At Peace (76 page)

“I had the world sleepin’ on my chest,” he
replied, his voice low, thick.

I looked at the photo. “Funny how the world
can fit in your arm.”

“Funny,” Joe repeated quietly and I looked at
him to see that now he was looking at me and then his arm slid
around me.

“Joe –” I started, new tears gliding down my
face.

“Put him on your shelves, buddy.”

I hugged the photo to my chest and wiped the
wetness from my cheeks. The only words there were to say were the
words I said.

“Thank you.”

Before I could move he asked, “Girls there
when Theresa gave you that?”

I nodded. “Keira said you looked hot, even
holding a baby.”

A short laugh came from him. It sounded
startled like he didn’t think he’d ever laugh again.

Then he looked down at my chest and muttered,
“Fuck.”

“What?” I whispered and his eyes came to
mine.

“He’d be old enough to date Kate,” he
answered.

I didn’t know what to do with this or what
Joe was doing with it so I stayed still and silent and waited.

“Fuck,” Joe repeated.

I braved the uncertain vibe and informed
him, “He got even a little of you, Dane wouldn’t stand a chance,”
Joe looked at me and I continued, “or Keira would make him her
mission and they’d likely be fightin’ over him.”

His hand slid up my back until his fingers
sifted into my hair.

“It sucks, sayin’ this, I hate to say it but
I’m going to,” he said.

“What?”

“He lived, I might still be with her and
you’d be next door and I wouldn’t be right here.”

Quickly, I reminded him, “For good or for
bad, that didn’t happen, Joe.”

“You’d be here, alone, or… fuck, you’d be
with Haines,” he went on like I didn’t speak.

I was seeing that this was heading down
the way, way,
way
wrong
path.

“Joe, don’t. Life is life, baby. That’s all
it is.”

His eyes locked with mine.

“It’d never be good with her, she wasn’t
gonna change and she didn’t. But, if he lived, I’d never leave her
and that’s all I’d have. Except for Nicky, I’d never have somethin’
sweet.”

I set the picture on the nightstand and moved
to straddle him, pushing him to his back.

“Yes you would,” I pressed my face into his
neck and my lips to his skin. “I saw you, I’d go all Tina and do
everything to catch your eye. Watering my flowers in a bikini and
all sorts of shit. We wouldn’t be able to fight the attraction and
we’d have a torrid affair,” I told him. “It would suck and I’d feel
shit but you’d leave her for me and I’d pay you back by givin’ you
all sorts of sweet things.”

As I spoke, my lips travelled his neck and
throat and his hands started roaming my body.

“You’re full of shit, buddy. I’d see you
waterin’ your flowers in a bikini, I’d come onto you and you’d go
prude and freeze me out.”

I lifted my head and looked down on him just
as his fingers curled around my breast.

“Joe, you fucked me on the hood of your car
even when I was seriously pissed at you,” I reminded him. “I think
we can take it as read I wouldn’t go prude.”

His thumb swiped my nipple, my lips parted
and my hips jerked. At this, his eyes grew dark in a seriously sexy
way and his lips tipped up at the ends.

“
Yeah,” he muttered, “forgot about
that.”

I blinked then felt my body get tight. “You
forgot?”

His lips curled into a full-on smile.
“Thanks for reminding me.”

Even though I knew he didn’t forget and was
just fucking with me, I still heard an angry noise escape my throat
and I started to pull away but Joe rolled so he was on top and his
face disappeared in my neck as his thumb circled my nipple.

“We had an affair, buddy, we’d probably have
to do it on the GT more than once,” he noted against my neck.

“We’d have to do it so you’d remember we did
it before,” I snapped back but this wasn’t as effective as it
should have been since my breathing was getting heavy and my legs
were moving to tangle with his.

I felt his chuckle against my skin then his
lips moved to my jaw. “We’d probably have to do it in the car
too.”

“Would you remember that?”

He ignored my semi-irate question. “And be
creative about other places we did it.”

“Joe –”

“In your car.”

“Joe –”

“In your garage.”

“Joe –”

“In my truck.”

“Joe!”

