36. Lex
36
LEX
J uliet holds my hand on the way back to Silverwood. She’s relaxed, or at least far more than she was earlier, and so, I hate it when I start to feel her tugging away from me. Each passing mile beneath the wheels of my SUV drives us closer to home, and I can sense that, even if she keeps her fingers against mine, mentally she’s pulling back into herself.
It makes me want to cut her open, dive inside and drag her—kicking and screaming, if I must—to my side once again. Whatever happened at work had set her off and though she hasn’t mentioned what it is yet, I know it’s going to be a mess.
We pull up in front of Nolan’s house a little while later and for a beat, she doesn’t release my hand. The plan had originally been to take her back to my place, but on the way to grab her, Nolan had sent a text, telling me she was cleared to head back to his place. No doubt, Nolan is still worried about her finding out my secret, but having her so close makes it hard not to want her there, in my space, surrounded by me.
I close my eyes and savor the feel of her palm against mine. The only thing that would make it better is if I knew that by dragging her hand towards my cock, she wouldn’t pull away.
“Thanks for the ride.” All too soon, she leaves my skin cold and reaches for the bag at her feet.
“If you need another,” I start to say, swallowing the rest as she pops open the passenger side door and glances back.
“I won’t,” she says.
My brow puckers. “What do?—”
“Ma-Ri fired me today,” she says. It hits me, then. The reason for her breakdown.
For someone like Juliet, who’s been let down time and time again by everyone else in her life, having her own funds and own way of making money is imperative. My left hand clenches on the steering wheel so hard that it creaks in protest.
“Fired you?” I repeat the words.
Across the manicured lawn of the single-story house that Nolan and his mom live in, the porch light flickers on and the front door opens. “Yo!” Nolan calls out as he steps outside, shaking a pack of cigarettes in one hand before plucking one free.
I return my attention to the girl halfway out of my vehicle. “Why did she fire you?” I demand.
Shoulders tense and face forced into that damn calm mask of hers, she shrugs. “I don’t know. She didn’t say, but she tried to offer me far more than she should’ve as severance pay.”
I tilt my head to the side. “How much?” I demand.
“Five thousand.”
That doesn’t sound like Ma-Ri at all. The old lady is smart, a keen business woman. She donates to some foundations for immigrants, and after looking into her background and finding out about the small sum she sends to her younger sister every month—Roquel’s mother—I’m pretty comfortable with who she is as a person. Anything she donates to is a tax write off and perhaps, offering Juliet a severance check would have been that too, but five thousand? It’s suspicious.
“Gotta go.” Juliet hops the rest of the way out of my SUV and slams the door behind her. I watch her start up the drive and cut across the lawn, heading straight for Nolan. He nods his head at her in greeting, but she quickly ducks past and heads into the house. His brow furrows and his attention fixes on me.
I lean back and swing an arm out of my already open driver’s side window, waiting for him to get to me. “What’s up with her?” he asks the second he does. He sticks a cigarette between his lips and then fumbles in his pocket for a lighter.
I stare at the front door, watching the outline of her cross in front of the sliver of a window that shines into the living room before she disappears entirely, likely heading for one of the bedrooms or the bathroom.
“Ma-Ri fired her,” I say. I don’t feel bad revealing as much, considering she’d said it a mere twenty feet from Nolan. No doubt, she expected me to give him the news—perhaps save her the work of it.
“What?” Nolan’s jaw drops and with it, the cigarette that had been hanging between his lips.
My hand snaps out and I catch it. “That’s what she just told me,” I say, twisting the cig between my fingers. “She’s not happy about it.”
Nolan looks back at the house. “No, she wouldn’t be,” he murmurs absently.
“I’m gonna head back there and have a word with her.”
Nolan’s head snaps around. “You can’t fucking kill her,” he growls.
I roll my eyes and then lift his forgotten cig, tucking it behind one ear. “I’m not going to kill her,” I reply. “I’m just going to ask her some questions.”
“No guns,” Nolan says. “No knives. You don’t stab, punch, slap, or hurt her in any way, Lex.”
My upper lip curls back. “What kind of man do you think I am?”
He arches an eyebrow at me. “The obsessive kind,” he says easily. “The kind that would do anything for a girl he’s spent thirteen years stalking—even killing a woman who fired her and hurt her damn feelings.”
He’s not wrong and though I love the bastard, sometimes I want to strangle him. “Ma-Ri did more than hurt her feelings,” I say. “She’s…” No, I shouldn’t give away any more.
What had happened on that back road was between Juliet and me. I don’t think she’d remembered it, but it’d been the same place that she’d sat on my cock and come all over my lap, leaving me covered in her scent, and so hard I swore I would die from the sweet agony. It felt like the right location to take her. It was our place.
