Laced In Lies

by Colleen Helme

  “Hmm… well, okay,” I agreed. He sure knew how to sweeten the deal. I mean… how could I pass up a trip to New York in a private jet? “But you should talk to Miguel about it first and make sure he’s okay with it.”

  “Sure.” He nodded, thinking Miguel would be fine with it, since he usually went along with most everything Uncle Joey wanted. Plus, we could stay at his hotel, and he was sure Syd would take good care of us, so there was nothing to worry about.

  Uncle Joey owned a hotel in New York? Sheesh! Before I could ask about that, and who Syd was, he’d walked back out onto the patio, and I’d missed my chance. I followed him out, finding that Chris and Jackie were sitting in lounge chairs arranged in a comfy spot by the side of the pool.

  A diet soda and glass of ice sat on the round, glass table for me, so I thanked Jackie and took a seat beside Chris. Uncle Joey sat beside Jackie with a cold beer, and we began chatting about mundane things while watching the kids enjoy themselves in the water. Just like regular people.

  Half an hour later it was fully dark, and the air took on a sudden chill. Not wanting to overstay our welcome, I called to my kids that it was time to get out. They begged me to let them swim a little longer, and I couldn’t blame them.

  Heck… I wished I could have gone swimming too. With the waterfall and rocks bathed in spotlights, along with the pool lights reflecting in the water, the whole yard took on an enchanting and magical tone. But since it was a school night, I stuck to my guns, mostly because I knew that Uncle Joey had some phone calls he needed to make.

  It wasn’t long before we had gathered to leave. We stood on the front porch, saying our goodbyes and thanking them for the fun evening.

  “Don’t forget to come by the office in the morning,” Uncle Joey said to me.

  “I won’t. I’ll be there around nine.”

  “Good.” Then he turned to Chris. “Call me after you talk to that talent scout. I want to know what’s going on so I can make arrangements.”

  “I will,” Chris answered. “Goodnight.”

  We crowded into the car and drove home with only the radio for company, since all of us were lost in our thoughts. Both Savannah and Josh were a little star struck about the whole filthy-rich-mansion and coolest-pool-ever part. Along with Miguel’s awesomeness, it made them both a little pensive about who they were and what they had, comparatively speaking.

  Chris and I both felt a bit overwhelmed about our burgeoning relationship with a mob-boss and his family, mostly the “family” part of that association. Did that mean he’d want to get to know our kids better and be involved in their lives? My throat began to ache, feeling like how I imagined a noose pulling tight around my neck and sucking all the life out of me would feel.

  Much later, after everyone had gone to bed, Chris let out a sigh and climbed under the covers. I moved to his side and snuggled against him.

  “I hate to admit it,” he began, “but I’m a little shell-shocked. Did you notice how Manetto talked to our kids? I mean… it’s one thing to have dinner together as friends, but it’s another for him to zero in on them with his advice.”

  “I know,” I agreed. “And he used the “f” word a lot.”

  “What?”

  “You know… family? He kept saying stuff like ‘in our family we do this,’ and ‘college is important in this family.’ It made me wonder what he’s thinking.”

  Chris let out a chuckle. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

  I huffed out a breath. “You’d think I’d know what his intentions are toward them, right? But I couldn’t pick up anything besides interest. Still, that could mean a lot of things. I guess I’ll have to make sure he doesn’t step across the line.”

  Chris’ brows rose with surprise. “You mean like… offering them a place in his organization someday?”

  “Sure, why not? It could happen.”

  Chris frowned and shook his head. “He wouldn’t do that, and if he tried, we’d just tell him it wasn’t going to happen. You still have a lot of leverage, honey. You can use that to keep him in his place. If he wants your services, then there’s no interfering with our kids.”

  “Huh. I hadn’t thought of it like that, but you’re right. That could work. Hey, thanks… I feel lots better now.”

  “Yeah, me too.” He let out a sigh, hoping it never came to that. “So how was your day? Did you make progress with your friend’s husband?”

