And, I could be wrong, but it seemed like Patricia and I had reached a turning point in our relationship.
That boded well for the future, Sight or no.
When the Stars scored a minute twenty-three in, Kitty roared with delight, then turned to me and made this mad rush a thousand times better with her declaration of: “You are the best boyfriend ever.”
The only thing that’d cap that was switching out boyfriend… for husband.
TWENTY-FIVE
STAN
TWO WEEKS LATER
“I’m not happy about this,” I chided as I took a seat in Rory’s town car.
Luc rolled his eyes. “The perks of being the Capo is that you don’t have to deal with this bullshit posturing.”
“Like you’re not as capable of this nonsense as O’Donnelly is,” Rory countered with a smug smile. “You’d have done it this way too if you were the head of the four factions.”
Luc might have scowled at her, but he didn’t argue. Because she was right.
That had nothing to do with twinspeak, either. Fraternal they might be, but they couldn’t read each other’s minds.
Rory just had the irritating capacity to constantly be correct.
When I yawned, ignoringtheirposturing with one another, my sister turned a concerned look at me. “Burning the candle at both ends,frate?”
Purposely, I stared out of the window. “Kitty’s having nightmares.” Less frequently, but they still disturbed her too often for my comfort.
“I have to commend you for leaving her, even if she is safely tucked away at home.” Luc toyed with his cell phone. “I’m not sure I’d be capable of doing so if the tables were turned.”
“Stan has an endless capacity to be efficient.” Rory’s words were discomfortingly similar to ones I’d thought about her. “I appreciate that about him. He might be an emotional pain in my ass, as are you by the way, but at least he can be called upon to perform how he must perform, to enact what he must enact, and show ruthlessness when he must be ruthless.”
“And when don’t I do that?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Luc. How about you contacting O’Donnelly when I told you not to? When I said you should wait forhimto call a Summit? This is his time to show his strength, not ours.”
“Why?” I inquired, not wanting to touch her statement. Rory’s compliments were often backhanded.
Endlessly ruthless and perilously efficient—definitely an inscription worthy of my tombstone.
“Because he’s the one trying to shape the free world,frates,” she dismissed. “We only want to manage our slice of his kingdom… and if we remain loyal,ourkingdom will naturally grow.”
Luciu turned in his seat. “What do you know that we don’t?”
I snorted. “What doesn’t she know?”
That earned me a glower from him but a smile from Rory. “Correct, Stan. Ten points to you. As a reward, you can be the one who goes to Ohio.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
“You heard me.” She retrieved something from her pocket and handed it to Luciu. “Here. Hunter says it’s on there.”
“He kept this out of Star Sullivan’s reach?”
“As far as he can tell. You know what hackers are like. Lock something away and you’re basically throwing cat nip at a clowder of?—”
“Why the fuck do I have to go to Ohio? You know I hate goddamn Ohio.”