“She’s what?” Nolan eyes me, but I simply shake my head.
“Nevermind,” I say. “If you want to know more, ask her. I’m not fucking this up.”
He tilts his head to the side. “Because there’s something to fuck up now, isn’t there?” he asks instead.
A low growl rumbles up my throat. “You know the answer to that,” I tell him. “You can’t tell me you’d be willing to walk away from her now.”
He doesn’t answer for several long moments, but when he does, I expect the response. “No, I can’t say I would be.”
I nod and reach for the gear shift. “Alright then,” I say. “I’m going back to Ma-Ri’s and if she’s there, I’m going to ask her some questions.”
“Wait a second.” Nolan pulls his pack back out and retrieves another cigarette. “I wanted to let you know since you were coming here, but I got a call from Savino."
I go still, my fingers on the steering wheel and gear shift tighter than ever before. “And?” I prompt him as he shoves the new cig between his lips and lights up.
Inhaling deeply and blowing out a long tendril of smoke, Nolan sighs. “Darrio is still out of town, but he wants me to head back to Eastpoint soon. His contact wants another meeting.”
“We have a game Friday night,” I say, as if I have to remind him of the fact.
“I know.” He sucks down another lungful of cancer, the bright end of his cigarette glowing slightly in the dark. “I’ll leave after,” he says. “I need you to take Juliet for the weekend.”
The request is a no brainer. "Done. Anything else?"
Nolan eyes me. "Don't stir shit up that I can't fix," is all he says.
I dip my head in acquiescence and back up out of the driveway. As I hit the highway, I dial Gio and request his presence as I prepare to find out what the fuck is going on under Ma-Ri's roof.
"I'll meet you there," Gio says, pausing for a beat. "Don't do anything we'll all regret."
My response is a grunt and then I hang up. Minutes later, I pull into the parking lot and jerk to a halt, shutting off the engine in front of the back door. Inside, the absence of sound makes everything else so much louder. There is no music playing over the club speakers, no conversation, no sound of feet shuffling, of anything.
I reach Ma-Ri's office and scowl at the man sitting across from her desk, looking for all the world like a greasy rat, waiting for his crown. He turns and glances back at me. Savino. And I know—I don't know how—but I fucking know, he has something to do with this.
* * *
GIO
I answer the call on the second ring, and Lex's voice fills my car as I put it on speaker and stuff it into the center console. "I need you to meet me at the Dionysus Lounge," he states.
"Okay," I say, frowning down at the cell before I take the turn away from home and back towards the highway. "Why?"
"Juliet was fired."
The rusted-out minivan in front of me slams on their breaks so fast that I nearly clip them. With a curse, I brake and veer to the shoulder of the road, but no sooner have I done so than they've sped up and switched lanes. Fucking dicks. Then, Lex's words come back to me.
"Wait, what?" My brow puckers. "Why the hell would Ma-Ri fire her? Did something happen?"
"Not according to Jules," Lex replies. "She was called into the office and let go." He pauses, one of those tense silences hanging in the air between us that tells me there's more. Lex doesn't disappoint. "Jules said that Ma-Ri tried to give her five thousand as severance pay."
Motherfucker. I hiss through my teeth and take the next exit leading onto the interstate, jamming my foot against the accelerator. "That's not severance pay," I snap. "That's fucking hush money."
"My thoughts exactly." Lex's tone is cold, and I urge the Firebird to go faster. There's no telling what he'll do if he reaches the damn club before I do.
"I'll meet you there, don't..." I suck in a breath. "Don't do anything we'll all regret."
Lex makes a noncommittal sound, but I pray to the god my Mama believes in that he'll keep himself at bay. At least until I'm there to stop him. He hangs up in the next second without so much as a goodbye, and I curse.
Just under twenty minutes later, after speeding around a few semis, I jerk the wheel into the half hidden back parking lot of the Dionysus Lounge and cut off the engine. Lex's SUV is pulled up almost directly in front of the back door and I hurriedly jog towards it, not at all surprised to find him not in the cab. I head inside, and the moment the back door swings shut behind me and I'm cast into darkness, I hear them.
Grunting, angry curses and threats. I break into a jog, growling as I come around the corner and find that Lex has a familiar figure plastered to the wall opposite of Ma-Ri's open office. The older woman stands in the doorway, watching the two of them with a creased expression. She looks both resigned and tired.
"Auntie." Her head whips in my direction as I approach.
"Oh, thank God," she mutters before gesturing to where Lex has my father's right hand man practically dangling from his throat off the ground and against the wood paneled wall. "Do something about them."
