21. Dante
CHAPTER 21
DANTE
“I need you to get up here,” Matteo grunts into the phone. “We have a problem.”
“Okay, give me a few,” I say, dropping my hand onto the mattress after my brother hangs up on me. He sounds pissed off, but then again, that’s kind of his normal tone of voice. And everything with him is a fire drill.
The guy is a ticking time bomb, and it sounds like he’s on the verge of explosion.
Maybe it’s something about the christening. I’m his bitch, so it goes without saying that he’d need me to run some last-minute errands.
And because I’m such an easygoing guy, I might agree to do it.
I push back my hair, my cock half-hard at the thought of me fucking Anya in the shower earlier. Soaping up her porn-star body, sliding my dick in and out of her tight, wet pussy…argh. I don’t want to do anything right now except visit that erotic highlight reel over and over and over…
I finally pull myself to a sitting position and pull on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. Ever since she left, I’ve been counting the hours until I can get her back here…on her back, on her stomach, hell, on her fucking head if we can make it work.
I’m an experimental kind of guy.
I slip my feet into my sneakers, and less than ten minutes later, I’m about to knock on Matteo’s door. But before my fist even makes contact, he flings open the door. “Office,” he hisses. “Now!”
A deep sigh shudders my shoulders and I follow him down the hallway. “Where’s Heaven?”
“Out with her aunt. Thank fuck.”
“Why? What’s up?” I roll my eyes. “Tell me it’s not more about Anya being in here the other night.”
Matteo’s eyes narrow. “She was trying to get into my drawers!” he exclaims. “I don’t understand why you trust her so much! Are you that pussy-whipped?”
I throw my hands into the air. “Maybe she’s just curious. You’re a mysterious kind of guy. Maybe she wanted to find out more about you.”
“I don’t like that she was in here. If I had anything incriminating out?—”
“Which you never would,” I interrupt. “So there’s no problem.”
“I could have,” he grunts.
I roll my eyes. “Is that why you dragged me down here? To tell me again that the nanny was wandering around your office?”
“No. There’s more.” Matteo sweeps a hand through his hair. “Conor called,” he growls. “He’s here. Wants to meet before the christening to talk.”
“What’s he want to talk about?” I snicker. “Is he gonna tell you how much money he needs to pay off the Russians?”
Matteo’s jaw tightens. “I’m not giving him a damn penny.”
“Would Heaven agree? I mean, won’t she be pissed off that you make a call that can hurt a lot of people she cares about, including Aisling?” I shake my head. “You can’t fuck with the life of your kid, Matty. I know you’re angry, but?—”
“He tried to kill my wife!” Matteo roars. “If I give him anything, I’ll never be rid of him! And I don’t want him anywhere near my family! Let the Russians kill him. It’ll be less work for me since I won’t be the one to drive a stake into his fucking heart!”
“What did you tell him? I mean, is he coming here?” I rub the back of my neck. “That would be a total shit show, just saying. With everyone here for the christening tomorrow?” I let out a low whistle. “Motherfucker has great timing, that’s for sure.”
“I told him to fuck off.” Matteo looks at me like I have three dicks sticking out of my forehead. “What the hell else do you think I would have said?”
“And then what?”
“I hung up on the asshole!” Matteo thunders. “You’re acting like you don’t know me at all!”
“Relax, I know you plenty.” I smirk. “What’d Heaven say?”
“I didn’t tell her.”
“What do you mean, you didn’t tell her? It’s her brother and her family. You need to tell her, Matty. He’s in Vegas. If you think he’s not gonna make an appearance, you’re crazy. And do you really wanna risk that he won’t bring a guest or two to the church tomorrow?” My eyes widen with alarm. “Fuck,” I mutter. “Yeah, you need to tell Heaven, bro.”
“Tell Heaven what?”
On cue, my sister-in-law bounces into the room, walking behind the desk and putting her arms around Matteo’s neck. “What’s up, babe? And please tell me it’s not about the caterers. I told Tommy I wanted a very specific menu and not to screw around with his little special twists.” She lets out a groan. “Why does it always have to be so difficult working with him? I mean, I get he’s a creative, but still!”
Matteo sighs. “Conor called.”
Heaven stops her rant-mid sentence, her green eyes narrowing. “I’m sorry, did I just hear that right? My asshole brother Conor called you?”
“There’s more. He’s here.”
“Here,” she repeats.
“Yeah, in Vegas.”
“In Vegas?” she shrieks.
Matteo scrubs a hand down the front of his face. “Are we really doing the whole parrot thing again?”
“Sorry,” she snaps. “But I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that my estranged brother called my husband to chat while he just happens to be here in the city where we live, the day before our daughter’s christening! What the fuck? ”
“I know the timing is bad.”
“Bad?” she yells at him. “This is fucking horrendous! What does he want? Money? Drugs? Safe fucking harbor?”
I stand up from the chair and back away from them. Heaven is bordering on psycho bitch, for good reason yes, but I still want to get outta the line of fire. Because the flame torch is most definitely coming.
“He wants to see you. To talk.”
“Well, I don’t want to talk to him !” she bellows, stalking past me and heading to the kitchen. She slams some cabinets and grabs a bottle of whiskey from one of them. Then she screws off the top and slugs from the bottle before glowering at Matteo again. “He’s not here out of the goodness of his heart because he doesn’t have one! So why do you think he’s here?”
Matteo looks at me. “It might be because he’s gotten tangled up with the Russians that Dante and Roman kicked out of Manhattan a few months ago.”
Heaven furrows her brow. “Kicked out of Manhattan?”
“Yeah, well, they were in our territory looking for trouble. And they didn’t like being asked to leave,” I say.
“For fuck’s sake! He’s with them ?” She guzzles more of the whiskey and grimaces at us. “Anything else I need to know, guys? I mean, please, by all means, keep fucking piling on!”
“Dante fucked Anya,” Matteo says, stroking his chin.
Heaven whirls in my direction, clutching the neck of the bottle. I brace myself, ready to take the full impact of the bottle assault that I know is coming.
But instead of hurling it at my head, she smiles. “We’re going to come back to that later when I don’t want to throw my husband through a wall. But well done!”
“Well done,” Matteo scoffs. “Right against that damn window!” he exclaims.
Heaven shrugs. “Kinky but really, TMI.”
“Sex with the nanny is fine, but me trying to protect you from that lunatic is bad?” Matteo snaps.
Heaven stares him down. “You should have told me! We’re supposed to be a team!”
“He’s a psychopath!”
“I know!”
They stand toe to toe, glaring at each other when Aunt Maura wheels Aisling’s stroller into the foyer. “I’m just going to take her out for a little walk around the hotel and give you some space, okay?” She makes a dash for the door and I’m right on her heels.
“Guys, I’m getting the hell out of here because I’m honestly a little afraid for my life right now and there is lots of window fucking in my future. Aunt Maura has the right idea.” I smirk. “Don’t kill each other and leave the kid orphaned.”