La Cosa Nostra, This Thing of Ours Read online

  Chapter 5

  After I arrive at The Guardian, I head straight for the lockers. I am the only one in there except for a blonde named Donna. She is nicer than the other ones I'd met, but still she has a way of telling me not to get in her way.

  I leave the locker room to find John to find out what he wants me to do tonight.

  "Hey, Harper, little surprised you came back," he chuckles.

  "Behind the bar?" I ask, ignoring his sarcasm.

  "I want you to take table 8, 9 and 10."

  "Isn't 10 the Tarsetas table, and I was hired for behind the bar?" I'm shocked and a little horrified at the same time.

  "Matty requested you tonight, so it's sink or swim time, my girl," he says, starting to walk away.

  "I'll be behind the bar, John," I yell after him, stopping him in his tracks.

  "I don't know if you are the smartest girl here or the stupidest one." He turns, shaking his head at me. After last night, seeing the way the girls flirt, sitting on some laps here and there, it's just not me.

  "Look, I was hired for behind the bar. So that is where I'll be. I'll tell Matty that is what I want to do." I know that this might get me fired, but I'm not going to work here if I have to strut all over this club.

  "Whatever." John rolls his eyes and walks away.

  "Hey, kid," Sarah greets me when I walk behind the bar. "You look tired."

  "I had an early class, didn't get much sleep." We make small talk as the club starts picking up. We are super busy in no time, neither one of us having time to talk. I didn't realize a Tuesday night would be this busy, but I'm okay with it. Hell, if I have to be here at least I'm making money.

  I missed Salvatore walking in, but I know he is here when Monica comes bouncing up to the bar ordering a glass of red wine that is reserved just for him.

  I chance a look at the table, which I regret immediately, because those dark eyes are staring back at me. Monica just orders the wine and a Diet Coke. I take it Liam isn't much of drinker because I'm pretty sure that's all he had last night as well.

  I notice Liam doesn't have the redhead with him tonight. In fact, it is just him and his father right now.

  "Does Liam Tarseta drink?" I ask Sarah when we get a slow minute. I don't know why I am asking, he just seems the drinker, partier type. At least that is how he is portrayed in the tabloids.

  "Oh yeah, why do you ask?" She raises one eyebrow at me.

  "Just trying to get a feel for who drinks what." I lie, I really don't care who drinks what. For some insane reason, I am interested in what Liam Tarseta drinks.

  "Shit, Matty's here." I avoid eye contact with him as he goes to his table.

  "So," Sarah says as she brushes past me to go to the cooler.

  "I'm supposed to be waiting on his table tonight."

  "What? Wait, then why aren't you?" I don't have time to answer her because a very upset looking Matty is summoning me over to the table. I give Sarah a nice to know you look then walk with as much grace as I can over to the Tarseta table. The heat of Liam's stare on me makes my legs feel like jelly.

  "I wanted you working our table tonight," Matty says when I reach the table.

  "Sarah was so busy she needed help. Since that was what I was hired to do, I helped her," I lie through my teeth. I am not going to have this conversation with him right now. Not in front of everybody, especially the heated stare of Liam. I decide that I will come in early my next shift to have that talk.

  "When you are given a table assignment, I expect you to keep it, Harper." I can tell he wants to be upset, but can't be with the prying eyes of the men in the VIP section.

  Not knowing what to do or what to say, I turn and walk away. Before I get too far, I hear who I assume is Salvatore say, "I don't want some brunette bimbo waiting on me." I stop in my tracks and turn around. My mouth opens to tell the asshole where he can stick his comment. Nothing comes out, though. I am speechless when I see the shock on Liam's face, which turns into a sexy half grin. He is daring me with his eyes to say something. I turn on my heels and return to the safety of the bar.

  What the hell is with this family, are they all jerk wads? Yet, I can't help but wonder if Liam thinks of me the same way. Why do you care what he thinks, Harper?

  Trying not to care what he thought was hard no matter how much I tried to push it out of my head. After four hours on my shift, I take a break, going into the locker room to drink a soda and get off my feet for a few minutes.

