Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
VIOLET
These girls are, dare I say, sweet.
Funny.
And they’re all with men involved in organized crime.
This is not at all how they portray it in the movies.
“Okay, girl, we have questions, and we want to talk, but we also know that you had a rough night last night, so if you want to go nap, we understand,” Scarlett says to me just as Lulu pulls the first pizza out of the oven.
“Are you kidding? I need food. But I’ll be a slow eater today because my jaw is killing me.”
“I have drugs,” Lulu announces and opens a cabinet. I check the time, realize that I’m due for more, and gratefully accept the pills she offers me.
“I can’t believe you’re still on your feet,” I say to Lulu. “You have to be ninety months pregnant.”
The others snort, and Lulu laughs. “Eight months,” she says, rubbing a hand over her belly. “I have a few weeks to go, and I’ve been on my feet this whole pregnancy, since I’m still bartending down at Rapture a few nights a week. Rome’s awesome about rubbing my back and my toes every night.”
“I’m sure that’s not all he rubs,” Scarlett says, making me smirk.
“Okay, what are your questions?” I take a bite of pizza and my eyes roll back in my head. “Holy shit, this is incredible.”
“I know,” Lulu says proudly.
“My girl here is the resident chef,” Natasha says. “She’s taught me some basics, but we all flock over here to eat her food because holy shit it’s good.”
“So good. I might live here now. Tell Mateo I’m leaving him for Lulu.”
“Rome says he’s sworn off threesomes now that he has me,” Lulu says and looks at me like So sorry. “You’ll just have to stick with the sexy Mateo. What a hardship for you.”
“Wait. Do the guys do threesomes?” I frown and sit up a little straighter. “Like, in the club? Why hasn’t this occurred to me before?”
“I will not speak to what any of the guys did at Rapture before you girls came into their lives,” Scarlett says, shaking her head. “No way. You don’t want that in your head.”
“Hold up.” I set my pizza down. “How do you know what they did?”
“Oh, I’m the general manager of the playroom,” she replies. “And before that, I worked the playroom. I totally had sex with the guests, but never any of your guys. That would be weird now. Glad I dodged that bullet.”
“Interesting.” I blink at her and then look to Natasha. “Do you work there too?”
“Hell no,” Natasha says, shaking her head. “I’m the prude of the group.”
“Not a prude,” Scarlett says, rolling her eyes. “Stop saying shit like that about my friend.”
Natasha flushes and then smiles at me. “It’s a long story. There was some trauma there. But Julian and I like to pop in and . . . watch.” The last word is said with a little whisper.
“No judgment from me. Watch all day long if that’s your thing,” I say as Lulu passes me a fresh bag of frozen veggies for my ankle. “This is all fascinating. I had fun there that night.”
“Oh, we know,” Lulu says.
“What?” My gaze bounces between the three of them. “If he filmed me and showed you—”
“Oh, nothing like that,” Natasha assures me. “Definitely not. It’s just, we saw Mateo go in the playroom after you, and you guys were in there for a long time.”
“Ah, yeah. Yeah, we had fun. I don’t know, I guess I never thought I’d go to a sex club. I never really thought about it. I’ve been too focused on finding Rosie.”
The room goes quiet, and I look up to find them looking at me, but no one wants to ask.
“I’ll talk about it.”
“You don’t have to,” Lulu rushes to assure me. “We’re just thrilled to hang out with you.”
“She’s right, I was just going to ask about tattooing and what’s the craziest thing someone has had you permanently put on their body,” Scarlett adds, making me grin.
“I have stories, don’t you worry. But, the guys are going to help me find my sister, and you’ll probably overhear them talk, or they’ll talk to you about what’s going on. I mean, I hope they would since you’re in relationships, and people talk to their partners, you know?”
“They tell us some,” Natasha says. “They try to protect us from a lot of what they do. But more than that, we want you to know that we’re your friends.
Anything you say to us stays with us. We’re kind, but we’re married to hard, dangerous men, and we will do whatever we have to do in order to protect this family. ”
The other two nod in agreement, and fuck if it doesn’t make me want to cry.
These three women are welcoming me into their fold, just because I’m Mateo’s. It’s as easy as that.
I haven’t had anyone in so long, I’m not even sure I remember how to do this.
“I’m going to give you the short version for now,” I tell them and take the ice off my ankle. “My sister was taken seven years ago. She just vanished.”
By the time I finish the story, it’s not the short version, and there isn’t a dry eye in this kitchen, including mine.
“You’re not alone anymore,” Natasha says as she passes me the box of tissues. “You’ve got a whole army behind you.”
“And three new friends,” Scarlett adds.
“And I have cake,” Lulu says, making me laugh. “And that helps too.”
“I could use some cake. Jesus, I’d better heal up fast because I need to get back in the gym if I’m going to be eating like this all the time.”
“I want to learn to kickbox,” Scarlett declares.
“Me too,” Natasha agrees.
“And I want tattoos,” Lulu adds.
“Not until after you’ve had the baby,” I say to her. “I bet there’s a gym in this building we can use, right?”
“Oh, for sure. Carson and Mateo already teach us some hand-to-hand,” Scarlett says. “Julian has tried to teach us hacking stuff, but he’s almost too smart.”
“Don’t tell him that,” Natasha says. “My husband is already insufferable.”
