Breaking Bones (Mariani Crime Family Series Book 2) (16 page)

“Thanks.”

We played three rounds before I returned the controller and stood to leave.

“What? You’re not gonna lecture me?” he asked.

Confused, I asked, “Why would I lecture you?”

“Because she was a… a whore.” His face contorted. “She was using me for my money and position. She was too old for me. Why can’t I see that I’m better off without her?” His voice choked up. He swallowed. “The Pelinos did me a favor, and I’m up here pining away for her like some lovesick puppy.”

My chest ached for the kid. I could almost hear his parents reciting this shit over and over, willing him to accept the truths about the woman he loved. His pain was so heavy, so encompassing, I couldn’t even look at him. I was afraid of being sucked into it. “You’re not stupid, Dante. She couldn’t have been all bad.”

It was the best I could do. I couldn’t defend her against the accusations of his parents. Especially not when everything they said was true. Still, he was just a boy in love with a girl. He needed to know how normal that was.

His expression softened, once again revealing the persistent little boy who used to follow me and Angel around. “Thanks,” he whispered, turning back to his game.

“When was the last time you slept?” I asked.

“I can’t sleep. Every time I close my eyes I see her reaching for the door.” He choked up again. “We were fighting. I did what you guys wanted. I called it off… told her I couldn’t be with her anymore. I was trying to protect her from you, from Angel, from the family. But I get it now. There is no protection from the family.” His voice dropped. “The family takes everything.”

I couldn’t argue with him, because every word of it was true. Nothing I could say or do would make him feel better.

“You ever been in love, Bones?”

Ariana’s face immediately came to mind. She was standing on top of Sunrise Mountain, my jacket draped over her shoulders as she watched the lights of the city. Then sitting beside me in the Hummer, wiping away tears I’d caused because I couldn’t tell her I had feelings for her. I didn’t even know what I felt.

“I loved her, so they killed her. I watched her die, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. She was dead before I got to her. I didn’t even get to tell her I was sorry.”

What would I do if something happened to Ariana? What if I could never hear her laughter or see her smile again? Would I end up like Dante, locked away hiding from reality? No. I’d go after the son-of-a-bitch who did it and make sure they never hurt anyone again. But if I was really smart, I’d keep Ariana as far away from the family—and me—as possible.

Dante jumped into another game, so I headed downstairs. Everyone had finished eating and the kitchen was empty. I searched the house until I heard sounds coming from the den. They were crowded on the sectional, watching an animated movie on the eighty-five-inch screen. Markie was teaching Sofia how to braid Sonia’s hair, while the twins were snuggled against Ariana. Angel was standing behind them, but broke off and joined me at the door.

“How’s Dante?”

His question pissed me off, not because of the question itself, but because of the necessity of it. Dante’s girlfriend hadn’t died of natural causes or some accident. She’d been murdered because she was dating Dominico Mariani’s son. That was the world we lived in.

“What’d you be like if you lost Markie?” I asked.

Angel’s eyes narrowed. His gaze cut to the sofa, as if reassuring himself she was still there and unharmed. He shook his head. “I don’t know. I can’t think about that right now.”

He wouldn’t be able to think about it ever, but it was always a possibility, especially while we were still in Vegas.

“We need to get the hell out of this city,” I said.

Angel nodded. “I worry about my brothers.”

I worried about them, too. With Angel gone, they’d be completely under their father’s influence and he’d do his best to make sure Dante and Georgio grew into family men he could use. “Maybe we can come back for them or help them in some way. When they’re older.” I couldn’t see how, but Angel was a smart guy. He’d think of something.

He nodded and leaned against the doorway, returning his attention to his siblings in the room. “Maybe we can come back for Christmas and the other holidays to visit. Maybe they can spend some time with us when school’s out.”

I nodded, agreeing with him because he needed it, but I doubted the boss would let Angel anywhere near his children once he left. The boss never negotiated, but Nonna was the wild card. Since she’d be living with us, she could request the kids. Would the boss keep his own mother from seeing her grandchildren? We were in unchartered territory, and I had no idea what would happen. No need to crush Angel’s hopes.

“The twins are getting big,” he observed, drawing my attention to them.

They seemed to be focused on the movie. Ariana must have felt us watching, because she looked up and grinned. She squeezed their shoulders and kissed their foreheads. I’d never pictured Ariana as a kid-person, but watching her with the twins made me reconsider. I wondered what kind of mom she’d make. What kind of wife.

“What’s up with you and Ari?” Angel asked.

And that was the million-dollar question. She liked me, we had chemistry, she made me laugh, she had my back, she was gorgeous, and the taste of her kiss had made me hungry for so much more. Yet there was still a very big problem.

The family takes everything,
Dante’s voice said in the back of my mind.

I knew it was true. As long as I belonged to the family, any relationship I had would be doomed. I’d always known it, which was why I’d stayed clear of anything that could turn romantic. But somehow Ariana had gotten in past my defenses. I still didn’t know if I loved her, but I liked her too much to find out. So I looked my best friend in the eyes and lied to both of us. “Not a damn thing.”

I could tell he didn’t believe me, but he let it go. “You been out a lot lately. Still looking for Matt?”

