“So, how come you never told me about the job offer?” I asked, eyeing the pretty receptionist, who appeared bored as she flipped through a magazine at her desk.
“I’m not taking the job,” Hunt snapped. “What does it matter?”
“Fuck, man. We’re tight. Aren’t we?” We told each other everything. I knew his secrets like he knew mine.
He rolled his shoulders. Clearly, he didn’t want to be here, and neither did I.
“Why did you elbow me last night when I was mouthing off to Pitt?”
“I was trying to get you to can it. Let Pitt put the fear of God in Sullivan and Seever. Maybe they’ll back off. Otherwise the battle will never end.”
“I don’t want Pitt to think I owe him now.”
He let out a grizzly laugh. “A little late for that, dude. We’re here, aren’t we? Besides, he probably wants to offer you a job. You’re getting ready to graduate. So, maybe he wants both of us.”
Hunt had graduated last year, and his dad had given him a year to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. All Hunt really knew was football. He’d played linebacker for Kensington High and was damn good at it. He’d been instrumental in a lot of key plays, which led Kensington to the playoffs his senior year. Kensington could’ve used his skills last fall.
“Bodyguard and bouncer didn’t make my career list.” Hell if I was going to work for someone who could be tied to the mafia.
“Did you talk with Lacey?”
“Yep.” I’d talked to her twice after the incident in the garage. “I didn’t tell her anything about last night, though.” I didn’t want to stress her out over the phone.
He chuckled as he sat back down. “She’s going to know it when she sees you.”
“I’ll deal with it then.” She wouldn’t be able to miss my split lip or bruised jaw. She was due home tomorrow night, and they wouldn’t heal that quickly. “She did tell me the cops might have a lead in the murder case.”
“And is it a hot lead?” Hunt asked, sitting up straighter.
“Not sure. I’ll find out more when she gets home.” She didn’t want to get into too much detail, and she gave me the impression the cops didn’t elaborate, which didn’t surprise me. Even so, I was just as anxious as she was to find out who the guilty party was. Maybe then it would bring her closure.
A phone rang, and the receptionist answered. “Yes, Mr. Pitt. Sure will.” She hung up and said, “You boys can go in now. Last door on your right.” She pointed with a red-painted nail down a hallway to her right.
Hunt and I snickered. She called us boys. Hunt hated to be called a boy.
As we headed to Pitt’s office, Hunt stopped at her desk. “Honey, I may be young enough to be a boy, but I promise you I’m all man.”
The brunette, who had her hair twisted up on her head, blushed a hundred shades of red.
I chuckled as we both swaggered down to Pitt’s office as if our shit didn’t stink. We crossed the threshold into a massive corner office of mahogany wood and chrome furniture. A bar banked the left wall, and a plush seating area sat to the right. Adjacent to a low-back couch was a door carved into the wall, probably leading to a bathroom, and the oblong solid chrome desk was positioned in front of a window overlooking the Boston skyline.
“Come, fellas. Sit.” Pitt waved at two wingback chairs in front of his desk.
As my feet dug into the thick carpeting, I caught a whiff of cigar smoke. When we reached the chairs, I sat. Hunt didn’t. He used his chair as a shield.
Pitt scrutinized him. “You don’t like me, Hunt, do you?” He reclined back in his leather chair. Any farther, and he just might fall into the floor-to-ceiling windows behind him.
“No, I don’t. And if I’m here because you want to convince me to work for you, then you’re wasting your time.” Hunt gripped the back of the chair so tightly that his knuckles turned pale.
Pitt popped forward and clasped his hands together as though in prayer, almost knocking over the ashtray with a cigar in it. “I’m doing a favor for your brother.”
Hunt sneered. “Don’t.”
“Your brother wants you to get a job. And I’m willing to hire you. Your size fits the mold. You’d make a good bouncer at one of the under-twenty-one clubs here in Boston.”
Hunt’s nostrils were flaring, hard and fast. “So you think because I’m six foot four and could lift your scrawny ass over my head and throw you through those windows that my future is to be a bouncer? I don’t need a job.”
