Steal Me

by Lauren Layne

  “So, I’m thinking all of that translates more to manipulative than it does fierce,” Maggie said.

  “Yes!” Ava said, holding up her hand for a high five. “Even better! Manipulative we can work with, assuming, of course, you never manipulate us.”

  “Is that even possible?” Maggie asked dryly. “To manipulate you three?”

  “That’s a negative,” Jill said. “Oh look, here’s my store.”

  Elena threw herself in front of the door before Jill could enter. “Or, another idea…we skip the bra shopping for today so I don’t have to imagine my brothers having sex with any of you, and in exchange, I buy us all wine?”

  “Done,” Jill said quickly.

  “Well, that was easy,” Elena muttered.

  Jill caught Maggie’s eye and winked. Maggie smiled back. Apparently she wasn’t the only one that could be manipulative. Elena had definitely just walked right into Jill’s mission for free wine.

  “I know just the place,” Ava said. “They have happy hour seven days a week and an awesome by-the-glass list.”

  She glanced at Maggie. “Do you like wine, Maggie?”

  “Love it,” Maggie said. “Although I don’t really know it.”

  “Fear not,” Elena said. “We’ve got you covered. I know my way around the menu. Although honestly, it’s boozy grape juice, so you really can’t go wrong.”

  The sidewalk narrowed again, so they had to walk two by two, Elena and Ava ahead, while Jill fell into step beside Maggie.

  “Hey, if this is weird for you, you can say so,” Jill said quietly, tugging nervously on her short blond ponytail.

  Maggie glanced at the shorter woman. “What do you mean?”

  Jill bit her lip, as though debating how much to say. “Vincent told me about your dad’s accident. The cause of it. I didn’t know if—”

  “You want to know if I skip booze because my father’s an alcoholic.”

  Jill winced. “Well…yeah. I mean, I’m just saying we don’t want to pressure you to drink after what happened.”

  Maggie felt a strange lump in her throat at the other woman’s caring. It was a tiny gesture. A small thing, really. But the kindness meant something.

  “My dad’s mistakes are his own,” Maggie said quietly.

  “How’s he doing?” Jill asked.

  Great question, Maggie thought. The day after the accident, she’d had every intention of heading back to the hospital first thing.

  She’d called to see if he was awake.

  He was.

  And he hadn’t wanted her to come.

  It’s a long trip, Bug. Don’t worry about it. Cory’s coming by later and we’re going to watch the game.

  She’d argued, but he’d been insistent in his easygoing way.

  Maggie would like to say that her eyes hadn’t watered when her dad had outright rejected her, but the truth was it had stung. A lot. Why wouldn’t her dad want his only daughter there after a major car accident?

  And then he’d laid it on her.

  You really want to help, Bug, I’m going to need a hand with these damn medical bills. Do you have any idea how much they charge for a fucking catheter these days…

  It wasn’t that her dad didn’t need her.

  He did. He needed her money.

  Money she didn’t have.

  She squeezed her eyes shut. “He’s fine. Recovering.”

  Jill nodded. “I’m glad. And if you ever want to talk…I had an uncle with a drinking problem. It’s hard, watching them destroy their lives, you know?”

  Maggie knew. She sooooo knew.

  “Hey, slowpokes,” Elena said. “Hurry it up!”

  “It’s a good thing alcohol’s not your vice,” Jill said with a grin. “Because the Morettis are so not the people to hang out with if you do. They can drive a saint to drink.”

  “Yeah, figured that out pretty quickly,” Maggie said. “The time I got a sexy text from Anthony, I sought liquid courage and had only a killer headache to show for it the next morning.”

  Jill skidded to a halt before letting out a whoop and grabbing Maggie’s arm, dragging her forward to the door of the wine bar that Elena and Ava had just entered.

  “Elena, honey, I thought you’d like to know that Maggie here has been sexting with your brother.”

  Elena shrieked in horror and Ava tilted her head thoughtfully. “Does one sext with someone? Or do you just sext them. Is sext the verb?”

