Commanding Thirst: Mafia Romance (Rough Redemption Book 2) Read online

  “Give me your phone,” I grunted.

  “What? Why?” She blinked, eyes hot with what I prayed was desire.

  “Because my dear, sweet Daphne,” my hands slid around her to prevent her from bolting, “I’ve been waiting for way too long to shock, sin, and shame you. Now you’re home, and it can’t wait.” Her palms flattened against my chest, pushing me aside.

  She gave me her phone number and I walked out of the bookstore. There was no trusting myself around her. I’d come too close to raising her skirt and dragging her panties down in my soon-to-be sister-in-law’s place of business.

  God, would they be soaking wet?

  Right there and then, I vowed to expose that information the next time I saw her.

  3

  Daphne

  I told my sister Maggie during our daily debrief. “You’ll never guess who I saw at work day…”

  “Oh, I bet I can.” I could practically see her playful grin. “Let me think. Tony Drago?”

  “What the hell? How did you know?” I asked.

  “I didn’t win investigative journalist of the year for nothing. Besides, there’s only one guy that makes your voice do the thing.”

  “Do what?”

  “If I had to describe it, I’d say you’re purring. Like a cat.”

  “Cut it out,” I laughed.

  “I’m serious. It’s as if someone just set an open can of tuna down in front of your cold, dead, feline heart.” Maggie teased. Normally my stomach would have fisted tightly at the mention of tuna since I always skipped breakfast for economic reasons. But as she spoke, I was nuking a slice of Mediterranean pizza. A certain Italian Stallion had a size extra large sent to my house last night for dinner.

  “You think I’m cold?”

  “Not with me. Never. Not with Tony either. But every other eager male within a mile radius? Watch out. You freeze them in place with your icy stare.”

  I considered the matter.

  Growing up around here, with everyone knowing our business, I learned to avoid rejection by rejecting others first. It didn’t keep our secrets entirely, like not being able to wake Mama up after we got home from school. But at least it kept me from observing the expression on other people’s faces when they witnessed our family defects up close and personal.

  I wasn’t keen on letting anyone into our business.

  Except for Antonio.

  He’d seen the worst, coming to call when Maggie and I worried Mama might have taken pills with her bottle of vodka. He never judged. The Dragos had their own code of silence. Don’t talk about your problems with anyone outside the family.

  A loudspeaker on the other end of the phone snapped me out of thinking about him. “Where are you?” I asked.

  “The airport. Look, D. I have to leave town for a while. Not sure I’ll be able to call—I’m telling you so you don’t worry.” Moth wings fluttered in my belly. She had that tone. She was keeping me out of her business.

  “What’s up, Maggie?” I inquired, fairly certain she’d give me the brush off.

  “Nothing big. There are a few things I need to take care of. The key is in my mailbox. Will you water my plant babies?”

  “How long will it take? Where are you going?” I felt more than fear. It was sisterly E.S.P.

  Something was not right.

  There was nothing I could do about it. It was impossible to control her.

  “They’re boarding, Daphne. I have to go. Don’t worry.” She asked me to do the impossible and hung up before I could find out where she was going.

  Apprehension washed over me.

  It wasn’t the first time the urge to talk things over with Tony, the way we used to do, hit me like a ton of bricks.

  A week passed and there was neither hide nor hair from Maggie.

  It wasn’t the first time she’d taken off and left me wondering about her safety. By now, I’d usually receive a text from her, a voicemail, something.

  Not so on this occasion.

  Crickets.

  Her silence was unlike the noisy man standing next to me in line at the Daily Grind, who let out a rough bark every instance he spoke, and kept winking at me.

  It creeped me out.

  But my research showed he was the best private investigator in the county, and I wasn’t taking chances with my sister’s safety.

  I hadn’t entirely figured out how to pay this dude forty-five dollars an hour on a fifteen dollars an hour salary. My paycheck didn’t come with extra anything.

  “I’ll comb through thousands of databases not available to the public.” He grabbed his iced coffee and left me to fend for myself.

  He swung his bulging arms to turn around and splashed his drink all over the front of Antonio Drago’s shirt.

  “Oh, no!” I said intelligently.

  “What are you doing here?” He scowled at me.

  “Let me get something to wipe it up.” The P.I. went to the counter, got a tea towel, and returned.

  Tony ignored him, dabbing the wet spot with a paper napkin.

  “I might ask you the same thing. Were you following me or something?” I asked. He scowled and I put a hand over my mouth, trying to take the words back.

  “This is a popular place in town. Must be why he brought you here.” He glowered in distaste towards my hired help.

  “We had a meeting. Not that it’s any of your business. Why are you being such a beast?” I sounded angrier than I was. The unfamiliar experience of making someone jealous put me off guard.

  Like a creature who’d tasted blood and couldn’t stop, Antonio wanted more of me. I’d be blind to miss the way his eyes caressed me with lusting, invisible fingers. Right there in front of Mr. Goofy P.I. himself.

  “Hey, uh. We can discuss this another time, Ms. Pruitt. No problem,” said the P.I.

