by Nola Marie
“So, what you’re telling me is the only thing holding you back from accepting my job offer is you.”
“It’s not that easy,” I laugh. “I don’t even know where I would stay here. I have no idea what I would be able to afford.”
"I would make sure you had a place to stay if that's what's holding you back, but," Bastian glances over his shoulder into the apartment. I follow his gaze to Zane who is throwing Bella in the air, making my fucking ovaries sing. “I think you wouldn’t have any problems with a place to stay.”
“Bastian can I ask you something?”
He turns his head towards me with a smirk. “You just did.”
“Smart ass,” I mumble with a grin.
“Never claimed to be much else.”
“Why are you offering me the job? I haven’t been doing this very long. I’m not sure I’m good enough to work in your shop.”
He angles his entire body to face me. His face is serious and thoughtful. Not a look I’ve come to associate with him. “Tori, you are good. The fact that you haven’t been doing this very long is proof of how much potential you have. I asked you to work for me because I want to have the best. And if in the process it helps out my boy, then sobeit. Besides, do you think I was born tattooing like this? I had to learn just like you. Just so happens, my best friend didn't mind being a human canvas. Neither did Jax. I've done so many on Jax. There are probably dozens of layers of tattoos over his tattoos.”
“So, Zane did play a part in the offer?”
“He didn’t ask me to give you a job if that’s what you mean. But I want him happy. All that damn kid has done with his life is chase women, balls, and everyone’s else’s happiness. It’s time he found some of his own that doesn’t revolve around Jax and Zoey.”
I nod but I can’t reply. What do I say to that?
And what do I say to the job offer. Working with Sebastian Delrie is a big fucking deal for me. Even knowing what I now know about him. Dane would probably lose his mind. I know he’d tell me to go for it.
But Dane won’t be on tour forever. Cara won’t be at school forever. Then there’s Maddox and Ryder. They’ve become my best friends. Can I really just leave everything I’ve gained in the last few years behind? Especially after spending most of my life feeling alone?
I never had a problem being alone when I was a kid. It was me and Pete most of the time. And whoever I was training with on any given day.
Then I walked into that damn tattoo shop and found the brother I never knew I had. Never knew I wanted. Found the little sister I wish I’d had more time with. Found friends who accepted me for my sass and attitude. People who had my back.
The feeling was foreign for so long. Now it feels like everything.
And it’s because of Maddox that I have found even more people I care about. Who care about me.
Large, strong arms slide around me. I can’t stop the smile that spread over my face as I lean back against his chest. His shoulder length hair tickles my face.
I’ve found more than just someone I care about. Or even love. I’ve found everything. Right here in the arms of a man that shouldn’t exist. A man who looks beyond the surface of a person to their very soul. A man who, as dangerous and volatile as he may be at times, is only that way because he loves with his entire being. A man who puts everyone else’s happiness above his own.
“What are you thinking about so hard?” he whispers in my ear.
“Something Bastian said,” I answer almost wistfully. “Or something that what he said made me realize.”
“What’s that, Darlin’?” I turn in his arms and place a kiss under his jaw.
“Nothing important right now. Why were you four huddled up so long?”
“When are you supposed to fight again?”
My head tilts and my eyes narrow a bit. I study his face in an attempt to figure out what he’s thinking, but Zane has absolutely no tells. Maybe when you’re able to read people so well, you figure out how to guard yourself.
“In three weeks,” I tell him leaning my head against his chest. The mere thought of it makes me sick. “In his warped fucking mind, he’s being generous giving me an extra three weeks to prep, but I can’t train with broken damn ribs.”
He lets out a slight growl. “Three weeks is plenty of time for us to get ourselves in place.”
I jerk back bumping into the rail. “What are you talking about?”
“We’re going to be there, Tori. For the next fight.”
I’m shaking my head. I know I need help, but I don’t want it. And I don’t want theirs. If something happens to any of them, I won’t be able to live with myself. “You can’t do that Zane. None of you. I can handle it.”
“Baby, I know you are a fucking badass, but you can’t handle this. This won’t end until you’re dead. And we’ve gotten word that they are planning on auctioning Cara off the same night you fight.”
My stomach falls and my heart stops. I already knew this was a game, but I at least thought I was keeping my sister safe. I thought I was protecting her.
Everything around me starts to spin and I feel like I’m going to be sick. I turn away from him and heave over the balcony railing. “We’re going to get her Tori.”
“How – how did you find this out so fast?” I ask as I finally realize what Layla and Zoey were trying to tell me.
“Because, to an extent, we’re all connected. Us, Chicago, New York. We are all smaller collectives of a larger force. Each syndicate controls its own territory. Some get along better than others. There was a time, none of the other syndicates got along with River City or Chicago. Times have changed and with it, the way business is conducted and what is considered okay. As younger generations have taken over, things like forced marriages, rapes, sex trafficking have become less accepted. Rory and Bastian don’t tolerate it. It’s why they wanted to take over down here. It’s why a friend of theirs took over in Miami. But there is still the diehard traditionalist like the DeLucas that want to keep the status quo. We aren’t supposed to get involved, but it’s hard not to. Not when we see the fall out in Layla and Verity.”
