“Fine. You keep the water, I’m going to steal your son’s affection,” I inform him, walking right past him into the living room.
30
Rafe
Skylar’s birthday party is beginning to wind down. They went balls to the wall with this fucking party, I’ll give them that. Right now one of Mia and Mateo’s “gifts” is blowing bubbles with the kids and shaking her hips to the tune of “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid. Since it’s Skylar’s favorite movie, apparently, and the theme of the party, Mia and Mateo flew in an Ariel from Disneyland.
Ariel looks good shaking her tight little body in front of the dads, but we’re hardly paying her any attention, so she’s wasting her time.
I search the yard for Virginia, and predictably find her nesting with Laurel. Nicholas isn’t used to big crowds or being outside all day, and it’s making him fussy as hell. Virginia is holding him and making silly faces at him, trying to keep him happy. Laurel is talking to her sister, and they’re both looking at something Mia is showing them on her phone.
Rex’s voice pulls my attention back to the table I’m sitting at when he asks, “Hypothetically, how twisted would it be if I fucked The Little Mermaid?”
Adrian shakes his head. “That’s fucked up, Rex.”
“I think it might be just twisted enough to be fun,” I offer.
“She’s been stealing glances at me. I’m thinking about it.”
Mateo is seated on my left. His lips tug up in a faint smirk. “I hired her for the whole day. Might as well get my money’s worth.”
“I’m pretty sure she lives in California though,” Adrian offers.
Rex shrugs. “I’m not trying to marry her; I just want to take off that clamshell bra and see what kind of under the sea magic she can work with her mouth.”
“You should. The party’s almost over. If anyone wanted to cause trouble, they probably would have by now,” Mateo advises.
Technically, Rex is supposed to be on guard duty. What separates this party from a normal, over-the-top first birthday party—aside from the guest list, of course—is the army of men surrounding the house, at every point of entry, and stationed at various points around the party. Armed to the teeth and watchful for any signs of trouble, most of them are still on guard wherever they were assigned.
Rex, on the other hand, is sitting here with two bosses and a consigliere, shoveling pasta salad into his mouth and eye-fucking The Little Mermaid. I don’t think the kid has realized it yet, but Mateo clearly likes him. Even having him work for me all these months, I haven’t decided whether or not I do. An orphan with questionable morals and no trouble following orders from superiors, he does make a good soldier. He’s a hungry little shit, though. You can see the ambition in him, the desire to move up the ranks. Between his drive to succeed and a variety of talents, the kid is useful as hell, I’m just not sure I trust him. I’ve always been aware that even though he’s here working for me, he’s working for Mateo first. So maybe it’s not Rex I don’t completely trust, it’s my cousin. It’s just like him to keep eyes on me under the guise of helpfulness.
Rex has a vibe the ladies love, too, and sometimes that’s a pain in the ass. He’s a good-looking kid—dangerous eyes, and the ability to get women out of their panties with little more than a slow smirk. Sin acknowledges Rex’s usefulness, but he doesn’t like him on a personal level. Poor kid never even hit on Laurel, never even looked at her the wrong way, but there’s no telling Sin that.
The mermaid likes him, though. She catches Rex’s eye now and smiles a sultry little smile, then goes back to paying attention to the little kids.
“Yeah, I’m gonna fuck her,” he decides, nodding his head. Then, with a casualness that betrays the shit he’s trying to stir up, he asks, “Unless you think I’ve got a shot with Virginia. What do you think, Rafe? Think she’d go
for a younger guy?”
I open my mouth to tell him to stop being an asshole, but before I can, Mateo cuts in with a firm, “No.”
Rex was just poking at me, but he looks at Mateo, a little more surprised by his response.
“I told you, no Vegas attachments. You won’t be here much longer anyway.” Then Mateo’s gaze drifts to me and he says, “We need to talk about Virginia.”
I don’t like the way he says that. I don’t like the way Adrian, his right-hand, shifts in his seat to keep a better eye on me. I don’t like the way this just went from feeling like a vacation day with family to me sitting at Mateo’s table, under his jurisdiction.
I look around for Sin, but he’s standing across the yard with a beer in his hand, talking to Vince. I thought we were all having fun, so I didn’t feel the need to keep him close.
Unease rankles, but I tell myself it’s undue. Mateo and I have had our differences in the past, certainly, but we’re on good terms now. Sometimes my cousin can be hard to get along with because he doesn’t acknowledge the limits of his own control. Maybe he just needs a reminder that when he sits at my table, when he’s in my town, he’s not the one in charge.
“Why don’t we just enjoy the party,” I suggest firmly, reaching for my drink.
“We have enjoyed the party,” Mateo states. “Now there’s business to attend to.”
“You don’t have business here,” I inform him, my dark eyes meeting his across the table. “This is my city. I appreciate your help, I appreciate the use of your men, and I appreciate that we can all sit here and bullshit with each other at a family get-together instead of wanting to kill each other like old times. I appreciate your friendship, Mateo, but this is not your town, and Virginia is not your business, so stay the fuck away from her.”
His lips curve up faintly, amused at my speech. “And as much as your appreciation means to me, Rafe, I didn’t put you on Ben’s throne so you could fuck it up.”