Chapter 66: Chapter Sixty-Six

Frankie folded up another piece of paper Montgomery had dropped off during his visit earlier. Once the edges were perfectly pinched, he lifted his hand, kept his eye on the trashcan by the door and flicked his wrist. The paper airplane soared through the air and landed in the bin with a satisfying ‘clink.’ He sighed as he picked up another paper detailing reports on informants, new faces spotted at the clubs, membership applications for the casinos… All information Montgomery was instructed to now relay directly to Matteo. He flung the last airplane with more force than the others and it sailed through the open doorway… and directly past Gloria.

Her amused eyes followed the path of the plane toward the nurses’ station. She glanced in at him, shook her head and retrieved the plane containing sensitive information. Her head tilted to the side as she observed the loaded trashcan and dropped the most recent plane in with the others. Frankie smiled at her, but a moment too late. Her brows crashed over her expression and her lips puckered.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, moving toward him and sitting on the edge of his bed.

“Absolutely nothing,” he said, crooking his finger for her to come closer. She leaned forward and he grabbed the back of her neck. He pulled her the rest of the way down so he could claim her lips. She sighed and melted into him, her palms coming to rest on his chest. “In fact,” he whispered as he drew away slightly. He took her hand and slid it down to his crotch. Her eyes tracked the movement. “Feel that?” he asked, cupping her palm around his slowly hardening length.

“No,” she said, the smirk on her lips and challenge in her honey eyes reminding him why he’d started calling her by her nickname.

“No more tube,” he told her, his own smile growing wider as her eyebrows rose.

“Ah, I see now,” she said as her hand slid down his cock. “Does this mean you’ll be getting out of here soon?”

“Mhmm, any minute now,” he told her. “I tried to call and let you know but your phone went straight to voicemail.” He tilted his head to the side. “Care to explain yourself?”

Gloria shrugged and tried to pull away. “Just girl stuff,” she said, averting her eyes.

Frankie caught her arm before she could step away from the bed. He tucked some hair behind her ear and swiped his thumb on the soft skin of her jaw. He pulled his thumb away and glanced meaningfully down at the smear of blood on the pad of his finger. He quirked a brow up and watched her mouth drop open.

“You missed a spot, Vixen.”

“That’s not what it looks like,” she tried to lie.

“Are you expecting me to believe this is craft paint?” he asked, chuckling slightly at her uncomfortable expression.

“If that makes you feel better.”

“Gloria…”

She opened her mouth. A knock sounded at the door, allowing Gloria to pull away from him and save her explanation for later. Frankie growled and glared at the team of nurses and doctors that filed in to discharge him. He kept his eyes on her as the nurses did their final rounds of checking his blood pressure, temperature, bandages and so on. He kept his eyes on her as he dressed back in his civilian clothing, allowing her the pleasure of glimpsing his body, though mangled and a bit frail from nearly a week in the hospital. His extended stay didn’t seem to affect her appreciation as her eyes ventured unabashedly over his physique. He smiled to himself as he recalled how he’d only taken her virginity two weeks prior and yet she’d grown into her nickname with ease.

After he'd been successfully discharged, Gloria wheeled him to the hospital entrance where Leo waited with an SUV to take them back to the apartment.

“Wow, I’m still allowed a car service?” Frankie mocked as Gloria helped him out of the wheelchair. He didn’t really need the help but any excuse he could use to have her hands on him, he would take.

Leo sighed. “He warned me you might be a little bitch about all this,” Leo said as he slammed the door shut and walked around to the driver’s side.

“What is he talking about?” Gloria asked as she laced her fingers through his.

Frankie leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine.”

Gloria shivered slightly but managed to push him away before his lips could connect with her neck and Leo could step into the car.

“So what will be your first move?” Leo asked as he pulled out into traffic.

“Hopefully get this girl to take her clothes off,” Frankie said with a wink.

Gloria smacked his arm and tried to pull away only for him to snatch her by the hips and pull her flush against him.

Leo rolled his eyes in the front seat. “I meant about Vasiliev.”

“Ohhhh, you should have been more specific,” Frankie said, looking out the window to avoid Gloria’s raised eyebrow of curiosity.

“So you have no idea,” Leo surmised.

