“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Knox muttered before turning to Tackle. “Did you get everything taken care of?”
Tackle nodded, looked over at me, and back at my brother.
“This is ridiculous,” I muttered, stalking toward the front door. “I’m going home.” I got in my car and drove off. Since this place was so close to my parents’ house, Tackle could give Knox a ride home.
18
Tackle
“What was that all about?” I asked.
“I wish I could tell you.”
I turned my head and looked at Halo. He might as well have said, “I know, but I can’t say.”
“Is she okay?”
Rather than avoiding a straight answer, Knox didn’t respond at all.
“What was the deal with the family-discount thing? Why’d you shake your head?”
“She doesn’t know I’m paying half her rent along with mine.”
“Why are you?” I had a pretty good idea what Sloane’s salary was, and while this place wasn’t cheap, she could afford the rent. At least more than half of it.
“I just am.”
“You want a lift somewhere?” I asked when he locked the front door behind us.
“If you wouldn’t mind.”
Why would I mind? God, why did everything seem so off? Things were as fucked up between Knox and me as they were between Sloane and me.
Could I blame anyone other than myself for that? I was the one who’d started all this in motion the day I asked Sloane to meet me privately. I kept it going by having sex with her and turbocharged it by relentlessly pursuing her. And for what? More sex?
After spending two days convincing Nick that if she didn’t take K19’s relocation offer, I wouldn’t be able to protect her, followed by another two days getting her settled in California, I had a clear picture of what a pain in the ass I’d been with Sloane.
Listening to Nick plead with me, even with different words than I’d used, sounded the same. The more she grated on my nerves, the more I regretted every single thing I’d said to Sloane. I’d fucking stalked her, for God’s sake. No wonder she didn’t want anything to do with me. Today, it seemed like she couldn’t even stand being within five feet of me.
“Tackle?”
“What?” I snapped.
“Nothing.” Halo took off on foot.
“Don’t be an ass. Get back here. Of course, I’ll give you a ride home.”
“What’s your problem, man?”
I rubbed my head, reminding myself I still hadn’t gotten that haircut. “Nick.”
“You with her now?” Halo asked.
“No.” Furthest thing from it, actually, and I planned to keep it that way. “Her husband, he’s, uh, bad news. Beat the crap outta her.”
“Caruso?”
“Yeah. You know anything about him?”
“I’ve heard rumors.”
“They were probably accurate.”
“She still with him?”
I shook my head. “I made arrangements for her to live in one of my dad’s rentals. On our way back from Italy, I confided in Doc about the situation and he stepped in.”
“I’m guessing she’s at an undisclosed location?”
“Affirmative.”
“Shit. Think the husband knows you had anything to do with her ‘disappearance’?” he asked after we were in the car on the way to his parents’ place, where I hoped Sloane had gone too.
“I sure as hell hope not.”
“I gotta ask, man. Why’d she come to you?”
I shrugged. “Nick always saw me as her way out of her lousy life. Her dad was an alcoholic, was violent toward her mother. I doubt she was ever as interested in me as she was in what I could do for her. When I was offered a full ride at UVA to play football, Nick got it into her head that someday I’d play for the NFL.”
“I remember something about that. She started spreading rumors you might, even before we graduated.”
“When she heard I was back in town, she assumed I was taking over my dad’s business.”
“She saw you as her meal ticket.”
“And a way to get away from her husband.”
“They say women go for men who are like their father. I guess she did with Caruso.”
“Right.”
“Who’s funding this relocation? You?”
“Negative.” It was something Doc and I had discussed before I left California.
“We plan to feed the feds enough for them to nab Caruso, who then might finger some more of DeLuca’s crew,” he’d told me when I asked him the same question Halo asked me.
“Keep driving,” Halo said when I was getting close to his family’s house.
“What’s up?” I looked in the rearview.
“We have company.”
“I know,” I said, parking in front of the house. “He’s with me.”
Halo looked over his shoulder. “Who is that?”
“New guy. His name’s Garrison Cassidy. Code name Cowboy.”
“Get the fuck out.”
“Totally serious.”
“What’s his cover?”
“Construction.”
He smiled. “Guess I’ll see him on the job site tomorrow.”
“I’m glad we’ll be working together, Halo.”
When he didn’t respond, I wondered if he thought I was lying.
A week later, I was cleaning up the project we’d been working on, when I heard Halo asking the other guys if they’d seen me.
“I’m over here,” I shouted.
“Hey, I’ve got a favor to ask.”
“Shoot.”
“I’m having some furniture delivered to Sloane’s place in about an hour. I could use some help.”
My eyes met Cowboy’s, who was standing behind Halo. “I wish you would’ve let me know earlier. I told my dad I’d meet him at another house he’s looking to flip.”
“No worries,” he said, turning to walk away.
“Hey, Halo, I can help if you need it,” Cowboy offered when I nodded.
“You sure?”
“Absolutely. I ain’t got nothin’ on except maybe havin’ a couple of beers.”
“I can make arrangements for that when we’re done.”
“Sorry, man,” I called after them.
“It’s all good,” said Halo, waving behind him.
As much as I was dying to see Sloane, I couldn’t yet. First, I had to be sure no one linked to Caruso had their sights set on me. There was no way I’d risk putting her in danger if Nick’s husband knew I was the one who arranged for her to disappear.
Another two weeks had passed when I got a call from Razor.
“Just got word that Caruso’s in custody.”
“What for?”
“It’s a long list, my friend. Racketeering, loan-sharking,
