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Peter tells me confidentially, “Her father sent a gift, privately, so who knows what will happen.”
“A gift for her?”
“No, for both of us. It’s one of those little Italian cars they all like so much. I think he really does love Giulietta, and it hurts him to lose her. But you know how these things are. Could go either way.”
The maid of honor and the bridesmaids all give me The Look. As soon as any woman sees the scar on my face, The Look comes into their eyes. Sympathy. Curiosity. I’m used to it now.
My sister JoJo told me long ago, Paul, you’re an idiot if you don’t know what that look means, but I’m sure she was just trying to be nice.
Anyway, I don’t care. There’s only one girl I’m interested in. She’s never given me The Look, but she’s not interested in me.
Lucy’s eyes are bright. She’s talking to JoJo but she looks at me as she says, “JoJo, I’m so thrilled that you invited me,” and I love the way she touches her neck and lifts her hair.
Her lips shine. As Jojo squeezes her shoulders, she says, “Everyone here is pretty close family.” She’s still looking at me and I feel a burning inside. “It’s so good to be here with you. And you’re all so glamorous and handsome.”
I’ve seen her at the compound. She comes to visit JoJo. They’ve been best friends for years, but I rarely get up the nerve to speak to her.
The first time that we spoke at all, just her and me, she served me in the Perk-O-L8R coffee shop. I didn’t know she worked there and I could hardly even speak. And she gave me a sweet smile that I’ll remember forever. If I knew she was working there, I would have gone every morning for a hit of that smile.
That was a month ago, just before Dad told me I would be running Kingpin. Perk-O-L8R is now miles out of my way. It was off my path even then, and it’s deep in Moretti territory.
I know she was only being nice. I’m sure she gives that smile to every customer. The thought of her smiling at any other man like that brings a yawning, stabbing pain in my gut.
She’s so sweet and so innocent, and Vegas is crawling with slimeballs and all manner of sick freaks. With an innocent smile like that, who even knows what kind of ugly shit she could see set off in some of these sickos?
She makes me need to protect her. I’d like to wrap her up and keep her safe.
“Lucy, you know my brother Paul, right? Our family’s teddy bear protector?”
Looking at her in her pretty little dress with her cute ass smile, I’m getting hot and angry, thinking about all the men looking at her. Even here, among my family.
“Oh, I do,” she wets her lips, “but we’ve never really talked.”
