It came to him. Carla.

She lifted her head. “Whas that?”

“Go back to sleep. I’ll take care of it,” Benny told her, throwing the covers back and grabbing his jeans from the floor.

Carla collapsed back into bed and he heard her soft snore.

He yanked up his jeans, left the room and hit the stairs, surprised her snores began immediately. He knew then that was it, she was out. Not that she’d made an impression on him, only her lips had but even if he woke up beside her and she rallied, he knew she was out. He hated snoring and he also couldn’t call up much emotion for some bitch who could hear a knock on the door in the early hours of morning and leave him to it. He wouldn’t let her do anything but he figured Violet would not go back to sleep and leave Cal to deal. She’d wait to go back to sleep when she knew he was back in bed with her, safe. And he knew she’d do this with her dead husband too. She’d do this before she learned knocks in the moments before dawn could mean bad shit had come calling. She’d do this because it was the right thing to do if you were a good person or you gave a shit about someone.

Not many good ones out there, he was thinking as he walked down the stairs. He was just glad Cal finally found himself one of them.

He stopped at the foot of the stairs and he felt a clutch in his chest when he heard the knocks coming from the backdoor not the front.

“Fuck me,” he muttered, went to the hall closet, grabbed his gun and headed back toward the kitchen.

Standing to the side of the door, he shoved the curtain partially aside and saw Frankie standing on his back stoop.

His first instinct was to open the door, shove the bitch down the stairs, close the door, walk upstairs and kick Carla out. Just seeing Francesca put him in no mood to be around any woman. But his mother would have a conniption if he put his hand on a woman in anger even if that woman was Francesca who his Ma detested, so he didn’t do this. His mother in a conniption wasn’t worth the trouble, even for the satisfaction of laying his hands on his dead brother’s bitch.

Therefore he switched on the outside light, turned the lock and opened the door, keeping his gun in his hand.

The life she led with Vinnie, Francesca had learned and she clocked the gun first.

“Benny,” she whispered.

“Say what you gotta say, bitch, and get the f**k outta my space,” Benny replied.

Her eyes lifted and the second thing she clocked was his chest. Stopping there, her face got pale, he could see it even in the dark. Stupid, greedy slut.

“Two seconds,” Benny warned and Frankie’s eyes shot to his.

“It’s Cal,” she said quickly and that feeling in his chest got tighter.

Benny opened the door further, stepped back and Frankie moved in. Benny shut the door, locked it, flipped off the light switch and grabbed her arm, yanking her into the hall.

“Benny –” she started when he stopped them in the hall.

“I got company,” he told her, his voice quiet and he saw her head tip back to look up the stairs.

“Figures,” she whispered and her voice was tight.

“You got somethin’ to say about Cal?” Benny prompted.

“Who is she?” Frankie asked and Benny pressed his lips together. Then she went on and her voice was lower but lighter. Apologetic. “Benny –”

“When’d it become your business who I f**k?” Benny asked.

“Ben,” she whispered.

“That sign went up on the restaurant, Frankie, but when it did I didn’t become a millionaire. Got no more than Pop which wasn’t good enough for you. Not gonna give you the chance to wrap your golden cunt around my c**k and get me to sell into a franchise like you tried to talk Vinnie into talkin’ Pop into doin’.”

In a flash he felt her attitude hit the hall.

“You’re talkin’ that trash to me and I used to be a member of your family,” she hissed.

“You came to my house in the middle of the night with info about Cal and you’re leadin’ with this shit so brace, babe, ‘cause you brought it on yourself. You gave up your position in this family when you led Vinnie by his dick straight to Sal. I’ll remind you, this isn’t the first time after we lost him you tried to get it from me and I told you before, that shit is not f**kin’ happening. You came here to say something, say it.”

“I needed to be with someone who loved him like I did,” she snapped in her defense.

“Yeah, bet he was smilin’ down from heaven when he saw you tryin’ to shove your hand down my pants,” Benny fired back.

“We were both emotional. Things got outta hand.”

“No, nothin’ got in your hand.”

“You kissed me,” she returned.

Benny leaned in and got in her face. “Bullshit, you pressed up against me, laid it on me and I was wasted.”

“I was wasted too.”

“Woman, your boyfriend had been whacked.”

“And your brother had been whacked.”

Benny wanted to relive this like he wanted to be kicked in the gonads therefore he went silent and started counting to ten.

He got to three when Frankie kept at him. “You still kissed me.”

“Babe, tits like yours, I’m blotto, doesn’t matter who you are, they’re pressed against me and they got a mouth attached to the same body, it’s on mine, I’m gonna stick my tongue in it.”

She reared back. “God, Ben, I forgot how much of a f**kin’ dick you are. Always were. I shouldn’t have even come here.”

“Now we’re talkin’ about what I wanna talk about. Why did you?”

“’Cause Cal never treated me like shit and Sal ordered a hit on Hart and it went bad. Word’s spreadin’ fast that Hart’s gonna be aimin’ for Cal, someone’s gotta warn him, I don’t have his number and I couldn’t go to your Dad so, stupid me, I came to you.”

Benny went solid for half a second. Then he moved. Leaving Francesca where she stood, he hit the stairs and took them three at a time.

He turned on the light and Carla moaned, turned then got up on a forearm. By the time she did this Benny had laid his gun on the dresser and was pulling on a t-shirt.

“Whas goin’ on?” she asked, pulling hair from her face and Benny looked at her.

Knockout. Fantastic lips, just like he remembered. Great tits. Frankie’s were better, he knew that even if he hadn’t seen them or touched them, only had them pressed against him once but Carla’s were sweet.