Page 2 of Empire of Lust

Romero parks the car, climbs out, and opens the car door for us like we’re royalty. I’ll never get used to the star treatment I receive when Tatum and I are together.

Climbing out of the car, I grab my overnight bag from the seat and give a wobbly Tatum some room to exit.

“Do you need assistance?” Romero questions, his dark gaze taking in Tatum’s swaying body. She’s tipsy but not unable to stand.

Tatum’s glossed pink lips purse, and her green eyes narrow on Romero. “Excuse you, sir.” She jabs one manicured finger into his suit jacket. “My father pays you to take care of me, not judge me, and you’re looking at me very judgmentally right now. Yeah, I had a few drinks. I think I deserve it. I graduated from college today. What did you do?”

Romero rolls his eyes, and I’m so amused by their relationship I can’t help but smile. They’re like gasoline and fire. One match strike away from causing a cosmic explosion. She pushes his buttons, and he pushes right back. Of all the men I’ve seen her interact with, Romero is the only one who refuses to handle her with kid gloves.

“Get her to bed before she makes a bigger ass of herself,” he orders without looking away from her.

I snake an arm through hers, tugging her toward the front door.

“You’re incredibly rude, and I’m going to tell my father to fire you,” Tatum yells over her shoulder.

“That would be fucking great. In fact, do it. I’ve been meaning to take a vacation. I could use a day or two away from your stuck-up ass.”

“You… you’re a fucking asshole!” Tatum struggles in my grip, and I pull her closer, tightening my hold. She’s ready to throw down, but it’s not going to happen. Not tonight.

I give her a little jerk. “Stop. He’s goading you, and all you’re doing is proving his point.” It’s not like we’re children. We’re allowed to go out and drink, but I don’t want to make a scene, and her determination to kick Romero’s ass will definitely make a scene. The last thing either of us needs is Callum coming out to scold us. That is, if he’s even here.

“Why does he have to be such a jerk?” She tries to whisper, but her volume control is drunk too.

“I don’t know. But you don’t make it better. You push back just as hard. If that’s how you flirt, I don’t want to see what it looks like when you fall in love.”

“That was not flirting.” She uses her finger to unlock the door, which she pushes open as soon as it beeps, the lock disengaging. We step into the house and a wave of calm washes over me. Unlike the nights when I’d return home to my father, no overbearing parent is waiting at the door, peppering me with questions. No suffocating anger or fear. Just quietness. Peace.

“I should’ve eaten something,” Tatum pouts while I walk with an arm around her waist. As we approach the kitchen, she leans on me harder. “My stomach hurts.”

“Of course, it does. All you had to eat today was half a sandwich at lunch.” Once I get her upright against the counter, I grab a granola bar from the walk-in pantry and a couple of waters from the refrigerator. Hopefully, it will soak up some of the alcohol.

Then we continue to her room.

Not like I’ve never made the same mistake, but I’d never get this tipsy if I knew I was going home to my dad. Living with Lucas has eliminated the concern of being reminded by my detective father how easy it is for college girls to get taken advantage of. He’s seen a lot of things over the course of his career, but the overbearingness that comes with him is too much.

Callum isn’t the same kind of parent, though. Even back in the day, before we could legally drink, he always had a mature attitude toward Tatum’s partying.

“It’s a waste of time to forbid you, so I’ll only ask that you make smart choices—and that you call me the instant things seem to go in the wrong direction.”

Of all people, a notorious arms dealer like Callum Torrio knows about the dark side of life as much as any criminal detective would. It’s sort of fascinating how their approaches diverge. One fighting crime while the other causes it.

Everything about Callum fascinates me. Since I was a teenager, he’s been pulling me deeper into his dark spider web. Tightening his web, seducing me, making me crave him without even realizing it.

Our footsteps echo off the polished floor as we take the familiar route to Tatum’s room. Almost as if she can read my mind about her father, she answers my question without me even having to ask.

“He’s working. Always working,” she whispers, “Said he had important stuff to do tonight. I doubt he’s even home yet.”

He always does.After lunch, he told Tatum he’d be home late, so she’s probably right. I can’t imagine the amount of work that goes into running an operation likeTorrio Explosives. The business is legit on the surface, but the family’s mob dealings are shrouded in so many layers of protection there’s nothing for law enforcement to do but stand back and let him get away with it. Which is infuriating to my father.

Once we reach the bedroom, I help her into the attached bathroom and place her on the closed toilet lid so I can wash off her makeup. Her lids are half open, but she smiles up at me, probably thankful she won’t wake up with a streak of mascara on her cheek. “I don’t deserve you, B.”

“Don’t say that.” I pour some makeup remover on a cotton ball and swipe at her eye. “We deserve each other. That’s what friendship is, holding the other one’s hair back while they’re vomiting.”

Her lips pull up into a sheepish smile. “No vomit tonight.”

I smile back and finish cleaning the makeup off her face. Then I help her change into pajamas and get her into bed before changing into my sleep shirt.

“It would be smart to eat something before you…” I pause with the granola bar in my hand and turn around to find her sleeping, her soft snores filling the room. I set the bar on the nightstand along with two Advil from the bathroom. Knowing I’d have to take care of her the way she’s taken care of me in the past kept me on the straight and narrow tonight. Unfortunately, it also meant having no excuse to obliterate my vague but persistent dissatisfaction with my boyfriend in the form of binge drinking.

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