Page 28 of Full Throttle 2

“Goddammit!” Seeing him was enough for his buzz to stop buzzing.

Anthony Luccesse. His lone archenemy was sitting at a table with a group of friends. The man’s face turned Brian’s stomach. That could also have been all the tequila he’d been drinking to celebrate his birthday.

Brian saw Anthony first. He contemplated leaving and finding another spot to celebrate but thoughtfuck it. He hadn’t seen him in years and wouldn’t allow that dipshit to ruin his night.

Anthony lit a cigarette and took a long pull from a bottle while looking less than enthused at the bevy of half-naked women dancing around him. His friends didn’t seem to behaving the same problem. One leaned over to him. “I don’t know how you can sit there looking bored with all that good good staring you in your face.” He laughed and then proceeded to place a hundred-dollar bill into the G-string of one of the dancers.

Anthony blew out a breath, releasing white smoke. “You have more than enough excitement for the both of us.”

“Hell, yeah. And, if you ain’t going to celebrate your twenty-ninth birthday, I certainly will.” The man pulled a busty blonde down into his arms. Excited to be chosen, she proceeded to give him an enthusiastic lap dance, grinding down on him.

A few of his friends had forced Anthony into coming out. He wasn’t exactly in the mood for celebrating. It had only been a few short months since his older brother was killed, and it hit him hard. Nick’s death had also thrown their businesses into complete chaos since he was the one who ran them. The natural order of succession should have been for Anthony’s other brother, Gabe, to step up and take the reins. Though Gabe knew the business, he didn’t have a head for it. Gabe was mostly the muscle. With the Feds breathing down their necks, Gabe would end up getting all of their assets frozen or, worse, sending them straight to prison.

Anthony took another pull on his cigarette. He couldn’t shut off his brain.What am I going to do about our money?It was all he could think about. Their cleaner had been playing footsy with the Feds, and Gabe had to drop him into the bottom of the ocean. It would have been cool if Gabe had found a new one first before leaving millions to be laundered.

Anthony sighed.

If their businesses were going to survive, he had to take over. His first order of business had to be finding a new cleaner. Someone with a company and reputation beyond reproach. Thateliminated damn near 90 percent of all the businesses they dealt with, including the legitimate ones.

A commotion caught Anthony’s attention. Brian stumbled down a couple of stairs, entering the club’s main floor.

Brian could tell the moment Anthony spotted him.Damn it. The man had hatred written all over his face.Ain’t that some shit, Brian thought. The bastard did him wrong, yet he had the nerve to hate him.

It was impossible to believe they were the best of friends at one time, although they couldn’t have been more opposite. Anthony used to call Brian the fair-haired Prince of the Lockwood Empire. It was bullshit, of course. That title went to his brother, Liam. Anthony, on the other hand, had come from a long line of crime bosses. His family had a reputation for being unscrupulous and unsavory characters. Liam and their father had warned him away from Anthony, but he was fun, and Brian enjoyed pissing his dad and Liam off.

After graduation, Anthony had fallen right in line with his brothers. Word had traveled back to Brian that Anthony’s brother Nick had been murdered, leaving Anthony the de facto leader of the Luccesse family. Everyone knew the other brother, Gabe, didn’t have it in him to lead. It was rumored that Anthony ordered the hit that massacred dozens of people connected to Nick’s murder.

The muscle in Anthony’s jaw clenched while watching Brian in disgust as the owners of the club fell all over themselves to roll out the red carpet for him.

From Brian’s peripheral, he could see Anthony’s loathing as he and his friends were shown to the VIP section. It was the same look Anthony gave Brian back in college when he would tease him about being a pretty boy and not knowing anything about hard work.

Brian now knew it was jealousy, plain and simple.

Anthony’s group might have had money, but they didn’t have the same access as Brian. They were sitting just outside the VIP section. It probably disgusted Anthony that the Luccesse’s massive fortune wasn’t enough to be welcomed into the elite circles of society and that people treated them with such disdain.

Anthony continued to brood silently as he watched Brian and his rowdy friends be surrounded by a ton of beautiful women, including a few celebrity models.

Suddenly, Anthony sat up straight. The answer to his problems might be staring him in the face. The beginnings of an idea popped into his head.

A smile slowly crept across his face. Anthony crushed the end of his cigarette into the ashtray and stood.

Brian could see him mouth the wordsI’ll be right backto his friends.

Anthony strode over toward Brian’s table. Immediately, Brian’s security blocked his path. Anthony put up his hands as if to sayI come in peace. “What? Can’t say hello to an old friend?”

Brian looked around his men. He might be drunk, but he wasn’t that drunk. “What do you want, Luccesse?”

“It’s been eight years since I last saw you. The way I figure it, that’s enough time to lick your wounds and for us to call a truce.”

“I don’t think eternity is enough time for that,” Brian said.

“C’mon. You can’t still be mad over Lila?”

“Who?” Brian asked casually. And yes. He was still mad over Lila, but he for damn sure wasn’t going to let Anthony know it.

“Exactly! Let me buy a round of drinks for you and your friends to celebrate our shared birthdays.”

That was another reason Brian and Anthony had hit it off. They shared a birthday. They’d met freshman year and eventually discovered the coincidence, cementing their friendship. They’d been good friends. At least Brian had beena good friend. He’d realized too late that Anthony wasn’t to be trusted, and Liam had been right.

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