  “Uh… yes. I think that case is coming along nicely. I need to meet with him another time, but I think he’s going to cooperate. After that, I’ll be done.” It wasn’t exactly the whole story, but hopefully Chris would never find out any more than that. “What about you? How was your day?”

  “Busy. There’s a lot going on right now. But it’s all good.” He sighed deeply and closed his eyes with fatigue. Almost at once, his head drooped forward. The movement startled him enough to wake him, but he was so tired that his eyes drooped shut a second time.

  I glanced at the clock to find it was nearly eleven-thirty. Chris had been up since five-thirty that morning, which was a typical day for him, but I could understand why he was so tired. He never got enough sleep.

  “Hey, you’re falling asleep. Why don’t you turn off the light?”

  “Hmm… yeah. Sorry, but I’m exhausted.”

  “It’s okay. We can talk some more tomorrow.”

  He nodded, then turned out the light and settled deeper into bed, pulling me into his arms. After a moment, his breathing evened out and he was asleep. With a sigh, I moved out of his embrace and turned over, wishing I could get to sleep so quickly.

  Chapter 3

  T he next morning, I drove to Thrasher Development wearing my leather motorcycle jacket and boots. I smiled, looking forward to going on another ride with Ramos. It was a perfect, sunny, spring day, with the temperature in the sixties, and hopefully climbing into the lower seventies by mid-day.

  That was the good part, since getting Ramos to tell me what was going on could be a problem. I’d probably have to get him thinking about it, since I was pretty sure he wouldn’t actually tell me. I sighed, knowing he’d be mad once I got it out of him, but if I told him it was all Uncle Joey’s fault, he couldn’t be too upset, right?

  I got out of my car and hurried to the elevator, sneaking a quick peek around the corner to make sure Ramos’ motorcycle was there. Yup! There it was, all black, sleek, and shiny. I smiled, and my heart filled with joyful anticipation.

  In the elevator, I sent a smile and wave at the camera, just in case Ramos was watching the feed. It didn’t hurt to start out on his good side, right? Then it hit me that Uncle Joey knew me pretty well, because it had hardly bothered me to spy on Ramos for him. What kind of a friend did that make me? Was it because a motorcycle ride was involved? I had to admit that had something to do with it, but since Uncle Joey was also worried about him, it was for his own good.

  Ha! Who was I kidding? Ramos would probably hate it and think I was meddling. Not much I could do about that now. Hopefully, it wouldn’t ruin our friendship. With that disturbing thought, I exited on the twenty-sixth floor and hurried into Thrasher Development. Jackie glanced up from her desk and greeted me with a smile.

  “Hi Jackie. Hey, thanks again for a wonderful dinner last night. We sure had a great time.”

  “Yeah,” she agreed. “It was fun, and the kids got along really well. Let’s get together again soon.” She was thinking that Savannah obviously had a crush on Miguel, but then… what teenage girl didn’t? “Joe and Ramos are in Joe’s office. Why don’t you go on back.”

  “Okay, thanks.” I made it to the door, hoping for the best, and knocked, then put on my friendliest smile, and pushed the door open.

  “Shelby,” Uncle Joey said. “Come on in.”

  Ramos stood beside Uncle Joey’s desk and straightened at my approach. He was dressed in full hit-man-enforcer mode, wearing a tight, black t-shirt, and sporting a leather holster holding a gun around his shoulders. H
e caught my gaze and frowned, wondering what I was doing there.

  “I want Shelby to go with you,” Uncle Joey said. “Just to make sure they’re not skimming off the top and cheating me out of my money.”

  Ramos let out a breath, not too pleased about having me along. He picked up his leather jacket but didn’t put it on. “All right,” he said, stone-faced.

  It didn’t take a mind-reader to know he wasn’t happy about this arrangement, and my stomach clenched.

  “You’re headed to my club,” Uncle Joey explained to me. “Ramos is picking up some money from the guy who runs it for me. All you have to do is make sure he gives Ramos everything he owes me.”

  “Okay, I can do that.”

  “Good.” He smiled but was thinking: and find out what’s going on with Ramos.

  I nodded, hoping that Ramos wasn’t picking up anything suspicious between us. Just in case, I glanced his way and smiled, hoping I didn’t look as guilty as I felt.