  “Good idea,” Tony replied. “She’ll call you later about whatever deal the two of you have.” His voice became ice cold and as cutting as a scalpel. “And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep it strictly business.”

  “I’ll call you for an update around lunchtime,” I hollered after the private dick as he strolled out of the cafe on his rolling gait. His bowed legs made him look as if he’d been riding portly horses all his life, and he turned to give me a mock salute.

  “What was that about?” I spat at Tony.

  “Since you asked, it was about that cleavage crab staring down your shirt every time you looked away. Business my ass.” I’d hate to be the one on the receiving end of those hell-hot eyes, which stared down the P.I. as he ambled down the sidewalk, out of earshot.

  “As it just so happens, we are working together. Not that it’s any of your concern.”

  “Trust me, the guy’s factory settings are set to find as many qualibangs as he can. You have another meeting with him, you let me know. I’ll be there.”

  “Qualibangs? You mean like, a quality bang?” Tony didn’t talk about banging or any other sexual topic with me, but I’d be lying to say sex wasn’t on my mind whenever he was around. Things were different now between us. I was no longer in high school, and our ten-year age gap was no longer a barrier. The fact rode my mind hard.

  “Exactly. No doubt it’s what you’d be, baby girl.” Although his pupils dilated, dark with desire, he used my pet name, the one which told me I was still the apple of his eye.

  His unyielding, muscled body and sexy voice did bad things to my equilibrium. It was impossible to think straight. “Look, I’m not a little girl in need of protection anymore, Tony. You don’t have to walk me home from school. I can take care of myself.”

  On that note, I turned away from him and headed back to the bookstore, pretending I didn’t feel his heated gaze on my ass.

  4

  Daphne

  The P.I. barked his cryptic voice message, which I listened to during my lunch break.“Urgent information. Best we talk it over in person. Don’t want to deliver the news over the phone.”

  “Dougla
s.” Was how he answered my call, and I held the receiver away from my head to protect my eardrum.

  “Hey, Daphne here. Are you available this evening after work? Angelo’s pool hall?” The business had plenty of empty corners on a weeknight. We could discuss things without worrying about people overhearing us.

  “Call it a date. See you there at six.” He said and hung up the phone.

  It was definitely not a date. But whatever P.I. Douglas discovered would get me one step closer to finding my sister.

  Neon beer signs on the far wall of the pool hall illuminated Douglas in a pallid blue haze while he enjoyed a pint. A clucking chicken cried out for some kids who’d stuck a quarter in its slot. The odor of pizza and wings from the kitchen reminded me I hadn’t eaten all day.

  The server took my order, fries and a beer. Both filled the belly and were light on the pocketbook.

  “That all you’re having?” Douglas asked.

  “Big lunch,” I lied, pointing to the folder sitting in front of him like a promise. “So, what’d you find?”

  He rocked back in his chair, puffing a gust of air past his lips and said, “It’s not good.”

  A knot of fear tore at my insides. “Is Maggie okay?”

  Sinking his chair legs to the ground, Douglas removed his baseball hat and ran a jerky hand through his hair. “I’m torn about the information I’ve uncovered. You’ve hired me to perform a service, and I always deliver, but this is some dangerous shit your sister’s gotten herself into. She’s messed with some people you don’t want to mess with.”

  “Will you tell me already?” The chords in my neck tensed and I started snapping wooden toothpicks over the table and making a tiny pile of their remains.

  “We got lucky on this case, okay? Ran into one reporter where Maggie worked, and he let it slip your sister was digging into the local increase in meth-related deaths. Seems she’d uncovered a tie to the Sinaloa Cartel,” he whispered, as if invisible gang members stood all around us, taking in his every word.

  “Sinaloa?” I asked.

  Douglas leaned forward. “Mexican Cartel. They’re battling for Northern California territory against the Jaliscos and trust me, these are not people you want to mess with. If I were a betting man, I’d say your sister’s silence relates to her probing into their operations.” He held his stomach as if pained, and the flavor of my beer turned sour in my mouth. I had the urge to chase it away with something stronger and struggled to steady my trembling hands.

  “What next?” I asked.

  “My advice to you. Let this rest. With any luck, your sister is holed up in some romantic retreat, enjoying herself until things blow over.”

  “I don’t think so.” My heartbeat was becoming a subwoofer in my chest. “Do you expect the Cartel to let bygones be bygones?”

  Maggie was missing, and my intuition was telling me something wasn’t right.

  And now my morality was in grave danger because I was going to enlist a savage to serve, once again, as my savior.

  Just like high school.

  5

  Antonio

  She told me where she lived. No way I could stay away.

  Unfortunately, neither could he.

  Jealousy, naked and cruel, gnawed at my thoughts, filling my mind with visions of kicking his ass and punishing hers. But not before I asked myself, what kind of man wears too tight western jeans to work in the first place, and lets them ride above his pull-on, short cowboy boots?

  Not good for the optic.

  Worse yet, the troglodyte braced his palms against her front door, one on either side of her head, and leaned down to kiss her. She shoved at his chest, her voice raising when she asked, “What are you doing?”

  My blood boiled and the foulness of loathing came off of me in waves.

  “Get your fucking hands off her. Now.”

