Cautious (Sequel to Disastrous) (5 page)

Snapping the door shut, I shoved off my jacket and threw it over
a chair. “What the fuck was all that about, Lar?”

Wrapping a towel around his hands, he shook his head and took a
seat by the table. “I got a page from the blond bartender about a drunk acting
rowdy. I went to check it out, and the guy was giving me a problem, so I
roughed him up a little bit and kicked him the fuck out. When I did, he took a
swing at me, so . . . you know how I get.” He shrugged.

“No, you know fuckin’ better. I don’t want police around here.
You should have taken him out, closed the fuckin’ door, and left it at that.
Not only were employees out there but so were customers! I want this to be a
fuckin’ clean club, Larry. You got that?”

Cocking his lips aside, he nodded, “Yeah, I got that.”

“Good.”

It was going to be a long fucking night.

***

We all hung around in the VIP room, waiting for Lou to
arrive. No one had said a word for the past forty minutes as we all sat there
silently wondering why the meeting was called. Lou never asked to meet with all
of us at once, unless it was something of the utmost importance. I grabbed
myself a second drink and realized that the ice machine was broken. After
making a phone call to one of the maintenance men, I downed the warmth of the
smooth whisky in one shot. I knew that I should have stopped drinking, but it too
was difficult. Liquor was my solace, my time away from all the bullshit, my
only escape until I met Mia, but Mia wasn’t there at that moment, and I needed
something to ease my mind from the hell-hole issue I called Lou.

Jimmie glanced my way and raised a brow. I knew he hated it when
I drank, but the waiting game was beginning to bore me, and, even though I
shouldn’t have done it, I poured myself another drink. That’s when Lou walked
in with his nephew, Giovanni Sorrento. I hadn’t seen Gio in years. Last I’d
heard of him, he was involved in a bad deal and skipped town. Now he was suddenly
back from out of the blue . . . which only meant Lou was up to no good.

Lou made his rounds of acknowledgments, while Gio made his way
towards me. He looked exactly the same, a younger version of Lou: dark hair,
olive skin, and the same cockiness about his persona. Since Lou never had
children of his own, he always took care of his nephew like a son. Anyone that
fucked with Gio was taken care of, no questions asked.

He reached his hand out to me with a grin. “Marky, hey how you
been?” I took his hand, and he pulled me in for a quick hug.

“I’m good. How ’bout you? You back for good or just visiting?”

“Oh, you know, visiting, but it may be permanent.” He laughed. “So
I hear you’re settling down now. When will I be able to meet this woman of
yours?”

Buddy walked up beside us and shook Gio’s hand. Then he faced me
with a wiseass grin. “He keeps her hidden. I haven’t met her yet, and it’s more
like pussy whipped than settled down.”

Arching a brow at Buddy, I stepped into him. “Shut the fuck up,
Buddy! And you’ll never get to meet her, anyways.”

Buddy’s expression grew cocky. “What’s wrong, Marky? Are you
afraid the minute she sets her eyes on me she’ll want to suck my cock instead
of yours?” He winked.

Every fucking thing around me turned red. The sound of others
chatting went dead. My chest stilled as my fist clenched. My face burned as I
held my breath, afraid that once I blew out air I would attack. It didn’t work.
One minute, I was standing in front of Buddy. The next minute, I had gripped
him by the neck and had begun pounding his face against the wooden table. I
felt someone trying to pull me away, but I continued to smash his face along
the surface, grunting with each impact as blood splattered.

Finally, I was pulled back and pinned down by Jimmie and Vinnie.
“Let me the fuck go, now!” I yelled, wrestling to be free.

Buddy lifted his head from the table as blood gushed out of his
nose. He cupped his face with his hands. “What the fuck, Marky! I was joking
around with you.”

“Yeah? Well that’ll fuckin’ teach you that I don’t take jokes
very fuckin’ lightly.”

Everyone immediately turned their heads in the direction of the
door that just opened. The maintenance man stood by the doorway with seven
angry guys glaring at him. “Ah, um, I got a call that something’s broken?” His
voice was shaky.

“Yeah, his fuckin’ nose!” I huffed out, pointing my head at
Buddy.

Gio shook his head and stared me up and down laughing. “Well, I
can see your temper hasn’t changed.” His laughter went louder when Buddy glared
at him. “Well, Buddy, Marky may be pussy-whipped, but he ain’t no pussy. Lesson
learned.” Gio patted Buddy’s shoulder.

