Page 38 of Caught Up

13

Junior

Iwonder what Lauren’s doingright now,I thought.

It had been too long since I’d seen her, too long since I’d watched a couple of strangers fuck right in front of me, too long since I’d felt her pussy contracting around my fingers as she came, and I was starving for more. I’d been busy as hell since then,knee-deepin sniffing out a rat in our organization, but thoughts of Lauren and the voyeur room from Velvet kept sneaking in to distract me, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to think straight until I got her in my arms again.

Across from me, someone farted.

I yanked my shirt over my nose and kicked out at themiddle-agedItalian man who’d done it. Everyone else around us chimed in with their own kicks, punches, and fuck yous. Van etiquette 101 clearly stated there was no ripping it in the back, because it wasn’t like we could ventilate this space. It was the middle of the goddamn night, and it’d look suspicious as fuck if the rear door of an unmarked van parked on the side of the road suddenly cracked open and a bunch ofgreen-facedmen spilled out.

“Jesus, Vinny,” the guy sitting next to him moaned. “Did you eat gluten again?”

Vinny gave us an apologetic shrug. “We went to my Ma’s house for dinner. What was I supposed to do? Tell her I couldn’t eat her food?”

The van was divided. On the one hand, we were all suffering the consequences of Vinny’s actions. On the other, not eating the food an Italian woman set in front of you was an egregious insult.

It took five minutes for the smell to clear—or for us to get used to it (shudder)—and by that time we’d all settled back down. I hated stakeouts. Especially if I spent them stuck in the back with the goons. It was boring as fuck, smelly, and hot, especially in the summer. By the time I got away, I’d be ready to scour my skin off in the shower.

But this was the job. I couldn’t trust these idiots to get shit done themselves, and even though most of them were older than me, I still had to babysit them. It made me understand Dad a little better, especially his reason for trusting so few people to carry out his orders.

A shoulder bumped against mine, and Alec, trapped in this hellhole with me, leaned in. “You’re quiet tonight.”

“I got shit on my mind.”

“Lau—”

I elbowed him to keep him from speaking her name in front of everyone else. People loved to claim that women were the worst gossips, but they didn’t hold a candle tomiddle-agedItalian men, who’d turnedshit-talkinginto a fine art.

“Girl related?” Alec corrected, rubbing his ribs.

“No,” I lied.

“Did you see her again?”

“No.”

“And how did it go?” he pressed. Fuck, he couldn’t take a hint.

“It didn’t.”

“Oooh,” Vinny said across from us. “Junior’s in trouble with his old lady?”

“What?” someone from the far end of my side asked. “Junior’s got himself a new woman?”

The entire van turned my way, and I suddenly found myself the center of their unwanted attention. Goddamn nosy busybodies.

Alec and I spoke at the same time.

“No.”

“Yes.”

I shot my traitor brother a warning look.

“It’s still new,” he said.

I was going to kick his ass as soon as I had enough room to swing on him.

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