Santori Reloaded, page 3
part #3 of Santori Series
Nodding, Gio took a sip of his water.
I nudged his knee under the table with mine, and when he glanced my way, I used my eyes to send a silent question. An announcement?
Gio winked, then turned his attention to the waiter, who was collecting Theo’s glass. “We’re ready for the food, William.”
“Yes, Mr. Rivera.” He spoke quietly, but the reverence in his voice was unmistakable, and the sparkle in his eyes as he looked at my husband sent a jolt through me. Even in the dim light, I thought I saw a hint of pink tinting his high cheekbones.
I shoved the jealousy down into the place where I stored all of my doubts. It was ridiculous to let an overly-friendly waiter make me feel insecure. Gio was mine.
“Hey, William,” Theo said with a raised brow. “Are you going to take my drink order?”
“Oh, yes,” William said, and his cheeks were definitely flushed now. “What would you like Mr….”
“Mr. Brown,” Theo supplied, a wicked grin tweaking the corners of his wide mouth. “I’ll let you choose my next drink. Just make sure it’s a good one.”
William nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Did you order for all of us?” I asked Gio.
Instead of answering me directly, he addressed the entire table. “I took the liberty of having a variety of dishes prepared for us. That way, we don’t have to waste time flipping through menus and waiting to be served. But if any of you want something I haven’t ordered, feel free to let William know.”
William. I wasn’t liking him much at the moment. Why did Gio even know his name?
When he returned with Theo’s drink, I eyed him warily. Then I chastised myself again. If I kept up this absurd line of thinking, I’d have to get Gio to spank it out of me when we got home.
Not a bad idea, actually. The thought sent a rush of blood downward, and I shifted in my seat.
“It’s a Long Island Iced Tea,” William said, his soft brown eyes meeting Theo’s gaze before darting self-consciously away. “I hope you like it.”
“And did you make it yourself?” Theo asked.
William blushed and laughed. “No, sir. I don’t know how to make drinks. But I told the bartender to make it really good for you. Top shelf stuff, and really strong.”
“That was very sweet of you, William.” Theo took a swallow of the drink and hummed appreciatively before setting his glass down on the table. “Would you mind showing me to the restroom? It’s been a while since I’ve been here.”
“Ummm…” William glanced nervously at Gio. “Is it okay, Mr. Rivera? You don’t need me?”
With an amused smirk, Gio said, “Whatever Mr. Brown wants. Take your time.”
I thought it was an odd exchange, but then I was usually confused by the way Gio interacted with Theo. They had the strangest relationship. Sometimes they were friendly with each other, sometimes they were all business, and sometimes it seemed like there was some sort of animosity coursing between them.
I didn’t like to think about it, because then I would have to analyze my part in it. I’d pressured Gio into hiring Theo.
I stuffed those thoughts down into that hole right along with my jealousy of William.
Several servers showed up a few minutes later and placed large bowls of food on the table. Spaghetti, manicotti, grilled salmon, calamari, and skewers of grilled vegetables. I waited until the others had picked over the dishes before filling my own plate, and Gio served himself last.
After about twenty minutes, Theo returned, looking bright-eyed and slightly less put-together than he had before. I noticed him sniffing a few times and wondered not for the first time if he was doing drugs. I’d seen that same look he had now before. On Z’s face. Maybe that was the source of the animosity. Drugs.
Not thinking about that, I reminded myself.
Teddy and Frank talked through their food while the rest of us ate in relative silence. I was a little bit nervous because Gio hadn’t prepared me for any announcement, and I wondered what was so important that he had invited everyone to dinner to share. It was unprecedented.
When the food dishes were empty, and Frank was scraping the leftover remnants of manicotti cheese and sauce onto his plate, Gio ordered spiked coffees topped with whipped cream for everyone. I sipped along on mine, feeling the effects of the alcohol almost instantly.
“Is everybody set?” Gio asked, licking a smear of whipped cream from his top lip.
Frank patted his belly, which was swollen even beyond its normal size. “Fat and happy, Gio. Thanks.”
