Free Making Angel (Mariani Crime Family Book 1) by Amanda Washington Page B

blow in his home to earn a decent stint in the lockup, and I wasn’t about to let Markie take that fall for him.
    “Yeah.” I leaned forward and sniffed her. “Change into something that doesn’t smell like pot. You have some of that fruity-smelling stuff to spray in your hair?”
    Bones’s jaw dropped.
    Eyes wide, Markie nodded at me.
    “Good. Do that. Hurry.”
    Ariana’s condition would bring enough drama down on them. I had a feeling Markie was only high from contact and that would clear up as soon as she got out of the apartment.
    Markie rushed out of the bedroom.
    Bones stared at me. I could tell he wanted to argue, but we didn’t have time for that crap, so I stepped up to the bed and bent to get my hands under Ariana.
    “Get out of the way,” Bones growled. “I got her.”
    He was pissed, but I’d have to fix that later. Right now, we needed to get Ariana to the hospital. Markie followed us out of the apartment, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, carrying a pair of sandals, and smelling fruity.
    I sped the whole way to the hospital, but not fast enough to draw legitimate police attention. When I pulled up in front of the emergency room entrance, Bones jumped out and carried Ariana in with Markie hot on their heels. I parked the Hummer and hurried to join them, arriving in time to see Bones lowering Ariana onto a gurney. Nurses surrounded them.
    Markie gave my arm a light squeeze, her gentle touch sending shivers up my spine. She smiled at me, revealing her heart-stopping dimples once again. “Thank you. Thank you both.”
    Then she took a deep breath and followed the gurney as it was wheeled past the admittance doors.
    I watched her go, somehow both grateful and grieved to see her walk away a second time.
    “You’re doing that thing again,” Bones said.
    “What thing?” I asked.
    “Tugging at your collar. You did it in the pizzeria, then when Markie answered the door, and now you’re doing it again.”
    I looked down, shocked to find that my fingers were—in fact—tugging at the dark T-shirt under my SWAT jacket. “The T-shirt’s too tight. Feels like it’s strangling me,” I said, forcing my hand to let go. We turned and walked back toward the emergency room doors. Real cops would show soon, and we needed to be gone before they did.
    “You sure? Looks to me like you have a tell.”
    “A tell?” I snorted. I lived in the gambling capital of the world and had a lifestyle where predictability led to death. If I had a tell, I would have known about it years ago. “No, I don’t.”
    “As your personal bodyguard, it’s my job to tell you that you most definitely do.”
    I climbed into the Hummer and started it up. “You’re being ridiculous. I just met her.”
    Bones shrugged. “Yeah, and now you need to stay the hell away from her.”
    I knew he was right, but his words made me bristle. “Oh? Why’s that?”
    I merged into traffic and toward the strip, feeling his gaze boring into the side of my head.
    “Because she’s the type of girl who’d be more interested in picking out rings than condoms.”
    “And you got that from meeting her twice?” I asked.
    He chuckled. “You know how good I am at reading people. Tell me I’m wrong, Angel.”
    I couldn’t and he knew it. “Is that really a bad thing? I am getting a little tired of shopping for condoms.”
    “Dangerous words, my friend. You remember One Nut Brizio, right?” Bones asked.
    I groaned. A few years ago, a son of the Porta family named Brizio fell hard for a chick from out of town. As expected, Brizio’s father ran a background check on the girl, but she came out clean. Squeaky clean, in fact. The girl didn’t even have a speeding ticket. Since nobody was that clean, Brizio’s father pegged her for a cop or worse. He told Brizio to stay away from the girl, but Brizio chose to marry her instead. Turned out the girl was working for one of the other families. She was sent in to get intel, but ended up catching a feeling and