by Bethany-Kris
Cole grinned, happy with the praise. “I learned my lesson the last time.”
“Good.”
Unlike Theo’s lessons as he learned the trade of a Capo, Cole didn’t get quite the same treatment. Theo would have received a beating for messing up, but Cole had shit he liked taken away from him so he could think about what he did like a child who had misbehaved.
Simple? Yes, but effective.
Ben DeLuca’s lessons for his nephews hadn’t just been about business, but also things like violence, numbness, being untouchable, and having no fear. Sometimes the brothers didn’t even know the beatings were coming. Inside this very room in the strip club, Theo had taken a beating from Riley Conti. The man hadn’t always been the front boss. Once, he was just a Capo.
Theo learned quickly that fighting back when Ben leveled down one of his lessons would only earn him a far worse punishment. It finally stopped for Theo once he’d gotten his button. Theo still had a scar that ran from just below his neck to his right pec from the incident with Riley. He’d gotten it covered up with a tattoo of a tribal owl with sharp eyes and an even sharper beak.
Back to business, Theo reminded himself. Leave that shit in the past.
“I see Jonas took an extra ten pounds,” Theo noted.
“Yeah, but I didn’t see the issue seeing as how he said he sold out before mid-week, and had the cash to prove it.”
“If he’s short once, he goes back to the regular ten without the extra.”
“Sure, Skip.”
Theo pressed in the false top on the broken pool table and lifted it up. Bricks of cocaine, taped, marked and ready to sell, rested inside. Theo tossed the notebook in with the bricks and closed the top back up.
Not a second later, someone knocked on the storage room door.
“It’s open,” Theo said.
Karver, a bouncer for the club and bodyguard for the strippers, pushed the door open. “Boss, there’s somebody out front asking for you.”
“Oh?” Theo asked, fixing his suit jacket as he turned to face the man.
“Yeah.”
That wasn’t anything unusual, but Theo had been terribly careful about not letting his whereabouts be known for the last week or so. He didn’t want to run into another shooting situation or something else that might end up getting him killed.
“Who is it?”
“Not sure,” the bouncer answered. “But I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen a female walk into this place who wasn’t looking for a job and didn’t already work on a pole.”
Theo caught sight of Evelina the moment he stepped on the strip club’s floor. It wasn’t like she stuck out in the crowd, but she was mighty hard to miss in her tight black dress, silver sky-high heels and radiating a grace any woman would be envious over. She didn’t look like the place offended her high-class sensibilities as she took the drink a server offered and turned to watch a woman grind on the pole only ten feet away.
What in the hell was she doing here?
Theo’s throat tightened when Evelina’s tongue peeked out to lick the rim of her glass. The reddish colored liquid inside swirled as she twirled her hand and grinned at the woman working the pole. Did she enjoy watching the woman dance? There wasn’t a lick of disapproval or judgment on Evelina’s pretty face.
In fact, her nose crinkled upward as she smiled and drew her full bottom lip in between her teeth.
Christ.
Theo’s pants turned snugger at the sight of her biting her lip. He couldn’t help but wonder what Evelina would look like if he shoved something else between her lips while his hand was under her dress.
Evelina cocked a brow and tilted her head to the side with a look of interest as the girl slid lower on the pole while upside down. Good God. Who was this girl? Where had she come from?
He liked it a lot.
A lot more than he was willing to admit.
Theo shook those thoughts off and steeled his spine. Regardless of his curiosity towards the Conti princess, the woman couldn’t be in his club. Hell, she couldn’t even be in his territory.
And didn’t she say there was GPS on her goddamn car?
Strolling across the floor, Theo ignored the curious gazes of the patrons. Rarely did he come out of the back offices during business hours. He wasn’t there for the girls or their moves on stage. That wasn’t his scene. But the joint brought in good money. The girls knew how to keep their mouths shut about some of his more illegal activities during certain weekdays, and that was hard to find in an employee.
Someone always talked.
No one in here ever did.
Evelina turned her head just enough to catch sight of Theo. The small grin she’d been sporting as she watched the woman dance melted into something far sexier. She seemed ready to be out at a club with her dark makeup accentuating her green eyes and her hair piled high in a messy chignon, showcasing delicate collarbones and the soft lines of her features.
No doubt about it, Evelina was a beautiful young woman. Theo would need to be stupid, blind and an idiot not to see it. She was also ten shades of trouble that he didn’t particularly need at the moment.
“Eve,” Theo greeted as he saddled up beside her at the bar.
“She’s very good,” Evelina said, nodding at the dancer.
Theo shrugged. “I suppose. I’m not the one who vets the dancers before they get the job.”
Evelina glanced at him. She was only shorter than him by a couple of inches in her heels, but it was enough to make her need to look up through those thick lashes of hers. “You don’t watch them while they work?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m here to work, Eve, not get my rocks off on lap dances and strip teases.”
Evelina smiled a tiny smile. “Huh, imagine that.”
“What?”
