Page 14 of Sacred Blood

The question irritated me.

Women came and went.

Nurses came and went.

One reckless afternoon should not have been enough to lodge someone beneath my skin.

Yet every attempt to dismiss her only made me think of her more.

When I arrived at Club Carnage I headed up to our private section and joined my brothers who were clearly a few in.

“Tano!” Vinny launched himself out of his chair before I could evade him. I sighed. There was no escaping. At twenty-eight, Vincenzo was somehow still convinced he was small enough to throw himself at people. At six-foot-two and built like a Greek god, he was catastrophically mistaken.

I hated public displays of affection, and he knew it, but he also knew that he was the one person I’d suffer them for. “I wuv you, Tani,” echoed in my memory, along with the image of a little boy with a golden mane. No matter how tall he grew or how old he got, he would always be my Simba, and damn him, he knew it.

When he let me go, I immediately dropped into my chair before any of the others could touch me. I felt Romeo’s intelligent, glittering eyes examining me but ignored them. The man had a spooky way of being able to see what was going on with all the brothers and had no problem calling us out on them. It must be a mafia Don thing that he inherited from our father, a man who saw and knew everything.

Rita had said she looked upset, but why? Why the fuck was she almost in tears?

“Tano, I’d like to discuss your security detail,” Romeo announced.

Was he being funny? “You know I don’t have one, Rom.”

His eyes glittered dangerously. “And that is exactly why we’re having this discussion.”

I was about to tell him to go and fuck himself where the sun doesn’t shine when Gio said, loud enough for us all to hear. “Would you look at the ass on that one?”

All eyes turned to the floor.

“They are all pretty hot,” Vinny added. “Maybe I should go and talk with them.”

“Yeah, Vinny,” Fausto said with a snort. “Take one for the team.”

“What the hell is Little Red wearing? I swear I can see all the way to Albuquerque when she bends over like that. Holy shit, she works it like a pro. Who are those women, Gio?” Vinny added.

“Don’t look at me,” Gio held up his hands defensively. “I’ve never seen them before, but one seems kind of familiar.”

Almost as if hearing us talk about her, the one in the almost see-through mini-dress looked up. No way!

It was my brother’s new wife, Vittoria. Her eyes passed over us until landing on Romeo, she smirked and blew him a kiss. A few months ago, I'd have said Romeo needed a woman exactly like her about as much as he needed a second head.

Watching them now, I wasn't so sure.

Vittoria challenged him.

Irritated him.

Drove him insane.

Yet somehow my brother seemed more alive than he'd ever been. Dangerous. A Don who lost his head over a woman was vulnerable. Yet watching them together, I couldn't deny the appeal. For the first time in years, Romeo looked happy.

“Porca puttana!” he cursed, but continued to watch in irritated fascination. When she turned and wiggled her ass at him, I swear smoke came out of his ears. “È una vera cagacazzo, dico!”

He was right, she was a pain in the ass. But I saw so much more than that. I saw a man obsessed, and in our world, that was weakness. Before I could comment, however, a hand slid in beside me and dumped a drink on my lap.

“Ma che cazzo?” I blurted, too astonished for English, but the What the fuck in my tone surely translated for me. “What the hell is wrong with you?” I stood up drenched and watched a waitress hustling away as fast as her ridiculously high heels would allow. Not just any waitress, but Gaby Cala. Standing, I raced after her with Gio hot on my heels.

She’d passed the bar and was running for the back room where I guessed she assumed she’d be safe. Little did she know she was in the dragon’s own lair; there were no safe places here.