“How deep are you with Dominic Albano?” he asks quietly.
“Not at all,” I answer truthfully. “Olivia was engaged to him. She broke it off.”
“It’s a good thing because this guy is beyond dirty,” he says, my eyes closing. “From what the feds got on him, he will go away for a long time.” He pauses. “But that isn’t the worst of it.”
“How can it get worse?” I close my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose.
“A lot worse.” Derek’s tone is not to be mistaken with anything but bad. “He fucked with the wrong people. Not only did he borrow, but he also lost their money—their clean money. And you know nothing pisses off a mob like losing what he must have spent years to clean.”
“Fuck,” I hiss, shaking my head. “How much are we talking?”
“Thirty,” he says, and my heart sinks. “He also owes them ten.”
“How the fuck did he let it get so bad?” I ask while Derek laughs.
“The guy loved the private jet style. He also loved hookers and blow,” he says. “He also didn’t like wrapping it up. He has two kids that he keeps under the radar, but there are wire transfers every single month. Needless to say, their accounts have also been seized, and neither of them are happy.”
“It just keeps getting better and better.” I sigh. “Let me know if you find out anything else.”
“Will do,” he disconnects. I spend the next five minutes watching the figure over and over again, trying to see if I’ll notice something Derek missed.
When I walk into the house a little while later, I find Olivia on the couch looking up at the ceiling. “What are you doing?” I ask, and she turns around and looks at me.
“I’m dying of boredom.” She looks over, and once again, just looking at her takes my breath away. “I haven’t been out in four days,” she says. “I mean, out in public with humans.” She puts her hands up, and I can’t help the laughter that escapes now.
“Pretty sure my parents are considered humans,” I say. She glares at me, and even the glare stirs something in me. I also know when she’s sad or mad or anything besides happy, so I do something I know I’m going to regret. “Why don’t we go out?” I can’t stop the words before they come out.
She sits up and looks over at me. “Don’t toy with me, cowboy.”
“I’m not toying with you. Call Kallie and see if she wants to go to the bar. We can go out,” I say and she starts to clap her hands. “Not late.” I point at her, taking a sip of my water.
She gets up and runs over to me, surprising me by throwing her arms around my neck. My arms go around her waist automatically. “Thank you, cowboy,” she says, kissing my cheek. She looks at me, and all I can do is stare at her. There is nothing I can say. Actually, there is a whole list of words I can say, but I have to keep reminding myself that she’s leaving.
I break eye contact first and drop my hands from her waist. “Yeah, go call Kallie.” She nods her head and walks away to the bedroom. Standing in the kitchen, I put my hands on the counter and hang my head. “Don’t go there,” I remind myself. “It’s just going to hurt when she leaves.” I shake my head.
“Kallie says she’s in!” she yells from the room. “She said she’s putting on her cowboy boots, and she’s going to do some honky-tonk thingamajig.”
“Great!” I shout back at her. “Just fucking great,” I mumble under my breath.
Chapter Fifteen
Olivia
I can’t stop the smile on my face as we walk to the bar. I look over at him, and once again, I want to stop and just stare. He is so handsome. I want to put my hands on his face and kiss him for making me so happy.
“If I don’t tell you later on tonight …” I start. When he looks over at me, I stop, and my heels sink into the gravel just a touch. Any other time, I would freak out, but standing in front of him right now, I don’t really care. “I had a great, great night.”
He steps closer to me with a smile, and my heart speeds up just a bit. “You are very welcome.” I look at him in his black jeans and white T-shirt with his cowboy boots. It’s what he wears every single day, and it should not get to me still. It should not make my heart flutter just a bit, and it definitely shouldn’t make me think of taking the shirt off him. “And if you want to keep your jacket on all night.” He leans in just a touch, and I smell his musky cologne. Shaking my head, the ponytail moving side to side, I look down at my outfit. I paired my white jeans with a black tube top and then wore my black mini jacket with it.
“Hey there.” I hear behind me and turn to look over my shoulder at Beau. He nods at Casey, then smiles big when he sees me. His black hair is perfectly coiffed, his outfit—khaki pants and a button-down—very much like someone in politics. I wonder if he owns any jeans. “Don’t you look beautiful.”
I’m about to answer him when Casey barks out, “Let’s go inside.” He walks toward the door, making Beau laugh. The sound of country music is coming from inside, and the door opens as a couple of people leave. I look around and see that most of the parking lot is full.
We follow him in, and the country music fills the room. I stand here looking around to see if Kallie and Jacob are here, but I don’t see them anywhere. I’m about to say something to Casey when I feel his hand slip into mine. He pulls me toward an empty table. About ten people are already on the dance floor doing a line dance. Wooden tables are all around the dance floor, and looking past the dance floor, I see the back room is full of people playing pool while others are watching.
“I’m going to hit the bar,” Beau says. “Do you want anything?” I look over at the bar, seeing all the stools taken as Savannah stands behind it with a smile. She tosses a bottle up in the air and then pours it into the shot glasses in front of her. Then she walks down the line, grabbing a glass and filling a drink. Her black hair is perfectly done, and her blue eyes shine. I look at her, and even I have to admit that she is beautiful. Her son, Ethan, looks just like her and nothing like Jacob.
“I’ll have a beer,” Casey answers right away “And she’ll have a white wine.” I look over at him, shocked that he would order for me, and a little bit annoyed that he knows what I want, but then I look at Beau.
“And a shot of tequila,” I say. Beau looks at me with a smirk, then looks at Casey almost as if he needs permission. “Um, excuse me? If I want a shot of tequila, I’m going to get a shot of tequila.”
“Well, then.” Beau turns around. I’m about to bark at Casey when the door opens, and I see it’s Kallie and Jacob. She has to stop on the way to us to say hello to people who they know and that is almost everyone in the place since they grew up here.
“It must be fun,” I say to him while I watch them say hello to the people around them. “Literally knowing everyone when you walk in someplace.”
I lean on the table as the song changes. This time, the beat goes a bit faster, letting some of the girls cheer while they do another dance that I think I can do, but in fact, I would need a lot of wine to actually do. I look behind the dance floor at the guys in back. About fifteen of them all gather around three pool tables.