Chapter Twenty-Five
Roe
“Yeah, I see you, you traitorous brat, you,” I said to my cat through the phone screen of one of Remo’s brother’s phones.
He wanted to show me that Alley was being well taken care of while I was away from her.
“She ate all her dinner,” the voice on the other end of the phone assured me.
“Even the dry food?”
“Yep.”
I rarely ever got her to eat her kibble.
“She’s getting better care with you than she did with me,” I said, shaking my head as my reserved cat, who hated being touched, rolled over and stretched as the guy’s hand petted her. “Thanks for checking in,” I said. “Thanks,” I said to Santino as he tucked his phone away.
“Figured you might want a little distraction.”
“This is taking a long time, isn’t it?” I asked, looking out the darkened window.
“Business can take some… finesse. And Frank is likely paranoid right now, so he’s going to be extra difficult.”
“Do you think they’re in danger?”
“His henchmen are nothing to be worried about. And Remo has a bunch of his guys around. They’re as safe as they can be.”
That didn’t feel like enough.
But if I was going to be with a man in the mafia, I guess I had to be comfortable with ‘as safe as they can be.’
“Want a distraction? I can scrounge up some cards.”
“I don’t know how to play poker.”
“I was going to suggest Go Fish,” he said, shooting me a smile.
“I don’t think I could even concentrate on that.”
“Food? You didn’t get dinner.”
“I usually eat after work. I guess I’m going to have to start adjusting my schedule now.”
“You sad to leave it behind?”
“I think I will miss the stage, yeah. But I think I’m more nervous than anything else.”
“Nervous about what?”
“What’s next, I guess.”
“Seems like Milo thinks you’re heading up to Navesink Bank with him.”
He’d hinted as much to me.
But we hadn’t had a lot of alone time to talk since everything went down. There’d been constant interruptions. We’d barely been able to cover up before someone came into the room to talk to Milo.
“We haven’t really discussed it yet.”
“You will. This was just a meeting that had to happen ASAP. Once this is over, things will calm down for Milo.”
“But not for you guys?”
“We all knew when we moved here that this was going to be a five-to-ten-year plan before we would be able to breathe. Lucky for us, we all kind of thrive on this shit.”
“I can’t imagine,” I said, shaking my head.
“Don’t worry. Mob wives don’t usually have to worry about actually living through things like you’ve been through. They’re very protected.”
Wife.
My belly flipped.
Not out of fear.
But because it sounded so right.
“I think I would spend a lot of time worried about Milo in that case.”
“To be fair, how things are here aren’t the way they are in Navesink Bank. That’s an old, very established organization. It almost sounds boring up that way,” he added, giving me a smile. “Come on. Let’s watch something stupid and get your mind off of things.”
We did just that: picked something stupid and stared at the screen. But I was relatively sure neither of us actually watched it. We were both miles away. If he was anything like me, he was racked with worries.
I kept glancing down at both our phones that sat face-up on the table. But the screens stayed stubbornly blank.
Another hour passed.
Two.
The credits of one movie rolled before another one automatically started to play.
Neither of us moved to change it.
Both of our shoulders started to inch up.
Santino drummed his fingers on the arm of the couch.
I picked at my cuticles.
Both of us coiled tighter and tighter with each passing moment. So much so that when the door opened, we both nearly jumped out of our skin.
But there were Milo and Remo.
The latter had a bottle of champagne raised over his head.
Milo had a big smile for me.
I didn’t even try to hold myself back.
I flew around the couch and then threw myself into his arms.
He scooped me under my butt and twirled me in a circle as I peppered his face with soft kisses.
“Worried about me, huh?”
“Only a lot,” I admitted, pulling back to smile at him. “You’re okay?”
“It was a business meeting, baby,” he reminded me, fingers squeezing my butt.
“With Frank.”
“I think Frank is only a threat to people who are smaller than him. He’s a sniveling little coward around other men.”
“He’s going to sign?” I asked.
“Lawyer should have the paperwork done tomorrow,” Remo said, popping the champagne.
“From there, it’s two to five days before shit goes official.
Then six or so months until Frank takes a vacation somewhere tropical.
With a hilariously inept police force. Couple months after that, it’s all fucking mine. And you, Miss London—”
“Langston,” Milo corrected.
“Right. And you, Miss Langston, will be set for life.”
“Wait. What? Me?”
“Well, your man here and I got to talking. And decided that you will be on salary.”
“For singing?” I asked, surprised at the rush of disappointment I felt.
