The Absolution of Aidan(46)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN


AIDAN





Thank god my hand wasn’t fucked up too bad after beating who I now know was some worthless piece of shit who works—or should I say worked—for Ryan Senior. A fucking car dealer who thought he could take me down. The minute I gave Roan his description, he was on it. Found out who the guy was. Mark Jacobs. Single. No children. Thank Christ for that. He’s gone now. No questions asked. Simple as that. I have no idea who took him out, don’t give a shit either. As long as it sends a message to Ryan to let him know he’s messed with the wrong people, then hell, it makes me sleep better at night.

And now I’m here wondering how the hell an entire week has gone by since Deidre literally stormed her way back into my life. It beats the shit out of me. Every day since seemed shorter than the day before. I fucking hate it.

I remember my grandfather telling me time and time again, “Jesus, boy, you get any taller and I’m going to have to put my old bottle cap glasses on just to be able to look up and see your face.” At the time, I would laugh at the old man. Now, I understand exactly what he meant.

In this short time since I’ve known about my boy, I’ve mastered this shit. Again, literally. I can change his diaper. Feed him. Bathe him. And I fucking love it.

My kid is a motherfucking rock star. Decked out to the hilt in a tiny Black Moods rock band shirt. Fucking love that band.

There’s no better feeling in the world than this right here. Having him kicking his feet to the beat of the music, not a care in the world for him at all.

“We better turn that down before your mom gets back and chews my ass out.” I filter my voice over the music. With a flick of my wrist on the remote, the tunes are down low enough, yet he still jams to them.

Deidre should be back anytime. The girls, meaning her, Calla, and Alina, all went to visit Anna and Grace, who are staying at another home owned on Long Island by Roan’s dad Salvatore Diamond. Of course, they’re not alone. Dilan seems to have taken some kind of liking to Anna, which I don’t particularly care for. The woman is innocent. You can see it in the way she carries herself. She may be a feisty little thing, but this lifestyle will cut her up and spit her right back out. But I’m staying the fuck out of it. Not my business. I just hope the fucker knows what the hell he’s doing.

Deidre flipped her shit the night I came back from finding Anna. I’ve never seen her more pissed off, not even the night when we got into a fight. Her motherly instincts have kicked in, and Christ, I love her for that. Her protectiveness over someone she barely knows shows the true woman she is.

Fuck all if I know the bullshit she went through has a part in her strength and courage. I won’t re-hash that with her. Ever. We made amends. Said what we had to say and moved on, and god, have we moved on. This relationship between the two of us is growing stronger by each speedily passing day.

Hell, I’m getting hard sitting here thinking about her when I really should be thinking about the offer both Salvatore and Ivan laid at my feet the other day.

“You know with one phone call the two of them will disappear forever?” Salvatore said. I knew he meant he would have someone kill them, meaning my mother and Junior. Make their bodies dissolve into thin air, as if they never existed. I told him I needed time. I may be a bastard by birth and hate the bitch, but fuck, man, I don’t have it in me to have someone off her. Him? Yes. Her? No.

I left the Salvatore Diamond’s office grateful for his loyalty to me. An outsider. The world turns their noses down on the mafia. Stereotypically thinking, all we do is kill, deal drugs, and act like we own the goddamn world. In a way we do. But we do not fuck with you unless you fuck with us. Plain and simple, cut and motherfucking dry. Unless we want to steal your guns. Then we mess with you. But not in ways people think we do. We take what we want. It’s wrong. But that is what we do.

“Honey, I’m home,” Deidre calls out from the foyer. God, I love it when she calls me that. I’ve never truly felt at home, until her. Hits me square in the chest every damn time. Sure, my buddies are my family. They’ve never once shunned me, treated me any different than the brother I know I am. But nothing compares to the sensation so deep in my heart than being with these two. That’s why when the days fly by, it pisses me the hell off.

“Shh.” I shift Diesel a little higher up onto my lap. We wait in silence for her to see us. She is going to be pissed. I love putting a hair up her ass. Watch sparks go off in her stunning hazel eyes. Once she calms down, which doesn’t take much, especially when she knows I let it go in one ear and out the other when her sweet little tarty mouth starts spewing out shit, I’m turned the fuck on.