“The family meeting is gonna be interesting,” Duke noted, a huge smile on his face as he looked at a doubled over Dom, Sissy standing beside him hands on hips, wearing the Sissy Glare.
Ren ignored this, approached and pulled me into his arms and held on tight. “Been wanting to do this since you walked in,” he said quietly in my ear.
I sighed, deep and huge, mainly because I just realized that Ren gave good hugs.
After awhile, I told his neck in a soft voice. “You know, you shouldn’t be hugging me.”
“I know and I don’t give a fuck,” Ren replied.
Oh well, Luke was gone, just this once. My arms went around him and I squeezed.
“You’re a good guy,” I whispered.
“Yeah. Too good. I wanted to give you time after Dexter. You needed it. I shouldn’t have given it. I should have moved in.”
He was right. He should have moved in. However, if he had I wouldn’t have had my chance with Luke. There was no way to tell if Ren and I would have been better or worse so there was no reason to dwell.
“Could I talk you into handing Noah over to the police if you catch him?” I asked.
Ren’s head came up. He looked me in the eyes then he shook his head.
“You’re going to hand him over to Luke?”
Still silent, Ren nodded.
“Men,” I sighed.
Ren’s hand came up and he touched the cut on my lip. His eyes got scary angry for a brief flash before he hid it.
“Be safe, Ava,” he said softly and finished. “Be happy.” Then he pulled away and nodded to Dom. “Let’s go.”
“Sissy –” Dom started.
“Save it for the family meeting,” Sissy snapped.
“Sis, baby,” Dom tried again.
“Save it!” Sissy repeated, this time on a hiss.
“Save it, Dominic. Yeesh, you give me heartburn,” Uncle Vito broke in, patting his heart with his hand. “Been givin’ me heartburn for years. Lorenzo, when you’re head of this family beware, it comes with heartburn. Now, let’s go.”
Eek.
Ren’s future included Head of the Zano Family. Thoughts of me in pressed slacks and flouncy blouses doing lunch with the ladies in between Botox injections paraded through my head. I had to admit, I was pretty glad I had dodged that bullet.
“Don’t even think about it,” Ren muttered, close and bent low to my ear. “I become head of the family, first order of business is have Dom whacked so no heartburn. Second, buy a house on St. John where we would live for half the year, drinking rum for breakfast and fucking under the stars.”
His head came up. I blinked at him. He smiled at me and it was an ultra sexy smile.
My heart started racing.
Uncle Vito led the way and then they were gone.
“Now, can we get to the business of findin’ this jerk off?” Tex asked impatiently, looking like he was about ready to come out of his skin.
“You okay?” Sissy asked, voice filled with concern.
No, I wasn’t okay. All of a sudden, my mind was filled with having sex with Ren under a warm, balmy, tropical, starry night and they were happy thoughts.
If Luke knew, he’d have a shit fit.
“Yeah,” I lied, taking in her pale face. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” she lied back.
We looked at each other a beat then, even though there was nothing funny and definitely nothing happy about our situation just because we’d survived yet again, we grinned.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Barlow Bitches from Hell
“Shee-it, Kumar, you had the left bower? Why didn’t you take the second trick with that motherfucker?” Tex boomed across my dining room table at poor Mr. Kumar who was not getting the hang of euchre.
Uncle Vito, who was sitting across from me, chuckled and winked. We had won five games in a row as partners.
“I don’t understand this bower business,” Mr. Kumar complained. “How can a jack be higher than an ace? How can only one card of a different suit be the same as another suit? Then jacks are just jacks when they are another color? Then it all changes on the next deal of the cards. This game is too confusing.”
Shirleen walked into the dining room from my kitchen carrying a fresh iced tea. “Of course it’s confusing. First off, you’re only playing with half a deck. Any card game that you play with half a deck has to be half-assed.”
Uncle Vito and Tex cut their eyes to Shirleen.
Uh-oh.
“Euchre is the only card game worth a shit. It ain’t half-assed,” Tex said.
“Give me poker any time,” Shirleen retorted.
“I know poker,” Mr. Kumar put in hopefully.
“Poker is a common game,” Uncle Vito threw down.
Shirleen’s eyes narrowed.
Hell and damnation.
“I’m going to bed,” I announced, getting up from the table.
“You can’t go to bed, it’s best out of eleven,” Tex protested.
I stared at Tex. “In the beginning, it was best out of three then it was five then it was seven then nine, now eleven?”
“We have to win one,” Tex told me.
I looked at the ceiling.