Take Me Apart (Vitale Brothers Book 1)

Rourke waved a hand. I jogged over to him, pulling Enzo’s long, gray jacket around me more tightly. He’d insisted I take it instead of the worn hoodie I usually wore when I was off duty. The man was a pain in the ass, but I couldn’t deny his jacket was warmer and smelled like him. Maybe that was the real reason he wanted me to wear it, so I would be surrounded by his scent, unable to think about anything but him, his cock, and the way he’d made me scream his name this morning.

“Where the hell have you been?” Rourke asked.

“I needed some time off. Sergeant wanted me to take a break after the shooting with Carl anyway, so I took it.”

He frowned. “She knows about you going after the Vitales.”

I stiffened. “What?”

“Why do you think I’ve been calling you?” He grumbled. “The chief put together a task force to handle the violence escalating around the Vitales. Once Sarge figured out it was you who accessed her files and started going after them, she decided you would be the best choice for the team instead of firing your ass. Probably because the chief was impressed.”

Speechless, I followed him into the coffee shop. “Why hasn’t she called to scream at me?”

“I told her I would handle it,” he said. “Two coffees. One black, one with sugar and vanilla creamer.” He glanced at me. “You hungry?”

I shook my head, still dwelling on the bombshell he’d just dropped on me. My sergeant knew exactly what I was up to, and now I was going to be part of a task force. The dream I’d been pursuing was within reach. So why did my stomach pitch so hard?

“Caster.”

I blinked at Rourke. “No, I ate already.”

Rourke raised a brow. “You? Usually, I have to make you eat before you pass out.” He grabbed our coffees, paid, and passed one of the cups to me. We found a spot over in the corner, away from everyone else. “I know this is a lot to process, but like I said, I’ve been trying to contact you for days, and you never pick up. Where have you been?”

I drank from my coffee to avoid speaking. Sleeping in a mobster’s bed. There was no way I could say that out loud. “I told you I needed some time off. And I’ve been looking into the Vitales.”

“What have you found out?”

I shrugged. “Not a ton. What I have found doesn’t matter. There’s no evidence to support anything.”

“Tell me anyway.”

My fingers gripped the coffee cup tightly. Hot liquid splashed over my fingers and stung my flesh. Cursing, I sat the cup down. I reached for the napkins along with Rourke and started soaking up the hot mess.

“Like I said, it’s nothing. I can’t share it right now, anyway. My source is…” Stolen? Is that a good word?

“Fine,” Rourke said with a sigh. “You need to give me something, Tex. I’m your partner. Shit, I’m your friend, man.”

He was, and I hadn’t been treating him like it. Rourke looked out for me. However, the thought of telling him about Enzo and Brycen made my chest tighten.

Enzo would kill me.

“When I have something to tell you, I will,” I said. “I was going to check out a storage unit today that might have some answers.”

“I’m going with you.”

“No,” I said quickly.

“Tex,” he growled. “I’m going with you, and that’s the end of that. Sarge wants me on your ass, and I plan to be right on it until she says otherwise. You’re not the only one who has their career on the line.” He pointed at me. “You fucked up, man. And now it falls on both of us.”

I swallowed hard. Rourke’s no-nonsense expression had taken over, and the gentle way he spoke before disappeared. He was always like that, calm and cool until you pissed him off. To be fair, I did get him in trouble with Sarge. I was lucky she hadn’t decided to rat me out and have my ass fired. And that Rourke had my back enough to be on my team.

“Sorry,” I muttered. “Yeah, of course, you can go with me.”

Rourke nodded, his face relaxing. “Thanks. I’m not trying to be a hardass,” he said slowly, “but my livelihood is on the line too.”

“I know.”

“We need to do this together. Remember what you’re after, Tex. Detective. It’s what you’ve been bitching about since the day we met.”

He wasn’t wrong about that. I’d talked about being a detective for so long it was part of me. I’m closer than I’ve ever been. This task force was going to get me to my goal. Finally, I would show the world I wasn’t the strung-out loser everyone thought I was.

Thoughts of Enzo distracted me. I could see the hurt on his face, the anger. Even if he didn’t kill me, he would be devastated. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself. Everything we’ve been doing could be a lie. And I’m falling for it.

I couldn’t imagine Enzo playing along for this long, though. If he wanted to kill me, he could. Enzo could make my body disappear in the blink of an eye and not think twice. Instead, he was taking care of Penelope and me, holding us close when there was no reason to. Could anyone really play a game as long as we’d been dancing around each other?

Picking up my half-empty cup of coffee, I tossed it in the trash. No matter what Enzo was doing, whether it was real or fake, I had a job to do. What we had couldn’t last forever.

“Let’s go check out that storage room,” I said.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding my head until I could almost believe it myself. “I’m fine. Let’s go.”

