Chapter 6

Chapter

Six

Romeo

As I pulled my phone out to text Rocco and let him know I was on my way to the mansion to pick him up, a text came in from him.

Rocco: Down in the lobby. Move your ass.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

Cory’s head popped out the top as he finished pulling his shirt over his head. “What’s up?”

“Rocco Buccelli is down in the lobby,” I growled.

“Of my hotel?” Cory asked, sounding alarmed.

“Yeah. I gotta get down there before he scares someone.” I grabbed Cory by the waist, gave him a firm kiss on the lips, smacked his ass, and ran out the door.

Not wanting to wait for the elevator, I ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time. I wasn’t surprised to hear the pounding of Cory’s feet as he followed me. I didn’t blame him. Dante and his crew had been one thing. They were trained to exist in the background. Even in their suits, they’d looked like nothing but normal security. With Rocco’s normal swagger and irreverence, God only knew what customers would make of him.

As I double-timed it past the elevator on the ground floor, Everest waved, eyes widening an alarm as Cory and I threw him a cursory greeting and kept going. It took me two seconds to find Rocco, leaning against the desk at the check-in station, flirting with the girls.

As soon as I got close enough, I hissed, “Rocco, what are you doing here?”

“This guy, huh?” he said to the young lady in front of him. Then his gaze moved past me, and a slow smile crept across his face. Bypassing me, he held out a hand. “You must be the intoxicating Cory Letterman. I’ve been so eager to meet the man who convinced Romeo to settle down.”

Hesitantly, Cory slipped his hand into Rocco’s. The little shit immediately turned it and kissed the top. Cory’s smile faltered as Rocco said, “Charmed to make your acquaintance.”

For fuck’s sake, the day hadn’t even started, and I was ready to put my fist in his face. Pulling Cory back next to my side forced Rocco to let his hand go. “I thought I was picking you up.”

Rocco shrugged. “I thought I’d save you the trip.”

Moving closer to him, I glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention. “What are you doing out and about without a bodyguard?”

Rocco rolled his eyes. “Don’t be dramatic. No one cares about me.”

Just great . Nico had stuck me with a man-child. If Rocco didn’t understand how his life impacted his brother, therefore, the rest of the Family, they had an even bigger problem than I thought.

“Stop frowning already. I wasn’t alone. I rode over with him.”

He pointed over to the entrance to the hallway to Vigor and the spa where Dante leaned nonchalantly against the wall, staring at his phone screen.

“Why is he back?” Cory asked.

With everything that had happened last night, I’d forgotten to tell him that it looked like he had a permanent security guard for the foreseeable future. I knew he wasn’t going to be happy about that since I was less than thrilled myself. No matter how Nico tried to spin it, the reality was, Dante was here to keep an eye on Cory. In other words, keep me in line. Lucky for all of them, I was a man of my word and had every intention of doing everything I promised them. That, and I trusted Dante with Cory.

Before I could answer, Rocco said, “Romeo’s familia. You’re his man, and since we don’t know exactly what he’s gotten into, my brother wanted to make sure you’re protected. It’s good to know the right people, am I right?”

If Cory’s facial expression was anything to go by, then no, Rocco wasn’t right. I pulled him into my arms for a quick hug, whispering in his ear, “It’ll be fine.”

“I thought you planned on asking for Dante to work with you,” he whispered back.

“I’ll explain it later.” I took a step back. “I promise.”

Cory scowled. “You bet you will.”

Rocco followed me as I headed toward the door, saying loudly, “Is that your thing? Leaving hickey’s all over your man? I saw two on his neck.”

Hoping Cory hadn’t heard him would be too much to ask, especially since Dante, who was much farther away, barked out a laugh. “Just come on.”

“So where we going?” Rocco asked ten minutes later.

I glanced at him over in the passenger’s seat. “Do you really care?”

He shrugged. “Nah, not really. But Vin will be pissed if we don’t handle Family business first.”

Yeah, I was well aware of the parameters Vin set in our meeting yesterday. The middle brother wasn’t taking kindly to my presence in Takoda at all. At this point, I wasn’t sure that Nico was either, but he knew me well enough to know that if I said I was staying, I was staying. The only two people who hadn’t been completely antagonistic were Rocco and Dante.

Dante liked me, even though he tried not to show it. In the beginning, it might have been because of my reputation. But we’d formed a mutual respect while he’d overseen security at The Gin Mill. Even though he and his guys hadn’t caught the culprit, they’d tried. I also appreciated how respectful and attentive they’d been while hanging around Cory’s place of business. Like I’d told Dante, not embarrassing me was a point in his favor.

Rocco, on the other hand, barely made it ten minutes at the table before reminding his brothers that I was familia. “Ya know, you really fucked up, Romeo,” he said, interrupting my thoughts.