  I had just popped the tab of my Diet Coke when the door opens. Like déjà vu, Liam enters the locker room, except this time I am sitting with my legs crossed and fully clothed.

  "I just wanted to make sure you were all right," Liam says in his ridiculously sexy voice. Jesus, what is with this guy?

  "Yes, why wouldn't I be?" I ask, sounding maybe a little harsher than I had planned.

  "My father was very rude. I wanted to apologize for his candor," he says, all debonair and provocatively. "I think my uncle Matty has a huge crush on you." He chuckles.

  "He's old enough to be my father," I say bluntly, with a little disgust.

  "Ouch! I won't tell him you said that." He winces. "You're really not interested, though?" he asks and I just shrug.

  "Yeah, really."

  "It's just that most of the girls who work here would be jumping at the chance to land my Uncle." Liam just exudes sex in everything he says. I want to yell at him, "You have got to be kidding me, stop talking and fuck me already!"

  I feel my face turn hot at my thoughts and turn my head away from him.

  "Well, Mr. Tarseta, I am not like most girls," I say, not looking at his black lust filled eyes.

  "I am seeing that."

  "What is that supposed to mean?" I shoot back.

  "It's that you flirt just enough with patrons, but not enough that you are advertising something is for sale." He steps further into the room and sits next to me on the bench. He's close, close enough I can smell his expensive cologne, and holy fuck does he smell good.

  My breath hitches and I let out a gasp as I feel the heat radiating between us. "Mr. Tarseta, I'm not for sale," I say, taking a drink of my Diet Coke, my mouth suddenly very dry.

  "Ms. Troy, everything is for sale for the right price," he says low, almost in a whisper. I stand, feeling the need to put some distance between us.

  "That is your opinion, but I assure you that there is no number large enough that can buy me," I tell him still avoiding those black eyes.

  "So you are saying that nothing can buy you, nothing at all." He stands, inching his way closer. I feel the electric sparks bouncing off of me.

  I swallow hard as the smell of him fills my nostrils, I feel him watching the hollow of my neck.

  "I am not a possession to be bought, Mr. Tarseta. Besides, why would you want me anyway, you have tons of girls just itching for you to own them."

  "Well, first off..." He lets out one of his low sexy chuckles, "I don't ever remember saying I wanted you." Ouch, now that hurt. I feel about two feet tall. He stands there cool as a cucumber, while I'm a hot mess of nerves and lust.

  "I didn't mean to insinuate that you did..." I stutter, trying desperately to repair this very embarrassing moment. I turn to my locker to look for something, anything to distract me. I find my phone and pretend to read a text, also trying to pretend he is no longer in the room.

  "Second, Ms. Troy, if I did want you, I would have you." He leans down close to my ear, so close I can feel his hot breath. Okay, that's it, I am not a toy for you to play with.

  "Well, I guess it's a good thing you don't want me, because I assure you, Mr. Tarseta, you would not have me if you did," I snap, slamming my locker door. With a huff, I walk around the bench to avoid having to touch Liam as I exit the locker room. What nerve, what an arrogant asshole.

  The rest of the night is hell, I don't even chance a look in their direction. Liam stays long after Salvatore and Matty leave. Monica makes full use of having the time alone with him. I n
otice they leave together about an hour later. If that is not bad enough, Liam makes sure I notice that he is leaving with her. Before they go, he comes up to the bar handing me a key fob.

  "Matty told me to give this to you. Working here gets you a membership at the Sarhar gym and spa," he says with a god damn sexy wink. Turning around he puts his arm around Monica and they walk out the door.

  I feel a jolt of jealousy as I see them leave. No, Harper, it's not happening. This is not the guy for you.

  I go home with $400 in tips. John told me he wanted me back on Thursday night, and I was grateful for the night off. Getting some much needed sleep was all right with me.

  Wednesday night, Jax and Tara come over to study. We order pizza and are sitting around the coffee table eating and discussing anatomy class.

