Finding Gary (The Romanovsky Brothers Book 4) (10 page)

Angie shook Taj’s hand when Zoey stepped out of the way.  “Zoey’s told me a lot about you,” she said.  “Looks like Jessica has the entire bureau tailing all of us.”

“I tried to tell her it was over the top, but she’s convinced Victor King is too dangerous to take chances with.”  Zoey’s eyes traveled her body.  “Maybe she’s not wrong, Angie.”

Angie’s face grew ripe.  “She’s not.” Was all she could say.

“Do you mind if I take a look inside?” Taj asked, surprising them when his deep voice rang in.

“Of course not.”  Angie stepped out of the doorway so Taj could enter.

He stepped into the Tribeca apartment, and after scanning the living room immediately disappeared down the hallway.

Zoey stepped inside, and Angie closed the door after her.  They shared a look just as Taj came back into the living area.

“Looks okay,” he said to Zoey before looking at Angie.  “Are you expecting any visitors?”

Angie shook her head again.  “It’s just my boyfriend, Roman, and I, and he’s at work until six.  I know Zoey, and the boys are having some problems, so I made sure the apartment would be empty so we could see each other.”

“Good,” Taj nodded.  “I’ll be in the hallway if you need me.”

“You’re more than welcome to stay inside,” Angie said.  “No reason to go lonely out in the hallway.”

Taj went to the door and lingered, half his body in the hall.  “Just trying to give you guys some space.”

“Okay, well… door’s open.”

After Taj stepped out, scanning the hallway the same way he had the apartment, like he had the President’s life in his hands, Angie closed the door behind him with a laugh.

“Well, your agent is basically delectable.  A little paranoid, but I guess that’s a good thing,” Angie whispered, moving with Zoey into the living room.  “My protective agent’s both have beer bellies, and I don’t even know their names.  They just sit in a parked car on the curb and follow me wherever I go like a couple of crazy stalkers.”

“Yeah, Jessica thinks that if King has any plans to retaliate, Marcus will be his first stop.  She insisted a couple of extra eyes would be necessary.”

Angie’s eyes fell to the swaddle in Zoey’s arms, and she moved toward her.  “Can I hold him?”

Zoey looked down at Marcus, shifted the cloth, so his face was showing more and then nodded, sitting down on the living room couch with Angie and passing him into her open arms.

“Wow,” Angie whispered the moment she had Marcus.  She looked up at Zoey with tears filling her eyes.  “He’s perfect.”

“Right?” Zoey asked, unable to stop the emotional tears hitting her own eyes.  “Every time I look at him I can’t believe he’s mine.  Like, how is it possible that someone as fucked up as me made something so perfect?”

“You’re the farthest thing from fucked up.” Angie kissed Marcus’ forehead.  “He’s the way I always pictured your first baby being.”

“What, brown?”

“No, even though he is browning up quite nicely,” Angie laughed.  “No, he’s just… all love.”

“You should see him when he’s awake.  He’s so alert and happy.  Every single thing makes him giggle.  I forgot that it was possible to feel simple happiness like that.”

Angie cradled him closer.  “I’m proud of you, Zoey.”

“I’m proud of you too.  Can’t wait for Marcus to meet his new cousin.”  She reached over and rubbed Angie’s belly, which was still perfectly flat.

“I can’t believe the life plans we drew up in high school are actually coming true.  Getting married together.  Having babies together.”

“Are we still doing the double wedding?” Zoey joked.

Angie howled.  “We were so lame…”

“To the core.”

“God help these babies.”

Zoey giggled.

Angie looked down at Marcus.  “Can I take a picture of him?”  She leaned over and swooped her cell phone up from the coffee table.  “Just to have something to show to Roman?  He talks about Marcus all the time.  He’s been dying to know what he looks like.  They all hav—”

Angie’s words were cut off when Zoey suddenly reached over and removed Marcus from her arms, waiting until he was settled before she leaped from the couch and took several steps away.

“Of course you can’t take a picture of him,” she said.

