Page 32 of Pretty Lies

That actually had his brother turning to angle himself so that he could stare at Cory from the side. Cory just watched a server close in on a table nearby with a tray of drinks in her hand because her balance was fucking amazing. The tray had at least fifteen drinks.

“Are you being … responsible?” Joe asked, changing direction in their conversation all at once.

Cory hesitated on his next drink of whiskey. “No, I’m just—”

“You are.”

“Fuck off, Joe.”

A chuckle started to form because out of the corner of his eye, he could see his brother’s teasing grin. The asshole. But damn, he loved Joe all the same. His best friend until the very end; they would always have each other’s backs.

And his brother’s teasing? Sometimes, Cory needed that. Even if they were grown-ass men now.

Cory shook his head as Joe laughed while he resituated himself in the booth, so they both faced the crowd again. “Fucking hate you.”

“No, you don’t. On the real, though,” Joe added quieter, “you do worry Ma a lot less now. And fucking everybody appreciates that, Cory.”

His cheek twitched with a smirk.

He held it back.

“Yeah, well, love Ma and all. Less headaches, that helps, too.”

Because it meant less yelling.

And bitching.

And not just from his ma, no. From all of them. Joe, and his dad, and ever since his sister became a teenager, Monica didn’t stop running her mouth either.

“Anyway, the job is good,” Cory said. “Really, the chick is probably going to be a little annoying, but she’s sure something to fucking look at. You know how much I like that. Certainly makes being at the beck and call of a Capo—you know I hate that—and her pretty mouth worth it.”

Joe coughed out a laugh. “As long as you’re only looking. Don’t start any kind of shit by mixing business and pleasure. Hmm?”

“Like you did with Liliana?”

That quieted his brother.

“Consider it a warning about the trouble it can bring,” Joe replied.

Cory didn’t know what gave it away to his brother that something had already happened with Della. Maybe it was a certain look on his face. Or it could have been the fact Cory opted to stay quiet when he’d normally tell Joe to mind his business. Or hell, it was probably just the fact nobody knew a Rossi brother better than his own goddamn brother. The truth was always in their eyes, in their silence, or a quick lick of the lips. They didn’t have a single tell, it was many but only someone just like them would know it.

“Wait, you’ve already fucked her, haven’t you?”

Cory’s jaw tightened.

He still said nothing.

Joe scoffed. “Cory. You did, didn’t you? How? It’s been a few days since you even met the girl!”

“Very much a woman, thanks. And shit, it happened before. Weeks ago, at a club. You were there that night. Remember, I got your wife on my side to trick you into going out?”

That had his brother groaning and resting into the booth’s leather back. “Why are you like this?”

“It’s not a problem. It isn’t going to be one. Adults can fuck, and it doesn’t have to cause an issue. It’s everybody else that seems to think they can determine who someone should or shouldn’t be fucking that seems problematic to me, Joe.”

“Sweet Christ.”

“Well—”