“Wait a minute, you’re getting ahead of yourself man. I know how badly you want this, I do, but he could be visiting a fucking uncle or someone who went away for robbing a grocery store. You want to drive all the way up there to have a sit down with some guy we don’t fucking know and get him to spill the beans on Jimmy.”
“You remember you told me you had a gut feeling? I didn’t fucking question you brother. I stood by your side and let this shit play out until the answers started to unfold for you. You still have that gut feeling, you still believe it’s him?”
I looked at him for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh. “Yeah.”
“Well, I’m telling you my gut is screaming at me that this is something. This guy, whoever he is, is the key to what we’re trying to do. You going to stand by my side and let this unfold for me or you going to give me lip?”
He was right, Jack wanted it to be Victor this whole time, but because of my hunch he started to get on board with the Jimmy lead. He never once doubted me or caused me to doubt myself.
“Give me ten minutes,” I said.
“Is that all it takes?” Adrianna spoke up from the doorway. She wore a pair of my sweats and one of my T-shirts as she leaned against the doorjamb. She crossed her arms against her chest and stared viciously at me.
“Jack, Adrianna. Adrianna, Jack,” I introduced as I reached around and cupped the back of my neck. She was going to fucking kill me.
“Nice to meet you. Are you one of my father’s goons too?” She asked sarcastically.
“Do I look like one?” He questioned her, glancing at me out of the corner of his eyes.
She bit her lip, giving Jack a once over with her eyes. “No, I guess you don’t. Too much leather and not enough Teflon,” she declared, shrugging her shoulders and looking at me. “I’ll just grab my things and get out of here.”
“Wait a minute,” I urged.
“No, I’m not in the mood to do this, Anthony.” I knew that tone of voice all too well. She was teetering on the edge of damning me to hell. This time I’m sure she’d be the one lighting the match, happily too.
“I’m sure you’re a nice guy Jack and it’s real nice to meet you but you have horrible timing,” she said, patting him on his shoulder as she brushed passed him to retrieve her things from the bathroom.
“Fucking great,” I mumbled.
“She’s a catch man,” Jack said then clapped his hands. “So, ten minutes?”
I liked Jack, wanted to help him, but right then I wanted to punch him in the nose.
Two days later, forty-eight hours passed, and still no fucking word from Anthony. Before he had left with the leather clad version of Jimmy Cash, dressed all in black, Anthony followed me into the bathroom. He knew I was upset that our morning had been interrupted, that I was scared of what would come next. We knew how to have sex, we knew each other’s bodies better than anyone else did but it was the after part where we lost our footing. I didn’t know what he had going on with the biker. I had overheard them talking and through their hushed words I understood one thing, danger. I didn’t want him to know I had been eavesdropping, but I heard him talking to Jack about nailing Jimmy to the cross.
He assured me that things weren’t going to go back to the way they were that he was working on making things right for us. Stupid me; believed every word. Stupid, na?ve Adrianna who always hangs on Anthony’s words. The sad part is I’m always left dangling.
Not this time. This time I was really fucking done.
I drove my sister to Temptations, so she and Mikey could talk. She was torn between her attraction and feelings for Mikey and her loyalty to Rico. Nikki and Rico had been together for about a year and until Mikey showed up, my sister had always seemed happy. Sure, Rico was arrogant and a dick, but that was part of the package. He thought he was hot shit being a reputable disc jockey in New York and that’s where the cocky attitude stemmed from. At the end of the day, Nikki had found a guy who loved to have a good time as much as she did. He didn’t give two fucks about her last name or who her father was. That’s a big deal in our world because our whole lives people were intrigued by the Pastore girls because their daddy was a gangster.
It didn’t bother me as much as it did Nikki. Maybe that’s because half of my life I’ve been wrapped up in my own drama with Anthony that I rarely paid attention to anything else. I think that’s part of the reason Nikki is so torn because Rico provides her something she never had before. Our father’s shadow doesn’t lurk over her relationship with Rico like it does with mine and Anthony’s.
I glanced over at Nikki, watching as she stares out the window, her mind a million miles away.
“Hey…” I say gently, taking my hand off the steering wheel and touching her arm. “You okay?”
She turns to me and plasters the fakest smile I had ever seen. “Peachy!”