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“Garbage,” I said, trying to cut this conversation off at its knees.
“Don’t sound like it,” he pressed.
I flashed him a look to let it go. “Well, it is.”
An uncomfortable silence came over the table. My already sour mood had taken a nose dive. To believe Joe was finally getting the baby he'd hoped for, yearned for, for years, only to find out the kid wasn’t his would be awful. It was a shit thing Christina did to Joe in the first place, but to wait until nearly the due date to tell him? I didn’t know what that did to a man. But I wouldn’t allow his buddies here to make it a point of gossip. My brother deserved more than that.
“Your grandmother okay?” I asked, flicking my chin at Scopetta.
“Mad as hell she’s in the rehab instead of at home.” He spun his beer on the table. “Stubborn woman needs to move in with my parents or Aunt Luna, but she says a broken hip won’t stop her.”
“She could move in with you.” I smirked.
Another peanut sailed in my direction. “My love life sucks as it is. I’d never get laid if she lived with me.”
“You never get laid anyway.” Vigiano pointed out.
“Like you do either.”
Here we go.They’d argue the rest of the night about who slept with more women. Sometimes it was funny, but tonight I was in no mood. It was my fault since I’d started it.
The front door to the bar burst open. “Joe’s beating the shit out of Lee Stanis!”
I jumped from the table and sprinted outside. Joe had Lee in a headlock, landing blow after blow to his face.
Pull him off, Cal.
I would. But I wanted my brother to have some form of justice, even if it was short-lived.
Lee threw his arms around wildly, landing a few punches on my brother’s ribs and legs and back. Joe didn’t seem to feel them. Like a robot, he just kept hitting him in the same place.
When Lee stopped moving, I stepped forward. But Joe let go of him. He dropped to the ground in a heap.
My brother stood over his best friend, chest heaving. “Thirty years of friendship. You do this to me. You’re lucky I don’t kill ya.”
I clamped a hand on Joe’s shoulder. “Let’s get out of here.”
Anybody else, I would’ve made sure he was breathing, but that scumbag . . . somebody else could do it.
I flicked my chin at Vigiano who nodded back. Joe let me steer him to my truck as if he were on autopilot. He climbed in the passenger side, and I shut the door.
“I was gonna take care of him,” I said as I cranked the engine. Tonight, I’d been planning to pay him a visit.
“Ain’t your job to take care of it.” Joe stared out the window.
“What if they suspend you? Then what?” I wheeled into the street and turned at the next block.
“I can’t go back there.”
We weren’t far from his house. I’d assumed he’d want to go home.
He hung his head. “They were screwing around in my bed.” His voice was lethally quiet. “She told me that today.”
Oh no.
What was the matter with Christina? Was she trying to intentionally kill my brother? Lee Stanis wasn’t the only one I needed to have a word with. My soon-to-be ex-sister-in-law was on that list.
“I told you you can come stay with me.”
