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The image on the screen shifted, and my nephew came into view, asleep with his little baby mouth open. Her voice came through the phone. “He woke up, and I couldn’t stand to let him cry. Whistle told me to let him ride it out, but I can’t do it. I’m wide awake, and since you’re a night owl, I thought to try you.”
Whistle, a former-Bratva-prince-turned-biker and her man, was right for once. I didn’t like to see the shadows under my sister’s eyes. He was a stubborn fuck, but conveniently turned to putty in her hands, so I knew he’d be worthless when it came to changing her mind. Eh, he does what he can with what little power he has.
Leaning against the brick wall of the building, I glanced up at Jewel’s window to find it dark. Good, she needed her rest after the workout I’d put her through. Turning away, I walked to my car.
“He’s right, you know,” I stated. “I don’t like to see you tired.”
Her face came back on screen. She waved my concern away. “Ah, it’s alright. I’m glad to be here for Mason.”
“How’s the other little devil doing?”
“Roman’s good. He sleeps like a baby. Not like this one,” she replied, tapping my nephew’s button nose.
Her inquisitive eyes returned to me. “So how are you doing? You’re out late. Coming from the club?”
“Nah, came from a woman,” I replied. Now that she was grown, and a mother of two, I no longer hid that aspect of my life from her.
“Anyone I know?” she asked coyly.
I grabbed the back of my neck, feeling reticent about telling her the truth. Not that I felt an iota of guilt about fucking Jewel. I wanted Luca to claim Cat already and get this stifling noose of an engagement off my neck. But Tasa had driven down from upstate where she lived to attend my farce of an engagement party, and she’d taken a liking to Cat.
“Who is it?” Her tone turned sharp at my noticeable pause. “I’ve never seen you hesitate before, so you probably did something you shouldn’t have done. Is she married?”
“Come on,” I retorted. “I’m not that bad.”
With the scrapes I’d gotten into growing up, nothing was off the table. While I’d learned to control myself since then, my reputation preceded me wherever I went. In elementary school, I’d been suspended for TP-ing the bathroom. In middle school, for wrapping Ms. Doyle’s classroom in tin foil. High school was too easy; I got expelled for fighting. I made it through college, just barely. There’s a strong possibility I have attention deficit disorder, a learning disability, or both, because school of any kind was always a struggle. Even Alex saw me backsliding from the stress and backed off about graduate school. Considering a PhD was a requirement in my family, that was saying something.
Her tone softened, “Nicu, since when have I ever judged you?”
Straddling my bike, I checked to make sure the street was empty before answering. “Since now,” I replied as I turned the ignition on. The conversation switched over to the car speakers.
“That bad?” resounded Tasa’s voice through the enclosed interior.
“It sounds bad when I say it out loud, but it’s not as bad as that,” I hedged.
“Uh-oh. I’m used to you getting into trouble, but you never get into girl drama.”
She was right. I might fuck women, but I didn’t fuck with women. One experience with what had turned out to be Cristo’s girl taught me a lesson early on…and created a toxic competition between him and me that’s lived on to this day. Anyway, until recently, my brothers and I were too busy for relationships. We got our needs met and went back to business. Our business was our clan. The Lupu clan. Family was our priority.
Granted, things had changed now that Alex married Tasa’s best friend, our next-door neighbor, Nina. Luca was recently toppled off his high horse, where he lived the solitary life of a sanctimonious prick, and had fallen in love with Cat, my fiancée. If he had one brain cell left in that twisted head of his, he would see he was meant to marry her. It was disgusting to watch them eye-fuck each other in public. Under the rules, which he constantly ignored, he should’ve been engaged to her instead of me.
“This isn’t girl drama,” I muttered.
“Tell me already. The suspense is killing me,” she demanded.
“You swear not to let it slip to anyone, Tasa.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m not even in the city anymore. No one up here cares about what happens in Queens. And since when do I spill secrets, Nicu?”
Point taken.
When it mattered, Tasa always had my back. A wave of guilt hit me that I hadn’t watched over her carefully enough and spared her the heartache she went through with Alex. I may dote on my mother, respect my eldest brother, love-hate my other brother, but the one and only person I loved unconditionally was my twin sister.
“It’s Cat’s best friend. Her name is Jewel,” I blurted out, and then cringed. I shouldn’t have said anything, but there I went again. My impulsivity got the best of me. It was a constant battle between my savage impulses and my stringent suppression of them. I worked hard to restrain myself, only letting go when fighting, killing, or racing. Yet, despite compartmentalizing, I slipped. Like now.
“What?!” she practically shouted.
“Relax, it’s not as bad as it sounds—”
