7 YEARS LATER
I never should have ended up at Rome’s bar. My day had been long though. One of my oldest friends had stopped in at the coffee shop that I still worked at long after graduating from college. She mentioned Rome and how she worried about him.
I almost asked her what the hell for? Rome was a beast of a man and could take care of himself. Yet, the only reason she worried about him was because over the years I’d mixed up our friend groups. My self-destructive side that didn’t care about a thing in the world reared its ugly head every time I thought of him ignoring me, acting as if he didn’t know me.
So, I kept showing up at his place of business, goading him to disclose that we knew each other through the family.
He never did. Rome protected the family at all costs, even if he’d kissed me in a bathroom all those years ago.
We passed one another with hatred and longing in our eyes but acted like strangers in front of everyone. Over time, our friends had us down as tolerable acquaintances, but no one knew the truth.
I’d ended up at Heathen’s Bar because I could have a drink, pass the time, and maybe catch a glimpse of him.
Unfortunately, Georgie found me there.
I stumbled a little more theatrically than necessary when he pushed me. Little old Georgie always liked a girl he could throw around, and so I indulged him.
Most men I dated didn’t want me to tell them they were weak, that I could take a punch, or a push in this case, much harder than they were capable of giving.
See, little old Georgie had caught me flirting with one of the bartenders. He didn’t want his sidepiece doing anything of the sort.
I smiled to myself when he shoved me again and flailed my arms as if he’d truly thrown me off balance.
‘Why the hell do I keep you around if you’re going to eye-fuck every guy you come across?’ he bellowed, the sound coming from deep in his round belly.
‘Georgie,’ I whined and tried to muster up a few tears. ‘I’m sorry. It’s just you were out of town with your wife, and I thought maybe you wouldn’t want me back this time.’
He all but preened, smiling like he wanted to buy me the world. He probably could. At least enough to fill up my small part of it. He was worth millions, according to the information Mario provided. He’d been selling drugs and sex trafficking women on Armanelli ground. Even as the Armanelli family tried to clean up their business, I knew the drug selling was still a part of it. They didn’t want other gangs selling on their territory, and when they caught wind, well, someone paid dearly.
I was the bait, sent to catch the wind.
I’d finally gained access to one of Georgie’s bank accounts, and I’d snapped the pictures needed for evidence. He was on borrowed time. The rush I got just thinking about how he would pay for the hell he’d caused pumped through me.
Until Rome.
He towered over everyone in his bar and scanned the place like a hawk guarding his nest. When his eyes fell on us, he didn’t look away. He crossed his arms as his scuffed boots came almost toe-to-toe with my shiny black stilettos. With worn dark jeans, a T-shirt, and a five-o’clock shadow so overdue it was heading towards midnight, he should have looked grungy. Instead, it all added to his grittiness, enhanced his tattooed arms and menacing stare. A sign should have hung above him flashing the word Danger, but women’s mouths would have watered anyway.
‘We got a problem here, Kate-Bait?’ He tipped his chin toward Georgie.
I winced a little as Georgie’s hand dug into my neck. That wasn’t fake. He’d found a little of my weakness by gripping me right where Jimmy used to.
Jimmy had gotten a lot meaner during my senior year of high school. He knew my father had committed suicide, knew I didn’t have a foster home to go back to, and wanted to keep better tabs on me. We fought constantly, and he usually won the fight—if not verbally, definitely physically. The man could crush a windpipe faster than I could let out a scream.
The nightly phone calls saved me from him. The men on the other line wanted to meet me, and Jimmy answered to them. That was how the Armanellis found purpose in me. They knew I didn’t mind a roll in the hay, that I listened well, and, most importantly, that I enjoyed finding a weakness. I was good at that, brilliant at it really.
Georgie was just another man in the long line of men I reported back to the family about.
‘No problem, Rome.’ I wide-eyed him and tried to steer him off with a look, but he was studying Georgie’s hand on my neck.
‘Look, we don’t allow manhandling in our bar.’
I shook my head at him, trying to get him to stop. Georgie didn’t like being told what he could and couldn’t do with me. It made him feel inadequate. Useless. And that led to reckless behavior.
He squeezed me a little harder. ‘My girl gets what she deserves.’
