Chapter Fifteen
ARI STARTED AWAKE in a panic until she realized the face looming over hers was her brother.
“Ari, are you awake?” he asked, his voice timid.
“Yeah, Owen. What’s up, bud?”
He bit his lip and Ari wanted to cry that he had so much hesitation in telling an adult what he needed at such a young age. Finally, he spoke. “Can I go next door and use the bathroom? I don’t want to wake Mr. Rex up,” he finished in a whisper.
It must have been early because there was only a faint light trickling in under the curtains and Livi was still curled in a ball fast asleep. Ari stretched and rolled off the bed.
“Yeah, bud. Come on, I’ll go with you,” she told him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.
They opened the door slowly, but they found the light on and the room empty. They knocked on the bathroom door, but no one was in there either. She went back to her room, leaving Owen on his own, and crawled back into the bed with the remote. She put some cartoons on low for Owen and hugged him close when he scooted into bed next to her. Her mind wandered to how she’d ended up in her own bed to begin with. Dressed. The last thing she’d remembered was her head on Rex’s shoulder as she’d tried to catch her breath. She found it difficult to believe that he’d found her pajamas, dressed her, and put her back in her own bed, but there was no other explanation for how she’d ended up there.
Ari simply couldn’t wrap her mind around that. It was like there were two different, very different, sides to the man. On the one hand, he was obviously a leader in his family’s criminal business. He hadn’t even tried to hide it from her since she’d asked for his help. That persona didn’t match up with how he’d treated Ari, though. He’d been patient, kind, understanding, and even downright sweet at times.
She’d seen how her father and mother interacted and it had always felt cold to her. Even the parents of the friends she’d known at her fancy private school had acted more like acquaintances the few times she’d met them, than people in love. Her only experiences with loving relationships were television shows and books. Oddly enough, her interaction with Rex felt more like those books than anything she’d ever seen in person. That couldn’t be right, though, could it? Perhaps it was just that he felt sorry for her.
She shook her head slightly, then stopped, so she didn’t disturb her brother. Feeling sorry for someone didn’t extend to fucking the living daylights out of them… twice. Once she could have explained away, but what they’d done last night had been… well, hot. That was the only way to describe it. The term dominant she’d seen in her romance books now made total sense. Not that she’d ever cast herself in the role of submissive, but she had to admit that it didn’t bother her that much. Or not at all, really. It turned her on. And wasn’t that an odd thing to discover about yourself with a virtual stranger and a criminal to boot?
Criminal. It was really hard to give that title to Rex. She’d seen a few flashes of hardness from him, but overall, it just didn’t fit.
Ari mentally chastised herself. She wasn’t in any position to make judgments about that. She hardly knew the man. The tiny voice in the back of her head insisted that she’d like to get to know him, though. That was ridiculous, and she forced that voice to quiet.
It didn’t matter one way or the other. She stared at the twin dark heads nestled on the pillows next to her. These were the only two people who could matter now. She’d been given temporary custody of them, and she wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that. And on the list of things that would be looked at would certainly be associations with a known mob family. Just because she’d never heard of the Nardones didn’t mean the justice system wouldn’t know them. Even accepting their help to get set up on her own was risky, but she didn’t have a choice there. She needed money and a place to stay while she finished school.
After that, she could thank them and move on. And she would. Thank them. Move on. Just as soon as she finished nursing school. Then, it would be just her and the kids. She had basically another decade until her life would be her own again.
It was that thought that made her strangely ok with what had happened last night. And what would likely happen again as they prepared for the next phase of their mission. She knew she wouldn’t be able to resist Rex, nor did she want to. She decided to enjoy the time they had together and then be ready to let him go when it was over. The memories would be nice to have in the coming years of being on her own.
Ari wasn’t a fool. She knew that some single parents dated. She’d seen the evidence of it in her mother’s marriage. But that fiasco had left its own bitter taste. No, she doubted that she would trust anyone enough to bring them home to Owen and Olivia. There was simply too much bad out there and it was too easy to pass it off as normal until it was too late. She wouldn’t risk her brother and sister’s safety ever again and especially not for something as selfish as a romantic relationship that wouldn’t benefit anyone but her. Keeping herself out of situations like that would also help her focus on her career as well. That way when the day came that Owen and Olivia didn’t need her anymore, she’d be ready to explore that part of life again. And if that thought made a twinge of sadness shoot through her, well, that was just too bad, wasn’t it?
Sweat dripped into Rex’s eyes, but he didn’t bother trying to wipe it away. The sting grounded him. He hadn’t brought his phone or his watch down with him, so at this point, he didn’t know how long he’d been at it. The burning in his knuckles and his lungs told him a while. Giving in to fatigue, he leaned against the heavy bag mounted on the ceiling in the gym. The long stretch of gym time he’d put in had definitely exhausted his body, but his mind was still running a hundred miles an hour.
