Chapter Nine

CHAPTER NINE

Saylor

"Nice, right?" I asked as my dog walked in circles on the massive orthopedic bed that had finally arrived. With a sweet little huff, she dropped down, her head hanging over the elevated pillow edge. "I thought you would like it," I said, smiling at the look of pure contentment on her face.

"Did you name her yet?" Anthony's voice called, making me jump and turn to find him standing in the opening of the garage door. I'd just dragged the heavy box in through it, then got distracted setting up the bed, and I had clearly forgotten to close the door.

Smart.

Real smart.

I mean, I had nothing left to steal. But still.

"No," I admitted, sighing. "Oh, is that coffee?" I asked, excitement chasing away any possible awkwardness about the night before as I held out a hand for it. "Did you get burned trying to get this order?" I teased.

"Funny," he said. "I think her bed is thicker than my mattress," he admitted, smiling as the dog rolled over on her back, wiggling her body side to side like she was trying to get her scent all over the material. "What do you think… Bella?"

"No," I vetoed immediately, getting a smirk out of Anthony.

"Too girly?" he asked.

"She's a former drug dealer dog. And a current arms dealer dog. She needs a badass name."

"Umm… Buffy?" he called, getting a headshake from me. "Katniss? Dana? Ellen? Sarah?"

"Who the hell are those last three?"

"Dana Scully? From The X Files . Ellen Ripley from Alien . And Sarah Conner from the Terminator movie."

"They're all too… normal," I decided as the dog stared at Anthony, unimpressed.

"Fury, short for Furiosa?"

"You spend a lot of time watching action movies, huh?" I asked. "But I kind of like that. What do you think, Fury?" I asked, watching her ears perk up. Objectively, I knew it was likely from my tone, but I decided it was a sign.

"Seems to like that one," Anthony said, nodding.

"Well, Keith will be happy to hear that," I said, sipping my coffee. "What time does the ferry leave?" I asked, gauging how long it would take to get from my warehouse to the ferry.

"We got about half an hour. Wanna walk her one more time?" he asked.

We'd just gotten back, but Fury heard the word ‘walk,' and lurched off her bed, her tail wagging wildly.

"I guess that's a yes," I said, going for her leash.

So we walked Fury before hopping into a cab, making it to the ferry just ten minutes before it took off.

"Do you want to sit in here, or go out on the deck?" Anthony asked.

I wanted to go outside. But there was no one else out there. And I was pretty sure that being alone with him was not a great idea. We'd managed to avoid talking about the whole incident in the gym office the night before. But I had a feeling that if we were alone too much that the desires we'd left unfulfilled the night before would reemerge.

"Here's good," I decided, but the way his brow lifted said he knew why I'd made that decision.

"Have you learned anything new about these guys?" I asked as we sat a row down from someone who was typing a fucking paragraph on her phone, her jaw so tight that a muscle was twitching. Whoever he is, he's not worth it , I decided as her phone chimed three times in a row, making her pause to read, then start typing even faster.

"No," he said, checking his phone before tucking it away. "But I honestly wasn't looking," he admitted. "My ma was in my apartment when I got home."

"Why?"

"Filling my freezer."

"Your mom grocery shops for you?" I asked, getting my first ick toward this guy.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "She cooks for me," he told me. "It's her thing. Especially for the single guys in the family. And for the new moms or anyone who is sick. It's how she shows her love."

"That's kind of sweet," I decided. "My mom… fed us," I said. "She always hated cooking. She said it was one of the things she loved the most about my father—that he was a great cook."

"Which genes did you inherit?"

"Not the cooking ones. I once tried to make pasta. And managed to burn the pot of water because I forgot about it. Do you cook?"

"We all learned, but I don't remember the last time I actually did it. I've been working my ass off since I was eighteen."

"Do I detect some bitterness there?" I asked.

To that, he sucked in a deep breath. "Yeah, sometimes," he admitted. "I should be further up in the Family than I am. And I suspect it's my brother who has kept me where I am."

"Your brother isn't the boss, though, right?"

"No. But he's Lorenzo's right-hand man, so Lorenzo listens to what he says." He paused for a moment, then admitted, "It's why I'm determined to fix this shit. I figure if I can wrap this up without anyone else having to get involved, I will finally get the chance to move up."

"Well, you do have someone else involved," I told him. "And we are going to get these assholes—a nice sub sandwich for their hard work," I added, catching someone watching us a little too closely.

