This time Leif takes my hand, and we head into the pizzeria.
“Hey, Leif,” a young man says. “Twice in as many days.” He nods to me. “Nice to see you again.”
“It is? Funny, since I’ve never been here before.” I suppress—or try to—a scowl.
“Oh.” The man reddens. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay, Mikey,” Leif says. “You got my table?”
“We’re pretty crowded right now, as you can see, but I can always squeeze you in.”
“That would be great.”
We follow Mikey through the restaurant, which is much bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside. The table truly is in the back, very secluded. A candle gives out some soft light. Normally I’d enjoy the aroma of rustic tomato and cheese, but I’m pissed.
“Will a server even know we’re back here?” I ask, not so nicely.
Mikey laughs. “Oh yeah. We have great service. Tell her, Leif.”
I raise my eyebrow. “Yeah. Tell me, Leif.”
“Service is great,” he says. “And the pizza’s always great. Plus they make garlic knots to die for.”
At that, my stomach lets out a growl, much to my dismay. I’m still busy being pissed.
How long has it been since I had a garlic knot? We used to serve those at the diner. It’s been…over five years.
The waiter hands us each a menu and then looks at Leif. “The usual?”
“What’s the usual?” I ask.
Mikey laughs. “Leif and his friend Buck come in here and usually got an extra-large with every single meat topping we offer.”
“Excluding the anchovies.” Leif says. “I don’t consider anchovies meat.”
Mikey lets out a guffaw.
“Sure,” I say. “The usual sounds great.”
“You sure?” Leif asks. “It’s huge, and they pile on the toppings.”
“I’m sure,” I grit out.
“In that case, Mike, give us the usual.” Leif smiles. “I haven’t eaten since yesterday, so I’m freaking starving.”
“And to drink?”
“How about a bottle of your best Chianti,” Leif says.
I open my mouth to protest but then I close it. Chianti sounds good. I enjoyed the glass I had with the lasagna that Buck made. Plus…I need to take the edge off.
“You got it. Frankie will bring out your water soon.”
“How come he took the order himself?” I ask Leif.
“Because he knows what I like,” Leif says. “Mikey and I go way back.”
“You do?”
“Yeah… We met…in Afghanistan.”
“Oh…”
“He was an infantry soldier on the ground. Buck and I… Well, we kind of saved his life.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. He was injured, and his platoon left him behind. Buck and I found him, and we got to a MASH unit.”
“His platoon left him behind?”
“They were following orders, Kelly. It happens. But it wasn’t Mikey’s time, and we got him the help he needed.”
“I see.”
My anger begins to dissipate. So Leif brought another woman here two days ago. It was probably Terry. Damn her, anyway.
“We were just doing our jobs. Mike got sent home after that, and he began working here. His brother owns the place. Buck and I were kept apprised of his whereabouts, and when we ended up in Manhattan working for the Wolfes, we found him here, along with the best pizza ever.”
“So you’re a real-life hero,” I say.
“I wouldn’t put it that way.”
“Normally I wouldn’t neither,” I admit. “I don’t find the human race to be particularly heroic. At least not those I’ve interacted with.”
He reaches across the table and grabs my hand. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”
“You brought Terry here.”
“I did, but only because I forgot to make a reservation for dinner, and Mikey always has a table for me.”
“Still…”
“It was nothing, Kelly. I’ve told you.”
“Then why did he have to mention it?”
“Damned if I know. You and Terry don’t look anything alike.”
“That’s for sure.”
“You’re way more beautiful than she is.”
“Do you have to do that?” I ask.
“Do what?”
“Make me feel all…squishy, when I’m trying to be mad at you?”
“If you have to try, I must be doing something right.” He reaches across the table and pats my hand. “See? Not all humans are bad.”
“I know.”
“But I understand what you mean. I’ve seen some of the worst of humanity myself. But most are good. I hope you’re finding that out now.”
“It’s taken me a long time to accept that. I guess I always feel like someone has an ulterior motive.”
“Very few of us have ulterior motives.”
“So you don’t think Brindley is sending those messages?”
“I don’t. I really don’t. But if it will make you feel better, I’ll go with you to talk to her and we can confront her about it.”
“You would do that?”
“Of course. My job is to protect you. To do what you need.”
I pull my hand away. “Right. Just doing your job.”
He said he doesn’t have sex for the sake of sex. But I am his job. And sex is what I needed.
He was just doing his fucking job.
I don’t say much until the pizza arrives, along with some garlic knots.
Leif nods to me, so I take a garlic knot and place it on the small plate. Our server loads a gargantuan slice of pizza onto my bigger plate.
“You all know how to eat our pizza, right?” she says.
“Absolutely, Frankie,” Leif says. “I’ll be glad to teach my companion.”
“Yes, he’ll teach me,” I say, forcing a smile. “It’s his job.”
“Still not talking to me?” Leif says, as we enter the apartment building.
I simply shrug.
We whisk past security to the elevators. Then he grips my shoulders, forcing me to look at him.
“Kelly, I don’t know what the hell I did but—”
“Was sex with me part of your job?” I demand.
He cocks his head, drops his jaw. “Is that what this is about?”
“You said you’d go talk to Brindley with me because it’s your job. You said you’d do whatever I need you to do, because it’s your job.”
“It might interest you to know that my job description with the Wolfes does not include sex with you.”
“Yeah? It was what I needed at the time.”
“I didn’t make love to you because you needed it.”
“Make love?” I scoff. “I detest euphemisms, Leif.”
“Kelly, can we table this discussion? I already texted Brindley and told her we were coming to talk to her tonight. Please?”
I huff. “Fine. Let’s go talk to the bitch.”