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“She might have.” I pour another shot for myself. “But she’d be smart to stay far away.”
“You’re too hard on yourself.”
“There are lots of reasons why.”
Shaye grunts a response. “Is this about Daddy? He’s always all over your ass. You should just tell him once and for all to leave you alone and let you fuck up your life your way.”
I down the shot. “Thanks, sis. I appreciate the vote of confidence.”
“Anytime. And for what it’s worth, you made a dumbass move with Sloane the other night, but I don’t think it’s over for her. Not by a long shot.” She winks at me and uncaps a bottle of water before proceeding to dribble it all over her leather outfit.
“I don’t think water and leather mix well.” I snicker and nod at Nico. “Enjoy, brother.”
He shrugs and slaps her ass, his hand making a loud spanking sound on the fabric. And unfortunately, her face brightens up like a spotlight is shining on it. In no time, she’s plastered all over Nico. I throw up a little in my mouth and turn away once she throws a leg over his lap, straddling him right out in the open.
Why the hell did they want me here again? Just to torture me with PDA and give me a shred of false hope that I may not have completely screwed up with Sloane? Even if it’s not over for her, it should be. What the hell can I offer her? Sometimes I feel like I can’t breathe unless I’m swinging a baseball bat at someone’s head. It’s like Nico said. It’s what I’m good at. How the hell can I have a normal relationship when there’s so much rage inside of me? I’ve proven time and time again that I can’t control it, and the source of that rage taunts me every fucking chance he gets.
Thanks, Dad.
She needs normal and I’m anything but.
I walk over to a couple of the guys. Rocco, Vin, and Gio are sitting around the next table, and there are girls in bikinis sliding up and down poles on either side of the semi-circular couch. I sink next to Rocco, whom I still want to beat the fuck down nine times out of ten. He turns to me and pulls out a bottle of scotch. “You look like you can use one.”
“A bottle? Yeah,” I grumble. “That sounds about right.”
He pours a couple of shots for us and hands me one. We shoot them back without a word, and when he raises his eyebrows, I nod. Two more shots get poured, then two more. It’s only after the third one that I begin to feel somewhat numb.
That’s a good start. Thank fuck I took an Uber.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. It’s just been a bad couple of weeks.”
“I thought we were done with the Cappodamos. It’s like they’re fucking with us from beyond the grave.”
“You know how things go. Mikey Bonnaro is scrambling for any power he can get.”
“I heard his brother Gianni is out of the clink.”
Fuck me.
“You know what that means, right?”
“Yeah.” I know exactly what it means…bad shit is about to go down. Fast.
“I told you not to mess with them that night. But you had to leave the drugs in his car and call the cops. You knew it’d come back to bite you in the ass.”
“Yeah, well, it wouldn’t be the first time I made a goddamn bad choice.”
“They’re not gonna let that go, Max. Especially now that they’re trying to take over that family. They want revenge, and they want to make a name for themselves by taking over our territories.”
“I guess I’m lucky that guys like you have my back.” If that isn’t the joke of the fucking century. Rocco would be the first one to run if shit hit the fan. He only puts his neck on the line for Nico.
Rocco narrows his eyes at me. “I’m not taking a bullet for you because you get a bug up your ass for some bullshit reason. Don’t pull another Thanksgiving or you can kiss your ass goodbye.”
“Like you’d ever back me anyway,” I grumble.
“Look, just get the hell over it already. Yeah, I messed up your business thing with deVincenzo, okay? I stole your degenerate gambler clients and your money, and you fucking ratted me out without caring whether or not I’d be whacked. I paid my debt to the family, Max. How much longer are you going to hold onto this for? I think that’s why you’re always so fucking wound up and ready to explode if someone looks at you cross-eyed. Maybe you need anger management classes or some shit like that to control it.”
