lucca said.

They finally made it to Nathan’s room, and Lucca was right, Nathan loved it. The décor maintained the contemporary theme like the rest of the house, and the walls were painted with warm colors, but that was not the part that Nathan loved the most. The room had large sliding glass doors that opened to a private patio. Nathan walked to the large windows and admired the view of the ocean.

“I know how much you love the water so I told them to save you this room. You have your own space and it’s a master so you have your own bathroom, with that big ass Jacuzzi tub so you should be good,” Lucca said from behind Nathan.

Nathan continued to stare out of the windows at the sun setting above the ocean.

Lucca went on talking. “And there are stairs that lead down to the beach on the balcony. I know how much you love those swims so that should make it easier.”

Nathan knew that Lucca was babbling, looking for a way to ask the question he really wanted to ask. Nathan decided to put him out of his misery.

“Just ask Lucca, I know you want to,” Nathan said. He didn’t turn to look at Lucca. He just kept his eyes on the ocean.

Lucca sighed. “Are you okay? I know it’s a difficult time of year for you with the anniversary of what happened to Aunt Anya coming up.”

Nathan turned to look at him and nodded. “I’m fine, Lucca. I promise. I’ve come a long way. I think I’ll be able to make it through this month without having a breakdown.” He chuckled.