Angie was stunned, holding the phone out.  “I can’t take a picture?  Isn’t that like a newborn baby right of passage?  A baby that cute should be sick of taking pictures at this point.”

Zoey’s eyes grew wounded, and she cuddled him close.  “I don’t want them to have any part of him.”

“They don’t have any part of him,” Angie said, shaking her head.  “They don’t even know what he looks like.  Didn’t even know his name until I told them.”

“And you shouldn’t have done that,” Zoey accused.  “There’s a reason they don’t know what he looks like or what his name is.  They don’t know because I didn’t tell them, and I didn’t tell them because I don’t want them to know.  They will never be apart of his life, and they need to accept that because it’s never going to change.”

“Zoey…”

“Anyone who knew and didn’t say a word to me is dead to me for life,” Zoey hissed.  “And they’re dead to my son, too.  I mean that.”

“You know, I knew.”  Angie shifted, pushing her glasses up her nose.  “I didn’t know it was Gary behind the wheel, but I knew it was one of them.  I knew Jessica was working undercover the whole time.  From the first time she sat down at Sunday dinner.   I’m the one who asked her to pull the streetlight footage from that night, right before this all spiraled.  I knew Zoey.  Am I discharged from your life too?”

Zoey looked away.  “It’s different with you.  The only reason you didn’t tell me was because you discovered the truth when I was pregnant.  You were worried the stress would make me miscarry, and it looks like you were right.  The second Jessica told me she was investigating the family, I started bleeding and nearly lost my child.  You knew that telling me the truth could’ve hurt Marcus.  But I know you would’ve told me any other time.  I know you would’ve told me the very second after Marcus was born, and you were sure he was safe and healthy.”

“You’re right.  I would’ve.  I can’t even begin to explain how hard it was to keep it from you.  How sick to my stomach I got every time I was alone in a room with any of them, knowing one of them had done it.”

“They knew before I was pregnant.  They knew for ten years.  They knew it from the moment they laid eyes on me when I first walked into their house in Jersey City.  They knew it when they shook my hand and introduced themselves for the first time.  They knew it every time they looked at me across the dinner table, every time they smiled at me, every time they protected me, every time they told me they loved me, and every time…”  Zoey’s voice rose as she jammed her finger towards the door.  “Every time that bastard was inside me.  He knew.”

Angie’s eyes fell.

Zoey made a disgusted noise, plopping back down onto the couch.

Angie lifted a shoulder.  “Roman didn’t.”

Zoey’s eyes zoomed to her.  “What?”

If it was possible, Angie’s shoulder went even higher, nearly disconnecting from her body.  “Roman didn’t know what happened until after you were pregnant either.  Leo never knew.  Not until Gary confessed.  Neither did Bette.  Those are Marcus’ uncles.  His grandmother.  They haven’t even met Marcus and still can’t stop talking about how much they love him, how much they want to be apart of his life.  Every time they see me all they talk about is him.  They ask me a million questions about him.   They want to see pictures.  They didn’t know, Zoey.  If you don’t think it’s right to punish me, then maybe it isn’t right to punish them either.”

Zoey’s teeth slowly showed themselves through her tightened lips.  Her breasts rose and fell at a cheetah’s pace, and for a moment, she seemed entirely focused on the simple act of breathing.  “Let me make one thing really clear, Angie, since the entire world seems to be misunderstanding the shit out of me—including my best friend.”  Zoey’s deep breathing had moved to gasping, making her sound like she was on the verge of an asthma attack.  “If your last name is Romanovsky, you don’t exist to me.  You.  Do not.  Exist.  Point, blank, period.  If your last name is Romanovsky, it means you share blood with the people who killed my parents, looked me in my eye, and lied to me about it.  If your last name is Romanovsky, you are not on my team, and you are not on my side.  If your last name is Romanovsky, you are
dead
to me.  You’re just a wolf in sheep's clothing, waiting for me to turn my back again so you can find another way to decapitate me from behind.  I don’t give a shit if Roman didn’t know, or if Leo didn’t know, or if Bette didn’t know.  They will never be in my life again because the blood in their veins is tainted.”

