Touch (The Pagano Family Book 2)

by Susan Fanetti

  Backing off the throttle slightly, he cast an eye at the traffic ahead of him. If he saw Dmitri, he’d tuck in and follow.

  He was guessing where Dmitri was headed, but he thought it was a pretty solid guess—back to the shack the band rented together outside of the city. If not, he’d end up there eventually.

  And Luca could wait.

  Her brother. Her brother had done that to Manny—or he’d known, and he’d let it happen, which amounted to the same thing, as far as Luca was concerned.

  He was going to beat him until he forgot his own fucking name.

  He didn’t know what he was going to do about Gigi. He knew what he wanted to do, but she was a chick, and a little one at that, not much bigger than Manny. Never in his life had he hit a chick. Well, Carmen, when they were kids, but that didn’t count.

  He caught sight of the minivan up ahead, pulling onto an off-ramp. Yep. Heading home. Luca knew a shortcut he could take on the bike, so he rode past that exit and took the next.

  He was parked in front of the house next door and sitting astride the Duc when Dmitri came down the street. The two-car garage door was open; Gigi’s Mini was parked inside. Seth’s pickup was in the driveway. Kevin didn’t have a car, but his bicycle was hanging on the garage wall. Full house.

  The minivan stopped in the middle of the act of turning onto the weedy driveway, and Luca made eye contact with Manny’s brother. He was wearing his Oakleys, so Dmitri couldn’t see his eyes. But Luca could see. Manny’s brother was scared.

  Good.

  Dmitri sat there, the front wheels canted onto the driveway, the back still on the pocked street, for a full minute at least. Luca sat in the saddle, staring dead at him, waiting. They both knew the score. Now the question was whether Dmitri would run like a little bitch and leave his little bitch inside for Luca to deal with, maybe hope his buddies would protect her, or get the fuck out of his van and face Luca like a man.

  Still, they didn’t move. Luca hadn’t heard the gears shift, so the van was still in drive. That was something, he supposed—the shithead hadn’t thrown it into reverse to prepare his getaway.

  To break the stalemate, he swung his leg over the seat and came toward the van. He left his gloves on. And Dmitri killed the engine where the van stood and got out.

  Good boy.

  “Luca…Luca, chill out a sec. We should talk.” Dmitri put his hands up and took a couple of steps backward along the side of the van.

  Luca advanced on him. “No, buddy. I don’t think we should.” His right arm came out like a piston and landed square in Dmitri’s gut. The kid made a weird, soundless sound and then dropped to the pavement.

  Jesus. One punch? No way.

  Luca growled and grabbed Dmitri’s t-shirt, getting a good fistful. He dragged him to his knees, but the shithead would not stiffen his spine. He just sagged there, wheezing.

  “GODDAMMIT! YOU FUCKING PUSSY! STAND UP!”

  “Luca, please,” he gasped. “I’m not a fighter. And I’m sorry!”

  Dangling him by his shirt, Luca punched him twice in the face, hard, getting a paltry kind of satisfaction at the crunch of bone both times. Nose and maybe cheekbone. That would do. It wasn’t anywhere near fucking enough, but it would do. For now.

  He grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and pulled him to his feet, but still Dmitri wouldn’t stand. “Asshole, I’m gonna keep punching your sorry head until you find your feet or lose your teeth. Pick one.” Dmitri stood, but Luca kept hold of his neck. “Good call. Come on. Let’s go see the chick pulling your leash.”

  “Don’t hurt her.” His voice sounded like it was packed with cotton.

  “What about your sister’s hurt? That little skank almost killed Manny—and so did you.”

  “She probably wouldn’t’ve raged out if you weren’t there.”

  Luca swung from the side with his left and planted his fist again in Dmitri’s gut, but kept hold of his neck so he couldn’t double over. He made that weird, soundless whine again.

  “Oh, asshole, you do not want to blame me for this shit. That will get you in deeper than you can swim, and that’s a fucking fact.”

  As they stepped onto the low stoop at the front door, the roar of a large engine rose behind them, and then the squeal of tires stopping hard. Luca looked over his shoulder and saw Manny’s father leaping out of his truck.

  “Luca, wait!”

  In his fist, Dmitri relaxed a little.

  “Adam, it doesn’t change shit. It’s worse.”

  “It is worse, and it changes everything. That’s my kid. You have to let him go.”

  Luca pulled Manny’s brother to him and caught him in a choke hold. “I can’t. She sat there and stabbed herself over and over again, and I couldn’t do shit. I can’t let him go.”

  “You saved her. Now let Dimi go. You hurt him enough. Christ, son. Look at him.”

  Reluctantly, Luca pushed Dmitri away and took a look. The left side of his face was droopy and caved in. Blood ran freely from his nose and cheek.

  Adam grabbed his son and put his arm around him. “Dad,” Dmitri whined.

  “Shut up. I’m trying to keep you alive, but I have nothing to say to you yet.”

  The front door of the house opened at that moment, and all three of the other band members were there, Gigi behind Seth and Kevin. She caught sight of Luca and turned and ran.

