Page 51

It was a comfort that not many would give me. My brothers were the only ones to ever do so. Even Brycen had been weary at times. Whenever I checked out, he stayed far away.

Tex, on the other hand, always moved closer. I reached out for him and pulled him down to the bed. He grunted as I rolled on top of him and smashed him against the mattress with my body.

“Hey, what the hell, Enzo?” He slapped his hand down against my side, but I didn't move.

I pushed my face against his neck and breathed him in. It was calming in the way it quieted the noises around me and grounded me to the spot. Tex wiggled under me.

“Stay like this,” I said.

“Only if you talk.”

Was that a fair trade? Before my mind could make up the answer, my mouth was moving. “Brycen was someone important to me.”

Tex stiffened under me, but I kept going. He asked for the story; I’d give it. There was no phone or recording device on him. It was just the two of us in bed, alone.

“We met at a charity event; his date had left him behind. But that entire night, we kept finding ourselves talking. He was wild, cheerful, and—” Everything I am not.

I could feel Tex’s heartbeat. I closed my eyes, basking in it for a second before I continued.

“One thing led to another, and I took him back to the hotel.”

“The same one you took me to?” Tex asked.

“Yes.”

Tex stiffened under me. I got the sense I might have said something wrong. I tilted my head back, but he refused to look at me.

“Okay, you guys fucked, and then what?” His words were blunt and sharp at the same time.

“He stayed around. Taking up residence in the hotel suite. It soon turned into more. Brycen was what I wanted, and he was happy to hand himself over to me.”

Maybe that should have been a sign.

“We were together for a few months before I realized something was different about him. He always needed money and what I gave him was never enough. Things would go missing at the hotel, and when I asked him about it, he said his sister needed help.”

I took in a breath. “She did. She was in the hospital at the time, so I gave him enough money to pay the bills so he wouldn’t be stressed out anymore.”

Tex’s dark eyebrows scrunched together. “She’s swimming in medical debt.”

Should I be surprised that he’d done his homework? Tex was wildUnlike Brycen, there was intelligence in his blue eyes. There were similarities but so many differences. Maybe that's why…..

“He wasn’t giving her any of the money. But I overlooked it all.” My stomach twisted as shame reared its ugly head.

Tex reached up and touched my shoulder. I normally hated being touched so much, especially when I was forced to go through my own emotions but Tex’s hand was like a warm blanket.

“After a few months of being together, he started disappearing at random times. I didn’t think much of it. I only visited the hotel once or twice a week.” Looking back on it, there were a lot of signs I should have noticed. “However, I slowed down on how much I was giving him. He was going to overdose if he kept it up. Brycen had sworn to me he was going to get help and slow down. But that never happened. Instead, he started meeting up with the cops.”

Tex stiffened under me one more. This time, I attempted to comfort him in the same way he’d done me. I had no idea if I was doing it right.

“He sold intel on my family, but with me keeping him at the hotel, he didn’t have nearly enough info to keep up with his drug habits. We nearly had New York locked down. All of sudden cops were busting businesses down, storming in on shipments. Things were going bad and fast.” I pressed my face against his neck and took in another deep breath. “We were in constant shootouts with the NYPD and other families.” We’d lost so much and couldn’t find out where it was coming from.

History is trying to repeat itself, but it isn’t Tex.I knew down to my soul that he wasn’t the reason for any of the shit happening. He wasn’t Brycen.

“I wasn’t the only Vitale he was seeing.”

“The fuck?” Tex shouted.

I cocked a brow at his visible anger. Is he mad at me?