by Cara Dee
“Then we should get going.” I walked past them and brushed my hand up Boone’s back. “Yo. Tickle monster. Let’s bounce.”
“All right.” He chuckled, out of breath, and helped her straighten her dress. “Lemme just put the beers and sodas in the fridge.”
I didn’t know he’d brought any, but I loved him for it. Fuck minibar prices.
A few minutes later, we were back in one of the elevators, and I got stuck on the reflection of us in the doors.
“Look at us,” I said. “We’re the best family.”
Ace grinned goofily and stuck out her tongue.
Boone draped an arm around my shoulders. “Damn right. Didn’t know you’d gotten fancy, though. Is that a real Armani belt?”
I looked down and adjusted the narrow buckle. “Fancy…?” I wasn’t sure a belt qualified as making someone fancy. “It’s my lucky belt for special occasions.” I flashed Ace a wink in the elevator door.
She beamed smugly.
“Special occasions,” Boone snorted. “I know what that means. For when you score on dates. It ain’t that nice.”
“What the fuck?” I scowled at him.
“Yeah, what the fudge, Dad!” Ace demanded and spun around on us. “It was a gift from Gramma. I helped her pick it out!”
He’d for sure stepped in a big pile of shit now. But I suddenly had a greater concern, and it took no effort to ignore Boone’s wince of regret.
“Since when do you say fudge?” I asked Ace, baffled and, to be honest, a little worried. We weren’t the type of family that kiddified words.
Ace didn’t struggle with the swift topic change, and she walked out of the elevator backward as soon as the doors opened. “I just felt like I’d reached my quota for the day. That’s what Gramma says sometimes. It means there’s a pacific number of times you can curse every day.”
“Hear that, Boone?” I nudged him with my elbow. “There’s a pacific number.”
“Well, I don’t wanna know it.” He planted his hands on Ace’s shoulders and turned her around. “Let’s get this little dollface some overpriced shit that comes in a nice bag.”
“If you admit that Daddy’s belt is pretty,” Ace said.
I quirked a brow at Boone, waiting.
“It’s very pretty,” he conceded. “I was just fuckin’ with him.”
No, he hadn’t been.
Seven
“You ever wonder why we never bother inviting you to parties and clubs anymore?” Jay asked.
I finished my whiskey and nodded at the bartender. Time to close my tab. “Not really.”
Jay sighed and slid off his barstool. “I’ll tell you anyway. It’s because you’re dead. Think about that while you pay for my beer. I gotta take a piss.”
I scowled at his retreating form, then reached into my back pocket for my wallet.
Maybe I was dead. Today, it certainly felt like it. It was Casey’s week with Ace, and it happened to be her eighth birthday. I wouldn’t get to celebrate her until this weekend, and it fucking sucked.
“Hi.”
I side-eyed the woman who sat down next to me.
She was shopping for a lay; that much was clear.
“Don’t waste your time on me,” I said.
She pursed her lips for a beat, undeterred. “What if I don’t see it as a waste?”
New approach, then. “Don’t waste my time either,” I drawled. “I ain’t interested.” I hadn’t been, for years. Couldn’t even remember the last time I got laid or even fooled around with someone. It was before my brother had cut me out of his life.
Jay was right. I was a dead man.
“I wanna do more of this,” Boone murmured.
I smiled at Ace, watching as she walked around the little accessory shop. It was best Boone and I stayed right outside; we had a way of breaking shit.
“Yeah.” So did I. I just had to be careful, because this was one of those moments that made me wanna play “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer on repeat.
Having Boone as my brother was already difficult. Having a daughter with him…? Whole other circle of hell. Because he was never just one guy. There was the loving douchebag who could beat me physically and poke fun, the typical brother, both a jackass and a protective friend. Just like I was to him. That was the guy who hugged me hard for my birthday, smacked me good-naturedly upside the head in a quick “good job” or “I got you.” But as co-parents, something constantly caused us to blur the lines. Not counting the four years we’d avoided each other.