“And the blood in Marcus’ veins?” Angie asked, her voice exponentially lower as she realized the dangerous ground she was treading.

Dangerous it was because Zoey left the couch again.  Even though she was still gasping uncontrollably, she breezed across the room with Marcus in a gentle hand.

“Zoey…” Angie stood, gripping the back of the couch.  “I’m not trying to go against you. I’m just trying to help.  Don’t you think it’s unhealthy to harbor such hatred for the blood running through your own child’s body?  Don’t you see how insidious that is?  That if you let it infect you too deeply, you might even end up hating him too?”

Sniffling and cradling Marcus to her breast, Zoey threw her diaper bag over her shoulder.  “You know, when I was about to be released from the hospital, Jessica asked me if I had a safe place to go since the only family I’ve known for ten years had been erased from my life.  And I didn’t hesitate for one second because I knew, all along, that I had you.  I knew that my family would always be right here, with you.  But you’re still seeing Roman.  You’re still laying down with him.  You’re still able to look him in the eye, knowing what his family did to me.  And you have the audacity to insinuate that I should show them mercy?  Where the fuck is my mercy?  Where is my son’s mercy?”

“My job as your friend… your family, and I am your family Zoey… my job as your family is to tell you the truth.  Or, at least, my truth.  What I feel is my truth in the deepest part of me.  And in the deepest part of me, Zoey.”  Angie’s breathing had picked up, too.  “I feel like you’ll regret letting Marcus grow up without knowing his other half.  I don’t want you to look back on all of this one day and regret it.”

Zoey held her eyes across the room.

For a moment, Angie was sure she’d gotten through to her.

“I’ll tell you what I won’t look back on and regret,” Zoey whispered, shifting Marcus.  “I won’t look back and regret telling you, right now, to go fuck yourself.  I won’t regret looking back and telling you to get the hell out of my life and stay that way.  Lose my fucking number.”

Angie tried to follow Zoey as she sped for the door, but dizziness overtook her, and her weakened limbs quickly won out, forcing her to grab the back of the couch once more when the world began to spin.

She managed to call out to Zoey one last time, even though it was more of a whimper than the scream she’d intended, just as Zoey left the apartment and slammed the door shut.

***

Later that night, the moon was high, booming into the master bedroom and bouncing off Gary’s shiny brown curls. 

Cradled against the pillow with his head in his hand, Reggie reached out and wrapped a curl around his finger, sighing.  Gary shifted next to him, a frown collecting between his eyebrows and a moan leaving his mouth, still trapped in that place between rest and wakefulness, until his face relaxed once more, and he was breathing deeply again.

Reggie released Gary’s curl.  A gentle smile touched his lips as he ran the backs of his fingers along each of Gary’s long eyelashes, the wispy hairs tickling his skin, down his angular nose, and over each oval shaped jaw.  His eyes darkened as his touch traveled under Gary’s chin and down his chiseled chest, taking his time, letting each dip and valley linger under his fingers until he reached Gary’s naked hips.

Reggie’s lips tightened, and he waited for the feeling.  The feeling he always thought he’d feel if he’d ever found himself living in the moment he was living in right then.  He waited for it to be the way he always thought it would, but it never came.

What he felt surpassed anything his imagination could’ve conjured up.

His eyes burned with almost as much fury as his heart, and before he knew it, he was out of bed and getting dressed.

***

Jessica cursed under her breath as she threw her robe on.  Passing the nightstand next to her bedroom door, she snatched up the Glock 22 she always kept on top of it, glowering into the hallway.  Her blurry vision guided her to a stumbling stop in front of her apartment door, which some asshole was still banging on.  She wasn’t sure she’d be able to contain herself from putting a bullet in their neck—whoever they were—just to teach them a lesson.

Throwing the door open with her gun drawn, she immediately rolled her eyes at the person on the other side.

Wearing a button down shirt just as bloodshot red as her sleepy eyes, Reggie King held his hands up next to his head, surrendering, amusement jumping from his gaze.