A bubble of amusement bursts in my chest. A tiny thing, Ma-Ri is, and yet she can't help but make her demands with that expectant air. Then again, she has to know that this is why I'm here—to rein in our, otherwise, too psychotic friend who will no doubt take apart anyone who threatens Juliet.
"Lex." I slide closer, but he doesn't turn around.
Savino catches sight of me over Lex's shoulder and starts struggling anew, emitting a litany of Italian curses. Much to my father's disgust, I've never really taken much with his side and prefer my mother's Spanish. So, although I'm sure he's demanding things and directing some of his vitriol my way, I only understand every few words.
"Lex," I say again.
My friend turns his head and I can already make out the shadow of a mark on his cheek. My attention snaps back to Savino. Dumbass, I mentally hiss. If he attacked Lex first then he deserves everything Lex will deal out.
"Tell him what you told me," Lex snaps, ignoring my call as he fixes his full attention back on Savino.
Savino kicks at him, the gray at his temples standing out even more as he whips his head back and forth and stiffens in Lex's hold. Savino has never been one of my father's strongest men. In fact, he's practically scrawny in comparison to the general mass of the Vargas gang. My father keeps him around, though, because he's good with money and laundering it.
I stride up to Lex's side and cross my arms. "Go on," I say. "What did you say to him?"
He spits out another curse in Italian. "I don't have to tell you shit," he bites out. "You're not the leader."
Lex yanks Savino away from the wall and deftly spins the much smaller man until he presses his cheek into the spot his back had just been. "Don't insult your fucking betters, Stronzo ."
Savino begins to laugh, though the sound is choked as Lex presses the weight of his strength against his neck and back. "You think speaking our tongue makes you one of us?"
I turn my cheek and jerk my chin at Ma-Ri. "Go back into the office," I snap. She hesitates and I bark out a quick " Now " that has her moving. I might respect Ma-Ri, but she should know that when I tell her to do something, I'm not asking. The door slams shut a second later with her on the other side.
"Alright," I say, turning back to Lex and Savino before nodding down the hall. "Let's finish this conversation elsewhere."
"You can't—" Savino begins, but I've had enough from him. I have to deal with my own father's disrespect and the disrespect he shows to my mother, but I do not and will never accept it from his men.
Gripping Lex by his shoulder, I rip him back, and the sudden action surprises him into letting Savino go. Before Savino can scamper away, however, I grab ahold of him and slam my fist into his half-turned face. "Let's get one thing fucking straight," I snap, grabbing him and hauling him down the hallway as Lex follows us. "I can do whatever the fuck I want. Disrespect me again, and I'll cut your fucking tongue out of your mouth and shove it up your ass."
Savino blanches at the threat, but doesn't resist anymore as I half shove, half carry his skinny ass out into the main part of the club. The lights are on, but considering the time, I'm not surprised to see that all of Ma-Ri's other employees are gone. We're likely the only ones left in the building, which suits my purposes just fine.
Directing Savino over to the closest bar top, I push him against it and take a step back. "Now." I cross my arms over my chest. "You want to explain to me what you said to my friend here to piss him off?"
Lex takes up residence at my side and doesn't say a word, choosing instead to glare down at the piece of shit as Savino grimaces and wilts under our combined scowls. Being good at finances and money laundering can only get a man so far.
"The Donovan bitch isn't welcome here anymore," Savino spits, and when Lex growls, he flinches. I want to roll my eyes. One moment he's all bravado, thinking he has some authority, and the next he's wilting under Lex's dark glare. It's a shock that a man like him has made it this far in my father's business.
"Who are you to decide that?" I demand.
Savino blinks and then straightens, turning and pressing his back into the bar as he stares back at us. "You know exactly who I am, Giovanni ," he spits my name like it's a curse. Why not? It is to my father. "I relay messages from Darrio when he has something to say. You can't come after me for doing my job."
"I can." Lex's words are matched with his careful step forward.
My hand snaps out, holding on to his shoulder, and he stills but doesn't turn back to face me. I need to be judicious here. If I let Lex slip from his leash, he'll kill Savino for insulting Juliet. Though I wouldn't care if the bottom feeder were to die, it can't happen here. Not in Ma-Ri's club and not when it would be clear who the killers are. We need plausible deniability and alibis if we want to kill Savino.
"Why?" I ask, directing the question to the man who seems to think he's still got some power here.
"Darrio will be slipping his new product through this club before long," Savino says and I have to force my face to remain blank. We know about the new product my father is looking to transport—drugs, far heavier drugs than he's ever gotten his greedy hands on. This information, however, is news to me, and from the stiffening of Lex's shoulders, it's news to him too. If Nolan knew, then he surely would have told us. Which begs more questions—what the fuck is my father planning?