Be it a rough day when Ace was in a shitty mood and we just needed a long hug, or a game day when she’d scored a lot and Boone and I spent all night talking to each other about how fucking awesome she was. Or right this second, when we watched our girl grow up before our eyes and Boone threaded our fingers together and squeezed my hand.
I had mad respect for parents who raised their kids all alone, because I wasn’t sure how I’d cope. I couldn’t imagine not having Boone around to share this with. After all, he was the only one who got it. Nobody else, without a claim, without loving her the way we did, would ever understand, because you cared to this extent about your own kids, not others’. In fact, I couldn’t give two shits about other people’s kids. They annoyed me.
Even during these past four years, we’d had a handful of moments where we could at least meet in the middle and be proud as parents. There was no off-switch to that need.
The problem for me was how we manifested that love as parents. It could too easily be misinterpreted. Him taking my hand because it was a sweet moment to see Ace all dolled up trying to pick out a bracelet…? It was intimate, no matter the intention, and it was bringing back all the feelings I’d worked twenty-four seven to bury.
“I think we’re due for a family vacation,” I said.
Ace had wanted to go on a Disney cruise since she’d learned how to talk.
I saw Boone’s smile at the corner of my eye.
“Fuck yeah.” He gave my hand another squeeze before he let go and entered the store. “Did you find anything, Ace?”
I blew out a breath and checked the time. Fifteen minutes till dinner. We were close to the indoor plaza where the canal with the gondolas ran through, not to mention a million more shops and restaurants.
Ace had moved on to a display of what looked like pins, which explained why she looked like a pig in shit, and she held up one to show Boone and whispered something in his ear. Knowing her, she’d buy a few.
She was too cute. She’d gotten a couple “pretty paper bags” already. A pink one with gold handles from a shop where she’d bought bath bombs and soap that glittered, and a signature Venetian bag from a gift shop where she’d bought a few souvenirs.
Boone was right. She deserved more of this. She never asked for much, just us being together, living under the same roof, spending time as a family. And Boone and I weren’t a divorced couple where such a living arrangement wasn’t possible; we were brothers. I considered the hatchet already buried, and we should be able to find a way to coexist. For her.
When Boone and Ace walked out again, she’d gotten her third pretty paper bag, and she could not look more pleased.
“I bought you a gift, Dad!” She skipped over to me and dug a hand into her bag.
“You did? That’s sweet of you.” I grinned as I noticed Boone attaching a pin to his shirt. It was a slice of pizza. Fucking perfect. And not even putting on a tux would stop him from wearing it.
“Because you love your iced coffee.” Ace extended her hand and opened it, revealing a pin of a white to-go cup. It had a pink paper sleeve and the word “princess” written on it.
I laughed and hugged her to me. “I love you, you little shit.”
“I thought it was fitting,” Boone drawled, his eyes glinting with mirth. “You’re our princess.”
I made a fantastic princess. Boone may be the one who could braid hair, but I had a strong nail polish game.
“Help me put it on
,” I said and got down on one knee. Ace giggled and handed over her bags to Boone before she took the pin from me and attached it to my shirt.
Boone took out his phone and snapped off a picture of us. “Ace, show Daddy the pin you got for yourself.”
“In a second…” She was concentrating. “There!” With my new pin in place, she took a step back and smiled widely. “It looks perfect, I think.”
“I think you’re right.” I leaned forward and puckered my lips, and she gave me a loud smooch before I stood up again. Then she dug out her own pin to show me, and I chuckled. It was a rainbow resting on two sparkly clouds that read “Fuck Off.”
“I found a typewriter pin for Gramma, too,” she added. “She says she’s almost done with her novel.”
Oh, it’d been almost done for about two years now.
“You’re a sweetheart.” I touched her cheek. “You ready to go eat? We gotta be at the restaurant in a few minutes.”
She nodded and reclaimed her shopping bags. “Yeah, I’m hungry. Some food and calling in sick from school tomorrow would definitely help.”
Boone and I cracked up.
