Chapter Two
“Gino, Rosa needs you.”
“What’s happened?” he asked as he left the kitchen table and headed outside to where he’d parked his truck.
Marissa sighed. “She’s been doing a lot better, Gino. She actually sits down to eat with some of the girls in the kitchen rather than up in her room.”
He’d known that she was keeping mostly to herself. They’d moved her into Marissa’s place as soon as she was out of the hospital. Gino figured she would be more comfortable there than here at John’s or at his apartment.
“That’s good.” He opened his truck and climbed in, frowning when Tony and Nico both joined him. “But it doesn’t tell me why you think she needs me.” He started the truck and let the phone system connect the call before he placed his cell on the middle console.
“Two men turned up tonight in the bar.” There was no missing the displeasure in Marissa’s tone. “Wouldn’t have meant a damn thing to me, but they were Hispanic and as soon as they saw Rosa, who was walking back to her room, they started in on her.”
Gino pressed his foot harder to the accelerator. “Started in on her how? What the fuck does that mean, Marissa? Did they hurt her?”
“No, at least not physically. But whatever it was they said to her, it left her pale and shaking. She ran from the room, and I called you. If I was a betting woman, and you know I am, that girl is fixing to run.”
“Don’t you let her leave, Marissa,” Gino ordered down the phone, running a red light as he sped around a corner. “I’ll be there in less than five minutes, and she’d better be there.”
Marissa growled. “If she’s gone by the time you get here, it’s because you didn’t come for her fast enough, asshole.” Then the call disconnected.
“Fuck!” Gino roared, slamming his hand against the steering wheel before turning hard to take the next corner in time.
“Son of a bitch!” Tony growled, throwing his hand out onto the dashboard. “Can you concentrate on keeping this fucking vehicle on the damn road? Leona will be pissed if you end up killing me.”
Gino snarled but eased back on the speed a little. “I didn’t ask you to get in the damn truck.” He shot a look at Nico, who was grinning back at him. “Either of you.”
“True,” Nico responded with a nod. “I got in because I was curious. Rosa was discharged five weeks ago, the same day as you. You visited every day for like three weeks, then suddenly you stopped going to see her two weeks ago. What’s up with that?”
Gino felt frustration with a healthy dose of guilt slam through him. He remembered the night the two of them had been talking, and she—fuck!
“I’ve been busy, Nico,” he snapped, not wanting to think about the reason why he’d been keeping his distance. “But I thank you for keeping up with my fucking work schedule. In case you’ve missed it, the Battaglias are coming at the business hard and fast, hell-bent on causing as much trouble as they can. When the hell have I had time?”
The silence was as damning as the thoughts rolling through his head. He could’ve gone to see her. Hell, he’d promised he would. But it was … difficult. The more he got to know Rosa Hernandez, the more he liked her. The more he liked her, the more guilt he started to feel. Making excuses not to see her helped, and wasn’t he just one large selfish bastard for thinking that?
“You made her a promise, Gino,” Nico said quietly from the back seat. “I was on that rooftop, too. You said you would protect her. That she felt big to you, important. Were those just words to try and get her to step back off that ledge, or did you mean them?”
Tony turned to look at him, the dark cab illuminated by the passing street lights doing nothing to disguise the intensity of his stare. “That’s a damn good question, Nico. If they were just words, lies you told to save her life at that moment, then don’t go into that house. Leave her to me and Nico. She saved Lee and I owe her more than I could ever repay her. I’ll look after her.”
A wave of heat swept through him at the thought of another man taking care of her. Hell, he knew Tony and Leona were committed to each other, but at that moment, he didn’t really give a shit.
“She saved me too, Tony,” Gino snapped.
“Really? I don’t know much about that. You’ve never talked about that night.”
“What, you want to play psychiatrist now?” Gino sneered. “What’s next, a fucking couch and asking me about my relationship with my father? No, that would be a waste of time, wouldn’t it? You know all about that asshole and what he liked to do to young kids. I was a mess before that night, and maybe, just maybe, Rosa is better off alone than being around someone as fucked-up as me.”
Nico made a sound in the back of the car and Gino was thankful for the relative darkness of the cab, hoping neither of them could see the heat he felt sweep into his face.
“Get the hell over it, Gino,” Tony snapped in the darkness. “Yeah, your childhood was shitty, so were a lot of ours, and Gavriil’s was no walk in the damn park either. But we survived and we are who we are. We stand together and we face anything and everything that comes at as. Together. So pull our head out of your ass and decide what that woman means to you. No one but you blames you for your childhood. No. One.”
Gino slid into the drive that led to Marissa’s place, a three-story house with wraparound verandahs on all floors. The ground floor housed the restaurant and bar, the second floor were the bedrooms available for paying clientele, and upstairs were the private rooms for the girls. Marissa ran her house, her businesses, and her girls professionally, and if a man came here looking for comfort, with the money, the temperament, and the background check to warrant it, he got it.
He parked the car and turned in his seat. “I know that, brother, and most of the time, I’m okay with it, too. It rears its ugly head now and then, though. But this isn’t about that. I’m not sure I can forgive myself for what happened the night Tito fucked with us.”
Tony held his stare for a moment then nodded. “I can understand that, G. Guilt is a fucking heavy burden to carry, and I’d love to say it gets easier, but it doesn’t. You go talk with Rosa. Nico and I will wait in the bar and check in with Marissa. See if these two Hispanic fuckers are still here.”
Gino nodded. “Sounds like a plan. Oh, and if they’re still here—”
