Page 158 of The Tempted

Two days later, forty-eight hours passed, and still no fucking word from Anthony. Before he had left with the leather clad version of Jimmy Cash, dressed all in black, Anthony followed me into the bathroom. He knew I was upset that our morning had been interrupted, that I was scared of what would come next. We knew how to have sex, we knew each other’s bodies better than anyone else did but it was the after part where we lost our footing. I didn’t know what he had going on with the biker. I had overheard them talking and through their hushed words I understood one thing, danger. I didn’t want him to know I had been eavesdropping, but I heard him talking to Jack about nailing Jimmy to the cross.

He assured me that things weren’t going to go back to the way they were that he was working on making things right for us. Stupid me; believed every word. Stupid, naïve Adrianna who always hangs on Anthony’s words. The sad part is I’m always left dangling.

Not this time. This time I was really fucking done.

I drove my sister to Temptations, so she and Mikey could talk. She was torn between her attraction and feelings for Mikey and her loyalty to Rico. Nikki and Rico had been together for about a year and until Mikey showed up, my sister had always seemed happy. Sure, Rico was arrogant and a dick, but that was part of the package. He thought he was hot shit being a reputable disc jockey in New York and that’s where the cocky attitude stemmed from. At the end of the day, Nikki had found a guy who loved to have a good time as much as she did. He didn’t give two fucks about her last name or who her father was. That’s a big deal in our world because our whole lives people were intrigued by the Pastore girls because their daddy was a gangster.

It didn’t bother me as much as it did Nikki. Maybe that’s because half of my life I’ve been wrapped up in my own drama with Anthony that I rarely paid attention to anything else. I think that’s part of the reason Nikki is so torn because Rico provides her something she never had before. Our father’s shadow doesn’t lurk over her relationship with Rico like it does with mine and Anthony’s.

I glanced over at Nikki, watching as she stares out the window, her mind a million miles away.

“Hey…,” I say gently, taking my hand off the steering wheel and touching her arm. “You okay?”

She turns to me and plasters the fakest smile I had ever seen. “Peachy!”

“Do you know what you’re going to say to him?”

“I was thinking something along the lines of; ‘Hey Mikey, thanks for the phone sex. It was great and all and I bet the real thing would be fucking spectacular but I’m going to stop talking to you because I have this boyfriend I kind of, sort of, think I love,” she stated, cocking her head to the side. “How about that?”

I rolled up to a red light and turned my attention to her, looking at her with wide eyes.

Or how about “I don’t know what to do since Rico’s the first guy who I thought really cared about me and you’re the first guy I ever wanted to love,” she continued as she shook her head. “Definitely not that one, that’s too close to the truth.” She bit her lip, her eyes widening as an idea came to life in her head. “Or, you can turn this badass car around and we can go shopping and forget all about this stupid shit.”

I nodded. “You’re fucked.”

“Thanks sis.”

“It’s okay, I’ve been fucked for years…,” I replied, turning my eyes back to the road.

“You want to tell me why you went off the radar for two days?” Victor asks me before taking a sip of his espresso. He had sent Jimmy to my apartment to drag me to Temptations for a ‘talk’. I wasn’t in the mood for a lecture from him, especially after the last two days I had.

Jack and I had driven up to the prison that Jimmy had been visiting often but our trip hadn’t gone as planned. We got the visitors log, thanks to Jack’s connection, and found out that the inmate was a guy named Brent Rogers. The plan went astray when we tried to pay Mr. Rogers a visit, only to be quickly denied. He had an approved list of visitors, just the way I had when I was away. We weren’t on the list so we didn’t get in and there was nothing Jack’s connection could do about it.

We did some digging around and found out that Brent was doing twenty years in jail for a major drug bust that happened years ago. He tried to traffic thousands of dollars of drugs through the harbor and the docks that Victor controlled. I didn’t get a chance to connect all the dots, but I had been working on that for the last twenty-four hours. I tried to figure out why Jimmy would be visiting a man, they had sent away and if Victor even knew about it.

If Jimmy was going behind Vic’s back that might be my way out. Once I had all the facts, I’d go to Vic and give him an ultimatum. I’d hand him over the proof that Jimmy is working against him and in exchange he’d let me out of the organization. No questions asked.

I needed a little more time. Jack was going to ransack Jimmy’s apartment on opening night of the club. He needed to find something that tied Jimmy to Danny’s murder and to this thing with Roger’s.

“I had shit I had to take care of,” I explained as I narrowed my eyes at the boss. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t send that rat bastard to my house anymore.”

“Jimmy?” Victor raised an eyebrow. “That’s a harsh name choice for my underboss wouldn’t you agree?”

“Not really. If the shoe fits, who says it don’t?”

“I do, actually. I say it don’t.”

“Then you need to open your fucking eyes,” I retorted angrily.

“Excuse me,” Mike interrupted, clearing his throat. I hadn’t even noticed him walk over to us, too focused on how much of a prick Vic was. “Can I speak to you for a moment?” He asked me.

“I’m kind of in the middle of something, Mike,” I said, keeping my eyes on Victor.

“No, we’re done here,” Vic, said curtly, dismissing me and why not? The motherfucker always had the last word. He turned on his expensive shoes and walked away from me.

I dragged my fingers through my hair, frustrated with myself for letting him get under my skin and let out a stream of expletives under my breath.

“I need fucking air,” I said annoyed, heading for the door with Mike following close behind. If the kid had any sense, he’d stay the fuck away from me. I wanted out so badly that I could taste it but there was one thing or another standing in my way. I started to get discouraged, started to believe I was never going to break free and that this all was a fucking pipe dream.

---