Page 159 of Bitter Poetry

He holds my steady gaze. “Yes.”

“I can’t speak for Dante, but it’s not like he doesn’t know what I was doing… Well, maybe not at first, but after I walked in on him fucking her in Ettore’s bed and the conversation that followed, I’d say he had a pretty good idea.”

“Too much information, Chris,” Leon mutters. “A simple yes or no to whether it was going to be a problem was what I was seeking. And yes, he told me about you two. I likewise asked him if it was going to be a problem. This is me asking you the same thing.”

“No,” I say.

He continues to stare at me, and it’s pretty unnerving. Leon is a big motherfucker, and when he drops his easygoing facade, I don’t mind admitting it’s a little disturbing.

“I’m waiting for the but, Christian. Is there a but?”

“Nope. Don’t think so.” I glance down at myself half expecting the ‘but’ to reveal itself. When I look up, Leon is wearing an amused expression.

“What about Dante? What did he say when you asked if it was going to be a problem?”

He smiles. “He said no. I didn’t believe him at the time.”

Well, fuck.“And now?”

“About as much as I believe you.”

Fucking great.

He taps the screen on his cell and lifts it to his ear. “Fucking finally,” he mutters—I’m guessing Dante answered.

Five minutes later, Dante enters the office. His eyes slide from Matteo to Leon and then land on me. They linger. I don’t look away. I don’t smile. I don’t offer him anything. I just stare at him.

He’s fucked her—again.

I can see it on his face.

“You guys okay?” Leon says.

“We’re good,” I say. I’m still staring at Dante and thinking about him fucking her. I fucking hate the thought of him touching her if I’m not there. It represents an invisible line. All the other times before I took her to his apartment, I was always close, just outside the door… inside the door… events orchestrated under my control and planning.

We’re going to need to set some ground rules.

Now is not the time, so I clear my expression. Then blink a few times as the tension permeating the room reaches me. “What?”

“You were looking at your brother like you wanted to liberate his head from his shoulders,” Leon says dryly.

“Well, alright,” I mutter, scowling. “I might have been thinking about it. I didn’t realize I was projecting. I’m fine now.”

Leon raises his brows. “Sit the fuck down, both of you… No, not next to each other. We need some space to intervene if one of you loses your damn mind.”

Deeply offended, I stalk over and sit in the nearest easy chair. Dante takes the one opposite, leaving a coffee table and Leon and Mateo between us. “He’s my brother. I fucking love him, and I’d do anything for him,” I say. “I watched out for Carmela as best I could the whole time he couldn’t. Maybe I took that a little more literally than might have been advisable. But you know, that’s just the way it goes. I’ll always have his back and, by extension, that of anybody that he gives a fuck about. Just so we’re clear. Just so that nobody’s confused.”

Dante is smiling. “I love you too, baby brother. I promise not to fuck her again without your permission.”

“That’s great,” Leon cuts in. “I appreciate you two clearing that up. Now, down to business. What the fuck is Ettore up to?”

CHAPTER 48

DANTE

Ihad a claim on Carmela once.

My gut tells me that I still do… but that fucking her without Christian there, without his knowledge, is a step too far for him.