“Fuck off.” Angrily, Buddy shoved away and stormed out of the
room.

Still pinned to the floor, my body jerked. “Let me go!” After a
moment, both Jimmie and Vinnie hesitantly loosened their grip. Jumping up, I
straightened my shirt. “What?” I asked, responding to Jimmie’s dubious
expression.

Raising his hands, he shook his head. “Nothing little bro, it’s
your show.”

“Fuck off, Jimmie.”

“Marky, go clean your fuckin’ face. You have blood all over it,
and let’s get this fuckin’ meeting over with, eh?” Lou’s raspy tone pierced
through my growing anger. I stared at Lou for a few harsh seconds before
sniffing and heading toward the sink.

After a few minutes, we surrounded the sectional area. I stood
and leaned against the glass wall as everyone sat. “Okay, as you all can see, I
brought my nephew Gio back for a reason. He’s going to be working on figuring
out who the rat is. Marky, don’t worry about it. Just keep doing what you do
for me, and Gio will take care of the rat.” I nodded at Lou in response. “As
far as the pigs sniffing the warehouses, we have to move to a different
location. Marky, we’re doing it here.”

“No.” I blurted. “We’re not doing exchanges here. I refuse. You
should know better than to ask that.”

“Did I fuckin’ ask?” Lou spat with a tightened jaw. Gio put his
hand on Lou’s shoulder.

“We don’t have a choice, Marky.” Gio chimed in. “Unless you have
a better suggestion?”

“Pick another fuckin’ warehouse, somewhere out of the city, or
even a storage unit.”

“A storage unit don’t sound like a bad idea, boss.” Vinnie
mentioned.

Lou shook his head. “No, too many people go in and out of storage
units, and if a deal goes wrong, they’ll hear gunshots. It’s too risky.”

“We do exchanges at three sometimes two in the morning; storage
units are packed during the day. There’s no way we’ll bump into anyone.” Vinnie
argued.

“I fuckin’ said ‘no’ and that’s that. Anybody got a problem with
that?” He looked around the room, and when no one responded, he went on, “Your
job, Marky, is to come up with a new location for our exchanges by next week.
Vinnie, you can help him with that, but no storage units.
If
you can
find a warehouse outside of Boston that’s been secluded for years, I’m in. Other
than that, it
will
be here.”

“You do understand this is a club, full of people six nights a
week?” I clarified.

Cocking his head, his stare hardened. “Exactly, six nights a week,
Marky. Our exchange dates can easily be changed to Sundays.” With that said, he
and Gio were gone.

***

After the meeting with Lou and the men, I took care of
a few issues regarding inventory at the Club and then headed home. By the time
I got into bed, it was close to three in the morning. What a fucking night!
Tossing and turning, I couldn’t get comfortable and had trouble falling asleep.
My mind drifted back and forth between the night before when Mia and I were
standing in the pouring rain as I begged her to take me back, and a few hours before
when I found out about all the shit I was going to have to deal with in trying
to locate a new spot for Lou’s exchanges.

I felt physically drained with all of the fucking stress between
Mia and me, as well as the whole fucking Lou situation. I wished Mia was lying
next to me so I could feel her warm soft skin, kiss her lips, and lose myself
in those eyes. She made everything go away, even if it was for a few hours or just
a couple of minutes. If it weren’t so early in the morning, I would have called
her just to hear her voice. Not able to control myself, I sent her a quick text
telling her that I loved her, and to my surprise, she responded immediately.

Mia (2:58 a.m.): I love u too. Why r u still up?

Me (2:58 a.m.): Can’t stop thinking of u. The real
question is why r u still up?

Mia (2:59 a.m.): Can’t stop thinking of u.

My phone rang, and it was her on the other line. “So I guess
we’re having the same issue, huh?” I asked.

“I guess so. Want to talk until we fall asleep? It’s probably our
best bet.”

“Or, I could just go over there, and we can fall asleep
together.” I was hoping she’d say yes, because I’d jump in my car within
seconds.

“Mmmh, as tempting as that sounds, I know you, Marcus, and your
charming ways, so for now, as we live through our bet, no sleeping in the same
room.”

“Damn it, for a second there, I thought you would cave in.”

