Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“Sounds good. Love you,” she said, giving Halle a hug. “And you, I’m not forgiving you for the wine,” she said, narrowing her eyes at me as she opened the door.
“She needs a guard?” Halle asked as soon as they were gone.
“I’m just being careful,” I told her as she chugged some of the electrolyte water. “I don’t want anything happening to her.”
“Careful, she’s having fantasies about some sort of six-men-one-woman fantasy about you guys,” Halle warned.
“Hey, that’s their problem,” I said, handing her a cup of coffee. “You want some meds?” I asked.
“I think the electrolytes will do the trick,” she said. “Sorry we were kind of messy last night.”
“It was good seeing you have some fun,” I said.
“Are you leaving?” she asked, glancing at the clock.
“Not yet,” I said. “Breakfast is coming. Figure we can share that before I head out. I’m working on the shop problem today.”
“Oh, good. My grandfather keeps asking. I feel guilty lying to him. Can we go see him today?” she asked.
Fuck.
I wasn’t prepared for how much I liked how that sounded.
We.
“Let me know what time works, and I’ll fit it in.”
“Maybe lunchtime?” she said. “He should still be pretty awake then. They are talking about stepping him down to a rehabilitation facility. I don’t know how that will work out for the guards,” she added, looking worried.
Hospitals, the Family had experience with. Rehab centers, not so much. But we would have to figure it out. Like anywhere else, I was sure money would talk. Actually, maybe even more so in a place like that where the staff was horribly overworked and criminally underpaid. A few grand to mind their businesses about the men in suits being there round-the-clock to protect a little old man.
Hopefully, by the time he was able to leave the rehab facility, I will have some sort of solution to the Myers brothers problem. Because this shit couldn’t go on forever. I had to be able to give Halle some semblance of her former life back. Minus the horrible apartment. Because now that I got to know what it was like to go to sleep and wake up with her, I was pretty sure I never wanted to sleep alone again.
“I’ll figure it out,” I assured her.
“Is that your answer to everything?” she asked, shooting me a soft smile.
“Learned over the years that there’s not much I can’t figure out if I work at it. Or stick Miko on it,” I admitted.
“He really does seem to be really mature for his age, doesn’t he?” she asked.
“He’s been working hustles since he was in middle school. Made him hungry. He grew up fast. I’m dreading the day I gotta let him get his own crew,” I admitted. “Finding someone that good to work closely with me won’t be easy.”
Especially with my trust issues, Family or not.
“What about Venezio?” she asked.
“I like Venezio. And I think Miko bringing him to me was proof that he thinks he can take his place too. We’ll see. He’s still down for the time being.”
“I should probably go visit him, right? Now that I’m not a complete prisoner anymore,” she added with a look that said I better not deny her these requests.
“He’s a moody fuck right now, but if you wanna see him, we can drop in. Or have Miko drag his ass outta his apartment to meet us for dinner somewhere.”
“We can go out to dinner?” she asked, eyes brightening.
“Yeah… why couldn’t we?” I asked.
“Because… you know…” she said, gesturing out.
“A lot of my life involves situations where some people might want to hurt me, baby. If I let that impact how I live my life, I’d never leave home.”
The funny thing was, I had been letting it impact how she lived her life. Almost as if, from the beginning, I cared more about her life than I did my own.
“If you’re gonna be with me, there’s gonna have to be an understanding that there is no guarantee of safety all the time,” I told her, realizing this was a conversation we likely should have had before I told her I wanted her moving in.
“I mean… no one has any guarantee of safety, though,” she said. “Especially women,” she added. “I think maybe I am safer with you than I would be on my own, even without the brothers being in the picture.”
That was true.
Everyone knew not to fuck with mafia old women and kids. It seemed like the stories I knew of in the Family that involved the women getting hurt or taken all happened before they were, officially, mafia wives or mothers.
“That’s true,” I agreed. I wasn’t sure there would ever be a day when I was comfortable not having a guard on her. Though I wasn’t gonna freak her out by admitting that. “I’m not going to ever do something to put you at risk. If I’m saying going out to eat is safe, it is.”