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“Do you know what happened last night?” I asked. “Did Celt tell you?”
She pinched her lips together, like she was deciding whether to lie to me.
I didn’t need or want to be sheltered, so I demanded, “Tell me. I’ve been in the dark forever. It’s better to be in the know than locked away in a cage.”
With a sigh, she relented. “I don’t know many of the details. Celt wouldn’t say. But I know something went down last night, a new dealwith the Mafia.”
“The Gambinos?” I asked, my fork clattering to the plate.
Roni shook her head. “Not them. Definitely not. No way Celt—orCook—would let that fly. Or Angel, for that matter. It was some other guy. Parisi, maybe.”
“Massimo.” It had to be. I ate a forkful of eggs, unable to revel in the perfect taste of them when it all just felt sour. “Are there others?”
She shrugged. “I’m still new to this. You would have to ask Bou. She’ll be at church too.”
“Church?”
“Didn’t Cook tell you?” She smiled, her green eyes glinting. “It’s what they call it when the club meets up for business.”
“Oh,” I said, then drew the connection. “Bou? Even in... her state?” I was unsure how to phrase it, and it made me pout that she got to go, but I couldn’t be with Daddy now. I still wasn’t sure I could trust her after she brought Mel over here without Cook’s permission or mine.
“You mean pregnant?” Roni raised both brows.
I rolled my eyes. “It just doesn’t feel safe.”
“She knows what she’s doing.”
Of course she does. Bou doesn’t seem like the kind of person who defers to anyone.
I ate more eggs, trying to gather my thoughts. While I knew Cook, the rest of his world was foreign to me. Often weird. Stupidly strange. Every time I thought I relearned something, I was thrown off track. “Do you want that, with Celt, I mean?”
“An accidental pregnancy?” asked Roni.
I blinked at her. “It was an accident?”
She snorted, “Yeah. They found out when she and Celt were brought to the hospital after—” She cut herself off. “Well, that’s their story to tell. But yeah, it was definitely not planned.”
I stirred my breakfast around the plate. “But you want kids?”
“I’m on the pill and plan on staying on it for a while,” she said. “Someday? Sure. Definitely with Celt. He’ll make a great dad. But itisn’t that easy. It’s more than getting knocked up and giving birth. I just don’t feel safe enough, or maybe it’s secure enough.”
I ducked my head. Last night swirled around me, but I pushed it away. No way I wanted to relive it.
Roni touched my knee, and I jerked back. My plate of food almost went flying. She grabbed my plate and put my plate and hers to the side. I curled my knees up to my chest, my heels on the metal chair, and used the position as a shield.
“What happened?” asked Roni, keeping her hands at her sides. “Did you have a flashback?”
“Last night was just a lot,” I murmured. Coupled with this talk and everything else, I almost trembled. “I want Cook.”
Roni placed her fork beside her plate. “I know it’s hard, Maddie, but I’ll do what I can to help you. Tell me what’s going on.”
My heartbeat was as quick as a cornered rabbit’s, and I rubbed a hand over my chest. “Mel said the same thing.”
Roni nodded, obviously resigning herself to the fact that today wouldn’t be the day I opened up to her. We had time, and we were already closer than when we started. We had opened some of the scars, but I feared the process of ripping open my flesh and letting the rest of me fall out. I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to handle it.
The roar of an engine and gravel crunching under tires ripped both our attention up to the driveway. I straightened as Roni hopped up, but I stayed behind her. My hands trembled and the palms turned slick, and I dragged my hands down my shirt.
Roni was still until the dust cleared and her shoulders released their tension. “It’s Melanie,” she said.
