Page 58 of Joey

“I know, but you were fine last night, right? And it will be one night. Two tops.”

“I…” Her lips tremble.

I grab her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. “I get why you’re scared, Kristin. Your dad didn’t come back, but I’m not him. I’ll be back soon with some answers. But I’m getting nowhere fast here, and the longer your dad is out there…”

“I know.” She gives me a firm nod. “I need to put on my big girl pants and handle it.”

“Good.” I wink at her and start tucking into my bacon and eggs.

“Have you had any leads about Jakob?”

“No. But I have a guy looking into him for me.”

“He’s not a bad guy, Max,” she says with a sigh, and I realize I’m scowling. “He didn’t know I was pregnant. As far as he knows, I just disappeared one day. We even used different names when we were in Philly. He knew me as Kristin Campbell.”

“But he never told you where he lived. You had no way of contacting him? What guy does that unless he’s playing you?”

“I did have a way of contacting him,” she insists, her brow furrowed with annoyance. “I had his number until Dad tossed my phone.”

“Hmm,” I mumble, unconvinced of her faith in the guy.

“Look, all I’m saying is that if you do find him, you don’t have to go all psycho big brother on him. Okay? He might act like an asshole when he finds out about the baby, but we won’t know until I tell him.”

I arch an eyebrow at her. “Psycho big brother?”

“Yeah.” She laughs softly. “But I kinda like having you as my big brother.”

“I kinda like it too, sis,” I admit.

* * *

I havemy hand wrapped around some guy’s throat when my phone rings. I came to talk to a few of Uncle Vito’s buddies from back in the day to see if I could get any information on his acquaintances before I leave tomorrow. One of them decided to be a smart-ass and told me to go to hell, and since I was already in the mood for a fight, I punched him in the face and now I’m choking the life out of him.

I take my phone out of my pocket and smile when I see who’s calling. “My girl just saved your fucking life, asshole,” I tell him, shoving him to the ground. “Stay!” I warn him when he starts to scramble away.

“Hey, baby.”

“Hi.”

“You okay?”

“I miss you.”

“I miss you too, baby girl.”

The piece of shit on the floor goes to move again, so I stand on his hand, pressing all my weight onto it and crushing his fingers. He starts to howl, and I hold my finger to my lips as a warning. He clamps his mouth shut.

“When can I see you?” she asks, and the plea in her voice makes me falter. What if I just went to her house tonight and forced my way in? Made Dante and Lorenzo see how fucking much I adore her and that I’m the only man they should trust to protect her as well as they can?

Fuck, I can’t. Not yet. I owe it to Kristin to give finding her father a proper shot. “A few days, baby. I told you that.”

“How many is a few?”

“Two. Maybe three.”

“That’s too long.” She lowers her voice and practically purrs, “I need you.”

God, I fucking need her too. “I need you too. As soon as I’ve taken care of this thing, I’m coming for you.”