Page 57 of Bleed the Shadows

I stared at the words for a long time, then lifted my eyes to the camera near the ceiling in the corner of my room.

My phone buzzed again.

Please?

I hesitated, then answered.

Fine.

36

REMY

Rocco’s wasbusy Saturday afternoon, so busy I worried it wasn’t the best place for the meeting we’d set up with the Kings. The place was humming with locals stopping in for lunch while out running errands or meeting up with friends for a pre-holiday hang, but Willa greeted us as soon as we walked in and showed us to a private room in the back.

It was cozy inside, modern and sleek, but warm, with wood-paneled walls and dark blue velvet upholstery on the chairs arranged around a dark wood table.

We introduced Maeve, and Willa promised to send out food and drinks while we waited for the Kings.

I’d only met Willa twice before, but I’d always found her to be friendly, a willowy blonde sharp enough to keep the Kings on their toes. which those arrogant assholes definitely needed.

“Probably not ideal for your meeting but the restaurant is so busy this time of year,” she said. “It’s all hands on deck right now.”

The door opened and Drago stepped into the room. I’d seen a lot of crazy things in my life, but not many of them compared tothe pierced, tatted Drago holding a cherubic baby with silky dark hair on his hip.

He bent his head to kiss Willa and I saw the love written all over his face. Saw it and recognized it because it was how I felt when I looked at Maeve.

Fuck. I hoped I wasn’t that transparent.

“Want me to keep him?” he asked Willa.

The baby reached for Willa. “I got this little man. I think he’s hungry.”

The baby grabbed onto a lock of her long blonde hair and Willa turned to us. “It was nice to see you again. And nice to meet you Maeve.”

“You too,” Maeve said.

Willa slipped from the room and Drago took a seat at the table.

“Fatherhood looks good on you,” Poe said to him.

He beamed. “Best thing that ever happened to me.”

We made small talk and a couple minutes later a uniformed server stopped off with water, craft beer, and an assortment of appetizers that smelled good enough to make my mouth water.

“Looks like the place is doing well,” I said, reaching for one of the appetizers. It looked like a scallop wrapped in bacon but when I popped it in my mouth, it tasted like heaven. I made a mental calculation of the possible ingredients to add to my nutritional tracker later. “Wow, that’s really good.”

“Booked out for weeks,” Drago said. “Rock’s killing it.”

They’d come a long way since they’d started managing the drug trade between Blackwell and Aventine, and I couldn’t help thinking it had a lot to do with Willa. It wasn’t just the restaurant. Drago had been showing his photography in the city and Neo had just bought one of the old buildings in Southside to turn into a boxing gym, with Bram’s permission of course.

The door to the private room opened and Rock stepped in with Neo. If it had been anyone else, I would have expected Rock to be wearing an apron, but I wasn’t at all surprised to see him in dark jeans, loafers, and a white button-down shirt.

Neo was just as pulled together in navy slacks and a deep purple shirt unbuttoned enough to show off two gold chains and a good portion of his ink.

The fucking Kings liked their clothes. Always had.

They looked ready for a night on the town, not an afternoon of work at the restaurant.