“Just because you post thirst traps online doesn’t make you their bitch, Luka,” I point out. His quiet acceptance of the situation annoys me. Luka isn’t a shy ingenue. He’s a flirty, confident guy with a long list of conquests under his belt.
He shrugs again and stares out of the window as we pass hotels, stores, and bars. It makes me sad. The life of a carefree twenty-something is out of reach for me.
“What triggered you?” I ask when it’s obvious Luka doesn’t want to talk about it.
He tenses, but I’m not letting this go.
“Nothing.”
“Liar.” Burying bad things only makes the poison fester. I should know.
The car slows at a busy intersection. Kane turns the music up as Patsy Cline sings about falling to pieces.
“When I was sixteen, there was a party at my friend Jacob’s house.” Luka’s voice is barely above a whisper when he beginshis story. He doesn’t want me to hear this. “Just a few of us, drinking and goofing off. We raided his dad’s tequila and got absolutely hammered. I fell asleep on the sofa. The others left me there and went to bed.
“It was still dark when I woke up, so the middle of the night. Nancy, Jacob’s mom, was sitting next to me, and she had her hand down my pants. I froze. I really wanted to throw up, but I couldn’t move. It shouldn’t have been a shock, really. I kind of knew Nancy had a thing for me. She’d not exactly been subtle about it.
“All summer, she’d paraded around in bikinis and shit. I mean, I was a teenage boy, horny as fuck, so it was flattering, yeah? She was kinda hot. But this? This felt wrong. So fucking wrong. She hadn’t asked if I wanted it, and honestly, I fucking didn’t. After drinking all that tequila, all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. Anyway, there was a noise from upstairs, and she left. I waited until I knew she wasn’t coming back, and then I stumbled outside and walked home.” He sucks in a shaky breath while his fist clenches.
“Tonight, when that woman stuck her hand down my pants, it took me right back there. I felt like a teenager again. Powerless.”
“She was a fucking pedophile, Luka.” Martina McBride’s "Concrete Angel" comes on.
“I should have shoved her away,” Luka says. “Said no. Yelled or something.”
“Luka, it wasn’t your fault. She was the adult, and she shouldn’t have crossed that line.” Kane meets my eye in the rearview mirror again. He’s heard everything, and from the tight clench of his jaw, he’s fucking homicidal. Like me.
I’m half tempted to get this woman’s address and go pay her a visit. There have to be some benefits to being married to a mobster, right?
I figure the family must have an efficient system for disposing of corpses.
Luka says nothing more, but he lets me hold his hand all the way back to the mansion.
“What the fuck?” Luka’s mouth gapes at the sight of Coco yapping her little heart out. “Has Angelo been to the shelter again?”Again?
“Coco is my dog from before, when I lived at my father’s house. Fina found her for me.”
“Cute little rat dog.”
Luka eyeballs Coco. She ceases yapping long enough to sniff his leg. The two of them have a standoff before she settles at my feet.
“My dog isn’t a rat!” I glare at Luka’s blatant insult, but he just smirks in return.
Kane rolls his eyes and pulls a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet. He pours two glasses and slides one over the counter to Luka. I narrow my eyes at being excluded from the drinks party, but he ignores my pout.
“No alcohol, kitten. Not until you stop needing pain relief.”
“Pain relief?” Luka spins around and frowns. “Why would you need pain relief?” He must not have heard about the near-accident, which makes me feel better. In my head, his lack of contact meant he didn’t care. Rational me knows that’s my insecurities talking, but that bitch refuses to shut up sometimes.
“We got ambushed on the way back from the city by assailants unknown,” Kane tells him. “The car ended up pretty beaten up, so Chiara’s had some neck pain. Nothing serious.”
I shrug, eager to minimize any impending meltdown from Luka. He has his own trauma to deal with.
“I’m fine. The massage Kane gave me helped.”
At the mention of a massage, Luka’s eyebrows shoot right up to his hairline, and his worried expression morphs into amusement as he gives Kane some serious side-eye.
“Does my brother know you’ve added masseuse to your job description?”
