know.”
“Which ones are those?”
“The ones in charge of enforcing the hard decisions.”
I nodded. He was family, the son of Dante Toro, but Stefan had snitched. He had betrayed the Family in the worst way possible. Even I knew that no man, blood or not, could come back from that. “They’re okay with letting Abram take care of it?”
“No. They’re okay with letting me take care of it. So that’s what I’m going to do,” Jesse said, his voice hard. He flashed me a look. “Moving on.”
“Okay.” I bit my lip, his expression making my heart thump. “Two – I’m assuming you did a creepy background check on me to find out about my extracurriculars in high school.”
“Is that a question?”
“No. My question is what we had in common that you couldn’t tell your niece about.”
Jesse laughed. “Your juvie record. You went from teenage pill dealer-slash-frat house burglar to Miss Maran, squeaky clean fifth grade teacher. Which is kind of hot.”
“Is it.”
“Of course. Everyone likes a good girl hiding a secret bad girl.”
“Mm, too bad I don’t have the bad girl anymore.”
Jesse laughed. “I’ve met her, Isla, so there’s no point in lying.” He broke into a grin as I raked my lower lip between my teeth. “Yeah, you’ve got a bad girl in you and she likes to pull my hair and claw my back. And make these insanely hot sounds that I get hard just thinking about.” He smirked as I swirled my wine, trying to give him an utterly unfazed look. “Yeah. I’m sure Abram thought he was punishing me this morning when he made me to listen to him fucking you but that only confirmed that you moan a hell of a lot louder with me.” I stopped swishing my wine. I opened my mouth to retort but Jesse spoke over me, his eyes burning into mine. “I’m sure you rewrote the memory in your head because you’re convinced you’re in love with that guy but I’m not making up the fact that you screamed so loud when I fucked you that your neighbor started banging on the wall. I mean ‘Sean’ isn’t even my real name but the way you said it made me come harder than I probably ever have in my life. Kind of makes me wonder how hard I’d have come if you said ‘Jesse.’” The look of thorough satisfaction on his face confirmed that my cheeks were beet red. “Guess we still have time to figure that one out,” he murmured just as I heard a chorus of chair legs scraping against hardwood.
And suddenly, there was a struggle at the door. Jesse and I rose to our feet at once, sensing the exact trouble before we had to see it.
“I’m here for her. That’s it.”
I heard his seething but steady voice. Abram had finally caught up to us.
Shit. Before it could escalate, I offered myself, rushing to the door and repeating the words “ I’m fine ” in hopes of calming him down. I was already tired of this, worn and frayed like the rope in a game of tug of war. All I wanted at this point was to be curled up on the couch with Rhode, drinking a cheap bottle of wine from Trader Joe’s and watching some stupid reality show about cupcakes or weddings or both. Instead, I found myself suddenly the only person equipped to work damage control between the two biggest, most testosterone-fueled tempers in all of New York. And with exhaustion, I realized that the constant back-and-forth was nowhere near an end because after a hasty goodbye to his family, Jesse followed me out the door, helping himself to the front seat in Abram’s car and slamming the door just as the driver took off.
“Yeah, just so you know,” he turned to Abram with a big grin but a dead stare. “Nothing you plan regarding Stefan is ever gonna happen without me, so don’t ever try that fucking shit again. Now let’s roll.”
chapter eight
“There would’ve been a flat-out brawl in the middle of the bar if I didn’t leave that second,” I muttered to Abram as
“Which ones are those?”
“The ones in charge of enforcing the hard decisions.”
I nodded. He was family, the son of Dante Toro, but Stefan had snitched. He had betrayed the Family in the worst way possible. Even I knew that no man, blood or not, could come back from that. “They’re okay with letting Abram take care of it?”
“No. They’re okay with letting me take care of it. So that’s what I’m going to do,” Jesse said, his voice hard. He flashed me a look. “Moving on.”
“Okay.” I bit my lip, his expression making my heart thump. “Two – I’m assuming you did a creepy background check on me to find out about my extracurriculars in high school.”
“Is that a question?”
“No. My question is what we had in common that you couldn’t tell your niece about.”
Jesse laughed. “Your juvie record. You went from teenage pill dealer-slash-frat house burglar to Miss Maran, squeaky clean fifth grade teacher. Which is kind of hot.”
“Is it.”
“Of course. Everyone likes a good girl hiding a secret bad girl.”
“Mm, too bad I don’t have the bad girl anymore.”
Jesse laughed. “I’ve met her, Isla, so there’s no point in lying.” He broke into a grin as I raked my lower lip between my teeth. “Yeah, you’ve got a bad girl in you and she likes to pull my hair and claw my back. And make these insanely hot sounds that I get hard just thinking about.” He smirked as I swirled my wine, trying to give him an utterly unfazed look. “Yeah. I’m sure Abram thought he was punishing me this morning when he made me to listen to him fucking you but that only confirmed that you moan a hell of a lot louder with me.” I stopped swishing my wine. I opened my mouth to retort but Jesse spoke over me, his eyes burning into mine. “I’m sure you rewrote the memory in your head because you’re convinced you’re in love with that guy but I’m not making up the fact that you screamed so loud when I fucked you that your neighbor started banging on the wall. I mean ‘Sean’ isn’t even my real name but the way you said it made me come harder than I probably ever have in my life. Kind of makes me wonder how hard I’d have come if you said ‘Jesse.’” The look of thorough satisfaction on his face confirmed that my cheeks were beet red. “Guess we still have time to figure that one out,” he murmured just as I heard a chorus of chair legs scraping against hardwood.
And suddenly, there was a struggle at the door. Jesse and I rose to our feet at once, sensing the exact trouble before we had to see it.
“I’m here for her. That’s it.”
I heard his seething but steady voice. Abram had finally caught up to us.
Shit. Before it could escalate, I offered myself, rushing to the door and repeating the words “ I’m fine ” in hopes of calming him down. I was already tired of this, worn and frayed like the rope in a game of tug of war. All I wanted at this point was to be curled up on the couch with Rhode, drinking a cheap bottle of wine from Trader Joe’s and watching some stupid reality show about cupcakes or weddings or both. Instead, I found myself suddenly the only person equipped to work damage control between the two biggest, most testosterone-fueled tempers in all of New York. And with exhaustion, I realized that the constant back-and-forth was nowhere near an end because after a hasty goodbye to his family, Jesse followed me out the door, helping himself to the front seat in Abram’s car and slamming the door just as the driver took off.
“Yeah, just so you know,” he turned to Abram with a big grin but a dead stare. “Nothing you plan regarding Stefan is ever gonna happen without me, so don’t ever try that fucking shit again. Now let’s roll.”
chapter eight
“There would’ve been a flat-out brawl in the middle of the bar if I didn’t leave that second,” I muttered to Abram as
Similar Books
