Page 75 of The Club

For a minute, no one says anything. It’s Noah, of course, who breaks the silence and gets us working.

“Someone will need to go in and pose as a buyer.”

Dante suggests, “Or we could capture someone from there.”

“But who?” Noah pushes back. “We have no way of knowing who’s involved. And this sounds like coded communication. The pizzeria is just a meeting point. The people working there and passing messages might not even know what those messages mean.”

“Then they should get educated,” Dante grits out.

“Noah’s right,” I say. “We should at least try to arrange something. If that doesn’t work, we can capture someone as a Plan B.”

“I should do it,” Dominic says.

I stare at him. “What? Why?Ishould do it.”

“Absolutely not. This is way too hot for you, and you might be recognized. I’m the least likely to raise suspicion.”

“Doesn’t mean you won’t,” Dante points out. “You’re connected to this shit too.”

“But not like you three. And most people know us to be enemies. Besides, the only other option is to bring someone else in on this, and it would have to be someone high profile like me to be believable. Even if we could find and trust such a person,we would lose time. Before shit leaks from Moretti’s crew regarding Silva’s murder, we need to move. And I mean tonight.”

Noah says, “I agree, but do you really think you can do this? You’re gonna have to be convincing, like you actually want to buy a child.”

Any disgust Dominic might feel is masked with anger. “I’ve been lying all my life,” he says. “I can do it.”

TWENTY-THREE

Rafael

“Don’t you have to go to work?” I ask Dominic when the others are gone, Dante to work and Noah to recon the pizzeria.

We haven’t moved from the couch. I have my legs crossed. Dominic is leaning forward, legs spread, his forearms on his knees.

He says, “I’m doing this instead.”

“What’s ‘this’?”

“Staying with you.”

My throat tightens. “But you’re angry.”

“You think that means I’m leaving?”

“You left earlier.”

“No, Rafael,youleft. You got out of my car and told me it didn’t concern me.”

I don’t say anything. He’s right.

“You lied to me,” he says.

He’s right about that too. “I … This isn’t something I talk about.”

Dominic stares out across the dim, empty sex club for a moment, then he looks at me. He shifts on the couch to half face me. I see this from the corner of my eye because I can’t quite look at him. I’m not sure why. Maybe because I’m in the wrong and I don’t know what to do.

He says, “Someone other than me might get soft with you right now, but I’m not going to. You lied to me. You kept me out of something you shouldn’t have kept me out of. It’s not okay.”

I swallow hard. “I wanted that shit to stay separate from this.”

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