Страница 24 из 76
Chapter 3 (Ricardo)
I shake my head as I watch her teeter and totter to my car in her high heels. She's so wasted she looks like a baby deer taking her very first steps.
I knew all that wine was going to catch up to her before we left.
I dig my keys out of my pocket and a hand clamps down on my shoulder. “Wait a minute, son.”
I grit my teeth because I hate it when he calls me 'son'. I swear he only uses the term to get under my skin.
And to remind me exactly who I am.
I turn around and face him. “Can you make it quick? I'm trying to make it back to the city before the end of the weekend traffic hits.”
The Hampton's are swamped during weekends in the summer and making the drive back with a drunk girl as my passenger isn't particularly my idea of fun.
Christ, she better not puke in my mustang.
“This will only take a second.” His gaze drifts to my car where his girlfriend is currently sitting shotgun with her head in her hands.
“I'll be going to Italy for a month on business. I trust that you'll take care of the club for me when I'm gone?”
“Yeah,” I tell him.
Why he's even bothering to tell me this shit, is beyond me, however, I am happy to hear that he'll be out of my hair for a little while.
His gaze turns hard when his eyes shift back to me. “I trust that you'll take care of my bambina for me as well?”
“Pardon?”
“I need you to take care of her for me. This is the longest I'll be away from her and I'm worried.”
“So why don't you take her with you?”
He looks in her direction again. “She's never been on her own before. She's never had her independence.”
“That's probably because she's still a fucking teenager,” I say under my breath.
“She'll be 24 at the end of the month,” he snaps. “Anyway, I don't want anyone at the club knowing the extent of my involvement with her because it will make her an easy target for my enemies. Understood?”
When I nod he continues, “I fear that some asshole may take advantage of her since they won't know she's co
His eyes soften. “She's the most important person in the world to me and I don't want anything happening to her.”
I fight the urge to laugh. I can't believe this 5-foot-nothing, firecracker with the big brown doe eyes is his weak spot.
He puffs out his chest. “I want her to have her independence, but not at the expense of her safety. That's why I'm entrusting you to look after her. That's the real reason I hired her as a ring girl.”
He looks down. “I know if there's one person in the world I can trust with my most prized possession, it's my own son.” He looks at me. “Right?”
“Right,” I say.
It's not so much that I'm necessarily in agreement...it's just that I want him to think I am.
Having DeLuca as an ally is much better than having him as an enemy. There's not a line in this world the man won't bulldozer over to get his way. His evil knows no bounds...I've seen him do things that could make a demon cry.
He laughs deep and sinister and if I was a lesser man, I'd be nervous right now. “Besides, if I couldn't trust you—well then; I'd just have to hit you where it really hurts.”
I open my mouth but shut it when he says, “You know, your friends Tyrone and Jackson.”
And therein lies the drawback to letting people in and caring about them.
It makes good fucking leverage.
“Nothing will happen to her. I'll make sure of it. I'll protect her.” I look him right in his dark eyes, which are identical to my own. “You have my word.”
He shakes my hand. “It's a deal.”
I squeeze his hand hard. “I know better than to make any more deal's with you. So you'll just have to take me at my fucking word.”
That fucked up combination of pride and anger flash in his eyes. “Very well. Get home safe, son.” He smiles and I drop my hand. “You've got some precious cargo with you.”
I walk toward my car and all I can think is—Jesus, what the hell have I gotten myself into?
I have my hands full trying to look out for and keep everything copacetic regarding my boys and DeLuca...having to look after her now will be a headache.
But then I think about the way her face fell and the devastation in those big brown eyes of hers when she thought DeLuca was getting rid of her.
When she thought he didn't love her anymore.
It was the saddest look I'd ever seen.
Craziest thing of all? I found myself identifying with her because I've felt that way before when it came to DeLuca.
I also know what it's like to feel like no one wants you. To feel like you have no one in your corner.
I know what it's like to go through life all on your own, only having yourself to rely on.
Hell, it's been that way for most of my damn life.
Until Jackson and Tyrone, that is.
I wasn't looking to get close to anyone when I began coaching them, but somehow I found way more than I could ever bargain for.
I found a family...a brotherhood.
There's no way I'll ever let anyone take that away.
“Oh, god pull over.”
Those are the first words she's spoken in the last hour.
I glance over and her cheeks are puffed out and her hand is covering her mouth.
Shit, she's go
I cut the wheel so hard my tires screech when I pull over to the side of the expressway.
She opens the door, stumbles out and leans against the car while dry heaving.
I curse under my breath and grab a water bottle out of the extra gym bag I keep in my car.
“Everything's spi
“Yeah, it's called being drunk,” I say.
She shoots me a dirty look but it's quickly replaced by panic...right before she proceeds to blow chunks.
Begrudgingly, I hold her hair up for her. “I really don't feel good,” she says. “I'm never getting drunk again.”
“Famous last words.”
She starts trembling and panting between dry heaves. “I'm serious. I'm not even a big drinker in the first place.”
“Oh, so you're just a heroin addict then?”
“Fuck you,” she spews. “I'm not—” She pauses. “You don't know a damn thing about me, you judgmental asshole.”
She bats my hand away but she's so uncoordinated it doesn't do any good.“You know what? I don't need your help—” she starts to say before the next round hits her with a vengeance.
I stand directly behind her and place my arm around her waist so she doesn't fall. I use my other hand to rub soothing circles down her back until she relaxes against me.
She's right...I don't know a thing about her. Besides, who the hell am I to judge anyone in the first place?
I'm certainly no upstanding citizen myself.
She's still going at it so I wait between rounds to ask, “Did you eat today?”
She shakes her head and I sigh. “Rookie mistake number one. If you're going to down two bottles of wine during di
“I just need some coffee,” she says, attempting to stand up straight.
“Nope,” I say. “Coffee, showers, bread...none of that shit actually works.”
I crack open the water bottle and hold it up to her lips. “Open.” She opens her mouth and takes a few small sips. “The only thing that works is time. You just have to ride it out while the alcohol passes through your system.”