by Bethany-Kris
Evelina looked up from the screen of her cell phone. Tommas Rossi stood just outside the locked apartment building’s front entrance. Leaning against the side of a two-seater Jaguar, the man was a pillar of cool, calm, and collected.
It was no wonder why Abriella had found herself attracted to Tommas. Evelina simply couldn’t bring herself to see the man in the same way.
“I wonder what he’s doing here,” Evelina said. “It’s his party. Shouldn’t he be there at the club?”
Alessa coughed and said, “Your fiancé, Eve.”
“Pardon?”
“He’s your fiancé. You should show up with him.”
Oh.
Obviously Tommas was willing to play the part that everyone wanted to see between the two of them just to make the engagement seem all the more real. Evelina didn’t like that at all, honestly. She couldn’t help but wonder if showing up with Tommas would be just another nail in the coffin of the friendship that had once been between her and Abriella.
“We’re going to be late,” Adriano said, checking his watch. “You okay, Eve?”
“Perfect,” she lied. “I’ll see you at the club.”
“Sure, the club.”
Adriano gave his sister’s hand a squeeze and a kiss on her cheek. With a silent nod to Tommas and nothing more, Adriano’s arm slinked around Alessa’s waist so he could put his hand to the slight roundness of her stomach and he led them toward the apartment’s garage.
Evelina faced a smiling Tommas.
“Evening, Eve,” he said. “I hope you don’t mind driving to the club with me.”
“You could have called first.”
“I could have, but I didn’t.”
Evelina arched a brow. “So, even though you have no intention of actually making me your wife, you still expect me to jump whenever you say move?”
Tommas smirked. “I didn’t say that, Eve. Are you opposed to showing up at the club in a beautiful car with a handsome man?”
“I’m opposed to making my former friend more uncomfortable than she already is.”
His smile quickly fell.
“Point taken,” Tommas said quietly. “But since your father demanded I take Joel off the invite list, I’m not even sure if Abriella will show up tonight.”
“But she could.”
“I suspect she and Joel will both show up, actually. He has a problem with following the rules.”
“And her?” Evelina asked.
Tommas chuckled. “Abriella has a problem with following my rules.”
“Interesting way to put it.”
“Nonetheless, I can’t say for sure if they’ll show up, as I said. Abriella hasn’t answered a single one of my calls since Christmas night. I don’t think she would even answer a damned smoke signal if I sent one up to her.”
Evelina laughed, but it came out sad and strained. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I made this bed. Now, can we go? The party is starting in twenty minutes and the host should be there to greet the guests.”
“With his fiancée, huh?”
Tommas lifted a single shoulder like it didn’t matter. “Showing up will be enough. Besides, I hear your friend was put back on the guest list, so maybe you’ll get some time with him tonight.”
Evelina’s brow furrowed. “My friend?”
“Theo.”
Oh.
A lump caught in her throat as a heat spread straight down to her sex where a wonderful ache began to pulse. Even thinking about Theo could do that to Evelina. It was crazy and wonderful at the same time. She didn’t know a lot about him except for the fact that he could fuck her like nobody else, he had some kind of monsters to hide, he was the easy scapegoat …
And he cared about her.
“Tonight wouldn’t exactly be the right time for that, Tommas.”
Tommas grinned. “It never is, but talking won’t get you in any trouble, I’m sure.”
Then, something nagged at Evelina.
“Why was Theo put back on the guest list while Joel was removed?”
“Ask your father,” Tommas said. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Because he wants to bother Joel,” Evelina said, voicing her inner thoughts. “And putting someone Joel has had issues with back in Riley’s good graces is a decent way to aggravate him.”
Tommas turned and opened the passenger door for Evelina. “Good guess.”
“Why are you letting him do that to Theo, use him like that to piss Joel off, when you know Theo didn’t do anything to deserve being someone’s fall guy?”
“Eve, I’m not letting your father do a damned thing. That’s the whole point.”
“I don’t understand.”
That seemed to be her mantra lately.
Tommas waved at the car. “You don’t have to. Get in.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“You are coming tonight, aren’t you?” Tommas asked on the other end of the phone call.
“Yes,” Theo confirmed. “My sister won’t shut up about it.”
“I throw damn good parties and everybody knows it.”
Theo laughed. “Maybe. I appreciate the call, Tommas. I’ll be there.”
“Good.” Tommas chuckled, adding, “Riley demanded it, so I had to make sure.”
“Riley demanded I come tonight?”
“Apparently. He’s willing to make amends in a more public fashion than simply an invite to his Christmas party.”
“Like over drinks,” Theo said, sighing.
He didn’t have any damned amends to make with Riley Conti. There was nothing to apologize or forgive. Not on Theo’s side of things. He’d done nothing to Riley, but God knew Riley had done a few things to Theo over the years.
“Over drinks,” Tommas agreed. “And there’s still the little issue about Artino, you know. You haven’t sat down with the boss and had a decent discussion about what happened, Theo.”
“What is there to talk about, Tommas? His kid killed Artino and another one of my guys happened to be caught in the crossfire. Some scuffle happened between the crews. I talked to the only person who mattered regarding that shit, okay. Adriano. We worked it out.”