She giggled. Yes, I could fall asleep to that sound! “You should
know me better than that, Marcus. I never back down from a bet.”

“Well, you should know me better too, because I will try
everything in my power to force you to back down from your bet.”

“We shall see. We’ll see each other tomorrow, oh well, a few
hours actually. We’re still on for our date at noon?”

“Of course, we are. I promised my girl a good time.”

As we talked through the early morning, I didn’t remember falling
asleep with the phone pressed between the pillow and my ear. As stressful and as
long as my day had been, it didn’t matter. None of it mattered because I was
able to hear the sound of her voice, the sound of her breathing, and everything
else at that moment just faded away.

CHAPTER FOUR

MIA

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Reaching for my phone, I shut the alarm off. My head felt as if I
was recovering from a hangover, but it was from lack of sleep. Yawning, I
stretched a little longer than usual, tossed the covers off, and prepared for
the day ahead.

Coffee. I needed coffee. Marcus was going to be there in a few
hours, and I wanted to be well energized for the day he had planned for us. As
curious as I was about what those plans were, I shoved the thoughts aside and
settled on being surprised. After I entered the kitchen, I made a cup of Joe,
grabbed a magazine, and nestled into a stool by the island. As I inhaled the
freshly brewed coffee, my mind drifted through scenes from the last four
months.

Marcus and I had been through a lot in our relationship. We’d
been through more ups and downs than most couples. Despite everything, it all
boiled down to the fact that, no matter what happened, I still loved him.
Looking back, I realized that we could only grow from our experiences, which
would hopefully make us stronger.

Taking another sip of my coffee, I glanced over the mug and saw
Megan walking out of Jeremy’s room. I knew she’d slept in his room the night
before, but it was her appearance that had me in shock. Her long, light brown
hair was tousled with the I-just-got-fucked-look and the t-shirt she wore
wasn’t hers. Megan stood frozen when she took note of me. The both of us stared
with puzzled expressions on our faces. Slowly I placed the mug on top of the
granite counter, raised a brow, and cleared my throat. “Why are you wearing
Jeremy’s shirt?”

Megan’s lips curved into a mischievous grin as she placed a hand
on her hip. “Well, if you must know, we started by making out. Then . . .” She
ran her hands up the side of her curves with a slight shimmy to her shoulders.

She stopped her show at the wave of my hand. “No, please spare me
the details. I don’t want specifics. I want to know what’s going on between the
two of you. Are you guys dating?”

Megan laughed, shook her head, and opened the fridge to pull out
a carton of orange juice. “Don’t be ridiculous. We’re just fuckin’.” She stated
nonchalantly while pouring herself a drink.

“Ah, just fuckin’, yeah, that clears it up. How long has this
been happening? Last night you didn’t seem to be interested. Meg, you know
Jeremy has never been in a committed relationship. I don’t want you to get
attached and then—”

“Please, Mia, we’re just having fun; that’s all it is. Last night
I didn’t want you get the wrong impression. I wanted to tell you first, instead
of you finding out like this. I know what Jeremy is about. I’m a big girl. I
can handle it.”

“Okay, but you’re my cousin. He’s my best friend and roommate.
The last thing I want is to be stuck between two hurt people that I care for
dearly.”

“Don’t worry. You won’t.” She snatched the magazine, sat on a
stool across from me, and began flipping through pages. “So, want do some
shopping today?” She asked, still looking at this week’s fashion section. Her
quick change of the subject told me that the topic of her and Jeremy was off
limits. “I need to find an outfit for this weekend. Ooh, these shoes are cute!”
She pointed at a pair of royal blue peep-toe heels.

“I can’t.” Standing, I padded toward the sink and dumped out the
rest of my coffee. “I have a date.”

“With?”

Turning, I leaned against the sink and crossed my arms with a
smile. “Marcus. He’ll be picking me up soon.”

She flashed a huge grin. “Good. I’m glad you’re working things
out. Honestly if it were me, I would’ve forgiven him the first night he slept
in the hallway. Poor guy—you made him sleep four nights out there.” She shook
her head while continuing to flip through the magazine.

“Megan, I had valid reasons for not giving in too soon.” Thinking
back on it, my stomach turned when the image of Marcus and Boston Barbie at
Club21 played through my head. Then I thought of all the females he may have slept
with during our separation.