Kevin was off his nut. I should have seen it. Of all us kids, I was the closest to Kevin. I should have known. This was my fault.
And I would fix it.
Chapter 26
Amelia
Three days and Kyle didn’t come home. I didn’t know what to think, but I wasn’t going anywhere. I was going to wait for him to come back to me.
But that didn’t mean I didn’t have issues of my own that I needed to resolve. I called Brian Callahan on the second day and asked him for my mother’s address.
“Of course,” he said kindly.
“How’s Kyle?”
He was quiet for a moment. “They’ve been out searching for Kevin. I don’t know if he told you, but we have reason to believe that Kevin was behind the shooting the other night.”
Kevin. How awful that must have been for Kyle.
“And Jack?”
“Doing very well. It’s kind of you to ask.”
There was some distance in Brian’s voice. Had Kyle told him the truth of our relationship? Did they all think that I’d used him for my own personal gain? If that was the case, I wouldn’t want to talk to me, either.
The address was in a part of town I hadn’t yet visited. I stepped out of the loft, the key pressed hard in my palm, expecting Colin to be standing in the hallway. He wasn’t. I supposed Kyle had called him off of sentry duty.
An Uber took me across town, kindly pointing out a few landmarks when he learned I was new to the city. I barely heard him. I was thinking about where I was going, but also of Kyle. Would he simply never come home as long as he knew I was there?
I missed him. But I was deeply afraid that he really didn’t care about me and he really did want me gone.
The Uber pulled up to a small, brick home on a quiet residential street. It wasn’t very big, just a two-bedroom home, I guessed. But there were lovely rose bushes and lilacs in the front yard. I stepped out of the car, moving slowly as I tried to figure out what I would say. But even as the words struggled to form in my mind, the front door opened and my mother came rushing down the steps to pull me into her embrace.
“Amelia!”
I closed my eyes, shocked at how much I’d missed this. My mom gave the best hugs.
We stood there like that for a long time, both of us crying, our tears wetting out clothing. But it didn’t matter. I would have stood there all day if it meant finally finding the comfort I’d been searching for far longer than I’d realized.
“You look so good,” she said, brushing tears from my face when she finally pulled back. “What are you doing here? Did he finally tell you where I was?”
“Who?”
“Your father. He told me he’d never tell you, that he wanted to protect you from my new lifestyle.”
“No, it wasn’t Daddy.”
She frowned. “No one else knows I’m here.”
“Brian Callahan knows.”
A strange expression twisted her familiar features for a second. “Brian Callahan? I haven’t heard that name in years.” She took my hand and led the way up the front steps of the house. “I knew Brian when I was in college. He was dating my roommate. And then a couple of years ago he hired me to do some work for him, but…I can’t believe he told you where I was. How do you know Brian?”
“Why did you leave Daddy? Why did he tell me you were having an affair?”
Again a strange expression moved over her face. “Because I was.”
“But he said it was with Brian, but Brian denied it.”
My mom stopped moving, standing still as she clearly struggled with something. My mom was not the type of person to hold a grudge against anyone, but I could see anger snapping in her eyes.
“Your father…he couldn’t handle the truth. But I don’t know why he would choose Brian as his scapegoat.”
“Why would he need a scapegoat?”
“So that you wouldn’t have to learn the truth of who I was having an affair with.”
She took my hand again and drew me into the house. It was a nice little place, the furniture modern, but comfortable, the pictures on the wall telling the story of a lovely romance. And sitting on the edge of the couch, clearly nervous about meeting me, was a woman about my mother’s age with a long, dark braid and bright caramel-colored eyes.
“Amelia, this is my wife…”
And, suddenly, so many things made sense.
Chapter 27
Kyle
“I’m going home in a week,” Jack told me.
“That’s good.”
“Yeah. But the doctors have decided I should stay in bed for the first two weeks. Can you imagine, me stuck in the house, alone with Caroline?”
“You might discover you like it.”
“We can’t have sex. What else is there to do?”
I would have laughed if I hadn’t known that Jack was dead serious.
“Listen, thanks for calling Delaney. It was great having her here when I came out of surgery.”
I nodded. “Of course.”
“She tells me that she and Sean are back for good.” He glanced over at the door as though he was looking to make sure no one was coming in. “She also told me, in confidence, that they’re engaged.”
“Really?” That was something Sean hadn’t bothered to tell anyone.
“They want to keep it quiet until all of this blows over.”
“If it does.” I shifted in my chair. “The word on the street is that we started the gun fight. The Italians are all riled up, ready for a fight.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve talked to Carmine. He’s pretty grateful to you for saving his ass.”
“It was in our best interest.”
“Yeah, well, he’s decided since we work so well together, we should do more of that.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that we worked out a deal. We split our territories equally, they take a share in the gun trade, and we essentially work together.”
“Excuse me if I don’t look for the ‘but’ at the end of that sentence.”