His mouth went to mine and I stopped
breathing at what I saw in his eyes.

“You’re right, though. We would have found
each other.”

My body relaxed under his and I whispered,
“Joe.”

His head came up and he grinned slow. “You
realize, buddy, that we’re discussing the ways I’d cheat on
Bonnie.”

It struck me that we actually were and that
was kind of funny therefore I giggled.

Then I said through a smile and while running
my fingers along his scar, up his cheekbone and into his hair. “I
met her once, honey, and I didn’t like her much so I’m not too
broken up about that.”

His head came down and he kissed me through
his gentle laughter.

Then he fucked me but nothing about that was
gentle.

It would be later, when I was almost asleep,
that I realized we’d both laughed about Bonnie but, more
importantly, Joe had done it.

And I fell asleep thinking that, even though
it was funny, what we said was also probably true.

And that was even funnier.

* * * * *

The next morning while Kate and Keira were
running around like they’d never gotten ready for school in their
lives, Keira working herself into a frenzy because it was her first
day in high school and Joe was making them oatmeal and being calm
which had no effect on them being in a tizzy, I walked out with the
photo frame filled with Joe and Nicky and I put it on the
shelves.

Kate saw, smiled at me but she didn’t say a
word.

Keira didn’t see me because she was arguing
with Joe. “But Joe, I can’t eat oatmeal. My stomach feels
funny.”

“
Nerves, baby, eat,” Joe
replied.

“I’ll get sick,” Keira returned.

“No you won’t,” Joe said.

Keira looked at me and cried, “Mom!”

“Eat your oatmeal, honey,” I told her.

She stomped a foot on a repeated, annoyed,
“Mom!”

“Keirry, the last time you vomited you were
in second grade and had the flu. The last time you threatened to
vomit was two days ago,” I said. “You need food or you’ll get
cranky before second period. Eat your oatmeal.”

“Argh!” she shouted and then snatched up her
oatmeal.

Keira ate her oatmeal and we had seven more
dramas before she and Kate climbed into Kate’s Fiesta and they
headed out while Joe and I waved them good-bye (well, Joe stood by
me while I waved good-bye, he didn’t wave).

When they were out of sight, I turned and
moved into Joe, wrapping my arms around him. I looked up at him and
he looked down at me.

“
Shit, my baby’s in high school,” I
muttered.

“Yeah,” was his only reply.

“Shit,” I repeated, pressed my face into his
chest and his fingers wrapped around the back of my neck.

“Let’s just hope she doesn’t snag a boyfriend
on day one,” Joe told the top of my head.

I tipped my head back. “She’s on a mission so
don’t hope too hard. You do, you’re cruisin’ for
disappointment.”

Joe grinned, dipped his face to mine, kissed
me and then guided me into the house.

He knew the picture was there, I knew he did.
He didn’t say anything and neither did I.

I got ready and went to work and Joe got
ready with me and went to his office.

Life goes on.

* * * * *

And life went on, safe and sweet in most
ways, insane and crazed because two teenage girls lived in our
house.

But that shield Joe put up was strong and
held true for two beautiful weeks.

Then Daniel Hart blew it to smithereens.

Collapse

Benny heard the knock on his door, his eyes
opened and the woman in his bed moved. When she reminded him of her
presence, he struggled to remember her name. He could remember her
lips, could even call up a vision of them. Full, soft, a nice
red-pink even without lipstick. Heaven wrapped around his cock
especially with all her long, dark hair all around, soft against
his skin. He usually liked to watch and would pull their hair back.
Her hair was so soft he left it where it was.

It came to him. Carla.

She lifted her head. “Whas that?”

“Go back to sleep. I’ll take care of it,”
Benny told her, throwing the covers back and grabbing his jeans
from the floor.

Carla collapsed back into bed and he heard
her soft snore.

