Dead and Disorderly (Behind the Blue Line Series Book 2) (19 page)

He chuckled sheepishly. “Yeah, most of them.” Looking her over speculatively, he asked, “You said you had a small family, right?”

She shrugged and looked down at her drink. “Damn near miniscule compared to this. I’m an only child. Parents have one sibling each, grandparents passed when I was a teenager. Makes Christmas easy, though.” She laughed ruefully.

He took her hand in his and turned it over, stroking his fingers lightly across her palm. “So this is a bit much, huh?”

“It’s a little overwhelming,” she admitted, her eyes full of apology.

Nico rose briefly and scooted his chair over next to hers so they were shoulder to shoulder. “Understood. You have no idea how much I appreciate you being here for me.” A bright blue curling tendril had escaped the confinement of her bun, and he smoothed it behind her ear, reveling in the closeness. “Supporting me,” he continued, his lips brushing the shell of her ear and taking a moment to inhale her intoxicating scent. He slid a finger under her chin to bring her face around to his, her eyes wide, full lips parted on a shaky exhalation. “I’m grateful,” he finished before sealing his mouth over hers, swallowing her gasp.

He hummed in pleasure as she framed his face with her hand, moving closer. She tasted of martinis and comfort, effortless joy. Her hand slid from his jaw down his neck, leaving a trail of singed nerves in her wake. As he deepened the kiss, his tongue tangling and wrestling with hers, she dug her nails into his shoulder.

“Dominic!” His mother’s chastising voice broke into his thoughts, and they both jumped apart. His mother had come outside with two plates full of olives, prosciutto and mozzarella. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“Well, you found us. Come, have a seat.” Nico stood and pulled out a chair for his mother, waiting until she was seated and comfortable before resuming his spot next to Nahia.

“So I see. Thank you, Dominic.” She pushed the plates in their direction and pulled silverware rolled in napkins from her pockets. She was nothing if not prepared. “No one was really in the mood for anything heavy right now. We’ll be cooking more tomorrow, anyway, for after the Mass.”

Nahia smiled shyly and took the offered plate. “Thank you, Mrs. Verrazzano.”

“Carlotta, please.” He took it as a good sign that his mother offered up her first name so soon. “So my son said you met at a work function, but was terribly vague.”

Nahia nodded and stabbed an olive with her fork. “Yes, I had a business venture, and my usual security backed out at the last moment. Nico was kind enough to fill in.”

“He always has been very helpful.” His mother gave him a loving smile. “He did tell me you own a business.”

The woman at his side dabbed her mouth with her napkin and finished chewing before answering. “I do. I sell teas, both herbal and medicinal.” He remembered having this conversation with her, but that was after they’d gone ghost hunting and his orientation in the universe had been altered. This time, however, she kept a straight face and delivered the line in an offhand manner, like she did it all the time.

“Oh, wonderful. It’s nice to see the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well.” Even as his mother said the words, Nico could sense something else going on behind them. “Is it one of those weird, New Age places where they sell crystals and have fortune tellers?”

It was all he could do not to let the apprehension he was now feeling choke him. Nahia kept her face impassive but pleasant as she answered, “Yes, exactly like that.”

“I see.” Two words and Nico could see the wall going up between the two important women in his life and could think of no way to deflect. “And yet you had a business venture needing security?”

“I did,” Nahia said it with a slight incline of her head, but didn’t offer any further. As far as conversational moves went, it was like drawing a line in the sand. He wasn’t quite sure when or how the conversation had spun so far out of control, but it was bad and getting uglier by the minute, regardless of the pleasantries exchanged. It was like there were two conversations at once, only one audible, and the other requiring a trainer, a waterboy and a bell to signal the end of rounds.

“Dominic!”

All three turned to his grandmother, with her halo of white hair catching the pinks of the dying evening sky wandering out of the restaurant’s main doors with a determined stride.

He stood as she approached, silently offering to vacate his chair for her. “Something wrong, Nonna?”

