Pretty Lies, page 13
His face said that.
“If this was only supposed to be fun,” she said, deciding to let her thoughts out to play, “then why are we doing this—fighting like this—right now?”
Cory’s cheek twitched. “I don’t know.”
Huh.
“I’m sorry,” Della said, though she knew without an explanation, it probably wouldn’t mean very much to him. She took one step away from the island, breaking his gaze first. “But really, thanks for bringing my groceries in. I gotta … think.”
As lame as that sounded.
She could feel Cory watching her as she stepped away from the island entirely. He didn’t say a word, though.
“And I am done running errands for the day,” she told him.
His sigh echoed behind her.
She didn’t turn around.
•••
When thinking the rest of the previous day and then night away didn’t work, she decided to meet up with J. Because if there was anyone in the world who could look her in her face and tell Della all her shit without being scared, it was her brother.
She figured she needed it.
Della knew it really wasn’t safe for her to be wandering Chicago for the second day in a row when she wasn’t even supposed to leave her house, if possible. Even J had to point it out when she texted him to ask where he was going to be that morning. Nonetheless, she let her brother know that no wasn’t an option—she’d simply texted I need your time. That was their code for “drop everything, I need someone to listen to me.”
When she was a teenager chasing stupid boys and finding more trouble than they were worth at the time, her brother told her those exact words. She could still remember the way J had stood in the doorway of her bedroom’s bathroom while she puked in a toilet, spilling the liquor she poured down her throat. He had cleaned and sobered her up, and then let her know exactly what to do if she ever needed her brother after that moment.
“If you have shit going on or you need someone to listen, Della, all you gotta say to me is I need your time, J,” he’d told her, “and I’ll be there. That’s what brothers do.”
She didn’t forget it and had used it a time or two. It was good to know that silly little thing between her and J still worked after all this time. Because the moment she’d texted him that morning and didn’t give him the option to say no, she had an address to meet up with him in the shipping district where a new row of warehouses had recently been built.
Stepping out of her car, Della ignored the roar of a familiar engine pulling up behind where she’d parked on the side street. About thirty feet from the warehouse where she needed to meet up with J. She did dare a peek over her shoulder, but only to find a very pissed off Cory stepping out of his car before he slammed the door and made a beeline toward her.
Well …
Of course, he’d be pissed.
She hadn’t exactly explained much that morning, just left. He hadn’t been driving the vintage Mustang for a couple of days the past week, she’d noticed, so she hadn’t even thought to look for him when she figured he would just follow like he always did. Sometimes he changed cars.
Today, he did have the ‘Stang.
And the staple leather jacket.
As well as a scowl.
Mostly, Della didn’t want to explain to Cory she was going to see J when, undoubtedly, he would ask why. Since part of the entire reason why she wanted to see her brother was so that she could work out the nonsense she felt about Cory, she didn’t think it would be helpful to tell him that fact.
So, she said nothing.
Just left.
Technically, he followed right behind her, so it wasn’t like she broke the rules. That’s what Della was going to keep telling herself. Maybe she’d explain to Cory later, if she felt like it. And maybe she wouldn’t. What would it matter?
He didn’t know now.
Nothing bad had happened yet.
“Della, hey,” Cory shouted at her back.
Yep.
He was really pissed. The heat in his tone said it all. Okay. So, she would explain. Just after she talked to her brother. And gave Cory a chance to calm down.
Just around the corner was the warehouse with three bays that faced the road for trucks to back right up. Della blinked at the sight of a familiar woman leaning against the hood of her black Benz coupe. Even Jennika’s brow raised at Della coming her way, but it quickly faded into a smile as she pulled a burning cigarette away from her painted-red lips and exhaled the smoke to the sky.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” Jennika asked. “Thought you were supposed to be hiding away at home this week until Frankie says otherwise?”
Della grinned, shrugging one shoulder. “Yeah, well … same to you, what are you doing here? Especially dressed like that.”
She didn’t say it to be rude; Jennika winked like she wasn’t offended.
The black, skin-tight cashmere dress hugged Jennika’s curves and clung in just the right ways to the rest of her body. It dipped low at the breast, and the hem of the skirt stopped above her knees and her knee-high, heeled leather boots.
That was the kind of shit they wore when they worked.
They didn’t work around here.
Jennika gave Della a sly smile—one she recognized. Whenever her friend found a man she liked, or reclaimed an already won conquest, she smiled exactly like that. “Oh, you know … fun stuff. And a bit of work, too. Later.”
What?
That’s not right, she thought.
Hadn’t J said …
“Are you sleeping with—”
“When you got a second,” Cory said, finally catching up with her and coming to stand behind Della, “then I’d really like to have a chat with you, yeah?”
He still sounded really pissed.
She probably deserved that.