  After we left Uncle Joey’s office, I turned to Ramos. “So how’s it going?”

  “Fine.”

  “Uh… that’s good.” I waved at Jackie and followed Ramos to the elevator, a little nervous about how upset he seemed to be with me.

  Once the doors closed, he caught my gaze and raised his brow. “So, what’s the real reason you’re going with me?”

  “What?” Alarm spiked through my chest, and my eyes widened.

  “Come on, Shelby. I know something’s going on.”

  “I’m not sure what you mean,” I hedged.

  Ramos pursed his lips, thinking I was giving him the run-around. We made it all the way to the parking level without speaking another word to each other, and Ramos stalked out. I quickly followed, worried that he might just leave without me. Would he really do that?

  He popped the trunk on his car and grabbed the spare helmet he kept there for me, placing it on the back of his car along with his leather jacket. Then he turned, crossed his arms, and waited for the truth, not about to hand me the helmet until I spilled my guts.

  Ramos had that whole intimidation thing going for him, but I’d never felt the full effect until this very moment. Of course, I’d never felt guilty about spying on him before either. The unforgiving scowl on his face probably had something to do with it. Even his guarded thoughts didn’t tell me much.

  My stomach clenched, and I met his gaze, ready to apologize, but for some reason, nothing came out of my mouth. Probably because the way he leaned against his car with his arms crossed, and showing off his bulging muscles, had a different sort of effect on me. Add to that his dark, brooding gaze, and I couldn’t seem to form a coherent thought.

  “Shelby?”

  I jerked my gaze away with a guilty flush and took a deep breath to break the spell. “Uh… well, first of all, you have to know this wasn’t my idea. I’m just following Uncle Joey’s orders, so if you’re going to be angry, you should be angry with him, not me.” I dared to glance his way and noticed that his eyes had narrowed, but I also picked up that he held back a smile. That was a good sign, right?

  “So what is it?”

  “I’m not sure I’m allowed to tell you that.” He lost the smile, so I continued, “How about I tell you when we get back?”

  He huffed out a breath and shook his head, thinking I exasperated the hell out of him. “Fine. Here.”

  Relieved, I took the helmet from him and slipped it on while he shrugged into his jacket. A minute later, we were ready to go, and I let out a thankful sigh to be on the back of his bike.

  The Comet Club wasn’t too far from Thrasher Development, so that took some of the fun out of the ride. Ramos pulled around back and parked. I got off and glanced at the empty parking space not far from us, remembering how I’d been locked in the trunk of a car right in that very spot.

  A crazy judge had taken me hostage to get back at Uncle Joey. He’d planned to kill me in the basement of this club, and he’d almost succeeded. A sudden twinge ran down my arm, and I automatically rubbed the place where I’d been shot.

  Taking a calming breath, I pushed the memory away and followed Ramos to the back entrance, hoping nothing like that ever happened to me again.

  Next to the door, a delivery truck had backed into the supply dock, and several people hauled boxes inside. One of them spotted Ramos and yelled for us to go inside.

  Ramos pushed the door open and led the way down a hallway to the last office on the left. The door was ajar, and Ramos entered the office with me following behind. A man in his forties, with his long, dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, and in casual clothes, glanced up from his work at the desk.

  His face broke into a smile, and he stood. “Ramos,” he said, extending his hand. “Nice to see you.” He turned his attention to me and frowned, thinking there had better be a good reason I was there. “Who’s this?”

  “Hi,” I said, smiling. “I’m Uncle Joey’s niece, Shelby.” How easily that lie fell from my lips surprised me, but I felt safer saying it. Still, how far to the dark side had I gone?

  The manager remembered hearing about me, but he couldn’t place the particulars. “I think I’ve heard your name before. Do you play poker?”

  “Uh… yeah.”

  “I remember you now. You’re the one who beat everyone. Even Manetto.” He thought normally that wasn’t a good thing, but being Manetto’s niece explained how I got away with it.

  “Is everything ready?” Ramos asked, still in a bad mood.

