Page 31

Chapter 30

THIRTEEN MONTHS IN HIDING

“Hey, bro,” I said when my brother’s face popped up on my laptop screen.

He chuckled. “Hey, man. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing you with long hair and a beard.”

I stroked a hand along my jaw. “You don’t think my mountain man look is sexy?”

Fiero’s lips curved wryly. “I can barely contain myself. How are things going there?”

“All good. April is turtle mating season, so Eden’s busy and happy.”

Fiero took a sip of an amber liquid from his highball glass. “How is she doing with everything?”

I sighed and scooted the computer over a little on the kitchen counter so I could work. “She had a couple nightmares last month, but before that it had been months.”

My brother tilted his head to the side in thought. “I guess that makes sense since March was the year anniversary since she got taken.”

“That’s what her psychiatrist said. Overall, she’s doing well, but there will be certain things that trigger her.”

Fiero’s nose wrinkled. “Never put much stock into shrinks, but it sounds like it’s been beneficial to Eden. How’s married life treating you?” His smirk irritated me.

“It’s fine, and wipe that smartass grin off your face.”

He guffawed. “I just think it’s funny that the guy who said he never wanted to get married is now living in wedded bliss.”

My eyes rolled to the top of my head as I pulled the lilac petals from the wax paper with tweezers. The color was perfect. “Did you want to have this meeting for any particular reason? Or just to bust my balls?”

“I have a reason. The ball busting is just a perk.” He drained his glass and disappeared from the screen while he kept talking. “Wanted to let you know Luca is looking for Guido.”

I paused my decorating and stared at the screen until Fiero returned with a refilled glass of liquor. “Well, he’s not going to find him.” Because I splattered his brain against the wall of an airplane hangar. “Do I need to be worried?”

“He did some checking and noticed one of Guido’s cars was missing. You know anything about a Ford Explorer?”

A relieved breath pushed from my lungs. “We… borrowed that, but Robert took it to a chop shop,” I told him. “There shouldn’t be a trace of it. Why’s Luca just now noticing?”

My brother waved a dismissive hand. “You know he doesn’t deal with the guys in New Orleans too often. Only when he needs something. He had a shipment he needed picked up at the port in New Orleans, so he called everyone’s favorite douchebag.”

I chuckled as I arranged the petals on the cupcake. “Eden called him Flava Flav.”

Fiero barked out a laugh. “Fucking classic. Luca’s not too worried about Guido’s disappearance since he was a low-level associate. He reckons he took the money he earned from placing the bomb in the helicopter and hightailed it to Vegas. Just thought I’d check in with you and make sure there was no trace of him to be found.”

“There’s not,” I assured him.

Glancing over, I noticed he was leaning toward his screen, peering at what I was doing. “What the fuck is that?”

“A lilac,” I told him, holding the cupcake up so he could see.

“You bringing work home from the bakery now?”

“Nah, this is for Eden. She likes lilacs.”

My brother gawked at me. “She likes lilacs, so you made her a cupcake with a frosted lilac on top?”

“Yes,” I said defensively. “I make desserts every Friday, and I always decorate something for her.”

He leaned back in his chair and threw his head back in laughter. “You are so pussy whipped.”

“Fuck off,” I grumbled, ready to end this chat.

“Are you even getting laid, or are you two still just pretending to be married?”

Placing the cupcake on a platter with the others, I leaned my butt against the counter and crossed my arms over my chest. “I’ve had more sex in the past two months than I’d normally have in a year,” I told him, taking my own opportunity to be smug. “How about you?”

“I had a threesome with these twins last night. Blondes with big tits.” He held his hands in front of him in an estimation of their extreme bustiness. “Colleen and Carissa. Or was it Calista?” My prick of a brother stared at the ceiling as he tried to remember. “Hmmm, whatever. They’re still upstairs, so I’ll ask them when I go back up.”

“Congratulations,” I said dryly. “Sounds very meaningful.”

Fiero leaned forward with both arms on his large mahogany desk, his brown eyes slightly darker than mine when he peered at me on his screen. “That’s the whole point though, right? Quick and easy lays without any meaning? That’s always been our credo.”

