by Bell, Shanna
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
She grinned and handed him a cupcake.
He grabbed the piece of sugary heaven and sat across her with his coffee. Grabbing his phone, he went through his messages and emails. Every now and then, Tess’ gaze would rest on him.
For days now, he had the feeling she was mustering up the courage to tell him something. Sometimes he found her contemplating look resting on him. Only when she thought he didn’t notice, of course.
He had a ton of stuff to do. Among which was to find Mick’s brother, Jamie. The guy also worked for Irish Brian. That is, he used to. Word had gotten to him that Jamie hadn’t showed his face again after he’d heard about his brother’s demise. He had an inkling that Jamie would blame Mick’s death on a certain techie’s head. There was no way Luca was going to allow him anywhere near Tess, which meant that now he had a second hunt on his mind.
But first, he needed to get her drop whatever was on her mind.
“Spit it out. Whatever’s hurting that brain of yours, tell me.”
She crossed her knees, drawing his attention to her core. Of course, she had no idea what view she gave him, sitting atop the kitchen island like that.
Focus, Luciano, fucking focus.
“You ever did something so stupid that it came to bite you back in the ass?” For a second there, her eyes glazed over. “I did.”
“Yeah. Trusting a man, someone I thought to be my friend, over my brothers. We both know how that story went.”
She stared at her fingers. “My mistake was much worse. As in, deserving a ticket to hell, worse.”
He highly doubted that. “What could you have possibly done to deserve a place in hell?”
Sorrow crept into her beautiful eyes, and he knew he’d hit a sore spot. His bright and bubbly girl had turned ashen.
He grabbed her hand. “Whatever it is, you can tell me. I won’t judge. I promise.” There was no way she did something bad on purpose. There wasn’t a speck of evil inside her.
“I hurt a man. No, hurt is an understatement. I…” She took a deep breath. “I was responsible for a man’s death.” She tensed, as if she expected him to lay into her.
“Go on.”
“After losing my mom to cancer, I kind of blamed the world. When I later found out that her lifespan was shortened by wrong medicine, I was so angry. I hurt people. Not in the ‘I’m gonna stab you’ kind of way, but I set out to destroy the lives—of her doctors, for example. I found out everything I could about them. One of them was having an affair. I exposed him to his wife, sending her pictures. They got separated while having two kids.
“I know what wanting revenge feels like, and I’m telling you it won’t make you feel any better. No matter how you feel right now, it’s not going to change a thing about what has happened to you. It just leaves a bad taste in your mouth because no matter who you take revenge on, innocent people will get hurt. This Cruz, he has a mother, right? A sister? Brothers? People who love him and whom you will hurt by killing him.”
He ignored the part of him going after Cruz. This wasn’t about him. Not really.
“Tell me what happened.”
She had a stronghold on his hand now. “It was an accident. But that doesn’t really matter, does it? In the end, the outcome is still my fault. Sometimes we do things out of goodness, at least we start to, but then it turns ugly. Because we can’t predict every outcome, Luca. Some things are just bound to happen. It’s what we do afterward that counts. I can never repay that man’s family my debt. They will never see him, hold him, talk to him again. That’s on me.”
“Aren’t you going to tell me what happened? There’s no way you hurt that man on purpose. You’re just not that kind of person, Tess. You don’t have a killer instinct.” But he was beginning to understand. “You were angry at that man?”
She shook her head. “That’s the worst part. That man was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. He had nothing to do with my mom’s death. He just got in my way when I was out for revenge.”
This time, it was him who tensed. He knew what she was trying to tell him. He just chose to ignore it.
Didn’t mean he could disregard her pain as well. He just needed to speak her language.
He held out his arms to her. “So, I’ve read somewhere that if you hug someone for twenty seconds, it makes them healthy and happy.”
She snuggled up to him before he’d finished his sentence.
Her cheek brushed against his chest. “That is so true. Hugging increases the levels of oxytocin. Which, in return, reduces your stress levels, blood pressure, and heart rate. It even boosts your immune system.” She was silent for a beat. “Some studies show that the giver of the hug benefits as much from the hug as the one getting hugged.”
“The maybe we should hug a little more. In the name of science.”
“Of course. For science.”
They spent the day at home. Working. Eating together. Drinking together. He found he liked her company.
A few times, he pulled back into his study to make a few phone calls. There was still no word on the whereabouts of Jamie. Angel did tell him, however, that Irish Brian was looking for him feverishly. Something was boiling in Irish Town. He was going to make sure that whatever the hell it was, it wouldn’t back fire on his unicorn.
CHAPTER 15
TESS
It was day five as Luca’s guest and, once again, Tess was dragged into a party she didn’t want to be invited to.
Halloween. The most dreaded of holidays. A fest she avoided like the plague ever since her Sailor Moon debacle. The Japanese manga costume, which was plastered together by glue, hadn’t exactly held her outfit together, resulting in her being left bare ass naked in the midst of a party. Right after her drunk college roommate had pulled her on stage.