She put her hand on Carlotta’s shoulder, not a move many others could have gotten away with at that moment, and looked him up and down. “You didn’t introduce your girlfriend to your sister, Dominic. I’m disappointed in you.” She looked to Nahia, winking over his mother’s head like the most confident of pirates. “Come on, Nahia, since my grandson is so lax in his manners.”

Nico had done no such thing, introducing her to Jules immediately after his father, Frank, but he wasn’t going to contradict his grandmother. He knew what she was doing, and was grateful. He and his mother clearly needed to have a conversation.

Nahia looked to him and he nodded almost imperceptibly, and she rose from the table. She held her hand out across the table toward his mother. “Carlotta, it was lovely to finally get a chance to sit down and talk to you.”

With so many witnesses, he knew his mother wouldn’t refuse the kind gesture. “Absolutely. Lovely talking to you, too.”

She patted his back as she walked over to join Nonna. “I’m all yours, Nonna.”

Nico watched the two all the way inside, loving Nahia’s long-legged stride, and how she altered it to keep pace with his grandmother. Whatever his mother had to say, he knew the truth about her. She was a sweet, compassionate, slightly crazy woman, and he planned on keeping her around.

He turned back to his mother, who was giving him her patented ‘unimpressed mom’ look. “Dominic.” She gestured to the recently vacated seat. “All the girls in this town, and she is the one you pick?”

The day just got longer.

“You do know I’ve met Jules, right?” She felt obligated to point it out, just in case Nonna had been misinformed, though from the look in the older woman’s eye, she missed very little as a rule.

Nonna merely snorted and held her hand as she walked her through the crowd, impressed as it magically parted for the older woman without any effort on her part. They went over to the bar next to a distinguished older gentleman, who leaned down and kissed Nonna on the cheek before helping her onto a stool. “Richard, this is Dominic’s girlfriend, Nahia. Nahia, this is my Richard.”

“Very nice to meet you, Richard.” She reached across the bar to shake his hand just as the bartender set down a tumbler of single malt for Nonna and a martini for her.

“My Ronnie has told me about you. ‘Nahia’ is a Basque name, yes?” Richard sipped his drink, a British accent coloring his tone and adding to the overall grandfatherly quality he had. Tall with a head full of steel grey hair, in a blue oxford shirt and khakis, he was as far from a boytoy as she could imagine, but to each her own.

She couldn’t help but be impressed. Very few people knew that. “It is. Means ‘desire’.”

Nonna grinned and leaned over to whisper in his ear. He, in turn, whispered back and then kissed her cheek. When she reached over and squeezed Nahia’s hand, she knew she had the grandparents’ seal of approval, even if the parents’ was still forthcoming.

A little choked with emotion, she plucked the olive skewer from her drink and ate them one at a time, impressed again that they’d shown up without her having to order them. “Wow, this bartender has a damn good memory.”

Nonna giggled and waved him over. “I know you’ve probably met a ton of people, but this is Peter Ianucci’s oldest son, Samuel, Nico’s cousin, my great nephew, give or take a few greats. Someday, all this will be his.”

“Nice to meet you, Nahia.” He was a little younger than Nico, had his confident grin, and she could see a lot of him in his features. They all talked for a bit, until he was called back down the bar.

As soon as he left, she turned on her stool to face Nonna. “Nico mentioned he was related to the Ianuccis, but somehow, I didn’t imagine it to be this close knit.” She would have thought he would have mentioned it when they’d gone there the first time on their date.

“Donatella was a Scarpino before she married Giuseppe Ianucci, just like I was before I married Frank. It was a small village in Southern Italy, we’re second cousins, third cousins, depends on who you ask, but regardless of our distance apart, blood always binds. Dominic probably just forgot to mention it.”

Nahia nodded and sipped her drink. She was sure Nonna was right. They’d both been kind of giddy that night, and such details weren’t really on either of their minds. She couldn’t say the same for now, as her mind immediately fixated on the name his grandmother mentioned: Scarpino. That couldn’t be a coincidence.