Anthony snorted. "Told you we should have gone on the deck," he said as we mostly fell into silence for the rest of the trip.

"Okay," I said when we were on solid land again, even if my legs didn't quite get that message yet. It was giving me that feeling I got when I ran on a treadmill for a long time then jumped off, my body giving me the sensation of moving forward even when I was standing still. "What now?"

"Now we get a ride," he said, his hand moving behind my back, but this time, he made contact, pressing against me as I tried to pretend that my stomach didn't flip-flop at the feel of him, that my mind didn't immediately start to flash back to the office, to his lips and hands on me, his cock against me.

"Keep looking at me like that, babe, and we're not going to get to the deli," he murmured, his voice shivering over my skin as he opened the door of a cab for me to slide into.

I did, glad for a moment to myself as he moved around the cab to slide in the other side.

He rattled off the address of the deli, and I rolled down my window as Anthony's cologne filled the cab, making it hard to think. Let alone reason with the desire coursing through me as we rode to meet up with his friends.

I don't know what I'd been expecting of a mafia-owned deli, but I knew that the tiny little shop in front of me as I climbed out of the cab was not it.

I guess I expected it to seem upscale or something. But it was one of those hole-in-the-wall places that make you question if they paid off the health inspector for a passing grade, but you also know that they had the best subs in the area.

"Not what you expected?" Anthony asked, pulling open the door.

"Not at all," I admitted as the door opened and the distinct scent of onions, vinegar, and various meats made my stomach rumble at its emptiness.

The inside was cramped and overfilled, the walls lined with snack racks, drink fridges, and a coffee station with a small center area set up with four tables of four.

Toward the back of the building was a long counter where people were lined up, ordering food as Anthony's hand went to my lower back again.

His gaze scanned the store, nodding his chin toward someone behind the counter, who disappeared into a back room.

Not a moment later, another man emerged, moving out from behind the counter to make his way toward us.

Unlike his deli, he did scream ‘mafia' to me. He was a tank of a man—tall and extremely fit—with dark hair and eyes, and two disarmingly attractive dimples. He spotted Anthony and shot him a smile.

He was dressed like Anthony in dress slacks and a black button-up, but he went without a jacket, and his sleeves were rolled up to reveal a watch I imagine cost more than the average family's monthly income.

"Been a long time, man," he greeted Anthony, pulling him in for a quick hug, complete with back slaps on both their parts.

"Too long," Anthony agreed.

"Hey, sweetheart," he said, turning to me. "I'm Giovani," he told me. "My friends call me… when they need money," he said, getting a surprised little laugh out of me.

"Gio, this is Saylor," Anthony introduced me. "We're working together on… a job."

"Yeah?" Gio asked. "And you need me for it?"

"We need to pick your brain on something," Anthony agreed.

"Yeah? Alright," he said. "Come on back with me," he said, turning to walk back behind the counter.

We followed, walking through a prep area where three men were hard at work making various foods that we'd seen in the refrigerated case behind the counter, then a smaller stock area until, finally, Gio turned into an office.

This was the only place that even hinted at mafia to me. Unlike the rest of the building, it had been completely redone with slate gray walls, wide-planked dark wood floors, a seating area complete with a couch, two chairs, a coffee table, and a bar cart, and a sleek wooden desk with two leather chairs in front of it.

Gio moved behind the desk, but neither he nor Anthony sat down until I dropped down into my seat.

Which was absurd.

But also kind of hot, I had to admit.

"So, what's going on?" Gio asked, his accent slipping out a bit more.

"Saylor and I are both trying to find out some information about a crew that the Family is worried about."

"The Family," Gio repeated, glancing at me. "You Family now?" he asked. "Know that Lombardi fuck is progressive like that, but didn't know the Costas got themselves female capos now too."

"She's not in the Family," Anthony corrected him. "She's…"

"An arms dealer," I supplied when Anthony hesitated.

"No shit," Gio said, nodding. "Good for you, babe. So, what, you supply the Family?"

"No. Anthony and I just happen to have a common enemy right now," I told him.

"Lorenzo wanted me to check out a Czech crew he heard whispers about. The same crew broke into Saylor's warehouse and stole her inventory."

Gio made a clicking noise.

"A heavily armed crew then."

"Hence why we're here. Saylor has a contact that said the only known Czech crew he knew of operates out of Staten Island."

"So here you are," Gio said, waving out toward the building in general.

