Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Deuce
I’m upset about my car. Of course I am. But the reason my hands are shaking is because my best friends and their babies were just here in my home. Standing right where the glass shattered. Those sweet little girls could have been hit, and I would never have forgiven myself.
Here I am inviting friends over when I’m supposed to be keeping a low profile.
Hiding Valentina. Waiting until this whole thing in New York is either resolved or blows over.
I’ve chosen to let myself go soft living in Heaven.
I’ve developed the kind of connections you’re not allowed to have because of exactly what just happened here tonight.
I’ve forgotten the ways of crime families and tonight has been an unwelcome reminder.
We were lucky. So damn lucky.
When my hands finally stop shaking, I leave my car and head inside where Valentina already has a broom and dustpan out, collecting the shards of glass.
I grab the vacuum and follow behind her.
It’s always mind-boggling how far broken glass shards fly.
When we’re done and satisfied the entire downstairs is safe from glass fragments, I head to the garage to find some leftover wood that Dad collected over the years and never used.
Valentina helps me hold the plywood in place while I get it nailed.
Then she shows me the brick. I’m not surprised.
This has mob activity written all over it.
“Let’s take turns sleeping in the living room tonight in case they return?” Valentina suggests.
“I’ve got a better idea.” I pull out my phone and access the app that I rarely use. It takes a couple tries before I get the passcode correct, which is embarrassing, but Heaven has very low crime. I haven’t ever needed to access my security camera footage before.
Valentina crowds in close when she realizes what I’m doing.
The scent of her perfume derails my thoughts about intruders.
I wonder how things would have been if we’d met under different circumstances.
If we hadn’t been raised in a crime family, where survival comes before all else.
It makes me sad that she never got out of it like I did.
Never got to experience friendships and small-town living.
The pride that comes with being successful in business and knowing it’s all above board.
“Right there!” Valentina says excitedly.
I hit the pause button on the footage.
We both crowd our heads in, and when I hit play again, we watch as a pair of headlights come up my driveway just minutes after my friends left.
It’s hard to see since it was dark, but I’m pretty sure that’s the gray sedan that I thought was following us earlier.
I pause at just the right moment, capturing the license plate.
Valentina’s got her phone out. “I’ll text it to Bettina. Update her on what’s happened and see if she can trace it.”
It takes a shockingly short amount of time for Bettina to text back with the information. Valentina sighs.
“It’s a rental. Leased to a Sam Smith, which is most definitely not his real name.”
I show her a screenshot I’ve taken of the camera video.
It’s the best angle of the driver of the sedan.
This Sam Smith. It’s grainy and dark and not a great picture, but it’s all we have.
He’s wearing sunglasses and a hat pulled low over his face.
Valentina studies it while I inhale her scent and stare at her silky black hair.
I try to forget the blind pleasure that shot through me when she caressed my dick earlier.
“He looks familiar,” she mutters. Then she straightens and puts her own phone down. “Then again, he’s probably someone I know indirectly, right? Some goon sent here to intimidate us. Get us to convince Bettina to back off.”
I nod, pocketing my phone. “There’s a few crime families that would benefit if the Barzettis folded for good.”
Valentina puts her hand on my chest. “Want to cruise around a bit? See if we can spot the gray sedan? He might still be in town.”
I put my hand over hers, thinking I’m in over my head. In more ways than one. “Sure. But let me change first. I fear I’ve ruined yet another suit.”
We both head upstairs to change, neither of us acknowledging the moment we had right before some fool threw a brick through my window. Perhaps that’s for the best. We have to be doubly careful now. There’s no time for…whatever we were about to do.
“Goddamn! Look at the poor girl,” I whine as I hold the passenger side door for Valentina. The back bumper is toast. There’s no buffing it out. The whole bumper will have to be replaced.
Valentina rolls her eyes. When I get in the driver’s side, she’s back to her normal self, snapping at me over every little thing. “Seriously. What is your deal with this car? I mean, it’s nice, but it’s like six years old.”
I reverse down my driveway, then shoot her a warning look as I put it in drive and slowly roll down my street. “Don’t you dare put down my girl right in front of me.”
Valentina laughs. “Oh, so now the car’s your girl? It’s just a vehicle, Deuce.”
I grab my chest, swiveling my head to peer in every driveway we creep by. “It’s not just a vehicle!”
Valentina gives me a look like she thinks I’ve lost my mind.
“Look, it’s the first car I’ve owned that wasn’t bought and controlled by Bettina. Do you know what it’s like to be a man in his thirties and still have his mommy control him because of the car she bought him? Bettina had a fucking tracker on my car!”