In the ten minutes since Nahia had left with Nonna, Nico knew why his father worked on the treehouse incessantly, and the other projects he had in the garage that kept him out of his wife’s crosshairs. Trying to have a conversation with her was like trying to convert a tree. He also suddenly remembered why he’d left home on Staten Island for the relative peace of Indianapolis.

“I mean, really. Dominic, I would have accepted a Baptist. They have Baptists here, right? A nice Presbyterian girl. I’d have been
completely
okay
with a Protestant!” He raised his eyebrows and waited. “Well,” she averred, “maybe not
completely
okay, but I would have gotten past it fairly quickly, but Dominic! She’s not even a
Christian
!” The scorn in his mother’s voice was sharp enough to cut through his better intentions.

Pondering the wisdom of going inside to get another drink before answering her, he opted for the direct approach. “What she does or doesn’t believe doesn’t make her any less of a great person, Ma. I’d take a humane and compassionate atheist over a sanctimonious Christian every day of the week.” As soon as the words left his lips, he regretted them. They were both upset and hurting, and while he may have meant it, he shouldn’t have said it. Especially at the look of hurt that flashed over her features before she rose and turned to leave.

“Ma, I’m sorry.” He reached for her arm to stop her from going, but she shook him off and didn’t look back. This was why their weekly phone calls were carefully engineered to keep the conversation on her and the family. It was just easier that way, no matter how much he loved her.

Nico stood there on the terrace with his hands in his pockets, staring up at the crushed velvet black sky crisscrossed with the contrails over the city. There was no talking to her now, she wouldn’t listen and he wasn’t inclined to keep explaining. He’d wait until after the funeral to apologize. In the meantime, he needed to go, be with his girl, and restore some normalcy to his life. First step to doing any of that was to collect Nahia from Nonna, and hope that in his absence, his grandmother hadn’t broken out the embarrassing pictures and stories.

From the way Nahia, his grandmother, and her boytoy were all laughing at the far corner of the bar, he knew he wasn’t that lucky. Damn.

When Nico came to collect her from his Nonna’s custody, she was in substantially better spirits. Though it hadn’t been explicitly stated, she knew she hadn’t made the most favorable impression on Carlotta. It hadn’t been intentional, but she and his mother just didn’t seem to mesh well.

Seeing his smiling face though, made any apprehension about the outcome of their conversation evaporate. His strong arms around her also helped enormously. After they’d said goodbye to the whole restaurant individually, he walked her to her car, his arm around her waist, keeping her protectively at his side. They had a lot to talk about, but for the moment, she was content just to be with him and enjoy the peaceful feelings that went with that.

“Damn, did you park in the next county over?” He laughed softly as he kissed her hair above her ear.

She giggled and reached up to run her fingers over his jaw. Damn, but he made her feel wanted and safe. “I don’t know if you noticed the number of people in there, but parking was at a bit of a premium.” They stopped at her car.

He chuckled and spun her around to face him, both his arms around her waist and both hers around his. “I know. It was a lot, and I truly am grateful you came.”

Leaning up, she brushed a kiss across his chin. “Of course. Your gramma is a riot.”

The dimples cutting into his cheeks as he dropped his head in silent laughter warmed her to the soles of her feet. “Yeah, that’s Nonna. She’s never met a stranger, and she would spoil the world rotten if you let her.” The shadows the laughter had chased away returned to his eyes as they stood there beneath the streetlights.

Nahia winked at him, and tugged him close with her hands on his waist. “I think,” she murmured quietly, her lips rubbing back and forth across his as she spoke, “you would be very, very easy to spoil.”

Instead of replying, Nico’s mouth descended on hers, plundering and demanding, and he walked them back to lean against her car door. His hands moved to the roof of the car, boxing her in, surrounding her as he did his level best to drive the sense out of her head with his lips and tongue. Her body responded to his heat immediately, arching into him, her nails scourging his back through his white dress shirt and rubbing against his growing hardness shamelessly.