“There is one, little but.” Jack glanced at the door again. “Carmine has a daughter. He thinks if one of our guys marries her, it would solidify our commitment to work together.”
“A daughter? Who’s the poor slob who has to marry her?”
“Well, he wanted you, but since you’re already married, I was able to save your ass. But then he found out that Ian’s still single…”
***
I couldn’t avoid it for the rest of my life. I paid for it; I had the right to go there, to live there.
I let myself into the loft a week after the shooting, dropping my keys in the dish where they belonged as loudly as I could to warn Amelia I was there. Colin told me that she’d refused to leave and I simply couldn’t face her. I couldn’t understand why she hadn’t taken the opportunity to leave that I’d handed her. The only thing I could think of was that she wanted the loft in our divorce or annulment or whatever.
I hadn’t even called my lawyer.
She was standing by the windows, the thin sweater she was wearing rendered almost see-through with the late afternoon sun shining through it. She didn’t turn as I came into the room…just continued to stand there.
“Why didn’t you leave?”
“Because I didn’t want to.”
“That’s a childish reason.”
She turned slowly, her pretty face paler than I recalled it.
“Then, how about this?” she asked. “I love you and I’m not ready to throw our marriage away.”
“You don’t even know me. Everything you know about me came from text messages from my brother, who was trying to use you to hurt me and my family.”
“But I think I’ve gotten to know you in the time we’ve been together.”
“A week? Not even that. Three, four days? Isn’t that more accurate?”
“Time doesn’t really matter when you meet that one person you know is the one you’re meant to be with.�
�
“You sound like one of those bohemian artists who lives back in Oregon.”
She didn’t say anything right away. She crossed her arms over her chest—which was great because I couldn’t take my eyes from her beautiful breasts—and studied me.
“You didn’t ask for this. I understand that. But I knew what I was getting into, and I’m not walking away from you until I know beyond any doubt that you don’t want me.”
“But you know, Amelia? A man like me isn’t capable of love.”
“Bullshit!”
The sound of that word coming from between her full lips nearly pushed me over. She was the one who complained about my language that first day, yet here she was cussing herself.
“When are you going to stop hiding behind your childhood, Kyle?”
Again, she caught me by surprise. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means that you are capable of love. I see it every time you talk about Abigail or see you with your family. You love them.”
“That’s different.”
“How? How is that different?”
I shrugged. “It just is.”
She studied my face for a moment. Then she sighed, letting her arms fall lazily to her sides.
“I won’t leave you. I won’t walk away. If you want me gone, you’ll have to forcefully remove me.”
There was just something about the way she said it, the way she seemed so determined, that finally cut through and took root inside my head.
“You won’t leave.”
“No, I won’t.”
I slowly crossed over to her. “How do I know I can trust you? You married me under false pretenses.”
“That was before I knew you. Now…I would do it all over again, but I would make sure you were sober first.”
“You lied to me. You said that I charmed you into marriage, but it was really you who convinced me.”
“I did lie. But that’s over now. There won’t be any more lies.”
I touched her face, running the back of my hand over her cheek. “And when things get hard? When I yell at you because you’re the only one here and I need to vent? When I don’t come home because I’m doing something for Jack? When I get shot again, because I will probably get shot again.”
“We’ll deal with it. Abigail managed to make it work. I can, too.”
“Abigail was a saint.”
She nodded. “I know.”
I drew her into my arms. “You’ll never leave me?”
“Never.”
“Promise me.”
She groaned, pressing her lips against my neck. “I love you, Kyle. I’m never going to leave you. Never.”
I groaned too, pulling her so close to me that I might have suffocated her. But then she was kissing me, her lips pressed so hard against mine that I almost couldn’t believe her slight body could be capable of such a thing. I’d missed her more than I allowed myself to understand. But tasting her now, feeling her skin under my hands, there was no denying it.
I swung her up into my arms and carried her upstairs.
“I love you,” I whispered against her ear, as I laid her on our bed.
I’d never said those words before, not even to Abigail. It was easier than I’d expected it to be.
~~
IAN
Prologue
Mia
“Daddy’s been shot. You have to come home.”
That’s all I heard. I know my sister kept talking after she said those words, but it was all I heard. I pushed the blankets off my legs and started to climb out of bed, but Spider grabbed my arm.
“Where you going, babe?”
“Boston.”
“What do you mean, Boston?” He sat up a little, his eyes still red from the party he’d returned from not more than an hour ago. “You can’t go to Boston now.”
“My dad’s in the hospital.”
“The old fart have a heart attack?”
I smacked his arm, jerking away from him. I was halfway across the room when he grabbed me around the waist, pulling me back toward the bed.
“Let me go, Spider!”
“You’re not going anywhere. You belong here…with me.”
“I’ve got to go home.”
“Just how do you think you’re going to get there? You’re not taking my car.”
