I take a deep breath and slowly let it out. I relax my hands and my jaw. I meet her eyes. “I told myself after I went to prison, I wouldn’t lose control again. Nobody would take that away from me, not ever again, and I’ve worked hard in the years since to make sure I’m in a position to say no when I want to say no. I understand you think I didn’t care back then. I’m saying it doesn’t matter now either way. Now I’m in control, and I have the final word.”
Her lips quirk. “Must be nice.”
“Has its pros and cons.”
“Like this place?”
“This is more a con than anything else. Are you going to make trouble for me, Cora? Or are we putting what happened aside and starting over?”
“We can’t start over,” she says and turns away. She walks behind the bar and starts making coffee. “I don’t think I can ever start over. But I’ll forget about it for a while at least.”
“The money will help.” I sit at the bar and watch her. Cora knows her way around back there and when the coffee’s done, she pours two mugs, one with milk and one without. I get it black and sip.
“How long have you been watching me?” she asks, leaning her hands on the shelf, head tilted as she glares at me. She’s got the annoyed bartender look down perfectly.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“You know I’ve been a bartender. How long?”
I think about lying but decide if we’re doing this, I might as well stay honest with her. “Since the day I got out.”
She lets out a breath. “Four years.”
“Give or take. I’ve been busy and you’re not that interesting, so I haven’t exactly been stalking you.”
“But keeping tabs.”
“That’s right. Keeping tabs.”
“Why? You could’ve come said something.”
“I didn’t want to.”
“Then why watch me, Nolan?”
I sip the coffee and smile. “This is good.”
“Stop dodging.”
“I wanted to make sure they weren’t going to kill you too.”
She shuts her mouth and goes pale, staring at me with wide eyes.
I shouldn’t have said that. It wasn’t nice and she’s going through a lot right now—but it’s the truth. I kept tabs on her to make sure nobody was going to bother her, not after everything that happened. I called in a lot of favors and groveled a lot more than is healthy for a man with an ego like mine, but I managed to keep her alive despite everything. It dug me deeper into the Famiglia, made sure I’d never break ties, but she’s still here, still breathing.
And it doesn’t matter, because I don’t think she’d care either way.
“That’s what you meant when you said it’s dangerous for us to be together. You really think someone from the Famiglia might hurt me still, even after all this time?”
“You snitched on mafia men. We have long memories.”
The door opens. She jumps like a bunch of armed thugs are about to rush in and execute her. Instead, it’s Eric with his arm slung over Alex’s shoulder. Eric’s been my closest friend for as long as I can remember, since back when I was a kid, and Alex is the youngest member of our crew at twenty-six. Both guys spot us and straight up, Eric’s grin slowly falling from his face. Alex only frowns at Cora, looking confused.
“What’s the girl doing here?” Eric asks, coming over.
“The girl works for me now. Welcome the newest addition to the team.”
Cora gives them her best Southern-girl smile. “Y’all want some coffee?”
Eric ignores her. “You know this is a bad idea.”
“I’m aware, yes.”
“And yet here she is, the girl that ratted on you, ratted on me, and ratted on Ben.”
“Ben’s dead, so he doesn’t care.”
“God damn it, Nolan, what the fuck is the matter with you? That girl should be dead. The only reason—”
I stand up and stare at him. He cuts off mid-sentence, smart enough not to finish that thought, and my eyes move to Alex. He lowers his head and steps aside, shuffling to the far end of the bar, and Cora’s smart enough to bring him some coffee without him having to ask.
I move closer to Eric and he doesn’t back down.
“You remember how that all went down. She paid the price already.”
“She didn’t pay. Her mother did.”
“She paid and we’re not arguing about this again. Cora’s here because I did a favor for her, and now she’s going to do a favor for us in return.”
Eric tilts his head. “You didn’t mention a favor.”
“I visited an ORB member yesterday morning. I guess that slipped my mind.”
“What the fuck did you do?”
“The war we’ve been waiting for is coming, and Cora happens to know a little bit about the ORB thanks to her lovely little sister’s shitty taste in men. Cora’s going to give us names, hangouts, bars, whatever, everything she can, and we’re going to hit those biker pieces of shit so hard they decide to find Jesus and go straight.”