It takes me a couple of seconds to place him, but when I do, my plan of attack alters in an instant. You never stumble across Rocco Shay without laying eyes on Dimitri Petretti. They’re joined at the hip.
“What are you doing here, Ox? Dimitri ain’t got time for your family’s shit today.”
He stops rubbing his hands together like a man perusing a buffet of pussy when I say, “What about his family? Does he have time for that?”
“Fien?”
I don’t know who the fuck Fien is, and in a way, I’m glad. Rocco looks seconds from murdering me where I stand.
“Demi.” I articulate her name as roughly as Rocco did Fien’s.
When Rocco’s dark brows pull together, I use his confusion to my advantage. “Does he have time for her? Sheishis family, after all.”
He waits a beat before lifting his chin. When he spins on his heels, I dismount my bike and follow him inside.
“Wipe your fucking feet,” he says after splaying a tattooed hand across my chest, stopping me on what must be an invisible welcome mat since there’s not a single bristle to be seen. “Does this look like a barn?”
While I scrub my boots on the cobbled porch, I stare at Rocco like he has rocks in his head. He’s having a full-blown conversation, but not one of his words are directed at me. He’s talking about me, not to me.
“This way,” he says a couple of seconds later. “Dimitri is working out of his downstairs office today.” He shakes his head before adding, “Nah, don’t tell him. Let me surprise him.”
Once again, he isn’t talking to me.
One of his multiple personalities must give him the go-ahead because our arrival at a large office in the lower level of the mansion is met with a surly and aggressive Dimitri Petretti. “I said I didn’t want to be interrupted.”
He was a grouchy bastard when he was a teen, and it seems as if age made him even grumpier. Other than handing a wad of cash to Agent Moses after each of my fights, I barely see Dimitri. He wasn’t interested in a conversation, and I preferred saving my suaveness for his cousin.
“You always say you don’t want to be interrupted,” Rocco pushes out with a laugh. “But I know you’re full of shit. Theonlytime you say you don’t want to be interrupted is when you’re getting lost in a hooker, which weallknow you haven’t done since…” He stops talking at the same time Dimitri’s growl thunders across the room.
While smiling like Dimitri fell right into his trap, Rocco says matter-of-factly, “Maddox is here about Demi. Shall I leave? Or can I join in on his beatdown?”
I give Rocco a look as if to sayI’d like to see you try, before I move closer to the desk Dimitri is seated behind. I know who he is, what he’s associated with, and just how fucking dirty his hands are, but I’m praying like fuck his parents instilledsomekind of values into him.
My strides slacken when it dawns on me how stupid I’m being.
Col Petretti isn’t just Dimitri’s uncle. He’s his father. Heraisedhim.
The return of my smarts has me switching things up. “I’m here to get your permission—”
“To date my cousin? No fucking chance.” I assume Dimitri is taking the high road. I should have known better. That isn’t how his family operates. “Who she dates isn’t up to me. She isn’t on my payroll.” A glint darts through his eyes, but he’s quick to shut it down. “If that’s all.” He nudges his head to the door I just walked through, wordlessly giving me my marching orders.
“It isn’t.”
I step closer to him, grinning when Rocco announces his dislike at me not accepting no as an answer by ramming his gun into the back of my head. “The man said no, Ox. Don’t make me splatter my new shoes with your brain matter. I only bought them last week.”
I act as if he never spoke. “I wasn’t asking permission to date your cousin. I was approached by a fight promoter.” That’s a stretch, to say the least, but when you’ve got nothing, you must work with what you have. “A high-profile event is coming up. I want permission to fight at the event.” When confusion darkens Dimitri’s eyes, I pretend he takes more than a share of my profits each month. “If I get injured, I can’t fight for you. Figured you wouldn’t take too kindly to that, so I thought it would be best to seek permission instead of assuming.”
Dimitri drops his pen onto the paperwork in front of him before he slouches low into his chair. I’m confident he’s calling my bluff, so you can imagine my shock when he asks, “Who’s the promoter?”
“Your father,” I answer without pause for thought. I don’t have time to pussyfoot around, and in all honesty, I’m reasonably sure Dimitri would see through any bullshit I attempt to dangle in front of him.
Dimitri shakes his head. “You can’t fight for himandme on the same night. You might be good, Ox, but you’re notthatgood.”
“That’s the thing,” I reply, stepping even closer. “His fight is tonight.” Dimitri’s fights are held on Thursdays and Fridays. Today is Saturday.
“Tonight?” When I jerk up my chin, Dimitri snaps out, “Smith…”
I peer past my shoulder, anticipating for someone other than Rocco to be standing behind me. I’m shit out of luck. There’s only one fool with his gun directed at my head. That fool is Rocco.
