On the Rocks Page 11
She gave me a stiff look. “Language, Tommy. You have been around Nick and his men too much. You have picked up that horrible habit of his.”
I had picked up more than that, but I just smiled at her. “You are just too quiet, Mom.”
“I had to learn to be quiet. I didn’t want to bring any attention to myself.”
I looked down, not able to meet her gaze because I knew why that was. All she had been through bothered me, and even now, I worried that Nick would hurt us somehow even from the grave. Can that sort of evil really be killed? And at the same time, his blood is mine. Will I turn into that one day? The potential is there, and I was forced to do some pretty awful things.
“So, are you trying to avoid the question?”
“No, I just… I don’t know. It’s time to go back to life and reality, and I don’t even know what that is supposed to look like. The family business is gone, and I feel lost.”
She smiled again like she knew what was wrong. “Do you think it has anything to do with that cop we found you with? The one that saved your life?”
“Maybe, but it is complicated with him. He has a family.”
“He has an ex-wife and a kid. That is not the same.”
I just shook my head. It was all so good in those moments, but I hadn’t seen Jack in several days. I had already told myself that it wasn’t going to work out. I didn’t want to think it was going to be one way and then have everything change. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, just to have them broken again.
“He hasn’t come back. Hasn’t called.”
Mom just scoffed a little. “He killed Nick and several other people. He is not like Nick. That was most likely hard on him, Tommy. You need to understand that. He did some things that he didn’t want to, and now he has to find a way to live with it. Just like you have to find a way to live with what happened. He just needs time. The way he was holding you when we got there, I knew that he loved you. That is why I stopped Tony from shooting.”
“How is Tony?” I didn’t want to think about Jack right now. It just hurt too much. I thought he was different, but I felt abandoned by him, and I didn’t want to hear other people making excuses for him. I know that I owed him my life, but I had wanted so much more. I had wanted Jack for keeps.
“He is doing well. I think that he is trying to sort everything out, and he started the process of selling all our assets. We are thinking about getting out of the city. How do you feel about coming with us?”
“We?” My mother and Tony were far closer than I had first thought. I liked Tony, always had, but seeing them together was still taking some getting used to. Nick hadn’t been dead that long, and they were already talking about the future. I still didn’t know how I felt about all that.
“Yes, me and Tony. Come on Tommy, you haven’t figured it out yet?”
“I get that the two of you are together.”
“Yes, well we have been for a very long time. We couldn’t ever really be together, but we tried to stay close.”
She was trying to tell me something, I was sure of it, but I honestly wasn’t sure at all what she was talking about. I couldn’t read between the lines.
“What do you mean?”
Mom signed, and I could tell that she was frustrated. I wondered what made her that way.
“I am just going to come out and say it, Tommy. I don’t know how to ease into it. I really don’t.”
I waited, my heart beating in my chest. What was she going to say that had her biting her lower lip like she was incredibly nervous?
“Tony is more than just an old friend, Tommy.”
“So, you two were together since…?”
“About twenty-three years, off and on. We had to hide our love, but now we don’t have to.”
My mind was doing the math and coming up with the same conclusion. “Twenty-three years? But I am only twenty-one years old.”
“I know.”
“What are you saying?”
“Tony is your father, Tommy. That is why he has tried to watch over you all of this time.”
“He didn’t do a very good job of it.”
“You know how Nick was.”
It was a bit too much for my brain to take in all at once, and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say. What does a person say to this? I was happy on one hand, but confused and a little hurt on the other. This was information that I would have liked to have had a long time ago. Why did it have to be this way if I was never a Corrello in the first place? It just didn’t make sense.
“I didn’t want you to be upset, Tommy. I thought you might be happy. I know you have been hard on yourself about Nick. You shouldn’t be. You did what we couldn’t do, Tommy. You were braver than all of us.”
“I think I am going to lay down, Mom. I am still not feeling very well.”
She wanted to say more, but for the sake of us both, she didn’t. I wasn’t ready to talk about this now. There was only one person that I wanted to talk to, and he hadn’t called me.
Lying back on the bed, I looked up at the ceiling, and so help me I was confused. What was I supposed to do with this? I had always liked Tony. He treated me well and was always nicer than all the rest, but I wasn’t ready to pretend like he was my Dad. It was strange, and I was still thinking about Jack and why I hadn’t seen him in so long.
Chapter 21
Jack
“I am glad everything is okay, Jack. I was worried about you, and when you called and told me to take Adam away for a couple of days, I guess I just prepared myself for the worst.”
“It all worked out, Annika, and I am happy to say that it is going to be better now. I was paid well for the last job, way more than I thought, and neither one of us will have to worry about money for a very long time.”
She smiled and tossed her hair over her shoulders. “Something is different about you, Jack. What is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you are lighter, smiling more and you almost have a glow to you now when I see you. What changed while you were gone?”
Annika always had been able to read me very well. She knew me better than I knew myself half the time, and I was not sure what I was supposed to say to that. How was I supposed to answer her when I really wasn’t sure? I didn’t understand what had changed while I was gone, but I did feel more at peace with myself. I had done the unthinkable again, but I knew that it was for a good reason. I had to do it, and if push came to shove, I would do it all over again. I didn’t regret anything, only how much I wished that Tommy hadn’t had to go through all he did. He didn’t deserve it, and it saddened me that his father had pushed him to such a limit.
“I met someone while I was away.”
