Page 15 of Abduction
IRAN A HAND THROUGHmy hair as I watched her walk off, giving her a moment to change her mind, turn around and come back to me. I was half-expecting her to drop the act, but she kept strolling, putting as much space between us as she could.
I had seen the look in her eyes, and I could tell she had been considering giving me her number, making plans for us to meet up again. Yeah, she might have already had a man, but she wouldn’t have given me that much of her time or attention if things had been going well between them. There were clearly some problems in paradise—hell, you move to the suburbs, what did you expect?
She was hot, though. Really hot. And I liked her sense of humor—she didn’t seem to take herself too seriously, unlike so many of the women in this city. Plus, she was studying for a tough degree, and that had to mean she had something of a brain in her head.
Honestly, I hadn’t expected to like her as much as I had. I’d just thought she would be a fun way to pass a few hours before I had to go to my family dinner, but I’d been more into her than I had been prepared for. Shame she seemed so dedicated to her man. If he was looking after her, maybe it was more of a sugar daddy situation, and she felt like she couldn’t risk blowing it up. Though if anyone had seen us together, I figured it might already be too late for that.
I gave her plenty of time to get away, not wanting her to feel as though I was stalking her or anything, and then I rose to my feet to head down to my father’s apartment. He had insisted on a family dinner, all of us coming together, and he would have been fuming if I dared miss it. I grabbed the case I had been carrying with me and started the long walk to his place.
He, my mother, and Tommy would already be there, and I was sure Tommy would be ready with the questions about how I had spent my day. He was trying to get me back on Dad’s good side, and he knew the best way to ensure it was to make certain I’d been doing what I was meant to do. He had nothing to worry about; the money was in the case, and Laurence was still just as much under our thumb as he ever was.
It was a cold night, and the streets were thinner with people than they normally were. I didn’t mind. It gave me some space to think, sorely needed after everything that had happened. I was sure my dad was still going to be pissed at me, so I was going to have to be on my very best behavior for the next few hours. Not too hard. I just wouldn’t touch any drink, keep my head down, and hope he didn’t bring up what had happened the night before. I was still mad he had reached out to Tommy instead of me, and maybe if I could show myself as a little more stable, he would actually start to trust me in future.
Mom was there, too, and she would be doing all she could to make sure things ran smoothly. She, like Tommy, was the diplomat in our family, always running between people to ensure we didn’t have anything to worry about. Sometimes, I wondered how in the name of holy hell she put up with it. I knew I wouldn’t have had the patience she did; I was far more like my father in that sense. Maybe I could have taken some lessons from her, instead of constantly allowing myself to go off before I knew the full situation.
My mind lingered on Amber as I walked, and I wondered if she would be thinking of me, too. I saw the doubt in her eyes when I touched her, some nagging thought at the back of her mind telling her to go right ahead and kiss me, but she had restrained herself. Her fiancé was a lucky man—not only was he dating someone gorgeous and cool, but she was loyal to him, too.
I wondered what sort of guy he was to have landed someone like her. Probably wealthy. Probably a little controlling, judging by what she had said about him paying for everything. Probably liked to have everything just-so, to make sure he picked how everything turned out. How would he feel when she had graduated, when she could make her own money and rely on herself a little more? I got the feeling a guy like that would struggle to accept her newfound independence.
Or maybe I was just making it up. I had no clue what kind of romance they had, but he had landed her, and I had no choice but to respect it. It wasn’t as though she had left me with any way to get in touch with her as it was. No number, no full name. I just knew she studied real estate law, was originally from Ohio, and lived in the suburbs. Not exactly Social Security number levels.
I arrived outside my father’s penthouse more quickly than I expected, my thoughts caught up on the girl who had just left. Damn, I needed to get out of my head, or else I was going to wind up stuck there. I yawned, rubbed a hand over my face to push away the final vestiges of the hangover, and then pushed open the door.
Inside, Mom was already bustling around the table. I couldn’t count how many times we had all told her we had staff to take of this shit now, but she still preferred to cook for us, which she had done since we were young. I guessed it was part of her and Dad’s plan to keep us down-to-earth, even growing up in the lifestyle we were attached to.
