Forbidden Temptations (Tempted Series Book 2) (31 page)

“You remember you told me you had a gut feeling? I didn’t fucking question you brother. I stood by your side and let this shit play out until the answers started to unfold for you. You still have that gut feeling, you still believe it’s him?”

I looked at him for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh. “Yeah.”

“Well, I’m telling you my gut is screaming at me that this is something. This guy, whoever he is, is the key to what we’re trying to do. You going to stand by my side and let this unfold for me or you going to give me lip?”

He was right, Jack wanted it to be Victor this whole time, but because of my hunch he started to get on board with the Jimmy lead. He never once doubted me or caused me to doubt myself.

“Give me ten minutes,” I said.

“Is that all it takes?” Adrianna spoke up from the doorway. She wore a pair of my sweats and one of my T-shirts as she leaned against the doorjamb. She crossed her arms against her chest and stared viciously at me.

“Jack, Adrianna. Adrianna, Jack,” I introduced as I reached around and cupped the back of my neck. She was going to fucking kill me.

“Nice to meet you. Are you one of my father’s goons too?” She asked sarcastically.

“Do I look like one?” He questioned her, glancing at me out of the corner of his eyes.

She bit her lip, giving Jack a once over with her eyes. “No, I guess you don’t. Too much leather and not enough Teflon,” she declared, shrugging her shoulders and looking at me. “I’ll just grab my things and get out of here.”

“Wait a minute,” I urged.

“No, I’m not in the mood to do this, Anthony.” I knew that tone of voice all too well. She was teetering on the edge of damning me to hell. This time I’m sure she’d be the one lighting the match, happily too.

“I’m sure you’re a nice guy Jack and it’s real nice to meet you but you have horrible timing,” she said, patting him on his shoulder as she brushed passed him to retrieve her things from the bathroom.

“Fucking great,” I mumbled.

“She’s a catch man,” Jack said then clapped his hands. “So, ten minutes?”

I liked Jack, wanted to help him, but right then I wanted to punch him in the nose.

Two days later, forty-eight hours passed, and still no fucking word from Anthony. Before he had left with the leather clad version of Jimmy Cash, dressed all in black, Anthony followed me into the bathroom. He knew I was upset that our morning had been interrupted, that I was scared of what would come next. We knew how to have sex, we knew each other’s bodies better than anyone else did but it was the after part where we lost our footing. I didn’t know what he had going on with the biker. I had overheard them talking and through their hushed words I understood one thing, danger. I didn’t want him to know I had been eavesdropping, but I heard him talking to Jack about nailing Jimmy to the cross.

He assured me that things weren’t going to go back to the way they were that he was working on making things right for us. Stupid me; believed every word. Stupid, naïve Adrianna who always hangs on Anthony’s words. The sad part is I’m always left dangling.

Not this time. This time I was really fucking done.

I drove my sister to Temptations, so she and Mikey could talk. She was torn between her attraction and feelings for Mikey and her loyalty to Rico. Nikki and Rico had been together for about a year and until Mikey showed up, my sister had always seemed happy. Sure, Rico was arrogant and a dick, but that was part of the package. He thought he was hot shit being a reputable disc jockey in New York and that’s where the cocky attitude stemmed from. At the end of the day, Nikki had found a guy who loved to have a good time as much as she did. He didn’t give two fucks about her last name or who her father was. That’s a big deal in our world because our whole lives people were intrigued by the Pastore girls because their daddy was a gangster.

It didn’t bother me as much as it did Nikki. Maybe that’s because half of my life I’ve been wrapped up in my own drama with Anthony that I rarely paid attention to anything else. I think that’s part of the reason Nikki is so torn because Rico provides her something she never had before. Our father’s shadow doesn’t lurk over her relationship with Rico like it does with mine and Anthony’s.

I glanced over at Nikki, watching as she stares out the window, her mind a million miles away.

“Hey…” I say gently, taking my hand off the steering wheel and touching her arm. “You okay?”

She turns to me and plasters the fakest smile I had ever seen. “Peachy!”

“Do you know what you’re going to say to him?”

“I was thinking something along the lines of; ‘Hey Mikey, thanks for the phone sex. It was great and all and I bet the real thing would be fucking spectacular but I’m going to stop talking to you because I have this boyfriend I kind of, sort of, think I love.” She stated, cocking her head to the side. “How about that?”

I rolled up to a red light and turned my attention to her, looking at her with wide eyes.

Or how about “I don’t know what to do since Rico’s the first guy who I thought really cared about me and you’re the first guy I ever wanted to love,” she continued as she shook her head. “Definitely not that one, that’s too close to the truth.” She bit her lip, her eyes widening as an idea came to life in her head. “Or, you can turn this badass car around and we can go shopping and forget all about this stupid shit.”

I nodded. “You’re fucked.”

“Thanks sis.”

“It’s okay, I’ve been fucked for years…,” I replied, turning my eyes back to the road.

“You want to tell me why you went off the radar for two days?” Victor asks me before taking a sip of his espresso. He had sent Jimmy to my apartment to drag me to Temptations for a ‘talk’. I wasn’t in the mood for a lecture from him, especially after the last two days I had.