“I can’t let you fight my battle. I can’t let you get hurt because of my sister.”
“You’re not going to let us do anything, Tori,” I hear Jax say from the patio doorway. “All of the women here have been subjected to shit they should never have to deal with. Antonio Rossi was our cousin and Bastian’s uncle. It didn’t stop him from having Bastian’s mom killed. And it didn’t stop him from trying to auction Layla off to the highest bidder to fuck with Rory.”
“We’ve actually been working behind the scenes in Chicago for a while. It’s part of why we wanted Verity’s father’s company. Pretty sure they've been working to get a foot in down here as well,” Bastian says as he joins us on the balcony again followed behind Rory. “We have people in place ready to take over, but we have to get rid of the trash so to speak. The plan was originally to let Matteo and Alberto take over in their own time, but we’re speeding up the timeline.”
“So, you’re not going to take over Chicago?” I ask them.
“That’s not how it works,” Rory tells me plainly. “There are territory lines just like state and country lines. There hasn’t been a fight over divided territory for decades. The Chicago syndicate will always be the Chicago syndicate. Changing power is nearly as impossible. Here, Rossi blood still controls so there was no real dispute anywhere but here. Chicago is only possible because of Matteo.”
“Matteo?”
“Matteo is my cousin,” Bastian explains. “And a La Rosa which basically makes him mafia royalty. His family is like the Pope to the Catholic church. Legge. They sent him a while ago to observe and report. Of course, we’re not supposed to know this.” He says the last part with a grin. “Matteo isn’t just there to observe and report anymore. He’s supposed to take over.”
My head is swimming and floating and spinning in a million different directions as I try to comp
rehend and catalog what they’re telling me. “Wh – what about James? His name is Rossi. Doesn’t that make him something to you?”
“We don’t know. Paul is on his way over to try to help us understand that part,” Rory tells me through clenched teeth.
“Paul?”
“Paul è mio padre,” Bastian explains to me in Italian like I understand a damn word of it. But ‘padre’ is pretty self-explanatory. “If anyone will know who the hell this guy is, it’s him.”
Zane pulls me closer to him. “We’re not trying to come to the rescue,” he says sincerely, “but we are going to help Cara. And you.”
“We may need you to go through with that fight,” Jax tells me. “Can you do me a favor and not get yourself killed? I’ve got two people who need you to be okay.”
“I’ll do my best,” I say with a laugh. But I have no idea how I laugh about it because this fight is anything but a joke.
Zane
“Valen! Get in here,” Coach yells from his office as I work to get out of my practice gear.
Jax looks at me with a raised brow. Everyone knew this was coming after the shit game I played. Honestly, I’m surprised he didn’t reem me out after the game. It wouldn’t have been a great move on his part. My mood was shit and I would’ve lost my job in a hurry. Not that I need the job. But I love playing this game.
I walk into his small ten by ten office looking at the pictures on the walls of his family. The pictures of the last championship we won. It’s the picture of him and our GM, Marcus Alton that pisses me off.
It’s hard to look at the man whose son assaulted my sister. Logically I realize it’s not his fault. He had no control over the little fuck. And he literally handed him over to us when it all came out.
It doesn’t really make things easier though.
“Sit,” Coach Baily tells me. His tone tells me he’s still pissed about Sunday’s game. I get it. My head wasn’t there, and I fucked up. Nearly costs us the game, so I will take whatever is coming to me.
“Want to tell me what the hell happened Sunday,” he says with his dark eyes boring holes into me. He uses this look to intimidate. To remind the player just who’s in charge.
I have to fight not to smile because I’m definitely not intimidated. If I had to wager a guess, I’d say that coach know this about Jax and myself. In fact, after all the mess with Alton, I’m pretty sure he may be slightly afraid of us. I hope not. He has no reason to be.
“My head wasn’t in it,” I tell him honestly. “But that shouldn’t be a problem anymore.”
He shoves a printed Internet article across the table to me. “This have anything to do with where your head was at?”
It’s an article printed from some online tabloid. It should piss me off that someone made a buck off of my moment with Tori, but do I really have the right? I was the one kissing her in the middle of the street in the rain. The picture actually makes me smile. “Yeah, she had something to do with it.”
“I know you’re a passionate guy, Valen. I get why problems with a girl would mess with your head. But next time if you’re going to fuck up my game, let me know ahead of time. And can you please keep the making up off the internet.”
I give him a smirk. A smirk that everyone is well familiar with. “Will do Coach.”
“You know I should bench you or something for that shitty performance but even shitty, you’re still better than any other receiver on the team.”
I shake my head with a laugh. “Only because I work well with the quarterback.”
“Don’t give me that false modesty, Valen.”
“All right.”
“Get the fuck out of here,” he says turning back to his computer.
I walk out of his office with a smart-ass grin on my face. I’m not sure how I got off with barely a raised voice. Probably because he knows it wouldn’t work on me. Jax and I are definitely special in the way we react to situations.
Jax see my face and starts laughing.