She looked up as soon as she heard me at the door, and a huge smile spread across her face when she saw me standing there. She came over to pull me into a hug, and I squeezed her back, the familiar scent of her musky perfume surrounding us.
“Oh, I’m so glad you could make it tonight,” she told me, pulling back to look me up and down the way she always did. I was sure she would have heard about what happened, with me failing to bring back the money we were owed, and as soon as she noticed the case in my hand, I could see some relief cross her eyes. She must have been glad she wasn’t about to deal with the same thing all over again, have to argue with her husband about how much responsibility I should be given in the family business.
“Take a seat,” she ordered me, practically pushing me down into a chair. “Would you like some wine?”
“No, no, I’m okay,” I replied. I didn’t want to get drunk. Last thing I needed was to feed any further into the vision my father had of me, as some alcoholic unable to handle anything he threw my way.
Tommy and my father emerged from the office a moment later, and Tommy looked relieved to see me sitting there. He clapped a hand on my shoulder, supportive, as my father nodded in greeting. He still wasn’t entirely happy about the way I had acted last night, but he knew better than to make a scene with my mother here. She would never have stood for it. She took our family gatherings far too seriously.
My father, Mario, was a commanding figure, maybe even more so because of our familial relationship. Either way, I knew he wasn’t someone I was going to fight with, if I could avoid it. He had his vision for the way things would go, and he did not appreciate one little bit having to sacrifice it for anyone. He had earned his place in this industry by force, and he would do it again in an instant if need be. I knew he wouldn’t let anyone get in the way of it. Not even me.
“Did you get the money from Laurence?” Tommy asked me, and I nodded, jerking my head toward the case sitting next to the door.
“He paid up,” I replied. “I’m buying a painting from him, too. Something for my apartment.”
“I’ve never been impressed with any of the work he has there,” my father remarked as he started to tear off a hunk of the bread in the middle of the table. “Never figured out why people seem so keen to pay him so much for it.”
“Fools and their money,” my mother remarked, shaking her head, and I tried not to take it as the insult it clearly was. Even though my father’s place was luxuriously-appointed, he had gotten almost all of it for free, by intimidating people enough that they would hand over pretty much anything he asked for. He had come from a tough background, and it had instilled in him a sense of taking rather than buying. Maybe he thought I should have done the same thing, just pointed to the painting I wanted and told Laurence where to drop it off, but I at least wanted the artist to be respected for what they had put into it.
I decided not to make a big deal of it. This was supposed to be a nice family dinner. A chance for me to make amends for fucking up yesterday. I was sure my father was well aware that Tommy had to keep me from confronting him last night, and there was no way I was going to fight with him any further on this. I reached for the pasta bake in the center of the table and served myself up a generous, steaming portion. If I was eating, I wasn’t talking, and if I wasn’t talking, I wasn’t arguing.
All of us settled in around the table, and I allowed myself to relax a little. I wanted to talk to Tommy about what had happened with Amber this afternoon, but I was sure he would have just told me I was crazy for even bothering to pursue something with someone who was due to be married soon.
I would have talked to someone else about it, but it wasn’t as though I had many friends outside of my family, and I had to accept that my lack of friends would limit me. Even if I had more, I was sure they would have all made it clear they thought the exact same thing about what I was doing, even thinking about someone who was very much settled down with another man already.
Shit. I should have known better, but sometimes, the challenge was what made it even more enticing. She had shut me down, but I had been able to tell there was something in the back of her mind, telling her to give things a try with me. Maybe, just maybe, I could have coaxed it out of her if I had tried a little longer...
“Josh?” Mom cut in, and I looked up to see her staring at me. Tommy and Dad were talking about something, but I had just checked out entirely, thinking about the woman I had spent the afternoon with.
“Are you okay?” Mom asked quietly, obvious concern on her face. I nodded at once.
“I’m fine, I’m good,” I promised her. “Just tired, that’s all.”