  “We didn’t sext,” Maggie said, shooting an apologetic smile at the couple who’d turned around to stare at her. “We just—he just—”

  “Say no more,” Ava said, holding up a hand. “Not until we get to a table; I want to hear every last juicy morsel.”

  “And I want to know if his incredibly tall stature translates to an impressive stature in other places,” Jill chimed in as they crowded into a small four-top in the corner.

  Elena swatted Jill across the back of the head. “Maggie, if you answer that question, I’m reneging on my offer to pay.”

  “I couldn’t answer even if I wanted to,” Maggie admitted. “We, um…”

  “Haven’t done it?”

  “No,” Maggie said, slowly warming up to the topic of talking about sex. It had been a long time since she’d talked about this stuff. Hadn’t realized that she wanted to. “But the mixed signals are killing me.”

  “But he’s kissed you, right? You’ve got to at least give me something; I’m going through a dry spell,” Jill said.

  Maggie’s body tingled as she remembered the feel of his hands on her back. In her hair. His tongue against hers as he’d pressed her into the wall, coaxing moans from her mouth.

  Ava gave a knowing laugh. “I know that look. That’s a yes.”

  Elena propped her chin on her hands and looked at Maggie. “Okay, I don’t want to know details. Obviously. But can I just say how glad I am that he’s found someone like you?”

  Maggie glanced warily around the table. “Well, I don’t know that he’s really found me. I don’t even know what’s going on. And sometimes I think he only wants me because of my connection to his case.”

  “No, that’s just it,” Jill said. “He wants you in spite of his case. That’s huge. Especially for a guy like Anthony. Especially after everything that he’s been through.”

  “You mean because of that girl…the one you mentioned when you and your mom came into the diner?” Maggie asked Elena, fishing shamelessly.

  Jill and Elena exchanged a glance. “It’s really his story to tell.”

  Ava’s fingers wrapped around Elena’s wrist. “You have to tell her. Anthony never will.”

  Elena blew out a long breath. “Okay. Fine. It’s not like it’s any big dark secret or anything. But first…we wine.”

  Maggie waited impatiently while the other three women debated the wine list, caring not at all about red vs. white, but caring an awful damn lot about this mysterious woman in Anthony’s past.

  “Okay,” Elena said, once they’d decided to start with a bottle of Pinot Grigio, and everyone had a full glass in front of them. “You’re sure you want to go here? Because I think we all know, once you go prowling into a guy’s past, it’s a hell of a lot harder to get out of his future. You’ll become entangled.”

  I want to be entangled.

  “I’m sure,” Maggie said, taking a sip of wine for courage.

  Elena blew out a breath. “Okay, so I don’t know all the details. To be honest, when Vannah came onto the scene, we all thought the relationship had the staying power of wet Scotch tape.”

  “That’s…oddly specific,” Ava muttered.

  “She was a model, and looked it. Tall, thin, waif-ish…”

  Pretty, Maggie silently added. Vannah would have been very, very pretty.

  “I don’t know what the hell she modeled,” Jill muttered.

  “You knew her?” Maggie asked.

  Jill shrugged. “Our appearances at Moretti events overlapped occasionally. I remember her
being…vacant. One of those women who was always claiming to be busy, but never seemed to be busy. And despite the fact that she was like ninety pounds, she had this way of sucking the energy out of the room.”

  Elena nodded. “None of us ever figured out what Anth saw in her, and apparently he couldn’t figure it out either, because he slowly stopped bringing her around. When he finally ended things altogether, nobody batted an eye.”

  Elena dipped her dark head down, staring into her wine, and Maggie watched as her usual confident, smiling face shadowed. And because Maggie already knew how this story ended, she had a pretty good guess what Elena was feeling.

  Sadness. Maybe even guilt at her flippant dismissal of this Vannah.

  “And then she died,” Maggie said softly.

  “Yeah.” Elena ran a finger around the rim of her wineglass.

  “But they were already broken up,” Maggie said quietly. “I can see why Anth would be regretful at the loss of life. It’s horribly tragic, but…did he still love her? Is that why it continues to haunt him?”