Ballsy. Pitt was far from scrawny, and I’d agree that Hunt could crush Pitt in fight. But still, ballsy.
Hunt looked at me. “Man, I’ll wait for you in the lobby.” He pivoted on his heel and got halfway to the door before Pitt spoke.
“Not even if I pay you a hundred dollars an hour and offer Kade here a job alongside you? You two are joined at the hip, right?”
Oh, fuck no. I jumped to my feet. I wasn’t working for Pitt to keep rowdy teenagers under control. I’d seen what my old man’s friend, Buster, had to go through at the teenybopper club, the Cave, back in Ashford.
“Is that why I’m here? So you can bribe my friend with me?” I curled my fingers into a fist.
Pitt casually stretched to his full height and circled his desk to the liquor-laden bar. He plucked ice cubes from a container and plopped them into a glass before pouring amber liquid into it. “How’s your mom, Kade?” Pitt asked as though he were an old family friend.
Hunt went ramrod straight, and I lost my breath.
Fuck me. The last person to bring up my mom ended up in the hospital with a broken arm.
Pitt brought the glass to his mouth, eyeing me with those empty black eyes.
“What’s your game?” I asked. “Are we here for you to shove personal shit in our faces? Mention my mother again, and I won’t hesitate to break every bone in your body.”
His eyes went wide. “I like you, Kade,” he said with that gritty voice I hated. “At first I didn’t think you would be up for the job, but after last night and now with you making idle threats, I know you would.” He sipped his whiskey.
“I told you I’m not working for you.” I felt around in my pocket for my pocketknife.
He smirked as though he knew I had a knife and he was daring me to pull it out. The idea did sound enticing, especially since his idiot guards weren’t around. Still, Pitt seemed like a guy who could handle himself, considering his bulked-up arms. Or more than likely he would have the steroid twins or the police here before I could act.
“Let’s go,” Hunt said to me. “We’re done here.”
I stalked closer to the door when every ounce of energy in me wanted to follow through on Hunt’s threat to throw Pitt through the wall of windows.
“Not even if it has to do with your girlfriend’s life?”
The blood rushed out of me, freezing me in place. I swallowed, and it felt like razor-sharp tacks were piercing my throat. Hunt had a look of horror on his face. I probably did too. What the fuck was Pitt talking about?
Ice cubes clinked in the glass. I spun on my heel and practically dove for Pitt with my fists up, ready to beat his head in.
With lightning speed, Hunt caught my arm. “Not worth it, man.”
“Listen to your friend.” Pitt set his glass down. “Now, do I have your attention?” His smug grin morphed into an intense glare.
Dick.
Hunt let go of me as Pitt sauntered over to the windows. “My daughter needs a tutor.” The Rolex on his right wrist shimmered as the light caught it.
A disrespectful laugh fell from my mouth. “Are you fucking with me?” My nails dug into my palms. He was threatening Lacey’s life so I would tutor his daughter? This guy couldn’t be serious.
“Kade, how much do you know about the death of Lacey’s family?” Pitt’s cockiness vanished, and his voice took on an all-business tone.
For the moment, his question masked the hatred I had for him. Maybe it was the seriousness on his face. �
�Nothing.” I knew as much as Lacey did. Something told me Pitt knew more than the cops. A light bulb went off. He could use his relationship with the BPD to help find out more about that LAPD lead.
“Mm,” he muttered, rubbing his sharp jaw. “Word on the street is her father is in bed with the Lorenzino family out of LA.”
Who the fuck was he talking about? Hunt and I returned to the wingback chairs. I could tell Pitt’s mind was working from the way his eyes shifted every second, and my mind was going a mile a minute, too, trying to connect Mr. Robinson to the mob.
“How well do you know the Robinson family?” Pitt didn’t take his eyes off me.
I’d met her brother briefly at Christmas. I hardly knew her father. He was always working at his club, Rumors, in Cambridge. So, not at all really, except that I knew Lacey inside and out, and she never mentioned any family by that name.