  “If I have to catch her, I will break her.” Luca spoke evenly. Seth blinked and spun, chasing after her.

  Kevin was still gaping in the doorway. “What the fuck? Dude, what happened to your face?”

  “I happened to it. We’re comin’ in.” He pushed past Kevin, and Adam helped Dmitri into the house.

  Again Kevin asked, “What the fuck?”

  “That skank and this piece of dried dog shit dosed Manny.”

  “I didn’t!”

  “You knew and didn’t stop it. Same fucking thing.”

  “Fuck, man. No way. D., no way! Mr. Timko?”

  Manny’s father nodded grimly. “We need to talk to the girl.”

  “I got her.” Seth dragged her into the room by the arm. Gigi was silent and watchful, her huge brown eyes looking rightfully terrified.

  “Sit down, everybody.” Adam wrestled his son into a nearby chair. Seth moved Gigi to the couch. Her eyes darted around in nervous agitation. Luca saw no trace of the little tart who ran these boys. Now she looked like a scared little girl.

  Kevin brought a kitchen towel to Dmitri, who held it to his bleeding face. Then Kevin turned a hard-back chair around and sat down, his arms resting on the back. Luca chose to stand. When Adam saw that, he kept his feet, too.

  Adam spoke first and directed his attention to Gigi. “Speak up, girl. Explain what you did.”

  “I don’t give a fuck what she has to say.”

  Adam turned on Luca. “I do. Girl, talk.”

  Gigi looked around the room, her eyes lingering on Dmitri and then on Luca. Finally, she faced Adam. “We were all doing it. I just thought Manny needed to cool out. She can be a real b—” She paused abruptly, rethinking her words. “She’s wound tight, you know? I just wanted a night off from her negative vibe. I didn’t think E would hurt her. It makes people happy. Normal people, anyway.”

  Luca took a step toward her at that last sentence, and Adam’s arm shot out and blocked him.

  “What you did—Manny could have died. You played with her life like it was nothing. If you were a man, Luca here wouldn’t get a chance to get a shot in, because I would tear your head from your shoulders.” He turned to his son. “You are a man, Dimi. Or I thought you were. But you saw this happen and did nothing. A man would have done the right thing. A man would have taken care of his sister.”

  Dmitri said nothing, but he blew out air in a petulant scoff. Blood sprayed from his broken face.

  Adam looked at the spatters on the linoleum floor. “Your mother told me what you said. You and I both know it was a lie. Maybe you didn’t get some fancy-
ass sleepaway adventure camp, maybe you weren’t the first kid in the school with the new game gizmo, maybe you had to buy your own car, but you know you weren’t neglected in our house. You knew love and care, and you know it.” He looked at Gigi but continued to address his son. “If someone is twisting your thinking about your family, then you need to think long and hard about the company you keep.”

  Dmitri looked down at his lap. His guilt radiated out of him in nearly visible waves.

  His father continued. “You owe your mother an apology. You owe your sister more than that. I don’t know how you make that up. But you figure it out. And son, you have to make a choice. What she did”—he pointed at Gigi—“and what you did for her? I can’t have that. You choose her or your family.”

  Luca was struck at that moment by a surprising sense of parallelism. He was experiencing a similar choice, for vastly different reasons. Other than work and a couple of lunches with Sabina, he hadn’t seen his family in more than a month. He hadn’t been to Mass, or to Sunday dinner. He saw his father and John at work, but there hadn’t been much talking beyond business talk. And that was because of Manny. Carlo had declared her unwelcome in the family home, and he had chosen her over them. It was tearing him up.

  It was different, though, because Manny didn’t deserve the treatment she was getting from his family. She didn’t deserve the treatment she was getting from her brother. Luca stood there in the rundown living room of the rundown house they called the Ferret Cage and was nearly rocked back by understanding. Christ. No wonder she was so suspicious, so reluctant to trust, so quick to take it back. She went through her life being misunderstood and mistreated for it. Christ. His heart broke for her all over again.

  He must have literally moved or something, because Adam turned to him and gave him an inquiring look. He simply shook his head in response.

  Then Dmitri finally answered his father. “Dad, come on. It was a mistake. I need Manny and Gigi. The finals are coming up. We have to focus on that. We can’t have all this drama.”

  “I can solve that problem for you, D. I’m out. I hereby tender my resignation from Fierce Ferret.” Kevin stood and glared at Gigi. “This has been bullshit since Tim left and we brought that bitch on board. She’s like the evil spawn of Courtney Love and Axl Rose. I quit. Replace me or just forfeit, either way, Brixton 21 is gonna take the Battle.”

  “Fuck.” That was Seth’s sole contribution to this conversation so far.

  Making good on his words, Kevin grabbed his pack from the floor by the television. “I’ll be back tomorrow with my aunt’s truck to get my shit.” He looked at Luca. “Tell Manny to give me a call or something, okay? I’m glad she’s okay.”

  Luca nodded. “Sure, man.”

  Adam was still looking down at his son. “What’s it gonna be, Dimi?”

