Page 33 of Pretty Lies

Joe gave his brother a look from the side that silenced him. “Just don’t let it get in the way of the job, yeah? Tommas is watching you, Cory. The boss put you there. That’s important.”

“I know.”

And he did.

He did.

Cory settled into the booth, knowing soon his brother would want to get back home to his wife and newborn son. And damn, he, too, had an early morning.

With Della.

Yeah, he wasn’t about to forget her name again.

“So,” Cory muttered, eyeing his brother from the side, “this is growth, huh?”

Joe grinned in a way that reminded his younger brother of years ago when they had still been ignorant enough to tear up the streets without care. “Sometimes, it’s still fun—just in a different way.”

Right.

He’d remember it.

•••

Cory was thankful that he kept his liquor limited the night before when he strolled down a familiar street the next morning. He was never a morning person, not when he preferred to sleep in until the sun was higher in the sky, and the rest of the world had awakened, too. But he was also a fucker who, when he set an alarm, the damn thing would have him up and out of bed whether he wanted or not.

This morning would have been a lot more difficult to deal with—and his mood might have been a bit darker—had he needed to scope out a townhouse with a goddamn hangover. Instead, he had good stride and a decent mood while he kept his hands loose in the pockets of his leather jacket.

On the street, nothing was amiss. Not that he really expected it to be. He’d already found Della’s cute, little white coupe. Parked inside her garage where he couldn’t get inside and making it far more unlikely that someone would try to mess with it.

He’d also done a walk around the block. Checked at the rear of the place. Stayed away from her windows—he wasn’t that kind of prick.

To be safe, though, he wanted to get a feel for where Della lived. Especially seeing as how for the unknown future, he would be coming here quite a bit whether to see her home or out in the mornings. The whole babysitter aspect didn’t appeal to him that much, but he wouldn’t deny the fact that a part of him looked forward to the rest.

Della, that was.

Very much Della.

The thing about Cory—something that made his mother convinced he would never settle down—was yes, he enjoyed having fun with women, but he rarely found one that interested him enough to have fun more than once or twice. He often fell in lust; never in love. It hadn’t escaped his notice that his thoughts regarding this job and that woman consistently drifted to the fact he’d be spending more time with her.

And that he liked the idea.

Hmm.

Cory’s gaze narrowed at the thoughts, but he shrugged them off as he came up to his parked Mustang. Still running, the smoke puffing from the tailpipe, and the purr of the engine settled him while the warmth under the hood heated through his black jeans when he rested against the car. Keeping one eye on the building in front of him, he acted as though he didn’t notice the familiar guy approaching from the left.

In fact, he didn’t say a thing at all until J came to lean against the Mustang’s passenger door. He matched Cory’s stance with his hands thrown loosely into his pockets, although the other man wore a blazer, and watched the townhouse in front of them.

“She’ll be up and around by nine—probably see her come out by nine-thirty at the latest.”

“Nice,” Cory said. “Not a morning person?”

“Not at all,” J said, laughing under his breath. “Shit, that’s the whole reason she didn’t want to go to college. Couldn’t get the classes she wanted in the afternoon. They were all scheduled for the morning.”

Huh.

Cory passed the other man a look. “Been what—couple months since we hung out?”

J shrugged, smirking. “Yeah, the Outfit’s got me running like crazy. Tommaso tried to get me out when the boys were in town last month, but you know.”