2.

LUCA

"I'm going back to The Cork tonight to make contact with the girl," I said as I stood over my brother and looked down at his sweaty face. I was spotting him in the gym we shared, just like he'd done for me a few minutes ago when it was my turn to lift. "Do you want to come with me, or do you have plans?"

"I'll stay away just in case we need to use the twin thing later."

"Good call," I admitted. "Have you talked to Zach today?"

"No, why?"

"I was just wondering if Brett had him tied up in a closet or if Coco had accidentally killed him yet."

Matteo laughed as he settled the bar on the rack and sat up on the bench. He wiped his face with the towel he'd had hooked in his waistband and then stood up.

"They're good together," Matteo conceded. "I like her."

"So do I."

"Zach's falling fast. That's not something I thought we'd see happen anytime soon."

I chuckled before I said, "Not just getting attached, but parenthood too. The kid is a riot, and pretty soon, there will be two more."

"Boys."

"Twins."

"Identical?"

"I don't know."

"Hmm," I mused, trying to remember if that had ever been mentioned.

"Breakfast?"

"Bagels."

"Twenty?"

I shook my head. "Thirty."

"Gotcha."

"No matter how many times I witness it, that still creeps me out," Constance said from behind me. As one, Matteo and I turned around to look at her, and she laughed. "That does too."

"Hey, Stan. What are you doing here?"

"I spent the night with Luca," Stan said as she walked across the room toward the treadmill. She didn't see the shocked look my brother gave me, but it got worse when she said, "I borrowed one of your shirts when I got out of the shower, Luca. I hope you don't mind."

"What in the fuck have you done?" Matteo hissed.

"I added a few things to your grocery list. I can run to the store later if you need me to."

I was still staring at my brother when I answered, "That's okay, babe. I'll have Bettina go this afternoon." It was killing me not to burst out laughing or at least crack a smile at the horrified look on my brother's face. It only intensified when I added, "Sorry I kept you up so late last night."

"That was the best night I've had in months," Constance admitted. "Thank you, Luca."

"We'll do it again tonight when I get home."

"I can't wait."

"So, thirty minutes?" I asked. Matteo could only blink at me, and I had to clear my throat to help me choke back a laugh before I called out, "Have a good day, sweetheart. I'll see you this evening."

"Bye, Luca!"

By the time I walked through the door into my living space, I could barely breathe. I was still chuckling when I walked out into the foyer after showering and getting dressed for the day. My brother was waiting for me there with fire in his eyes, and I laughed so hard, I snorted.

"What the fuck, Luca?"

"What?"

"Constance Romano? Have you lost your goddamn mind?"

"What's the problem?"

"That's Rico's daughter, man! How could you . . . That's just . . . Fuck!"

"She's dealing with some shit right now and didn't want to go home, so she's staying with me for a few days. In the guest room. And I called Rico to let him know she was here."

"Shit," Matteo hissed. "I thought . . ."

When his voice trailed off, I said, "I know what you thought, but what I don't understand is how in the hell you could think that of me? You know me better than anyone."

"I do, but . . . we all falter now and then. I was scrambling to figure out how in the fuck I was going to keep you alive if you'd done something as monumentally stupid as get involved with Stan."

"She's family, Matteo. Besides that, her father is our business partner. I know where the line is, and I'd never even think of crossing it."

"Good.Shit.You scared me."

"The look on your face was priceless."

"Just for that, you're buying breakfast."

"It was worth every penny."

◆◆◆

"I'm not sure I get paid enough for this, boss," Adrian said as he looked ahead and then turned to study the people in line behind us. "I'm getting a weird vibe here."

"From who?"

"I don't know," Adrian muttered. "It's just a feeling."

"Are you psychic all of a sudden?" Dino asked. He stepped out into the middle of the sidewalk and glanced in both directions before his eyes narrowed. "Hold up a sec."

"What?" I asked, looking up from my phone. "I just got a text from Gabriel, and they're having a problem at The Crooked Cue. When we're done here, we'll need to swing by."

"Can we just go now?" Adrian grumbled.

"What is wrong with you two?" I asked as I slipped my phone into my pocket. I shuffled forward as the line moved and then looked at Dino with a furrowed brow. "Adrian's always antsy, but you're usually not. What's going on?"

"Since when do you wait in lines?" Dino asked.

"I'm trying to be inconspicuous, but with you two acting like the goons you are, that's probably not possible. When we were in here last week, I noticed that the customers had a certain style about them and thought the two of you would fit in better than Salvatore and Gabriel."

"They came with you last week?" Adrian asked.

"You think we fit this style?" Dino asked at the same time.

