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 fuckin’ 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.

Still, he’d had his fill of Carla.

“Darlin’, you need to go on home,” he said, going to the dresser and grabbing some socks.

“What?” she asked, blinking.

“You need to go home, Carla,” Benny repeated and walked to the bed, sitting on the edge of it, “now.”

He had his socks on and was reaching for his boots when he noticed she hadn’t moved so he looked at her. She was looking at the door so Benny’s head swung that way to see Frankie standing in it.

“Pretty, honey,” Frankie muttered, “you always had good taste.”

Benny’s mouth got tight and he pulled on a boot.

“Who’s she?” Carla asked.

Benny didn’t answer instead he ordered, “Out of bed, babe. Go home.”

Carla was up on her ass with the sheet to her chest and her narrowed eyes were glued to the door. “Who’s she?” she repeated.

Benny pulled on his second boot, saw Frankie hadn’t moved but was smiling her smile that made his dick start to get hard.

There was a reason Vinnie gave it all for her. The bitch was beyond a knockout. Only a quarter Italian, the rest of her was mutt and she got the best of it all. Almond-shaped eyes with light brown irises and naturally long, curling lashes. A thick head of rich, dark brown hair she always wore long. Flawless light skin that made your mouth water just to taste it and made you wonder if that creamy skin was the same everywhere. Fantastic tits, great ass and a tiny waist which were the only things that made her long legs not look like they went straight to her throat.

And the way she smiled that smile, like she had a secret, a really fucking good one you had to know and the only way she’d tell you was when you were close, deep inside and she’d whisper it in your ear. The perfect package from top to toe.

He straightened from the bed and looked down at Carla. “Not gonna say it again, babe.”

Carla looked at him. “Are you tellin’ me that you just let me suck your cock and then I let you fuck me and you wake me up in the middle of the night to shift me out for round two? You’re good, Benny Bianchi, fuckin’ great, like they all said but nothin’s good enough to put up with that.”

Benny put his hands to his hips. “See this failed to sink in, woman, but I just got dressed and put my boots on. I’m gonna fuck someone else, she’s standin’ in line at the fuckin’ bedroom door, would I put my clothes on?” She opened her mouth to speak but he didn’t wait for her to answer. “I got somethin’ to do, somethin’ before the crack of dawn, somethin’ fuckin’ important. I asked nice, now I’ll say it straight. Get your ass outta my bed, get dressed and get the fuck outta my house.”

She glared at him and then asked sarcastically, “You think maybe she can leave while I get dressed?”

Benny walked to the dresser and grabbed his gun. Carla’s eyes rounded on it, the situation of a wakeup call at that hour dawned on her and her body went still but Frankie spoke.

“Sure,” she said, turned and walked from the door.

Benny waited while Carla dressed and she hurried out the door not sparing him a glance and not getting close. This was either because he’d been a dick or because he was still carrying his gun but he didn’t much care which. She was gone.

He went to his nightstand and tagged his phone. Scrolling down, he called Cal while he shoved his gun in the waistband of his jeans. He waited for a pick up but there was none. It went to voicemail.

Benny figured, he had Vi in his bed, he would likely not pick up the phone at that hour either because he was busy with something not worth disturbing to answer the phone or sleeping after being exhausted by doing something that wasn’t worth disturbing to answer the phone. Benny disconnected the call and tried again. Voicemail. On the third try when he got voicemail, he left a message.

“Cugino. Benny. It’s urgent. Call me.”

He left the room and Frankie was waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

He stopped in her space. “Did I ask you to stay?”

“Will you call me when you find out everything’s all right?”

Benny clenched his teeth. She was worried. He heard it. She didn’t even try to hide it.

He knew her life since losing Vinnie had been totally fucked. He thought she’d move on but she didn’t. He didn’t want to know but he had to admit he’d gone out of his way to keep tabs. Alone, she didn’t date, didn’t even look as far as he knew. She went to work. She came home. She’d go to Rico’s by herself once in awhile and she’d go home by herself. She went on vacation by herself. All in all, she just kept herself to herself.

She was close to Sal, had made friends with some of his boys when Vinnie was working for Sal and she stayed that way because they were the only family she had left. Everyone else had turned their backs on her because they blamed her for Vinnie.

The Bianchis were clean and always were. The Giglias were dirty and always were. They met at reunions, weddings, funerals and when they had to because they were family. The mingling of blood two generations ago was not a happy occasion for the Bianchis. But family was family.

His path crossed with Frankie’s because Sal considered Frankie family, her man had been whacked under his watch and Sal might be a piece of shit but he took care of family. After Vinnie died and Benny made it clear he didn’t want her company and she stopped coming around all the time, Benny saw her but rarely. He knew she’d got tight with Cal because of Vinnie and stayed that way for reasons known only to her and Cal. That was to say she stayed that way as much as Cal would let anyone stay close – which was to say that she probably hadn’t seen him in years.