He yanked up his jeans, left the room and hit
the stairs, surprised her snores began immediately. He knew then
that was it, she was out. Not that she’d made an impression on him,
only her lips had but even if he woke up beside her and she
rallied, he knew she was out. He hated snoring and he also couldn’t
call up much emotion for some bitch who could hear a knock on the
door in the early hours of morning and leave him to it. He wouldn’t
let her do anything but he figured Violet would not go back to
sleep and leave Cal to deal. She’d wait to go back to sleep when
she knew he was back in bed with her, safe. And he knew she’d do
this with her dead husband too. She’d do this before she learned
knocks in the moments before dawn could mean bad shit had come
calling. She’d do this because it was the right thing to do if you
were a good person or you gave a shit about someone.

Not many good ones out there, he was thinking
as he walked down the stairs. He was just glad Cal finally found
himself one of them.

He stopped at the foot of the stairs and he
felt a clutch in his chest when he heard the knocks coming from the
backdoor not the front.

“Fuck me,” he muttered, went to the hall
closet, grabbed his gun and headed back toward the kitchen.

Standing to the side of the door, he shoved
the curtain partially aside and saw Frankie standing on his back
stoop.

His first instinct was to open the door,
shove the bitch down the stairs, close the door, walk upstairs and
kick Carla out. Just seeing Francesca put him in no mood to be
around any woman. But his mother would have a conniption if he put
his hand on a woman in anger even if that woman was Francesca who
his Ma detested, so he didn’t do this. His mother in a conniption
wasn’t worth the trouble, even for the satisfaction of laying his
hands on his dead brother’s bitch.

Therefore he switched on the outside light,
turned the lock and opened the door, keeping his gun in his
hand.

The life she led with Vinnie, Francesca had
learned and she clocked the gun first.

“Benny,” she whispered.

“Say what you gotta say, bitch, and get the
fuck outta my space,” Benny replied.

Her eyes lifted and the second thing she
clocked was his chest. Stopping there, her face got pale, he could
see it even in the dark. Stupid, greedy slut.

“Two seconds,” Benny warned and Frankie’s
eyes shot to his.

“It’s Cal,” she said quickly and that feeling
in his chest got tighter.

Benny opened the door further, stepped back
and Frankie moved in. Benny shut the door, locked it, flipped off
the light switch and grabbed her arm, yanking her into the
hall.

“Benny –” she started when he stopped them in
the hall.

“I got company,” he told her, his voice quiet
and he saw her head tip back to look up the stairs.

“Figures,” she whispered and her voice was
tight.

“You got somethin’ to say about Cal?” Benny
prompted.

“Who is she?” Frankie asked and Benny pressed
his lips together. Then she went on and her voice was lower but
lighter. Apologetic. “Benny –”

“When’d it become your business who I fuck?”
Benny asked.

“Ben,” she whispered.

“That sign went up on the restaurant,
Frankie, but when it did I didn’t become a millionaire. Got no more
than Pop which wasn’t good enough for you. Not gonna give you the
chance to wrap your golden cunt around my cock and get me to sell
into a franchise like you tried to talk Vinnie into talkin’ Pop
into doin’.”

In a flash he felt her attitude hit the
hall.

“You’re talkin’ that trash to me and I used
to be a member of your family,” she hissed.

“
You came to my house in the middle of the
night with info about Cal and you’re leadin’ with this shit so
brace, babe, ‘cause you brought it on yourself. You gave up your
position in this family when you led Vinnie by his dick straight to
Sal. I’ll remind you, this isn’t the first time after we lost him
you tried to get it from me and I told you before, that shit
is
not
fuckin’
happening. You came here to say something, say it.”

“I needed to be with someone who loved him
like I did,” she snapped in her defense.

“
Yeah, bet he was smilin’ down from heaven
when he saw you tryin’ to shove your hand down my pants,” Benny
fired back.

“We were both emotional. Things got outta
hand.”

“
No, nothin’ got
in
your hand.”

“
You
kissed
me
,”
she returned.

Benny leaned in and got in her face.
“Bullshit, you pressed up against me, laid it on me and I was
wasted.”

“I was wasted too.”

“Woman, your boyfriend had been whacked.”

“And your brother had been whacked.”

Benny wanted to relive this like he wanted to
be kicked in the gonads therefore he went silent and started
counting to ten.