28. Cale
28
CALE
T here’s nothing better than waking up with her in my arms.
There’s nothing worse than understanding why I can’t keep her there.
But I can hear my phone buzzing over the table where I threw it last night. It’s been lighting up for the last ten minutes and I’ll be cracking the head of anyone who comes banging on the door.
Sliding away from the warmth of her soft body is one hell of a chore. I move in silence, careful not to wake her. Sadie is a very sound sleeper. And I’m sure she’s extra tired after all the ways I used her last night.
All it takes to get my dick hard again is a quick flashback. I doubt there’s anything hotter than getting a nice girl to play dirty. Sadie comes so brutally that her whole body trembles. And she doesn’t wear out easily, always eager for more.
Leaving a pillow in my place, I tuck the covers around her bare shoulder. Her lips turn up and she breathes a soft sigh of contentment.
She’s so fucking perfect. I could watch her all day. My phone buzzes again. Mouthing a vicious string of curses and wishing for the caller to get his balls crushed in a drawer, I snatch my boxers off the floor and throw them on.
By the time I grab the phone it has stopped ringing but I can see that the caller was Vinny. Every call was from Vinny. Following a glance at my shoulder to confirm Sadie is still in dreamland, I bring the phone into the hallway to deal with whatever Vinny wants.
Kiki Tello is emerging from the room across the hall. She laughs when she sees me standing there wearing nothing but my boxers.
“Thanks for the show,” she says and fans herself with a wink. “I needed that this morning. I told Vinny to leave you alone and let you sleep in but he’s in a mood and snapped at me to mind my own damn business.”
“Is he in your room?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “He’s downstairs having breakfast with the boys. Hey, they’re real sorry for insulting you. They’re my sister’s kids. I’m sure Vinny’s not done giving them an earful.”
I’d forgotten all about that, how I told Vinny’s nephews to eat dinner on the floor after they made the error of checking out my wife. There are certain rules to be followed. Sadie, who looked at me with horror, didn’t understand that, and why should she? In any other context it seems fucked up.
“Tell them not to worry about it,” I say. “They do a good job. No hard feelings.”
She shrugs. “All right.” Then she brightens. Her eyes are a little unfocused. It’s possible she’s already drunk. “Is Sadie awake? She can hang out with me all day since you guys are leaving early.”
That’s news to me. We weren’t supposed to fly out until tomorrow morning. “Sadie’s still asleep,” I tell her in the hopes she’ll wander away.
“Tell her to come find me down in the lounge,” says Kiki with a hiccup. “I need another mimosa.”
“Will do.” I wait until she turns the corner before dialing her husband.
“About time,” he grunts.
“What do you need?” I ask, with a sinking feeling it’s going to prevent me from going back to bed with Sadie.
“Hold on,” he says. There’s the sound of muttering as he speaks to someone on the other end. Then he must be walking somewhere because he huffs and puffs while the background noise changes from the babble of voices to quiet. “There, I’m outside now.”
“Great,” I mutter. “I’m on pins and needles.”
“Richie wants us to grab the next flight out of here. We need to deal with that problem we talked about.”
“The problem ran out of Atlantic City. Where are we supposed to find him?”
“That little shitbag has just been spotted in Philly. Can you be down here in twenty minutes or so?”
“Fuck no.”
There’s a brief shocked silence on the other end. Vinny must be outside. I can hear a bird warbling. “Look, I’m not trying to step on your toes. I’m just passing along Richie’s word.”
“I know that. But I need a few hours.”
“Richie says-”
“It can wait a few fucking hours. If there’s any hassle you tell Richie that I made the call and I’ll take any heat.”
I’ve known Vinny Tello since I was a teenager. Luca still calls him Uncle Vinny. He’s a man worth respecting. But now I’m higher up the ladder than he is and I’m not accepting orders to run out on Sadie with only a farewell wave. She’s my priority. Not Richie or Vinny or the little douchebag who killed one of Richie’s casino partners over a petty labor dispute.
“Whatever you say,” Vinny says.
“Two hours,” I tell him. “Stand by.”
He hangs up first. I’m sure he’s pissed. But he’s also not a rat. He won’t go whining to Richie.
My next call is to the main kitchen to order breakfast. Sadie has a weakness for scones. I tell them to bring up coffee, juice, and anything that resembles a scone so she can have her pick.
