A fucking lifetime ago. A lot of water under a very long bridge.
And we just weren’t meant to be anything more than—
“Hey, you forget something?”
My breath hitches as I find myself staring into her twinkling, blue-green eyes. They’re smiling just as big as she is and fuck, as much as I want to convince myself otherwise, I’m hooked.
Still, after all of these years.
“Maybe,” I say. “Depends on how you answer.”
She tilts her head to the side, dots of bright pink appearing in her cheeks. “Okay, so then there’s an actual question.”
I nod. “Yeah.”
“Well, ask away.” She nods over her shoulder toward the crowded dining room. “I’ve got a lot of tables.”
A quick look confirms that Ray and Bobby haven’t looked up once since I strolled back in here, which is a good thing…for a lot of reasons.
“What would happen if I came back here tonight after your shift was over?” I take a step closer to her just so I can breathe in her sweet citrusy scent as she considers her answer. “And asked if I could take you out for a drink?”
A flicker of shock mixed with excitement settles into her features, and her entire face lights up like the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. “So, like…a date?” A smile spreads across her face, and I swear I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in my life. “I’d say sure.”
I grin at her. “Good. That’s good to know.”
“Just so I’m clear, was that a hypothetical? Or something else?”
“Definitely a something else.” I wink at her. “See you around…?”
“Eleven o’clock,” Chella says.
“I’ll be here.”
“Me too.” She claps a hand against her forehead and rolls her eyes. “That was stupid. I mean, obviously, I’ll be here.”
“Until eleven.”
“Until eleven,” she repeats, backing toward the dining room with a dazed look on her face. She lets out a soft chuckle and turns her back, practically skipping toward one of her tables.
Crazy, sexy, and fucking adorable at the same time.
A fucking trifecta.
I know it’s not the best timing, considering I have a bunch of people to maim in the meantime, but hey, I need to find some kind of work-life balance.
May as well start tonight.
I take a deep breath and head back outside, jogging over to the Range Rover. With blacked-out windows, I won’t be able to tell who’s inside until I am.
And that should worry the fuck out of me.
Suddenly, the saying ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’ has a fuck-ton more meaning to me.
And I now have a date that I’d very much like to make it to alive.
I grip the door handle, pulling it open and finding Tony behind the wheel as expected. “Where’s Dario?” I ask.
Tony nods his head toward the backseat.
“Okay, pop the trunk.”
Tony lifts an eyebrow. “Paranoid much?”
“If you had the week I did, you’d understand why I’m asking.”
“And you really think I’d let someone hide back there?” he asks. “I could just as easily make sure they’re at the warehouse when we get there. That’d be easier and way less messy than in a vehicle,” he says with a wink.
I roll my eyes. “Thanks for painting that picture.” Did I mention he’s a sarcastic fuck, too?
Tony snickers and I walk around to the back of the car. I’m the behind-the-scenes guy, the one who orchestrates this kind of shit. Of course I’d ask him to pop the goddamn trunk! It opens slowly, revealing absolutely nothing. I close it quickly after catching a glimpse of Dario wiggling around in the backseat, gagged with duct tape. I jump into the front seat and close the door behind me.
“Happy?” Tony asks.
“Satisfied,” I say. “For the time being.”
“It’s not easy being the boss, is it?” he asks.
“I have a fucking permanent crick in my neck and a chip on my shoulder,” I grumble.
That’s all we say for the rest of the short ride. There’s a deserted warehouse in the Meatpacking District we use off West Street to handle situations like Dario.
That kind of damage control is my specialty.
He whines and cries through the duct tape because, while he may be stupid in most situations, he knows exactly what awaits him at that warehouse.
Well, at least, he thinks he does.
What he doesn’t know is that I’m not going to kill him…right away.
Tony drives down the desolate street, finding parking right behind the old, dilapidated building. There are a few in this area, close to Pier 26 and the Hudson River.
But that won’t be his final resting place.
I crack my knuckles before getting out of the car, a rush of adrenaline coursing through me as Tony drags Dario out of the backseat and toward the large metal door. The whole area is unlit, making it that much more ominous. I’m sure Dario is shitting bricks right now, and rightly so.
He just contributed to one of the biggest heists in our organization’s short history here in Manhattan. Whether or not he knew he was being duped is irrelevant. He humiliated me by letting himself get lured away from his responsibilities.
Obligation and loyalty always trumps pussy.
Always!
And because of that, he will pay the very steep price of his negligence.
I get out of the truck and jog over to where Tony wrestles Dario just outside of the door. I pull it open and shove Dario inside. He stumbles, face-planting on the cold, hard cement. I kneel down next to him and yank his hair, pulling his head backward. “Get up,” I hiss into his ear.
He staggers to his feet, his eyes red and wet with tears. They plead with me to untie him, to pull off the tape covering his mouth, to let him beg for my forgiveness.
He’s gonna be begging for a whole lot more than that.
I look around, my trust in Tony creeping up a few more notches. No cartel ambush, no indication of an impending coup.
A couple of shadows appear at the end of the corridor and my spine stiffens.
Motherfucker…
My hand goes directly to the gun in my waistband, my palm wrapped around the handle. “Who the hell…?” I mumble.
“You’re gonna need transport once Dario is handled,” Tony says in a low voice. “To the site in East New York. I didn’t think you’d want to be the one to take him there.”
“Obviously,” I reply quickly. See, this is one of the reasons why I like Tony so much. He thinks of shit I don’t. I can’t be the one dragging a body to East New York.
I need to stop thinking like an enforcer.
I need to think like the fucking king.
Not that I need to admit any of that to him.
A couple of guys from the club appear once we get closer. They don’t say much, just a few grunts are exchanged. I really don’t need them to speak. Not now, anyway. I just need them to watch and take this very colorful story back to the others under my rule.
By now, everyone already knows how splintered our organization is and how easy it was to infiltrate under my control.
I need to grab back some of that control, making Dario a pawn in the process.