“I’ll find a way.”
I tried to pull away from him again, but he was holding me too tight. I pushed at his wrists, but that only made him pull me even closer against his bare chest.
“Come on, Spider! You can’t just hold me here all night!”
“Let me come with you.”
“No. You know my dad doesn’t like you.”
“But you do.” He nuzzled my neck almost roughly. “Let me come with.”
But the thing was, I wasn’t sure how much I liked him anymore. When I left Boston, I thought I was head over heels in love. But, four months later, I was pretty sure I’d been wrong. Spider was possessive, controlling, and a real hot mess. He drank, I suspected he did drugs, and he refused to get a job that didn’t require carrying his guitar onto a stage. We never had any money, and half the time we had nothing to eat. It seemed Bohemian at first, sort of fun. Now it was just sad.
I pushed at his wrists again, catching him off guard. He let me go, and I snatched some clothes off the floor, searching through the mess for some sort of container to put them in. I had a nice duffle when I came out West with him, but I hadn’t seen it in weeks. I finally just shoved the clothes into a plastic grocery bag.
“I won’t let you leave,” Spider announced.
“You have no choice.”
“You want to bet?”
He grabbed my arm and smacked me hard across the face. That was a mistake.
I was Mia Rossi, daughter of Carmine Rossi. I knew how to defend myself.
I moved in close as he went for another smack, raising my knee and slamming it into his crotch. As he bent down to protect himself, I jammed my knee into his nose. I heard the crunch. He fell over, writhing in pain.
“Goodbye, Spider.”
Chapter 1
Ian
She lay stretched out in the bed, uncovered by anything that might hamper my view of her beautiful body. She was tall and lithe, the kind of woman who graced the front cover of magazines like Vogue. She had long, blond hair that was brushed away from her face, delicate features, and green eyes that looked like jewels. Her curves were subtle, but feminine, her ass finer than Boucher’s Girl Resting. I could stand there and watch her all afternoon. Unfortunately, I had to get back to Boston.
“When will you be back?”
“I don’t know. With everything in chaos back home, it might be a while.”
“You know, if you moved up here, it wouldn’t be an issue.”
I inclined my head slightly to acknowledge her, aware that she was watching me from under the veil of her arm. This was a conversation we’d had quite often over the last six months. But it was one argument she was never going to win.
“My family needs me there. Maybe if things change…”
“You always say that. But we both know nothing’s going to change. They’re always going to need you for one thing or another.”
“Carrie—”
“Don’t ‘Carrie’ me. You know it’s true.”
She sat up, her small breasts pointing accusing fingers at me. My cock stiffened a little in response, pointing a finger right back.
Carrie was the manager of a restaurant my father’s corporation, Callahan Industries, owned here in Manhattan. We’d met almost a year ago when I hired her for the job. There was a mild flirtation from the start, but it wasn’t until we were working late together last November that one thing led to another and I found myself back here at her apartment, doing things to her body that would forever be ingrained in my mind. I wasn’t the kind of guy who committed easily to a relationship, but Carrie got under my skin. I found myself thinking about her day and nigh
t. When I turned down a pretty waitress at a local bar back in Boston, I knew I had it bad.
But I didn’t sign up for this.
“You know how much my family means to me.”
“But if they care about you, they’d understand your need to be independent.”
“I am independent.”
“No, you’re not. You jump every time one of them tells you to.” She crossed her arms over those perky tits. “Do they even know about me?”
I turned away, snatching my suit jacket off the chair where I’d placed it hours ago.
“I’m not having this discussion with you again, Carrie.”
“Why not? Don’t I have a right to know where this relationship is headed?”
“Why do I have to be the one to define that? There’re two of us here.”
“Yeah. I want you to move in with me. I want you to be in an exclusive relationship with me. You’re the one who refuses to make any sort of commitment to me.”
“I come back, don’t I? I don’t disappear. I come back and I make myself available whenever you call.”
“That’s not the same thing!”
I turned and looked at her, trying to focus on her face and nothing else.
“You know how hard it is for me. We’ve talked about this.”
“Everyone has baggage, Ian. So you had a fucked up childhood. So what?”
My eyes narrowed. What she called fucked up, I called a living nightmare. If not for the Callahans…
“I can’t move in with you. Not here. If you wanted to move to Boston—?”
“And start all over in some second-rate restaurant? No thanks. My career is more important than that.”
“Then we’re at an impasse.”
Her eyes narrowed as she continued to glare at me. I didn’t react. I just stood there and watched her, calm on the outside, but a bowl of jelly on the inside. I didn’t want to lose her. She was probably the best thing that had ever happened to me since Abigail Callahan found me in some half-assed group home. But I couldn’t give her what she wanted.
She shook her head, brushing away a few tears.
THE CALLAHANS (A Mafia Romance): The Complete 5 Books Series Page 62