Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
“He’s pissed that he isn’t working on a million-dollar deal,” I said, shrugging.
“He’s going to burn himself out,” Nino said, walking with me to the elevator.
“He won’t hear shit about it,” I said, shrugging.
“Fucking August. Always has to learn shit the hard way,” Nino said, shaking his head. “Never could take advice from anyone.”
“That about sums it up,” I agreed.
“Still no luck trying to catch her alone?”
“No,” I said, exhaling hard.
“You’re going to have to start working on a plan that involves not telling her.”
“I know,” I said, nodding as we went into my room. “I don’t like it, but we can’t keep going like this for much longer,” I said, pulling off my tie.
“Hey,” Nino called, making me turn to find him leaning against the door to the hall.
“What?”
“Is there something deeper going on here?”
“Deeper how?”
“You seem more focused on this woman than I’ve seen you focused on anyone before.”
He wasn’t wrong about that.
“I met the woman once. For less than an hour,” I told him, shaking my head as I just barely avoided the urge to go into the mini-bar for some scotch.
“Still.”
“I don’t know. I felt guilt for the first time because of her.”
“Well, we did sort of fuck her life up.”
“Not now. Well, not only now. I mean I felt it from the minute I dealt with her man. She came running out of the room. And I felt bad. Never had that before. Haven’t had it since either. Until she showed back up.”
“Interesting. Is she stupid pretty?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I told him, since he would see her eventually. There was no reason to lie. “But it’s not that I want to fuck her.”
To that, Nino’s brow lifted at me.
“Fine. I would happily fuck her. But I’m not going to.”
“Oh, man, you know how many times I’ve heard that lately?” he asked, smirking at me.
“No. How many?”
“Let’s see… we got Luca, Lucky, Matteo…”
“Three. So you’ve heard that three times lately,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Hardly means I am going to, what, fuck her and then marry her? I’ve never even done a weekender with a woman.”
“Yeah, I know. Mom was bitching about it on the phone last night.”
“About me? You’re older,” I reminded him.
“She’s jealous that she’s not getting any grand babies yet while the others have a bunch,” Nino said.
“Yeah, well, I have no plans on working on that anytime soon.”
“Try telling her that. I got a forty-minute lecture about how she raised me better than to fuck around with a bunch of different women, and that I was supposed to settle down with the right woman and make babies for her to spoil.”
“Let me guess, she thinks she might know the right woman.”
“It’s my turn in the rotation for a forced blind date,” he said.
As a family, we’d all enjoyed the hell out of the stories Santo told us about the woman our ma had set him up with last. Who, apparently, not only had seven cats, but used different voices for each of them when she pretended to talk to them.
But when it was our turn to placate our mother by going on a date with whatever woman our mother came across who she thought was pretty and sweet, we were less than enthused.
“I’d tell you to just do it and get it over with…” I said, waving a hand out.
“But then it would likely be your turn again,” he said.
The only ones who got to escape the blind dates were August and Valley. August, because—according to our mother—he was too young. And Valley because our mom was on the lookout for a strong, respectful, kind, billionaire for her to settle down with.
“She would back off if she thought you were dating Cammie.”
“I’m not. I won’t be.”
“Mmhmm,” he said, shaking his head at me as he turned to go toward the door. “I’m heading back to Navesink Bank for the night,” he told me.
“Josie need her nails painted?” I asked, smirking.
“Didn’t you get Santo’s text?” he asked, making me realize I’d been so preoccupied with Cammie and her situation that I hadn’t checked my phone all day.
“No. What’s going on?”
“He was going to collect for Luca this morning and someone didn’t want to pay. He got the shit beat out of him with a crowbar.”
“Christ. Is he alright?”
“Yeah. Lettie patched him up and sent him home.”
Lettie was the cousin of one of our guys, Michael. She’d dropped out of med school right at the finish line. But eventually decided to start her own sort of underground hospital that served us and other criminals like us, the kind of people who needed hospital care, but didn’t want the questions about what had happened to them.
She had her own actual hospital set up, complete with every device and medicine she could ever need. But she also had an ambulance and a staff to help her in emergent situations.