“Come on, Nicco, is that all you’ve got?” Dane came at me, his fists swinging and teeth snarling. He was a cocky little fucker. Reckless and impulsive with impressive strength for a seventeen-year-old.
He reminded me of myself when I was his age.
“Keep talking shit, kid, and you’re going down.” I jabbed my finger at him.
“Is that a threat? Because I’m shaking in my fucking boots.” His friends snickered, fist bumping and high-fiving as if the result was inevitable.
A couple of the older guys caught my eye and smirked. They knew how it was. They knew Dane was one hit from getting his ass handed to him.
The truth was though, I needed this. I needed to feel his sloppy fists curled against my ribs. The flash of pain as he clipped my jaw. I needed the deep burn radiating through every one of my muscles.
I needed it all.
He came at me again, but this time I anticipated his move, ramming my fist into his stomach.
“Oomph.” He went down like a sack of bricks.
“Stay down, kid,” I said, running a hand down my face. Sweat coated my skin and my knuckles were split open again, the new skin not hardy enough to withstand the impromptu sparring session with my cousin.
“I almost had you.” He grinned up at me, blood trickling down his mouth as he did so. I held out my hand, and he grasped it so I could help pull him up. Dane staggered to his feet, shaking his head. “Next time, your ass is mine, Marchetti.”
“Yeah, yeah, keep talking, kid.” I ruffled his hair before shoving him toward his friends.
Grabbing a towel, I dried myself off. “Looking good out there,” Benny said, approaching me. He was one of my uncle’s capos. A typical southie who had worked his way up the ranks to become a made man.
“Yeah, well, I’ve got a ton of anger to work off.”
He handed me a bottle of water and I uncapped it, chugging the thing down.
“I smell trouble with a broad.” My expression fell and he cussed under his breath. “Shit, Nic, that bad?”
Inhaling a ragged breath, I rubbed my jaw. “Just how much did Uncle Al tell you?” My brow rose.
“He said you needed to come lay low until the dust settled.”
Until the dust settled...
It was going to take a lot more than the dust settling to fix this.
I hesitated. The less people who knew the truth about Arianne, the better, but word would get out eventually. Besides, I really needed to talk to someone because it was killing me. Every second that I was here, and she was back in Verona County, destroyed another piece of my soul.
“Come on, I think I have some of the good stuff laying around here. You can tell me all about her over a drink.” His big hand landed on my shoulder and squeezed.
I didn’t get out to Boston much. Uncle Alonso and his guys handled business here, just like my father and our guys handled business in Rhode Island. But Benny was as good as family. Whatever I confided in him tonight would be between us. Capo to capo. Man to man.
I looked at him and grimaced, feeling the fight ebb away. The clench of my jaw mirroring the ache in my chest. “You’d better make mine a double.”
“Thanks, Lyra,” Benny said to the server, letting his eyes linger on her ass as she sauntered off. She was dressed the same as every other woman in Opals, in very little.
It was one of my Uncle Al’s clubs in South Boston. I would have preferred to go somewhere quieter, but Benny’s gym was right around the corner and he had some business to attend to here, so I went with the flow.
Checking my cell for the hundredth time today, I tapped my foot against the stool. Despite going a few rounds with Dane at the gym, restless energy still vibrated through me. I knew the only thing that would settle me was the one the thing I couldn’t have.
Not right now at least.
Arianne.
I could vividly picture her big, honey eyes. Her soft, full lips. Her irresistible smile.
My sweet, strong, compassionate Bambolina.
Fuck, I missed her.
It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since I left Verona County. Since I walked away from the only woman I would ever want.
The woman who held my heart in the palm of her hands to do with as she pleased.
I was here for her. To keep her safe until my father discovered a way