I smiled at Rome with a plea in my eyes but bunched my shoulders. I wanted Georgie to think he had control, that he was dominating me, but that required me to play the damsel in distress. I wasn’t sure Rome would be able to see through the act.
Rome straightened and brought a hand to his chin. ‘Your girl?’
Georgie yanked me back into his belly by my neck. ‘Yeah, my girl. And tell your bartenders that too.’
Rome’s lips lifted at the corners. It wasn’t a smile, although some would mistake it for that.
I knew Rome rarely smiled. Not really. Over the years of being around him, I’d discovered he could glare, growl, stare someone down, and deliver on every threat he made.
When he stepped toward Georgie, I knew my night was going to end badly. Georgie must have known it too.
Rome got closer to us. ‘I’m a little confused.’
Georgie stuttered as he shifted me in front of him as if he could use me as a shield to ward off Rome. ‘There’s nothing to be confused about.’
I tried to hide my eye roll at how cowardly he was. Sure, Rome was intimidating. He stood taller than everyone who came into the bar, and tattoos snaked around every one of bulging muscles.
Quite frankly, his dark features were overkill.
But no man should have been using me—who stood at a mere five and a half feet—as a shield. Especially when I’d put on a wonderful performance throughout our relationship of being a meek, terrified woman he could throw around.
Rome stepped closer until his body was inches from mine and he looked over my head. ‘Isn’t there? Kate-Bait comes in here all the time, and I’m positive she belongs to no man.’
I widened my eyes at Rome, trying to signal for him to stand down. Mario must have told him about Georgie, there was no doubt. Rome knew most of the ins and outs of what we were all doing. He needed to back off.
“Rome, don’t you remember? I told you about Georgie.” I emphasized his name, trying to jog his memory. “You know how good Georgie is to me, how he always treats me like I’m a treasure.”
Rome blew out a breath and rolled his eyes. Damn, he was in a mood and wanted to take it out on someone. “And yet he grabs you like you’re trash. Like I said, it’s not allowed in my bar.”
Georgie’s temperature rose. I felt it in his grip and the way his stance against mine changed. He wanted to prove himself.
Rome ran his tongue over his teeth as if counting how many he had before he unleashed the beast that must have been bouncing around in him. He looked straight at me, and I couldn’t quite tell if he was going to let it loose on me or on Georgie.
He looked lethal either way. Deadly, unhinged, and, unfortunately for me, way hotter than Mr. Georgie behind me.
Georgie thought being hot meant exerting your power, though, and I was just a bit too late in realizing it to avoid him slamming me sideways into the wall.
My head ricocheted off a stud, and I saw maybe one or two stars. Nothing to write home about, I promise.
I could have saved the night. I could have tried to calm them both down.
Really, Georgie didn’t hurt me too bad, he didn’t have the strength to. Flying into a wall was a piece of cake, but it pissed me off that I hadn’t caught it. That I’d probably have a bruise on my head the next day because I’d been paying attention to Rome rather than him.
And maybe, just maybe, I’d come here to pay attention to Rome or get attention from him in the first place. I wasn’t sure.
All of it pissed me off.
So, I couldn’t be held responsible for losing my shit and turning to Georgie as Rome shoved him into the wall.
I pushed Rome off him and growled, ‘Oh, no. He’s mine to fuck up now.’
Before Rome or Georgie could respond, I kneed Georgie in the balls, and he crumpled with a look of surprise in his eyes. As he bent over, I kneed him in the nose.
He screamed as blood spouted from it.
‘We’re over. Obviously,’ I said and walked back to the bar.
He’d leave without saying another word to me. The man had a wife and what he thought was an untouchable business. Those were two big things he wasn’t willing to lose by causing a bigger scene than he already had.
I needed to confirm that the damn photos I snapped would be enough evidence for our family to take him down. I probably needed more, and letting my family down wasn’t an option.
I thought about running after him, but I’d never run after anyone. I’d learned that very few people were worth my pride. There was always another way, and I was willing to get dicey enough to find that path.
I’d assess, adjust, and navigate my way into whatever we needed.
But first, I needed to get rid of the hot-as-hell fuckup who followed me to the bar.