I loved singing.
I didn’t think I’d ever not want to sing.
But singing at the lounge meant living in Atlantic City. And some silly, romantic part of me was kind of hoping to get to know this place called Navesink Bank.
“Well, you’re free to come sing anytime you want.
But no. Just on salary. We can give you some bullshit title.
Or a real one. Head of… entertainment or some shit.
I don’t know. Whatever will look good for the law.
Santino irons that shit out. You can work remote, if you want. Or you can just collect your check.”
“But if I’m not doing anything…”
“You did enough,” Remo said, clearly high on his success and not thinking clearly. “We settled on one-twenty a year. Seems fair for a fake job.”
One-twenty?
To do nothing?
When I’d been standing on a stage in icepick heels singing for six to eight hours straight for minimum wage?
“I mean, you won’t need the money. Way I hear it, Milo is one of the best earners back home.
But I think everyone should always have a little something-something that is just theirs.
It’s good for your peace of mind. Champagne?
” he asked, waving around the bottle that cost more than I made in a shift.
“I probably shouldn’t. I had those pills this morning.”
“Oh, you’re fine,” Remo said as Milo finally set me down so I could accept the little plastic cup of champagne. “Let’s toast.”
“To what?” I asked.
“To taking over this fucking town,” Remo said. Then, looking at me and Milo, added, “and to you two meeting and falling in love and shit.”
He clinked his glass to ours.
And neither of us objected to his words.
“Cheers,” we chorused.
The champagne only lasted all of ten minutes. And Remo declared that he had to go get more so he could celebrate with his brothers.
Which meant Milo and I were perfectly alone again.
“You’re sure everything is settled?” I asked, moving to sit on his lap in the quiet aftermath of the celebration.
“As settled as it can be right now. Frank is holed up in a safe house under constant guard. Remo isn’t taking care of his debts until after the paperwork is all official and there’s no backing out.”
“And then… then Frank takes a nice vacation, right?” I asked, resting my head against Milo’s chest, listening to his steady heartbeat.
“Right.”
“Can you be sure that he takes this… vacation before he does something else horrible to another woman?”
Milo’s arm tightened around me.
“Don’t worry, baby, his days of using his power against women are over.”
“I still can’t believe I’m getting a salary. And Archie is getting a retirement. And the pit boss keeps her job. How can he afford to be so altruistic?”
“Remo won’t even notice that money being gone. Especially once he gets the casino renovated and run properly. Besides, he owes you. He was right, though. You won’t need it. You can invest it or sock it away in a secret account. If you come with me, that is.”
“To Navesink Bank,” I clarified, needing confirmation.
“Yeah. To my apartment. Temporarily.”
“Temporarily?” I asked, belly shrinking.
“I want to get rid of the apartment and get a house. Within the year.”
“You have all sorts of plans, huh?”
“Ton of ‘em.”
“Can you tell me some of them?” Did I sound a little small and needy? Yes. But if there was one person I felt comfortable being that way around, it was Milo.
“So, I plan to hire some movers sometime in the next few days.”
“Movers?”
“To pack up your place. I figure it can all fit in one of those boxes we can have shipped up to Navesink Bank. We can take out essentials if you want and leave the other stuff in the pod at the docks.”
“I don’t think everything I own would even fill up half of one of those boxes. I’m not sure I even want to bring it all. It was all kind of junk because that was all I could afford.”
“I can walk around and take videos if you want. Then you can tell me what you want to take or not.”
“I can’t come?”
“You probably could, but I just want to be careful. I get it if you’re going stir-crazy here. But if you can just give me one or two more days.”
“I’m not stir-crazy. It’s been nice to have nowhere to go. And, you know, to have you here with me.”
“Well, you got me as much as you want me now.”
Always.
I wanted him always.
“Tell me another plan you have,” I demanded, my fingers teasing the edge of his collar.
“I plan to get you back to my place where you can decompress from all this shit safely.”
“What else?” I asked, leaning up to press a kiss to his neck.
“Take you out to dinner at Famiglia.”
“What else?” I asked, sliding over to straddle him so I could start to press a line of kisses up his jaw.
“Show you around the town.”
“And?”
“Introduce you to my family.”
My heart squeezed.
“And?”
“Go house hunting with you.”
“Anything else?” I asked, my teeth and tongue working his earlobe.
“Yeah,” he said, his hands grabbing my ass before he got to his feet. “I can think of one more thing. But it’s something that’s easier to… demonstrate.”