Now, years later, once again, she was pushed into an outfit that was glued together. The source of this evil: Tommie Green. Instigated by: Carmen. She held a whip in her hand, which was a nice accessory to her black latex dominatrix suit. Tess didn’t know any woman who was less of a dominant than Carmen. The Carmen she used to know had been a shy, introverted person with an ever-present sadness in her eyes. The current Carmen was surrounded by a sadness that was dipped in darkness. Miscarrying her baby after getting a beating by her husband could do that to a person.
As a distraction, Tess counted the cases in Tommie’s CD shelf that was plastered against one of the walls. His loft above Diaz Security, which used to be Hector’s bachelor pad, was huge.
“Ouch!”
“Sorry,” Tommie said. “Guess my seamstress friend forgot a few pins inside your Vader costume.”
“Can I open my eyes now?” Tommie loved surprises. Tess, not so much. The guy had a knack for being a brat. Who knew what she looked like.
“Not yet.”
There was a smile in his voice that didn’t bode well for her. It was time to turn the tables. “I haven’t spoken to you since getting laid night. Last time we spoke, you were going to ask a certain Greek god on a date. How did things go with Achilles?”
“Don’t mention that,” he hissed. Then, more subdued, “I might have tried to drunk kiss him.”
“Oh, wow. You really did take my advice on being ballsy. So, what happened afterward?”
“Don’t know, but since he hasn’t bashed in my skull, I suppose I passed out before my lips reached him.”
“I think you should try again.”
Even Carmen had to laugh at that.
“Ta-da!” Tommie exclaimed. “You can look for yourself now.”
Tess stared into the floor-length mirror. “This isn’t what a female Darth Vader looks like at all!” Her costume was some sort of a black latex-white satin-pink ribbons mash-up which included a skirt.
Tommie smirked. “You know, it’s okay to be a princess and an evil galactic warlord at the same time.”
“Vader isn’t evil. He’s just misunderstood.” Tommie had no idea
what almost absolute power felt like.
“Uh-huh. Didn’t the guy spend his free time blowing up planets?”
Carmen gave an exasperated sigh. “Not this again. I hear you two speak one more word of geek and it’s on.” She waved her whip in a threatening pose.
Tess supposed it could have been worse; he could have gotten her a Jar Jar Binks costume. Not that she really needed one to remind her of how clumsy she sometimes could be.
Tommie took a step back. “Now, since I’ve dressed you two ladies up, it’s time for my own Bohemian transformation.” He went into his bedroom, leaving Tess to her own worries.
“So, where exactly is this Halloween party?” Not knowing where they were headed made her anxious. There were a million things she needed to do. Then again, she could use the distraction. Waking up after her hugging session with Luca had been an experience. In the morning, she could still feel his touch, smell his scent, and want him. Oh, the want. It was an ever-present supernova burning through her veins. It made her feel vulnerable. She needed to do something to even the playing field. There was only one way to do that—make him want her just as much. It was only fair to their experiment. Sex was a team sport after all. He’d told her so himself. Thing was, did she dare take that step and go all the way with him? What if she got disappointed? Or, even worse, disappointed him?
“At a club,” was Carmen’s non-descript reaction.
Right, back to the present. “What kind of a club?”
Was that a blush on Carmen’s cheeks? “A private club.”
“You know, we can go all night long like this. You, not properly answering my question. Me, asking another one, and another one. Why don’t you just tell me what the secrecy is about? And why haven’t you invited Jazzy, or Mary, or even Katya?”
“Jazzy is celebrating Halloween with her husband. So is Mary. And Katya, well, I can’t bring her where we’re going. Kristoff would not approve.”
Meaning he would think it was unsafe. “Where exactly are we going? Is it safe?”
“Of course.”
“Then why did you say Kristoff—”
“Because men like Kristoff think they rule the world. He thinks he is Katya’s keeper. Always keeping a tight leash on her. Men like him think women are nothing. Objects to be used when they deem it fit. They rule by our fear. With an iron fist.”
“Now, don’t hold anything back on what you think about Kristoff Romanov,” she said dryly.
Carmen started pacing on the carpet. “This isn’t about him. I need to go to this party because someone I’m looking for will be there. I need to talk to him,” she said, sounding antsy. “Make him leave me alone.”
“Talk to whom?”
“I can’t live with the regret anymore,” Carmen whispered, her eyes suddenly a million miles away. “It’s the worst thing in the world. Knowing you could’ve done something different, altered the course of your destiny, but you were too afraid to take that step.” A determined look crossed her face. “Never again. Never. Again. This time, I will take matters into my own hands.”
Taking your destiny in own hands didn’t sound too bad. Still, something seemed off. “What exactly did this guy do to you? Do we hate him? I’m a good hater. Just say the word and I’ll be Hater Haterson. Or Hater Haterovski. Or Hater Haterovic.”
A hint of fear entered Carmen’s voice. “This man, he… hurt me.”
Oh, shit. This was serious. “Let’s go to the police.”
“And say what? What he did didn’t happen today. It was years ago, with Franco. He took me to a place and this man was there too. They… I didn’t want to. I told them to stop, but—” She swallowed. “What happened doesn’t really matter. Point is, every time I saw him after that, he kept checking me out. I told Franco once, but he got violent. He called me a whore. Said I wanted his friend. He called me a lot of names that night,” she said softly.
