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“I’m fine,” he told Russ after clearing his throat. “I’m, uh, just outside Philly and I should be returning sometime next week. I’ll let you know when.”
“Okay.” Russ sighed loudly in his ear. “I know DuBois is gone now but word is one of his men has taken over and…” He paused. “I didn’t know it was possible but he might be way more brutal than DuBois ever was.”
Vince’s heart lurched.
“Keep your head down,” Russ warned him. “I’ll do some discreet checking around to make sure it’s safe for you to return.”
“Yeah, sure.” Vince already knew it was safe, Zander would make sure of it, but he couldn’t tell Russ that, could he?
“This a good number for you?”
“It is, yep.” He watched as Scotty sat up and glanced around before meeting Vince’s gaze through the window. “I’ll check in with you in a few days if I don’t hear from you first.” He ended the call before Russ said anything else and shoved the phone into his pocket before opening the door and reentering the house.
It was a small one bedroom in South Philadelphia that he’d booked after having Zander’s men take him and Scotty to the train station. He didn’t doubt that those men knew exactly where they were and were hiding out there somewhere in the bushes watching, but at least they didn’t approach or make contact.
Vince didn’t want to see them. He wanted Zander, but of course that wasn’t going to happen.
He went to Scotty, cupping his face, staring into his eyes. “Are you okay?”
Scotty nodded, but it was a lackluster gesture. He didn’t call Scotty on it, though. He just pulled the younger man into his arms and hugged him tight. They had to make a life for themselves now, one without Zander. But Vince didn’t have a fucking clue how to even begin to do that. Where did they start?
In the days since they’d been at this place, they’d remained holed up inside, ordering in groceries or takeout. He’d made good on the promise he’d made Scotty, taking him out on a date. It was good to bond with him, to build their relationship and get to know each other on an even deeper level. It made Vince happy to see Scotty’s eyes light up, to see him smile. But it didn’t last. They would venture out on the back deck every now and again, but there was this air of mourning that surrounded them. Vince wanted to get rid of it before he took them back to Jersey. He wanted to be back on his game. He met with his therapist remotely and was in the process of finding someone for Scotty since it was beyond clear that the younger man needed professional help.
He eased back from Scotty and took his hand. “Come sit outside with me.” He led them outside, taking a seat in one of the chairs out there, waiting until Scotty sank onto his lap. “You hungry?” Vince asked him, both arms around him, face in the crook of his neck. “Want me to cook something?”
That got him a quick side eye and a lip twitch like he knew it would. The first and last time Vince had tried to cook for them, he’d fucked up the spaghetti sauce so badly it’d been unrecognizable. So he stuck to making them breakfast now; there weren’t too many ways he could fuck up bacon and eggs.
“Pizza?” Scotty asked. “Can we order pizza?”
“Yeah, sure.” He allowed the silence to descend over them, thumb stroking over Scotty’s knuckles. “We have to move on,” he finally said quietly.
Scotty’s breath hitched and he nodded. “I know.”
It was easier said than done, though. Scotty didn’t voice that part but Vince heard it. At night when he lay next to Scotty in their bed, he questioned how he’d come to feel so much in such a short time for two entirely different men. How he’d ended up where he was. And he asked himself, too, if there was anything he’d do differently to change what happened, to achieve a different outcome.
The answer was no.
The only thing missing was Zander.
“Do you regret it?” he asked Scotty. “Coming with me, choosing me?”
Scotty twisted in his lap until they were face-to-face. There was a fierceness in his eyes now. “I don’t regret a thing,” he said firmly. “I want to be with you.” He glanced away. “I just wish…”
“Me too.” Vince pressed a kiss to his jaw, his neck. “Me too.” He wished Zander was with them. They had a life to plan, to live, and they would. He would make sure that they did because Scotty deserved it. Hell, Vince deserved it.
And Zander had wanted it for them.
Zander stared at Derri. “What?”
“He wants a meeting.”
“He just walked in and demanded a meeting? Why the fuck wasn’t I informed when he entered our territory?”
Derri shrugged, but Zander didn’t miss the tension in his shoulders. “I don’t know why we weren’t alerted. I can check in with the guys but in the meantime…”
Meetings. When Zander wasn’t weeding out the disloyal rats in his organization, he was holding meetings with friends and foes alike. Forging new alliances and terminating old ones. He hadn’t expected the heavy hitters over there in Queens to come to his door. They weren’t friends nor were they enemies. They mostly tended to stay out of each other’s way.
Unless… He narrowed his gaze at Derri. “Were they working with my uncle?”