  “No,” Elena said quickly. “I don’t think he ever loved her in that way. And yes, he was saddened by the death of someone so young. We all were. But for Anth, it was more than that.”

  “Vannah committed suicide,” Jill blurted out.

  Maggie’s fingers covered her mouth.

  “God,” Ava breathed.

  Maggie glanced at Luc’s girlfriend. “You didn’t know?”

  The brunette shook her head. “Luc and I have only been dating a few months. And we’ve talked plenty about his brother, but he’s never really mentioned Anthony’s personal life.”

  “That’s because Anth doesn’t have a personal life,” Elena said. “Not since Vannah.”

  “He blames himself,” Maggie said. It wasn’t a question. She knew Anthony Moretti. Knew the way he took responsibility for just about every single person and thing that crossed his path. Of course he’d blame himself.

  “Yes,” Elena said bitterly. “He does. He’d blame himself even if it hadn’t been for Vannah’s suicide note.”

  Maggie groaned, already fearing what Elena was about to say. “She blamed him?”

  Elena lifted a shoulder. “Him. Her mother. Her psychiatrist. Her landlord. But yeah, Anthony had a whole paragraph dedicated to him.”

  “That’s just…selfish,” Maggie said. She knew she wasn’t supposed to dislike a dead woman, but she did. She absolutely did.

  “What did the note say?” Ava asked, sounding horrified.

  “I don’t know the specifics. I only know about it at all because Luc told me, and I suspect Luc only knows because he lives with Anth. Anthony barely talks about the good stuff in his life, much less the bad stuff. But I’m guessing it’s got something to do with him never being there for her. She was always whining about that.”

  Maggie’s heart twisted. That must have shattered Anthony. He made no secrets about his life’s dream of being police commissioner, but if this Vannah was the needy, clingy type—and it sounded like she was—then they were doomed from the start.

  No wonder he tried to push Maggie away at every possible turn. He had no idea how to reconcile being a cop with being a boyfriend, and after what had happened, was probably too scared to try.

  Jill tapped her nails against her wineglass and pursed her lips. “Okay, so here’s what we know. Anthony breaks up with his girlfriend, and she kills herself. He takes it to heart, and from what we can tell, hasn’t had a serious relationship since. Right?”

  “Pretty much,” Elena said.

  Jill blew out a breath as she reached for the wine bottle and topped off Maggie’s not yet empty glass. “You’re going to need this more than the rest of us, honey.”

  “How’s that?” Maggie asked.

  Jill’s wide blue eyes looked at her sympathetically. “Well, based on his history with this Vannah girl, he was bound to keep his distance from you no matter what. And then when you throw in the fact that you’re also connected to his most high-profile case…”

  Maggie waved this away. “Not anymore. I haven’t heard from Eddie since that weird note, which I’m pretty sure was more about messing with the cops than it was about me.”

  “Perhaps,” Jill said. “But things are more complicated now. He already has it in his head that he can’t be a good cop and a good boyfriend, and now, when he might actually want to try to be both, his superiors make him go and choose.”

  Maggie scrunched her nose. “Hold up, not following. His superiors said he’s not allowed to date me?”

  “No,” Jill said. “I don’t even think they know about your guys’…um…thing. But Vin said this sting opp with Smiley is killing Anth. Normally Anthony wouldn’t think twice about it, but since it’s you, he’s hesitating and he hates that.”

  Maggie was about to take a sip of her wine but set the glass back down. “Sting opp?”

  “Yeah, the—” Jill’s eyes traveled around the table before widening in horror. “He talked to you about this, right? It’s common knowledge?”

  “I’m thinking maybe the good captain hasn’t mentioned it,” Ava said quietly.

  Maggie’s mind was reeling. “Sting opp. That’s like…they want to set Smiley up, right?”

  Jill covered her face with her hands. “Don’t ask me. I can say no more.”

  “Yes, that’s what it means,” Elena said quietly. “They basically lure the suspect into a situation they think he’ll be likely to enter willingly.”

  Everything clicked into place at once. “And they think he’ll come to meet me.”