But she was worried and, fuck him, he fucking hated hearing that in her voice.

“I’ll call,” he gritted out.

“Thanks, Ben,” she whispered and turned toward the kitchen at the back which brought something to Benny’s mind.

“Frankie,” he called, she stopped in the dark hallway and turned to him.

“Yeah?”

“Why’d you come to the backdoor?”

She hesitated then he saw her shoulders shrug. “Old lady Zambino lives across the street.”

“So?”

“So, she’s Bella’s grandma.”

Benny was getting impatient. Therefore, he asked again, “So?”

“So, Bella works for you.”

“Frankie –”

In a rush, she explained, “She’s old and she’s nosy. If Old Lady Zambino sees me and tells Bella, Bella tells Theresa, Theresa doesn’t care why I’m here she just doesn’t want me near any of you, ‘specially you. So Theresa gets pissed but she’d get pissed at you. I was tryin’…”

She stopped speaking but he knew what she was trying to do. Save him from the wrath of his Ma because she was right. Frankie saw him from two blocks away and his mother knew it, Ma would lose her fucking mind. Since Benny’s Ma lost her fucking mind on a regular basis, Benny could handle it, but it’d be a pain in the ass like it always was and it was cool Frankie tried to shield him from that shit.

He didn’t say thanks, he didn’t speak at all and she turned again and walked away.

She stopped at the doorway to the kitchen and turned back.

“Benny,” she called.

“Got things to do, Frankie,” he reminded her.

She didn’t listen or didn’t care.

Instead, she said, “It’s a sin to speak ill of the dead.”

Benny felt his body get tight.

“Don’t –” he whispered.

She did. “I never told anyone this before.”

“Frankie –”

“Everyone thought it was me. The franchise idea. That sandwich shop that went bust. Sal.”

Benny started toward her but she didn’t stop talking and she didn’t move.

“It was all Vinnie.”

He grabbed her arm and pulled her through the kitchen.

“Ask Sal. He knows,” she told him as he reached for the door but he never made it. She dug her heels in and yanked her arm out of his hold. “I didn’t say shit because I loved him. I didn’t want anyone to think he was weak. I didn’t want anyone to think he’d failed. I didn’t want anyone to think he was anything but what they thought he was. That he was great because he was. He just wasn’t perfect.”

“Save this shit, Frankie, I don’t wanna hear it.”

“But I don’t want you to think that, not about me,” she kept on. “I don’t know why but I don’t want you to think it.”

“Too bad. I know this is bullshit.”

She got close. She didn’t touch him but she got close enough he could smell her perfume and her hair.

“You know it isn’t,” she whispered. “Vinnie Senior, Theresa, Manny. They were blind but you know. Cal knows. Carm knows. You know. Cal, Carm, they won’t say it but they know it. You got them away from Vinnie, from Theresa, you asked, they’d tell it to you straight. But you… you just won’t admit it.”

“Babe, I got shit to do,” he reminded her.

She stared at him and then shook her head. “I don’t know why I…” she stopped speaking and reached for the doorknob, “don’t bother tellin’ me about Cal. I’ll get it from Sal.”

The tone of her voice gone hard, dead, Benny didn’t like. It didn’t suit her. These days she was all about attitude but it wasn’t hard. Back in the day, she laughed a lot. Even if someone told a joke that wasn’t funny, she’d laugh and it’d sound real even though she was only doing it to make them feel good. And she was all energy. She seemed electric even sitting curled up to Vinnie and watching TV.

He hadn’t seen that in years, hadn’t heard her laughter, but he’d never heard her voice sound hard and dead.

He put his hand to her arm. “Frankie –”

She yanked her arm free and pulled open the door.

“Be well, Ben,” she said in that same voice and she did it without looking at him. Then she moved down his back stoop.

For some fucking reason he followed her, grabbed her arm and swung her around. When her head tipped back to look at him, he had no goddamned clue what to say.

“What?” she asked.

“I’ll call about Cal.”

“Like I said, don’t bother.”

“I’ll call.”

“Ben, you don’t wanna talk to me, fine. I get it, it’s cool, been livin’ with that for years. I’ll get the news from Sal or one of the boys.”

His hand tightened on her arm and he brought her closer to his body, close enough to smell that perfume again and in a moment of lunatic honesty he had to admit he liked it.

“I’ll fucking call.”

She went still for a moment that seemed to stretch for a long time and she stared up at him and all he could see were her eyes, her hair and all he could smell was her perfume and his hand automatically tightened further on her arm.

When it did, she whispered, “Suit yourself.”

She yanked her arm from his hand and he watched her walk two paces then for some reason she started running. He stood still as he listened to his back gate open and close and he stayed still as he heard her start her car and drive away.

The current situation hit him, his body jolted, he cleared his mind of Frankie, turned and jogged into the house.

* * *

I felt Joe’s hand on the small of my back and his hip pressed to mine in bed.

“Buddy, girls need to get to school,” he said into my ear.