Della didn’t get the chance to deal with Jennika or Cory because a familiar face popped out of the black metal door between the right and middle bay of the warehouse. Her brother called out, stopping the conversation entirely to say, “Didn’t know you were bringing a guest.”
His gaze swept over the people down the side of the street, her included.
Why wouldn’t she bring Cory?
He was her bodyguard at the moment.
Before she could come back with a smartass remark, J added with a wave to her specifically, “Get off the fucking street before you draw attention, Jesus.”
Della headed for the warehouse.
They could follow or not.
She came here for a reason.
It didn’t matter if she had more questions to ask … she came here for a conversation that she desperately needed to have. J was the one person she might be able to have it with and come out better for it. The rest? It could wait a minute. Not much longer, though.
•••
“What exactly is happening here? Or … out there,” Della corrected, nodding toward the closed office door. She considered what had been inside the warehouse.
Cars—a lot of them. Cardboard boxes piled high between each vehicle. Which probably made it hard to see anything through the dirty windows on the three-bay doors at the front of the building. Steering wheels with the front caps that had been popped off, a pile of airbags sat forgotten in the corner, and other than J, the place looked like a ghost town when it came to other people. Except for all the personal items she noticed here and there as she walked to the rear of the large building with her brother—other people were here. She just didn’t know where they were now or their purpose.
J glanced up from the papers on the desk as he sat down. “What do you think?”
“I don’t want to guess.”
“Drugs,” her brother explained, words clear and tone dry. “Pills, to be specific. Packaged bags get put in the steering wheel after the airbag and sensors are all removed. It’s transported across the border when it’s time. But because it only takes one person knowing—the wrong person—a crew of four or five handles each shipment to keep any talk at a minimum. If you get my drift.”
“Oh.”
J shrugged. “I’m only telling you right now because you’re here and you’ve seen it—if I gave you enough time, you’d put it together on your own.”
That made sense.
And it was kind of ingenious.
All of it.
“Just because I’m making sure shit gets done with this job,” J said, “doesn’t mean I make the rules. When we’re told to keep it quiet, that’s what we do. It’s for the good of everybody to do it—none of us want to go to jail for twenty-five plus years, you know?”
Della suddenly had an understanding about why her brother wasn’t telling her a lot about his work whenever she tried to ask—he couldn’t. That was just the reality of the matter. It didn’t make a difference that she and J had worked together for … well, the entire time Della had been involved in the business, really. That didn’t factor into what was going on here at all.
All at once, she felt selfish.
A little stupid, too.
She hadn’t even attempted to make sure her brother could sit down and chat—she didn’t give him the option at all. No doubt, J was taking a serious risk by allowing her to come there. No one was around, sure, but she bet someone could show up.
That’s how work went.
Even she knew it.
Damn.
“You needed to talk, right?” he asked. “Talk, before the crew gets in this morning or the Capo decides to make an appearance.”
Della gave her brother an apologetic smile. “Sorry—I wasn’t thinking, but definitely not about anything that wasn’t myself.”
J chuckled, grinning. “I mean, you get like that sometimes.”
“Thanks.”
Her sarcasm wasn’t missed.
J smiled wider when he replied, “I do what I can.”
Even so …
Della gave the sparsely decorated office a second glance, and her brother dressed in his slacks with his pressed dress shirt rolled up to the elbows. She thought about the scene out on the floor of the warehouse, and the man who was probably still angry out there and waiting for her. Yes, she wanted five minutes to talk to her brother so that J could set her straight, like he always did, but Della had to realize not everything was about her.
The world didn’t revolve around her.
Everybody’s time wasn’t her own.
“It can wait,” she told her brother, “I just …”
She hesitated, considering how to pose part of her problem.
J seemed to already know when he cocked a brow and asked, “Is it Cory?”
She gave her brother a look.
He stared right back, unconcerned.
All these men were the same.
Arrogant.
Difficult.
Too quick for their own good.
“Well—”
J didn’t give her time to talk before he said, “I noticed he didn’t look happy. Also, when you texted, you did finish it off with I just suck at men.”
“Could you say it with less … judgment?”
“No judgment here, sis.”
Right.
Just a brother who loved her.
Della sighed. “We can talk about it later.”
“Summarize. Maybe you’ll feel better.”
Would she?
That was the real question.
Folding her arms over the tweed coat she’d thrown on, Della steeled her spine. Better to just get it out. “He heard what I said about him to you—you know, that he’s not any better than Luis, basically. I think I hurt his feelings. We had a fight. I feel bad. Also confused. Seems like him and I have managed to make something out of nothing. So it’s nothing, really. Just my usual nonsense. We can talk about it later.”
J would tell her she was being ridiculous.
Or something.
But later.
“Okay, we’ll get back to this later,” J said. “But that’s usually how great things start—from nothing.”
Della’s head popped up. The floor had been interesting to stare at for a moment, but now her gaze was drawn to her brother behind the desk. “What?”
