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“You know what they say,” he assumed a gentle tone, seating himself beside me. “Talk with family for two minutes, and they can fuck you up for two years.”
I snorted in half-amusement, half-bitterness. “I think the whole conversation lasted less than that.”
“So, the first part ain’t true, but the second is?” He posed a question, his eyes glinting with mischief.
I chuckled, sniffing back some more tears. “Yeah. You could say that.”
“Lucky me, then,” he concluded, lying back on the bench. “I don’t have any siblings. Except a lunatic and a geek.”
I laughed out again. “Which one is which?”
“Matteo’s the geek. Cesare’s the lunatic,” he said, resting his elbows on the bench. “Cesare went to college for a full six months. Matteo calls him pedantic, whatever that means. I just call him anal. It suits him better. Matteo’s just crazy about all things that go ‘boom’ or ‘bang.’ That’s where your brother came in. He needed someone to check on technical stuff that Cesare and I know dick about.”
“I understand,” I nodded, beginning to feel just a tad lighter. “Listen, I’m sorry about all the nasty things I said back there. I was…”
“Pissed off?” He attempted to finish my sentence. “It showed. I’d be pissed, too, if my brother was lying in a hospital bed with a piece of metal stuck in his gut. Just one question, though. He’s going to walk out of here pretty soon, so, why are you so upset?”
“Because he blames me for what happened to him,” I responded, running my fingers through my hair. “Typical Felix. He’sneverto blame. Everyone else is, including me.”
“That sucks,” he commented, pursing his lips. “He should own up to his screw-ups. Although, tonight wasn’t really his fault. He just happened to be in the wrong place, with the wrong crew.”
“I could talk about his failures for hours,” I said, my voice weakening. “But I’m not going to do that, because it’s not who I am. Let’s say he could have done more with his life. Anyway…” I paused and leaned over sideways towards him. “Thanks again.”
“What the hell for?” He chuckled, rolling his shoulders. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Yes, you did,” I disagreed, looking up into his green eyes. I could see a tiny reflection of the light in their middle, his smile sending warmth into my heart. “You made me laugh. When I walked out of Felix’s room, I needed to laugh more than I needed my next breath.”
I reached up and stroked his cheek, his stubble brushing into my skin. It was funny, but it was much softer than I thought it would be. His mouth just half-an-inch from mine, I remembered who had been responsible for me being out there. Another, happier reminder then flashed into my mind. He was there when I needed him. He never abused me verbally, even though he had good reason to do so. I had given him that reason—I couldn’t escape that fact. Our lips joined in a tender kiss, his arm curling around my shoulders. He held me closer, his scent enveloping my entire existence. A sense of safety was thrown around me, like some sort of invisible net. I exhaled into his mouth, his gentle caress over my shoulder deepening that lovely sense. The tip of his nose nudging the middle of my forehead, I felt my whole body relaxing. I was like a puddle of goo, spread over that bench. I clutched his cheek and eased back out of his embrace, his eyes coming back into view.
“Goodnight, Leo,” I whispered, a small smile forming on my face.
“Goodnight.”
I moved away from him, the taste of his kiss strong in my mouth.
So comforting.
So sweet.
And so necessary.
Not in a sexual way. The last thing on my mind after that crazy night was getting intimate with anybody. That small dose of intimacy was just enough to take the edge off of me. Felix had gotten on my nerves as usual, and Leo was there to help me find some peace. He didn’t know it, but, to me, this was more important than getting drunk. Because that’s what I would have if the two of us had gone out: Drink my ass off, in order to forget my brother’s pathetic attitude.
22
MATTEO
So much money to spend.
Millions and millions of dollars.
But nothing to spend it on.
The irony painted an awkward smile on my face.
I looked at the tall stacks of wads in my storage room, recalling what we had been through to get them. We had suffered a lot for that cash. Just when we all believed we would put it in our first endeavor, we nearly lost Felix, which was another blow to our confidence.
We were all stunned. None of us would go ahead and say it out loud, but our long silence during the first few hours after the event was quite clear. Whenever one of us did say something, it was about Felix’s condition. Not once did we bring up the deal that went south. It all changed when Piper paid a visit to her brother. That’s when we all mentioned that we should have noticed his last name. And that was also the moment when we realized that we had accomplished nothing. The guns we were supposed to buy had gone up in flames. Worse still, if we wanted to buy another shipment, we would have to meet up with the people who considered the docks their turf. We just couldn’t go back there, thinking things would go smoothly. We had to come to an understanding with whoever was running the show. It wouldn’t come cheap—we all knew that. Yet, it would be preferable to one or more of us getting shot or even killed.
