9. Valentino

9

VALENTINO

I ’d stayed away from Pound for a week, but I’d had to fight myself every single day to do it. I wanted to watch Liam dance, to make sure no one was touching him, to stake my claim on him. I wanted to know if he was following the rules. More than anything, I wanted to punish him if he wasn’t.

I knew just what I’d do if I had the chance, but I tried to push those seductive thoughts from my mind. I had to keep my hands off him.

Was there any way in hell that was going to work? He was made for me. I was sure of it.

My phone rang, and I jumped. Fuck. I hated how on edge I was. The screen lit up with my father’s name. I’d already argued with him about my choice to let Liam work off the debt. He didn’t like it, but he’d accepted it because it fit within the rules he’d laid out, and I’d explained that it was the only way we’d get paid.

Dom liked money even more than he liked killing, but I’d been avoiding him since our tense conversation.

I answered the call, but I didn’t have a chance to say hello before he started speaking. “I need you in New York. Tommy Lorenzo slipped away from your fucking brother, and now he thinks he’s safe there with his family. It’s your job to show him how wrong he is.”

“Will Vito be coming with me?”

“Yes, he needs to see how work is actually done.”

I wanted to tell my father Vito was more than capable, but arguing with Dom wasn’t permitted. I simply said “Yes, sir” and ended the call.

On the drive to New York, I was hoping for silence, but I knew better. My brother was a talker, and it had been a while since we’d had much time together.

“So…what’s going on at the club?”

That was exactly the conversation I wanted to avoid. “What do you mean?”

Vito slapped my upper arm. “How stupid do you think I am, Val?”

“There’s a new guy working off his debt as a dancer.” I needed to stick to the facts.

My brother hummed. “You accepted that as a deal? You’re not usually one for bargaining.”

“The only other option was torturing him, and that wasn’t going to get us our money.”

“Right. So he’s…dancing.”

“Yes.” He damn well better not be doing anything else.

“And that’s all? You could have–”

“No.”

Vito chuckled. “Who is this young man?”

I glanced over at him. “How do you know he’s young?”

“All the dancers are.”

That wasn’t exactly true. “Eddie is–”

“Val, tell me about the new guy.”

“Why do you care?” I needed to find a way to change the subject. Fast.

“Because I’m interested, and if you don’t tell me, I’ll just go see him for myself when I get back to town.”

The hell he would. “Leave him alone.”

“Because you’ve staked your claim?”

What had Vito heard? “You know that’s not an option.”

“Right. No hands on the merchandise.”

Was my brother trying to get murdered? “No hands on men or women who owe us money.”

He snorted. “Because Pops thinks we’re as easily seduced as he was.”

I took my eyes off the road long enough to let him see how pissed off I was. “Shut your mouth. You know that subject isn’t up for discussion.”

“Are you telling me you like that rule?” Did he ever stop trying to push my buttons? “It’s not like we have to cancel the debt because we want to fuck a guy while he pays it off.”

“I just want to get Liam’s money.”

Vito huffed. “I think you want a lot more than that.”

A growl slipped out as I thought about another man touching Liam.

“What was that?” Vito asked.

“Nothing.” I had to learn better control around Liam and, apparently, discussions about Liam.

“Uh huh. I’m still waiting for you to tell me about him.”

Stick to the facts . “He borrowed more than he could ever pay back. I found a way for him to make good on his debt.”

“You didn’t offer him more money so we could pull him in even deeper?”

“No. That’s your sort of game.” I glanced at the speedometer and realized I was going well over a hundred miles an hour. Anger always gave me a lead foot.

“Are you telling me you didn’t want to bind him to us?”

Could he just shut the fuck up? “No. I wanted to get paid.”

“What does he look like? He must be hot if he’s succeeding as a dancer.”

I waited a moment to respond, knowing if I bit his head off he’d only push my buttons more. “It doesn’t matter. There are rules. I don’t break them.”

Vito snorted. “You break a hell of a lot of rules.”

“Not the ones Dom sets.”

Vito drummed his fingers on his door, and I immediately pressed the lock button for the windows. He loved to open them, let the wind ruin my hair, and hang out the window like a lunatic. “So you’re telling me you haven’t even touched Liam?”

“That’s right.”

“Interesting, because rumor has it you spent a whole lot of money getting him all prettied up to start his gig at the club.”

I should never have done that. “That’s business.”

“The clothes? Strippers don’t need a lot of clothes.”

“Who told you what I bought?” I needed to find out which one of my employees couldn’t keep his mouth shut so I could shut it for him.

“I don’t snitch on my sources, but they’re not going to tell Pops. If that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I need you to drop this, okay. Liam’s not our usual client. He’s in over his head, he’s got nothing, and maybe that reminded me of what things were like for us.”

Vito whistled. “So you’ve gone soft.”

I snorted. “Tell that to Tommy Lorenzo.”

Vito chuckled. We’d left Lorenzo bloodied, bruised, missing several teeth, and realizing there was no way to escape us.

“So, if you’re really not into Liam,” Vito said, “I guess when we get back I’ll go find out how good he is at his job.”

“Only if you want to die.”