Page 55 of All Out of Love

“Do we need him because of what happened today, or because your father isn’t going to endorse that state’s attorney?”

Grayson hated to admit that too. “Both,” he said.

Toya’s heart dropped.

Then Grayson exhaled. “Don’t worry, darling,” he said as he rubbed her arm. “Nobody’s harming you ever.”

“But if I stand trial--”

“You won’t.”

Toya hated to put him on the spot, but she needed that reassurance. “You promise?”

He hesitated, which she appreciated. Then he nodded. “With everything within me, I promise you.”

She smiled. And exhaled. Now she was ready to face this brother of his.

As soon as they made it into the living room, a man of average height with a muscular-bordering-on-stocky build, with a face not gorgeous like Grayson’s face but oddly attractive in its own way, came barreling through the door like he owned the place. And just by his in-your-face swagger alone, Toya saw immediately why Grayson felt they “needed” him. He had a tough-guy, take-no-prisoners, macho-man way about him, and an almost animalistic charm. But he was dangerous. Toya saw that too.

She moved closer to Grayson as he made his way to them.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Another man was with him, a smaller guy, but Toya was focused on the man she was certain was Grayson’s half-brother. Because he was already talking even as he made his way towards them. “You look good for a motherfucker that just been in an ambush.”

Grayson smiled. Despite everything, he was always happy to see his big brother. “Actually I wasn’t there,” he said as he and his brother did a half-hug-with-a-handshake greeting.

But his response caused Vinnie to pull back from him. “What are you talking you wasn’t there? Was it or was it not that Porsche of yours that got creamed by two vehicles in this sleepy-ass town?”

Grayson was always amazed by the reach of his brother’s informants. But he nodded toward his brother’s underboss before responding. “How you doing, Pauly?”

“After what I seen of that Porsche, I’m doing better than you.”

Grayson knew Pauly didn’t like him just because his mother gave Vincent up for adoption and his parents, to this day, refused to acknowledge him as a member of the family. He wasn’t even born when all that shit went down, but Pauly always behaved as if he had a hand in the disownment too.

But that was Pauly. Always looking out for Vince. He and Pauly were the only true family Vincent had. So Pauly’s devotion was a good thing to Grayson.

Then Grayson looked at his brother. “I didn’t tell you anything about what happened or where it happened or any of that. How would you know that much already?”

“It’s my job to know that much already,” Vinnie fired back. “Now answer my question.”

Toya wasn’t accustomed to somebody talking to Grayson that way. She knew he was his big brother, but only by a couple years. But he was talking to him like he was his daddy! And he was even more forceful up close. Even more in your face. Like a force of nature. And, she also noticed, he had the bluest eyes she’d ever seen.

“You heard me,” Vinnie said when Grayson didn’t respond fast enough. “Were you or were you not that driver?”

“I wasn’t there,” Grayson said again. “My lady was driving my car.”

Vinnie frowned. “What lady? Since when you let that dingbat Charlotte drive any car of yours?”

Toya’s heart dropped. Was he still involved with that Charlotte lady she met at the country club? He said it was over between them. But was it?

Grayson quickly put her fears to rest. “I don’t have anything to do with Charlotte anymore.”

“Good,” said Vinnie. “I couldn’t stand that bitch. Gonna ask me if I was in the mob and then she gonna tee-tee with her little constipated-looking girlfriends like that shit was funny.”

It wasn’t funny to Toya because she was thinking the exact same thing! Although he dressed like a businessman with expensive tastes in suits and shoes, even down to his conservative haircut, he didn’t come across as any businessman to her. If this man standing in front of them wasn’t mob, she thought, nobody was!

“So if it ain’t that asshole anymore,” asked Vinnie, “then who is it? And you better not say your ass banging Dena again.”