Page 9 of Shield

Vin shakes his head. “Tommy’s had her busting her ass to find Giovanna. No way he’s going to let her go.”

“Fuck, that means—”

“Valentina,” he says, rolling his eyes.

“Fuck me,” I mutter.

“She’ll do that, too, if you want,” he laughs. “She’s fucking crazy, but she’s a good fuck. As you know.”

Sneering, I return my attention to my phone. Siena’s dot is moving back toward the center. “Three minutes of bending Valentina over in a club in front of you and coming on her ass over a decade ago hardly ranks as a good fuck. It was less interesting than my hand.”

“Speaking of.” Vin’s voice is serious, and I look up. He’s watching me, concerned. “I’ll deal with Valentina. But in the meantime, you need to go out. Get drunk. Get laid. Spend some time with the brothers. Seriously, you and Tommy both. You guys have let women fuck you in the head. You need to shake that shit off, especially now that we have a job coming up. You need your head clear.”

I shake my head. “Hard pass.”

I have a hard enough time staying away from Siena when I’m sober. If I’m drunk and watching her put on her little tank top and panties before bed, knowing she’s going to wake upand touch herself before she goes to work like she does most mornings—I won’t be able to stop myself from going over there.

Vin covers my screen with his hand. “One night. I’m serious. Have Olivia put together a pop-up club in the lobby downstairs. Don’t worry, I won’t let you do anything stupid. It’s just one night. Have a good time, relax, and then we’ll go set the fucking world on fire.”

When I don’t respond, he lowers his voice. “It’s been a month of this, man. You can’t keep this up.”

“Twenty-six days,” I mumble.

Vin sighs. “Fair enough. Twenty-six days. Give me one night?”

I nod. If nothing else, a drink should help me sleep. As long as Franco stays at the Edge, Tommy keeps the hacker busy so Aurelio can’t find Siena, and Vin stops me from going and hunting her down once I start drinking. I need to relax before I implode.

5

Siena

10 DAYS LATER

It’s been a month since I threw myself back into work, and honestly, it’s been a relief to focus on other people’s problems instead of my own. Sure, there’s been more than a little bullshit—like the woman with the therapy dog that thought our carpet was a bathroom, or the client who didn’t understand personal boundaries—but even that’s easier to handle than the wreckage of my family.

“Hey, girl!” Blake calls, leaning dramatically into my cubicle. “Me and Amelia are going out tonight. You wanna shake your ass with us?”

He punctuates his question with an exaggerated demonstration of his ass-shaking moves.

“Not a good night for me,” I say, laughing. It’s what I always say.

“Oh, because you got another hot date with the microwave and Netflix?” he asks, simpering. “What are you bingeing these days? Real Housewives of Des Moines? Iknow you already done binged everything else.”

I roll my eyes, shaking my head. “Very funny.” But he’s not wrong. I’m scraping the bottom of the streaming barrel, and the thought of another night with microwaved leftovers doesn’t exactly thrill me.

Still, I just want to be home.

Amelia pops her head in, her curls bouncing as she speaks. “If you’re not going out, do you mind doing a check-in with a new client and closing up? I need a drink!”

“Sure, no problem.”

I wave them out as the new client walks in, looking around. She looks to be in her early-20s, short purplish brown hair, wearing an oversized puffer jacket and tight jeans with boots. Her big gold hoop earrings match the hoop piercing in her lip, and she looks nervous until her eyes land on me.

Her expression sours instantly. “Oh, hell no. No way am I dealing with some old-ass lady on this shit. No fucking way.” She spins on her heel, heading back toward the door.

I bite back a laugh at the ‘old’ comment and call after her. “I promise I know what I’m doing. You’ve got nothing to lose. Give me ten minutes. If you think I’m full of shit, you can walk out, no questions asked.”

She pauses, her shoulders rising and falling with a deep breath. Slowly, she turns back to me with an icy stare. “Don’t be wasting my time.”

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