Chapter 26

Evie drove her Range Rover through the backstreets of Philly. Considering it was only dinner time, the darkening sky made it appear close to midnight. “Thank you for coming with me, Sofia, and for helping me make all the food.”

I tried to smile. “You’re welcome. It’s a nice gesture.”

Mateo had signed another contract with the county, adding five more years to the time that he and his crew would maintain Philly police cruisers and public service vehicles. But his growing popularity in the area had called for him to open yet another shop, bringing his total to nine.

As a thank-you to his mechanics, staff, and their families, Teo and Evie had rented a hall and hired a caterer. Evie and I had made a few extra Cuban dishes as a treat for Mateo and the many Latinos who worked for him. The aroma of chicharon, arroz con pollo, and chiles wafted from the back compartment.

Evie swiveled in her seat at a light when Mattie whimpered. “Oh, what’s wrong, little man?”

Thick tears fell down his face. Evie had taken him to the pediatrician earlier. The poor baby had developed an ear infection and had some teeth coming in. Evie stretched her hand to stroke his cheek. “Sofi, can you grab me the Tylenol from the diaper bag? I think the dose that I gave him earlier is wearing off.”

I dug through the bag as the light changed and she accelerated. The medicine was tucked into the side pocket. I pulled out the little container along with a burp cloth to wipe his tears. “Would you like me to give him some now?”

“Yes, please.” She sighed and veered down the road to the reception hall. “If he’s not feeling better by Saturday, I may have to miss Lety and Brody’s graduation.”

“Oh, no. I hope you’ll be able to go.” Lety was going to be the first college graduate in the family and every last member had planned to attend the ceremony. For Evie not to be there would be a huge deal. But as more tears fell from Mattie’s sweet blue eyes, I understood why she couldn’t leave him.

I drew the amount of medicine Mattie needed and angled my body toward the back after loosening my seat belt. He made a face when I squeezed the liquid into his mouth. “I don’t think he likes the taste.”

“I know. I wouldn’t give it to him if he wasn’t so miserable, but I don’t want him to hurt. He’s been so healthy. No colds, nothing over the past year.” She smiled fondly. “I can’t believe my baby is almost one.”

“I can’t believe he’s already walking.” I wiped his chin with the burp cloth when he drooled, smiling for real when he grinned at me with his tiny teeth. Little Mateo looked more and more like his daddy every day. One day, my buddy would no doubt tower over me. For the moment, I could still hold and cuddle with him at nap time. “Well, if he continues to have a hard time, I’ll take him home so you can enjoy the party, Evie.”

Her bottom lip protruded slightly when I turned back around and adjusted my seat belt. “I don’t know if I can leave my little one, Sofia.”

I glanced back at Mattie, who grinned again. “Ohhhhh, I can’t blame you.”

A call came in over the Bluetooth. Evie answered, knowing who it was. “Hi, baby.”

“Where are you?” Mateo’s voice boomed.

She grinned. “I’m fine, thank you. How was your day?”

He laughed on the other end. “I just miss you. You almost here?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m about two blocks away.”

“I’ll be right out.”

She knitted her small brows. “You don’t have to. I have the stroller and Sofia’s with me.”

“I don’t want you out here alone. The place is nice, but I didn’t realize how shitty the area had become. It’s gone from decent to ghetto real fast.”

As if to prove Teo’s point, a large group of older teens loitering on the walkways motioned toward Evie’s car as we passed. The windows were tinted and they couldn’t see us, but it was obvious they were checking out her expensive ride.

Evie’s eyes cut to them briefly. “I’ll be there soon,” she assured him.

“Mattie okay?”

“He’s fussing a little bit. The antibiotics haven’t kicked in yet, but I’m hoping they will by tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Me, too. I don’t want to miss Lety’s graduation. But I don’t want to go without him either.”

Teo disconnected when he caught sight of the Range Rover as we pulled into the lot. He and some of his friends were waiting right outside the front doors. For as alpha as my brother was, his tough demeanor always tamed around his wife. That special grin he reserved solely for Evie flashed when she opened the door and he saw her in her pretty pink dress.

“Hey, little mama,” he said. He helped her out of the car and kissed her hello, stroking her hair as he spoke quietly. “You feeling okay?”

I gathered the diaper bag, my purse, and Evie’s purse when I noticed Teo continuing to hold her. “I’m fine,” she insisted. “But I am worried about Mattie. I may have to leave early.”