Back in our room, my sleeping angel is still immersed her dreams. I’m already hating the moment when I’ll need to leave her.
The food arrives in minutes. I leave it on the small dinette table by the window and head for the shower. I’m delaying the inevitable while earning Richie’s wrath with each passing minute that I don’t jump at his command.
The next time I step out of the bathroom, I’m showered and dressed. And Sadie is awake. She’s wrapped in the bed comforter and nibbling on a croissant by the window. When she sees me, she jumps off the chair with a squeal.
“You’re dressed,” she scolds as she collides with my chest. “How inconsiderate of you.”
I want to look at her. I pull back just enough to cup her face in my hands. “I’m sorry about that.” I brush a kiss across her lips.
Sadie has already caught on that something is wrong. A dent appears between her brows. “What’s the matter?”
Sinking into the nearest chair, I pull her into my lap and wrap my arms around her. “I have to leave.”
She deflates. The light in her eyes dims. “When?”
“Soon. I was able to delay for a couple of hours but that’s all. We can have breakfast and then I’ll drive you back to the ranch when you’re ready.”
“But I thought we’d have the day together. And then I was hoping that maybe you could come stay at the ranch for a few days at least.”
Fuck, how I hate disappointing her. My chest actually feels tight, like I’ve been offered a glimpse of heaven before getting sent on an elevator straight to hell. “I wish I could, baby. I truly do.”
She nods, chewing her lip, clearly upset and trying not to show it. “Is it important?”
NO! It’s another stupid fucking revenge mission for a criminal empire.
“It’s important enough. I do need to go.”
Sadie tries to smile. She insists on feeding me the rest of her croissant. The mood has taken a severe downturn but she tries to keep up a steady stream of cheerful chatter as she stays in my lap and sips her juice.
I’m sure she’s wondering why I’m not tackling her to the bed for a sequel to last night’s wild times. If only she knew how much I want to carry her to that bed, use her body until we’re both shattered and blot out the rest of the fucking world.
“Do you want to shower before we leave?” I ask.
She nods, puzzled. She leans in for a kiss and I have it to make it a quick one so I’m not tempted to take it further. It would feel unfair to her, as if I’m taking something I don’t deserve to have.
Of course, I never deserved her in the first place.
That’s the problem.
When Sadie emerges from the bathroom she’s pink-cheeked and dressed in jeans. She’s also wearing that eyesore of a sweater again. “Because I know it’s your favorite,” she teases, hoping for a smile.
She can have one. She can have all my smiles, for what they’re worth.
Sadie finishes packing up and gives the room one last fond look. “We should come back here sometime,” she says.
I pick up her suitcase. “We’ll do that.”
What an asshole I am for making promises I’m not sure I can keep.
In the hallway, Sadie reaches for my hand. Hand holding is a corny display of affection that would never ever have appealed to me with anyone other than her.
Seated at an outdoor table not far from the hot springs are Richie, Franco, Brisetti and Vinny. They all turn to stare at us. There’s really no way to walk right by without acknowledging them.
Richie finally waves us over. There’s a big straw sunhat covering his nearly bald head. “You kids escaping or what?”
“I’m taking Sadie home,” I say, noting the flat eyes of the other men at the table.
My uncle folds his hands over his fat belly. “She’s welcome to hang out here. We’ve got the place until tomorrow.”
There’s no chance I’ll leave Sadie alone here with them. I have no reason to believe she’d be harmed. On the contrary, she’d get around the clock armed protection. But it’s bad enough that I even brought her here this weekend. She’s too good for them, all of them.
She’s too good for me.
“Thank you so much,” Sadie says with characteristic sweetness. “But I really need to get back to the ranch. It was a lovely weekend. Thank you for including me.”
Richie, easily charmed by a pretty face, winks at her. “Our pleasure sweetheart. And you’ll always be included. You’re family.”
“I’ll be back shortly,” I tell Richie.
He nods. “I know.”
Sadie stays close to my side as we leave the whole mafia poolside party behind.
I can feel her eyes on me on the walk to the parking lot. She’s still watching me as we leave the resort behind and drive down the mountain. Sadie never fails to jumpstart a conversation but this morning she’s nervous. She’s repeatedly tucked her hair behind her ears. She keeps touching the big diamond ring on her finger.
What I ought to do is say something reassuring. Something that lets her know the last thing I’d like to do right now is leave her.
