A petty thief. A reserved gangster. An unpayable debt. A steamy arrangement.
One young woman thinks she has an easy mark when she picks the pocket of a seemingly high roller, but when she's caught red handed, he's anything but, and he's not letting...
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I loved it when things were in my favor. While I didn't want to go to the art gala Saturday night, I was relieved to at least hear through the grapevine that Sinclair wasn't in the city. That a blog had caught him out in Miami on a yacht with some flavor of the week.
The less I had to deal with my cousin, the better.
It was well into the evening when Vino and I returned home to my place.
In the parking deck, Vino got out of the car and instead of heading to his Camaro, he seemed intent on coming inside with me.
"Need something?" A part of me wanted to stay out as long as possible, to have time to think about whatever the fuck I was doing with Eden.
Vino didn't bother hiding his smile as he walked with pep in his step as we made it inside and walked over to the elevator that would take us to my penthouse. "Five stacks Beans finished her off."
I sighed, shaking my head as he pressed the call button for my place. "There's a reason why I chose Beans."
Vino boldly snorted. "You be thinkin' Beanie Baby the 'nice' one. He don't even think you should let this one live when you're done doin' whatever it is that you're doin'."
I couldn't exactly fault Beans for thinking rationally about the bigger picture. But of the three of us, I trusted Beans to be the most responsible, the most levelheaded, the most sane.
We stepped off the lift and went over to my front door. Before I procured my key to unlock it, I reached into my jacket and grabbed my dice and gathered them into my palm. Unlike my profession, I wasn't a gambling man, but once in a while, I liked to humor my crew.
"Fifty thousand they're in there doing just fine," I challenged.
For a moment, Vino considered the wager, but then he shook his head, wagging his finger at me. "Them joints is loaded, and you know it."
I laughed as I dug my keys out next and stuck them in the door. My dice weren't loaded, I just had an unbeatable lucky streak with them.
The first thing that hit me as I opened the door was the fresh scent of Italian herbs and spices and cheese. The smell traveled all the way from the kitchen to the front entryway, making me realize how starved I was.
Vino whistled. "Yes, they ordered somethin' good."
Music was playing and I could hear the sound of her laughter.
I set my briefcase down by the door as I shut it behind us. Vino was already on his way to the kitchen as he rubbed his palms together.
Briefly, I wondered if they'd ordered a pizza, but then I had my answer as I stepped into the kitchen and spotted pots and pans lining my stove and Beans sitting at the island eating. Vino was at the other end looking for a plate while Eden was behind it smiling about something as she spoke to Beans. The TV was on in the living room, some live performance they'd pulled up with an old '90s rapper.