“I think all those rumors about you and women are a load of crap, especially if you spend a lot of your work time in a strip club and can’t even be bothered to taste the spread. I’m sure they would be willing.”
Theo laughed deeply. “Probably.”
He’d had a few offers.
Not that he took any of them.
“Since when do you frequent strip clubs?” Theo asked, curious.
Evelina winked. “Since someone told me to have a little fun a few years ago.”
Well, damn.
“Strip clubs was where you found that? This isn’t necessarily the kind of place where an Outfit daughter should be hanging out, Evelina.”
“Not necessarily, but I learned that everybody has a job to do, Theo. This is just one of them, and it’s a paycheck like anybody else’s nine-to-five.”
“True.”
“Are you going to send me away now?” Evelina asked.
Theo watched her from the side, taking in the curves of her body underneath her black dress and the way her legs looked to be a mile long standing in those heels. The demure look she wore only added to the fact he found himself reacting to her just by being close. The scent of whatever perfume she wore was a mixture of heady and sweet, and it soaked into his lungs instantly.
Yes.
Yes, he was going to send her away. Because she looked like sin and she was standing in a place meant for it. Theo did terribly well with sinning.
“Yes,” Theo murmured.
“That’s a shame.”
“Why?”
Evelina flashed her white teeth in a sinful smirk. “Because you never gave me the chance to thank you, Theo.”
His confusion climbed higher.
“For what?”
“Keeping me from getting shot.”
“Eve, there’s no need to thank me for that.”
“I know,” she said, “but it seems like everyone wants to blame you for it and I wanted you to know that I don’t. I wanted to tell you directly, so you could know, Theo. People think I’m deaf or something, or maybe they just think I won’t repeat what I hear. It doesn’t matter real
ly, because when you showed up at the dinner, I figured out enough from that, anyway.”
Theo blinked, surprised. “How did you find out I was here tonight?”
Evelina lifted a single shoulder in response, and tilted her glass up to her lips to take a sip.
“Eve,” Theo pressed.
“Maybe I got Alessa to get some information out of Adriano. But who knows?”
Theo chuckled. “Yeah, who knows?”
“Not me.”
“You shouldn’t be here, Eve,” Theo warned quietly.
“I know. I left my car a couple of blocks into the Conti side of the territory line and grabbed a cab. So even if someone comes looking, they won’t find me. Thanks for that advice on the GPS, by the way. It came in handy after all.”
Theo swallowed hard, wondering what kind of game this woman was trying to play with him. “Did you think that this might get me into a hell of a lot of trouble, too?”
“Maybe, but I just needed to do something different tonight.”
“And you came to me.”
Evelina shifted on her heels, still watching the stage and the dancer. “Why not?”
“I have a dozen reasons why not, Eve.”
She tilted her head just enough to catch his gaze again. Evelina held it, her stare never wavering. There was something in the hard expression she wore that told him something was wrong.
Theo wouldn’t ask.
He couldn’t care.
Not right now.
“They’re going to turn me into someone I don’t want to be,” Evelina said quietly.
He didn’t even have to ask what she meant. Theo knew. The Outfit. It was always about the Outfit where they were concerned. Someone did that to Theo once, too.
“I learned to like the changes,” Theo murmured.
Evelina sighed. It came out breathy and tired, but it still made Theo ache. No, he couldn’t deny his attraction to Evelina Conti. But what he could do was control himself in her presence.
Never think with your cock or heart.
DeLuca rule number one.
Evelina wet her bottom lip as she looked him over. “I think I figured something out way too late.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I don’t want to be a princess.”
Theo pushed away from the stools, grabbed Evelina’s drink from her grasp, and set it to the bar top without a word.
“That’s too bad,” Theo said.
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
He snagged her wrist in his palm and pulled Evelina away from the bar without a word.
“What are you doing?” she asked as he tugged her through the club and closer to the front.
“Taking you back to your car.”
Evelina yanked hard, stopping Theo. “Why?”
“Because you don’t seem to get it, Eve. You’re right, it’s too damn late to try and change shit now. And I will not be the sacrifice you bleed out in an attempt to feel better. I’ve got enough people as it is waiting in the wings for me with knives already sharpened.”
Her gaze darkened. “Is that why you think I came here?”
“To get some kind of rebellious streak out? Yeah, I do.”
“Wrong,” she spat.
“Then what is it?”
“I just wanted to spend five minutes with someone I thought might understand.”
Theo forced those words away. He didn’t want to hear that.
“I’m sorry, Eve, but I can’t do that, either. Not with you.”
“Why the hell not?” she asked.
“Because I might like it.”
Theo had never been good at denying things he liked.
Evelina just stared at him, saying nothing.
“I’ll take you to your car,” he said again.
Evelina didn’t argue.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Where are your enforcers tonight?” Theo asked.
Evelina fidgeted in the passenger seat. “I told Adriano I was going to the store to pick up some junk food. They don’t follow me down the street.”
“Seriously?”
“Well, Adriano tells them to back off sometimes, too.”
Theo shook his head. “Jesus. Useless. That’s what they are.”