  "So have you met Liam Tarseta yet?" Tara asks, waggling her eyebrows at me and shutting her text book.

  "Yeah," I answer rolling my eyes at her.

  "You did?" Jax suddenly seems annoyed. "Don't let him charm you. That man gets around," he snaps at me. Like he can all of a sudden read my mind and knows that I have been thinking about Liam.

  "No worries there. He's an arrogant asshole and not my type anyways," I shoot back at the insinuation.

  "Oh no, he's a dream, I mean a real life Italian god," Tara swoons, looking all googly-eyed at us.

  "Who isn’t your type, woman?" Jax grouches at Tara. I can't help but laugh at them.

  "You know he is fucking gorgeous, Harper, don't even lie." Tara throws her napkin at Jax, who wads it up and slings it at her with a thud.

  "He is a pompous ass, and so is his family."

  "Can we study now instead of wasting our time talking about this guy?" Jax grumbles.

  "Yes, I agree." I nod.

  "I wonder if the rumors are true about his wife," Tara spouts, ignoring our comments. "You know, the ones about his wife?" she asks when I give her a what-are-you-talking-about stare. "That he killed her, or had her killed."

  "I didn't even know he was ever married."

  "Oh yeah, it was a few years ago. Like, he had her killed because she saw something she shouldn't have seen. Or was it she did something ... I don't remember, but it was all over the tabloids."

  "Some reliable information you have." I can't help but laugh at her as the story changes a few more times throughout the night.

  Chapter 6

  I actually get a good night's sleep. Waking up early, I decide to go check out the swanky gym I'm now a member of. I throw on my tight black joggers that hit just below the knee. They land just below my hips, so with only my sports bra on most of my midriff shows. I put my hair up in a messy ponytail then grab my trainers and a light jacket.

  I had heard of Sarhar, but never in a million years would think I could afford to be a member. Sarah said that most of the girls don't take advantage of the membership because they sleep in so late. She named off the ones that never work out because they are anorexic. Sarah prefers to workout at home, so I know she won't be there.

  When I walk in, I see right away there is every possible machine that was ever made for exercise in the massive one floor gym. The upper level is the spa; might have to take advantage of that someday. All the machines are state of the art and top of the line. I walk around to see what all they have. I've always been a fan of free weights and good old fashion sit ups. They have a large mat area for this also. I decide to start with cardio and pick out one of the treadmills. There are a few other people in the gym, some on machines and a couple doing stretches. I sit in front of the treadmill to stretch my legs. There is a giant mirror that takes up the whole wall in front of the line of treadmills.

  I stand to get positioned when, out of the corner of my eye, I see him walking in with a blonde. Imagine that. They head straight toward the back to the open mats. I put in my ear buds and turn on my IPod to my workout music. Starting off at a slow jog, I keep my eyes trained on the machine and hope to God he doesn't see me.

  I've run about 3 miles when I finally can't stand it anymore. Looking up, I search the mirrors, not seeing him. There's movement out of the corner of my eye that catches me off guard and I trip. In slow motion, I am not able to balance and go flying off the treadmill, feet over ass, straight onto the floor.

  You know the moment you do something really stupid, the first thing you do is look around to see if anyone saw. I would have rather it have been anyone in the world standing there, but it was Liam standing over me. I wonder how I am going to get out of this with even the tiniest bit of dignity.

  "Shit, Petal, are you okay?" It's one of those, I'm asking if you are okay, but what I really want to do is laugh my ass off at you right now.

  "Yes." I moan as I try to get up. He reaches down, and even though I swat his hand away, he still grabs my arm to get me to my feet. Kill me now. He places one hand on my back and the other on my belly. I can't tell if I'm dizzy from the fall or the fact that he is touching my bare skin. I move to get space between us, but he just holds on tighter. What the hell is up with the nickname? Petal? I mean really.

  "Are you sure you're okay?" he says with a half smile. He is not wearing a shirt and looking at him all tan, muscular, and oh-my-God beautiful is not helping the dizziness.

