Calamity Jena (Invertary 4)

“Gross,” Claire said. “You’re talking about Don Don. Remember, we have a deal. We never use the words naked and Don Don together in the same sentence.”

“Technically, I didn’t,” Megan said.

Jena held up her hands. “Nobody is getting naked. My ex is in town and I don’t want to deal with him.” She lowered her voice. “He’s connected to the mob. Matt is watching out for me.” She smiled at him. “It’s very sweet of him, even if he has been rude about my food and taken it upon himself to peel off my kitchen wallpaper.”

The twins glanced around the room. “That might be a good thing,” Claire muttered.

Matt wanted to add an amen, but kept his mouth shut.

“The mob?” It worried Matt that Megan sounded more intrigued than afraid. “What on earth were you doing with a mobster?”

For the first time in this ludicrous conversation, Matt was actually interested in what they had to say.

Jena let out a heavy sigh. She seemed to be searching for the right words. “When I met Frank, he wasn’t involved with the mob. He was a bit of a hustler, sure, but he was charming and kind.” She got a dreamy look in her eyes. “He treated me well. Was really attentive, know what I mean?”

The twins nodded and Matt frowned. Jena’s love-struck look made him want to beat Frank Di Marco to a bloody pulp.

“After a while,” Jena said, “his constant get-rich-quick schemes began to grate. I was forever bailing him out of trouble. He was forever promising that his big break was around the corner. He was obsessed with ‘keeping me in the kind of lifestyle I deserved’. His words. Not mine. I don’t care about that stuff. I think it was an excuse. He had a lifestyle in mind that he wanted. Badly. I didn’t realise how much until it was too late. One day he came home, said he was now the proud owner of a strip club. He was real cagey about where he got the money to buy it. Next thing I knew, he was dressing like a pimp and spending time with Vince Rizzoni.”

“Who?” Megan said.

“Bad news, honey, bad, bad news.” Jena shook her head sadly, and Matt had an overwhelming urge to pull her into his lap and comfort her. He told himself to snap out of it. She was a job. That was all. He didn’t need the hassle that followed Jena Morgan like a cloud wherever she went. Nope, he had plans that involved a proper police job, far away from Invertary.

“Over the last year we were together, Frank changed. He became arrogant. Entitled. Kept talking about his reputation. Had whispered conversations with guys with no necks, if you know what I mean.”

Claire nodded. “Bodybuilders.”

Matt looked at the ceiling and bit his tongue to stop from laughing. Jena stared at his sister for a beat.

“No, honey, mob enforcers. Goons. Hard men. Criminals.”

“Oh.” Claire turned pink, and Matt wanted to ruffle her hair. He was glad his sisters didn’t know about men like that. Damn glad.

“What happened?” Megan said. “What made you leave?” She lowered her voice. “Did he turn into a hard man too?”

“Worse,” Jena said. “He started auditioning the women in his club.”

The girls shared a confused look.

“On their backs,” Jena clarified. “He was having sex with the strippers. I caught him with one of them. And that was it. I sold our gear to make up for the years I’d poured money into him, and his schemes, and I bought this place.” She grinned. “Bad story over. New beginning in Scotland.”

“Is he here to get his money back?” Claire said.

“I don’t know why he’s here.” Jena looked at Matt. “If he’s looking for money, there’s none to get.”

“Do you think he’s come to rub you out?” Claire said. “That’s the right way to put it, isn’t it?”

Matt rolled his eyes. “Okay, enough of this. Thanks for bringing the food over. Time for you two to go home.”

They made the same disgruntled whines they’d made as kids when he was left babysitting them and had to put them to bed. It made him grin.

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” Megan promised Jena.

Matt herded the women out of the house.

“Leave Jena alone,” he told them when they were outside the door. “She’s got enough on her plate.”

“Don’t worry, we won’t be any trouble at all.” Megan batted her eyelashes at him in an attempt to look innocent. Yeah, like that would work.