Unbidden, the feel of Ari curled into his side in sleep drifted into his mind. He groaned out loud. He’d jerked awake at a particularly loud snuffling noise coming from the person clinging to him and panicked. A quick glance at his phone had shown that although they had slept a long time, it wasn’t all night. Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down, he’d then crept from his bed to her room and found a pair of pajamas. She was a tiny thing, and he’d dressed her like he would a sleeping child before depositing her in the bed with her brother and sister. It was for the best that they at least not start asking questions about the two of them.
Not that it had stopped Tommy from wandering in the gym and bringing it up.
“Early night for you last night?” he asked Rex, leaning casually against the treadmill Rex had been running on.
“Yeah, hadn’t really slept in two days.”
“Mmhm,” was all the response he’d gotten.
Rex had stabbed a finger at the emergency stop and stared his cousin down. “Why don’t you just ask your questions so I can get back to my workout.”
Tommy had raised his eyebrows with an air of feigned innocence. “You’ve been down here for an hour already.”
Rex had decided not to answer that, since it hadn’t really been a question. He reached for his towel and wiped his face off before chugging some water.
Apparently, his non-response was enough. “Rex, what are you doing? You said you weren’t going to do anything.”
Rex grimaced. “I’m well aware of that. She asked for some practice in assuming the role I need her in for the bust. It’s more than I thought would happen, but I have it under control.”
“You mean you have her under control?”
Rex had actually growled at Tommy for that comment.
“Hey man, I know how it is. You know my tastes run the same direction, maybe even more so than yours. I already told you I didn’t see a problem with it.”
“It’s not that easy, Tommy,” Rex told him as he sat down to wrap his hands for a round with the heavy bag.
“Life rarely is. So what’s the problem now?”
“Now she’s got two kids to raise and school to finish with children and youth breathing down her neck.”
“So, having a stable partner in her life could be helpful for that,” Tommy retorted.
Rex snorted. “I don’t think any caseworker or judge is going to look at the name Nardone and think ‘good role model’ for children.”
Tommy shrugged. “Rex, we’ve come a long way since our parents. We’re practically legitimate businessmen now.”
“Oh yeah. Legitimate businessmen with dungeons, rap sheets, and doctored tax records.”
It was Tommy who snorted this time. “Dude, your ‘rap sheet’ doesn’t even exist anymore. They expunged the petty theft from our teen years that Dad bought you out of when you turned twenty-one. You know Liesel can make you look squeaky clean with paper for the money. What’s your real reason?”
Rex sighed. He’d never wanted to have this conversation. As much as he and Tommy had talked about getting out of the business, they both knew it wouldn’t happen overnight. Tommy was alright with that and had never indicated it would be a problem for him if he ever met someone he wanted a family with. Rex didn’t feel the same, and he told him so. “I don’t want to raise a new generation of kids in the business. If we get out great, but I don’t want to keep it going if we somehow don’t manage it.”
Rex hadn’t been sure what Tommy’s reaction would be, but the calm understanding wasn’t it. “I get that, but I think you’re underestimating yourself there.”
When Rex had just stared at him, Tommy had gone on, “Rex, this is all your plan. I wouldn’t have rocked the boat.”
“Yes, you would have. Once you found out about Stella and Damien, you were just as invested as me. Maybe more so.”
Tommy had sighed. “True, but you”re next in line, so if you don’t want this, then we need out of it. You and Liesel have done more in five years to end all this than anyone has in three decades. If you don’t want your family involved in the criminal end of things, then they won’t be. We’re far enough out of it now that they would never need to be a part of it.”
Rex had shaken his head. “Even if that’s true, and I’m still not convinced, I doubt Ari would want anything beyond the passing whatever it is we’re doing now. A family war killed her father. She knows well enough what goes on that it’s doubtful she would believe me even if I told her our plans.”
“And don’t you think it’s worth taking the time to try to convince her? Rex, I’ve known you forever and I have never seen you act like this.”
“Maybe it is, but she deserves better. I want that for her.”
“Just think about it is all I’m saying. It’s not every day that you meet a girl like that.”
“A girl like what?”
“One with the steel needed to tell someone who’s wronged her to go fuck themselves, the passion to take on a Nardone man, and the softness to give up everything for her family. Just because we want a different kind of family than we’ve had doesn’t mean the qualities that make a good partner change.”
And with that, Tommy had left him. Rex had kept going, starting a brutal kick boxing workout on the heavy bag. But he hadn’t been able to get Tommy’s words out of his head.