“Did you ever get a record player?” she asks. “Elton John doesn’t like to be kept in a cardboard sleeve.”
“I did. Ordered one online.” And then I stuck the unopened box in a closet.
Sadie clucks her tongue and scrolls through her phone. “You haven’t listened to it, have you? Never mind. I’m going to play you a sample whether you want to hear it or not.”
After listening to the first thirty seconds I say, “I don’t recognize this one.”
“Someone Saved My Life Tonight. Not his most well known song but it’s always been one of my favorites.”
The song isn’t short. I’m too preoccupied to listen to the lyrics but I don’t hate the tune.
Sadie waits until the song is finished and switches off the music. She rubs her hands nervously on her jeans.
“Cale,” she says. “Can you just tell it to me straight if you have regrets about last night?”
“No regrets at all,” I reply in an instant. I take her hand off her knee and kiss it. “Not even close.”
She smiles. But it looks like it takes some effort. “You seem like you’re worried about something.”
She’s not wrong. It has little to do with the upcoming mission. I’m not looking forward to it but it’s nothing I haven’t done before.
Today when I woke up with Sadie in my arms, I felt a moment of incredible happiness before everything kind of crystallized.
I’ve bought a lamb into a wolf pack. And I had no right to do this, to entice Sadie into a deal that would force her to lie to everyone she knows and sit at a dinner table with deranged mobsters.
“Last night was the best night of my life,” I say to her.
This is one hundred percent true.
“Mine too,” she says and now she’s smiling for real.
She’s looking at me as if I’m Superman. The first time I ever took her for a drive, when we parked by the water and I asked her to make a deal, she looked at me like I was Dracula. Her first impression would have been closer to the truth.
We’re on flat ground now and closing in on Sleepy Rock.
“I really wish you could stay,” she says. “Maybe after your trip?”
“I don’t know when my trip will be over.”
Sadie looks out the window. We’re now in the middle of the downtown center of Sleepy Rock. We’ll be at Bright Hearts within minutes.
“Sadie, do you know why I can’t stay here with you, no matter how much I want to?”
“It doesn’t matter. Hop on a plane when you can. I’ll be here.”
Her optimism kills me. Her faith in me is not justified.
We’re within sight of the gates of Bright Hearts Ranch when I pull over into the dirt.
“Baby, listen to me. I’m not leaving for some fucking business meeting. Richie has a new enemy. So now my job is to take Vinny and a couple of other guys, track this asshole down and put a bullet in his brain. That’s what I do, Sadie. That’s the kind of man I am.”
She bites her lip and looks down at her lap. “Why are you telling me this?”
“I’m not telling you anything you didn’t already suspect. Were you planning to just look the other way forever like Aunt Donna and Kiki and the rest of them?”
She shakes her head. “No, but by now I’ve figured out a thing or two about you, Cale. You don’t even want to work for Richie. I know you don’t.”
“That makes no difference.”
“Of course it does. He’s your uncle. He and Donna love you. He’ll let you go. Just leave.”
“I can’t.”
“Because you’re afraid he’ll recruit Luca, right?”
She’s perceptive. Too perceptive.
Rather than answer, I shift into drive and roll the car toward the gate of Bright Hearts. The first time I ever laid eyes on this scene I had just driven hundreds of miles with a bullet hole in my side. I remember thinking that it looked like exactly the kind of place where a carefree good girl like Sadie Wingate belonged. That fact hasn’t changed.
The only thing around here that’s changed is me.
“You can leave me here,” Sadie says. “I’d have to get out to open the gate anyway. I’ll just walk to the house.”
“I’ll drive you.”
“I said I’ll walk.”
She doesn’t sound angry. Only disappointed. And a little sad. She hops out of the passenger seat and hurries around to the back.
I set the car in park and by the time I get back there she’s already dragging her suitcase out of the trunk. She sets it down and looks up at me with a stubborn tilt to her chin.
“When will I see you again?” she says.
“I don’t know.” I really don’t.
It’s not the answer she was hoping for. With a deep sigh, Sadie pulls up the handle of her suitcase and starts rolling it behind her. She pushes one side of the metal gate open and then immediately shuts it behind her.
She turns around and faces me one final time with the barrier of the gate between us.
“I love you, Cale,” she says.
Then she wheels her suitcase all the way to the house and walks right inside without looking back again.