“How the fuck do you manage to come out of that office with a fucking smile?” Anao’I asks, shaking his head with a laugh.
“Southern charm,” I tell him with a slap to his wide back.
“More like redneck bullshit,” Jax snorts.
“Whatever,” I mock grunt as we walk out without showers because we’re both in too big of a hurry to get home. Our showers are better anyway.
“Tori going back to New York?” Jax asks once we’re back in his car. Jax loves this car.
“Fuck, I hope not. Haven’t had much chance to talk about it yet.” I look out the window of his car as we make our way onto the interstate wondering if Tori does have intentions of going back to New York right now. I don’t really have any expectations of her staying here with me. I can’t imagine she would leave New York which sends my mind off into another direction. Wondering how in the hell I’m going to work this out because I can’t leave Zoey plus my team is here but dammit if it’s not getting harder and harder to be away from her. The last several weeks have been shit without her.
Of course, reading my thoughts, Jax ask, “How are you going to do this Zane? Her there, you here? It can’t go on like that forever.”
“What would you do if it were Zoey?”
“I’d fucking follow that girl to the ends of the earth. You know that.”
“I can’t leave Zoey or you. I don’t want to live in New York. Everything is here. Everything but Tori.”
“Why haven’t you asked her to move here?”
“She’d never leave New York. It’s all she knows. It’s where her brother and sister and friends are.”
He looks at me for a brief second with those eyebrows perched into perfect stupid points, basically calling me a dumbass without saying it. I hate his face sometimes. “Her brother and sister and friends that aren’t there? Have you even talked about it with her?”
“No.”
“Why the fuck not?”
“Because she’ll say no.”
“And you know this how?”
“Because I know her.” I turn my attention back out the window knowing he’s about two seconds from calling me on my bullshit.
“Oh, I’m sure you do,” he snarks. “Zee the people reader. The fucking mind reader. Except even I can tell that’s not what this is about. You won’t ask because you’re afraid.”
I scoff. I’m going to deny it. Won’t admit it to him even though he’s one hundred percent right.
After a minute or so of not responding he keeps talking. “Scoff all you want. I know you brother. You’re afraid she’ll say no and that will fucking hurt. Not to mention leave you with some very tough decisions to make. But you’re afraid she’ll say yes too, and you won’t know what to do with her there all the time because everything will change.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I know exactly what he’s talking about. It’s exactly why I haven’t asked. But fuck if I don’t hate hearing it said out loud.
“C’mon Zee,” he gives me a derisive look. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. Stop with the bullshit.”
“Fuck,” I hiss because goddammit I don’t want to admit he’s fucking right out loud.
He sits there quiet for a minute. The silence is a little irritating. Until he starts laughing like the jackass he is, making me scowl.
“Stop pouting, love doctor. You just need someone to remind you to pull your head out of your ass every once in a while, like you’ve done with all of us.”
“I don’t want you to go back to New York, Tori,” I blurt out when I walk through the door of my apartment.
She looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “I have to go back, Zane. I have to try to get some training in if any of you expect me to keep my head attached.”
I drop my shit at the door. I walk past the oversized furniture the chick I hired to decorate this place put in here to the minibar. The minibar was all me. I pull out two glasses and pour two fingers in each glass. I hand her one as I w
alk toward her. “I’ve got to take a shower,” I say. “While I’m in there, I want you to consider this. In New York, if Rossi or DeLuca or any of their people come after you, you can’t stop them. I know you are more than capable of putting a grown man on his ass considering the times you’ve put me on mine. But if they are like me, then you won’t catch them off guard again and they’ll hurt you. You know you can’t take me down when I see it coming. If they have been taught to fight, they will hurt you.” At this point I’m rambling. Repeating everything I just said but I really want her to consider what I’m say. I want her to realize she isn’t invincible. More than that? I don’t want her to leave. I want her to stay here. Permanently, but I’m too chicken shit to say that. “I know you have handled grown men your entire life, but this is different. If he’s anything like his father, his ego doesn’t take well to rejection. Your brother isn’t there. Maddox and the other guys aren’t there. Pete isn’t there. There is no one around who you can call.”
“I can call Stitch or one of the guys at the shop,” she argues looking a little more than pissed that I’m insinuating that she can’t handle herself.
“Tori even if Dane were there, would you want to get him involved in this? You’re not going to call Stitch.”
“I would.” Her chin tips up. I can see her posture getting more rigid by the second. Yep, she is most definitely pissed.
“Then call Dane right now and tell him what’s going on,” I challenge her. I spot her phone lying on the coffee table. I grab it and pull up Dane’s number, handing her the phone.
“How did you know my passcode,” she eyes me suspiciously.
“Observation,” I tell her. “Remember I’m always paying attention. So, here. Call Dane. Tell him what’s going on. Or I can call Maddox and have him relay the message.”
I see it the minute she realizes just how serious I am. Fear and anxiety fill her brown eye as she begins to gnaw on her cheek. She looks at her brother’s number on the phone and back to me. “I can’t tell him,” she whispers. “He’ll leave the tour. He’ll get himself killed trying to get to Cara.”