“That was slick,” he laughed.
Legit.
There would be no calling in sick. However, Boone had informed the school that she’d arrive late because of a dental procedure, so we had time. We weren’t leaving until checkout at eleven.
This night was gonna suck. It was great to see Laney again, but after our short shopping spree with Ace, I wanted to crawl back into my family moment, not be at some swanky Italian place where I had to pretend to be interested in a woman named Alex.
We’d barely gotten past introductions, and she already bugged me. Partly because I couldn’t find a single flaw in her. She seemed perfectly nice. She was beautiful, too. Big brown eyes, a dimpled smile, cute nose, wavy dark hair—she screamed of warmth and a bit of mischief. Like Ace.
So of course I had to hate Alex a little bit, because my brother couldn’t take his eyes off her.
Laney came back from the hostess desk, having asked how long our wait would be for a table, and she looked a little flustered. Big crowds weren’t her jam; I knew that much. It was why she preferred to work in an actual office and not anywhere near the hotel guests.
“Another ten or fifteen minutes,” she said over the din.
I put a hand on her lower back, then gestured to a table in the corner of the bar. “Go have a seat. Boone and I will get us some drinks. Whiskey sour, right?”
She smiled gratefully and tucked a piece of her blond hair behind her ear. “Yes, please. Alex likes wine and cider. I’ll watch Ace.”
I dipped my chin, then motioned for Boone to follow me.
We made our way to the circular bar in the middle of the floor, and I ordered beer for Boone and myself, a whiskey sour for Laney, a glass of white for Alex, and a soda for Ace.
He leaned in close and spoke in my ear. “You can’t go through with the act.”
I frowned at him at the same time as a fucker behind me bumped me closer to my brother. I sent the idiot a warning look before I turned back to Boone.
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because her real name isn’t Alex,” he replied. “I don’t know why she’s working here under a different name, but that’s Allegra Colucci.”
Shit. Shit.
TJ and DJ’s cousin. Why the fuck…? I didn’t get it. “That doesn’t make any sense,” I managed to get out. My mind started spinning, and a bunch of things I’d picked up over the years came back to me. For starters, TJ’s family was several decades behind and would never allow a woman to work with anything illegal. And why else would the chick take another name? Then I thought about her age. I’d briefly noticed that Alex looked to be on the young side—for a hot second, I’d been impressed by her ambition to land a position like that at the Venetian in her early twenties. But considering she was objectively beautiful as fuck, her working as a party planner here didn’t necessarily mean she was skilled. And Laney had told me they worked in teams, so she wasn’t alone. All that said, though? Something smelled rotten, because Allegra wasn’t even twenty yet. I knew that for sure.
“When did you last see her?” I asked. Because I hadn’t been in the same room as Allegra since she’d been like twelve or thirteen.
“Couple years ago,” Boone responded. “Her pop hired me to upgrade his wife’s car with some security.”
I raked my teeth over my lip, wondering how the fuck we were gonna get closer to Lange’s files now. As part of the party planning crew, Allegra sat on valuable information. Whatever heist Darius was planning, I bet he’d want as many time frames as possible where he knew what was going on at another location. Allegra would know about the catering, about when meals would be served, everything from planned toasts to entertainment. In short, Allegra was key to pinning down a minute-by-minute schedule of Alfred Lange’s whereabouts during the birthday shindig.
There was still the man in charge of the Langes’ stay in general. We needed to get close to him too, because he would know even more. He’d have access to all reservations and when and where someone was being picked up by whatever car service they’d be using.
“I’ll call TJ tomorrow,” I said. “Whatever happens with Allegra, we’re gonna need his approval.”
Boone nodded firmly, then flicked a glance at something behind me. It was the bartender finishing up our drink order.
A thought struck me as I handed over a card to the bartender. “So that’s why you were eye-fucking the girl? You recognized her.”
Boone offered a confused expression before it morphed into amusement. “I wasn’t eye-fucking her.”