“Dominic Verrazzano! Go get a room! Have some respect!” The shrill Brooklyn-accented voice caused him to stiffen immediately, and not in the good way.

He pulled back from her with an apologetic smile, turning to the speaker. “Sorry, Aunt Tina.” The woman in the tall heels and tight pants didn’t even stop walking toward the restaurant, her laughing reply lost to the wind. “I’ll meet you at your place?” He asked the question with a goofy grin, but she could tell he didn’t seem eager to return to his place. “I mean, I know it’s short notice, and I really should have asked you earlier, and I totally understand if you don’t want to—”

She silenced him with a finger over his perfect lips. “I’ll meet you back at my place. Bring your clothes, whatever you need.” She sealed her declaration with a quick kiss and dug into her clutch for her keys.

Nico held the door for her as Nahia slid into the driver’s seat and tossed her purse onto the passenger side. He leaned down as she fastened her seatbelt, all but growling, “It seems my debt to you only grows.”

The rough sound of his voice shot straight through her, reawakening all the nerves that had since settled down from their kiss. She patted his cheek before she closed the door, replying, “Then we’ll see what we can do to work it off.”

She watched him stand in the middle of the street as she pulled away, until she turned a corner. It hadn’t gone as badly as she’d feared, but it was entirely possible her relationship with Carlotta was a nonstarter.

Nahia sighed as she stopped at a light, watching the steady stream of nicely dressed night owls file across the crosswalk. Lives less complicated than hers, at least at the moment, and she envied them. It wasn’t like she sought out complications and wrinkles, but they seemed to creep up on her when she least expected it.

Nico was a prime example of an unexpected wrinkle in her life. She’d gone from happily single to…in a relationship? Friends with benefits? Serious but not putting a label on it? His grandmother had called her his girlfriend, and neither of them corrected her, but that wasn’t necessarily the defining line. Whatever the hell it was, it was a damn good time she had no intention of relinquishing any time soon.

She slowed as she made the turn on to 10
th
Street, looking both ways despite the lateness of the hour and its barrenness. As she turned, something in the mirror caught her eye in the rearview mirror and made her do a double take and stand on her brakes in the middle of the intersection. In her backseat, staring out the window at the streetlights as they passed, was a man watching the world go by out the windows. She didn’t know him, didn’t know how he managed to be in her car the whole time without her noticing, hell, without Nico noticing, when she’d gotten into the car.

A part of her wanted to throw it in park and bolt, though not necessarily in that order, but another part was unsure. Something about him was familiar. A quick glance at his hands showed he held no weapons and she wasn’t even sure if he really was fully there. He seemed peaceful, transparent, maybe? He never looked at her, and it honestly didn’t even seem like he knew she was there. The blare of a car horn startled her from her perusal and she remembered she was, in fact, still in the middle of the intersection.

Once she got past her initial fright, she pulled quickly across the street and into her spot behind the building, and he never moved or even seemed to be cognizant of his surroundings. No sooner than she’d thrown the parking brake did she turn and face her uninvited back seat passenger. His flat affect, semi-transparence, and overall disconnect from his surroundings led her to only one conclusion: her car had managed to pick up a haunting. How in the hell did that happen?

As specters went, he wasn’t too bad-looking, she supposed, though her frame of reference was pretty limited, since he was the first she’d actually seen outright. Really, she was just glad that he was whole, and not missing a head or freakishly mutilated, the whole covered in blood thing notwithstanding. What really struck her as strange was she didn’t get advance warning of his presence like she normally would have, though maybe she was so focused on driving that she didn’t think about it. It’s not like she’d had experience with a haunted car before.

Not wanting to prolong this any more than was necessary, she figured she’d initiate conversation, since he didn’t seem inclined. “I…hello?”
How the hell does one address the dead?