Maybe. But Evelina got out without someone noticing.
“I didn’t see you at church last Sunday,” Evelina said.
The corner of Theo’s mouth lifted wickedly, but he didn’t take his eyes off the road. “Did you seriously think I’d be going to church with all this nonsense going on?”
“Let me correct that then.”
“Please do.”
“I haven’t noticed you at church since your brother’s funeral.”
Theo tensed in the driver’s seat and his hands gripped the steering wheel tight enough for his knuckles to turn ash white. “I’m not ready, I suppose.”
“I get that.”
Chuckles answered her back.
“No, Eve, I don’t think you do. I’ve got a few things left to get finished, and when I go back, I’d like to get all of my confession out in one good, long sitting instead of three or four. Besides, confession is meant for those who don’t wish to repeat their sins. Mine are ones that won’t go away until others leave, too.”
Evelina’s brow furrowed as she took in his words. He spoke about it so candidly, like he’d been thinking about it for a while.
“Are you talking about my father?”
Theo’s gaze cut to her as he took a corner sharply. “And if I was?”
Evelina shrugged. “Look elsewhere for someone who cares, Theo.”
“You care. Trust me, you do. Even the people we hate always manage to pull some sympathy from us, even if it’s just a little bit. Regardless of whatever you feel is wrong with your father, he’s still your blood, he still helped to put you on this earth, and you still love him, Eve. Simple as that.”
“He didn’t care much about my mother these last few months.”
Theo blew out a slow breath. “You’re not Riley. He’s not you.”
“Is that how you feel about your brother or uncle?”
“Hmm?”
“Your brother and uncle. You were close to Ben but not really Dino. Is that how you feel about them, like your sympathy is greater for one, but still there in some way for the other?”
Theo’s hands tightened on the wheel. “You ask a lot of questions.”
“I’m a curious girl.”
“Woman.”
“What?”
“You’re a woman, not a girl. You stopped being a girl years ago, Eve.”
Evelina shivered in the passenger seat. The shadows of the passing street lights darkened Theo’s features. She couldn’t have hid the reaction even if she tried. Just the way his voice dipped into a lower cadence, and he passed her another silent look that said he could see she was very much a woman and not a girl was enough to make Evelina ache.
And wet.
“You did that on purpose,” Evelina accused.
Her voice was weak.
Or turned on.
Theo raised a brow high. “I beg your pardon?”
“That … that … right there,” Evelina struggled to say as she waved at him.
Theo laughed under his breath. “Babe, I have no idea what you’re mumbling about, but all right. Whatever makes you happy, I guess.”
“Stop it. You did do that on purpose, Theo. Just to distract me.”
When his tongue snaked out to wet his lips as his hands slid across the steering wheel smoothly to take another turn, Evelina’s throat went dry. He handled his car easily, like he was holding onto feathers when in fact, the Stingray had one hell of an engine under the hood. She couldn’t stop the thoughts slamming into her one after the other as she watched him drive.
Is that how he touches a woman? What do those hands feel like when they grab hard enough to hurt? Is that how he would touch me?
Jesus.
Evelina made a noise under
her breath and turned her attention to anywhere but Theo DeLuca for a moment.
“Eve?”
“What?”
Evelina had all she could do to ignore the heat between her legs and the air in her voice. She completely refused to even look at Theo again until she could manage to do so without contemplating how she could get his hands on her while he drove at the same time.
Stop that right now.
“I kind of did that on purpose,” Theo admitted.
“I knew it!”
Theo chuckled a dark, lovely sound that rocked Evelina straight to her core. “So you can show up at a strip club looking for a man, and enjoy the show all the while, but you can’t spend thirty minutes alone with him in a car without being embarrassed? That’s a little strange.”
“It is not,” Evelina retorted hotly. “And you’re well aware that it’s not the same thing—we’re not the same thing.”
“Oh?”
“No.”
Theo pulled the car over to the side of the road, threw it in park, and unbuckled his seat belt without any warning. Then, he turned to face Evelina with a slowness and grace that reminded her of a predator who might have just caught a prey in his sights.
“Then do tell, Eve.”
“W-what?”
Why was her throat so goddamn dry again?
“Tell me what is so different about us. I’d love to know.”
Theo’s brown stare was practically black as he watched her under the lamplight shining into the Stingray. They weren’t very far from where she’d parked her car, maybe only a block or two away. His side-crop peaked style hair seemed a little messier than normal, like maybe he’d been running his fingers through it.
Was he stressed?
Why?
“You know,” Eve said, willing away the thickness in her tone, “… a while ago, I probably would have asked you if some girl was pulling on your hair just because it always looks like you were fucking somebody.”
Theo’s lips drew thin. “Mmm.”
“Yeah, and all that charm you’ve got is a mighty good deflection to keep people’s attention on where you want it to be.” Evelina shifted in the seat so her back was pressed to the door and she could watch him, too. “We’ve all got walls to keep people out, and I think your charisma and distractions are yours. It lets you keep people close, but only as close as you want them.”