“Tell your boss if he wants to know what my next moves are he can ask me himself,” Frankie grumbled at his reflection.

“Alright, continue being a bitch about it then,” Leo said, pulling the car up to the curb next to the apartment building.

“Thanks for the lift, Life Alert,” Frankie said as he pushed open the door. “Sorry you couldn’t get the information you needed. I’d say your job is safe because of your history with the boss but that doesn’t seem to matter anymore.”

“Oh come on, Frank, you know he just…”

Frankie closed the door before Leo could finish. Gloria came around the back of the SUV with that damned eyebrow crooked up.

“Oh, shoot,” Frankie said, snapping his fingers. “I left my crutches at the hospital.”

Gloria rolled her eyes and walked to his side so that he could lean his weight against her. He draped his right arm over her shoulder and brushed his fingers over her breast. She slapped his hand and he stumbled slightly, forcing her to grab him with both hands.

“Stop it, you,” she chastised.

“I’m not doing anything,” he whined as they passed the new door attendant and entered the lobby.

Gloria stopped just inside the door. Frankie followed her gaze toward the front desk where Juniper was trying her best to type one-handed. Feeling their gaze, Juniper looked up. Her smile of greeting slowly eroded from her face as she glanced between them.

“Mr. Donati, Miss Rubanov,” Juniper said.

Gloria’s gaze slid back to Frankie. “You go on up. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Frankie turned to face her more fully and he narrowed one eye. “Secret rendezvous with Gen and now a secret meeting with Jun? I don’t like this new cryptic side of you, Vixen.”

She stepped up on her toes and kissed his cheek before whispering in his ear, “Yeah, you do.”

Frankie groaned and gripped her waist tightly in his grasp. “I’ll give you five minutes. Any longer than that and I’ll come back down here and take you up against the desk whether you’re still deep in conversation or not,” he promised.

Gloria walked him past the desk and let him go. He tilted slightly from side to side before steadying himself. He sent a wink toward Gloria before strutting the rest of the way toward the elevator without so much as a limp. While the elevator went up, he pulled the thumb drive from his back pocket and studied it for any clue as to what was on it. As soon as arrived at his apartment he went for the security room. He peeked through the slat to his chamber and smiled at the little twerp Accardi had brought home for him to play with.

With a sigh, Frankie sat down at his desk and flipped on all the computer screens. He didn’t bother pulling up his emails as was his usual routine. Instead, he skipped through the various feeds of the apartment building. His forehead pinched as he noticed Gloria and Juniper were no longer at the front desk. He quickly swiped through the feeds until he spotted them in front of Jun’s apartment. Gloria’s arms were crossed tightly about her chest while Juniper nervously tried to fit the key into her doorknob. He quickly scanned through his memory to recall whether or not Gloria had a weapon on her. Then they disappeared into Juniper’s apartment. He sighed and shrugged, dismissing it for the more favorable task at hand.

He pulled out the thumb drive and inserted it into his main computer. He tapped his fingers along the desk as he waited for the video to load. Once it had, his fingers stalled against the wood. It was a recording from a security feed. He recognized the room. It was Accardi’s preferred room of torture, the Box. But it wasn’t Accardi examining the various tools on the metal table. It was Gloria. He fumbled for his headphones and quickly plugged them in. He turned the volume up until his Vixen’s voice was clear. He listened raptly as Gloria interrogated the bitch responsible for him being kidnapped. He was impressed with the amount of information his vixen was able to draw out of the woman. She stayed calm, collected while maintaining an edge of absolute ferality that made his pants tight. He groaned as she described in detail exactly what she had in store for the blonde bitch in front of her.

“Now,” Gloria said, stepping away from the chair to examine her canvas. The look of pure sinister intent forced him to undo his belt and unbutton his pants to relieve the pressure his dick felt pressed against his zipper. “Would you prefer stencil or freehand?”

Bridget spat at Gloria’s feet and the sinister smile turned to a psychotic grin.

“I guess you’ve gotten your answer, Vixen. What do you plan to do now?” Frankie asked the screen as he unconsciously pulled his cock from his pants and started to stroke it in an attempt to cage his excitement.

“You’re right. I’ve always done my best work freehand. Hold still, beautiful,” Gloria said, stepping forward to press the scalpel to Bridget’s left shoulder.