“Talk soon, Cain.” Mom leans up and grazes his cheek.
I nearly soar out of my skin when someone’s phone rings. Salvatore reaches into the pocket of the jacket he retrieved off the porch then holds the phone up to his ear, leaning up against his car.
“John.”
We all listen intently at the sound of my dad’s name.
“What the hell does this mean?” he growls into the phone.
Something’s not right. Is my dad hurt? What’s happening? The thought of him being hurt has my heart racing. I grip my mother’s arm for support. Everything was under control when he left.
“Fucking find her. God damn it. She’s a stupid bitch. Where the hell could she have gone?”
“Oh, no,” my mom whispers.
“Motherfucker!” Cain roars.
Salvatore hangs his head and shoves his phone back into his pocket. When he lifts his head back up, his ice-filled eyes scare me.
“They can’t find Emerald. The whore never showed up for work. You all know what this means?”
Everyone acknowledges him but me. I have no damn clue what this means.
“It means we have another goddamned snitch. Cain, it’s up to you to find out who the fuck it is and bring that motherfucker to me.”
“Don’t worry. They’ll find her,” Mom says to me comfortingly.
Knowing now everything is all right with my dad, I’m not worried at all. In fact, I’m the opposite. For the first time in my life, I see blood. Blood dripping from that bitch’s mouth as I pummel her to death.
“Salvatore,” I call out.
“Yes?”
“When they find Emerald, have them bring her to me.”
At that statement, he studies me closely. Then, without saying a word, my uncle, the leader of this family, the man I had no clue existed until a few hours ago, folds his tall frame into the passenger’s side of the car, which pulls off with my cousin at the wheel and my mother in the back. Fifteen minutes ago, no one would have been able to convince me to kill anyone. Now I’ve come to one conclusion. I truly am my parents’ daughter.
***
“You’re staying, then?”
I feel him behind me. So close, his breath caresses the back of my neck.
“Do I have a choice?”
His lips graze the hollow of my nape.
“Yes. You always have a choice.”
“Then I choose to stay. Under one condition,” I rasp, angling my neck the way he likes it.
“Anything.”
“We’re reconnecting, Cain. For now, there will be no touching and no sex. Absolutely nothing.”
He spins me around in his arms, his handsome face dropping.
“Nothing?”
“Well, you can kiss me. Hold me. Talk to me. I want to know everything about what it is you do. If I’m staying here, it’s time I learn exactly what my husband does.”
“I’ll do whatever you want me to do, as long as you’re by my side. And as long as I keep hearing you say, ‘my husband.’”
Chapter Fifteen
Cain
I’d be a bigger asshole than I already am if I didn’t say the past five days have been miraculous with all the bonding Calla and I have done.
We’ve laughed, talked until both of our jaws hurt. She hasn’t left my side once. Things around here have been relatively quiet since the news of the disloyalty of both Emerald and Monty spread like a wildfire.
Everyone is looking for her. Everyone. Yet we are all stumped as to her whereabouts. She has no connections, nothing. I’ve wracked my brain to the point of exhaustion trying to figure out who in the hell would help her. Everyone around here hates her, except for Coon Dog. Fuck, my knuckles are still raw from beating his ass trying to see if he’s the one. He stood there and took it.
Dumbass. I know it’s not him. Of course, I never expected that Emerald had it in her to turn on me, either, even though I treated her worse than the slut she is.
People do some crazy ass shit. I knew Emerald was obsessed with me, but for her to go to the extreme of helping that dickless prick Kryder by keeping him in her house this whole time, and worse, involving her father, still surprises me.
Even so, she’s the one to blame for her own father’s death. I can only imagine the kind of suffering John inflicted on him before he finally put him out of his misery.
This family is all about protecting the ones they love. Friendship means nothing to Salvatore and John. Cecily, either. Their blood does. Especially a young, innocent daughter or niece. Principles run high. Honor, solidarity, and then vengeance. Very few people get a second chance, and Emerald has fucked up in a way she will never be able to fix.
She may not have had a clue that she was disloyal to the wrong people, but she sure as hell will find out once she’s located. Makes me sick to even think I kept her around for years. I feel like it’s all my damn fault. I should have listened to Beamer. All this time, he kept saying he suspected something was off with her, and I didn’t listen.
‘Nah, man. She’s too hung up on me to do anything as stupid as helping Kryder.’
Those were my words, over and over. Fuck. Is she right under our noses like Kryder was? Is her accomplice one of the old club members from when my dad first started up? Someone who hated the fact that I took over when he died? One of the bitches around here I screwed?
“Who the hell is it?” I holler, swiping everything off of my desk. All of it lands on the floor with a loud crash.
Calla strolls in, taking in the destruction. I love it when she walks into my office. I love hearing her voice every day. She’s proved me wrong in every aspect. She’s perfect. She listens. She doesn’t smart off. Well, not in public, anyway.
Not that she’s met too many people. This damn place is quieter than a library, guarded tighter than Guantanamo Bay thanks to my father-in-law, who refuses to let anyone but Priscilla, Bronzer, and Beamer in.
“Who’s what?” she now asks. “Jesus, Cain. What’s gotten into you?”
“Whoever’s helping Emerald, that’s who! I’ve got work to do. I need to get the hell out of here and get it done, but I’m not leaving here until I know who the hell it is. This has gone on long enough. My life with you has been taken away. I can’t even take my wife out to dinner or take her for a long ride on the back of my bike. Shit, I’d even enjoy taking you shopping all day just to be able to get the hell out of here. I want you to be able to go to Canada and get your stuff. Redecorate the house. All I want to do is start my life with you, the life that was stolen from us years ago. If they don’t find that stupid bitch and whoever the hell is dumb enough to help her, I’m going to lose my shit!”
God, why did I quit smoking again? A smoke sure would hit the spot right about now. The bar phone has been ringing nonstop with members wanting to know why they’re not allowed in. I finally had Priscilla set the answering machine to pick up after one ring. They can leave a message. I’m not dealing with them right now. Salvatore’s people from New York are crawling all over the place; it’s like a damn war zone out there. He wasn’t on edge like this when Calla was in Canada, but now that she’s here, he trusts no one. And Manny? He’s off doing my job. Now I feel like Calla did when she first arrived here and I told her she wasn’t going to leave. Except I’m trapped in my own damn territory.
“Whoa there, mister. Who crawled up your ass this morning?”
And there’s her smart little mouth. The one she’s been hiding for the past several days. The one that would look good wrapped around my dick.
“Nothing’s crawled up my ass. You can come over here and crawl on my lap if you want,” I challenge slyly.
Calla strides farther into the room.
“I’ve told you to go. Go do your work. I can go stay with my parents. I know you’re going crazy being locked up here. So am I.”