Mateo told her something that I couldn’t hear. I slipped out of the SUV and greeted his friends from his bouncing days at Club Excess. Two of his pals, Ant and Chris, now managed six of Teo’s shops. They hefted the food out of the back when I opened the rear door, all grins, chatting happily. The few dishes they didn’t manage to carry were gathered by their girlfriends, Noelle and Dee-Dee, after they took a moment to hug and kiss Evie.

I reached for the last container of food and edged my way back to Evie and Teo. He lifted Mattie out of his car seat. Although Mattie had been whimpering only a short time ago, the little cutie laughed when his daddy tossed him in the air. “How’s my boy?” Teo asked him.

Teo frowned when Evie tried to take him in her arms. “I got him. He’s too heavy for you in your condition.”

Her cheeks flushed when she caught me watching them. The corners of Teo’s mouth lifted into a smirk, but he didn’t speak a word, even after my jaw popped open. I tried to suppress my reaction and hurried into the hall. They had news to share but they didn’t seem ready to yet.

Music blared from the DJ booth and people were already dancing and attacking the food the servers were carrying. Children ran around with the silver and gold latex balloons from the tables while their mothers and the occasional dad chased after them, yelling at them to behave.

A cluster of cops in plainclothes, with their badges dangling from the chains around their necks, gathered at the bar. Among them was Curran. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Teo was tight with a lot of the boys in blue.

Curran did a double take when he saw me. He mouthed to his buddies that he’d be right back before he snaked around the tables in my direction. I kissed his cheek when he bent to hug me. It was good to see him. While we’d known each other since we were kids, we’d grown close during my relationship with Killian.

God, Killian. Any thought and any mention of him made me miserable.

“Hey, Sofi,” Curran said.

“Hi, Curran. How are you?”

“All right. Just got back from Vegas last week. Great town, but the air and dust suck the Hulk’s balls.”

I pressed my lips tight. Yeah. I’d missed him.

He took a pull of his beer. “How ’bout you? How you doing, kid?”

“Okay. My last day of finals was today.”

“Good. Finals week always blew. Man, me and my frat brothers always let loose on the last day. You gonna check out any of the campus parties?”

“No. It’s not my thing. Even the most uptight, conservative people lose their minds.” He almost spat out his beer. “What?” I asked when he started laughing.

“Did I ever tell you about that prissy sorority girl who always looked at me like she wanted to smack me upside the head?”

“No. I don’t think so.” I took the punch Teo placed in my hand. “Thanks, Teo.”

Curran continued when Teo walked away. “Well, speaking of going batshit crazy, the priss shows up at my frat with a few of her friends. She seemed upset—like, sad. So I gave her a Hot Damn shot, you know, to make her feel better.”

I tried not to laugh. “That was very nice of you, Curran.”

He shrugged. “What can I say, I’m a helluva guy. Anyways, one shot turned to two, three, and so on. Next thing I know she’s doing a keg stand and one more shot shy of taking her panties off. So I take her home—trying, like you said, to be nice.”

I nodded. “I’m sure.”

His blue eyes glimmered as he laughed. “So I drop her off at her sorority house, but—and I’m not making this up—she drags me into her room and ties me to her brass bed with her argyle socks. Bondage, Sofi. Total bondage. Can you believe that shit?”

“Mmm.” I took a quick sip of my punch. “Wow, that sounds like quite a night.”

For a minute, Curran grew completely quiet. “Yeah. It kind of was. She was actually sweet. A nice girl. Just never seemed like she was allowed to have fun.” He tipped back his beer and took a few hard swallows. “Too bad her father was the president of the college and almost threw my ass out of school when he found us naked.”

I wasn’t sure if the squeak that tore through my throat could be heard above the music, but when Curran threw his head back, laughing, I was sure that he’d heard it. “Yeah, Sofi. Good times.”

He watched me carefully as if debating what to say. “So, anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something —”

“Sofia!” Denny Giovanni, who grew up a few blocks from us, stopped directly in front of me. His entire face lit up. “Whoa, Sofia. Look at you. You grew up niiiiiiiiiiice.”

My face heated as he eyed me in my light blue dress. It was a pretty dress, but he made me feel like I wore only panties by the way he gaped at me. “Uh, hi, Denny.”

“Hey. You want to dance, or somethin’?”

“No, thank you.”

“No?”

I inched away. “No, Denny.”

“You sure? I got some serious moves, girl.” He held out his arms and did some shaking motions with his hips. He was either deluded or lying. No way could Denny dance. In fact, whatever the poor guy was doing seemed painful.

