Page 51 of Mob Queen

“Something sleek and modern.”

“Hmmm,” Alfonso murmurs as he flicks through his phone. “Like this?” He flicks the phone around so I can see an image of a Glock.

I screw my nose at the thought of having a police-issued weapon on my body. “I’m thinking something more like this.” I find a hot-looking sniper rifle and show Alfonso. “Can you do this?”

Alfonso scoffs and rolls his eyes. “You of all people, should know I can do anything.”

“Good. I want it here.” I run my hand over the back of my arm. “From elbow to shoulder.”

“Do you want it black?”

I lie on the table and move my arm so Alfonso has access. “Whatever. Just make it look good.”

“Give me ten minutes to set up, and we’ll be good to go.”

There’s a knock on the door, and I groan at the disruption. “Yeah,” I call loud enough for the interrupter to hear. The door creaks open and my brother sticks his head in. Rome scans the room and furrows his brows. “What’s going on?” I sit up so my legs dangle over the edge of the table. “Fuck!” Rome leaps forward and grabs my chin. “Who did this?”

Shit, he’s seen the marks around my neck. “Alfonso.”

“Yeah,” he replies as he continues setting up the inks to tattoo me.

“Go find Mya and get her to make you something to eat.”

Alfonso looks at me, then my brother. He pushes up off his stool and nods before leaving the room.

“What happened?”

“Nothing I didn’t want.” Rome’s brows slowly draw together. “I don’t want you to worry about me.”

“Ahhh.” He takes a step back, leans against the door and folds his arms in front of his chest. “You’re the head of the family, Frank. Someone clearly tried to kill you.” He gestures toward my neck, then folds his arms again. “Yeah, I think that’s something for me to worry about.” My fingertips brush against my throat, and a small smile tugs at my lips. “And now you’re smirking. Did you at least kill the fucker who did that?”

Jumping off the table, I approach my brother and place my hand on his tight forearm. “I wanted this.” Rome’s brows drag together, causing a severe set of lines on his forehead.

“What?”

“I welcomed this.”

Slowly, his features soften, but his eyes change from hard to confused. “Why would...” he pauses and darts his gaze to the corner of the room. “Oh.” Realization creeps over him. “Well, I um don’t know what to say. Um.” Rome uncrosses his arms, and rakes his hand through his hair. “I can’t believe I’m going to ask this, but I need to make sure.”

“Ask away.”

“You’re into kinky stuff?” He lifts his hand to stop my reply. “Before you answer the question, I don’t want to know what kind of kinky stuff you’re into, that’s not the image I want of my sister. But this is some kind of like...you know. It’s um...” He lifts his hand to his throat and gently scrapes his fingertips across it.

I enjoy watching Rome squirm. It makes me chuckle. “Yeah, it is.”

Rome shoves his hands into his suit pockets and straightens. “Glad we sorted that out.” He turns and opens the door. “Can we not talk about this again?”

“It wasn’t me who brought it up.”

“Yeah, I know, but.” He scans my throat again and shakes his head. “How about if something happens that you don’t want to happen, then will you tell me about it?”

I freaked my poor brother out. “Deal. Do me a favor, and send Alfonso back in, will ya?”

“I sure will.” Rome hightails it out of the room, obviously uncomfortable with my singular tastes.

I make my way over to the fold-out bed and wait for Alfonso.

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