Page 12 of Desperately Delicate Viper

“Touch me again and I’ll break your fingers one by one,” he hisses. The man whimpers and yanks his hand back.

I chuckle under my breath. Uncle Sal was right, Moretti men have a type. I pull out the chair opposite his, and he finally drags his attention away from the stage, away from Dante. He glances at my face, his attention lingering only a fraction of a second, but it’s long enough for me to feel like I’m under a microscope. I clear my throat and reach into the inside pocket of my suit jacket, pulling out a thick envelope filled with my collections for the day. I slide it across the table and he takes it without comment.

I wait while he counts it and then spends a few minutes tapping away at the screen of his tablet, entering the corresponding amounts into his spreadsheets. When he’s done, he looks up at me again, raising his eyebrows and quirking his lips in a questioning smile.

“Well, are you going to make me come right out and ask?” He doesn’t pause long enough for me to actually answer, so I’mguessing that was a rhetorical question. “Did you find the ballsy twink who robbed you and profess your undying love to him, or what?”

I snort a laugh, and my balls give an involuntary throb at the memory of Anders’s knee plowing into them last night. My chest tightens and I bite back a whimper. If Anders knew how badly I wanted to kiss the hell out of him while he desperately tried to fight me off, he’d realize just how fucked up I am. I don’t want him scared and I don’t want him to hurt, but seeing the fight in him,feelingthe rage and fire and venom he’s made of only made me more determined to keep him all to myself.

“I found him.” I sit back, drumming my fingers on the table. “And I lost him again.”

Sal chuckles against the rim of his glass in between sips.

“I like this dude. He sounds feisty.” I narrow my eyes, and he makes another amused sound in his throat. “Relax. I’ve hit my quota for unhinged twinks who are determined to make my life difficult.”

“Are my ears burning?” Dante’s voice comes from over my shoulder. I hadn’t even realized his set had ended, but there’s another man on stage in his place now.

Sal looks Dante up and down slowly and the “unhinged twink” in question bares his teeth and flips my uncle his middle finger.

“Actually, yes,” Sal says. “I think your particular talents are exactly what Luca needs tonight.”

I choke on nothing but air and gape across the table, sure I must have misunderstood. No way am I about to accept a lap dance from my uncle’s husband.

“Is that so?” Dante purrs, putting his hands on my shoulders and leaning down so his hot breath ghosts over my earlobe. “Does the baby Moretti need a favor from little ol’ me?” He nips at my ear, and I jolt in my seat, more from the murderous lookin Sal’s eyes and the way his hand twitches for his gun than any actual pain from the bite.

“Nope, I think I’m good.” I jump out of my seat and anxiously smooth down my tie.

“Sit,” Sal commands, and I glance between him and Dante again, trying to decide the least dangerous course of action.

Dante smirks and pats the chair. “Come on back, puppy, I won’t let the grumpy boss-man shoot you.”

I give a weak laugh and reluctantly sit back down. Thankfully, Dante stops fucking with Sal and pulls out a chair of his own. He crosses one leg over the other and looks between us with detached, professional curiosity this time, like he’s at a board meeting rather than at a strip club wearing nothing but a lace thong and a pair of knee-high boots.

“As I was saying,” Sal says, “I think you can really help Luca out with a little problem he’s having.”

“And that problem would be…?” Dante prompts, looking at me.

I shake my head since I don’t have the first clue how my uncle thinks Dante is going to help with any of this. Does he assume all sex workers in Wildcliff know each other?

“He needs to find someone, but it needs to stay off the Moretti radar,” Sal explains.

Dante’s eyes darken. “Is it the same kind of person you guys had me look into last time? Because I’m not sure—”

“No,” Sal says immediately. “It’s personal.”

Dante nods slowly and then licks his lips. “Okay, I can do that then.” He looks over at me again. “It’s going to cost you, obviously.”

Finally following the conversation, I shift forward in my seat eagerly. “No problem.”

Dante snorts a laugh. “I’m kidding, puppy. You can pay me back by coming by and making me coffee again one of thesemornings.” He pats my hand. “I’m on shift for another hour, then we can sit down and talk, and you can tell me who I’m hunting down for you.”

With that, Dante gets back up and sashays away.

“There you go.” Sal stands up and straightens his suit, tucking his tablet and the envelope I gave him into his briefcase. He rounds the table and claps me on the shoulder. “Don’t say I never did you any favors, kid. Good luck.”

Once he’s gone, I pull out my phone to check where the nearest ATM is. And while I’m at it, I take care of some other business I’ve been thinking about all day before tucking my phone away again.

ANDERS

---