"They look like their job description. You two don't."

"You should have brought Park and Sully," Dino said thoughtfully.

"Why?" I asked before I held up my fake ID for the bouncer guarding the door. He nodded, and I passed him some cash, too much for just the cover charge, and he raised his eyebrows.

"Come with me, gentlemen," the over-muscled bouncer said, his voice like gravel. Money had worked its magic, as usual.

"Here we go," Adrian muttered as he stepped in front of me to follow the bouncer.

I could feel Dino at my back and heard him whisper, "Well, fuck."

Once we were inside, I gave my eyes a few seconds to adjust to the dimmer environment, the bar even darker than the street we'd just walked in from. I looked around as I asked, "What seems to be the fucking problem, boys?"

"Well, hello, handsome. What can I do to you . . . I mean get for you this evening?"

I blinked a few times, in shock at the sight in front of me, and heard Dino snort to cover a laugh before I got my wits about me and answered, "I think we'll sit at the bar if there's room."

"The show's about to start, sweetheart. You should sit closer to the stage."

"We're good. Thanks," I said sincerely before I nodded and walked past the waiter. Waitress. Server. Yeah. Server was the best description in this instance.

"What the fuck did you just get us into, boss?" Adrian asked.

"Shut up and hold hands."

"What?" Dino hissed.

"You need to blend in. It's obvious you're uncomfortable, but if you're together, no one will hit on you."

"You have got to be fucking kidding," Adrain mumbled.

None of my other soldiers would ever think of talking to me this way, but I'd known Adrian and Dino since grade school, so they had quite a bit of leeway when it came to following orders, especially in an instance like this. I knew they'd kill for me, even die for me, but somehow I felt that tonight's adventure might be pushing them past their limit, so I didn't insist they follow my order and hold hands, but I had to admit that the temptation was there.

I found a seat at the bar, and even though there were empty chairs on either side of me, I knew Dino and Adrian wouldn't sit down because that would hinder their view of the rest of the room. As out of place as they felt, I knew they'd be on even higher alert than normal, but the situation didn't matter since their only priority was to keep me safe and watch my back.

Even though I knew I was well-protected, I took a few seconds to look around and get my bearings, something that had been ingrained since childhood. I found two emergency exits and another door that probably led into an employee area, possibly an office, so it was doubtful there was an exit there. I thought about the location of the bar and the size of the space we were in and realized that there was most likely another business located behind it, so it made sense that there wasn't a rear exit to an alley or another street.

Once I had that information tucked away, I took in the patrons of the bar. It was an entirely different crowd than I'd seen last week when I came in and sat in almost this exact spot. I assumed that tonight's crowd was here for a special event, and it showed. Last time, there were plenty of open tables and the music was a mix of genres. Tonight, it was heavy on the techno beats. As I looked around, the tune changed to one from the early 2000s that I recognized, then someone turned the volume down just before a man's voice came over the speakers announcing the night's festivities.

My eye caught movement at the end of the bar, and the woman I was here for, or at least the one I assumed was the one we were looking for, picked up a towel from the stack on the counter beneath the long mirror and shook it out before she tucked a corner into her waistband. She pulled a bar tool out of her back pocket and smiled at a customer as she popped the tops off of a bucket full of iced beer and then laughed as she took the man's cash.

I was happy to see that she was coming my way and saw her glance my direction before she turned to put the money in the register. Once she had the change, she walked toward me and reached out. At first, I thought she was reaching for me, but then saw her stuff the bills into a tip jar that was chained to the counter before she looked over my shoulder at Dino and Adrian.

"What can I get you to drink, gentlemen?"

"I'll take a Greyhound," I told her, holding her dark gaze with my own. "Can you get them each a Four Horsemen?"

When the bartender raised her eyebrows and glanced over my shoulder at Adrian and Dino, I leaned forward and, barely loud enough for her to hear me unless she leaned closer, said, "This is their first time out together in a place like this, and I think they need some liquid courage."

"Aww.That's sweet."

In just those three words, I was almost sure I heard the accent I was looking for, but I couldn't be positive.

"I thought I'd help them out." The woman tilted her head and studied my face for a second before she let out a little laugh. "Why is that funny?"

"I'm not really picking up the vibes from any of you," she said as she looked over my shoulder at the guys.

"Vibes?" I asked. "Adrian mentioned something about that earlier."

The pretty woman, who I was positive had to be the one we were looking for, rested her arms on the counter and leaned toward me. Finally, she asked, "What are you really doing here?"

