Page 56 of Release You

“To what do we owe the pleasure?” she asked Dom.

He cleared his throat. “I have news. They came along because Valentina wanted to see you.”

“Good news first.” Derek smiled at Valentina.

Valentina bit her lip, no doubt intimidated by Nikki’s bigger-than-life act. Nikki picked up on it, reading Valentina the same way I did. This was a trick we both had to learn when we were kids, when we realized we couldn’t trust anyone.

“Why don’t you join me for a drink? We’ll let the boys get to know each other.” She wrapped her arm around Valentina’s waist and ushered her to the bar.

Valentina took a seat near the window, while Nikki drew the curtains open to let the sunlight shine through. As soon as she went behind the bar to pour drinks, I turned to Dom and Derek. “I have beer.”

“I’ll take one,” Derek said.

“Me too.” Dom nodded.

“Coming right up.” I joined Nikki behind the bar. “Where did those come from?” I pointed at the two glasses with aCetched on the globes.

“They were in the back. So was the wine. It’s fancy stuff too.” She showed me the bottle and then took a sip from her glass.

“No more cons for today, Nikki.” I gripped her arm and whispered in her ear.

“I’m just being friendly. You should try it too.” She pointed her chin at Dom and pressed her lips against mine before she went to join Valentina.

“Fuck off, Derek. I got it all under control,” Dom said.

I had obviously walked in at the tail end of their conversation. I pretended I hadn’t heard anything and handed them each a bottle of beer instead.

“Cheers.” I raised my drink and then took a sip. “Dom, I wanted to apologize for the other night. You saved our lives, and I was an asshole to you. Didn’t even thank you.”

“Don’t worry about it, man.” He patted my shoulder. “I was happy to help.”

“Thank you.” I nodded once. “I owe you one. Call on me anytime.”

“I’ll remember that.” He pointed an index finger at me. “This is Derek Cole, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you.” Derek shook my hand.

“Henry Cavalier.”

Derek seemed like a nice enough guy. Meeting one of Nikki’s marks was odd to me. How had Nikki conned him out of a quarter of a million dollars? He obviously didn’t have a problem getting beautiful women. How had he not seen it coming?

“Cavalier?” Derek’s eyebrows furrowed for just a second, slanting a glance toward Nikki. “That Cavalier.” Hepointed at my family’s crest plastered just over the main entrance.

“Yeah.” How could I explain I wasn’t Nikki’s next con. I wasn’t a mark.

“I see you’re out of the doghouse.” Dom grinned.

I chuckled. “You don’t know the half of it.” My heart rate hadn’t really come back to normal since the excruciating time we’d spent at the bank, and the mind-blowing sex we had behind the sofa.

“Did you find your mom?” Dom asked.

“No. Not yet.” I exhaled before taking a long swig of beer.

“If you need anything, just let me know. These days Derek has nothing exciting for me.”

“That’s the way I like it.” Derek drank from his beer as his gaze zeroed in on Valentina.

“Well, if you mean that, I have a favor to ask.” I swallowed. It’d come down to this, having to trust someone I’d just met. But I wasn’t a kid anymore. It was fucking time I faced Jonathan.

---