Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Breathe, Claudia. Just breathe. I go into his office all the time for perfectly legit reasons. He won’t even bat an eyelash at seeing me on the monitors, if he even noticed, and there’s no way he noticed the missing paperwork. That crap is all filed away and forgotten.
Just breathe.
“You know what I hate?” Tommy scribbles something on a paper, flips it over, scribbles on the next one. “Signing my name. I used to like it, you know? It was kind of fun. But now I fucking hate it. My hand cramps when I fill out all these stupid forms.” He cracks his neck and puts his pen down and his eyes move up to meet mine. He’s smiling and it makes me uncomfortable. “How’s your shift going?”
I lean against the filing cabinet, trying to act normal. Which is weird, trying to act normal. Once I start trying, it’s basically impossible to just do it.
God, Serena’s right. I overthink everything.
“Going fine. My feet hurt from being in the cage too long.”
He presses his lips together and his friendly demeanor fades away. “We need to have a conversation about Angelo Bianco.”
I try not to scream. If he had X-ray vision, he’d be able to see my heart going haywire in my chest. I’m sweating, but fortunately I was already glistening from dancing. “What about him?”
“Rodrigo told me the two of you were alone in a private room.” He holds up a hand, face serious. “Don’t deny it.”
“We were.”
“What did he want?”
I stare at him. A thousand thoughts rumble in my brain. What did Angelo want from me? He wanted to make a deal. He wanted information.
“He wanted what all men want.”
Tommy’s eyebrows raise. “Which is what?”
“You really need details?” My cheeks are burning up. Embarrassment threatens to drown me. Fortunately, I don’t need to fake this. “Ask Rodrigo what Angelo wanted in that room.”
“He already told me.” Tommy sits back and looks thoughtful. “You fucked him?”
I cover my face with both hands. “Don’t make me answer that.”
“Or did he watch while you fucked all those machines?” When I glare at him, his smirk is wicked and mocking. “It’s fine, Claudia, I don’t give a shit. I hoped I’d be the first one to get in those panties but hey, Angelo’s a good-looking guy, I totally understand.”
“It’s not like that,” I say but I don’t know how else it could be. Honestly, there’s no other reason for me to have been in that room with Angelo for as long as I was, and if Tommy watched the video then he already knows what happened.
Kissing. Touching. Dry-humping. Orgasm.
Running the heck away.
“This is a good thing,” he says, kicking his legs forward and crossing them at the ankles. He leans back, hands behind his head. “You and me, we have a good relationship, don’t we?”
No, fuck no, we have a terrible relationship. “You’re my sister’s boyfriend,” I say, which is about as good as he’ll get.
“You know me, but you don’t know Angelo. You don’t know him at all. He’s trouble, serious trouble, and I’m worried about you getting involved with a guy like that. With a Bianco, a felon Bianco. You’re in over your head.”
He’s so right about that.
“We’re not doing anything.” My voice is very small and soft.
Which makes him smile. “Sure you’re not. But let’s say you are or that something’s starting up. What if I said I could help you? I could protect you from Angelo’s worst impulses, if you agree to do me some little favors?”
Oh my god. This is absurd. Now Tommy’s doing the same thing Angelo did, and I’m all mixed up beyond recognition, and I don’t know what to do. I nod my stupid head, wondering how much worse this could possibly get.
“Great,” Tommy says, slapping his knees and sitting forward. “Here’s the deal. Fuck Angelo. Give him the best pussy he’s gotten in years. That shouldn’t be hard, since he’s probably been busy fucking ass behind bars, but anyway. Rock his world, Claudia, then get him talking. Make him tell you what he’s up to. Why he’s hanging around Cage and what he wants with me. Ask him about Paulie. Do all that, tell me what he says, and you’re taken care of, no problem.”
I’m just a lamp. It’s so obvious. I’m just a game piece he wants to shift around the room. But what’s the difference between what Angelo’s doing and what Tommy wants me to do?
Serena’s the difference.
Tommy’s got my sister, and he’s not letting her go. There’s no negotiating with him. But with Angelo, he’ll work with me, because he doesn’t give a crap about keeping my sister locked up in a prison of her own addiction.
“You want me to have a relationship with Angelo,” I say, spelling it out so we’re all clear.