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“Okay, I get it.” The hound dog expression on his face is cartoonish. “You need me to come back next week?”
“Yeah. Thanks again for filling in on short notice.”
“Sure.” He gives me one last lingering look before trudging to the door. He’s a harmless idiot but he’s still an idiot. From what I remember, screwing him was little different than diddling a vibrator. He can’t hold a candle to Conner.
Then again no man can. Or ever will.
Once Alex’s shadow fades from the door the only noise is the intermittent whoosh of a car passing. If I shut my eyes I might convince my brain that the sound is the crash of a wave. I could climb back in time and be a child playing on a beach with my sister, a place I can only visit in my dreams.
The emptiness doesn’t really fool me. I know I’m not alone.
“You can come out now,” I say out loud. “We’re the only ones here.”
A male grunt precedes the whisper of shoes sliding on the floor. Vito’s arthritis afflicts his knees enough to produce a slight limp.
My father’s most trusted bodyguard and reliable enforcer emerges from the dark corner of the room where he’d been waiting with patience until there were no other ears to listen to our conversation.
He yanks a chair from a nearby table and a joint audibly creaks as he heavily drops down. He rubs a hand across his sweaty head and I try to guess his age. My father is fifty-five and Vito was already established when they met years ago.
He gets comfortable and folds his beefy hands over his gut. “I didn’t like Desmond’s two fuckers even when they were little kids. They came out of the womb as scheming little shits.”
I gnaw at the corner of my lip. “Who told you?”
He scowls. “Nobody had to tell me. I knew what Jared and Talon would do even before your dad went away. As trustworthy as a pair of pythons.”
“Then you know they’re looking for any excuse to escalate.” Reflexively, my eyes roam over the dim interior of the club. This place is more of a home than my apartment. I both love it and hate it.
Vito scratches at his grizzled square jaw. “They like to bark loud but I doubt they can face the consequences of biting.”
“I won’t insult you by asking where your loyalties lie.”
He cocks his head, gazing at me with more fondness than my own father does. “You’re Aric’s daughter, kid. My loyalty lies with you.”
“Then I need to ask you for a favor.”
He’s unsurprised. “Name it.”
“Protect my little brother. His name came up today. I know my father has a couple of men looking out for him already but I want someone I trust to be there.”
In response to this news, Vito’s jaw flexes. His dark eyes glitter. I expect he was mighty fearsome in his heyday. “Anyone who touches a hair on that boy’s head can look forward to getting skinned alive.”
He means it.
“Thanks, Vito.”
He rises from the chair and grimaces when his knees pop. “You didn’t tell him, did you?”
“I can’t get through to Dad. I tried calling the prison and the family lawyer in case those assholes were bluffing. They weren’t.”
Vito waves a hand. “Eh, not your father.”
He’s talking about Conner. “No, I didn’t tell him. And I’m not going to. Healthier for him. And for everyone else.”
Vito mulls that over and sighs. “Whatever you say, kid.”
He refuses to leave until I’ve locked up and then he stays at my side for the brief journey across the street to my apartment building.
“I’ll check in tomorrow,” he says as his wary eyes shift back and forth, scanning for possible threats.