“Just spit out what you’re trying to say.”
“The Lorenzino family is associated with the mob in LA. If my sources are correct, James Robinson has something they want. Do you know what that is?” His dark eyes drilled a hole right through me.
A growl erupted from my chest. “How the fuck would I know? Aren’t you tied to the mob? Don’t mob bosses all know each other?”
He let out a sinister laugh. “Oh, yes. The more I get to know you, the more I like you, Kade. Regardless, I own businesses and support charities. If you call that the mob, then I suggest you check the definition. Better yet, why don’t you ask James Robinson about it?”
I just may. Suddenly, another realization dawned. When Lacey was in the hospital after she blacked out during baseball tryouts in September, her father showed up with cuts and bruises all over his face, cuts that needed stitches. He’d said he had to break up a fight at his club. Was that true? Or had he pissed off the mob?
“You look like you know something.” Pitt’s voice cut through my trip down memory lane.
“How is Lacey in danger?” I locked my jaw as my brain knocked against my skull. That bad feeling I’d had yesterday came back like a tornado.
“The Lorenzino family will go to great lengths to get what they want when the time is right. Which means your girl could be used as a pawn or worse, if you get my drift.” He lifted a thick eyebrow. “Anyway, I’ve invited you here to offer my protective services in exchange for you tutoring my daughter.”
No way in hell was I tutoring his daughter. Not that I couldn’t. Hell, I had a high IQ. I could’ve tested out of my senior year. But my old man wanted to see me graduate, and my brothers and I always talked about graduating together. Besides, Hunt and my brothers could help protect Lacey.
“A few minutes ago you were offering me a job as a babysitter at some club. Now you want me to babysit your daughter?” No damn way was I getting near that chick. If I tutored her, then Kelton would be sniffing around, and I didn’t want her near Kelton. “It doesn’t matter, I can protect my girl. I don’t need your muscle. I saw how careless they were last night.”
Hunt swore. “We protect our own.”
I let out a quiet breath. I was confident Hunt would have my back, but hearing him say it out loud to Pitt made me stand up a little taller.
“It was an accident caused by your brother,” Pitt said. “If he hadn’t fallen into my guy, then the gun wouldn’t have gone off. What are you complaining about? Didn’t we do you a favor shooting your enemy? I’d say you should thank me. After all, I literally scared the living piss out of them. Or at least that Seever boy.” He harrumphed.
Hunt laughed. “Seever did piss his pants.”
I didn’t give a shit about Sullivan or Seever, and I despised the fact that Pitt knew more about me and Lacey than I cared to imagine. I wasn’t sure why I was surprised. If he was connected to the Russian mob, he probably knew how to get information on anyone. “Do you know who killed the Robinsons?” Something wasn’t adding up. Why not just pay me to tutor his daughter?
He studied me for the longest time. I stared right back.
“He’s not going to tell you,” Hunt said. “If he did, that would make him guilty or some shit like that for not going to the cops. Nah, the mob takes care of their own problems.”
Pitt flicked his head at Hunt while keeping his eyes on me. “Listen to your friend.”
I heaved to my feet from the fancy leather chair. “We’re done here.” Hunt was right. Pitt wasn’t going to say a word. “I can handle my own shit. I don’t need you or your thugs to get anywhere near Lacey.”
“Are you going to protect her twenty-four, seven? Is her father going to let you sleep at the house? And what about when you’re not together? I can take that worry away from you.” He sounded desperate.
I threw my hands on his desk and got in his face. “Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t. Although if I’m willing to trust you with someone precious to me, do you think I’d blow smoke up your ass? Don’t you think I’ve done my research on you, Kade Maxwell? I know you’re fiercely protective of your brothers and your family. I know you are an excellent shot with a gun. Honestly, I wouldn’t trust anyone other than myself or my wife when it came to my daughter. But you… I know my gut is right. I know you wouldn’t touch her, harm her, or let anyone get near her. I also know you have a way of getting people to listen to you.” He sat back in his chair.
