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“Uh-huh?”
I turn to him. “You taught her to swindle, didn’t you?”
He pauses for the longest time, eggnog halfway to lips. “Depends.”
“On?”
His expression turns thoughtful. “How much it’s going to hurt when you swing for my jaw. I’ve never seen you hit anyone, so I can’t gauge it.” He pauses. “But I’ve heard you do that now.”
Laughing, I clap him on his back and push off the bar. “You’re a good kid, Nico. I’ll let you off this time.”
He’s right to be concerned, though. I’m a big believer in cheats getting punished, but I’ll give him a pass, because the thought of him being the one stable presence in Penny’s childhood instantly bumps him up the ranks to favorite cousin.
Leaving Nico with his third eggnog and a reminder of what happens when he gets past five, I take a seat beside Angelo. Over the rim of his whiskey, he cuts a glance at me, then to the vodka I set on the table. He turns his attention back to his wife stepping on stage and says nothing.
“Where’s Gabe?”
“I don’t know. Where’s Griffin?”
By the tick of his temple, I’m certain he knows where both men are. My former head of security, along with all the men underneath him, are in the depths of our brother’s cave. Some to be tortured, some to be interrogated. I’m not sure who of my men I can trust now, but one thing’s for sure; Gabe will send only the loyal ones back to me.
In the meantime, his men are surrounding my boat like the crown jewels are onboard. No doubt they’ve had a stern warning from my brother, because one of them even followed me into the fucking bathroom earlier.
“Have you made a plan yet?”
That fucking question.It sparks something hot and irritable in my stomach. “Did you make a plan, brother, when you shot our father in the head? Or when you blew up Uncle Al’s Rolls in a fit of rage? Or when you shot his lackey between the appetizers and the entrees at Sunday lunch?” I lean over the table so only he can hear my venom. “Did you think for a fucking second of the consequences, or were you just living in the moment?”
His stare slides to mine, the heat of it dampened with mild curiosity. “Is that what you’re doing? Living in the moment?”
I run my finger across my collar pin. Glance back up at Penny. Right now, I don’t know how to live anyplace else.
Darkness shades Angelo’s glare; someone dimmed the lights. He turns back to the stage, straightening when he realizes his wife has taken center stage.
The mic thuds when she taps it. “Hello, lovely people. Since I seem to be the only person to grace this stage tonight who remembers it’s Christmas Eve, I shall be singing a festive classic.” The lopsidedness of her grin tells me she’s been on the white-wine spritzers. “I’ll be singing,Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” Squinting into the spotlight, she spots Angelo and beams at him. “Obviously, it’s a duet, so…”
The room starts cheering my brother on.
“No chance,” he mutters, scowling behind his whiskey.
“Pretty please?” Rory says sweetly, clasping her hands together.
He stares at her for a few seconds. The moment his shoulders slump in defeat, I press the heel of my shoe against the toe of his under the table to stop him getting up.
“You are a capo, brother. You command respect from every man in this room. Do you think that’ll be the case when you sing Tom Jones’s part to a Christmas song? Sit the fuck down.”
“Fuck,” he grunts, stroking his jaw. “You’re right. Think I need to switch to water for an hour.”
When he shakes his head to Rory, she yellsboring!down the mic, and Tayce fills in for my brother.
I’m not watching Rory butcher Cerys Matthews’ lines; I’m watching Angelo. How he’s staring at her like there’s no one else in the room. How he lunges over and smacks one of my deckhands upside the head when he dares to talk over the chorus. How he rises to his feet and whistles as she and Tayce take a bow.
When he sits back down, he’s still grinning.
“How did you know?”
It slides off my tongue, loosened by liquor and this weird, foreign feeling that’s been sitting under my ribs for the last few days. He turns to me. Confusion mars his face but only for a split second, then mild amusement replaces it.
He knows what I mean.
