Page 18 of Shield

Vin lowers his hands slightly and gestures for me to sit on one of the couches. “I was going to tell you what she wanted, find out what you wanted me to do.” He eyes me warily. “You good?”

I sit heavily on the couch with my elbows on my knees, thrusting my hands through my hair. “Fuck, no. I’m not good. I just need to know that she’s safe, and every fucking body, including youandher, is working against me.”

Vin sighs and settles in the chair behind his desk. “I’m not working against you, man. You know I’d never do that. I’m fucking worried about you, though, bro. Your girl’s got you basically unhinged right now. I’ve never seen you like this.”

“She’s not my girl,” I mumble, wishing it weren’t true. She thinks I wasn’t serious about her and that I killed her sister. Both are what I wanted her to think, but it cut me in half to hear her say it to Vin today. “But I need you to shut her down. Contact her, make sure she doesn’t come back here again, tell her that she needs to drop all this shit with Emily’s phone.”

Vin nods. “I can do that. One question, though.”

I look up at him, guarded, already knowing what he’s going to ask me. “It doesn’t matter if I did it or not. She thinks I did, and that’s all that’s important.”

“So you don’t want her connecting with Valentina because you don’t want Siena to find something that would incriminate you, or because you don’t want her finding out that you fucked Valentina?” Vin sits back, watching me closely.

“I don’t give a shit if she knows I fucked Valentina a lifetime ago. I haven’t fucked anyone but Siena since I met her.” I haven’t even jerked off to anyone but Siena.

He raises his eyebrows at that. “Okay, so then you don’t want her to find something that incriminates you.”

I shake my head and sit back on the couch. “I’m not at all worried about her finding anything that incriminates me.”

Vin furrows his brow, thinking. “I don’t know that Aurelio would stay angry for long if he found out that you plantedthe bomb that killed Mikey,” he says slowly. “He lied to us about ordering the hit. He’s been telling everyone else the same thing to save face, but the truth is that he has no fucking clue who did it. It’s driving him crazy. If you did it, he could claim that he was the one who told you to do it.”

“How does it help him save face? A boss taking out one of his own guys is enough to get him killed.”

Vin shrugs. “It’s better than admitting that someone was able to get to one of your men and get away with it. Because as of right now, that’s the story, and he’s been on a fucking rampage ever since. Unless—”

“I didn’t fucking do it,” I snap. “I would never take out a guy on your crew without talking to you about it first. You should know me better than that.”

Vin holds up his hands in surrender. “I thought I did. But I’ve never seen this version of you before, and here we are. If it was a mistake or if you thought—”

“I fucking said I didn’t do it! And I could give a fuck if Aurelio tells people I did or not. I’m fucking out, done with the family, until he’s gone, and that’s final.”

I’ve stayed away from Aurelio since the night he kidnapped Siena. I can’t be in the same room with him without killing him. My friendship with Vin is the only thing stopping me from tracking that fuck down and ending his life, but if I were to see him in person, that friendship wouldn’t be enough.

Vin’s face flushes red as he clenches his fists, his voice rising. “So, what then? You’re a fucking free agent now? No family?”

He’s as stressed as I am about this situation with Aurelio, but for very different reasons. On top of that, Tommy and I haven’t been around to help him figure out the best way to handle it.

I shake my head. “I’m a part ofyourfamily. Always. But I’ll never put in another job for that man.”

Vin watches me with an expression I can’t read. “But you’ll do work for me?”

“Without question. You know that.”

“Alright then. I have a job for you. Your job is to go home, eat something, and get a good night’s sleep. Rest for the next couple of days. Then come out with me this weekend.”

“No,” I say, standing up. This conversation is over.

“You just said you’d do a job for me.”

“This is not a job. This is a thinly veiled attempt to get me laid, and I’m not interested.”

I head for the door, and Vin stops me. “You just asked me to do you a favor.”

“Are you extorting me?” I ask, turning back toward him, my brow furrowed.

“I prefer to think of it more like a quid pro quo situation.” Vin smirks at me. “I’ll make sure Siena shuts down this business with the phone and keep her far from Valentina. I just need you to put your time with her in the past and move on. We’ve got some big moves coming up, and I need you ready to go.”

“And you think that means getting wasted and sticking my dick in some random.”

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