Page 84 of Cocky Jerk

“You sure about that?” he asks, arching an eyebrow.

“Are you seriously telling me my father doesn’t believe Marco set him up? That he wasn’t using me?”

“I’m telling you your father trusts Marco enough to take the deal and leave his daughter in his capable hands.” He pauses and shakes his head. “You don’t see it, do you?”

“I’m a little drunk…”

“He’s in love with you, Antonia, and it’s fucking killing him that you think he would intentionally hurt you.” He roughs a hand over his cheek before pinning me with a look. “Do you know he sat outside your house all night in case one of your father’s enemies decided to show up? Not as a cop. He didn’t have his badge or his gun on him. He was there as a man and he protected what’s his.”

It was a lot to absorb.

The declaration of love.

The revelation that Marco considered me his.

My dad putting his trust in a cop.

It was all too much, and it was everything I wanted to hear. Tears roll down my cheeks as I stare back at Tig.

“He told you he loved me?”

Muttering a curse, he drops his hand from his cheek and shakes his head.

“You’re a pain in the ass, you know that?”

“Does that mean you’re not giving me a tattoo?”

“It means I’m taking you home to Marco and he can answer that question himself.”

My treacherous heart betrays me once again because I don’t argue with Tig. I want everything he’s saying to be true. I want to obliterate the line that separates us.

But most of all, I want Marco’s love.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Marco

It turns out scoring thedeal for Tank wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be. Tank had more on Bendetti than Floyd or Tony figured and when Tank told Floyd he had proof, that Bendetti killed his young son, Floyd became putty in his Tank’s hand. Not only was he able to negotiate his sentence with the district attorney, but he also managed to get them to drop the charges on his VP, Cash, something I found out when Cash showed up at Antonia’s house this morning and told me to get lost.

After Tank and I came to an understanding of our own, his hotshot lawyer showed—or should I say Antonia’s mom arrived ready to turn shit up. I left them to work out the details of his deal and went downstairs to speak with Antonia. Not only did I want to make things right with her and explain myself, but I also wanted to tell her Tank had given us his blessing.

He didn’t give me a handshake and welcome me into the family with open arms. That wasn’t his style. Instead, he threatened to maim me if I went against my word to protect his daughter.

If you hurt her, it won’t matter where I am, I’ll see to it you’re dead.

It was very heartwarming and made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside—not.

Anyway, when I found Antonia, she still wanted no part of me, and she made it very clear by delivering a right hook to my face.

I know, I know.

I’ve gotten my ass kicked more in the last two weeks than I have in all my years on this earth.

Whatever, man.

Sometimes we gotta take a little pain with our pleasure.

Nothing great ever comes easy.

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