“No, Walter. Not Dean.”
Theo’s shoulders tightened. “I don’t know what you’re fucking talking about.”
“Sure you don’t.”
“Artino was working for Joel, Tommas. He had no loyalty to Riley. What difference does it make if the fool is good and gone, now, huh?”
“Exactly. Which was something Riley was well aware of. And maybe if you’d bring that up, all those little problems that your men caused on the street with Adriano’s guys can be overlooked.”
“Artino did that, too,” Theo said.
It was the first time he’d actually admitted that to anyone. He hadn’t minded the blame on him before, but now that he was being used for the fall guy in much bigger problems, Theo was done cleaning up other people’s messes.
“Did he?”
“Yeah, Tommas. I had no hand in that.”
“But it looked like you, Theo, and you never denied it.”
“It stopped once Artino was killed, didn’t it?”
“It did,” Tommas said. “Nonetheless, the boss spoke. You show up tonight or don’t. But if you don’t, then all the hands Riley has offered out to you will be pulled back for good. There are no second chances after tonight, Theo.”
Theo grit his teeth. “Playing the good little front boss and making sure Riley’s happy, are you?”
“What is that supposed to mean, Theo?”
“It means you’ve got two faces, Tommas.”
“Hey—”
“And I don’t think either has good intentions.”
Theo hung up the phone without saying goodbye. It would probably only piss Tommas off, but Theo couldn’t find a single fuck for the man at the moment. Just because he was forced to trust Tommas in somethings didn’t mean he would trust the man in all things. Nor did it mean he wa
nted to trust Tommas at all.
“Hey, Skip?”
“Yeah?” Theo asked, glancing up at Cole from over the top of his laptop. The young soldier leaned in the doorway with his coat slung over his arm.
“People were here last night.”
Theo finished shutting down the laptop and shoved it into his leather bag. “What about it?”
“They were asking questions.”
That caught Theo’s attention. People came and went inside his strip club all the time. Some of those people knew him on a first name basis, some by last name only, others by Skip, and even more through a friend of a friend.
It wasn’t unusual for people to ask questions regarding Theo, his whereabouts, or something about the club and business. What was unusual, was Cole bringing it up. The kid was used to getting questions about his Capo, and how to answer them.
“Again,” Theo drawled, “what about it, Cole?”
“I don’t know, it was kind of weird.”
Theo plucked his cell phone up from the desk and shoved it into the pocket of his dress pants. “How so?”
“The guy wanted to know who had been around and who you’d been talking to. People don’t usually ask that kind of stuff.”
No, they didn’t.
“What’d he look like?”
The two security cameras that Theo had in the club would do him no good. One was for his office and the other was for the bar directly over the cash register.
Cole raised his hand a few inches above his head. “This high, about your size, and green eyes.”
Theo ran through the list of people that fit the description. None that he knew had any reason to be at his club questioning one of Theo’s guys about who the Capo had been hanging around with, either.
“Has he been here before?” Theo asked.
“No,” Cole answered.
“What did the guy drive?”
“I didn’t see it, Skip.”
Shit.
“Anything else I should know?” Theo asked as he picked his bag up from the floor.
“The guy called you DeLuca.”
Not Skip. Not Theo.
DeLuca.
“And you didn’t recognize him at all?” Theo asked.
“Nope.”
Dammit.
It wasn’t Cole’s fault that someone had been in the joint and chatting up Theo’s employees and probably some of the patrons, too. Theo had been busy since Christmas trying to catch up on some of his ventures with a bookie downtown, and then he’d run up to the other side of Chicago to spend a day with J and Karen.
Karen liked the pictures Dino left behind. It made the anxiety of the trip worth it, at least.
“I did say you’d be in tonight, though, if he wanted to come back,” Cole said.
Theo didn’t see the issue in that. “It’s fine, kid.”
“Except you’re heading out, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, I am. I’ve got a party to get to and I’m already late.” Theo did up the three buttons on his silk vest and readjusted his tie. He hadn’t had the time to run back to his place and change, plus do business at the club, and then still make it to the party, so he’d just dressed for Tommas’ club ahead of time. “Is that what you’re wearing?”
Cole glanced down at his T-shirt and dark jeans. “Uh …”
“You are coming with me, right?”
“Um.”
“You don’t have to tag along if you don’t want to, Cole. It would be nice for you to meet some more people and learn some names.”
Especially after this questions incident. Besides, it was about time Cole earned some attention for his role as Theo’s middle man for the DeLuca crew. The more people and business the kid got in on, the better.
“No, I’ll go,” Cole said quietly.
“Then what is it with the fucking pout you’re sporting?”
Cole waved between them. “One of these people does not look like the other.”
“You’re dressed like any other person would be at a club.”
“Then why are you dressed like that?”
The kid was astute. Theo gave him that.
“Because it’s an Outfit gathering, and you’ve got to look the part, Cole.”
“I don’t.”
Theo tossed his navy blue Armani blazer across the room. Cole caught the item easily.
“Put it on,” he demanded.
