Breaking Rebel's Walls, page 9
“What do you need?”
“I can do it myself,” Tommy told him.
“Why hurt yourself when I can help you?” Amato quietly asked him.
“Now, I must excuse myself and say my goodbyes.” Don Ferrone stood up and ran his hands down the front of his suit jacket. “I have another meeting that I must attend to. I’ll let the other dons know that their guards have arrived and that everything is going according to plan.”
“Thank you, Don Ferrone, for everything that you’ve done for my family,” Tommy said, trying to stand up.
Amato quickly moved to help him, so that he could stand up to say his goodbye like that, instead of flat on his back. He was getting a numb ass from just lying there.
“Take care of yourself. Let Amato help you so that you can heal quicker. The more you push, the longer your recovery will be. Just ask Amato about that.” Don Ferrone grinned at the man standing beside him.
“Let’s not discuss that.” Amato glared at his friend.
“Oh, do tell.” Tommy smiled at Don Ferrone.
“That can be a story for another day, or you can annoy Amato into telling you.” Don Ferrone looked over at his friend and gave him an evil grin. “I have another meeting to get to, and you have your man to look after.”
“Fucking smart ass,” Amato muttered.
“Now, Amato, is that any way to speak to your don?” Tommy teased him.
Tommy cracked up laughing, then groaned when he wrapped his arms around his ribs at the sour look Amato gave him. He was picked up into strong arms and held against a warm chest as he let out a low moan of pain.
“Oh, gattino, what have you done to yourself?” Amato cradled him gently.
Tommy looked up at him. “I just hurt my ribs, they’re not ready for me to laugh yet.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t do that until they’re ready for it, hmm?” Amato smiled at him. “I know what it’s like to have broken ribs, and while yours are only bruised, they still hurt. Give them and the muscles time to heal before you hurt yourself more. I would hate for you to be in more pain.”
When he looked up, Tommy saw that Don Ferrone had left. “Oh, he’s gone.”
“He left while we were talking.”
“He’s sneaky. I thought that Knight was sneaky, but Don Ferrone makes him look like he’s in training.”
Amato threw back his head as he laughed, and Tommy bounced against the solid chest he was being held against. He could feel the hard muscles and he wanted to run his hands over them and feel the definition in them, map out the peaks and valleys.
When he felt a change in the vibration from the chest he was leaning on and looked up at Amato. The tender look on his face trapped the breath in Tommy’s lungs. He never expected to see such a look on Amato’s face, and never directed towards him.
“Amato...,” Tommy whispered.
“Yo, Amato, you need to check this out,” Gio called out to him. “Something happened when Don Ferrone left.”
Amato’s head snapped up and he looked over to Gio. “Explain.”
“They took pictures of the cars as they left, and I saw one guy on the phone to someone.”
“Go, I’ll have Doc help me to the bathroom.”
“Are you sure, gattino?”
“I’m sure, go.”
Amato gently put him back on his feet, then after a moment, put a hand on his face, cupping it. “Be careful, I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
It was the kiss Amato pressed to his forehead that felt like a stamp had been placed on him. As if he’d been claimed.
What Tommy wondered, did he want that? He wasn’t sure, but he knew that he wanted to explore it.
Chapter Twenty-One
Amato didn’t want to walk away from Tommy, but he’d swore that he’d protect him, and he would. When he became important to him, he didn’t know, but he was getting under his skin.
He hadn’t felt this way about anyone since Leone, and now Tommy. What was it about Tommy? He didn’t want to be feeling something for anyone else. It damn near destroyed him when Leone was killed and now Tommy is going up against the Mexican Cartels. He refused to lose him to them.
Storming into the room where Chip had his monitors set up, he snapped, “Show me what happened.”
“Ask me nicely and I might, asshole,” Chip snarled back at him.
“Don’t fuck with me, I’m not in the mood for your bullshit, kid.”
“Nошел на хуй,” Vasa growled at him. “Don’t speak to him like that.”
Amato took a deep breath, calming himself down. “I’m sorry,” he said after a moment, “I’m just worried about this shit. These guys can be nasty, and I don’t want to see anyone else here get hurt.”
Chip turned and looked up at him from his chair. “Yeah, I get that, and I’m sorry I snapped at you. I know that our safety is on your shoulders, but I worry about it too, I have been looking after these guys since before we moved in here.”
“How about we try and share the job,” Amato said, holding out his hand to Chip. “I’ll worry about the physical and you take the technical.”
Chip gave him a smirk and reached out and shook his hand. “I can do that, partner.”
Amato laughed, then pulled Chip out of his chair and into a hug, even lifting his hand and rubbing the top of Chip’s head, mussing up his hair.
“Hey, not the hair.” Chip laughed, trying to push himself out of Amato’s arms. After a moment, Amato slowly let him go so that he wouldn’t fall.
“Okay, what can you tell me about the assholes?” Amato asked.