“They’ll get over it.”

“Maybe Nico will, but I don’t know about Vin.” He shook his head. “When Vita had her troubles, I think he expected you to show up, ya know?”

“So you’re not talking about what happened the other day back at the hotel?”

“Nah. Shit happens. Don’t nobody care about that. But Nico, I think you hurt his feelings or something when you didn’t show up as soon as he was made Don. But Vin, yeah, he’s been carrying his hate towards you around for a while. Nico and Vita think I’m kidding, but I worry about his heart.” He clasped his thumb and two fingers together and thumped his chest. “It can’t be good to always be so pissed off, am I right?”

Was he right? Absolutely. Should he be running his mouth so much? Hell no. He knew his brothers didn’t trust me right now, and I hadn’t sworn an oath to the Family. “You talk too much.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Nearing the alley where I’d rescued Charity, I saw one of the blondies bent down, speaking with a man through the open window of his car. I pulled over quickly and hopped out of the car. “Hey, excuse me!” I yelled.

The guy looked in his rearview mirror, then revved his engine and pulled away with a squeal of his tires. The young lady turned around, glaring at me.

Rocco caught up to me, cackling his fool head off. “Oh shit, she wants to kill you.”

Ignoring him, I reached into my pocket and took out my money clip. Her scowl turned to interest as I pulled out a few bills. “Pretend were negotiating,” I said to her softly, not sure where her pimp, Tad, was.

Her gaze flicked from me to Rocco and back again. “That’s gonna cost you triple,” she said. She blew a bubble with her gum and popped it loudly. “You know, on account that you lost me that last guy.”

Jesus. She was a baby. How’d I end up here? “Nah, the big guy here has himself a man. Plus?—”

Cutting Rocco off, I said, “Tell me where to find Tad.”

Her face went blank as she took a step back. Another girl, this one with blonde hair but auburn roots, came up, asking loudly, “Can I get in on this?”

The first girl spun toward her. “They don’t have anything we need.”

The new lady—a little older than the first or Charity—hissed, “Aren’t you the guy who helped out Cha—our friend?” she asked quietly, peeking over her shoulder the minute the question was out of her mouth.

“I am.”

“How do you know?” Rocco asked curiously, keeping any suspicion out of his voice. I was glad he asked since I wondered, too.

“I was behind the dumpster, trying to find something to hit the guy who was attacking my friend, when you came up. Thank you for helping her. Is she okay?”

Her concern was so sincere that I answered honestly. “She is, but I’d like to have a chat with Tad. That’s your boss, right?”

“Whatcha you gonna do?” the first girl asked. “You can’t hurt him. He keeps us safe.”

Rocco moved forward, clasping both her hands in his like he was trying to cajole her into coming with us, like we were potential clients. “Here’s the thing, doll. Your boss has you set up in Buccelli territory. Our Boss doesn’t like the way he runs his business.”

I cleared my throat. “What he’s trying to say is that his…our Boss, prefers you ladies having a better set up. Somewhere for you to stay, someone to take care of you who can vet your clients. That kind of thing.”

The younger girl glanced nervously at the older woman, who huffed out a laugh. “That would be nice. How do you know this Boss of yours will really help us out?”

Rocco’s gaze slid to her. “Because I’m his younger brother. I have the authority to speak on his behalf.”

I wasn’t sure that was true in all situations, but we’d discussed this matter, and Rocco had assured us that he could relocate any of the blondies who had nowhere to go. Since I assumed that was most of them, I was thankful that he frequented a certain establishment.

“And you really have somewhere for us to go already?” she responded. “I could figure it out and make it, but some of these girls…” She trailed off as she side-eyed the young one, who was staring at the ground and gnawing nervously on her bottom lip.

“I do. My friend Lola already knows you’re coming…I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

“Evie. It’s Evie, Mr. Buccelli.”

Ah, this one had been around awhile. She knew exactly what the Buccelli name stood for. Before Rocco could insist she not call him something so formal or really piss me off and puff up like a peacock from her respectfulness, I cut in. “So, if that’s taken care of. Is Tad around?”

Evie gave us directions to an apartment right around the corner. “Thank you. Can you do me a favor and gather up the other girls?”

She nodded. “Of course, but Tad will?—”

Rocco snorted. “Don’t worry about Tad.”

“Okay, give me an hour,” Evie said, then she wrapped her arm around the young one’s shoulders and led her away.

“You ready?” I asked Rocco.

He made a show of cracking his knuckles. “It’s like going to a party. I can’t wait.”

As we headed toward the apartment, I said, “Don’t kill him.”

He stopped up short. “What the fuck you talkin’ about?”

“He’s our warning to the other pimps in the Family territory to move out.”

