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I shook my head. He put a tail on me. Of course he fucking did. He would never trust me again, not after that night. “So who's watching? Should I open up the blinds and give them a good show?”
“That's none of your concern.
Just get your ass into the office. There's work to do.”
“Pops, I've been in jail for four years. I have my own shit to do first.”
There was dead silence on the other end of the line, except for my father’s slow, measured intake of breath. Fuck. I'd taken it too far. Being in for all that time had made me forget how to deal with him.
“But I'll be in shortly. Just give me a couple hours to get my affairs in order.”
“Fine. You have three hours. But as soon as you're done doing whoever it is you're doing, get your ass in here and be prepared to work.”
“Got it.” I wasn’t even sure if he heard my response. He had already hung up. I set the phone back on my bedside table just as Vienna emerged from the bathroom. She had her tousled hair pulled up on top of her head and she had made the sheet into a sort of dress. She was stunning. And all that I wanted to do was to rip that white sheet off of her body and take her until she was sore.
“So was that your dad? Or your mom?”
She crawled onto the bed. She rested her body right between my legs, her elbows on my chest. She was so close, I could reach out and kiss her right now, bite on her lower lip and tell her what I wanted to do to her, but I knew she was fishing for information. And I wasn't going to deny her the truth anymore.
“Pops, he wants me to come in. By the way, we apparently have a tail, so they know that you're here. But I don't think they have any idea who you are.”
A look of concern crossed her face. “What would happen if they knew it was me?”
I shrugged. “I'm not really sure. I mean, you’ve been gone so long. I’m not sure they would even recognize you. They looked for you. They wanted you to be a part of our family, did you know that?”
“No,” she said quietly.
“But now, all that they want is their shining example of a son back. I'm not actually sure how they would handle a woman in my life.”
“Is that what I am? A woman in your life? I mean really, Luka, what the hell are we doing here?”
“I'll take care of you now, I'm here.”
She backed away from me, sitting on the edge of the bed. There were only a couple feet between us, but it might as well have been miles. She was pushing me away. But I wasn't going down without a fight.
“And then what happens? When you go back to jail? When the feds finally catch up with your family? I'm just supposed to sit here and pick up the pieces? I never wanted to be a part of this life, Luka!”
“You mean my life? My family would've done anything you needed when your mother died. They even looked for you, hired private investigators. They did everything to find you and take care of you, but you ran away. And now I get why. You know how dangerous I am. And that scares you.”
7
Vienna
The truth was that it did scare me. Luka Gioti was as dangerous as they came. I knew what had landed him in jail, or at least I suspected. I'd seen the incidents in all of the newspapers. Suspected mob killer, bodies beneath his belt. I read all the headlines. As a kid, I knew Luka better than most people. We'd grown up together, been the best of friends, and I loved him. And looking at him now, lying naked in his bed, I had to admit to myself that I still did. Every single part of me needed to have him inside me. To have his hands on my body again.
But I had a job to do. And that was quickly falling apart. Every second I spent with him broke down the walls that I had carefully constructed.
As much as part of me wanted to allow myself to feel that way about him again, I didn't know that I could keep up. I wasn't made for this lifestyle, and the fact that I hadn't come back before now was just evidence of that. The lifestyle scared me. I had known Luka was in jail, and I could've gone to visit him, but I didn't. I was protecting myself. I felt like I had to.
“I'm not afraid of you,” I lied. “I'm afraid of losing you, not the man that you are. I accepted that part of you a long time ago.” The second part was true.
Luka grabbed me and pulled my body closer to his.
“I’m glad you aren’t afraid of me. I only do what I have to for the family.”
Everything always went back to the family. Some family, I thought. Sure, Luka claimed that they would have taken care of me, but I didn’t buy it. They never protected my mother. Anger bubbled up inside of me when I thought of how easily my family was brushed aside. What had happened to bring us here?
“Besides, you've owed your time. I'm sure you don't want to go back to jail. So you won't do the more serious jobs, you'll just take care of the books. That's safe, right?”