"Here we are," Anthony agreed. "Got any information you can give us?"

"Well, we do have a Czech crew operating around these parts. Matej Dvorák is the name of the gun who is running shit."

"What are they into?" I asked.

"Enforcing, mostly," Gio said, shrugging. "Never had an issue with them. They knew the drill when they moved in. Never missed a kick-up payment. Never caused any problems we've needed to clean up."

"Do you have any idea if there's been any sort of dissent in their ranks lately?" I asked.

"Diss—"

"Gio, the fuck is Ciro talking about with—" another voice said as he came into the room, making me turn to find someone who had to be Gio's brother standing there.

There was a slight family resemblance, but where Gio clearly spent a lot of his free time in the gym, this guy had more of a sleek swimmer's build that he had dressed in an impeccably in a tailored 3-piece gray suit, complete with cufflinks, and a handkerchief.

Where Gio was more on the clean-cut side, this guy was covered in ink—on his hands, his neck, sneaking out of the sleeves of his shirt. He had one of those ‘longer on top' type haircuts that he had slicked back and a small stainless steel hoop in his nostril.

Hot.

The guy was hot.

Just in an entirely different way than his brother was hot.

"Didn't know we had company," the new guy said, gaze landing on me, his smile at once going all smoldering and charming. Which made Gio roll his eyes.

"Saylor, this is my idiot brother, Elio. El, this is Saylor."

"Nice to meet you, Saylor," he said, extending his hand, and when I took it, he used his other one to cover mine.

"Yeah, you too," I said, pulling my hand back. I was sure I would be a sucker for his particular brand of charm if fucking Anthony Costa wasn't sitting right beside me smelling all spicy and delicious. Like I'd smelled when I'd gone home after grinding all over him in the gym.

"Ant and Saylor are just asking about Matej," Gio told his brother.

"Yeah? He trying to move into Manhattan?" Elio asked, closing the office door, then leaning against it.

"We think an offset of his crew already has," Anthony told him.

"Hm," Elio said. "I haven't heard of anything going on with the crew breaking off, but I don't really keep that close an eye on that organization. But I could probably get you a meeting with them, if you want," he added.

"Yeah," Anthony answered for us. "That'd be good. Any idea on when you could have that set up?"

"Probably not today, unfortunately," he said. "Know you made the trip all the way out here, but I'd have to track the fuckers down."

"It's not that long of a commute," I said, shrugging. "We can come back."

"I'll go get on that then," Elio said, straightening from the wall to open the door. "Nice to meet you, Saylor. Don't be a stranger," he said, his gaze doing a quick sweep over me.

It was barely noticeable, honestly.

But a little growling sound rumbled through Anthony in response, making Elio's brow lift.

"Got it," he said, then pulled open the door and disappeared.

"Hate that you came all this way and are leaving without anything new to go on," Gio said, standing. "How about I get you guys some food to make up for it?"

"She's never gonna turn down a meal," Anthony said, smiling at me when I glared at him.

"I mean, he's not wrong," I admitted.

"Glad to hear it," he said, heading toward the door as we stood. "Come on out and decide what you want. Ant, you see my sister lately?" he asked as we moved through the back rooms toward the deli front.

"Yeah, saw her and Santi last week. She hasn't made it out this way in a while?"

"Been busy," he said, shrugging. "Gotta drag my ass into the city again to visit."

With that, we moved out in front of the counter, and he stayed behind, washing his hands, then making our sandwiches himself before disappearing to take a phone call.

"His sister?" I asked as Anthony and I took one of the empty tables to eat our roast beef sandwiches with several sides Gio had added without our asking. Including some sort of cold pasta salad with meat and veggies that smelled fucking divine.

"Alessa Morelli married Lorenzo's brother, Santi," Anthony explained.

"And who is the ‘Lombardi fuck' Elio mentioned?"

"Renzo," Anthony said after taking a bite of his sandwich. "He's the boss of the Lombardi Family. They run Brooklyn."

"Really? I've done a deal in Brooklyn for the mob. His last name wasn't Lombardi."

"Yeah, that Family structure is a little different from most of ours. They're not all blood-related like most of us are. You probably just dealt with one of the capos."

I nodded at that as I speared some of the pasta salad. "Oh, my God," I groaned, getting a heated stare from Anthony whose mind was likely not on things food-related. "So, why did Elio sound annoyed about the Renzo guy?"

"Up until very recently, they've been enemies of the other four Families in the city."

