I left her apartment feeling lighter than I had in months. I was bummed that I wouldn’t see Ashley again, at least not for a while, but I was also a bit relieved that it was over. She’d been a placeholder and we’d both known it. And while I didn’t think she cared, I’d still felt a bit like an asshole any time we’d been together. The sex was off the charts hot, and we’d had a good time, but I’d never been fully there with her, and I was sure she’d been able to tell.
* * *
“It’s been months,” Casper said a few days later as soon as we’d all sat down and my dad had pounded the gavel. “And I haven’t heard shit.”
“All’s quiet,” Grease said, picking at the grime under his fingernails like he was bored.
“Is there any way that Sokolov was let out because he was sick or some shit?” my dad asked, turning to where my gramps sat.
Gramps didn’t have a seat at the table anymore, by his choice. He’d once been the vice president of the Aces, but when our president Slider had died in the Russian attack, he’d stepped down. He didn’t want to be in charge without his best friend at his side, and I couldn’t really blame him. The man was old as dirt, and he just wanted to spend his last years loving on his wife and hanging with his family. He still had some irons in the fire, though. He might be retired, but those irons were there until he was dead.
“No,” Gramps said simply. “Sokolov cut a deal. Gotta man at the DEA that verified for me. Couldn’t get the details, but he didn’t go free because he was dyin’.”
“And they’re still sayin’ it was natural causes?” Will asked.
“Yeah.” Tommy nodded. “They’re sayin’ he died in his sleep.”
“Leo’s face scared him to death,” Cam mumbled.
“Shut the fuck up,” I replied.
“Children,” Casper snapped in warning.
“So we’re in the clear?” I asked, glancing around the table. It didn’t seem possible, not after everything.
“We’re never in the fuckin’ clear,” my dad said tiredly. “But for now, it looks like Sokolov is a non-issue.”
The conversation moved to other shit, and for the next hour, we discussed schedules and truck routes and other business as usual. It was cold as fuck outside, and we usually slowed down a bit in the winter and early spring, but the work never stopped. The New Year usually had Casper in his office, crunching and rearranging numbers so that we wouldn’t go down the way Al Capone did, while the rest of us worked our asses off in the garage so that later in the year, we had a little cushion to take time off.
A few hours later, I wasn’t surprised to find Casper striding toward me as I finished up the oil change on a Ford Focus.
“Got a minute?” he asked, not bothering to wait for my answer before he was walking away again.
I cleaned off my hands as I followed him into one of the back offices, then stuffed the rag into my pocket as he shut the door firmly behind me. All of the old timers were impossible to read, but I planted my feet anyway, waiting for a blow. There was only one reason why he’d singled me out, and it wasn’t for a civil conversation.
“What’s your plan?” he asked as he leaned against the desk behind him.
“My plan?”
“Yeah, your plan.” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Uh, I was gonna finish up with the Focus and then I figured I’d start on that BMW that came in a couple hours ago,” I replied in confusion.
“You playin’ with my little girl?” he asked, his face hard. “Cause I’ve seen ya with her. We’ve all seen ya. Hell, I’ve been watchin’ ya chase my daughters since you found out the difference between girls and boys, so I’m wonderin’ what your plan is.”
“I don’t have one,” I replied honestly, straightening my shoulders.
“You don’t have one.” He reached up and scratched at the tattoo on the side of his neck.
“I care about Lily—”
“You love her?” Casper asked, cutting me off. “Don’t bullshit me, kid. I ain’t goin’ in circles with you.”
“She’s too young for me.”
“Good thing you know that.” Casper nodded. “But that’s not what I asked.”
“We’re friends.”
“I know that,” he said conversationally. “That’s not the discussion we’re having.”
I clenched my jaw and stared at his emotionless face. “Yeah,” I said finally.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, I love her.”
I braced for impact, but Casper didn’t move.
“Good,” he said. “You love someone, you do what’s best for them. You put them first, yeah?”
“Right.”
“Then you’ll keep your hands to yourself, your dick in your pants, and you won’t stand in her way when she goes off to college in the fall.” He walked around the desk and sat down. “You can get the fuck outta my office now.”