“Easier if I show you,” Chip said, sitting back down and hitting some buttons on his keyboard. After a moment, a video came up on one of the screens. “This was just as Don Ferrone was leaving, watch the men on the corner. See how they had their phones out recording who’s leaving? I don’t think they were able to see Don Ferrone in the back of the car, but they could still see the driver. Also, watch this guy...” Chip pointed to one of the men standing behind the two men doing the recording. “He’s speaking on his phone to someone. I can’t quite tell what he’s saying, but I’m pretty sure that he’s speaking in Narco.”
“How do you know Narco?” Gio asked.
“Google translate, I was trying to read his lips on a few of the words, but they were confusing to me.”
Amato looked at Chip with newfound respect. “Damn, that impressive.”
“Meh, I just wish I could do more.” Chip nodded his chin towards the screen that he’d stopped. “That guy was saying something about someone ‘important’ being in the car and that they should follow it. I guess he was told to back off, but I think they want to start checking out who’s coming here now.”
“Fuck, we need to start making it random now.” Amato looked around to the other men there. “Do you think you could arrange to have some of your men make deliveries here to us if we should need it?”
“I think our boss would send a runner here,” Caleb said. “I can call him and ask.”
“We can call our Pakhan and ask, but he should agree too,” Igor said.
“Good. I think we have every weapon we need, but why don’t you go through our weapons room and see if there’s anything you want and if the armor works for you. If you need anything replaced, you can contact your don and ask him to send it to you, but see if you can send enough for all of us. Make sure that you let Chip and me know if there’s going to be someone coming here. We’re going to need to have an armed greeting at the gate, and he’ll need to man the controls. Also, Robby is willing to try and cook food that you’d like to have on the menu, so please speak to him about it. I know that all the dons have said that they’re willing to pay for our meals, but the boys here have refused any compensation, saying they don’t need it.”
“Oh? How do you boyos manage that?” Colin asked.
“Because we can.” Chip folded his arms over his chest and smirked at him. “We don’t want to take any money from the mob bosses, owe them anything for this. We can easily afford to have you guys here, hell, we can pay your salary while you’re here. We have more money than you could imagine. Our business is good, and Sir Knight is one hell of a money wizard. I swear that man can take two nickels and make them into a quarter.”
Amato nodded. “I’ve even asked if he’d take over my investments, they aren’t doing shit for me. This guy is that good.”
Igor and Vasa looked at one another, then turned back to look at Chip. “Could he help us so we could do more with our underground railroad in Russia?” Vasa asked.
“I’m sure he will, and I’m pretty sure that all of us even want to chip in and help you with it. What you’re doing is something amazing, and I know that I’d love to be a part of it,” Chip told him.
Amato held out his hand to Vasa. “Hell, I’d love to help when this shit here’s settled.”
“Da, that’d be good to have help.” Vasa smiled at him.
“Anyways, I better check in with Don Ferrone, make sure he knows about this and got away safely,” Amato said, pulling out his phone. He realized that should have been his first thought.
“Wondered when you were going to call me,” Cris said.
“Sorry about that, had something here to finish up,” Amato said. “Anyways, it looks like the fuckers on the corner really are the Mexican Cartels. Chip was able to read the lips of one of the guys, and he was speaking Narco on the phone with someone. All he caught was wanting to follow the cars that left here, you. He was told no, but now I worry about the cars coming here. I think we should change it up and rotate who comes here, but it should no longer be one of the dons.”
After a few moments, Cris responded, “You’re right, as much as I’m going to miss visiting the boys, their safety comes first. What else aren’t you telling me?”
“Were you followed?”
“We weren’t, but I don’t know about Carlos, let me check with him. He drove the SUV back to the warehouse.”
“Okay, from what Chip was able to read from the lips of the one on the phone, he was told not to follow anyone yet, but I don’t know if he followed orders.”
“Fanculo! They’re going to become bolder, make sure you’re ready.”
“We will be,” Amato growled out. “Those fuckers won’t like the welcome committee we have here for them.”
“For now, I don’t think they know who the boys are, or what that place is, and I want to keep it that way. Make sure it stays like that.”
“Yes, Don Ferrone.”
Amato knew the phone call was done after that order from Don Ferrone, as it was no longer his friend speaking to him.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Doc came over to check on Tommy as soon as Amato turned to walk away.
“You okay?” he quietly asked. “You’re looking a bit shell shocked.”
Tommy paused for a moment, then turned to look at his friend. “What does that even mean, shell shocked? I know that I’m feeling stunned that someone like Amato seems like he cares about me, but does he really, or is this a rebound thing after Leone?”
Doc looked at him, then held out his arm so that Tommy could lean on him while he shuffled towards the bathroom.
“Honestly, I do think he’s past Leone,” Doc said.
“Why do you believe that?”
“In all the time that has passed since he lost Leone, has he ever really looked at another man the way he’s looked at you, or just fucked them and walked away?” was the blunt response.
“How would I know; I just met the guy!” Tommy snapped.
The smirk he got made him want to smack it off his friend’s face, but he also knew that Doc had a point, Amato did seem like the fuck-and-walk type of guy. He said as much when he told them that he ended up getting this assignment as a type of punishment, to help him get out of the mental shit pile he was in. It seems like it’s working. He’s focused on what needs to be done and working with others to do it. While he’s the one in charge, he’s not an asshole about it, which he thought was cool.
