Shiloh grinned. “It means we have a secret weapon of our own.”
“Who?”
It wasn’t Levi who answered but Seven. “He means the Mulvaneys.”
Shiloh looked two seconds away from tears. “You talk about the Mulvaneys like they’re the boogeyman. Who are they? Why is my brother suddenly so interested in them?” Levi opened his mouth to answer, but Shiloh cut him off with a finger in his face. “And don’t even think about giving me some bullshit answer,Levi Akira. I need you to tell me how a family that’s in the tabloids more than the Kardashians is somehow going to take down my psychopath brother.”
Seven stood, walking to where Shiloh sat, hopping up on the conference room table. “Think of it like a math problem,” he said. “What’s greater than one psychopathic, remorseless killer?”
Shiloh stared at him, then shook his head.
“Seven,” Enzo said. “The answer is seven remorseless, psychopathic killers.”
“You’re saying the Mulvaney family, the one with the model and the gin-swilling pirate gambler?—”
“It was whiskey, wasn’t it?” Seven asked Levi.
Levi frowned.“Bourbon, maybe?”
“You’re telling me they’re murderers. All of them. The whole family,” Shiloh said.
Seven shrugged. “The adults, anyway.”
“You can’t be serious,” Shiloh said, breathless.
“Now, do you understand why your brother is more of a nuisance than a threat?” Levi asked.
Shiloh just sat staring before giving Levi another wondrous look. “The whole family…”
Shiloh jumped as a high-pitched shriek echoed through Jericho’s garage. Nico had Ever held hostage, holding his arms over his head, forcing him to dance in time with the song blasting through the speaker overhead. Shiloh didn’t know the song. It had a heavy bass beat and really smooth melodies but most of the lyrics were in another language. Ever and Arsen were really into K-pop.
Shiloh blushed as Nico started trying to coax Ever into twerking for Arsen. Ever ran to hide behind his boyfriend while Nico gave a very…aggressive…demonstration. Lake and Cree wolf-whistled, which only seemed to encourage Nico further.
The music abruptly died. Nico paused in confusion, looking at Seven who shook his phone. “I feel like this song suits you better.”
When the music started, they all burst out laughing. Shiloh didn’t get the joke but laughed at Nico’s antics as he shook his ass and rolled his hips, moving from person to person as the song sang about ‘shaking what your mama gave you.’
“His mother used to be an exotic dancer,” Levi said, wrapping his arms around Shiloh’s waist from behind.
“Oh,” Shiloh said. “That—Yeah, that makes sense, actually.”
As the song changed to another song with a throbbing bass beat, this one much slower, Nico coaxed Cree into dirty dancing with him. The taller boy rarely spoke, rarely smiled, and often seemed stoic. But he kept up with Nico, who had his back to Cree’s front, his arms looped around Cree’s neck, grinding his hips in a way that made Shiloh think he shouldn’t be watching them. Cree’s hands looked massive on Nico’s tiny waist as he seemed to control the other boy’s movements.
“Okay, enough,” Jericho called from his office door. “I pay you to work, remember.”
Nico stuck out his tongue. “This is work. I’m out of breath. I don’t know how Mom did this in six-inch heels.”
“Your mom has great quads,” Lake said.
They all nodded. Nico beamed as if it was him who had been complimented.
“Where is his mom?” Shiloh asked.
Levi shrugged. “Who knows. Miami? Cancun? Paris?” He stared at his friend. “Nico and his mom are…complicated. She got pregnant at fifteen, had Nico, worked clubs illegally to make money, but ended up leaving him alone all night. Then, she traded stripping for escorting, but by then, Nico was practically living on Jericho’s couch. She drops in every six to eight months, tries to drag him to parties, gives him gifts he doesn’t want or need, then takes off with the next rich guy she meets.”
“He seems…cool with it,” Shiloh said, more confused than anything.
“Nico lives in a fantasy world of his own making. He tells himself his mom loves him, sacrificed for him, thinks she’s cool for taking control of her own body and doing well for herself. He pretends he doesn’t feel abandoned, pretends that the moneyshe gives him to pay his rent is her way of saying she loves him and not just guilt money for making him raise himself. Nico is really good at lying to himself.”
