Game (Gentry Boys, #3)(53)

“It is,” he answered in a slow voice and I knew this wasn’t just a ‘How the hell are you?’ type of call. My stomach lurched.

“Something up with Pop?”

“Your dad’s fine. He’s taken up knitting. Did you know that?”

“No.” It was impossible to picture. My father was a barrel-chested man with hands like blunt meat hooks.

Rocco sighed. “You in trouble, Steffie?”

I hesitated. When the whole Xavier shit happened I’d thought about making some phone calls. Even though we never talked directly about how I was booking, I was sure Rocco knew about it. And his devotion to my father meant he would have happily dealt with anyone who’d wronged me. But my pride got in the way. If I made those calls then it would all come out and I still held out hope that it wouldn’t. Worst of all, it would prove definitively that I wasn’t one of them; I was just a girl.

“Not anymore,” I told him truthfully because it wouldn’t do to bullshit Uncle Rocco. If he asked you a question then he probably already knew the answer. Rocco had been the one who showed up at my house the day after my mother’s funeral. He was the one to tell me that Robbie was dead.

“All right then,” he said slowly and wheezed a little, probably taking another drag on the cigarettes that were slowly smothering him. “I heard rumors that said otherwise but I know you’d call if there was any real trouble.”

“I would,” I promised him and he sighed again. Uneasily I wondered if my father’s best friend had somehow seen the video of me stripping in front of a crowd of men and desperately pretending I loved it.

“Mikey get in touch with you yet?”

I was startled by the mention of my brother. “I haven’t heard from Michael in over a year. Is he in your neighborhood?”

“No, Steffie. He’s in yours.”

“He’s here?” I looked out the car window into the darkness, as if my prodigal brother was apt to materialize right outside my window. “What in god’s name is Michael doing in the Phoenix area? It’s not exactly Vegas or Atlantic City.”

Rocco sounded annoyed. “Hell if I know what that kid’s up to. He doesn’t keep me in the loop. All I know is he landed in the desert a few weeks back and he’s gone temporarily off the radar.”

The news unsettled me. I imagined my mercurial big brother lurking in the shadows of Phoenix like an underworld wraith. Plus, I could admit to feeling a small stab of hurt. Michael knew exactly where I was. If he hadn’t contacted me it was because he didn’t want to.

“I’ll keep an eye out,” I told Rocco. “But I’m out of the game for now, maybe for good. I actually got a job as a waitress.”

Rocco let out a wheezing laugh. “Steffie Bransky a waitress. Ah, your old man will get a kick out of that.”

“Well, someone should I guess. You take care of yourself, Uncle Rocco.”

“Likewise, kid.”

I drove to Chase’s apartment feeling ill at ease. It used to be an everyday mood but since I’d exited the gambling world and fallen for Chase I’d felt better, calmer.

After turning sharply into a parking space I jumped out of the car. A wolf whistle in the darkness made me drop my backpack and curse.

“Hey,” Chase called and I realized the whistle had come from him. He was standing on his back patio in the dark. As I retrieved my backpack from the ground he jumped over the wall. I flung my arms around his neck as soon as he was close enough and he wrapped me in a strong hug.

“What is it?” he asked between feverish kisses.

“I missed you,” I breathed, running my lips along his jaw, his neck. I wanted to get to every part of him.

Chase moved his hands to cup my face. “You missed me that much, Steph?” There was something so boyish and hopeful about the way he asked the question.

I wanted him to kiss me some more. I wanted to feel him on top of me, inside me. And then I wanted to doze off safely in his arms.

“I always miss you, Chase. Even when I’m with you I start missing you.” Then I hissed through my teeth. “Shit, that doesn’t make any sense, does it?”

Chase lifted me in his arms and started carrying me back to his apartment. I was half afraid he was going to trip over a curb or something and we’d both go tumbling to the concrete because he wasn’t watching where he was going. He was staring directly into my eyes. “Honey, I’ve never heard anything sweeter.”

I buried my face in his neck until we reached his bedroom. I didn’t know if anyone else was home. I didn’t care. Chase undressed me gently and spread me out on his bed. I shivered as he got naked and rolled a rubber on.

“Hard,” I begged him and he obeyed, thrusting in deep and going for a long time, long after I came and then came again.

After he was done shuddering to a conclusion, Chase rolled to the side and ran a hand over my bare hip. “What’s got you off tonight?”

I smiled. “You got me off. Did you forget?”

He chuckled. “We’re starting to sound alike.”

“Then you should start practicing your Long Island accent.”

“I saw talk you say tawk. I saw off, you say awf.”

“Never mind,” I giggled. “You can’t do it.”