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“Because I’m stuck in this house all day long with nothing to do. I want to do something.”
“Then go for a jog. Start gardening. I don’t give a shit.”
“I want to be productive. I want to work.”
“My wife doesn’t work.”
This conversation was going nowhere. Now I wanted to drag my hands down my face. “I’m serious, Crow.”
“I’m sure you are. But now isn’t the time for this conversation.”
“We can have it on the drive.”
Crow had finally given up. “Fine. Just stick to my side at all times. Don’t go wandering off. I mean it.”
“I know.”
We got into the car and drove away from the Tuscan fields and into the city. Crow drove fast and passed cars that were taking a leisurely stroll down the country road. The radio wasn’t on, and he gripped the steering wheel tightly, clearly angry. “I’ve got an extra pistol you can have. You remember how to use one?”
I wasn’t stupid. “Yes.”
“Good.”
“You go to the base all the time. It’s not dangerous.”
“Always be prepared.” He usually rested one hand on my thigh, but now he rested it on the gear shifter.
“So, I was thinking of getting a job in Florence. I looked online, and they have a few engineering positions open.” I knew exactly what Crow’s reaction was going to be, but this was a conversation we needed to have. By staying home all day, I was just getting fat and bored.
Crow turned to me and took his eyes off the road. His reaction was the same, but his eyes were dark with irritation. He didn’t even need to say anything to communicate his anger. “Button, we just talked about this. I don’t feel comfortable with you driving to Florence every day for work.”
“Well, I need to do something. Lars is even annoyed with me.”
“Well, you’re pretty annoying.”
I knew he didn’t mean that, so I ignored it. “I clean around the house, jog through the vineyards, swim in the pool, and read every single day. I’m running out of things to do. I need something, Crow.”
“You’re never going to do anything at the base, so that’s out of the question.”
“What about the winery?”
He turned his eyes back to the road. “You know nothing of wine.”
Even though it was true, my eyes still widened. “Too bad I don’t know anyone who could teach me…”
His frustration continued to become more visible. “I want you to stay home. That’s our culture here. Men work, and women stay home.”
“Bullshit. That was the culture fifty years ago.”
“It doesn’t change the way I feel. I want my wife to be taken care of. I want you to sit around and get fat all day.”
I laughed. “Trust me, you don’t want that.”
“Button, I understand where you’re coming from, but it’s just not going to work.”
“There has to be something at the winery.”
“You’ll only distract me all day.”
“Will not,” I argued. “What about the wine tours? Let me handle those.”
“Again, you know nothing of wine.”
“Then teach me,” I argued. “Have one of your employees teach me. I think it’ll be fun.”
“You don’t speak Italian,” he reminded me.
“But most Italians speak English. And most tourists speak English.”
Crow passed another car as he sped to the base. “If I let you do this, will you stop bugging me?”
I smiled. “Yes.”
“Then you’re hired.”
I threw my fist into the air. “I’m so excited. You wanna carpool?”
The corner of his mouth rose in a smile. “Sure. You better pay your portion of the gas.”
“With my job, I can make that work.”
“We both know you won’t be paying in cash.”
Once Crow arrived at the base, he turned into a soldier. When he rescued me from Bones’s men, he slit the throats of all the survivors in the middle of a street in Rome. He adopted that same calloused presence now. “Where the fuck is Cane?” He barged inside and moved past the men as they spoke in the entryway.
I followed behind him, feeling the men stare at me just the way Crow said they would. “You got a problem?” I asked the one who wasn’t bothering to hide his stare. He looked me up and down like a woman that was for sale.
He quickly turned away the second I called him out.
Crow was too absorbed in his conversation to notice. “Bran, where is he?”
“He didn’t come in today,” Bran said in poor English. His Italian accent was heavy. “He’s moving in to his new place.”
“What?” Crow asked in surprise. “Have you spoken to him today?”
“This morning,” Bran answered.
“Fucking asshole. What’s going on with the shipment? Cane released the weapons, but there hasn’t been a money drop.”
Bran shrugged. “Cane told me to release the shipment. That’s all I know.”
“Jesus Christ.” Crow walked to a table that had a landline. He dialed Cane’s number and pressed the phone to his ear. He must have reached Cane’s voice mail because he slammed the phone back on the base. “Where’s his new place, Bran?”