  Dmitri looked at Gigi. Luca did, too. Her lip trembled ostentatiously. Dmitri turned to his father. “I need time to think, Dad. Everything’s all screwed up.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, but it’s up to you. Maybe Gigi will take you to get your face fixed. Maybe she’ll pay for it, too.” Adam turned to Luca. “I need a drink. You?”

  Luca was extremely dissatisfied with the way this encounter had gone. Gigi sat there unscathed. Dmitri was still conscious. There had been no kind of justice or resolution for Manny. No kind at all.

  “Luca.” Adam put his hand on Luca’s shoulder. “Have a drink with me. I know a place not far. Booze is your vice, yeah?”

  “Yeah.” He sighed. “Yeah, okay.”

  oOo

  “Surprised?”

  “Sir, I can honestly say that a strip club is one of the last places I thought you’d bring me.”

  Adam shrugged and tossed back his shot of whiskey. “The booze is good and cheap, they don’t short the pours, and the women are fine. This is my vice. Dottie knows. Long as I keep my hands to myself, I am not in the doghouse.”

  “Yeah, but…” His track record with other women where Manny was concerned wasn’t so great. He hadn’t done anything wrong, but he’d ended up in wrong situations three times already—the kiss on the beach with Lynne, Heather in the hallway at the Seagazer, and Rhiannon had thrown a tantrum at Quinn’s. Something told him that Manny’s attitude about a strip club might not be as progressive as her mother’s.

  He sat at the bar with his back to the stage and downed his shot, then half his beer.

  “But what?” Adam grinned at him.

  “But I thought we were gonna talk about what happened.”

  Adam shook his head. “Said I wanted a drink. And I couldn’t let you hurt my kid more than you did. No matter what he did, he’s still my son.”

  “Doesn’t feel right. Walking away like that.” He finished his beer. When the bartender came over, he waved her away.

  “What’s right? Manny got hurt. Hurting Dimi doesn’t unhurt her. And were you going to beat up that little girl? No, you weren’t. That’s not the kind of man you are.”

  “You sure about that?” Luca wasn’t. Listening to Gigi try to explain herself had only made him want to choke her dead.

  “I am. That’s why I trust you to be good to my girl.”

  “I really wanted to hurt the fucker who hurt her. Really hurt. Reconstructive surgery hurt. It’s been keeping me up nights, thinking about it.”

  “Me, too.”

  “I’m wicked stupid. Gigi was the obvious person. Manny and her are oil and water. But Dmitri was there in the room, so I was sure it couldn’t be.”

  “Son, there’s no point slapping yourself with this. The mystery is solved. Now we move on. With Manny, you’re gonna learn not to rehash the past.”

  “You think Dmitri is gonna cut the chick loose?”

  Adam finished his beer and stared down into the empty glass. “Hope so. Can’t say. He says he loves her. That’s a strong pull. Sometimes that’s stronger than family.”

  Yeah, sometimes it was.

  Luca stared at the mirror on the wall at the back of the bar. Behind his own reflection, an athletic redhead in a silver string bikini worked the pole like an Olympic gymnast.

  Adam could have any vice he wanted. That was between him and his wife. But this was not a place Luca wanted to be. He needed to get back to Manny.

  oOo

  When Luca came in, Dottie was set up on the sofa, pillow behind her back, knitted afghan over her legs, bright blue plastic glasses perched on her nose, working in a crossword puzzle book. She turned and looked over her shoulder at him. “Luca, hey. It’s late, hon.”

  He looked at the dumb black cat clock on Manny’s wall. Shit. Almost midnight. But Manny didn’t sleep much. “She’s asleep?” Disappointment hit him with force.

  Dottie got up. “Yeah, I think so.” She went to the bead curtain and pulled it back, careful not to make it rattle too much. When she turned back to Luca, she was nodding. “Yes. She had a rough night. I made her take a sleeping pill.”

  “They make her groggy in the morning. She hates that.”

  She smiled. “I know, hon. But she needs to rest. She’s having trouble processing what happened with Dimi.” Her eyes sharpened. “What happened with you? Adam didn’t call.”

  “He said to tell you he’s good and was headed straight home when I left him.”

  “And Dimi?”

  “He’ll be fine. His face is a little broken. He got off easy, Dottie.”

  She sighed, then nodded at his arm. “You’re bleeding.”

  He looked at the gauze covering his wound. His stitches were coming out Monday. Or maybe not—there was a thin red line through the middle of the gauze. It was dark, though; the bleeding had stopped some time ago and hadn’t been more than seepage. “It’s fine.”

  She went back to the sofa. “Tomorrow’s Saturday. Why don’t you come back in the morning?”

  “I’ll go. I just…I need to see her.”

  “Don’t wake her. She won’t remember if you do, but it could upset her rest.”

&
nbsp; He nodded and quietly went through the bead curtain.

  Not counting the hospital or the hellish night before, he’d only seen her sleep at all once before—when she’d come to his apartment in the middle of the night and had spent the few remaining hours asleep with her head on his lap.

  She was curled on her side, in a tight fetal position, her arms around the pillow under her head. She looked young and serene.