Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

TRISTAN

O nce Maya leaves, I have to take a minute to compose myself. My body is in high-alert mode, ready to claim her. Fuck, she felt so good, and it was so damn hot when she threw herself at me. It was so hot to catch her, kiss her, hold her body, feel those curves. She feels just how she looks: sweet and perfect.

I have to relax. The Trentini contact will be here soon.

Taking out my phone, I text Maya, Let me know what you want to do about Miles and if you want to lodge a formal complaint.

I think he’s just socially awkward. You should give him another chance .

She’s too damn nice for her own good, or maybe she’s right. The sleazeball last night was putting on a show. Miles just seemed nervous. The sleazeball is the reason I need Maya gone.

Carlo Conti, an associate of the Trentinis, the man whose jaw I clocked and who nearly bit his tongue off, is coming to handle this deal . Apparently, part of my punishment is swallowing my pride and dealing with this drugging asshole.

Before he arrives, I pace my office. I need to get myself ready mentally and logistically. I can’t let my thoughts go to Maya, or they won’t leave. That kiss at the end was something special. I’ve never felt anything like that. Not that I’m some kissing expert, but damn, it was fire.

She is fire. It burns me up just thinking about her, so I force myself to stop.

Soon, Carlo is here. Raffie sends me a text with several dog emojis. I get the message. I need to be on a leash. I head out to the entrance, finding Carlo leaning against the sign, hands in the pockets of his leather jacket.

“Morning,” he says, his voice awkward from his bitten tongue.

“Morning, Carlo,” I growl. I can tell my suit, hair, and overall image is throwing him off. If there’s one thing Mob guys respect, it’s looking slick. It instantly makes a man seem in control. He seems anything but. “Let’s talk in my office.”

“I guess you call the shots,” he says sarcastically.

He’s about a decade younger than me, around Maya’s age. I wonder if that makes me a bad man or has any bearing on me that I haven’t considered her age an obstacle. A lot is stopping us, namely that I can’t let it happen, but not that.

In the office, Carlo folds his arms and leans against the wall. He still looks disheveled from last night.

“You know why I’m here,” he says.

“Raffie didn’t mention,” I reply, trying to keep my voice level. “All I know is that they want to force me to work with you—a man who drugged two innocent women.”

He laughs cooly. “Don’t throw accusations around now. We’re friends, remember? Let’s talk business.”

I wave a hand. “Talk, then.”

“You understand by now that you’re part of this thing.” His confidence makes me sick. I want to punch that grin off his face. My fresh cut should be enough to remind him they don’t call me “the Marine” on the streets for the hell of it.

“You got that, don’t you?” He clicks his tongue, then winces, like he’d forgotten he’d hurt it.

“What thing ?” I grunt. “I do my own work. I run my own business. I’m my own man.”

“Yes, yes, sure. Most of the time, but since you made such a mistake last night …”

“The mistake was I refused to fight three kids . One of them was a girl. Do you have any idea what would’ve happened if I was some psycho? If I did what they wanted for the cash? Those poor kids didn’t stand a chance.”

“Yes, I know, quite the sob story. I mostly remember the part where you punched me, buddy. That’s ancient history, though.”

“Raffie,” I say, opening and closing my bruised hands. After a fight, the ache goes right down to the bone. The pain melted away slightly when I was in the office with Maya. It’s wild how often I’m thinking of her. It’s like I can’t help it sometimes.

“Mr. Trentini is a … political man.”

“Those dramatic pauses don’t jive with the whole tongueless bit too well, bud,” I say dead pan.

“How amusing,” Carlo says.

“You drugged two women, fuckhead.”

“Don’t be dramatic. We were having a good time. Everybody was.”

I step forward, forgetting everything, the plan, and what I agreed upon. “You dosed them with Devil’s Breath. That little smirk tells me you’ve heard of it, haven’t you.”

Carlo rolls his eyes, seeming determined to be detached and suave. “Let’s go along with it for a second, then. Let’s say I breathed like the devil over two young ladies. Let’s even say I was going to bag one of them. You know the one …” He dramatically looks around. “She’s here, no?”

I grind my teeth. It shouldn’t bother me as much as it does. I almost tell him he’s read too much into my behavior toward Maya. But after the closeness, the kiss, and that last one, hot damn, I’m not so sure.

“Not for a while,” I say.

“What could you do about it?” he sighs, shrugging. “ If I did all that, friends of ours talked, and they decided that I get to run the game on this spot. You can’t do a thing.”

“What game?” I snap.

“You don’t need to worry about it,” he says. “Just give me the keys to the storage shed out back.”

“If you’re moving stuff on my property, I’ll at least lay eyes on it myself.”

“No can do, amigo.” He grins. “Raffie didn’t decide this. This went up the chain. You can say no if you want. I can tell the Trentini Family, ‘I’m sorry, but Tristan Greene refuses to let me use his storage shed.’ How would that go?”

“Is it guns, drugs, what?”

“You ask a lot of fucking questions,” he snaps, pushing away from the wall and walking right up to me. He’s far more confident than hours before. Now he’s got the Family backing; he has reason to be. “Just get me the keys. In the meantime, where’s Maya? We didn’t get to finish our date.”