  "You can laugh, I'm sure it was funny. Thanks for scaring the shit out of me, by the way." I twist my hips so I can wiggle from his grasp. Luckily, there was no one else around to witness what just happened. I wonder, momentarily, where his little blonde went.

  "I'm sorry, you were so focused. I wasn't trying to scare you. It was like you were running for your life or something," he says through a chuckle. "Can I give you a ride home?" he asks, still laughing at my expense.

  "No, I'm not done and I have a car," I snap, turning to walk away.

  "I think you should call it a day. I don't want you hurting yourself anymore." Now he lets out a full blown laugh. I should be laughing at myself, too, but I am too pissed. "I think you should stay away from anything mechanical."

  I keep walking, holding up my middle finger in his direction as I go. I have to save face, somehow, and hope he will get the hint and just go to another spot in the gym so I can salvage some of my workout.

  I hate that he's right, though, I don't know how to do any of the machines. I sure as hell don't need to make a fool of myself anymore. I walk up to the chin up bar, I haven't done these in forever. My brothers and I used to have competitions. They always beat me, but I could still do ten easy. I wonder if I still can. I'm just about to grab the bar when I hear him behind me.

  "Chin ups?"

  "Why do you care what I am doing, don't you have a little girlfriend around here somewhere to annoy?" I snap at him. It's like he knows what he does to me and he is trying to make it worse.

  "Why are you so snappy?" he throws back at me.

  "I guess you bring out the worst in me."

  "You know, yesterday when I said that I wasn't interested in you, that wasn't entirely true," he says with that half sexy grin that makes my knees weak. Fuck man, what are you doing to me?

  "That's too bad for you, because what I said was true." I hold my head up, not wavering an ounce.

  He winces at the rejection. I'm pretty sure he has never been rejected before. "How about a little wager then?" He raises one eyebrow like he is challenging me.

  "What did you have in mind?" I do love a good challenge.

  "I can see by your sexy, little lady six-pack that you are in good shape," he says, staring at my belly. Yeah, I've worked hard for that, mister. I place my hands over my stomach because damn if his comment didn't just make lava run through my body.

  "Your arms are toned, but not muscular. So I bet you can't do five full chin ups." He grasps the bar with one hand, making me see his very muscular arm. More heat, oh God, where is it coming from?

  "If I can't?"

  "You let me take you out on a date." He takes hold of the bar with his other hand and the cocky son of a bitch does ten chin ups with
ease. The muscles in his back and arms are like rippling waves of gorgeousness. God, would I love to run my hands all over that body.

  "What if I can?" I look away when he jumps down, hoping I don't have drool hanging from my mouth.

  "If you can, it's your call. I'll leave you alone if that's what you want," he says this like there is no possible way that is what I would want.

  "Deal." I reach out and take his hand to seal the deal. That damn spark runs through me again the moment he touches me. Like always, my mouth goes dry and my breathing stops. I let his hand loose as fast as I can. I know he knows he is having an effect on me, which just perturbs me even more.

  I reach for the bar, but it is too tall for me. Before I know what is happening, his hands are around my waist lifting me. "There you go, Petal." Even though I can't see his face, I can hear the sarcasm in his voice. Fuck you!

  It's like riding a bike, I do five chin ups easily. Just to be a smart ass, I do seven before my arms start burning. I jump down very satisfied and turn to see a look of astonishment on his face. "Damn, girl." He whistles through his teeth.

  "Farm girl!" I smile and walk away. Grabbing my jacket and keys from the locker I had stowed them in, I walk out of the gym, not looking back.

  I go to my two classes and by the time I am done with my homework it is time to go to work. I can tell already that between school and my new job I am not going to be having much of a social life.

  I go in early that afternoon hoping to catch Matty. Before I change into my uniform, I knock lightly on his office door. I hear him say come in and open the door. I almost want to shut it immediately. Across the desk from Matty is Liam, sitting in a chair balancing it on its back two legs like a teenager would.