Now, I had her here, wanting to cause havoc everywhere.
“I’m going to Old San Juan to keep an eye on her.”
“That all you’re doing?” He waggled his eyebrows.
“Fuck off,” I said, my jaw working. Cade knew how to rile even the calmest horse in the stable, and unfortunately, I wasn’t anywhere near relaxed when it came to this girl.
“She’s Izzy’s sister. I have to know what I’m in for when that girl comes flying out of jail. You know she’s going to have her ass going twenty times the normal speed.”
“We’ll be ready,” I said as he let the metal bar drop into its cradle so I could switch spots with him.
Most days when I fucked a woman, sleep came easy, but I knew the woman I wanted for more than just a one-night stand was on the other side of my bed’s wall, and I had half a mind to drag her from her bed and into mine.
So I’d tossed and turned, wondering if she was doing the same. Early morning meditation hadn’t helped much, then I ran an extra two miles along the ocean before I told Cade to come lift with me. I needed to drain my body of its desire for her. The only way to do that was fatigue. Or so I thought. Nothing worked.
My lust and care for her had been embedded in my bones for a long time. It was part of the blood my body made, part of what pumped through my heart.
And it was going to be hell detoxing from her, absolute hell to filter her out of my blood.
“We might be ready, but is Delilah ready? She know what’s going on or not? Because I’m confused as to why she’s even still here.”
“She needed to stay.” I pushed over 250 pounds up and down, knowing I needed more weight if I was going to tire out.
“What for?”
“It would have jeopardized the mission to have her up and leave.” I gave my sorry excuse and then told him, “Get more weight. You’re getting too weak for me to even work out with.”
He chuckled, and instead of grabbing weights, he leaned on the barbell as he smiled at me like he enjoyed seeing me struggle to push against his body weight. “We both know that’s not true. Izzy could have wormed her way around that story with these guys. They ain’t that bright, Dante.”
Cade was right. I’d seen the crew operating the shipments of drugs here. They were underpaid, probably using the drugs they were shipping, and weren’t that smart. Their boss wanted idiots risking their lives, not his main guys.
“Wasn’t worth the hiccups,” I breathed and then lifted him and the weight so that my arms were fully extended. “That would have been one. We’ve had too many already.”
“If you’re keeping her here, you’d better break your damn contract and let her know the situation.”
“Don’t you have some computer to be staring at?” I lowered the barbell again.
Cade smirked at my biceps starting to shake. “Your girl’s in her hotel. Nothing worth looking at now.”
“If you’re looking at her like that …” I growled and shoved the weight all the way back up so fast that Cade had to step back off it from the momentum.
He shook his head. “You’ve got it bad, man. I’m not staring at your girl. And you didn’t correct me, so I’m assuming she’s basically an Untouchable at this point.”
It was a coveted title to have among the mob—a woman who was married into the family, or at least seen as a person other families couldn’t touch. It would be the same as touching the boss himself. Bastian Armanelli was the head of our family, and he didn’t take kindly to anyone disrespecting us. He’d murdered two men for even contemplating hurting his girlfriend at one point in time.
“She’s the one,” I admitted out loud for the first time.
He sucked loudly on his teeth. “When’s the wedding?”
“There isn’t going to be one. We’re not going to be together. She’ll be protected always, though.”
He hummed like he disagreed. “Izzy know?”
“It’s not about Izzy or anyone else. It’s about keeping her safe. Other than that, it’s nobody’s business.”
“Damn. You’ve known this family most of your life, man. You can’t hide whatever relationship you have with her. I saw you going into each other’s rooms enough times to know. I know you’re fucking her, and if Izzy finds out—”
“Stop watching my goddamn room.”
“You told me to watch that hallway, dumbass. I have an alert for motion.”