Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 66962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
“Grant knows, but we haven’t really talked about it.”
“And you still don’t think…”
I shook my head. “No. The stupid VA shrinks didn’t help. They didn’t understand. They just thought… I couldn’t talk to them.”
“Okay.”
I thought he would insist that he would find someone who was right. That was what Grant always did, but I should have known better. Rogue simply dropped it.
“How do you feel now?”
I considered that. Physically, I felt better, but mentally… I would hold it together as long as I was distracted by Rogue, but once he left and it was just me and thoughts about last night… I’d sit in silence and think about how the cabin had been filled with Carlo’s incessant chatter, then his moans and cries, and even now, even after I’d cleaned up last night—I really had done that, hadn’t I?—the place still smelled like him. Why the hell hadn’t passing out drunk erased those fucking memories?
“Blade?”
I looked up. Rogue was waiting for an answer. “I feel a lot better.”
“Do you?”
“I’ll be okay. I didn’t have to use the gun.” Or the knife.
“Thank God for that.”
“Yeah. As it turned out, Carlo wasn’t dangerous.” Not physically. In other ways, he was dangerous as hell, but as long as I didn’t see him again, I’d get over that, right?
“I think he’s mainly scared,” Rogue said. “And he’s resentful of his brother and his cousin telling him what to do. I get that.”
“What happened anyway? Why was he sent here?”
“I’m not sure Grant has given me all the details. Sometimes he keeps certain things to himself.”
“That’s an old habit, and besides, he’s probably been asked not to share all the specifics.”
“He shouldn’t keep details from me and Rhys. We’re partners in this, and you could be too.”
I shook my head. That wasn’t what I wanted, and even if it was, I couldn’t do a thorough job. I’d been shaky just touching a weapon. “Grant is used to holding back everything but what he absolutely must tell. That’s the military way.”
“It’s a really good thing he didn’t convince me to join the marines.”
I laughed. Last night, I would have said I would never laugh again, but Rogue had a way of cheering everyone up. Of course, Carlo had also made me laugh. “It is. I don’t think you would have lasted long.”
“I can hold my own with my brothers, you know.”
“I don’t doubt that for a moment, but you don’t take directions well, and you don’t like to be confined.”
“True. I guess Carlo and I have a lot in common.”
I didn’t want to linger on that thought after what I’d done with Carlo. “What do you know about Carlo’s issues?”
“His father passed away recently after grooming Carlo and his brothers to run the family business in New York. His father wanted Carlo and his brothers to come to America. He’d been working on integrating them with the American Marchesis before he died. Carlo apparently preferred to stay in Italy, where his mother lives, but as I understand it, she’s a terrible influence on him.”
I frowned. “In what way?”
“She pampers him and lets him get away with murder, probably literally.”
“Isn’t that part of his job?”
Rogue shook his head. “The youngest brother takes care of that side of the business. Carlo is the schmoozer.”
“That I can see.”
“So he tried his tactics on you?”
I nearly choked, then just nodded.
Rogue narrowed his eyes, and I braced for more questions, but he didn’t go there. “The allowance left for his mother wasn’t enough for them both to live in the style to which they were accustomed, and Carlo’s inheritance is contingent on him following his father’s wishes to the letter, which includes remaining in New York and following the leadership of his eldest brother.”
“So basically he didn’t have the money to stay in Italy.”
“Exactly, but he was determined to get it.”
I sighed. “And that’s what got him in trouble.”
“You got it. Carlo had learned that the best way to get money when his father wouldn’t give it to him and his mother didn’t have anymore was to find himself a sugar daddy.”
Why did the idea of him with some man who only valued his body make me crazy? It wasn’t like I’d taken time to get to know him before I’d done the exact same thing. I’d seen something in him, though—something vulnerable that I knew he didn’t mean for me to see—and it made me want to keep him and take care of him. It had made me resent Grant’s intrusion. I was being stupid. Just because Carlo had made me feel almost like the man I used to be for a little while didn’t mean there was anything more than pleasure between us, and what we’d done was seriously questionable. It had been as much a fight as anything else, but the thought of him letting someone else do that to him made me furious.