“It was delicious,” Carlos said from the other end of the table. “Thank you, sir.”
Theo and Teddy murmured their agreement.
“You’re welcome,” Gio said. “Now down to business. I asked you all here because I have some very important news that concerns everyone at this table.”
Eyebrows shot up around the table, but no one said anything.
“Some of you may be aware that I am not immortal,” Gio said.
Frank barked out a surprised laugh. “No shit?”
“I know, I know, it’s hard to believe,” Gio said with a wry grin. “But it’s true. And our line of work isn’t the safest, if you know what I mean.”
My stomach rolled. I didn’t like the sound of that at all. The comment about not being immortal had been especially troubling. I sipped my coffee and tried not to show fear in my eyes.
“I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately,” Gio continued. “About what would happen to all of you if I wasn’t around anymore. We can’t know what tomorrow may bring.”
“What?” I asked incredulously, unable to school my reaction. “Don’t say things like that.”
“Jesus Christ, Gio,” Frank said. “You’re getting all morbid on us. Is there something you know that we don’t?”
Everyone now wore similar expressions of concern, especially Carlos, who was kind-hearted and loyal and probably more sensitive than the rest of the crew. Well, Theo only narrowed his eyes, but that was Theo.
“You’re not sick, are you?” Teddy asked. “You know I’m selling those vitamins that boost your immune system. They work wonders, even against cancer. I could give you a free sample.”
Gio held up a hand. “I’m not sick. I’m healthy as an ox, in fact. But it never hurts to have a contingency plan.”
Teddy and Frank nodded. Carlos looked relieved. Theo crossed his arms over his chest and looked even more suspicious than before.
Gio rested his elbows on the table and leaned forward. “I visited a lawyer last month and made a will. In the event of my death, everything I own will go to Peter.”
I choked on my own saliva and began to cough uncontrollably. Fucking hell, what had he just said?
Gio leaned over and patted me on the back, whispering, “Are you okay, sweet pea?”
“I’m fine,” I croaked when I finally got myself under control again. “I just wasn’t expecting that.”
Teddy laughed delightedly. “So you did adopt him. I knew it. I told Frank you adopted him way back when he moved in with you, and good riddance to that sorry excuse of an old man he had.”
“Teddy, shut up,” Frank said with an exaggerated eye roll. “I’ve told you a hundred times, you daft prick, but you never get the message.” He shot a pleading look at Gio. “I don’t want to speak out of turn, but some of us are tired of pretending to be stupid about what’s going on around here. I vote to get this thing out in the open so I don’t have to bite my tongue when Teddy starts talking this adoption bullshit.”
Theo winked at me. “Time to face the music, I guess. I told you that you guys weren’t fooling anyone.”
My face was burning. They knew about us. Or at least Frank did.
I looked to Gio, waiting for him to fix this thing. This situation I’d always feared but never truly believed would come.
“Am I missing something?” Teddy asked, bewildered.
Gio shrugged and nodded at Frank, who was obviously about to explode with the need to set Teddy straight. “Go ahead. I have nothing to hide from anyone at this table. You’re all family.”
Frank cranked his body around in his seat to face Teddy, an expression of supreme satisfaction on his plump face. “I told you people don’t adopt eighteen-year-olds, Teddy. Peter may look like a kid, but he was a grown man when he came to work for Gio. A grown man. You get me?”
Teddy’s eyebrows crashed together in confusion. “Okay, fine. Why are you all up in my face? Your breath smells like garlic and cheap cigars.” He waved a hand dramatically in front of his face.
Frank ignored the insult and continued with his gleeful and absurdly gradual rolling out of information to his dim-witted friend. “Think about it,” he said.
I wished he would just go ahead and get it over with, but I didn’t want to have to be the one to say it, so I just let him do it his way. I glanced at Gio, and the amusement in his expression eased the quivering knot that had formed in my belly.
“Okay, you’ve got a grown man,” Frank said to Teddy, holding out one hand, palm-up. “Then you’ve got another grown man.” Frank stuck out his other hand, also palm-up. “And they move in together.” He brought his hands together in a muted clap. “You pickin‘ up what I’m layin‘ down?”