He turned from his perusal of the outdoors to her, a stare intense and unnerving, but said nothing. From the look on his face, she could see he thought he knew her, which was strange since she was pretty sure she’d remember seeing a somewhat see-through man who appeared to be bleeding for no apparent reason.

The silence grew between them, and she felt even more nervous. Last thing she wanted was to be sitting in her car with a ghost in her back seat when Nico showed up. “Aurelio.” It was a shot in the dark, but it was the only conclusion that seemed plausible. McManus would have probably made her crash her car, and this one did not seem to be malevolent. He nodded slightly, but remained mute.

“And…” she thought quickly, “you’re attached to something in my car.”

He blinked at her, his eyes going to the front seat before returning to her face.

“You’re attached to the box in the front seat.”

He nodded again.

Hell.
She’d wanted to take it inside with her and explore it later, but not if it came with passengers.

“Don’t suppose I could talk you into staying out here while I took it inside to see what this is all about.” She figured she’d toss the offer out there and hope for the best.

He merely shrugged, the corners of his mouth quirking in an ironic smile.

“Eh, it was worth a shot.”

Lights from a car on 10
th
Street blazing down the alley made her jump, but they continued down the street, and she made an executive decision. “I’m taking it inside, and I have enough to deal with without having you haunt the house, okay? I don’t think Nico would appreciate it, given the day he’s had.”

Thankfully, Aurelio nodded and slowly dissolved in front of her, leaving her alone in the car. After he did, she finally exhaled the breath she’d been holding. She didn’t know if he’d gone, decided to hang out in the trunk, or was just beyond her sight, but she didn’t care. It was one less thing to explain. The day just kept getting stranger, and all she wanted was to be out of her shoes and bra. The rust on the box flaked off in her hands, and she let herself into the building and glared at the stairs.

By the time she got to her door, her hair was down, she was cranky, sweaty, and carrying her shoes in one hand and the box in the other. She’d left her dignity somewhere on the second floor, and told it to catch up when it could. It was only moments from when she’d unlocked the door to when she’d washed her face and changed into clothes that made her feel more normal, an old pair of jeans that clung low to her hips like a greedy child and covered her toes, and a tiny black tank top that required no more effort on her part than braiding her hair did.

When she emerged from her room, refreshed and reborn as herself, she finally set her eyes on the box. She could still feel Aurelio around, but at least she couldn’t see or hear him. After this, she was going to have to start cleansing her apartment on the same schedule as her store.

After working for a bit with the screwdriver, a pair of pliers, and the knowledge her tank top wasn’t long for this world, the lid to the rusted old cigar tin finally gave way and opened. Thankfully, it was rodent and arachnid-free, already a definite improvement on her day overall.

The contents were unremarkable, too. Old paper, old enough she feared it would disintegrate when she touched it, envelopes with excruciatingly precise and feminine writing on them. It was hard to imagine a spirit attached to such ephemera. She’d pulled the first envelope from the box and opened the letter inside, only a moment into her reading when something thumping at the door startled her.

Nico stood on her doorstep, feeling like he’d arrived at an oasis in the desert. It had taken him longer than he’d wanted to leave because of his tending to all his guests and their various needs before he left them in custody of his house. The idea of coming to Nahia’s chic downtown apartment was positively relaxing compared to trying to bunk on a cot in the living room with his baby sister taking the couch.

He’d kicked the brass plate at the bottom of the door instead of knocking because he was out of hands with a garment bag over his shoulder and a duffle bag in his other hand. A little old lady stuck her head out the door from down the hall and he nodded, doing his best to look unassuming and harmless.

Finally, Nahia threw open the door, and one look at her had him all riled up again with no effort at all on her part. The little black tank top with reddish smudges wasn’t large enough to contain his imagination, much less what he’d like to do with her out of it, and the jeans looked like they wouldn’t need much coaxing at all, either. Maybe it was the emotions of the day, or the kiss at the car, or a combination of the two, but he was in a bad way where she was concerned.

“Hi.” She stepped aside to allow him entrance to her place, framing his face with her hands to pull him down for a kiss.