  Ava touched the back of Maggie’s hand. “We shouldn’t have said anything, sweetie. I’m sure that the department was figuring out a plan, wanting to get all the details sorted out before mentioning it to you.”

  “Or,” Maggie said, her voice sharp with anger, “maybe a certain captain didn’t have the guts to tell me about it.”

  “I’m sure he was planning on it,” Ava said. “Eventually.”

  Maggie pushed back from the table, leaning down to grab her purse. “Ladies, if you’ll excuse me…I believe eventually just got upgraded to right now.”

  Chapter Twenty

  It had been a long time since Anthony answered his door to an angry woman. And in the past couple years, at least, the ones who had come by were all out for Luca’s blood.

  Anth tended to be long gone before women even had the chance to get angry at him.

  But Maggie Walker was definitely standing outside of his door. And she was definitely angry.

  Which was a shame, because she also looked beautiful. He was used to seeing her in her uniform or casual clothes, but today she was wearing form-fitting black pants, some sort of high wedge-shaped shoe, and a tight green sweater that made her eyes sparkle.

  Sparkling with rage, but still pretty.

  Wordlessly he stepped aside so she could enter.

  “Captain,” she said icily as she stepped into the apartment he shared with Nonna and Luc.

  And speaking of his grandmother…

  “Oh, Maggie!” she said, appearing at his shoulder. “I didn’t know you were coming over! Had I known, I wouldn’t have made plans with my latest beau.”

  Anthony refrained from rolling his eyes. He was unfortunately all too accustomed to his grandmother having a “latest beau.” She was on a one-a-month schedule, although where she met them, she refused to say.

  “Hi, Mrs. Moretti,” Maggie said, her expression softening slightly when she looked at his grandmother. “I didn’t know I was coming over either.”

  Nonna clapped her hands together. “A surprise booty call. I love it!”

  Anthony pinched the bridge of his nose. “Where did you hear the words ‘booty call’?”

  “The Bachelor,” she replied matter-of-factly. “Which, I’ve been thinking, I wonder if there isn’t room for that type of show for the older generation. Maybe set in a retirement home and instead of handing out roses, they could hand out walkers�
�”

  “I’m not here for a booty call,” Maggie said.

  Nonna frowned, finally noticing the edge in Maggie’s tone, the tension around her mouth. “Uh-oh. You’re mad at him? Why?”

  Anthony fully expected Maggie to demure, make some polite excuse until they were alone. She didn’t.

  “I am mad at him, yes. I just learned that he’s been arranging a sting operation in which I am the bait and forgot to mention it.”

  “Oh, he didn’t forget,” Nonna said, waving her hand. “He’s been scared to tell you, because—”

  Luc emerged from his bedroom, scooping their grandmother’s purse off the kitchen table and coming up beside her to slide it over her shoulder in one smooth motion. “Nonna, let’s get going, shall we?”

  “Where are you going?” Anthony asked his brother. “Thought we were going to watch the game.”

  Luc held up his cell phone. “Ava texted. Told me to clear out.”

  Maggie nodded at that. “She was there when I found out. She’s also the one who gave me your address. Helpful girl that Ava.”

  Anthony grunted. “I’ll be sure to thank her.”

  Luc blew Anth a mocking kiss before leaning down to peck Maggie’s cheek, all the while ushering their grandmother out the front door.

  “I can be your sharpshooter!” Nonna hollered just before Luc closed the door.

  Normally, Anthony relished the silence when he got a moment to himself. Solitude was a rarity with two roommates who also happened to be family.

  Now, however, the silence felt different. Dangerous.

  Maggie took a step forward, and he barely remembered to hold his ground despite the fact that he had several inches on her.

  Yep, he was definitely in danger all right.

  He cleared his throat. “Ava told you?”

  “Jill, actually. Although it could have just as easily been Elena or Ava, because of the four of us on the girls’ shopping expedition, I was the only one left in the dark.”

  Shit. On one hand, he was glad that the females of his family had decided to include her. Maggie needed them. Needed friends. Needed decent people in her life.