I didn’t want to know what he meant by his last statement. Or how any of what he said related to tutoring. My head was throbbing to the point where my vision was blurring. I blinked twice before the panoramic view of the Boston skyline became crystal clear. Snow was falling, blanketing the rooftops of the buildings around us. I needed to get out of there and release some tension and think. I tapped Hunt on the arm as I started for the door.
“You’ll be back,” Pitt called after us.
Like hell I will.
* * *
* * *
Two and half hours later I was standing in the reception area of Whitaker Manor. After Pitt brought up my mom, I had to see her. Not that I thought he would do something to her, I just hadn’t seen her in two weeks. And seeing her always helped me put life in perspective and settle my nerves.
Robin, the receptionist, looked up from her computer. “Kade, your father mentioned you would be visiting.” She tucked a strand of her red hair behind her ear. “You just missed him.”
“I know.” I’d called him on my way to let him know I’d be here. He was heading back to the apartment he rented close by to take a shower. He spent most weekends up here with my mom. I signed in before Robin buzzed me through the door.
Once inside, I wound my way to the nurses’ station. Lynn, the gray-haired nurse on duty, stopped writing in a chart as I approached. “Kade, good to see you.”
“Can I go in?” I dipped my head at my mom’s room on the right directly across from Lynn.
“Yes. Your father told her you would be here. She’s been quiet all day though.” Sorrow shone in her dark eyes.
My mom had days where she chatted about nothing in particular, and sometimes she didn’t talk at all. It was hit and miss with her. After my sister died four years ago, she fell into a deep depression and even tried to commit suicide. My heart ached every day for her. I wanted more than anything in this world for her to heal, to have her home with us, to sit in the kitchen and watch her. She loved to bake. Kody was our baker in the house now. He’d always helped her when she was baking cookies or cakes.
I ambled over to her doorway then hesitated. A vase of lilies graced the wooden dresser on the right wall, the perfumed fragrance filling the room. As I inhaled, I angled my head to find my mom sitting in her fabric armchair on the other side of her bed near the window. She was dressed in a violet silk robe that fell to her feet. Her black hair flowed around her while her long lashes framed her deep ocean-blue eyes. She lifted her chin and beamed at me.
Tears burned my eyes. “Hey, Mom.” I went over to her and bent down to kiss her on the forehead.
“
Kade.” Her eyes lit up. She caught my cheeks between her soft palms. “I’ve missed you.”
I was about to lose my shit, and I tried not to cry in front of her. My father said to show happiness. Our positive energy would help to elevate her mood. I should’ve told the triplets to meet me here. She always came alive with them. They had a way of acting like hams and not dwelling on the sadness of the situation.
I dragged an ottoman from in front of the window over to her and sat down. I grabbed her hands. “How are you? Have you been watching any movies?” She loved old movies like Gone with the Wind.
She smiled. “I watched Cleopatra today, the one with Liz Taylor in it. Your dad fell asleep.”
Over the years, several people had said my mom resembled Liz Taylor.
She lost her smile. “Then…” She glanced out the window. Her eyes lost that spark.
I rubbed the backs of her hands and looked out the window with her. When she got quiet, we weren’t supposed to press her. So, we sat there. Manicured shrubs and trees poked out of the snow-covered landscape.
“The angels were out last night,” she said. “Isn’t it pretty?”
The snow sparkled as if tiny diamonds littered the ground, which was what she used to tell me when I was a little boy. She’d also told us boys that snow was an angel’s blanket. Water filled my eyes. “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend,” I said softly. “The angels sprinkled a lot of them last night, too.”
She turned her head slowly, her teary eyes locking with mine. “Karen is with the angels. I saw her. She’s happy now.”
Don’t lose it, man. Be strong for your mother. It was so fucking hard. I swallowed and smiled as best I could, lifting her hands to my lips. “She certainly is, Mom. She’s among the beautiful angels.” After a soft kiss, I lowered her hands to her lap but didn’t let go.
Dare to Dream: The Maxwell Series Page 4