I shift in my seat, getting heated all over again. That had been a humiliating day when I discovered that little piece of information. I’d sold the car that same day and bought my own with money I’d made with my legitimate business. It had actually been liberating and long overdue.
“I haven’t taken a dime from her since that day. Everything I have is because of the boutique I run. It’s all mine. No blood on this car.”
Valentina gives me a soft smile. “I get it.”
I’m sure she does. Bettina probably has a tracker on Valentina’s car back in New York too.
I don’t ask, but I’m sure much of Valentina’s life has been dictated by Bettina.
Valentina didn’t have the benefit of a father who wanted the best for him and tried to provide him with an alternative way to live.
“Right there!” Valentina shouts, pointing to the right.
A gray sedan is parked in the back parking lot of the Celestial Comfort Inn. No one’s in it, a fact we double-check as we park a little further down, away from the glow of the two overhead lights in the parking lot.
I shut off the engine and we sit there, staring at it.
“Why would he still be here?”
Valentina puts her hand on my arm. “Because he knows we won’t call the cops. His job is to intimidate, which he did. Staying here, being a constant presence, is part of the intimidation.”
It pisses me off. Everything about the way the mob works makes me sick. But she’s right.
“I say we do a little intimidation of our own, then,” I say quietly.
“Exactly what I was thinking,” Valentina says with an evil grin.
“Care to join me for a stakeout?”
Her grin only increases. “I’d love to!”
We both settle into our seats, putting the back down a bit to rest more comfortably.
This is more like old times. Back when we were kids, we’d spend every day together, getting into trouble mostly, but always talking.
God, we used to talk constantly. I guess that’s what hurt me the most when we slept together.
I’d thought we were friends above all else. And then she’d stabbed me.
There’s no movement in the hotel. No cars pulling in or out of the lot.
Fact is, the outskirts of Heaven shut down after ten at night on a random Tuesday.
The bars in the Square will see activity from the college kids, but during the summer, things are sleepy here.
We could be waiting all night to catch sight of this guy.
“I think we should have sex.”
I choke on my own spit and have to cough it out, the sound loud in the close confines of my car. Valentina laughs softly, so beautiful it makes my chest hurt. She doesn’t laugh enough. Every time she does, she gets this shocked look on her face for a second like it surprised her.
“Say what now?” I manage to wheeze. She must be pulling my leg, right?
She simply shrugs. “You know you want to.”
I’m already shaking my head no, but she whacks my bicep with the back of her hand.
“Yes, you do. I’ve felt your erection too many times for you to deny it.”
My shoulders slump. Fuck, she’s right. There’s really no use denying it when it’s so obvious, so I’ll be as direct as her.
“Sure, my body wants to, but my brain knows it’s a bad idea. I can look at you subjectively and want to fuck your brains out, but I’m older and wiser now. I can tell my body to shut up.”
Valentina leans over and runs her hand up my thigh until she’s rubbing her palm over my dick. My dick that’s already perking up because it’s her and we’re alone and this is just what it does in her presence.
“What if we just let our bodies do what they want? It doesn’t have to mean anything. We’d just be two friends fucking.”
My eyes drift shut for just a second. God, that feels good. Then I force them open again. Force my brain to focus on the conversation and not what she’s doing with her hand.
“Is that what we are, V? Friends?”
Her hand falters for just a moment. Most people wouldn’t have caught it, but I know her better than I know myself sometimes.
She goes back to stroking my dick through my jeans and it takes all of my willpower to focus.
She opens her mouth, her voice so soft and raspy I have to lean closer to hear her.
“I admit I don’t know much about friendships, but I’d like to think we’re friends.”
The admission kills me. I hate that she’s never had true friends.
My own friendship with Silas is one of the best things about my life.
I know it took tremendous courage for her to admit a weakness and to ask for what she wants, which is a friendship with me.
That goes against everything Bettina has taught her.
“Valentina,” I say with enough command in my tone that her gaze snaps to mine. Her hand stills in my lap. I twist to cup her jaw, my fingers tangling in her hair. Her eyes go soft in the dim light of the moon streaming through the windshield. “We are friends. Never doubt that.”
Her slow smile melts away some of that anger I feel on her behalf. It takes a few seconds, but she eventually leans into my hand, letting the weight of her head rest in my palm. I wonder how many men she’s trusted even this much. My gut tells me the list is short and few.
“I’m going to kiss you now and I trust you won’t stab me this time, yeah?”
She takes her hand off my dick and drills me right in the ribs with her fingertip. “Shut up and kiss me, ciuccio.”
I lean in, desperate to feel her lips on mine. “Gladly.”