I’m sleepy, but I’m also content as I sit here and listen to these funny, smart women and sample Lulu’s delicious food. It’s been since before I lost Rosie that I had a day like this. I don’t make friends. I have coworkers, but I don’t have people.
And now, thanks to a certain King of Vegas, I have a bunch of them.
If Rosie were here with us, it would be perfect.
“Let’s get back to the tattooing,” Scarlett says. “What’s the craziest thing someone has gotten? I mean, besides names and stuff.”
“I have some policies,” I reply, thinking it over.
“I don’t do names. That’s a weird slippery slope to me, and there are plenty of other people who will, so they don’t need me for it.
Hmm, the craziest thing? A guy once wanted me to tattoo a basketball jersey on his torso.
To make it look like he was wearing it.”
“Was it his own jersey?” Lulu asks.
“No. It was Kobe Bryant’s jersey. It was the weirdest, but it ended up costing him about ten grand, and he was a grown-ass man, so who am I to judge?”
“I’ll judge,” Scarlett says, and her eyes bounce over my sleeve of flowers. “Do you just have the sleeve?”
“The flowers wrap over my shoulder and down my spine.”
“I want to see,” Lulu says.
“I’m so bruised up right now, I don’t know if you can tell what’s ink and what’s blood. Let me heal a bit, and then I’ll strip down and show them off.”
“They’re so beautiful,” Natasha says, leaning over for a closer look at my arm. “They look almost real.”
“My parents had a thing for flowers, obviously. Hence, Violet and Rose for daughters. We always had really pretty gardens when I was growing up. They’re a happy memory.”
“That’s sweet.” Lulu passes me another slice of pizza. “Are most of your clients cool?”
“Most of the time,” I say before taking a bite. “This sauce is so good.”
“Homemade,” Lulu says with a wink.
“Yum.” I take another bite. “So, I have a question for you guys. First of all, I know nothing about the Mafia or organized crime or whatever.”
“Lulu and I were both born into it,” Natasha says. “And Scar and Luke have been together for a while. We can help you.”
“Mateo says he’s going to have guards with me when he can’t be with me.”
They all just stare at me, as if they’re waiting for the question.
“That’s normal?”
“Yeah, our guys are dangerous, and they piss off other dangerous people pretty much on the daily,” Lulu says. “Made men are always looking for their enemy’s weakness. We are their biggest weakness because they love us. So we have to have guards to make sure we’re safe.”
“That’s pretty much what he told me.”
“You get used to them,” Natasha informs me. “I’m friends with mine now. It helps to always have the same guys with you because you learn each other’s little quirks and it becomes second nature.”
“Sure. Leaving the house? Grab my keys, my handbag, my guards . . .” I wrinkle my nose and the others laugh.
“That’s pretty much it,” Scarlett says with a nod.
“Here’s the other thing.” They lean in, listening.
“Mateo told me that if I wanted, I could open my own tattoo studio rather than continue to work where I do. That he’d get me space at Carson’s resort, or pretty much wherever.
And I don’t want to feel like I’m taking advantage of him.
Because that sounds amazing, but this is really new, and . . . I don’t know.”
“Our guys move fast,” Natasha says. “When they make up their minds, there’s no talking them out of it.”
“Rome had me living here within days of meeting him,” Lulu adds. “He was obsessed from day one, and it’s only grown with time.”
“I worry that it’s new and fun and exciting now but he’ll grow tired of me, and then I’ll be left with no business, no home, no man.”
“No, not happening,” Natasha says.
“I’ve known Mateo for a while,” Scarlett adds.
“And I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you.
Not to mention, these guys aren’t soft, Violet.
They don’t give out of the goodness of their hearts.
They don’t flirt with random people, they don’t smile at random people.
They’re made men, and they’re fucking scary. ”
I blink, thinking back. “I’ve only seen him scary in the cage,” I realize.
“I mean, he was terrifying last night when he was killing those traffickers, and sometimes his voice is hard when he’s talking to his men, but he only ever speaks to me, touches me, looks at me with . . . I don’t know the word.”
“We get it,” Lulu assures me. “Because our men are the same. Mateo would disembowel himself before he ever let you be harmed or hurt you by his own hands. But every single other person in the world who isn’t part of this family? They’re not so lucky.”
“And if this isn’t for you,” Scarlett puts in. “If this life isn’t what you want, just be honest now. Not that Mateo would let you go without a fight, but he also won’t make you stay somewhere that you’re miserable.”
Lulu passes me a fresh bag of frozen peas, and I trade her for the warmer one so she can put it back in the freezer.
“I can’t imagine leaving him,” I confess. “The thought of not having him in my life makes my chest ache.”
“There’s your answer.” Natasha smiles at me. “So, what are you going to do about the tattoo shop?”
“Well, if I take him up on it, I want to change things up. Since I’m with this guy, who I suspect is quite wealthy—”
“You have no idea,” Lulu says, raising an eyebrow.
“—and I’m not a gold digger. But, if I don’t need the income, I think I want to offer my art to women who’ve had trauma and want the ink to feel stronger. Maybe that’s breast cancer survivors or trafficking survivors.”
“Women with domestic violence scars,” Natasha suggests. “I have several, actually, and would love to have them covered.”
I stare at my new friend. “Who the fuck hurt you?”
“My dad,” she says with a sad smile. “But Julian killed him.”
“Good.”
Scarlett laughs. “Yeah, you’re going to fit in just fine, Violet.”