Page 41 of Desperately Delicate Viper

“You never mentioned wanting to go to college. Do you have a major in mind?” I drag my fingers absently along the back of his neck.

“No,” he says in a clipped tone, his shoulders stiff for a few seconds before he lets out a breath and relaxes a fraction. “I don’t know. Maybe psychology. But you can’t even do anything with it unless you get at least a masters.”

“So, get a masters.”

He snorts. “Oh sure, easy peasy.”

I squeeze the back of his neck and he leans into my touch. “I didn’t say it was easy. You’ve done plenty of hard things, my little viper, I have no doubt you can do this too.”

He shivers and looks over at me again, his eyes full of unreadable emotions that make my chest feel like it's cracking wide open. “I don’t know. Everything still feels like it’s kind of a mess. I’m not sure it’s the right time to think about school.”

I grunt. If he needs a little more time to adjust to the idea that he’s not under his father’s thumb anymore, that’s fine, I won’t push him.

“Do you have any updates yet?” he asks.

“Not yet. I’m meeting with Sparrow tomorrow to find out what he managed to get, if anything.”

Anders nods and looks away, focusing on the TV without really looking like he’s watching it. I brush a strand of hair off of his forehead and lean over to press a kiss to the corner of his lips. They twitch into a half smile before falling again.

“Whatever’s going to happen with him, we need to deal with it… soon.” He shifts in his seat and bites his bottom lip.

“We will,” I promise. “If your father comes anywhere near you again, it’ll be the last thing he ever does.”

Chapter 16

LUCA

“Givemesomegoodnews.” I pounce on Sparrow with the command before he even has a chance to take a seat. We agreed to meet at a bar down the street from my place, formerly known as the Starlight, but recentlyacquiredby the Morettis and renamed On Tap.

Sparrow flattens his lips and pulls out the chair across from mine. It’s midday, so the bar is fairly quiet, but the bartender knows well enough to leave us to our business.

“What would you considergood?” He drags his fingers through his messy hair and crosses his ankle over his knee.

I bite back a low growl and level him with a look to let him know that I’m not in the fucking mood today. Anders’s anger is fun. The sad, desperate feeling rolling off of him last night though? Not so much. His father needs to be handled, and soon.

“Ideally that we’ve got the bastard dead to rights on the kind of shit that will send him away until he’s old enough to collect retirement benefits.”

Sparrow’s lips turn down and his eyes flash with sympathy. I grip the table and consider flipping it the fuck over. He doesn’t havethatkind of good news, I can already tell.

“I managed to dig up some stuff, but for the most part it’s all petty crimes. Our best bet is to get him on human trafficking. The paper trail of the money going out of Anders’s account into his father’s should be pretty solid, along with Anders’s testimony against him. He’d be looking at twenty to life, assuming they don’t plead him out.”

My jaw ticks and I drum my fingers on the table, considering the option. Anders will have to go to the police station to report everything. He’ll have to sit in a courtroom and tell the world what his father made him do. His brother will find out, it will be public record for the rest of his life…

“I’ll talk to him about it,” I say gruffly. I already know Anders won’t like that option though, which leaves us with just one. “You’re pretty close with Lorenzo.” If the change of subject throws him, he doesn’t show it.

He shrugs. “He’s not exactly the warm, cuddly, ‘let’s have a slumber party and share our feelings’ type.”

I snort, imagining the stoic boss wearing fuzzy pajamas with ice cream cones on them and one of those gooey green face masks while he and Sparrow stay up late gossiping and having pillow fights.

“As close as Lorenzo gets with anyone,” I amend, and Sparrow shrugs again in response, his expression not giving much away. “You think he’ll go off the rails if I take this matter into my own hands and just end it?”

He’s quiet for a few beats, seeming to measure his words before he responds. “I think he would get over it.” He drags his hand over his smooth jaw, looking up at the ceiling and then returning his gaze to mine. “And, hey, maybe someone who doesn’t have to answer to Lorenzo will take care of it for you.”

There’s a part of me that wants to insist on seeing the life drain out of that asshole’s eyes myself. That thinks the revenge for everything he did to Anders belongs tome. But at the end of the day, who pulls the trigger doesn’t make much difference, so long as my little viper is safe.

I nod and Sparrow raps his knuckles on the table, shoots me a twisted smirk, then leaves without another word.

ANDERS

---