Page 102 of The Last Ones Standing, Part Two

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Jace

“No, it’s Christmas eve. You don’t have to cook for us. Jace will go to get something,” Gio rushes into the phone as we sit in his office at Di Lorenzo Industries.

I purse my lips to keep from laughing. I may have missed Ny while she was gone, but I did not miss her cooking. I love her for wanting to learn, but she needed to give up the effort years ago.

I glance across the office at Gio and shake my head. He hangs up the call and bursts into laughter. “But tell me you don’t love her for trying,” he laughs out.

“I was just thinking that I do.”

“Fuck, remember that time she dumped all that garlic in the pasta and gravy? We could have killed the entire cast of all fiveTwilightmovies.”

“Ugh, I can still taste the burn in the back of my throat. I think people could smell that shit through my pores for almost a week. I ate all though, just for her.” I laugh.

“Not tonight. I still have a headache from that salty-ass shrimp that one time.”

I laugh as my face twitches from the memory.

“I need to finish up here and I’m waiting on a call. Why don’t you run and get something?I can finish up here and be ready by the time you come back.”

Just then, he looks down at his phone and his face clouds over. “Make that a trip toAnima Mias. It looks like Lou Kelley is back in town. Dario, Carleen, and that cocksucker in the same room is not a good idea.”

“I’ll deal with it. I still want to put a bullet in that motherfucker for the way he looked at Ny,” I mutter.

“If he gets out of line tonight, Merry Christmas. Call me when you have it handled.”

I chuckle and stand to leave. If I move fast, I can get there in twenty.

* * *

Lou

Where do I know that blond guy from? Fuck, I know I’ve seen him somewhere before. And what the fuck just happened?

“I don’t know what you thought you saw in that girl to begin with. I swear she reminds me of someone,” Ma rants as we head out ofAnima Mias.

Carleen is an attractive and smart woman. That’s what I see in her. I hadn’t known she was connected to the Di Lorenzos when I first saw her profile. Those eyes, they arrested me as I looked into them in her pictures.

She’s glowing. The way she looked at that cocksucker, they were never just friends. She’s probably been fucking him all this time. That’s why she was reluctant to take things there with me.

Fuck. Pop is going to lose his shit.

First, I didn’t tell him I was dating Dario’s business partner. Now, I’ve lost the one thing he saw as valuable. It’s already hard enough to please my grandfather.

“And another thing. She works for that scum your father chose to raise over you and your brothers.”

“Ma,” I bellow. “She works with, not for, him. And obviously, it’s over so give it a break.”

I press the key fob for my Jag. She mutters under her breath as she climbs into the passenger seat. I pinch the bridge of my nose. I might as well get this call over with.

“Give me a second. I need to place a call,” I say before I close the door.

I pull out my phone and dial Pop. The phone rings several times. I grind my teeth. He’d have a fucking conniption if we took this long to answer him.

Right when I think it’s about to go to voice mail, he picks up. “Hello.”

“Hey, Pop.”

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