Rocco glared at me. “Right? What better warning than to kill him?”

Ignoring him, I marched up to the door of the apartment and knocked gently, then stepped to the side. Rocco looked at me like I’d taken leave of my senses, even as he stopped short so Tad the pimp wouldn’t be able to see us out of the peephole. I wanted this guy to think that I was one of his girls, not jump out the window and make a run for it.

The door swung open. “What?” That was followed by, “The fuck?” and a hulking brute with greasy hair and pockmarks all over his face stuck his head out, looking from side to?—

Bam . I clocked him in the eye, sending him flying back into the apartment. Rocco frowned. “Why’d you get first dibs?”

“Because I’m older than you.”

Rocco rolled his eyes.

Tad was on his knees, trying to stand up as we made our way inside. Rocco kicked him in the side, moving him out of the way for me to close the door.

“Hello, Tad,” I said casually.

“What the fuck? Who are you? Get out!”

Rocco clucked his tongue. “See, Tad. The way I see it, the person who needs to get out of here is you.”

As Rocco taunted and lectured him, I wandered the shithole apartment, poking around. There were take-out containers with half-eaten food and trash all over a two-person table in the kitchen. The counters were a dumpster fire of more of the same—liquor bottles and beer cans overflowed from the trash.

I passed a screaming Tad as Rocco pulled a gun out of the back of his pants. “Hey, don’t?—”

“I know, I know. But I really need this guy to shut the fuck up.”

“Hm. That’s fair.” The one bedroom contained nothing but a stained mattress with a dirty blanket and a couple of pillows on it. “You’re a real class act, Tad,” I muttered to myself. No doubt this is where he made his girls provide him with their services—for free. Like the bedroom, the bathroom didn’t have any personal items.

“So you let the girls live down here in squalor, sharing an apartment, but this is just what? Where you hole up to keep an eye on them?”

He kept his gaze trained on Rocco’s gun. “This is my place of business.”

“Is that legal? What do you think, Rocco? Are these places zoned to run businesses out of?”

He shrugged. “Hell if I know. But I’m pretty sure the Buccelli Family isn’t okay with prostitution on their streets. They got some respectable houses set up for this type of entertainment.”

Tad sneered. “I got permission to run this street.”

Planting my hands on my hips, I stared down at him where he kneeled on the floor. “Permission from who?”

Smirking, he said, “Don Buccelli himself.”

“Huh. Was that the old Don or the new one?” I asked.

Tad’s smile faltered, and Rocco huffed. “Mistreating his girls, lying about the Don…I don’t know, Romeo. I think you should let me put a hole in his head.”

Ignoring him, I kept my gaze fixed on Tad. “So, here’s what’s gonna happen. He”—I nodded at Rocco—“is gonna beat the shit out of you. More than likely put you in the hospital. We’re gonna make sure that everyone hears about it so any other enterprising individuals like yourself know to get outta here. Then once you’re on your feet, you’re gonna find a new career or get outta Takoda.”

“Fuck you. I don’t have to do?—”

Rocco stepped forward, kicking up under Tad’s chin with a solid thwack, which bent the smaller man’s body in half backward.

“Ouch.”

Rocco grinned. “That’s one of my favorite moves. Sure I can’t kill him.”

Tad startled, then began crying.

“Geez. We barely touched him. What a little bitch.”

He wasn’t wrong. “No. We want people to know how benevolent Don Buccelli is. Things got a little lax with the changing of the guard, but now we’re cleaning up. Did you hear that, Tad? Don Nico Buccelli has Romeo Caputo and Rocco Buccelli putting his house in order. If anyone asks, you be sure and tell them.”

He spit blood on the floor. “I’m telling the police,” he blubbered.

Rocco snorted. “Tell my Uncle Stan I said hi while you’re at it.”

“That’s the chief of police, in case you didn’t know,” I added.

Tad started shaking. All signs of his bravado were gone. “Let me give you one of the girls. You can have her for free.”

Rocco’s dark brown eyes went black with anger. My hand twitched wanting to reach for my knife. “I don’t know, Romeo. Can I at least chop off his dick? What’s that saying, an eye for an eye and all that shit, am I right?”

Damn, it was so tempting to say yes. “No.”

He rubbed his hands together slowly. “Maybe feed him his balls? What do you say? That’s still benevolent.”

Tad started begging for his life, promising he’d leave town, that he’d do anything, anything if we’d let him go. Sure, he would.

“Still no. We gotta get the ladies. Just—” I waved a hand at Rocco to proceed.

As I opened the door, I heard the solid thunk of Rocco’s fist connecting with flesh and Tad’s scream. Over it, Rocco asked, “Can I scar him, at least?”

Looking over my shoulder, I met Rocco’s gleeful expression with an evil smile of my own. “By all means.”