Dark Ties (Made Men 9)

When he watched his boss take the glass for himself, Amo frowned, his eyes immediately going to Nadia.

Nadia smirked maybe a bit too evilly at the big buffoon’s clear embarrassment now that her suspicion of him not being old enough to drink had been proven. All young adults wanted to be was old enough to legally drink, and they didn’t know yet that being able to buy your own alcohol wasn’t as great as it seemed.

“Of course, sir. Sorry about that,” the bartender, named Max, said as he lowered his head apologetically.

“And my son isn’t old enough to drink, either,” Dante warned in case Leo had any ideas, too.

Leo appeared unbothered and didn’t seem like he was the least bit upset, like Amo had been.

She walked up to the bar. The smirk hadn’t left her face as she stopped next to the sullen bodyguard. “I’ll have a drink, however.”

“What would you like?” Max asked from behind the bar.

“A glass of red wine would be fine, thank you.” Nadia wasn’t much of a drinker, but every now and then, she and Haley did enjoy a glass of wine with dinner.

You could practically hear the rolling of Amo’s eyes as he swiveled on the chair and got up. “Shocker …” he mumbled under his breath for only himself to hear. It was apparent he thought her drink choice matched her “uptight” persona.

“Would you like a particular—”

“Surprise me,” she answered, cutting him off. The only thing she knew about wine was that she liked it, even if it came out of a box, and she wasn’t about to embarrass herself pretending she knew anything about wine in front of Dante Caruso.

“Dinner’s ready!” Lila announced.

Just in time.

Taking her freshly poured glass, she and the rest of them followed Lila to the outdoor dining area on the deck. The table was beautifully set, and the view was beyond breathtaking.

Nadia took her seat at the end of the table, opposite of Dante, while Leo and Amo took theirs on each side of her.

Their salad was brought out almost immediately. Nadia took one look at it and instantly knew this was going to be interesting. The dressing was green, and it took her two bites to figure out what it possibly was.

“What the hell kind of dressing is this?” Amo whispered under his breath so none of the staff could hear. He was still trying to swallow his first bite.

Leo had been smarter, taking a smaller bite, but it was clearly still just as difficult for him to swallow.

“Enjoying the salads?” Lila asked, dropping off fresh bread. “The avocado cilantro lime dressing is a chef favorite.”

Amo went to open his mouth, but a kick from under the table, from Dante’s direction, had him managing to fake a pleasant sounding, “Mmhmm …”

It was all Nadia could manage to keep herself from laughing until Lila had left. “Eat some of the bottom with some bread. It’s not covered in the dressing too badly.”

Both boys immediately thought it was a good idea, as they each took a healthy piece of bread and cut to the bottom of their salads.

To be honest, Nadia could see even Dante was having trouble eating the top part of his salad, even though she was sure he wouldn’t admit it.

Thankfully, their next dish was brought out quickly. When asked if they were still working on their salads, they followed Amo’s suit of telling them to take it.

“Seared ahi tuna,” Lila told them gleefully as she set a beautiful but rare-looking dish in front of her.

Amo’s eyes went wide when his plate was set in front of him. “Oh, yum.”

Again, it was hard for her not to laugh. She, however, wasted no time digging in. She was never going to be able to eat fancy food like this, prepared by a chef, on her budget.

“It’s awfully …” Amo had trouble swallowing yet again.

“Rare,” Leo finished for him, the fish clearly not to his liking, either.

“That’s what seared ahi tuna is.” Dante was beginning to get frustrated with them. Whatever tone it was, though, Nadia didn’t like it.

“They’re just kids,” she told him, continuing on before Amo could get offended. “They just want pizza and fries, and I can’t say I blame them after that dressing.” Hell, she probably couldn’t pay one of her kids back home to eat this food. “That lettuce didn’t deserve that,” she finished with a small joke to soften the possible blow from the fierce-looking man who was staring straight at her for speaking up.

She waited for his smart response, but then they all turned at Leo’s light chuckle.

It was quite obvious to her that his father and friend were stunned. She wasn’t sure why until she quickly realized she hadn’t seen Leo crack much of a smile, let alone a laugh.

Leo was pretty quiet, and when he did speak, he didn’t use many words to get his point across. He liked to blend into the background, not draw attention to himself. And it broke Nadia’s heart because she knew exactly why he did that—his eye, or lack thereof. She was pretty sure that whatever had happened to him was quite fresh, considering his once white bandage grew muddier-looking in the center than the last time she had seen his face hours ago.