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“The usual.”Got wasted, screwed the girl he was crazy about, broke her heart.
“Ten years is a long time, Taddeo.”
Common sense acknowledged that but in his heart, ten years still felt like ten minutes.
Every detail was as sharp now as the day he lived it. His thumping head, the hard bench in the cell, the unyielding expression on Tony’s face when Tad stepped into that interview room at the CPD Third District after a dreamless night.
For one brief glittering moment while he made pasta with his beautiful girl, he had thought he might not need to go on that bender this year. Something—or someone—would be here to distract him. Keep him sane. The dead part of him flickered to life every time he saw Jules and Evan, though it had no right to get so excited.
“I hear you helped Jules through this business with Evan’s father.”
Through the window, Jules and Simon were focused on their son and at that moment they chose to share the connection with one of those Hallmark eye-locks that seemed to spark the air around them.Look at what we have created.Envy formed a rock in his stomach, a lump of green desire that threatened to consume everything around it.
He turned to find Frankie looking at him curiously, perhaps wondering why he would do something so clearly against his self-interest.
“She lets Jack push her around. He’s Evan’s family and that’s important.”
“Yes, it is. But that man will never love Evan as much as we do.”
Something crumbled inside his chest, probably one of those stupid fucking bricks Tad the engineer had become so adept at building. Next thing he knew, his feet had moved his body out back to stand behind St. James. The conversation petered out as awareness of Tad’s presence stole across the group.
Jules looked up at him, her sparkling eyes big as the platters on the table. He had no idea if his argument had helped her come to this decision but one look was enough to know she didn’t hate him. He held onto that while he waited.One, two…
St. James turned around and arched a supercilious eyebrow. He thrust out his hand.
“Tad, isn’t it? We haven’t met officially. Simon St. James.”
Tad ignored the hand. Sure it was a dick move, which was okay because right this minute, Tad DeLuca was the biggest dick who ever lived.
“I’d like a word with you in private.”
He could feel the stares of his family like a nasty kitchen burn, particularly Tony, whose expression registered concern. Shane shook his head slightly in warning while Jack’s eyes narrowed to slits. Ignoring them, he turned and walked to the gable of the house and waited.
Thirty seconds passed before St. James rounded the corner.
“How can I help you?” he asked, his nervousness not quite covered by that swanky accent.
“By not fucking up.”
“I don’t plan to. This means a lot to me.”
Tad scanned Simon’s face for signs of insincerity and came up empty. No matter, the road to hell and all that.
“Jules is part of this family and we’ll protect her and Evan against all comers. You’ll get to do the father thing, but Evan’s going to grow up a DeLuca.”
A bomb of emotion went off in his chest, blowing those bricks to kingdom come.
Evan would grow up a DeLuca.He meant that Evan was a part ofla famiglia,but Tad wanted so much more than that. He wanted Jules and Evan to havehis—Tad’s—name.
“Hold up there, tough guy,” Simon said, his hands raised in mock defense. “I get that you Italians are a clannish bunch but there’s no need to get shirty. As long as I get to see my son, we’ll get along just dandy.”
The urge to punch this idiot took root in his core, but Tad never lost his temper. Years ago, he had learned to control his anger because the one time he had whaled on a guy had set in motion a chain of events that ended with his parents’ lying six feet under.
But if ever he was ready to pound a guy into the wall, it was now. How did a douche like this get to have a beautiful kid like Evan? Where was the justice in that?
With the last remaining threads of his control straining to breaking point, Tad willed his body and voice to calm. He had a good four inches on this guy. Time to use it.
He stepped in close. “You’ll get to see him. You’ll get to call him son. You’ll get to hear him say ‘Daddy’. But if I hear of one single instance of you forgetting to call when you should, or canceling that visit on his birthday at the last minute, or doing a single thing to piss off my girl, you’d better hope you’re on good terms with the saint in your stupid fucking ass name because you’ll need him when I get through with you. We clear?”