“Yeah. I got a bead on him last night, but he split before I got to him.”

“Weird. It’s almost like he knows when you’re coming,” Angel said.

I’d been thinking the same damn thing. But I’d been scanning the Hummer every day and I wasn’t being tracked. If Matt was getting tipped off, it had to be from someone in the family. Two months ago, I wouldn’t have even considered the possibility, but a lot had happened in the past sixty days. And I was running out of time. As an enforcer, I was only as good as my job performance. Up to this point, I’d gotten every man the family had sent me after. My record was spotless, making me look like a valuable, capable soldier. But if I didn’t burn Matt, people would start wondering if I was slipping. Or worse, they’d wonder if I was in cahoots with the junkie. And assumptions like that would lead to the boss sending someone after me.

“You’ll get him, Bones. You always do,” Angel said, patting my shoulder.

I had to get Matt. Killing him was the only way I could stay alive.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Ariana

M
Y SISTER HAS always had a soft spot for kids, which is like saying casinos have a soft spot for money or SUVs have a soft spot for gas. Markie seems to need kids around her to survive, almost like she thrives on helping them and doing things for them. Growing up, she was one of those weird kids who would break plans with her friends to babysit, and not because she needed the money. She was crazy. Which was why—on a night when I was finally exhausted enough to sleep—she was talking my ear off, agonizing about Angel’s siblings and wondering how she could possibly drag him away from them.

“Drag him away?” I asked. The visual her words created made me giggle. Angel towered over Markie, and outweighed her by a good fifty pounds. “If he’s the type of man you can ‘drag’ anywhere, you need to dump that loser. Yesterday.”

She sighed. “You know what I mean.”

“Uh, I don’t even think
you
know what you mean, because you just insinuated that your boyfriend is some spineless jellyfish, who’s abandoning his family to be with his girlfriend. And that’s not the type of guy my sister would date.”

“Angel’s not like that at all,” she defended, rolling over to face me.

No, he wasn’t. Angel wasn’t as tough or scary as Bones, but he wasn’t a pushover either. He was perfect for Markie, and he practically worshiped the ground she walked on. “Don’t look at me.
I
didn’t say he was.”

I watched her out of the corner of my eye. It felt so weird to share a bed with Markie again. After our mom died and we moved in with our uncle, I used to sneak into her bed every night. It was silly and immature since we were in high school, but after losing both of our parents, I was afraid I’d lose her, too. But I didn’t lose Markie. She left, first to college, and then to Africa. I was angry when she moved into the dorm, and devastated when she got onto the plane. Especially since I knew she had cancer and I would probably never see her again. Now here she was, healthy, madly in love with Angel, and trying to take care of kids who weren’t her responsibility.

“I wish there was something I could do to help them,” she said.

“You can’t help everyone, you know?”

She frowned. “Yeah, I know. I need to get back to the orphanage. That’ll make me feel better.”

“I don’t think you’re quite ready for that yet. When do you go to the doc next?”

“Friday the fourth.”

The fourth was the day after my birthday. If the doctor gave Markie a clean bill of health, she, Angel, and Bones would be clear to leave Vegas. I didn’t want them to leave, which made me feel needy and co-dependent. Did Bones even want me to go? Sometimes it seemed like he didn’t even want to be in the same room with me. I missed our easy friendship and wished I’d never kissed him on Sunrise Mountain and screwed it up. But he had kissed me back, full of passion and need as his greedy hands roamed over my body. Was that just hormones and testosterone? At the time, I’d been certain there was more, but now I wasn’t so sure. I was still trying to puzzle him out when I drifted off to sleep.

The next morning’s workout was particularly grueling. Bones had stepped up my training to a point where he was now swinging the punching bag at me. I didn’t know whether to dodge or hit and several times I tried both. That didn’t go so well, and I spent more time trying to keep my balance than anything.

“Hey! What’s your problem?” I asked after he slammed the bag into me so hard it ended my war with balance by knocking me off my feet.

Bones leapt into action, steadying the bag as he scanned my body for damage. “You okay?”

I nodded, still breathing heavily. Boxing was no joke on the cardio, especially when your trainer was acting like a muscle-bound sadist.

“Sorry. I was distracted. I didn’t mean to swing it that hard.”

Well that confused me since there were only the two of us in the gym. “Distracted by what?”

“I just got a lot on my mind.”

No way was I gonna let him get away with such a crap-lousy excuse. “Join the party. But you don’t see me trying to put you on your ass.”

He cracked a smile. His gaze roved over my body as I lay on the mat, lingering at the hem of my shorts before drifting to my sports bra, assessing, challenging. “Think you can?”

It was the most attention he’d shown me since the mountain, and I craved it like sunshine after a hard winter. Not to be outdone, I returned the favor, my own hungry gaze floating up his baggy sweats to the T-shirt stretched across his six-pack and pecs. The beast was back, feral, lurking behind his eyes, and I wanted to unleash it—to let it roam and conquer—even though the smart thing would be to run and hide. My senses played a quick game of rock, paper, scissors, and courage crushed brains, forcing me to my feet. Eye-to-eye with the predator, I breathed him in deeply before answering, “Yeah, I do.”