Jack and I had driven up to the prison that Jimmy had been visiting often but our trip hadn’t gone as planned. We got the visitors log, thanks to Jack’s connection, and found out that the inmate was a guy named Brent Rogers. The plan went astray when we tried to pay Mr. Rogers a visit, only to be quickly denied. He had an approved list of visitors, just the way I had when I was away. We weren’t on the list so we didn’t get in and there was nothing Jack’s connection could do about it.

We did some digging around and found out that Brent was doing twenty years in jail for a major drug bust that happened years ago. He tried to traffic thousands of dollars of drugs through the harbor and the docks that Victor controlled. I didn’t get a chance to connect all the dots, but I had been working on that for the last twenty-four hours. I tried to figure out why Jimmy would be visiting a man, they had sent away and if Victor even knew about it.

If Jimmy was going behind Vic’s back that might be my way out. Once I had all the facts, I’d go to Vic and give him an ultimatum. I’d hand him over the proof that Jimmy is working against him and in exchange he’d let me out of the organization. No questions asked.

I needed a little more time. Jack was going to ransack Jimmy’s apartment on opening night of the club. He needed to find something that tied Jimmy to Danny’s murder and to this thing with Roger’s.

“I had shit I had to take care of,” I explained as I narrowed my eyes at the boss. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t send that rat bastard to my house anymore.”

“Jimmy?” Victor raised an eyebrow. “That’s a harsh name choice for my underboss wouldn’t you agree?”

“Not really. If the shoe fits, who says it don’t?”

“I do, actually. I say it don’t.”

“Then you need to open your fucking eyes,” I retorted angrily.

“Excuse me,” Mike interrupted, clearing his throat. I hadn’t even noticed him walk over to us, too focused on how much of a prick Vic was. “Can I speak to you for a moment?” He asked me.

“I’m kind of in the middle of something, Mike,” I said, keeping my eyes on Victor.

“No, we’re done here,” Vic, said curtly, dismissing me and why not? The motherfucker always had the last word. He turned on his expensive shoes and walked away from me.

I dragged my fingers through my hair, frustrated with myself for letting him get under my skin and let out a stream of expletives under my breath.

“I need fucking air,” I said annoyed, heading for the door with Mike following close behind. If the kid had any sense, he’d stay the fuck away from me. I wanted out so badly that I could taste it but there was one thing or another standing in my way. I started to get discouraged, started to believe I was never going to break free and that this all was a fucking pipe dream.

The cold breeze smacked me in the face and I could feel Mike staring at me nervously. I turned around and pierced him with a cold stare. “What is it Mike?”

“If now isn’t a good time…” he started.

It’s never a good time. Time is my biggest demon, always fucking with me.

“Just say what you want to say,” I demanded. For his sake, I hope it wasn’t some stupid shit he wanted to discuss, like what fucking color suit he should wear opening night.

“All right, fine,” he crossed his arms. “What do you know about Rico?”

I rolled my eyes. It was worse than ‘what color suit’. Instead, jealous Mike emerged, eager to get into Nikki’s panties. If this little shit broke her heart, I’d break his legs. Plain and simple. Mike was my friend but Nikki was right up there with my sister.

“Are you fucking kidding me? I told you to leave it alone Mike. No good can come from you getting involved with Nikki.”

I entertained his questions for about five minutes. I explained how Nikki had met the D.J. and how I had checked him out when she first started seeing him and that he was clean. I informed him how long she had been dating him and that he seemed to make her happy. I left it at that and hoped that he did the right thing when it came to Nikki.

Adrianna’s car pulled up right in front of Temptations, distracting both of us and ending the conversation at the same time.
     

“Fucking great,” I mumbled. I hadn’t seen her since I left with Jack. I promised her I’d fix this shit between us I was working on it and promised I’d give her a call. I never fucking called. She was pissed off that morning when I had to leave, lord knows how fucking mad she was now that I hadn’t followed through with my promise. I was notorious for breaking promises when it came to her, made me wonder why she even gave two fucks about me.

I clenched my fists and walked around her car as Nikki climbed out of the passenger seat, ready to face the music, or otherwise known as the wrath of Adrianna. Her window was rolled up, and she stared out the passenger window ignoring me. I tapped my hand against the roof of her car to get her attention even though I knew she sensed I was right next to her.

“Roll down your window,” I shouted calmly. She was going to test me, she always did, but this time I knew I deserved it, which made me even angrier. I blew out a breath and bent my knees making myself eye-level with her tinted windows. She probably flipped me the finger behind the blackened glass.

“Open the damn window, Adrianna!” I shouted.
So much for trying to stay calm.

She lowered the window about an inch and I saw her eyes. “Fuck you,” she said, before rolling the window back up.

“Would you stop acting like a fucking child and hear me out,” I roared through clenched teeth.

The window lowered again. “There’s nothing you could say that I want to hear anymore.” She closed the window again.

“Not now, Reese’s. I’m not in the mood to play games,” I said to the dark glass. “Come on, baby, open the window.” I struggled to remain calm, not open the fucking door, and push her over the console and carjack her, taking her far the fuck away from here. The idea of running away, starting a new life, set me off and broke any restraint I had left. I tried the door but the slick little thing she was hit the lock button just as my hand reached for the handle. “Open the fucking door, A!”

That didn’t work because she revved her engine and peeled out of the spot nearly running me over as her tires screeched against the pavement. And so here, we were…again.