Page 128 of At The End Of The Day

A shoulder nonchalantly rolled. “I dunno. Thinking back to that first night I met you, I never woulda thought one day, we’d be standing here, talking about your love life with another man.”

His smile faltering, his throat constricted. “I never thought I’d be standing anywhere talking to anyone about this. I wasn’t never allowed to.”

Sadness sank my stomach. “Yeah, I heard a little bit about what was going on with you and that Billy guy. You gotta know that wasn’t right, what he did to you. Letta says you still hang on to some guilt, but you did nothing wrong, Vinny.”

He coughed and bowed his head, his pinky tapping the bottom of the bottle.

“I mean, what he did was emotional entrapment, man. He put you in a prison, and strung you around like a puppet so he could have his cake and ea—”

“Yeah, I got it,” he barked, standing upright to get a cigarette for himself.

“Sorry.” I slumped against the counter once more, letting the silence fall around us. “I just...I dunno, it really pisses me off you were tied down that way for so long and had no one to talk to to let you know it was wrong. You had no one on your side and...it seriously pisses me off.”

His head tilting, he gazed at me with a rueful smile. “Sounds like I got someone in my corner now, though, huh?”

My heart skipped a beat, a sense of relief flooding my system. “You sure do, man.”

His smile grew bigger.

Dread washing away the ooey gooey good feeling, I cleared my throat and shuffled my feet once again. “And as your supporter, I think it needs to be said that before you marry Dash, you and he need to have a serious chat.”

Bit by bit, he tensed, his expression falling. “About what?”

“Look, I ain’t telling you this to be a snitch or nothing, but you’re Letta’s brother, you’re gonna be my brother-in-law, so you’re my family now.” My palm slapping to my chest to shake my next few words, I added, “I am honored that Dash confided this to me and, under other circumstances, this bit of info would go to the grave with me.”

“What, Ty?”

Huffing, I deflated a bit and said, “You may not know this, but Dash’s parents are mafia. From Florida.”

His look of astonishment quickly faded into a hysterical laugh, his thumb and fingers digging into his eyes when tears popped out the corners.

“I ain’t kidding, man. I looked them up.”

Doing a doubletake, he abruptly quieted, his eyelids rounded. “Dude, you ain’t joking.”

Very slowly shaking my head, I jutted my chin. “Look ‘em up. They’re tied to someone named Maximus Giordana. They are cousins.”

“No, shit?”

“I’m dead serious. I thought he was fucking around, too, until we got home and I checked it out online.”

Tossing the cigarette into the sink, he quickly dug his phone out his pocket and tapped his thumbs on the screen. “Spell it,” he barked, getting frustrated. “Maximus what?”

Calling out the letters, I hated to watch as all the color drained from his complexion and his eyes bulged.

“Holy shit,” he croaked, gradually lowering the phone to dangle at his side.

Stretching my neck, I grimaced at the screen before it turned black, showing a picture of Dash and Maximus as teenagers standing with his father, Luciano Giordana, at a party of some sorts. Yup, same picture I saw.

“If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think he had anything to do with it...besides, what’s so different about mafia and gang life? They got more money than you and their power reaches a little further. At the end of the day, you’re all doing the same thing. That’s the only reason I felt comfortable enough telling you, because it really ain’t no different than what y’all do.”

Glaring, he repocketing the phone and snatched the beer from the counter. “And you’re suddenly okay with what we do, Mr. Grammy award winning country star? How’s that gonna work for your career?”

“I honestly could care less,” I snorted, fanning my hands out. “I got what I wanted, I got Letta back. Everything else is trivial. I got enough money saved up to take care of her, the kids, and any future kids that—”

“You already knocked up my sister?” he blasted, lunging forward.

“No, no,” I laughed, waving a hand. “It’s way too soon for that. The kids have already gone through too much, I don’t wanna add to their confusion. We got plenty of time for that in the future.”