“You weren’t gone long, Jack.”
“I know. Apparently, you don’t need that much time to fall in love and lose yourself.”
“So, who is she?”
“He…”
Annika smiled. “It’s about time. I know that you have dated a few in the past, but none of them made you smile like this. I want to meet him. What’s his name?”
Annika would have known the name or at least the last name. Nick had made his family famous in the city, and I wasn’t ready to come out with it all. There was also the issue of his age and how much younger he was than I.
“I don’t know if that is going to happen right now, Annika. It is new, and I still don’t know how to do this. I haven’t really dated since you. I have never really dated a man. It is always quick flings, but this is something more.”
She didn’t seem to notice that I failed to mention his name. Annika was always good about not prying into my business.
“Look Jack. You can’t worry about what everyone else thinks. You have to do what makes you happy, and I don’t think I have ever seen you so happy before. Whoever your mystery guy is, he definitely has my vote. Just look how happy you are. That can’t be denied.”
I was happy when I was with Tommy, and he understo
od me better than a lot of people. I had been where he was, but Tommy had the courage to stand up and shout out loud who he was. I don’t know if I had the same ability to do such a thing. The more I thought about it, the more my stomach got sick.
“I don’t know if I am ready for that.”
My ex-wife just shook her head. “You know we only get one chance, Jack. That is why I wanted us to get divorced. We both deserve real love, and we weren’t going to get it together. I would have never thought I would find a guy like Joe, but I did. I don’t want to think about it, but I have a feeling that this may be your Joe. You owe it to yourself to at least see where it will all go.”
I knew she was right, but I still wasn’t sure if I was ready for all of that. It was a lot to take on, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had to stop torturing myself and see what was going on. I wanted to see Tommy, and I think I was finally ready. Maybe it was Annika’s advice, but I was ready to find out what lay in store for me.
“I am going to go check on Adam and make sure he is sleeping.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
I shrugged. “I guess I am going to go get what I am owed. I am nervous that it will all be a sham, but I think you are right. This could be it, and I have to make a move or I will always wonder what would have happened.”
“Good luck, Jack. I wish you all of the best.”
I thanked her because I knew that she meant it deep down. There was always going to be a part of me that loved her, but I wasn’t in love with Annika. I hadn’t been in a long time, if I ever was. I am still glad that she was the first one to call divorce. It was exactly what was needed. At the end of the day, she was always going to be my friend.
But I was ready to go find love.
***
“What are you doing here?”
“I thought I would get a better reception than that, Tommy. I tried to call but you don’t answer your phone.”
“I couldn’t.”
“Why not?”
I shrugged and tried not to get offended by the way Tommy was looking at me. I was still standing in the doorway, trying to figure out why he was making such a case. Wasn’t he happy to see me? He was like a sight for sore eyes looking at him now, and I didn’t get what he was so angry about.
“I don’t think we should see each other. After everything that has happened, don’t you think it is best that we go our separate ways, Jack?’
I was taken aback by what he was saying and the more I tried to work it out in my head, the less that it made any sense to me. Why didn’t he understand that I was not going to just go away? I don’t care what it looked like if we were still talking. I wasn’t going to let Tommy go, even though most of what I knew about him was jammed into only a couple of days.
“No?”
He looked at me finally, his eyes a little shocked by my words. “What do you mean no?”
“I am not going to just part ways with you, Tommy. I told you before that I am not going anywhere. I believe that we should finish what we started first. Everything that has been going on is for a reason. Don’t you believe that?”
Tommy bit his bottom lip. It was what he did when he was nervous or horny, and I had a feeling he was a little of both. There was no telling what was going on in that head of his.
“Are you going to let me in or not?”
He was unsure, and I pushed on the door a little bit. “I don’t know if I should.”
“You should let me in, Tommy. Are you alone?”
Tommy smiled quickly and the horny side of him was coming out. His dark eyes got so flirtatious, I could easily tell that he was turning my way quickly.
He moved to let me in, and I smiled at him. “Nice place.”
“This is my mom’s place. She is out with my dad.”
I looked at him a little funny since I had shot his dad in the chest three times less than a week ago. Unless Nick was back from the dead, it was impossible.
“Your dad?”
“Yeah, turns out Nick was actually not my father. It was Tony the whole time.”
I was speechless for a minute. “What?”
Tommy waved me off. “I can’t talk about it right now. Where have you been?”
“I had to take care of some things. There were bodies that had to disappear and everything else. I had to check in with my kid. I have been busy, Tommy, but I swear that I have been thinking about you the whole time. Haven’t you missed me even just a teeny bit?”
He looked down. “I didn’t know if I was going to see you again. Everything good in my life goes away. I was sure that you would be something else that I had lost.”
“After everything that happened, you should know that I am not going anywhere, Tommy. I am falling for you, and there is nothing you can say to change it. I want to wake up next to you again. Do you remember when you fell asleep in my arms at the safe house?”
“How can I forget?”
“That is how I want to spend every night with you next to me and safe.”
“I am safe because of you, Jack.”
He was walking the short distance between us, and I didn’t have anything more to say. He was gorgeous and feisty, everything that I needed to jumpstart myself back to whom I used to be. Better even. Tommy was the reason for all of this, and he was the reason for my outlook on life. For once, I saw a bright future stretched out ahead of me, ahead of us. This was all supposed to happen for a reason and with him in my arms, it all just felt so right.
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