Cole shrugged the blazer on. It fit him well. The kid started doing up the buttons on the front of the blazer.
“Leave it unbuttoned,” Theo said, smirking. “Looks better that way. Gives a female something to admire. Men are all about the ass, tits, and legs when it comes to admiring a beautiful woman. Women are all about the chest, shoulders, and ass when it comes to admiring a good-looking man. Women have to wear the right kind of dress, something under it, and the right heels to show off all her assets and make it look good. A man only needs the right blazer and a T-shirt underneath.”
“Huh.”
“It’s called confidence, Cole. Get some.”
“You don’t have a jacket now.”
“Nope. That’s my favorite one and I don’t carry a spare. Don’t fucking ruin it.”
Cole shifted on his feet. “I won’t.”
“Make sure of it.”
Theo cringed at the sight of his sister’s name flashing across the screen of his cell phone. Knowing Lily, she wouldn’t stop calling him until he picked up. Ignoring her calls never worked out well for Theo.
Answering the call, he said, “Yeah, hey, Lily.”
“Where are you?” his sister demanded.
Theo shrugged off his leather bag and handed it to Cole. Then, he gave the kid the keys to his cherry red Stingray, too.
“Go warm the car up and put my bag in the front seat. I’ll catch up in a second.”
Cole nodded. “Sure, Skip.”
“Theo?” Lily asked again. “Are you ignoring me?”
“I’m here. Chill, woman.”
“You went quiet. I thought the call cut out or something. Aren’t you supposed to be at the club by now? We’re here and you’re nowhere to be found.”
“I’m coming, Lily. Jesus.”
Theo swore his sister had become his self-appointed babysitter. He was sure it was just her pregnancy making her usual smothering tendencies all the more apparent.
“I’m coming, little one,” Theo said again. “I had a few things to finish up at the club first.”
“Good. I want you here when we tell everyone about the pregnancy. You should be here, Theo.”
“I will be. Stop fretting. Hasn’t any of Damian’s laidback attitude bled into you since you two married? Christ, I hoped it would.”
“Shut up.”
“Hormones,” Theo teased.
“We can blame it on that if you want.”
Theo chuckled. “I’ll be there in less than thirty. Feed my niece or nephew some junk food while you wait for me.”
“Where are you right now?”
“Just outside of my club.”
“What are you going to do, fly here? Don’t get pulled over speeding, Theo. That’s the last thing you need.”
Theo rolled his eyes and groaned. “You are going to make the—”
“What, Theo?”
“The best mother, Lily.”
He could practically feel his sister’s smile from all the way across the city.
“You think?” she asked softly.
“All the good mothers nag, you know.”
“Asshole.”
“Don’t forget it. Like I said, I’ll be there in thirty, Lily. I am coming, promise.”
“All right—”
“Hey! It’s Theo, right?”
Theo glanced over his shoulder at the sound of an unfamiliar voice calling his name. Whoever it was wasn’t talking to him, but instead, the tall, dark-dressed man with his face hidden by a ball cap had directed his question to Cole.
The young solider was just st
arting to unlock Theo’s car with the leather bag slung over his shoulder as he turned slightly to face the man. Theo opened his mouth to call out and correct the fool, but he didn’t get the chance. A weapon was pulled from inside the unknown man’s jacket and pointed straight at Cole’s back. The handgun bloomed with light from every shot, but it only made a soft sound because of the long silencer attached.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Three shots, one right after the other, entered into Cole’s back before the kid could even get a word out. Cole’s body jerked into the side of Theo’s Stingray, the bag falling to the ground. Theo’s throat contracted around the shout he wanted to let loose. Nothing but a quiet breath of air steamed in front of his face as a painful crack spider-webbed its way over his soul.
“Cole,” Theo rasped.
God, no.
For a split second, time froze.
Theo stood as still as a rock, clenching his phone in his hand and watching the scene unfold only thirty feet away that he couldn’t possibly begin to understand. Theo felt his body jerk forward, moving toward the young man on the ground in the dark parking lot, but he stumbled over his own two feet.
His body was there.
His mind wasn’t.
It took Theo far too long to rejoin the two in the present time. By the time he had, the man who shot Theo’s young soldier was already gone, vanished around the side of another business. The back alleyways surrounding the businesses were so thick and confusing that chances were, Theo wouldn’t be able to catch the guy even if he tried.
Right then, Cole was his first and only concern. Fuck the other guy. Theo would find out who that was at another damned time. Someone would talk. Eventually.
“Cole,” Theo said louder.
He finally gained his bearings and moved faster across the lot. A thin sheet of slush caused him to slip as he came closer to the Stingray, making his knee hit the pavement hard. Theo barely even registered the pain blooming in his leg as he righted himself beside Cole.
“Fuck,” Theo hissed, tossing his phone aside.
Cole lay face down on the pavement with his arms tucked in under his body. The three gunshots to the kid’s back bled heavily. The ground was already stained red, and Theo’s pants only soaked up the thick liquid even more as he moved closer to Cole’s bleeding form. Too much blood. There was far too much for Theo to help the kid.
