Fall(Romanian Mob Chronicles Book 2)(3)

“You’re right. He probably has people who do that for him,” I said.

“You’re ridiculous, Esther. Sorin can be…intense. But that doesn’t explain why you act like that.”

Her brows dropped and she tilted her head and then a slow smile spread across her face. “Esther Jordan, you want to fuck him.”

“You kiss your baby with that mouth?” I said, trying for all the world to sound shocked at the very implication, like the very idea of running my hands over Sorin’s inked skin while he scraped that ever-present beard against my most sensitive places had never occurred to me.

And it hadn’t, not that often, anyway. How could it have? I didn’t even like him.

Fawn just nodded. “Mmm-hmm. I do kiss my baby with this mouth. And it makes sense now. All that clucking and those insults and generally churlish behavior. You’re trying to cover up.”

“I do not cluck. And your baby brain is showing, Fawn,” I said. My voice was strong, but the way I withered under her glare gave me away. Still…

“Come on. I’m not in elementary school anymore. I’m not going to be mean to a boy because I like him. Be for real.”

I scoffed and waved a hand dismissively, turning my head at the same time. I kept an eye on Fawn, though, waiting to see if she’d bought it.

No dice.

“Look,” I said, scrambling to come up with a reasonable story, one that didn’t involve me confessing that a certain Sorin had played prominently in my dreams for months now. “He’s…attractive.” Nuclear hot, but that was semantics. “But he’s also a psycho and a giant tool, always scowling at me, asking why I’m around. It’s annoying as hell.”

She gave a sympathetic nod. “They can be uncomfortable around newcomers.”

She didn’t expand on that point, but she didn’t need too. The Petrans were well known enough that their ties to organized crime were an open secret, one that left me uneasy, more than uneasy. But in one of the few moments of reticence I’d ever had, I didn’t ask for details and Fawn didn’t provide them. I didn’t care who Vasile was, what he’d done. He’d brought my friend back to me, and that was all that mattered.

“It’s cool, I get it, but the dude needs to take it down a few notches and relax.”

Her lifted eyebrow stood in place of the unspoken, And you need to do the same.

“You have to admit, though,” I said, “the look on his face when I kissed him was priceless.”

“Yes it was,” she said on a laugh, “and I’m not deleting that picture. Maria can look at it when she gets older and try to figure out why her uncle and TiTi looked like they want to murder each other. Or, you know, someone else.”

“Whatever,” I said, looking away again and feeling something far too close to embarrassment for my liking. Stupid Sorin.

“Don’t you have to work today?”

I smiled, looked back at her. “No.”

“Esther, did you quit?” she said, narrowing her eyes at me again.

I glanced away, that embarrassment increasing. “No, I got fired. But it’s not my fault this time, Fawn! What happened was…”



* * *



Sorin



“Does she ever go home?” I asked, looking at the closed door when I heard the muffled sound of women’s laughter.

“Is that why you’re in here instead of with Maria? Hiding from a woman, Sorin?” Vasile asked.

“Trying to respect my brother’s home, something that”—I stopped short at his frown—“she makes difficult.”

It was too hard to even choke out her name. Even thinking it, thinking of her, sent a rush of annoyance through me.

“Esther’s a good friend, kind, loyal. You saw how she fought for Fawn,” he said.

“I saw her butting in where she had no place.”

Vasile shrugged casually. “Maybe, but not many would stick their neck out for a friend like she did, something I thought you’d appreciate.”

I looked at him, noting the difference as I considered my response. He was happier than I’d ever seen him, smiled more, seemed freer. But there was also a weight that hadn’t been there before. Both of us had accepted out eventual fates, knew that jail or death were the most likely places we’d end up. But he carried the burden of seeing after his woman and child now, and though they weren’t mine, I knew that it was heavy because I carried it too, knew that I would do anything to protect both of them.

I slammed out of my seat, frustrated as always seemed to be the case when Esther was even mentioned.

“It’s good that she’s loyal, but she’s also…unruly. And an outsider.”