The Promise (The 'Burg #5)(116)

Her eyes had grown wide while he talked, and when he was done, she asked, “Really?”

“Yeah,” he answered.

“How’d I miss that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it was because your man had a hit carried out on him. He was dead at thirty-two. You were understandably beside yourself, grieving. And your sister, who should have been at your side holdin’ your hand, was downing vodka tonics like they were gonna outlaw vodka the next day.”

“Oh, yeah,” she whispered. “That’s probably how I missed it.”

He shook his head and muttered, “Unbelievable.”

“What?” she asked.

“You nearly imploded us, thinkin’ you were gonna bail on me, and you hold tight to anything you got, no matter that it’s not good for you.”

“She’s my sister, Benny, and Dad’s havin’ a baby any day now. Enzo’s already had two. Enzo says she’s not answering his calls either. And Nat says she hasn’t heard from her in longer than I haven’t heard from her.”

He felt his brows snap together. “You’re talkin’ to Nat?”

Her head tipped to the side. “Not exactly. I’m keepin’ tabs on her through Enzo.”

“Thought she was dead to you,” Ben noted.

Frankie bit her lip for a moment before she said, “She’s dead to me, but she isn’t actually dead.”

Jesus.

Frankie.

“Leave it at that,” he ordered.

“I can’t,” she returned, her voice rising.

He tightened his arms around her and pulled her up his chest so they were face-to-face.

“I get it,” he said quietly. “You didn’t have a lot to hold on to growin’ up. It would stand to reason you not growin’ up with anything solid, that you’d hold on to anything you can get. But you gotta learn when to cut shit that is not healthy for you loose.”

Her face softened and her tone lightened as she slid a hand up to curl it around his jaw and said, “Ben, I’m seein’ things clearer now, but I am who I am. And I need you to see that’s how I am. I also need you to see that how I am is okay now. It’s better. Because now I do have something solid, so when the unhealthy part comes, I can deal.”

She dug her fingers in on her emphasized “do,” but Benny felt her words in his gut in a way he liked.

So he let it go.

Mostly.

“So, let me guess, you’ve talked to Chrissy,” he noted.

“Yes,” she admitted.

“How many times?”

Her eyes got squinty. “Twelve thousand seventy-three.”

He fought a grin, gave her a squeeze, and repeated, “How many times?”

Her eyes slid to the side before coming back to his. “Seven.”

“She doin’ okay?” he asked.

“Things are not great with Dad because she’s a little freaked he wasn’t there for me and she’s giving him another daughter, so it would stand to reason he won’t be there for my baby sister. But pregnancy-wise, she’s good.”

“Holdin’ on to anything you can in a way that you even grab on to new shit that’s gonna do your head in.”

She rolled her eyes and muttered, “Whatever.”

When they rolled back, he held her gaze and made his point even clearer when he asked, “How’s Sal?”

She pressed her lips together.

“He still in touch?” Ben pushed.

She unpressed her lips to answer, “Actually, he phoned a while back, but it was the day Dad came calling, so I got lost in that and my newfound ability to give amazing blowjobs, so I forgot to mention it to you.”

Ben felt his body shake under hers at her comment about blowjobs, but it didn’t deter him from their conversation.

“And?” he prompted.

“And, well…the last time I was up there, I called so I could chat with Gina, maybe set up lunch with her. Gina answered, but she answered from Tuscany. They were in Italy on vacation.”

Ben did not like that.

“You hidin’ that shit from me?”

“No,” she returned immediately. “It was just that she wasn’t around for me to have lunch with, so since there was nothing to get into it with you about, I decided to avoid the hassle. If she’d have been around, I would have told you.”

If he was her, he’d also take that play so he relaxed.

“We’re eventually gonna have to have that conversation,” he noted.

Her eyes again slid to the side as she murmured, “We’re eventually gonna have to have a lot of conversations.”

“What does that mean?” he asked.

Her eyes took their time coming back and he didn’t think she was giving it all to him when she declared, “My birthday is in three weeks.”

“Yeah, and you need to have your ass at my house when it comes.”

Her eyes got big again and she asked, “Really?”

“Meant to tell you, you gotta come up. Not me comin’ down. So do what you gotta do at work to make that happen.”

Her gaze grew alert and her head tipped to the side. “Why?”

“Benny and Frankie livin’ together in relative harmony, it comes to birthdays, Valentine’s day, anniversaries, and Christmas, you don’t ask questions.”