“It has,” I said, leaving out the but I wanted to tack onto the end, but my brother beat me to it.

“But?” he asked, and he was really getting on my damn nerves.

“I’m trying to make this work. Eden got thrown into this through no fault of her own, so I’m doing my best to make it easier on her. To be a good husband.”

My brother’s lips pursed and he nodded. “That’s admirable. So you’re being discreet with your side pieces?”

I wanted to punch the damn screen with his face on it, but I balled my hands into fists at my sides. “No side pieces,” I informed him through gritted teeth.

“No… side… chicks? At all?” he drawled slowly, as if he were attempting to understand each word individually.

“None.” That’s all he needed to know.

He appeared genuinely perplexed. After all, our father always had women on the side. The only good thing I could say about Luca was that he had kept that shit on the down low and hadn’t flaunted it in front of Mama. It wasn’t until after she’d died that he’d started bringing women to his home.

“But…” Fiero shook his head. “I was under the impression you and Eden had separate rooms for the first few months. I remember you making comments about my room or Eden’s room . You weren’t fucking anyone else during that time?”

“No, Fiero,” I sighed and then had to fight a grin as an idea popped into my head. “Well, except for Rosie.”

“I knew it,” he crowed, shifting in his leather chair and leaning closer to his laptop. “What does this Rosie look like?”

I held my hand in front of my face and pretended to talk to my palm. “Rosie, would you like to meet cousin Fiero?” I turned it around to face the screen and waved. “Fiero, this is Rosie Palms.”

His eyes rolled back so far I was afraid he’d dislodge them. “Jesus, you’re fucking stupid.” Then a wicked grin crossed his lips. “Wait, if Rosie is my cousin, then she’s yours too. So every time you jack off, you’re fucking your cousin. That’s sick, dude.”

I couldn’t help but bark out a laugh. “Shut the hell up and tell me what’s going on with Luca.”

Fiero groaned and ran a hand over the top of his dark head. “Not much. The motherfucker keeps everything compartmentalized. There’s not one single person who knows everything he does because he’s so paranoid.”

“Which, I hate to admit, is smart. That way no one can take him down from the inside.”

My brother nodded. “Exactly. The one who probably knows the most is Manny.”

“Makes sense since Manny is his consigliere. And he’s completely loyal to Luca?”

“A million percent. Our father could tell Manny to shoot off his own dick, and the fool would ask if he wanted him to aim for the balls too.”

“You paint a lovely mental picture,” I said with a grimace. “So what you’re saying is that you don’t have enough tangible evidence to bring our father down?”

“Not yet,” Fiero said, with a sad shake of his head. “I do my best to eavesdrop as much as possible, and I’ve started asking to sit in on meetings under the guise of wanting to learn more about the family business. ” He sneered that last part. “And there’s no way to plant a listening device. The old fucker has all his offices and cars swept three times a day for bugs.”

“Paranoid asshole,” I muttered, feeling my mood sink. I didn’t know why I always got my hopes up every time I called or had online meetings with my brother, but I did. “Thanks for trying though.”

“No prob. I want you back here as much as you want to come back.”

“Fiero,” I warned, pulling my Florida Marlins ball cap off and readjusting it on my head, “you know I’ll never be able to come back to New York. Even if Luca eventually goes to jail for good and we determine it’s safe for Eden to return, my betrayal will never be forgiven. You don’t just fucking leave the family.”

Our thoughts were that if Luca got a life sentence, he would have no reason to go after the Bouviers, even if Eden pointed the finger at him. A life sentence was a life sentence, and he wouldn’t fuck with a powerful family unless it was to save his own skin.

That was probably wishful thinking though. Who the hell knew what that crazy bastard would do? The ideal situation would be for one of his enemies in the joint to shank him to death in the shower. That was the only way we could be sure Eden and her family would be safe. And I wasn’t above paying someone to make that happen.

