Aiden swings the door wider and motions me inside, closing and locking it behind me. “You can never be too careful with this many competing mob members in town.”
He leads me into an open space, and I can already see the women at the far end of the room. Piper’s perched at the bar—like she’s just visiting her fucking BFF—while Bianca moves around in the kitchen beyond her, loading two plates full of pasta.
“I see you two finally decided to stop measuring your dicks,” Bianca says as she slides one of the plates to Piper. “Simone, sit and Aiden will get you two drinks.”
I’m too goddamn dumbfounded at Piper’s ease with these people we don’t know to pay much attention, but I am sure I need something strong if I’m going to get through this without cracking my teeth. “Whiskey. Make it a double,” I say, sliding onto a bar stool beside Piper.
“You sit and eat.” Aiden points to Bianca and then the stool on the other side of Piper before moving toward a bar setup against the wall. “Ever had Midleton?” he calls over his shoulder.
“Can’t say that I have,” I respond, a smirk lifting with my next thought. “I’m a Glenfiddich man myself.”
“Fucking muppet,” he mumbles with a headshake as he pours two glasses of the gold liquid and joins us back at the bar, only he perches directly across from where the three of us are seated. “You’ll never touch that Scotch shit again.”
I take a tentative sip and then kill the motherfucker when I determine it’s up to snuff—more than, actually, but I won’t easily admit it. “It’s passable,” I say, setting the tumbler in front of me. “Enough with the bullshit. What exactly are we here for?”
“Dante,” Piper scolds, setting her fork on her plate and giving me the bitch brow, while Bianca hides a chuckle by taking a swallow of her drink.
Aiden opens his mouth to answer but pauses when his eyes land on his wife, who’s happily sipping her iced tea. “Where the fuck is your milk?” he asks, glaring at her.
“I don’t fucking want milk,” she answers, ignoring him.
“The doctor said you need more calcium, so you’re going to drink some fucking milk, Bee.” He crosses his arms and stares at her across the bar.
“Aiden, I don’t want the fucking milk. Now leave me alone and get to the point before I fuck you up in front of company!” she yells, her brown eyes deadly.
He ignores her, heading to the kitchen anyway.
As they argue over who’s getting enough fucking calcium, Piper turns to me with a soft smile. “They’re cute.”
I snort as a cabinet slams in the background. “They’re something, but cute isn’t the word I’d use.”
“Dante,” Piper says softly, spinning in her seat to face me completely. “It’s obvious they love each other very much.” She palms my cheek. “Can’t you just try to hear them out without being so harsh?”
I take her hand and press a soft kiss against her wrist. “Harsh is how we survive, solare.”
“We’re here because you obviously need them,” Piper says, lifting a pointed brow. “Just try to rein it in a tiny bit. Please. I already like Bianca.”
My jaw tightens, but I reluctantly mutter, “Fine.”
Our conversation is interrupted when Aiden strolls back to the island with purpose, setting a glass in front of Bianca with a glare. “Drink the fucking milk.”
“Fucking cocksucker,” she says, rolling her eyes and taking a sip.
“Now, where the fuck were we?” Aiden asks, downing the rest of his whiskey and smacking his glass against the marble.
“You were about to tell me why the fuck we’re here,” I say but immediately regret sounding so harsh when Piper side-eyes me. I shrug about as unapologetically as she did earlier when she followed a complete stranger into her home and left me standing at the door.
“Right,” Aiden says, glancing to his wife to make sure she’s still drinking that fucking milk. I’ll never again be able to think of that word without “fucking” in front of it. “Bee and I thought that under the circumstances, you might feel safer leaving Miss Tate here, at our place, while you and I go to the meeting.”
My face stays impassive as I wait for the Spidey senses to kick in, but they never do. Why? I have no fucking idea, but I act as if they did anyway. “Why in the hell do you think that would ease my goddamn mind? I don’t even know you!”
“Hey, don’t be a fucking dick,” he snaps, walking around the bar to stand next to his wife, his stance softening as their eyes meet. “I’m a man who knows what it feels like to have the love of his life taken from him, by someone I fucking trusted, no less.” His jaw tightens, and his neck muscles flex as he works to get his anger under control. “From what I’ve heard about the shit going on with Miami, I’d say that’s why you brought her to Boston to begin with. Why not give her the best fucking protection possible when you can’t be by her side?”
My ice-cold resistance thaws slightly as I listen to him talk about a situation that’s my worst fucking fear come to life. “What makes you think her being here makes her safer?” I ask, motioning around the room.
“It’s a simple fucking fact,” he says like a smartass as he caresses Bianca’s bump. “Do you think I’d ever let anything happen to my wife again? Especially now that she’s six months pregnant. There’s nowhere fucking safer than with Bee.”
My brows draw together as I take his words and meld them with the facts I was given before we arrived. “But I thought the kidnapping was only five