Savino grins as if he can read my mind, and I glower back at him. "And?" I snap. "What does Donovan have to do with it? She's an employee. I doubt Ma-Ri will let her girls be?—"
The man chuckles, cutting me off, and I let my hand drop away from Lex. The second I'm no longer touching him, Lex shoots forward, gripping Savino by the front lapels of his ill-fitting suit jacket. He stops laughing the second Lex's fist connects with his face. He cries out the second time it hits and by the third, I'm actually enjoying myself and contemplating pulling a chair and grabbing a drink. Unfortunately, we're not done with Savino just yet.
"Lex." His next punch halts inches from Savino's already bloody face.
The older man's nose hangs somewhat crooked, and blood drips from one nostril down over his quivering lower lip. I watch Savino with curiosity. He's terrified of Lex—that's no surprise. Many of the Vargas gang are. Lex has done more enforcer work alongside Nolan. It's the work I hate the most, but in this moment—I'm debating asking Lex to step back and let me do this. I'd love nothing more than to take my father's right hand down a peg or two.
In the end, however, I release a slow breath and move on. "I want to know, Savino, why you thought you had the right to have Ma-Ri fire the Donovan girl," I state. "And I want to know what the hell you and my father think you're doing trying to run drugs through this club."
Ma-Ri pays protection money. That's it. That's all it should be.
Savino shuts his bloodied mouth, and I know this is about to get a lot harder if we stay here. I chance a look at Lex who appears more than ready to drag Savino out to his SUV and likely all the way up to the shitty hunting cabin. That's not something we normally do without Nolan, but if he's got Juliet then he won't be able to meet us there.
No. I shake my head at the unwanted thoughts. We need to handle this here and now, and we can't kill the bastard. No matter how much I really fucking want to.
"Answer me, Sav," I murmur. "Or I'll let Lex have his fun."
Savino pales at that threat, and after a beat of him glancing between my cool expression and Lex's ready face, he spits out another curse in Italian and glares at me. "The club ain't working too well," he says. Once the words start to tumble out of his mouth, they all come—one right after the other as if he fears if he stops, he'll lose his nerve. "Ma-Ri needed a loan, so Darrio provided. In return, she gives him some authority on the hires and she'll be turning the other way when we introduce some product in a few months’ time."
Fuck . I clench my hands into fists and flick a glance to the hallway. Why the hell hadn't she told us that the club was struggling?
"Darrio knew about the girl working here," Savino continues. "He don't like it. Wanted her gone. Ma-Ri knew this and still kept her. Darrio told her he'd demand repayment for his loan plus the interest he's owed. She couldn't pay. So, she fired the girl." Savino's face screws up and he looks like he wants to spit something else at me. I wait, watching him carefully to see what else he'll say. When he remains quiet, I kick his leg and jerk him out of whatever reverie he's lost himself to.
"What else?" I demand. "I know that's not it."
"There are other ... locations and products he's looking into," Savino murmurs, eyes sliding to the floor. "This club is just a test location."
My father has been living on borrowed time since the first time he took a belt to my backside. He's been dead since the first time I'd seen him backhand my ma. Now, however, he's a dead man walking.
Threatening Ma-Ri. This fucking club. Yeah, that's his style. But Juliet?
A wave of anger rises from somewhere inside me, a familiar old friend that I thought I'd buried long ago. But no, it hasn't gone away. It's not dead. In fact, the rage that simmers just beneath my surface feels hotter somehow than it has in the past. As if it's been waiting for me to release it.
I take a step back and then another and another. "G?" Lex's gruff voice has me looking to him. He glances between me and Savino. He's looking to me for an answer and Nolan's not around. Even if he was, though, Savino is my father's man—and my father's life is my choice. I decided it would be easier to keep him breathing, but now ... now I think his time has finally run out.
"I'm going to talk to Ma-Ri," I state. "Do what you need to." I gesture to Savino as he chokes in shock. "Don't—" I snap, as Lex practically lunges for the other man. "Kill him. Break him, fine. But do not dismember him, or so fucking help me, Lex..."
There are an untold number of threats I could use against him. I could tell Prep Girl about that room of his. All of them stick to my tongue, unwilling to be said aloud. We might be gutter rats, criminals, and assholes—but even thieves have their honor, and so do we. This is a line I won't cross for anything.
"I'll take care of it," Lex finally says in response when my words drift off and I have nothing more to offer.
I nod and turn towards the hallway. Halfway down it, I hear Savino's scream, and the sound brings a smile to my lips.