Chapter 6
Remy~
There was no point in me being here today. I hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything other than my meet and greet with goddamn Luca Benetti last night.
I had barely managed to eke out about four hours of sleep when my alarm had gone off and I realized it all hadn’t been just a horrible nightmare. I had set my alarm for a half hour earlier because I had wanted to walk back to the gas station to check on my car, but when I had walked out of my apartment building, my car had been parked at the curb.
My feet had faltered, and I hadn’t been certain what to do. My overactive imagination pictured every Mob movie I’ve ever seen, and it automatically went to the scenes where the car blew up when the intended victim started the ignition.
Then logic slapped me upside the head and posed the question of why would Luca Benetti rig my car when he could have just shot me in the head last night? If the man wanted me dead, I’d be dead.
What was more surprising was how my car had started right up when I tried the ignition. I didn’t know how or why, but my car had been fixed during the night and left waiting for me this morning. And the idea of owing Luca Benetti a favor was more terrifying than when I thought he was going to kill me last night.
Who in the hell wanted to owe The Underboss of Morgan City a freakin’ favor?
Not me.
Except for a couple of truancy visits, my Thursday morning had been mostly scheduled foster visits. So, it eased my conscience a bit to know that I wasn’t spacing out on the dire visits that needed my undivided attention. Because my attention had been divided.
Now, it was after lunch and my attention was still divided between treating today like any other normal Thursday and wondering if someone was going to put a bullet in my brain once Luca realized the risk of leaving me alive was too great.
Anita must have noticed that I was out of sorts because she came over and leaned her ass against my cubicle desk. “What’s going on, Remy?” she asked. “You’ve been acting strange all day.”
“I need a cigarette break,” I blurted out.
“You don’t smoke,” she pointed out.
“We need a cigarette break,” I amended, ignoring her unwelcomed facts.
“I don’t smoke, either,” she pointed out again.
I stood up and grabbed her by the arm. “We’re smokers today,” I told her.
Her hazel eyes widened in concern for my sanity, and she had the right to be. “Ooookaaay,” she drawled out. But she didn’t question me further until we were outside in the back courtyard where people sometimes ate their lunch and took their breaks if the weather was nice. But we could have been in the middle of a damn blizzard, and I still would have dragged her out here.
Because I. Was. Losing. My. Mind.
All the tables were empty with most people already returning from lunch, so we easily found an empty table and as soon as our asses hit the bench, Anita asked, “What the hell is going on, Remy?”
I felt like I was in the middle of a pagan ritual sacrifice and chanting the Devil’s name was going to make him appear, but I needed to talk to someone about the man. “What do you know about Luca Benetti?”
If these had been happier times, I would have pulled my phone out and taken a picture of Anita’s mouth gaped open, but these weren’t happier times.
She snapped out of her stupor, leaned forward, and her dark blonde brows drew down as she asked, “Why in the hell are you asking me about Luca Benetti?”
I wanted to tell her the truth. I wanted someone to support me in this rabbit hole of a fucking mess, but I could risk her safety like that. If I couldn’t risk my random neighbor’s safety, I sure as hell wasn’t going to risk the safety of my only real friend.
So, I lied.
Kinda.
“My car broke down yesterday on my way home from work,” I told her. “I…I had to walk home the rest of the way-”
“Remy, why didn’t you call me? I would have gone to get you,” she chastised. “Plus, Gus would have been able to check out your car.”
“It was late,” I mumbled. “I figured you and your husband were probably in bed already, and I didn’t want to be a bother.”
Anita reached cross the table and squeezed my arm. “Remy, you’re my friend,” she said heartfelt. “You are not a bother.”
I could feel my shoulders sink. “I know,” I said wearily. “But it was only a few blocks-”
She shook her head. “That doesn’t matter,” she interrupted. “It’s still dangerous for a woman to be walking alone at night.”
This is where the lie came in.
“Well…I wasn’t really walking alone,” I lied straight through my teeth. “A couple of girls were walking ahead of me and I kind of kept in time with them so it would look like we were all together.”
Anita gave me a nod in approval. “Smart move.”
God, I hated lying to her. “Anyway, I couldn’t help but overhear their conversation, and they were talking about Luca Benetti.”
She shrugged a shoulder. “Lots of people talk about him. It’s kind of hard not to. His family runs this city. Men fear him and women want him. What’s not to talk about?”
I thought back to last night and the way he commanded even the air around us and I could see why men feared him. And then I remembered how his body was pressed up against mine as he licked my tears and fully understood why women wanted him. The man was walking, talking, breathing sex come to life.
When