"Why?"

"The power structure was a lot different back when Lorenzo's asshole of a father ran shit. Back then, the Lombardis and the Espositos had a smaller kick-up, and the Morellis and D'Onofrios had a higher one. When Lorenzo took over and restructured shit based on his alliances, the other two Families took it personally, and became… if not outright enemies, then something close. We were always close to full-on war with them."

"What changed?"

"Marriage," he told me. "With Primo, a forced marriage. With Renzo… a sort of arranged one."

"Forced and arranged marriages? What is this, the fucking Dark Ages?" I griped.

"I know," he agreed. "Primo married my sister," he admitted.

"Your sister was forced to marry a rival boss?"

"Pretty much. I mean, ultimately, she agreed. But only because Primo was going to kill everyone she loved if she didn't."

"Jesus."

"Yeah. But she actually fell for him. They're happy as fuck now."

"And what about the arranged marriage?"

"Renzo wanted a union through marriage like we have with Alessa Morelli, and like Primo Esposito has with us. He thought it was the only way to ensure that everything was fair between the Families."

"Who did you arrange to marry him?" I asked, hearing the bitterness in my voice, and not really giving a fuck. Because making a woman in your family marry someone for a truce was fucked up beyond measure.

"My cousin Lore actually heard about it and wanted to marry him. She had a crush on him for years."

"Oh," I said, anger deflating. "I guess that's not so bad then. Wait… but what about the last Family?"

"The D'Onofrios?" Anthony asked.

"Yeah."

"What about them?"

"Don't they want a marriage union too?"

"Eh, not so far. Who knows when the old man hands over the reins of the Family to the younger generation. But for now, they all seem happy with the arrangement they have."

"So the Costa women are safe from men having dick-swinging contests for a while then," I said, finishing up the rest of my sandwich, then reaching across the table to pick at Anthony's pasta salad. "So what now? Just go back to the city and wait to hear from Elio?" I asked.

"Seems like the only real move. Though I might borrow someone else's car and do some more stakeouts, just to know what the fucks are up to."

"I have a better idea," I said, getting up to clear our plates.

"Yeah?" he asked, reaching for something on the rack of snacks, and holding it up in the air at one of the men behind the counter, getting a nod from him, then tucking it into his jacket before I could see what it was. "What's that?" he asked, holding the door for me.

"Easier just to show you when we get back," I told him as he reached for his phone to order a ride-share back to the ferry.

"Warehouse first? Let out Fury?"

I liked it a little too much how he was inserting himself into my life.

We made our way to the ferry and stood there waiting for the next hour, talking more about the structure of the Families, about their connection to the Grassi Family in Navesink Bank.

"Inside?" Anthony asked as we followed the small crowd onto the ferry.

"Let's do outside this time," I said, seeing several people already gathered by the railings to enjoy the view as they rode.

He said nothing.

But once the ferry pulled away from the port, he silently moved to stand behind me, his hands lifting to grab the railing on either side of my body, trapping me in the cage of his body.

When I took a step forward, crushing myself against the railing to get some distance from him. But it only prompted him to take a step forward, his entire front pressing into my back, the warmth of him chasing away the chill as the cold, wet air moved around me, making a shiver rack my body.

"What's the matter, babe?" he asked, his lips tickling the shell of my ear. "Afraid to be alone with me?"

"Don't flatter yourself," I said, saying a silent prayer that my voice wasn't as breathless as it sounded to my own ears.

"Did you think that just because people are around that I wouldn't bring up what happened last night?" he asked, his voice for my ears only, and I cursed the way I turned my head a bit to hear him better. "How you were grinding against my cock?" he asked, his teeth nipping my earlobe, making my sex clench hard. "And your nails were digging into my back? And how you were moaning against my lips?" he went on, making my breath go shallow as the unmet need grew through my system.

His head tilted down, lips meeting the skin of my neck just under my ear.

"Been on my mind all fucking day," he told me. "Just thought you should know."

With that, he took a step back, and I lost him completely. The wind whipped at me, making me wrap my arms around myself as the heat inside me fought against the chill outside.

While fucking Anthony grinned to himself as he watched us close in on the city.

Suddenly, I regretted telling him about my plan for staking out this Czech crew.

But it was too late.

There was no going back now.

"By the way, here," he said, reaching into his jacket to produce what he'd taken from the deli.

A bag of gummy fish.

Damn him.

He knew all of my weaknesses.