Good thing Franco was already dead or she would have helped Carmen become a widow herself. “Let me guess. Since Franco is gone, this guy started bothering you again?”
“Yes.”
“Like I said, let’s go to the police. We can—”
“No, we can’t. I have no proof.”
“I kind of got that. Okay, forget the police. Let’s go speak to your brother-in-law. Gio’s a scary dude. I’m sure he speaks the same language as this asshole who’s been bothering you.”
“No. You can’t tell him. I can’t put his life at risk. Also, he has other things on his mind.”
Tess grabbed a hold of her arm. “Could you stop with the pacing, please? You’re making me dizzy.”
Carmen stopped in her tracks. A smile appeared on her face. “I’m so happy for my sister. She’s found the one thing every woman wants—a lover who lives and breathes for her. They’re trying to have a baby. How can I tell him about this man? You know how he would take care of him, don’t you?”
“Yeah. Most likely, in a permanent way.”
“Exactly. I can’t be the reason that he takes a life. Not while they are trying to make one. It seems so wrong. I couldn't handle the bad karma.”
“Bad karma?”
“My punishment,” Carmen whispered.
“Um, not sure what you mean.” Her eyes went to Carmen’s fists. They were so tight her knuckles were white.
“I never stood up against Franco. Always being afraid, like a little mouse. I was given to him when I was eighteen. I survived twelve years of a hellish marriage. It took me that long to get pregnant. Unfortunately, it took me too long to leave him. If I had left him when I found out I was pregnant, I wouldn’t have killed my baby.”
Oh, wow. That was some heavy burden Carmen was carrying. Tess wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “You can’t blame yourself for—”
“Please don’t mention anything to Tommie,” Carmen said, when they heard footsteps approaching. “He’s had enough bad people in his life to last him a lifetime.”
“Okay, but about tonight? Are you sure—”
“I need to tell him to back off, Tess.”
“And you think talking to him will do that?”
“I have to try.”
Or die trying.
Those unspoken words just hung in the air. Dammit. The baby dominatrix was going to get herself hurt. She had to save Carmen from herself.
***
LUCA
According to a certain source, his unicorn would be at Vince’s private club tonight. When Tess had told him earlier in the day that she was off celebrating Halloween with her friends, he’d been oddly disappointed. But when he thought about it, the reason was clear. He didn’t like her being away from him. Now, it might be because this fake engagement thing was getting to his head. Or it might be because he’d been horny as hell for days and hadn’t gotten any relief. But mostly, probably, it was because for almost a week now, she was a constant fixture in his life. He liked seeing Tess and her stuff around his condo.
The row of plants that had somehow ended up in his window sill because apparently his place needed color and oxygen. All the organic, vegetarian food, because being a carnivore was going to put him into an early grave. He’d even gotten used to her movies that either had spaceships in them or trolls and elves. And their hours long, heated discussions about which house of Harry Potter was the best. Though, that last one was his fault. The second he’d mentioned he’d never seen any of those movies, he was practically force-fed the entire series. He didn’t care much about movies with magic in them—he was more of an action movie kind of guy—but he sure liked the passionate way she defended her favorite characters. Bottom line was, his house felt damn empty without her in it.
His brother grinned when he saw Luca’s costume. So, yeah, maybe it was a bit on the nose, but here he was anyway.
“You look good, brother,” Vince said, handing him over a drink. “The black and white stripes are very retro.”
He took the drink, a single malt whisky. “Your club looks good as well.”
“We do well.”
Luca could imagine that to be true. Club Obsidian screamed exclusivity, from the design dark, hardwood floors, to the red satin walls, to the white marble bar. He hadn’t visited the place yet in its normal attire, but he could picture it in his head without the people in costume.
Speaking of people in costume, there she was. Tess walked through the door, arm in arm with Tommie and Carmen. She wore a white dress, some sort of black Vader mask that didn’t cover her eyes, and pink ribbons. Sporting a—of course—light saber on her belt. She looked amazing. He owed Tommie for the tip.
“You know, Dad told me about his life before he met Mom,” Vince said.
“Yeah?” Some blond guy in a grunge outfit had walked up to his Tess.
“He basically was a man-whore before he met her. Of course, he didn’t use those exact words, but I got the drift.”
“Hmm.” Who the hell was she talking to? Shit. Hadn’t she told him once that she was into blonds?
“Of course, everything changed after he met Mom. Same thing happened to Gio. According to Dad, every man needs a strong woman. A queen. All Dettas are made like that. The first time they set eyes on the right woman, they know.”
The blond asshole leaned closer to Tess. She was animatedly talking to him, using her hands as she was prone to do when she was explaining something. That “something” might be anything from her favorite vegan cupcake to the start of the Universe. Even from this distance, Luca could see the guy was barely listening to her. His eyes were glued to her chest.
Then his brother waved a hand before his eyes. “What?”
“I’m so glad I have your full attention,” Vince said dryly, following his gaze. Then he cursed under his breath. “What the fuck is she doing here?”