It was a pretty clear illustration to me, but Teddy obviously wasn’t catching on, so Frank decided he needed to get a little more graphic. He made a circle with one thumb and forefinger, then poked his other forefinger inside the hole. The universal sign for fucking.
Oh, shit. I nearly choked again. If Teddy didn’t get that, I figured Frank ought to give up.
Teddy’s face turned bright red, and he looked from Gio to me and back again in alarm. “Is that true? Are you two—” He swallowed, then imitated Frank’s X-rated gesture. He looked ridiculous doing it.
Theo sighed loudly. “Jesus Christ, are we gonna talk sign language all night? Somebody just come right out and say it already before we have to call in an interpreter.”
“Peter and I are together,” Gio said, his voice smooth and firm and not hesitant at all. “We’ve been together nearly since the beginning. If we could legally get married, we would. As it stands, we’ve said our vows, exchanged rings, and now I’ve named him the sole beneficiary of my will. Any questions?”
Carlos raised a hand like a grade-school kid who had to go to the bathroom. When it was just him and me, he could talk a blue streak, and he never acted self-conscious. But get him around these guys, and he acted like he thought someone might throttle him at any second. “Sir, can I just say that I’m sorry for asking for your blessing to introduce Peter to my daughter? I’ve wondered so many times if I’d made a horrible mistake, and now I know for sure. Please accept my apology. I meant no disrespect.”
“None taken, Carlos.” Gio smiled at the driver, who was picking nervously at his fabric napkin. “In fact, your inquiry was the catalyst that began our relationship. I’ve certainly never held it against you. Quite the opposite. And who could blame you for asking? Peter is quite the catch.”
Gio grabbed onto my hand beneath the table and squeezed. I was grateful because I couldn’t seem to find my tongue or even a smile.
It wasn’t that I was unhappy that Gio had gone public with our relationship. I was ecstatic, but also shell-shocked and a little bit numb. I thought maybe I needed another drink or three to snap myself out of my this funk. I hoped Gio understood and didn’t take my lack of enthusiasm to mean anything bad.
As if reading my thoughts—because, of course, that’s what he did—Gio leaned over and spoke low in my ear. “Maybe I should have warned you ahead of time. You look shell-shocked.” I shouldn’t have been surprised that he’d snatched the word right out of my head.
“I’m thrilled,” I said unconvincingly. “It’s just that I don’t know how to act now. I’ll be fine when we get back up to the apartment and I can think.”
He gave me a tender kiss on the cheek. “I know, baby. It’s a lot to process. Even I didn’t expect things to go this far. Let me say my goodbyes, and then we’ll go, okay?”
I nodded and glanced over at Theo, who was watching us closely. He looked away when I met his gaze, which was puzzling since he already knew about us. But then this was a strange night all around.
“Guys,” Gio said, calling everyone to attention. “We’re going to head on up. It’s been an eventful evening, and I think Peter is feeling a little overwhelmed. Feel free to stay as long as you like and order more food or drinks. Everything is on the house tonight. But before we go, I’d like to respectfully ask that what we’ve shared tonight go no further than this table. Personal information is power, and the less outsiders know about us, the better.”
“Respectfully ask,” Theo said with a chuckle. “Why don’t you just go ahead and tell us it’s an order? We all know we’d better keep our mouths shut or end up on the wrong end of that 38 Special of yours.”
I gulped. Gio wouldn’t kill someone just for outing us, would he? Surely Theo was exaggerating.
Gio didn’t get upset or angry. His face remained placid. Serene. “Some things go without saying.”
The other men ignored Theo’s outburst and Gio’s polite threat as if neither had happened.
“Thank you, Gio,” Frank said. “I ain’t gonna say anything. Never said nothing before, not even to Teddy, who I think we can all agree is pretty damn thick-headed. Am I right?”
Teddy huffed. “First of all, I am not thick-headed. I just don’t think it was obvious to the layperson that Gio and Peter were involved… in that way.”