Sure, whatever. I’d said too much. I didn’t want him to think I still got jealous. “Okay. Let’s get back to the girls.” After pocketing my card again, I grabbed three drinks and left two bottles for Boone to carry.
Goddammit. I had to be more subtle. I didn’t want anything to get between us again, and that included my toxic possessiveness. I literally wanted to own the motherfucker. He was loved and adored by too many. I’d never suffered any shortage of friends—or hookups, for that matter—but Boone was definitely more lovable. He had a smile for everyone, whereas no matter how happy I was, I had a resting bitch face.
On our way back to our table, Boone stopped me in the middle of the crowd with a hand along my side. He got way too close, his chest against my back, and spoke in my ear again.
“I’m only gonna say this once.” His voice and close proximity forced a shiver through me, and I swallowed the unease crawling up my throat. “You don’t have anything to worry about. I’ll never hurt you again.”
Fuck me.
It was as reassuring as it was mortifying. I felt weak and pathetic. At the same time, I couldn’t bring myself to joke it off, because I needed to cling to that promise more than I was willing to admit. Even if it meant he suspected that I still had all the wrong feelings for him.
“Let’s focus on work,” I replied, because I had to change the topic. “Whether or not we can use Allegra, we still need as many details as we can get our hands on.”
I continued toward our table, unable to look back and read Boone’s expression. It was too much.
Dinner revolved around only one thing—being nice and interesting enough that Laney and Allegra wanted to grab more drinks afterward. Boone and I were careful not to broach any topic that might link Allegra’s background to ours, so we kept personal shit vague. Boone was a mechanic, which wasn’t technically a lie; he just didn’t work as one. And when Allegra asked what I did for a living, I said I was in between jobs.
It didn’t feel awesome trying to get Allegra to reveal shit about her work, and not because of her family. Her ID might say she was in her twenties and named Alex, but we knew better. The girl was still a kid. She shouldn’t be here.
After dinner, Boone excused himself to go meet up with Ma, and Ace wasn’t too happy about leaving. She wanted to stay and work wi
th her daddies, even though she had no idea what we were doing. It didn’t seem to matter.
Laney excused herself too, to go to the bathroom.
I stuck my card into the leather binder the server had brought us, not even looking at the receipt. Wasn’t my money.
I didn’t know where we’d go from here. The casino downstairs would be too much of a distraction. It wasn’t exactly a place to get someone drunk and extract information from them. Fuck—what would TJ say, huh?
So far, we hadn’t learned much. We knew Allegra was actually in charge of the crew of three Venetian employees who would handle Lange’s birthday party, and we’d learned her new “work project” was fun. That was all. Digging deeper, asking for details about the client, would look too suspicious.
“You don’t recognize me, do you?” Allegra cocked her head at me, and she was grinning.
It made me narrow my eyes. Was she about to drop the act?
“What do you mean?” I played dumb and leaned back in my seat.
She bit her lip, calculating, without a hint of wariness in her eyes. “My real name isn’t Alex.”
Oh, she was actually…yeah, okay. Fuck pretending, then. “I know who you are.”
She sat a little straighter and lifted a brow at me. “Why didn’t you say something?”
Simple. “’Cause it’s none of my business. This is your workplace. For all I know, you’re up to something and need to stay under the radar.” Man, I hoped that wasn’t the case.
It was great to have TJ as a buddy, great to have him on my side, but that could change. You didn’t wanna get too involved in anything that was their territory. It was why we had to tread really fucking carefully around Allegra.
“It’s just a job,” she replied with a slight shrug. “I want to show my parents I can manage on my own.”
Hmm. This was more than a job, though. It was a position that required four years in college, for one.
“I think you’re here on a job too,” she stated and lifted her chin. The challenge in her eyes dared me to defy her. “The question is, how involved is Laney? Because she was very eager to bring me with her tonight, and she couldn’t stop talking about you. You, specifically, as if she was trying to set us up. But the second I saw it was you…” She trailed off, not needing to spell out the obvious. She knew I was gay.