had told him that Robbie no longer needed to be watched and I told him to go back to Morgan City. I also told him to be on hand because I was going to need a briefing.
After that I had called Mathias and I sat outside London Medical Center and stood watch until he showed up. It was the first time I’d ever said the words out loud, but I had told him that the woman I loved was in room 1298 and that if he wanted to live to see the next day, he had better make sure nothing more happened to her. The man had sent me hourly updates from outside her room all night until this morning when Robbie had stubbornly discharged herself. After that, he had sent them from across the street. He didn’t leave until I called him five minutes after we showed up in her backyard.
Once I had gone back to Morgan City, I had called Marco and told him to meet me for a summary of his watch. I had him meet me at my condo on Iverson and once he walked into the living room, I had hit him hard enough to knock a tooth out. Once we got to the funhouse, that was a different story. My usual routine of giving them a fighting chance had gone out the window.
This was Robbie.
I had tortured the sonofabitch until he confessed to even cheating on his SAT’s. He confessed to everything he has ever done in his life, big and small. I had saved the best for last, though.
When I got to my final question and asked him where he was Monday night, while Robbie was being beaten, he admitted to fucking some easy piece he had run into at the bar.
It hadn’t been the first time he deserted his post.
I had skinned the motherfucker alive.
And, now, we were making are way down the hallway to Robbie’s living room and I suspected the only reason she let us in was because Luca was with us. She knew she could work on Frankie’s sympathies to get rid of her and Phoenix, and she was no longer scared to tell me to go fuck myself, so that left Luca.
Thank God for Luca Benetti.
We all stood in her living room and it was awkward and tense as hell. It also hurt to look at her. The damage always looks ten times worse the next day, and Robbie looked like she was at her worst.
She finally asked, “What are you guys doing here?”
“May we sit,” Luca asked, and I watched as she looked ready to bolt.
“Uh…of course,” she mumbled, and I felt kind of sorry for her. I knew she was going through a lot and throwing Luca into the mix probably wasn’t helping.
Everyone sat, Frankie and Nix on the couch together, Luca on one of the mismatched armchairs, Robbie on the opposite side of the couch, and me on the coffee table closest to Robbie.
Frankie was the first to speak. “Robbie, I know you’re upset and don’t want us here, but we can no longer stand by and just watch.”
“I’m not your responsibility, Frankie,” she said. “This isn’t any of your guys’ concern.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Luca’s voice sounded, stopping whatever Frankie may have said.
Robbie’s eyes flew to Luca’s. “Wh…what do you m…mean?”
Luca glanced at me and gave me a small nod. He wanted to give me my moment, but he wanted to make sure Robbie was listening.
“He means, you are very much our responsibility,” I told her.
Whatever calming direction Luca was striving for failed, because she sounded positively poisonous when she addressed me. “How do you figure?”
I leaned forward, placing my elbows on my knees. “Because, second to Luca, you’re Frankie’s closest friend. And, whether or not you mean to, that makes your problems her problems.”
“That’s ridiculous,” she snapped, apparently her anger for me outweighing her apprehension at Luca’s presence. “Especially since you’ve made it clear how you feel about my friendship with Frankie.” She glanced around the room, looking at each of us. “I’d think you guys would be happy that I was distancing myself from her. Why are you all here?” Her voice had a touch of hysteria to it. “I don’t understand. Why don’t you guys just leave me alone?”
“Because, besides being Frankie’s friend, I’m in love with you,” I finally told her.
You could hear a pin drop.
It’s the first time, besides my mom and sister, that I’ve told a woman I