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Trey sighed, refusing to give in to Sal’s taunting.
“This is a surprise, you showing up.”
Sal arched his brow. “You said I was always welcome.”
Trey snorted, shaking his head. He’d said it a hundred times over and meant it every time. However, the timing of last night’s events and Sal’s visit led Trey to believe this was a planned ambush.
Sal grabbed his mug, taking a long sip before setting it down on the counter and glancing up at him. “She’s gonna give you something you will think you don’t deserve. You’ll lay on your deathbed thinking, ‘I don’t deserve her,’ and you know what, kid, you probably won’t. Taught you boys to take what you earn. But sometimes, you get offered something you didn’t earn. It’s not rightfully yours.” Sal cocked his head toward the hallway where Dahlia had disappeared to. “Take it anyway. And spend the rest of your life trying to earn her and prove that you deserve her.”
Trey dragged his hand over his head. “I need time.”
“Last night proved you’ve run out of time.”
Trey jerked his gaze to Sal, who sipped his coffee. Clearly, this wasn’t a spontaneous visit. Oz must have called him and given details about the previous night’s events.
“Maybe I haven’t made a final decision.” Trey arched his brow in challenge.
Sal knew him too well to buy into it. “Yes, you have.”
Trey ground his teeth. “But maybe she hasn’t.”
Sal laughed, shaking his head. “First night I met her, the way she talked about you, and that’s before I knew it was you.” Sal paused. “She saw you, Trey. Not like everyone does. She saw you the way I do. Saw the real you.”
Trey shook his head.
“Are you afraid once she finds out the truth, she won’t look at you that way?”
“How could she?”
“Love makes people see through to your soul.”
Trey furrowed his brows. Did the once notorious leader of the largest crime ring in the state, with more deaths under his belt at his own hands than all of Oz, Rogue, and Trey combined, just say love makes people able to see your soul?
“You learn that at the senior center?”
Sal laughed and rested back on the stool. “John. You can learn a lot about life from people who have walked a different path. Like John. Lived a normal, cookie-cutter fucking life. Had a decent nine-to-five, a mortgage, and spent a week at the beach every summer with his family. Married and faithful to one woman his entire life. Never fucking strayed. Not ’cause he couldn’t but ’cause he didn’t want to. He loved her that much. And his girl, Karia. That kid is his whole world. Everything he does is for her. Now, he’s a grandpa.”
Trey hadn’t spent much time with John, but they’d shared a few conversations. He was smart and kind, and from the stories Sal had shared, he was the most decent man Sal had ever known.
“John’s a good man.”
Sal’s eyes softened, and he slowly nodded. “You would have been John had life turned out differently. You were never supposed to live this life, Trey. Saw it the minute I laid eyes on you when you three showed up at my place. Thought, ‘not that one.’” Sal shrugged.
“Oz didn’t give you much of a choice.”
Sal smiled. “No, he didn’t. And I don’t regret taking you on. You gave the Underground a conscience. Something we never had before you.”
Trey snorted.
“What have I been telling you since you three took over? It won’t work without all of you. You all played a part and built a bigger empire than I ever could. And you know why that is?”
Because I keep them human.
Trey glanced down toward the empty hall.
“I can’t give her everything she wants.”
“Why not?”