  “Sure. I’ve got the money right here.” The manager turned to a large, standing safe in the corner and twisted the lock, hitting the combination until it clicked. Then he pulled the lever and opened the safe. “Here’s the ledger. Manetto’s copy is on top.” He pulled out a binder and handed it over to Ramos, then proceeded to empty the stacks of cash into a black, leather, messenger-type bag.

  Ramos glanced through the papers, thinking that the manager had been doing this for over ten years and would never think about cheating Uncle Joey. That’s how Ramos knew sending me with him was a bunch of baloney.

  After checking the ledger, Ramos took his copy. Folding it in half, he slipped it into the inside pocket of his jacket and handed the ledger back to the manager, who exchanged it for the bag of money. Ramos slipped the bag over his shoulder.

  “Thanks,” he said. “See you next week.”

  “Sure. Oh, hey, before you go, there was someone here last night asking about you.” The manager shuffled through some papers on his desk before finding a business card. “He left this and asked if you’d be here tonight. It sounded like he wanted to meet up. I didn’t tell him anything one way or the other, but he said you were old friends. Said his name was Dusty, and that you went way back.”

  Ramos took the card with barely concealed anger, then he turned it over and his breath caught. His jaw tightened before he slipped the card into his back jeans pocket. “Thanks. I’ll take care of it.”

  Ramos stomped out of the office, so I smiled at the manager. “Uh… nice to meet you.”

  “You too.”

  I followed Ramos out of the building and scrambled to keep up with him. I picked up his fury that Dusty had come to the club. It was bad enough that Dusty had made contact with someone who’d given him Ramos’ phone number, but this was going too far. What game was he playing now?

  Dragging Ramos into it was bad enough, but Jodie’s name on the back of the card was Dusty’s ace in the hole. Dusty knew Ramos would meet him if Jodie was involved. But what the hell? Hasn’t she learned anything in all this time?

  Ramos slipped his helmet on and straddled the bike, then glanced at me, realizing I’d just heard every single thought. He closed his eyes and swore in his mind, then let out a resigned breath. “Get on.”

  I finished snapping on my helmet and got on the bike, a little nervous about how upset he was. To my relief, he calmed down pretty fast. Riding his bike had that effect on him. He also took the long way back to get it out of his system.
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br />   I tried to enjoy the ride, even though that little devil of guilt rode high on my shoulder. Ramos’ past was none of my business, especially since he didn’t want me to know, and guilt that I’d invaded his privacy turned my stomach.

  Then the name he’d been thinking about so hard clicked. Jodie McAllister. I knew that name. She was the multiple- Grammy-award-winning country singer. She’d had a ton of hits in the last several years. So Ramos knew her? Wait a minute. I knew Ramos had a special affinity for country music. Was that why? So, who was she to him? And who was this Dusty person?

  Ramos’ thoughts were shut up tight, so that didn’t help, but I knew they were related. The card said Dustin McAllister on it, with Jodie McAllister on the back. So maybe he was her husband?

  Yikes! That could be bad, because judging from Ramos’ reaction, it seemed like he still cared for her. So what was going on?

  Then another realization struck me. Jodie McAllister had an upcoming concert scheduled. I’d just seen it in the paper this morning. In fact, it was this week. I’d read that the first concert on Thursday had sold out, so she’d decided to do another one on Friday, which had also sold out.

  Holy cow! This was huge. Maybe she wanted to meet up with Ramos and sent Dusty to set it up. But if Dusty was her husband, why would she do that? It had to be something else. Maybe Dusty wanted to settle a score? It had to be something unsavory, or it wouldn’t bother Ramos so much. So what had happened between them?

  I needed to find out before all this speculation drove me crazy.

  We pulled into the parking garage, and I picked up that Ramos wished he could have ridden the bike a little longer, but with all that money riding in the bag, he couldn’t risk it. Whoa! In the excitement, I’d forgotten all about the money.

  He parked in his usual place. We got off the bike and, without saying a word, he took my helmet from me and stored it with his in the trunk of his car. It didn’t seem like he was going to open his mouth, or his thoughts, so it was up to me to get him talking.