“Fine, you’ve got a point, and even Don Ferrone said that he thought Amato was beginning to care about me.” Tommy stopped at the bathroom door and then looked at his friend. “But here’s my concern, does he really, or am I a rebound guy?”
Once he said that, he shuffled into the bathroom and closed the door, but he could clearly hear his friend tell him what an idiot he was. Grinning to himself, he slowly finished doing his business, then once he finally managed to wash his hands, he opened the door to find Amato standing outside.
“Hey, gattino, do you need help?”
The way Tommy’s heart stuttered should have warned him, but no, he just stood there staring at the gorgeous man in front of him.
“You okay, Tommy?” Amato quietly asked.
“Yeah,” Tommy replied after a moment, “I just had a thought about something.”
“Anything I can help with?”
“I’ll let you know later, for now, can you help me back to the couch? While you do that, wanna fill me in on what’s going on?”
“It looks like the guys on the corner are watching who’s coming and going, and they wanted to follow Cris, but whoever was calling the shots on the phone told them not to. So, I suggested that we rotate who comes around and when. This way, it should keep them on their toes and allow our people to move a bit more freely. At least, that’s what I’m hoping for. I also told him that he shouldn’t be coming here again. We can’t risk his safety.”
“Do you think it’ll work?” Tommy asked as he slowly shuffled beside the bigger man.
“It should, with us having no set schedule, how can they plan for it. The only way they should know if someone is coming or going is if they have a mole in one of the organizations, and I don’t believe that they do.”
“I hope they don’t too.”
Amato helped him to sit back down on the couch, making sure he was comfortable.
“Is there anything I can get you?” Amato checked with him.
“I think I’m allowed some coffee, so I would love a cup.”
“Absolutely, how do you like it?”
“Just ask Robby, he knows how we all like our drinks. I swear he’s better than any coffee barista, but that day I went out was because our machine had given up on us. There was no way any of us were going to be able to function without our coffee or waiting for a new machine to be delivered. So, I went out to get some from the local shop but ended up getting jumped by assholes.”
“Your unfortunate beating did let us know about the Mexican Cartels and their operation. As much as I don’t like seeing you in this pain, it’s given us much needed information.”
Tommy snorted, then groaned and grabbed his ribs. “Damn it, I need for these things to heal. I need my attitude back!”
***
Amato just laughed and walked over to the kitchen, where he found Robby busy making a bunch of things and all of it smelling amazing.
“What’re you making today?” Amato asked, taking in a deep breath. “It smells amazing.”
“I’ve got some colcannon and champ going for our new Irish folks, and for our Russian friends I’ve put together some pirozhki. I have to admit, I kinda went down a rabbit hole learning about the traditional foods from their countries, and it’s been lovely to learn about them. I also have a baked spaghetti in the oven. I wanted to have something on hand that I knew Rebel could eat.”
Amato gave him a smile, then turned towards the coffee machine, and stopped to stare at it. “Uh, how do you work this thing? I just use a simple coffee pot.”
Robby laughed and moved so he could hip check him out of the way. “I’m guessing Rebel wants a cup of coffee?”
“Yes.”
“Coming up. What would you like?” Robby asked as he got to work making something for Tommy.
“I’m a simple guy, I like my coffee strong and black.”
“Let me see what I can make for you.” Robby threw a grin over his shoulder. After a few minutes, Robby handed him two cups of coffee, one was light and the other black.
“Don’t forget to let me know if you like it, otherwise I’ll have to try different blends.”
“Thank you, Robby, I appreciate you doing this for me.”
“You’re welcome,” Robby said, then went back to the stove and what he’d been doing.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Tommy watched as Amato brought him his cup of heaven. He was reaching for the coffee and making grabby hand motions before Amato was standing in front of him.
“Are you sure you’re allowed this?” Amato teased him.
“Either you give me that or suffer the consequences,” he growled.
Amato smirked at him, then passed him his cup. Tommy took it and held it up so he could take a deep breath, at least until as deep of one his ribs would let him. God, he was looking forward to being able to just breathe again.
Not realizing that he’d closed his eyes, he opened them when he felt the dip of the couch beside him. Looking over, he saw that Amato sat there.
“How’s your coffee?” he asked, looking at the plain black gold he had in his cup.
“I like the smell of it, but the taste is not as deep as I’m used to.”
“Yo, Robby,” Tommy called out.
“What’s up?” Robby asked, coming out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on the ever-present towel on his shoulder.
“What kind of bean did you use for Amato?”
“I used the Jamaican Blue Mountain. Why?”
“He said it was lighter than he’s used to.”
“Ah...” Robby nodded his head. “I think maybe for his next cup I’ll try the Pache, that might have the heavier flavor he’s looking for.”
“Oh, good idea.” Tommy grinned at him, then held up his cup to him. “And thank you for this, it’s exactly what I needed.”
“Enjoy, now I need to get back to dinner, it’s almost done.”
“It’s almost dinner time?” Tommy looked down at his watch, “I keep losing track of time, it’s already been a couple of days since I was hurt. How long is it going to be until I’m back to normal?”
