When I got to the Forbidden Fruit, our notorious nightclub and a Ferrante stronghold, I headed straight to the underground office.
Enzo was there, his red-soled sneakers stacked on the desk, texting. His eyes were droopy and his mouth agape as he stared at his screen.Sexting, more like. Who was the unlucky guy?
I had no idea why he wouldn’t come out of the damn closet. It was pretty obvious his interest in women was nonexistent. Shit, I even tried pulling him out by fucking his (now ex) girlfriend, thinking he might’ve felt some kind of stupid gallant commitment to her. No dice. The little shit was still pretending to be on the market for a Mafia princess. Anything to appease Daddy Dearest.
But I was too wrapped up in my own shit to worry about my baby brother’s love life right now.
“Out.” I charged to the bar cart, plucking a bottle of whiskey. I slugged it back. My phone pinged with an incoming message.
Dino: Carrie is coming down with your coke. Do you want her to stay?
Laughable. Even if I wanted to fuck someone—which I didn’t—my dick never got fully hard for anyone other than Tierney. All I managed was a semi. And this, for all intents and purposes, didn’t qualify as one of those.
My thumbs flew over the screen.
No. Have her drop it here and leave.
“Hold on a minute. I’m wrapping up something. Carpe DM,amiright?” Enzo chuckled at his own stupid joke. “Seize the text.”
“Out,” I croaked, bracing my hand against the wall.
“Holy shit, Bro, how much did you drink? Your breath is flammable.” Enzo’s eyes were still glued to the screen, thumbs flying across it.
The room spun out of focus. I stared at my feet. Fuck. The last thing I needed was to drown myself in more alcohol and drugs.
The woman was a sickness. I needed to detox her out of my system. The thought of not being able to check on her; to slip into her bedroom when she was asleep, watch her chest fall and rise to the rhythm of her breath; to know what she was doing at any given time…
“Bro?” Enzo was up now, standing in front of me, peering at me with his dumb Bambi face. His phone was blowing up with messages, and he clutched it in his fist like he couldn’t wait to get back to it.
“I said get fucked!” I hurled the bottle of whiskey at his head. He ducked. The bottle flew across the room and shattered on the door right before Carrie opened it, holding a bag of coke.
“Hiiiiii.” She stuck her bleached head between the door and the frame, exhibiting a lip-glossed smile. “Dino said to drop this for you?”
Enzo spun his head, staring at me in disbelief. “You sampling the goods now?”
I’d never used drugs in my life. It was a rookie mistake and a surefire way to become an addict. But desperate times called for desperate measures.
“Get out, Enzo.” I dropped my voice to a deadly whisper. “I mean it. Don’t fuck with me right now.”
“Fine, asshat, but I’m putting you on suicide watch. I’ll be checking in every other hour. Goddammit.” Enzo stomped to the door, bypassing the golden liquid on the floor. He snatched the bag of coke from Carrie, squinted to ensure it wasn’t too laced with shit, then tossed it over his shoulder and into my hands. “Come on, CarCar. I don’t want you in the firing line when this stronzo gets shitfaced.”
CarCar? The lovable idiot was now giving the prostitutes pet names?
“Carrie.” I dipped my pinky into the bag of coke, then rubbed it over my gums.
“Yeah?” she purred, probably hoping I’d fuck her. I tipped well, and had a nice, thick dick. Taken from behind, she could imagine I was anyone. Even someone human.
“Get me more coke. And another bottle of…” I squinted at my hand, realizing it was empty because I’d tossed the whiskey on my shithead brother. “…whatever the fuck that was.”
I spent the next thirty-six hours snorting and drinking myself into a near coma.
Chapter Eight
Tierney
“It’s for the best.”Tiernan killed the engine of his Mercedes on the tarmac. We were parked on the edge of the runway strip at the private airport where the Ferrantes’ company plane was about to take off. The formidable man inside was ready to take me to Italy, to a new fiancé I’d never met. I held back tears.
Pushing my Miu Miu shades up my nose, I refused to show weakness. “You know, Tiernan, history is full of men who thought they knew what women needed. Never ended quite as brilliantly as you think.”