“I don’t want to dance right now, thanks.”

Denny kept pushing. “All right. How about later?”

“Hey, Denny,” Curran snapped at him. “Do you see me standing here?”

Denny’s attention cut from Curran to me. “Oh, sorry. Youz together?”

“No. She’s with my brother.”

“Which one?”

“Killian, dickless.”

I buried my face in my hands. “So I can’t dance with her?” Denny asked.

“No, you fat bastard. Get the hell out of here!”

I dropped my hand away in time to see Denny move on to Brielle Montefusco. “Worthless bastard,” Curran muttered.

I sighed. “Curran, you know Killian and I aren’t together anymore.”

Curran scratched the sides of his freshly buzzed blond hair. “No. But you should be.” He reached for my hand when I averted my gaze. “Come on, let’s go talk outside.”

He led me out to the rear deck, where a small cluster of women were flirting with men smoking cigars. It wasn’t as loud out there and a few chairs had been set out.

We sat in the opposite corner on two patio chairs, far away from the other group. A small yard stretched out below us where kids kicked a battered soccer ball between them.

Curran adjusted his chair to face mine and leaned forward. He rolled the almost empty bottle of beer in his hands, considering his words before speaking. “You know I’m not one to butt into people’s business.”

I looked at him.

“Much.”

I crossed my legs.

He threw out a hand. “Okay. I’m a loud, nosy prick who’s only quiet when he’s kissing some leggy brunette with an ass tighter than two rubber balls Gorilla Glued together—ignore that last part—anyway, yeah, I’m buttin’ in here. You happy now?”

I shouldn’t have laughed, but I couldn’t help myself. My smile held even after my giggles subsided.

His grin faded. “He misses you, Sofe.”

The humor dissolved along my features. I angled my chin away. I didn’t want to say what I did, but it came out anyway. “I miss him, too.”

“So what’s the problem?”

I played with my hands. As much as I liked Curran, he wasn’t my sister. She was the only one I could ever talk to. And lately, I could barely say two words to her. “Sometimes things are more complicated than what you see on the surface.”

“If that’s the case, Kill’s all sorts of fucked up.”

The seriousness in his tone made me face him. Curran’s blue eyes dulled as he continued. “I’m not trying to mess with you, or say shit that’s not true, but Kill’s gone downhill in every way possible. He barely says anything to anyone. He doesn’t work out—hell, he doesn’t work at all. Wren and Finn have been keeping the gym going on their own.”

Despite all the headaches, Killian lived and breathed his business. It was a part of him. “He’s not going to the gym?” I asked almost silently.

“No,” Curran said. “Wren’s about two seconds from throat-punching him with how much shit she and Finn have had to do to keep it running. But as pissed as she is, she’s worried. We all are. Kill’s been holed up at his house since we came back from Vegas.”

“Alone?” I regretted it as soon as I asked. But Killian and I had shared a great deal of intimacy. As much as it hurt to know he pitied me, and that his feelings likely stemmed from remorse, I knew he’d enjoyed our time in bed. Would he let that aspect of his life end because I wasn’t there to provide it? I wasn’t so sure.

Curran cocked his head to the side. He knew what I was asking. “He hasn’t been with anyone since you, Sofe. That I’m sure of. Even in Vegas when girls were flashing their ti—their breasts—Kill blew them off to get hammered. Finnie spent most of our time there taking care of him while Kill puked in the bathroom.”

“Finn’s been taking care of him?”

Curran met my stare. “Yeah. I guess things have changed, huh?”

I took a few breaths to hold back my tears. Hearing how roles had switched between the brothers hit me hard. “I don’t understand why he’s acting this way. Killian’s responsible…this isn’t like him.”

“No. It’s not. But this is how he’s been since you left.”

I shook my head. “Curran, you can’t put this on me. Killian had everything going for him, even before I came back into his life.”

“Maybe. But those things don’t seem to matter to him anymore.” He leaned back in his chair. “He almost skipped out on Vegas. If it weren’t for the promoters threatening to sue him for breach of contract, he wouldn’t have shown. We’re thinking he’s going to take off. Just fucking leave.”

I glanced down to the worn floorboards, my mind wandering to all those barbecues, family dinners, and christenings we’d attended—and all the time we’d spent building his business and his brand. Killian had everything here. Why would he leave any of it behind?

“He wouldn’t do that,” I assured him. “His family and his business are everything to him.”

Curran shook his head, his expression leaden with sadness. “Not everything, Sofe.”