Page 24 of Mischief Mayhem
“How do you know so much?” I resisted the urge to sneer at him, despite how helpful he had actually been. Let me not forget this was Leo Fucking Caputi.
“I have a little sister,” Leo said with a hint of a smile. “I am arguably just as protective.”
“Yeah?” I raised my eyebrows, instantly curious. Leo never talked about his life, and certainly not about his family. “And what would you do if she brought me home?”
Leo barked out a laugh. “Well, if you weren’t a Rose and your loyalties lay closer to home, I might be all right with it.”
I shook my head. “You don’t know me very well.”
“Do I not?” He put his arms out around him, gesturing to my old living room where pictures of my childhood and adolescence still sat on the mantel. “You seem like you’ve lived a wild life.”
“I’m a bit of a slut.” I pursed my lips. “I used to be. I’ve been taking a break.”
“So you are capable of self-reflection.” Leo tilted his head to the side. “This is not a bad thing in a partner.”
Perhaps he had a point. Perhaps I had been too hard on myself.
“Who’s the big guy?” he asked, pointing to one of a fishing trip Trojan had taken me on when I was in middle school.
“My brother, Trojan.” I bit back the grief that usually came when I spoke about him. “He died last year. Benito killed him.”
Leo paused, his eyes meeting mine with the slightest bit of regret dancing behind them. “I lost my brother last year, too.”
I remembered that. KC had killed Julian Caputi when they’d snuck onto our land to steal from us. Selene had intercepted them but been taken hostage. When KC found them, he’d made mincemeat of anyone in his path.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” I said, glancing down at the ground. “It’s a hard thing, losing an older sibling.”
Leo sighed. “I’m sorry, too. About Trojan.”
It might not have seemed like much, but those few words softened my disgust for the Caputi bastard. Like me, he had a family he loved. Like me, he’d lost members of that family while trying to protect them. Perhaps we had more in common than I’d care to admit.
“I want to see my sister,” Leo said, his tone much softer than he’d ever used before. “Julia.”
I met his gaze, watching his features turn stoic and serious. He meant it.
“I’ve been thinking about what Crow offered,” Leo went on. “This supposed peace between our families.”
“Yeah?” This was a surprise, and I tried not to let my excitement show. I honestly hadn’t thought it would work. I’d been sure a rogue Rose would have come through here to take care of the problem by now.
“I want to talk to my sister about it.” Leo nodded before pushing to his feet, preparing for round two. “You bring Julia to me, and we’ll decide where it goes from there.”
“Why?” I asked, holding his arm while he went into his lunges again. “Why would you even consider this?”
He straightened and patted my shoulder, giving me a soft smile. “Maybe I agree with you. It’s long past time this blood feud ended.”
My heart dropped into my stomach, and I nodded.
“You could have killed me by now.” He continued, purposely ignoring my startled look. “I could have killed you by now. The fact we have restrained ourselves shows that perhaps a Rose and a Caputi can get along . . . if the terms are reasonable.”
Yeah, or we’ve been stomping on thin ice with a spreading crack.
“I’ll ask Crow tonight,” I said. “Thank you for considering it.”
“Don’t thank me yet.” Leo blew a disbelieving laugh out through his nose and shook his head. “If you think I reek of Caputi filth, you haven’t met our princess.”
“Thank you all for coming, brothers,” Crow said from the head of the table bearing the SRMC emblem: a rose with a dagger stabbing it through the middle. The vice president, Aris, sat to his right with the sergeant at arms, Thor, on his left. Aris was short for Aristotle, and he’d gotten his name because the surly motherfucker had a photographic memory, and he could rattle off facts about anything at any time. Thor, on the other hand, was a big Viking with long dirty blond hair and gray eyes who enjoyed beating our enemies’ heads in with a sledgehammer. I cringed, remembering when he’d gotten his road name.
The road captain, Slip, sat down next to our enforcer, Doc, with Coins taking the other seat next to him. We had a full house, most of the members making it in to hear the latest update in the ongoing Caputi war. I stood in the back with Bear, Saint, and KC, taking a sip of my beer while I watched the president call the meeting to order. “I wanted to share the good news that Pollux has almost made a complete recovery. If all goes well, he should be out in a week or two.”