Smoke (The Carelli Family Saga #1) - Eden Butler Page 0,49

disgust. “I’m not fucking scared.”

“The hell you’re not, little brother.”

“You haven’t seen her.”

“Oh, I’ve seen her plenty.” I leaned back, stretching out my legs. “She’s hot. But, I’ve done hotter.”

“Fuck you, you’ve done hotter. She’s…she’s…” My laughing shut the man up completely and he dipped his head, letting his shoulders slouch as he looked away, like he couldn’t take staring at me. “Fuck…I am a pussy.”

“Nah, man, you’re not.” I gripped his neck, tugging him close. “You’re just out of practice. But I think once you remember the game, remember who you used to be…you’ll be back to yourself again. God help the women of this town and that redhead when you are.”

I smiled, thinking about all the shit my kid brother did back in the day. All the times I had to pay off one pissed off brother or boyfriend or threaten some worked-up father for the shit his girl was happy to do with my brother.

“Shit, May Phan…”

“What a fucking tease…”

I clapped his back, grinning like an idiot. “And Bethany Ballerini.”

“Not a tease.” He smiled, nodding. “At all, thank God.”

“Oh yeah…I remember.” I crossed my arms, laughing harder when Dario jerked a look at me, moving his eyebrows up, asking a question I answered with a slow shrug. “What can I say? You cut ties, she was nineteen, wanted to be consoled and Sofia had just dumped me.”

“You asshole…” he said, but smiled as he cursed me.

The air around us cooled and our smiles dimmed but didn’t vanish. It was good being with my brother, seeing sparks of his old self, parts that hadn’t been taken by prison and the shit that life had done to him.

When he stared off across the park, watching as two crows landed next to each other on the top row of the monkey bars, I glanced at Dario, forgetting for a second that what I needed from him would put me farther away from the people I loved.

Just then, he was eight again, asking me to show him how to land a punch and not get knocked out by the bag.

“Tell me what you need,” he said, not looking at me at first. Then, he straightened his shoulders, cutting his eyes right to me and that eight-year-old was gone. “Whatever you need, I promise, I’ll do it.”

I watched him, my chest a little tight, full of what I thought might be regret before I squashed the sentiment down. “The woman?”

He nodded, schooling his expression like he didn’t want me to know what he really thought of her, but that much I’d gotten from him already. No matter what Rikers had done to my brother, I still knew him. I knew when he wanted someone, and that bastard wanted the redhead.

“What about her?”

“She’s not a threat, but she’s got secrets, that much I know.”

He looked away from me, nodding. “She’s definitely connected to Shane. But she keeps everything close to her chest.”

“That’s not good for us.”

The crows squawked as they abandoned the bars for the light pole over our heads.

“This town, our people here, they like things quiet. Simple. It’s a balance that we keep. It’s been that way forever. They ask us to keep that balance, to keep that peace.” I squinted, watching a black Lincoln with a busted taillight slow through the park, then speed beyond the town entrance. “Who is that?”

“Never seen it before,” Dario said. “New York plates.”

We both stood and I reached for my nine, squinted until the car sped up. I only relaxed when it pulled out of the square heading to the section leading toward the highway. “This woman, no matter how hot she is, comes here, automatically refuses to accept our rules, that disrupts the peace. It makes people nervous. And nervous people in small towns are never good.”

“So, you want me to find out…”

“Little brother,” I said, standing from my car, popping his shoulder to get him off it too. “I want you to remember who you are.” I grabbed my jacket, throwing it through my open window. “I don’t care if that means you scare the shit out of her or fuck her into submission.” A quick laugh left my mouth when he licked his lips, like just the thought had him ravenous. “Fuck’s sake, man. You do you. I seem to recall you being good at that shit. And if my memory isn’t too shot, I remember a lot of women being glad you were good at it too.” I crossed to