One Second After Another (The After Another Series #3) - Bethany-Kris Page 0,12

told him, nodding once. Then, to Dare, he asked, “Does that work for you?”

“It does,” Dare replied.

That was that.

The men in black backed off. Dare and Cree had already turned to head for the private hangar while the team of men who had been watching Luca followed behind. The three men—including him—that were left outside said nothing as the wind picked up again.

It sounded like a whine. Or maybe a howl. It reminded him of the sound an animal made when it was in pain. He hated to think that was God’s way of warning him of just how much this would soon hurt.

LUCA DIDN’T COMPLAIN when he was dropped off at the front entrance of his apartment building the night before, but only because he was two seconds away from falling over his own two feet. Exhaustion was a real thing. He wasn’t, however, impressed at the fact someone decided to knock on his door before the sun had even risen in the sky.

He was still trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes, and drop the bad attitude, when he ripped the door of his apartment open to see who was waiting on the other side.

Cross.

In nothing but boxer-briefs, Luca was in no way ready to wake up, let alone invite someone into his place, but his godfather stood on the other side of the threshold like that was exactly what he expected to happen. He couldn’t say that was going to work out for the man. Even if Cross did look like he was ready to start his day in a three-piece suit with his hair slicked back and shoes shined.

Luca held tight to the door, not opening it further or moving an inch when he said, “You need something?”

Because after the night before and the things he learned, Luca couldn’t say he was willing to provide anything Cross might need. The only good thing about not being made—at the moment—was the fact he didn’t actually have to answer to this man, anyway.

Cross gave him a look, and then the door Luca was keeping mostly closed against his side. “Are you going to keep me out here in the hallway?”

“Considering it.”

“Luca—”

“I’m busy. Places to be, Naz to see,” Luca said, shrugging.

Cross cleared his throat, sucking hair between his teeth after before he muttered, “Naz is busy, Luca.”

“Too busy to see me?”

His best friend?

Right now?

Luca didn’t think so.

“Actually,” Cross said, folding his arms over his chest and looking at Luca in the way he would when he was a kid. But that shit didn’t work on him anymore—not when this man did it, or when his own father tried it. Three decades of life under his belt made him immune to most of that nonsense, and he couldn’t say he was sorry about it, either. “Naz doesn’t even know you’re back in the city yet. It all happened fast ... I used that to my advantage.”

Yeah.

Luca bet.

“Something else you’re hiding, then,” Luca noted.

Cross didn’t like that.

He didn’t even try to hide it.

“Hey, watch your fucking tone with—”

Nah.

“I’m good,” Luca said, stepped back from the doorway and closing the door on his godfather, telling him at the same time, “Keep in mind, I’m not your man. Not made, remember? If I don’t want to do this, or anything else, with you, then I don’t have to.”

The door was about to click shut, but Cross’s next words stopped Luca from letting it close entirely.

“But if you want to help Penny, you’re going to have to do everything you don’t want to do and more,” he said.

Luca hesitated.

He didn’t open the door back up right away. In fact, his hand tightened around the handle so much that his knuckles turned white as he considered those words and what they might mean. The lump growing in his throat certainly didn’t help matters, either.

“And I know,” his godfather added, “about you and her.”

That took Luca an extra minute.

Maybe two.

Cross didn’t mind the silence because he used that time to his advantage to keep talking. “Thank The League for keeping me informed—part of their obligation to the old contract. See, I put a lot of money on the table for Penny to be able to do what she’s done in these past five years, and that gave me ... certain rights to information about her business.”

“Did she know that you knew—”

“Yes on some things. Maybe not on others. I wasn’t given the information to use it against her, if that’s what you’re asking.