“I know I told you to look after yourself where he’s concerned, but I meant that for you. Because maybe you need some time after everything. Not because Cory isn’t a decent guy, all right.”
Huh.
Well, then …
“So, it’s just me?” she asked.
J gave her a look. “I didn’t say that, either. Our past shapes everything. Until people prove otherwise, why should you give them a chance?”
Della dropped his stare. It was easier. “That’s a fact if I ever heard one. Not that it matters. Cory probably thinks I’m fucking crazy with the way I’ve whipped back and forth the past few weeks. I sound crazy, J. Like, I can hear it myself. I’m not that out of touch.”
That earned her a laugh from across the room.
Her brother grinned. “I hear that’s Cory’s type, actually. His brother told me once he liked chicks as crazy as him on his best days. Doesn’t mean you gotta be crazy like him. Just your own special brand. Maybe you’re making something out of nothing after all and that’s entirely the point. Maybe something in you likes something that it found in him. Or vice versa. Like I said, lots of great things come from nothing, Della.”
When had her brother become so wise?
It was like everything in her life was changing from one day to the next. This was why she came here, though. She needed her brother to tell her the truth. Look at her crazy, make sense of it, and lay it out on the table for her point-blank-period.
J flipped his palms up, still looking like the cat that ate the cream. “I’m just saying. Plus, what are the chances you might be in a state over all of this because of what’s happening with the business side of things?”
That had Della thinking. “What do you mean?”
“Cory’s here for work. At the end of it. Lately, work has been its own problem for you. If you’re not able to do your own job, you feel like people are stepping in on it over you—men. Are you mixing the two things instead of dealing with them separately? Everything that’s just business stays just as business. Private problems stay private. That kind of thing.”
He had a point.
She’d not considered that.
When she didn’t respond right away, J was quick to come with more of his wisdom although she didn’t have the first clue where it all came from. “You realize those are not the same things, right? What you’re handling with Cory and what’s going on around you and him because of Luis and his bullshit … they’re not the same and we all have to handle them like they’re different, including you. One is personal growth. The other is business. Different things and that’s okay. Just sucks for you that it’s happening at the same time, you know? Makes it messy.”
“And confusing,” she muttered.
J nodded. “Still … give it a chance to clear up or pass.”
Della sighed. “Yeah, maybe you’re right.”
“I am. It’s what I do.”
“You’re awful.”
J grinned widely. “Yeah, well … what can you do? Call me—we’ll meet up when I’m …” He glanced at the closed door behind her, probably seeing the scene waiting behind it but not wanting to go back down that road. “… not busy. Yeah?”
Actually, Della already felt better.
This was why she loved her brother.
And maybe now she could apologize to Cory because she understood exactly what she needed to apologize for to start with. Wasn’t that always a good thing?
She thought so.
“Okay,” she replied. “Later, for sure.”
“Yeah, you probably need a night out, huh? Heard you been locked down all week.”
She groaned on her way to the office door as she reached for the knob. “Don’t remind me. That’s ninety percent of my damn problem.”
“Likely. You never were one to hide away. I’ll talk to Dad. See what we can do.”
“Don’t make promises.”
“I tend to keep them when I make one.”
Right.
And he usually wasn’t a liar.
Speaking of which … that reminded her.
With her hand tight around the knob, but hesitating before she opened the door, Della glanced over her shoulder, asking, “Also, why did you lie to me? I know she’s not your type … but did you really have to make a whole show when you said you weren’t fucking her?”
J’s brow dipped. “What?”
Why was he playing dumb?
“You said you weren’t fucking around with Jennika—not loyal to a man, remember?”
Something lit up her brother’s face that she didn’t recognize from him—embarrassment? No, that wasn’t right.
Before J could reply, a knock echoed on the office door. Della let go of the knob and stepped back when her brother said, “Let them in.”
Della was entirely unsurprised to find a very annoyed Cory waiting behind the door. He passed her a look, but then gave J a nod. Her brother returned it with a greeting in kind.
Then, Cory’s attention was back on her. That cold stare of his said it all; it also bothered her the most. She really needed to step up and own her shit where Cory was concerned. Her brother had made good points. Frankly, this man also hadn’t given her a reason to not give him the benefit of the doubt, either.
“Can I please have a fucking minute now?” Cory asked.
J cleared his throat even though Cory wasn’t looking at him. “Uh, there a problem?”
“No.”
“Yes,” Della said at the same time Cory did. She gave her brother a smile over her shoulder—their chat about Jennika could wait. Like everything else. It wasn’t important—the world still didn’t revolve around her, after all—and they could get back to this later. That was the beauty of her relationship with her brother. J always made time for her. “Just something I have to deal with, J. It’s not on Cory.”
“Yeah, okay,” her brother replied.
She turned to face Cory again, giving him the floor without saying so. “A chat, then?”
“It’ll only take a minute, Della.”
