“Before I say a word? What the hell do you think I’m going to say?”
That I was fucking around with his baby sister.
We sat in silence because I wasn’t admitting that. Ever.
Then he sighed. “I’m calling to say thank you.” He emphasized the word, and it made me feel like a pile of shit right away. “I heard Ma talking to Lilah. Jesus, I almost flew down there today to try to work something out.”
“We got it under control.”
“She okay? She look shaken up or anything?”
“Nah. She’ll be fine. I’m going to be here for a while, so I’ll be able to check in on her.” I didn’t tell them I’d moved her right next to my hotel room. I wasn’t even sure Delilah knew there was just a wall separating us.
Which was probably for the best.
“Alright. Good.” I heard his breath of relief over the phone. “I’m happy you’re looking out for her. She’s more of a kid sister than Izzy, you know? And Izzy needs to be in jail long enough to realize the consequences of her actions.”
“Izzy’s probably just going through a rough time.” God, they gave her hell, and she took the beatings in stride because she wanted this mission to play out.
“You always had a soft spot for her, Dante. Probably too soft.”
“Fuck you,” I grumbled. Dom was way too protective of both his sisters, and I’d already gotten one fist to the face after taking Izzy on a date.
“We can’t keep giving her passes. She got Lilah locked up this time.” I heard him sigh, and the turmoil in his voice was palpable.
I ignored it, though. My job was to ignore the pain and trek forward at any cost. “Delilah’s fine.”
“How long you there for? I’m going to fly down in a few weeks. Mom and Dad are working on bail money for Izzy but are researching rehab facilities first. I think she needs time there.”
I winced at that, but it was what Izzy and I were banking on. She would build her name in prison, dig out more intel on the drugs being smuggled, and then we’d find enough evidence on the boats Cade was watching to hopefully bust a cruise ship or two.
“I’ll be here.”
“So, you and Lilah are good?” He asked the last question with a bit more caution. Izzy was one thing—I’d gotten a fist for that. I’d get him trying to kill me for Delilah.
With Delilah, no one was good enough.
“We’re fine, man.”
“Nothing going on there?” His voice was low like he wasn’t sure he should have asked the question.
“What the hell does that mean?” I didn’t have a right to be offended, but I still was.
“I got to ask. I know she’s like family to you too, but she’s still my little sister.”
“What if there was?”
Silence stretched over the line before he ground out, “There better not be, asshole. You might be military, but I’ll still kill you.”
“You know I’d take care of her.”
“Do I need to get on a plane right the fuck now? What the fuck are you talking about?”
I didn’t know what I was talking about. Didn’t know why I even pushed the idea. “Nothing. Nothing’s going on.” The lie slid out faster than I would have liked. Truth was, there was always something between me and Delilah, even before I slept with her. Maybe it was the fact that we all put her on a pedestal and, in the dark of the night where my thoughts ran wild, I wanted to drag her off it. Or maybe it was because she looked at me like she didn’t want to be up there in the first place. She’d been locked up there for ages, always wanting to come down and explore. For far too long, I’d ignored it. Until she took the leap down from the pedestal herself.
Now, I’d had a taste and I couldn’t seem to forget about it.
“Just keep it that way, Dante. You got a world full of women. My baby sister isn’t one of them.”
“You’re on some shit today,” I countered and then changed the subject. “Go out and have a drink. You got a world full of women too.”
That had him laughing, and his concern was forgotten.
So easily was a mind distracted. I wished I could distract my own enough to not think about the woman on the other side of the wall. She may not have known that I was just a room over, but I’d made sure I was. I needed to keep her safe.
I went on to take a shower, one that was cold enough to freeze my balls off. Didn't stop me from gripping my cock and thinking about the blush that rose up over her tits and cheeks when I’d said that her pussy might still taste as good as I remembered.