A Kiss to Keep

“Romano’s not going to make a move or leave that gaudy piece of shit he calls home. Not unless he has a death wish.”

Fuck, just hearing his name causes adrenaline to rush through my veins and I have to sit up straighter, gripping the arms of the leather chair as I struggle to stay still. “I hate doing nothing.”

“You and me both,” Carter answers.

“You didn’t screw him over, though. He didn’t send out a hit order on you,” I tell him. Chloe is everything to me and I would do anything for her. Leaving the mafia behind and being marked was a risk I was willing to take for her. But I’m back now, and I’m not going anywhere. Not when so much is at risk. The fucker has to die. No one is coming after me or my family.

“I heard about his guys going to Chloe’s when I didn’t show up and he realized I’d left that morning after we got the hell out of here when we were kids,” I say. The sickness burns up my throat and I have to swallow it down, along with the hate and the rage. “Romano didn’t try to kill someone you love.”

I take my words back when I remember what Jase, Carter’s brother, told me last week. The little bit of information that changed the reluctant relationship the Cross brothers had with Romano. “I’m sorry. I heard about your brother.” I’m not the only one Romano went after. I’m the only one to get away though.

Carter reacts more strongly than I thought he would. He’s younger than me by only a few years. In a lot of ways, he was the younger brother that I never had. But back when we were just kids, he never liked to talk about his emotions. Never. He’d always preferred to just be alone.

“Romano will pay for what he did—to you, and to the rest of my family.” His statement is strained. I don’t miss that he says “the rest,” which means he still sees me as his family too. Even though I haven’t been at his side through all of this bullshit.

Some blood you’re born with. Some blood you choose.

He leans back slightly and a grimace mars his face as he touches his chest. He’s still healing.

“You all right?” I ask him and he nods, still taking a moment to process the pain. To process all of it.

“I miss him,” Carter confesses after a minute and his eyes get glossy. He coughs it away, pretending to be nothing but cold on the outside. But with no one to fight in this cold war, you can only look inward.

“Aria’s changed you,” I comment, knowing it has to be her who’s brought out this new side of him.

Carter grins at me, not denying it. He knows it’s true.

“I’m sure Chloe’s changed you too.”

Chloe. Just hearing her name does something to me. My Chloe Rose. “You could say that.”

Carter chuckles, a knowing grin growing on his face. “What’d she say about coming back?” he asks, the smile never wavering even though every trace of humor vanishes from me instantly.

I have to look away, feeling a hint of shame that she didn’t want to come back. She fought me on coming back. “She doesn’t know what it feels like being away and missing it, you know?” I finally settle on that truth. “She hates this place.”

Carter’s smile dims, but the corners of his lips kick up at the last comment. “Don’t we all.”

“She doesn’t have anyone left here.”

“You think she’ll come around?”

“I fucking hope so.” The temperature of my blood drops and I tap my foot restlessly against the leg of the chair as I watch the early morning sky turn darker with the gray clouds moving in. I stayed away for as long as I could. I needed to so I could keep her. The only worry that keeps me up now that I know she’s safe is whether or not she’ll stay with me. She was always meant to leave me, she’s too damn good for me and for this life. But I’ll be damned if I let anything happen to her, whether she stays with me or not, she’ll be staying here, where it’s safe and she’s protected. We had to come back; I have to end Romano.

“Does she know? Does she know about what you did before you left?”

I hold his gaze, letting the memories of the life I used to live, the one I’m walking back into, play before us. The violence, the murders. It was an exchange I had to make, one I don’t regret because it means Chloe’s by my side.

“No.” I answer him in a single word, spoken so firmly that it practically ricochets off the walls of the room. “She can’t know.”