AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Fourteen
Max sat backin the booth and let his fingers graze Abby’s bare shoulder. There was something meditative about the stroke of his fingers against her silken skin. He was hard under the table, ready to take her tobed.
They’d stopped by the Eastside Lounge at the Wynn Hotel and Casino after dinner. It had been Abby’s idea, and he’d had the sense that she hadn’t been ready to go home just yet. In spite of the bad news delivered by Sean Bolton earlier that day, it had been a niceevening.
Max should have known if there was one thing that could set everything right, it was Abby. It didn’t matter what they were doing — sitting on the sofa at home, making dinner or eating out, taking a walk on the desert trails surrounding thehouse.
She always set everythingright.
“I like it here,” she said, sipping on herdrink.
“I do,too.”
The Eastside Lounge was a bit of old-school Vegas glamour amid the trashy modern glitz. With plush Art Deco-style booths and Sinatra playing in the background, it was easy to imagine it was 1950, Vegas still an island in the middle of the desert, untouchable by modern law enforcement, unreachable by the vast majority of Americans who either couldn’t get there or didn’t want to, owing to itsreputation.
“Are you going to tell me what happened today?” Abby asked, looking up athim.
“What do youmean?”
She smiled. “Come on. I did my part. It’s yourturn.”
He’d sensed something on her mind at dinner. When he’d asked about about it, she told him about her decision to mentor at City Lights, about her need for some kind of purpose while she was figuring out what was next long-term, about her conversation with her father and the imminent discussion of all that had happened betweenthem.
Max had been happy to hear her excited about something. The little house in the city had been her passion before Bruce Frazier burned it down, and while Max had been happy to give her time and space to recover, he knew better than most that purpose wasimportant.
Max was less enthused about her burgeoning relationship with her father. Abby might be able to forgive him for the things he’d done to her, for her fucked up childhood, but Max never would. He would be nice for her sake. He would go through the motions of giving the fucker a second chance because he knew there was no way for her to be whole without some kind ofresolution.
But Max would never, ever forget all the ways he’d hurtAbby.
“So?” She interrupted his thoughts. “I’m fresh out of stories. It’s all on younow.”
“Jason’s turned state’s witness,” hesaid.
“What does that mean, exactly? I mean, I know what it means, but how does it impact your plans?” sheasked.
He’d been vague about their plans to eliminate Jason, worried that she might still harbor concern for him, but she’d known something was up, had known he was talking to Nico about how to deal withJason.
“It’s a wrinkle,” he admitted. “It means increased scrutiny — of Jason and ofus.”
She was working to keep her expression impassive, but he saw the concern lurking underneath it. “Could you and Nico be introuble?”
He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “We’re a long way from that. The Syndicate is experienced and careful. Anything Jason knows is probably a holdover from his dealings withDeLuca.”
“But you took over DeLuca’s businesses,” she said. “You andNico.”
“We’ve made a lot of changes. It would be challenging to connect Fredo DeLuca’s businesses with the revenue streams now being run by theSyndicate.”
Not just by the Syndicate,he thought.Byme.
“So explain ‘increased scrutiny’ to me,” shesaid.
“If Jason brings the Feds enough to convince a judge there might be something there, a wiretap isn’t out of the question, and other surveillancetoo.”
“I guess I shouldn’t be talking on the phone about that hit I took out on my yoga teacher,” shesaid.
He tugged at a piece of her hair and smiled. “Are you really joking aboutthis?”
“Who said I’mjoking?”
