“I don’t know what that means, but if it’s a sporty way of saying you’re getting drunk before you get drunk, then I guess that’s okay.” Nana and Ollie found spots to squeeze in on the couches, and then she kicked off her low heels and put her stockinged feet up on the coffee table as she said, “I hope you’re all making your new brother and his boyfriend feel welcome and not boring them to tears with stories about your kids, and grandkids, and blah blah blah.”
“Wait,” I said, “some of you have grandkids?”
“Dante and I do,” Charlie said. “Just one.”
“But you look like you’re twenty-five.” I didn’t know why I felt compelled to point that out. Maybe it was the gin and tonics talking.
Charlie grinned and told me, “I’m older than that, but we took a shortcut. Our boys were half-grown when we adopted them. The older one became a father shortly after high school, and now he’s crushing college and totally rocking the single dad thing.”
“This is exactly what I’m talking about,” Nana muttered.
Dante frowned and told her, “You know you adore those kids, Nana.”
She scowled at him and snapped, “Of course I do! I’m just not going to go on and on about them tonight, when what we should be talking about is the trouble we’re going to get into. I was thinking we could go to one of those all-male revues after dinner, like The Thunder in my Undies. I hear that’s a hell of a show.”
“The Thunder from Down Under,” Vincent corrected, as Trevor bit his lip to keep from laughing. “They’re Australian strippers, I believe.”
She exclaimed, “Now we’re talking! Aussie Aussie Aussie, oi oi oi!” I wondered where she’d learned that.
Yoshi grabbed his phone and said, “I’ll check for tickets, but they might be sold out for tonight, Nana.”
She asked, “Can’t we drop Zan’s name, like we did for the dinner reservations?” So that was their secret for getting into one of the hottest restaurants in town.
“Happy to help in any way I can, love,” Zan called from across the room, where he and Gianni were snuggled up and sharing a club chair. Nana smiled at him and blew him a kiss.
Dante, who realized he was rapidly losing control of the situation, said, “I’m not sure that’s what we want to do tonight, Nana. Vincent and Trevor are heading home tomorrow, so we only have this one night for all of us to be together.” Just then, his phone beeped. He pulled it from his pocket and read the screen, then quickly fired off a text as he got up and said, “Vincent and Adriano, I need to talk to you both in the bedroom.”
Mike sighed and muttered, “Don’t tell me, let me guess. It’s super secret older brother stuff and Gianni and I don’t get to know what it’s about.”
Gianni asked, “Wait, is Adriano older than me?”
“Yeah, by two months,” Dante said, as he and Vincent headed to the bedroom with their husbands right on their heels. Adriano followed, and since he didn’t let go of my hand, I was included by default.
On the way out of the living room, I heard Gianni tell Mike, “Aw, I thought I finally outranked someone, besides just you.”
Dante shut the door behind us when we got to the bedroom and held up the phone for Adriano. “Two of my people just spotted someone matching Greco’s description. Is this him?” I leaned over and glanced at the photo of a guy with shoulder-length dark hair, climbing out of a silver muscle car.
It looked like it had been snapped from across the street, and it was a bit grainy, but Adriano said, “That’s him. Even though the photo’s not very clear, the 1970 Chevelle confirms it. That car was parked in the garage where they were holding me prisoner.” While Dante sent another text, he asked, “When was this taken?”
“Two minutes ago, in front of a club called Apex. Have you heard of it?”
Adriano nodded, and then he asked, “Did Greco go inside?”
“Yeah, he did. My people followed him, but they’re hanging back and waiting for instructions.”
“That club had a gang problem in the past, so there are metal detectors at the doors,” Adriano said. “He has to be unarmed if he’s in there, so this is the perfect time to grab him. Tell your people not to make a move unless he tries to leave. I can be there in fifteen minutes.”
When he yanked open the bedroom door, Nana, Gianni, and Mike tumbled inside. Their spouses were right behind them, standing in the hallway and trying to look casual about having been caught eavesdropping. While they untangled themselves and helped each other up, Adriano said, “You should all go ahead and go to dinner, it’s almost time for your reservation. I have something I need to take care of, but I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“We know what you’re doing, and we’re coming with you to get the bastard that took you hostage and wrecked your mom’s bar.” Nana sounded determined.
Dante shook his head and told her, “No way. It’s too dangerous.” We couldn’t actually leave without them though, because there were six people blocking the doorway.
“We just heard Aidie say he’s unarmed, so it’s not that dangerous.” Nana reached into the neck of her sequined dress, pulled her phone out of her bra, and began writing a text. “I’m telling Petey to pull the limo around.”
Adriano turned to me with a look of desperation in his eyes, but all I could do was shrug. Short of locking Nana in a closet, there really was no way to stop her. On top of that, Mike added, “I know we’re not, like, trained for this or anything, but we can at least come along and act as lookouts. What if this guy slips out the back door? You can’t be everywhere at once.”
“We appreciate the fact that you want to help,” Dante told them, “but every minute we spend debating this could give Greco time to get away. He’s a very dangerous man, and we don’t want any of you to get hurt. That’s why you’re staying here.”