Fiero drained the rest of his glass and slammed it down onto the leather blotter on his desk. “Shit, I know. On a better note though, I haven’t heard Luca talk about the Bouviers in a long time. I think he considers that issue closed.”

“Because he’s convinced she died with me in the helicopter explosion,” I added, and he bobbed his head up and down.

“Yeah, that was way too close for comfort. If I hadn’t overheard his conversation…” Fiero trailed off, a shiver shaking his shoulders.

“You saved our lives,” I said quietly. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”

“Fuhgeddaboudit. Don’t go gushing all over me. You’ll make me blush,” he teased before changing the subject. “How’s the new house?”

“Excellent. Lots of amenities. We have a small sauna next to the workout room, and there’s a hot tub on the lanai out back.”

“Such a fancy pants with your lanai. What is that anyway?”

I laughed and spoke a bit louder as I went to the fridge to pour myself a glass of iced tea. Eden and I had both started drinking a lot of the sweetened drink in the past few months.

“It’s like a cross between a patio and a sunroom. It’s got a concrete floor and is on the back of the house like a patio, but it has windows like a sunroom, though ours are just screens and not glass. It leads out to the pool.”

“Why do you need a pool when you live right near the ocean?”

“Well for one, sometimes conditions aren’t good for swimming in the ocean, and for another, we have a tall privacy fence so we can skinny dip without getting arrested.”

Fiero laughed. “Ahhh, that’s the important thing.”

My ears perked up when I heard Eden’s footsteps on the lanai, and I quickly turned my cap around backward. She loved when I wore it like that.

I kept my gaze on the door even as I spoke to my brother. “Damn straight. We still have a gorgeous ocean view from the upstairs balcony since it’s above the fence line. It’s pretty much a dream house.” My heart sped up when I saw my pretty wife enter through the kitchen door dressed in tiny denim shorts that made me a bit slack-jawed and a lightweight green sweater that hung off one shoulder. And the turtle necklace. She wore that every day.

Eden’s eyes roved up and down my body, from my bare feet, gray sweatpants, white tee, and backward ball cap—what she teasingly called my man-slut outfit. She gave me a look that almost incinerated those very clothes from my body.

“I need to come visit this dream home,” my brother mused, and I swung my head back around. Hell, I’d almost forgotten he was there. When I opened my mouth to protest what he’d just said, Fiero beat me to it, holding both hands up, palms out. “I know, I know. Too risky. I’d never want to inadvertently lead someone to your front door.”

Eden stepped up beside me and waved at the screen. “Hi, Fiero.”

A grin widened across his mouth. “Hey! How’s my favorite sister-in-law?”

She laughed. “Your only sister-in-law is doing good. I was at my friend Charlisse’s house.”

“I told you I’d come walk you home,” I told her, glancing at the receding light through the window over the sink.

“Her house is across the street,” she said, giving me that you’re ridiculous look she reserved just for me. “It’s not even dark yet.”

I glared at her but she merely lifted her eyebrows and then pinched me on the ass. “Ow, wench.”

Fiero’s chuckle came through the speaker. “What did you do, Eden? Slap his dick?”

She giggled. “No, just a butt pinch.”

“Try slapping him right in the junk pouch next time. That’ll really piss him off.”

Eden tilted her head to one side, like she was seriously considering it, as I grumbled, “Don’t give her any ideas, asshat.”

“I think I’m going to go for a swim,” Eden announced before twiddling her fingers at the computer. “Bye, Fiero.”

“Later, Eden.”

She gave me a light tap on my crotch, not enough to hurt, but enough to get my attention. Then she winked at me and headed back toward the door leading outside. Not upstairs to change into a swimsuit. Fuck. Yes.

The shirt came off first and dropped to the floor near the refrigerator. Then the shorts and shoes as she walked out the back door.

“Bro, what are you looking at?” a voice said from what seemed like very far away.

When her black satin panties hit the window in front of me, I didn’t say a word, just shut the lid on the computer. He’d figure out that the meeting was over. My grin was so big it made my cheek muscles hurt as I stripped off my shirt on the way across the kitchen at a full run.

The backward hat and gray sweats… they do it every time.