“Layperson,” Frank repeated with a snort. “What the hell does that even mean?”
“Secondly,” Teddy continued, “I am loyal to our little business family, and I would never share anything about any of you without permission. This is Gio’s and Peter’s business, and I respect that. Also, congratulations. I’m happy for both of you, even though you took me completely off guard, and I wish you’d told me sooner before I made an ass of myself talking about adoption. I’ll just say for the record that, regardless of what Frank said, it wasn’t clear what was going on. I think it was a perfectly reasonable assumption that you had adopted Peter.”
“I appreciate that,” Gio said with a chuckle. “Not the adoption part, but the congratulations. It means a lot to me that we don’t have to keep secrets from you all anymore.”
“Thank goodness,” Frank said, rubbing his belly. “Like I said, it was getting hard to keep pretending. Especially after you started wearing those wedding bands. I mean, for Christ’s sake, could you get any more obvious?”
Carlos stood and came around to shake our hands. “Congratulations, you two. I had my suspicions, but I’m discreet enough not to voice them aloud. I am glad that you’ve finally set my mind at ease. Almost from the beginning, I thought you two had some kind of feelings for each other, and I hoped one day you’d realize it. The joke’s on me that you already had. Although, like Frank said, the wedding rings were pretty much confirmation.”
“Thank you, Carlos,” I said, finally finding my voice and my manners. “Your support means a lot.”
Theo pushed his chair back from the table with an obnoxious scrape and stood. Before I could even process what was going on, his long legs had eaten up the space between the table and the door that led back into the restaurant proper, and he was gone.
“Night, Theo,” I called after him. I didn’t even know if he heard me.
Once we were back in our apartment, Gio pulled me into his arms and kissed the top of my head. “So, how are you feeling about everything that happened tonight? Pretty crazy, right?”
“That’s an understatement.” I nuzzled in under his jaw, delighting at the familiar scrape of stubble against my lips. “Why didn’t you tell me about the will? I felt kind of weird hearing it along with everyone else.”
“I’m sorry about that. I thought it would be better for them to see that you were as surprised as they were. People can be suspicious, especially in our line of business, and I didn’t want there to be any question as to whose decision this was.”
Gio unwound his arms from around my body, took my hand, and led me to the bedroom. We undressed quietly and tossed our clothes in the hamper, then climbed into bed naked. I twined my body around him like a vine, as I always did, and sighed.
“I don’t get it,” I said, feeling just as clueless as Teddy had been at dinner. I wasn’t sure if I would ever understand the nuances of Gio’s world. “Why did you think I needed to look surprised?”
“You never know what people are going to think. Blackmail, coercion of some sort… I just wanted to make sure they knew the score. I want to give you everything I own, and I arranged for that without your knowledge. You had no say in it, just like they have no say in it. If something happens to me, you will be in charge, and they will have to answer to you.”
“Answer to me?” I pushed far enough away from him in the eyes. “What is that supposed to mean?”
He pulled me back against him, ignoring my half-hearted struggles. “You will own everything, Peter. That includes the business relationships I’ve forged with people. If they don’t respect you, things could get difficult. The people who are closest to us need to accept that it is my intention for you to take my place.”
“Oh.” Take his place. I hadn’t thought of that, but it sort of made sense. Maybe a little, anyway. I made a noise, somewhere between and sigh and a groan, and relaxed against Gio’s warm body. “Well, let’s not talk about that anymore, okay? Nothing is going to happen to you. Period.”
And I meant it with every fiber on my being. I didn’t give a shit about inheriting money or being the boss. Life without Gio was not an option for me, and, like he’d said at dinner, he was healthy as an ox.
So no worries, I told myself as I tried to fall asleep, feeling Gio’s breaths deepen and even out and finally settle into quiet snores. No worries. Gio isn’t going anywhere. He promised he’d take care of me forever.
But there were other voices in my head that refused to let me rest. Voices that persisted long into the night, eventually causing me to break out in a cold, prickly sweat.
