Page 103 of Skin Deep

“Find out all you can about them for me,” I said. “But keep it quiet.”

My sister stared at me when we were back in the car, holding gifts in her hand. Kelly looked out the window.

“What happened?” she said, breaking the silence. “You're so grumpy again. What's happening between you and the queen?”

“Knock off the queen shit,” I said.

She narrowed her eyes. “What’s going on?”

I nodded toward Kelly. “I’m just pissed I wasn’t in on the fight.” I owed Cash Kelly a good hook to the jaw after everything he’d put me through in the beginning.

They both knew what I was talking about: when Lachlan, Declan, and Owen had jumped him in Scotland. Kelly turned to face me and Keely grinned, but it faded fast.

“Not a word of it will get back to mam and da,” she said, “or I’ll tell her shit that you forgot.”

I lifted my hands. “I’m on mam’s shit list right now,” I said. “Besides, it’s none of my business. It’s different with Lach, Dec, and Owen. The streets talk. It might have gotten back to them, and that won’t be good for the family business.”

Kelly narrowed his eyes at me. I narrowed back.

Keely grinned. “You and your wife sprang that wedding on her. I sprang a wedding on her, too. She thinks we’re both going to hell—something about not respecting our parents.”

“The tea leaves should have warned her,” I said. Our mam read them.

“Even the leaves were afraid to tell her,” she said.

I shrugged. “It’ll all work out.”

“This is all grand,” Kelly said, fixing his suit. His Irish accent had grown heavier. “But what I want to know is what is going on between you and your wife. You’re keepin’ secrets. That doesn’t work in this family.”

He didn’t mean personally, like marital affairs. He had good intuition, and he sensed something more was going on. I explained to them both about Elias and Miles, keeping out the most personal details of the situation with Georgina.

“Shit,” my sister breathed. “I’ve heard about celebrity stalkers before. Is that what this is? Or something more?”

Kelly and I kept eye contact. The car grew quiet. None of us said anything. When we pulled up to the hospital, Kelly sent my sister in ahead of us.He looked at me with renewed interest after our short chat. Maybe because I told him I was going to kill Miles. I might need help getting rid of the body after. I was being serious. He knew it. But Kelly had a habit of leaving a blood trail wherever he went. Which was why he needed me on his payroll. It was by sheer luck, though, that he always seemed to slip past most of his charges.

Still, I wasn’t sure if he was the right man to depend on for cleanup.

My sister was waiting by the entrance when we walked in. We all took the stairs up together. The hospital seemed ancient, but it had an old-world charm about it. Seemed like a pleasant place to take a first breath.

Keely was almost like a wind-up toy that had been turned too tight. She knocked on the door, and as soon as Macchiavello answered, she barreled right past him. She set the gifts down and opened her arms for the baby Mari held. He was all wrapped in blue. Georgina had told me they had a boy.

Macchiavello narrowed his eyes at Kelly and me. I knew Kelly had some business with him. So did I, but it could wait until I was done with the first half of it.

I nodded at him. “Do you mind if—” I stuck my chin toward his wife.

Mariposa glanced up when I asked. Keely had already taken the baby in her arms, making faces at him, but she looked up, too. All eyes were on him.

He said nothing, but the cool stare said all he didn’t have to. He still wanted to kill me. He refused to even acknowledge the fact that his cousin was my wife. That was his fucking issue, though, and he’d have to get over it.

Cash stood at the door. “You got a minute to spare, Macchiavello?”

He turned to Mariposa. She was biting her lip, squeezing the blankets covering her legs, her eyes unsure. She knew that Cash meant business, and after she had just had a baby, it didn’t seem like the most opportune time to bring all that mess into the room. But whatever Cash had to talk to him about must have been pressing.

“A minute,” Macchiavello said to her.

She nodded once but said nothing. Keely said something to her, but Mari didn’t look away from Macchiavello until something passed between them. A silent conversation between a wife and her husband.

He shut the door behind him. I didn’t get too close to Mari but looked over Kee’s shoulder at the baby. He was a big boy and a good representation of Mari and Macchiavello. Georgina was related to this kid, and even though there was distance between me and Mari, I felt like I was looking at my nephew. I was proud of Mari, and I only wanted the best for her. Always had.

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