“We can take my car.” Rourke carried his coffee out. “Are you sure you don’t need another drink?”

“No,” I said, my stomach churning. I wasn’t sure I could hold anything down if I tried. “I’m good.”

Brycen’s entire life was laid out in a series of boxes. Is this what it’s like in the end? Everything you are reduced to a cold, empty room? The knot in my stomach hadn’t subsided. I pushed through it, shuffling old mail before placing it to the side.

“What are we looking for?” Rourke asked.

“I have no idea,” I muttered. “When I find it, I’ll know.”

“That’s reassuring.”

“Shut up and look.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said.

We went back to scouring the boxes. Old clothes, shoes, even stuffed animals were in there. My brain wouldn’t stop coming up with scenarios where Enzo had seen Brycen in a certain outfit, or he’d gone to a carnival with the man and won him a prize. The more I went through, the angrier I became. Not because Enzo had killed him, though. The feeling was… stranger, more twisty and desperate. And I realized I wasn’t pissed; I was jealous.

Of a dead guy. Great. What the hell is Enzo Vitale doing to me?

A heavy notebook dropped out of one of the boxes, thudding against the concrete floor. I picked it up and flipped through it. As I read some of the text, I knew what it was a diary. Brycen’s words enamored me, and I couldn’t look away.

“Did you find something?”

“Not sure,” I muttered, turning the page. “Just reading for now.”

“Guess I’ll keep looking then.”

I nodded but stayed focused on the book.

…I think I’m in love with E. We went out of town today. E gave me whatever I wanted.

…I never thought I could be so happy.

…Am I doing the right thing?

…He knows. I know he knows, and I’m terrified. I wish I could tell Abi, but she wouldn’t understand. I’m fucking scared.

My heart clenched. The more I read, the more the story twisted. Brycen wrote that he was scared of Enzo and Benito. He wanted to get away, but he couldn’t. I flipped to another page. He had another slip-up. He was back on drugs worse than before, from what I could tell by looking at his slanted writing. I turned the page, my heart racing, only to be met with nothing.

I frowned at the sight of ripped-out edges where the pages should be. Someone had torn them out. My stomach clenched. Did Enzo do this? Or Benito? Giancarlo? Why get rid of these pages and not the whole journal?

Nausea rose in my throat. What if those missing pages concealed the truth about Enzo and what really happened with Brycen? I closed my eyes, trying not to think about it. Enzo had explained it all, and I’d been on his side. But what if he was lying?

“Caster? What’s wrong? You look pale.”

I stared at Rourke. “What?”

“Are you okay?”

No, I was far from okay. The story Brycen told was different from what Enzo had shared with me. Brycen was in love with him, he cared about him, and he never even mentioned Benito. Had I really let Enzo talk me into something that was an outright lie?

Why am I even surprised? He’s a criminal. Of course, he lied to me.

I forced myself to focus on Rourke, whose face was pinched with concern. “I’m good. I should have eaten more this morning.”

“Okay,” Rourke said slowly. “What’s that?” He nodded toward the book in my hand. “Anything interesting?”

I stared at the leatherbound book. “No, just an old diary. It doesn’t have much in it.” I tossed the book back into a box. “Anything over there?”

Rourke turned his back on me and started talking about one of the boxes. I used that brief moment to snatch up the journal and shove it into the waistband of my jeans. Rourke turned around as I was yanking down my shirt to cover up the book.

“I can’t find anything here,” he said. “There’s some notes scribbled down I might be able to look into, but otherwise?” He shrugged. “This is a dud.”

I sighed. “Let’s call it.” I closed the box in front of me and put it back on the ground where I’d found it. I stacked another on top. “I hope this is all back where it’s supposed to be. We don’t exactly have any right to be here.”

Rourke frowned. “It should be fine.” He shook his head. “You have me doing illegal shit, Caster.”

“Last time, I swear.” We let ourselves out. “What’s next?”

“You coming to face Sarge and the chief. They’ll give you orders on what to do, and we’ll go from there. Don’t worry. We’ll toss these guys so far under the prison they’ll rot there.”

I let out a smile, but it felt awkward on my lips. “I know,” I said. “I need to run a few more errands. Can we meet up tomorrow before work?”

“You got it. Go home and try relaxing,” Rourke said as we slipped into his car. “Things are about to get crazy.”

I believed him. When I got back to Enzo’s apartment, I knew exactly what I was going to have to do. Even if it made my skin clammy.

I need to get out of his place.

Whether Enzo was lying or telling the truth wasn’t the problem. I was now officially on the team against him. There was no way I could go on sleeping in his bed and pretending to be happy when I knew what was to come.

I had to leave Enzo alone once and for all.