When I slam my hand down on his shoulder, his whole body shudders. I lean down and look him right in the eye. I’m not thinking about my connections, Raffie, or that I should play nice, nothing but her . “Your friends give you some privileges, but if you touch Maya, I’ll rip your goddamn face off.”

His mouth falls open, and then he slowly shakes his head. He must see my absolute fury—my willingness to break his bones.

“Get your hands off me,” he whispers.

“Are we clear?”

“I’m not interested in her, anyway,” he says with a huff.

I shove him away. He stumbles back, then brushes down his leather jacket. I can tell he’s thinking about whether or not to make a big deal out of it as he stares at me. Then he flashes a forced grin. “You can have her. Just get me that key by Friday night next week.”

“If you’re getting a delivery, I’ll be there.”

He grunts. “Don’t push your luck.”

I stare at him. After a long pause, he waves a hand. “I’ll check with the bosses, asshole.”

That’s fine. He can call me anything he wants just as long as he doesn’t say anything about Maya.

Once he’s gone, I sit at my desk. Tank calls a minute later.

“That was a hell of a lot, T,” he says. “He gave a lot away. We need to get that shed mic’d and camera’d up to the eyeballs for tomorrow.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“What was that stuff about Maya at the end? I know you want to help her, but?—”

“Just leave it,” I snap. “I don’t know why. She doesn’t deserve this crap. All this shit life’s throwing at her. I’ve known her for a few days, but the first time I saw

her …”

Damn, when she was standing at that window, a silhouette in the night, her shape drew me in as Loki yapped and ran toward her. Loki’s a good dog. He found his way to a woman with love in her heart and some fierce passion in her soul.

“She’s a good person, Tank.”

“I’m sure she is, but maybe cool off him some. We need him to relax around you, or we won’t get shit on the shipments.”

“And your office is willing to fund all this?” I say.

“Fund what? A few cameras. A few mics. We can handle this ourselves.”

“So we won’t have backup?”

“We don’t need it,” he says, hanging up. “Trust me …” The door opens, and he walks in, his phone in one hand and holding an electronic tablet in the other. “We can get everything we need. I’ll take it to the chief if I have to. We can get these pricks.”

I run my hand through my hair, walk to the office window, and look down at Winston lying on his back, the bulldog lounging as Max, the retriever, eagerly licks at his face folds. Usually, Loki would be down there, barking and causing a ruckus.

“Are we getting them, though?” I say, turning back to Tank. “If we manage to get some frontline troop like Carlo shifting a few kilos of cocaine, is that a win? These bastards will burn everything I have once they find out I’m moving against them.”

“They won’t find?—”

“The second we take this to your boss, the Mob knows. That’s just the way it is. There will be a leak somewhere. Somebody will see a memo they shouldn’t have or overhear a conversation. It’s that easy.”

“What’re you saying, eh, T?”

“Why do you think I shaved half my hair off at five a.m.? Why do you think I’m wearing a suit? I’m going to launch an operation on these lowlifes.”

“Oh, T.” Tank buries his face in his hands for a second, groaning. “Don’t say this to me, please. Remember who I am and what I am now. Goddamn it.”

“It’s the only way to make them stop.”

“So you kill them all?”

“Every Trentini who matters dies. Yeah, that’s the plan. Look me in the eye and tell me it won’t work.”

“You think that’s why I’m pissed?” he snaps, walking right up to me. “It will work, and it’ll be a bloodbath. For what? For the street thugs to go on believing that violence is the way it’s done in this city.”

“I don’t think they need me to tell them that.”

“We need these men to fear the law ,” Tank snaps. “They need to see us and think twice. Otherwise, it’s just a cycle.”

“We’ve both dished out our fair share of violence,” I growl.

“Walk me through it, then,” Tank grumbles. “Do you just murder them all in one night, or … do you kill them one by one? All the cousins, all the associates, anybody who might want revenge?”

I grind my teeth. “It’ll be hard, logistically, but not impossible.”

“Even when I’ve got your rifles?” he says.

“If we do it your way?—”

“It might lead to bigger things,” he cuts in. “Maybe it starts with the delivery. Then, it goes further, and we get deeper. Have some goddamn patience. You’re just like Odin.”

That gets a laugh out of both of us despite everything. Odin was well-behaved, but even when at heel, he always had a burst of energy ready to go. He was always keen to get moving and then keep moving once he got there.

“We have to try it my way,” Tank says firmly.

“That means I have to keep dealing with the prick.”

“Don’t let his comments get to you. He might keep going at it if he knows you like Maya.”

“That wouldn’t be a good idea for him,” I say coldly.

Tank probably wants to ask me why I care so much again, but he knows I won’t offer anything else. Anybody could see how Maya triggers something in me.

“I think I was wrong before,” I say quietly. “About never moving on after Vanessa. Hell, man, I might’ve spoken too soon.”

Tank doesn’t follow up. He knows better than that, but it feels good to say it out loud. After Vanessa and the shit she pulled, I never thought a woman could make me feel like this. Something is happening here. It feels good. I can at least admit that.

Despite everything, it feels so, so good. I can still taste her on my lips. I did the right thing when I sent her away, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to taste her again.