  “Dude, you’re out of line. This is between us,” he said.

  “There’s nothing between you and Daphne. Not anymore.” Hostility dipped the tone of my voice even lower.

  “Douglas, go.” She sounded shaky as hell, and it made me want to tear this guy into pieces.

  “Fine,” he said. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  “Don’t bother. She’s otherwise occupied.” My voice left no room for argument. At least the fool had the good sense to walk away.

  She took shallow breaths, and I asked, “You wanna tell me what that was all about?”

  “It wasn’t anything, Tony. I’m not interested in him.”

  Beneath her words, I saw something rise to the surface. She gulped back sorrow her eyes could not hide. “What’s wrong, baby girl? Something more than an oaf putting his moves on you. You can’t hide anything from me.”

  She turned away from me and her fingers shook as she inserted her key in the door. I followed her in, not waiting for an invitation. I wasn’t about to leave her alone.

  A wave of dread washed over me when I saw the chaos inside the room. She had little to her name, but they tossed around the few possessions she had like confetti.

  The truth sank in, someone had broken into her apartment. They were looking for something.

  Daphne’s body quivered.

  “Hey.” I pulled her into my arms and pressed her head against my chest. “You’re not staying here alone tonight. Let me help you pack some clothes and take you to the Diamante.”

  My brother and I lived at the casino we ran. I’d bring Daphne with me and keep her safe there until I sorted this out.

  Hers was a single-room studio, and they scattered the entirety of her wardrobe on the floor. She sat on her twin bed with her hands covering her mouth. “They must have discovered I hired a P.I. There was nothing incriminating in my studio though.”

  “Is that what the guy was? A private investigator? And he tried to put the moves on you? Real professional.” I snarled and slung some outfits into a duffle bag I located in a corner of the closet. After scanning the floor for undies and socks, I was pleased to find

  she still wore those same damned white cotton panties.

  “My sister was going to run a story on the Cartel, an investigative piece about their involvement in the rising number of deaths involving meth. I guess they took offense,” she said.

  “The Cartel doesn’t take offense, they take lives.” My body stiffened, remembering how the Sinaloas had shot my father in cold blood. “You’d be putting yourself in harm’s way staying here. You already did by hiring a guy to look into whatever got your sister in trouble.”

  Fear flashed across her face. “What am I going to do? Hide? It won’t work, I have bills to pay.”

  “You’re going to let someone else take care of you for a change. You spent your childhood looking out for your family. No thanks in return other than bringing this shit into your life.” I banged the heel of my hand on the table, and it made her jump.

  The color drained from her cheeks, and I felt like an ass for making things worse.

  “Maggie was just doing her job.” Her bottom lip trembled, and I cursed myself for the filthy thoughts the simple sight called to mind.

  Now is not the time, Drago.

  “I’m sorry. I know it’s always been on you to watch out for your sister. She’s got to take charge of her own life. You don’t have to prove your worth by taking care of her anymore.”

  I was all wrong for her: a brute who solved his problems with his fists or, if it came down to it, bullets. She deserved so much better than what I offered. But the sight of her slouched on the bed, the remaining color completely bleached from her cheeks. I vowed no matter how she argued, she was coming with me.

  I wouldn’t let anyone harm a hair on her head, so help me God.

  6

  Antonio

  The suite at the Diamante was suitable but paled in comparison to the expensive and exotic venues I’d fantasized about taking her to for years.

  Daphne in a bikini in the Caribbean.

  Me rubbing coconut-scented lotion i
nto her creamy skin. Protecting her, even from the sun.

  We arrived at the hotel, whisking past the uniformed workers who nodded their recognition of me.

  I set her duffel on the chest of drawers and unpacked for her. Socks and undies in the top drawer, leggings and jeans in the next, and her toiletries on the bathroom counter.

  Inside my suite, Daphne entered the restroom, locking it behind her. I could hear her brushing her teeth on the other side, poured myself a scotch, and called my brother. I needed his help on this.

  “Hey,” I said when Brando answered. “I’ve got something to discuss with you tomorrow. May have to leave town for a bit.”

  “What’s up?” Brando asked.

  “Need to tell you in person. Meet you for breakfast at the hotel restaurant? Say eight o’clock?” I planned to ask him about taking off for a bit and getting one of the qualified casino employees to cover Daphne’s shift at the bookstore.

  “Sounds good. I’ll see you there.” Brando hung up. Phones were the means for cryptic conversations, and secrets were kept safe by holding face-to-face meetings.

  Daphne stepped out of the bathroom, fresher and a bit more relaxed. “How did they find my place?”

  My timing was often off, and I wasn’t the most diplomatic of dudes, so I told her, “You said you met P.I. Guy at the pool parlor tonight?”

  She nodded.

  “Next time, consider it might not be the smartest move meeting a professional investigator in public when you’re hiring him to go after the Cartel.”

  She leaned forward, her hand on her knee, looking like the cutest, eager little cuddle bunny.

  Cuddle bunny?

  Who the fuck was I?

  That’s why I need you, Tony,” she said, and I had to pull my body down off the ornamental plaster medallion on the ceiling overhead.