As if I were telling her an international secret, I looked to my right and then my left before I leaned in so close that we were almost nose to nose and said, "I was here last week and thought this place was pretty chill, so I decided to bring my friends back. However, I think we may have stepped off into another dimension because it's nothing like it was that night."

Her laugh was so pure that I couldn't help but smile. She winked at me and said, "Thursdays are show night."

"You don't say?" I asked sarcastically.

"Any other night, you and your buddies wouldn't stick out like you do, but I don't think you'll find what you're looking for here."

"And what do you think I'm looking for?"

"Miss Right Now. Definitely not Mr. Right Now."

"That's an odd last name."

"What is?"

"Right Now. What's your first name?"

She pushed up from the bar and gave me a fake smile before she said, "Busy."

As she turned to fill our drink order, Adrian and Dino laughed.

After Dino made an exaggerated explosion sound, Adrian asked, "You need a doctor for that burn, boss?"

◆◆◆

TABBY

"Oh. My. God," I whispered frantically as I sidled up next to Simon at the back bar where we kept the top-shelf liquor. "Did you see that guy I was talking to?"

"You know I get distracted by shiny things, Bumpkin. You'll have to be more specific."

"The one at the end in the white button-up," I hissed.

Simon looked at the mirror before he asked, "Who is that?"

"He looks familiar, doesn't he?"

"He does. I'm almost positive that's the man of my dreams."

"Si!" I elbowed him before I said, "Look closer. I recognize him from somewhere."

"I wish I could say it was from when you saw him doing the walk of shame out of my bedroom after a wild night, but I don't think that's gonna happen. He's watching you."

"He knows we're talking about him."

"No, Bumpkin. He's watching you."

"Great! Another one with a pregnancy fetish. What is it with you people?"

"You people? Sweetheart, you couldn't look more disgusting to me if you tried."

"Oh, thanks. Way to make a girl feel special," I said sarcastically as I made the man's drink. I had just finished pouring the grapefruit juice when I looked up at the mirror and caught him staring at me. "I think I know him."

"Bumpkin. You're not in Kansas anymore. There are more people on this city block than in your entire hometown. Believe me, you haven't crossed paths with everyone here yet."

"I'm from Oklahoma, not Kansas," I scoffed.

"Aren't they pretty much the same thing?" Simon looked confused for a second before he said, "They touch, don't they?"

"Oh, good grief," I muttered as I worked the shaker and set out the liquor I'd need for the other drinks. "Remind me not to let you help Ember with her homework once she starts school."

"Do they? Where's Nebraska? That's involved, too, isn't it?"

"Do I look like an atlas? No. But for your information, Kansas is right above Oklahoma, and Nebraska is above that."

"Do they have running water in Kansas, or do they use outhouses and wash their clothes in the stream out back?"

"Oh, shut up!"

I picked up the drinks and turned around to deliver them and found the man studying me with an amused look on his face.

"Did I pass the test?"

"Could you find Kansas on a map?"

"Uh.Yes?"

"What's the capital?"

"Of Kansas?" I slid the drinks to either side of him, and his friends snatched them off the bar, tapped them together, and then threw them back as if they were dying of thirst. One of them gasped, and the other started coughing . . . I couldn't help but smile. I looked back at the handsome guy sporting the confused expression and said, "Don't hurt yourself, buddy."

"It's the thirty-fourth state, and its flower is the sunflower. The capital is Topeka. It's best known for the Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and declared racial segregation in schools to be unconstitutional."

"Holy shit."

"Why do you want to know about Kansas?"

"What do you know about Oklahoma?"

"Um," the man hummed for a second as he stared down at the bar. Finally, he looked up and said, "The capital is Oklahoma City, the parking meter was invented by an Oklahoman named Carl Magee, and the first Girl Scout cookie was sold there in 1917."

"Really?"

"The aerosol can was invented in a place called Bartlesville."

"It was?"

"Lots of useful inventions originated in Oklahoma."

"Really?"

"The shopping cart was invented there, and they had the first bakery that ever used a twist tie on their bread bags. I can't remember what it was originally called, but now it's Sara Lee. Did I pass the test?"

"Uh, sure."

"I'm Luca. What's your name?"

"Lucas? I'm . . . Lou," I lied as I held my hand out to shake his. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine," Lucas said as he turned our hands over to kiss my knuckles.

"I'm in the weeds, Bumpkin!" Simon called from the other end of the bar.

"Shit! I've gotta go," I said as I snatched my hand away.

"If I sit here, can you come back and talk to me again?"

"Probably not tonight. We're already slammed."

"When do you work again? I'd like to talk to you."

"I work the day shift on Sunday."

"What time?"

"I open at two o'clock."

"I'll see you then."