Breaking the Rules (14 page)

Uh-oh
. Joe shoved down a crazy riot of emotion churning in his chest. Threatening to make him do something embarrassing, like start singing hallelujahs or bawling like a baby.

“It was my pleasure.” His voice came out a little husky but okay.

“I enjoyed sleeping with you, too.”

“The feeling is mutual.” Phew. If he could just keep spurting out platitudes maybe he’d get through this without making an ass of himself.

“You’re really comfy…” she blinked. “For someone so hard.”

Laughter bubbled up in him, releasing the tension. “Firm mattresses are good for the posture. Not that yours needs any help.”

His hand still rested on her back and he stroked the skin—delicious warm velvet—on his way to giving her backside a playful squeeze.

She wiggled again and snuggled tighter against him.

Oh, Susana
.

Between his cock stiffening and his heart hammering he was ready to burst into flames any second. “You’re something else, woman.”

She giggled. “I feel like a woman this morning. I wondered if I’d feel different, and I do.”

“How?”

“I don’t know how to explain it.” She pursed her lips thoughtfully. “I feel bolder somehow, like I’ve grown up. I’m ready to take on the world.”

“Sounds dangerous.” He winked.

“I’m turning my whole life around. I’m going to do what I want from now on.” She lifted her chin, as if defying him to argue.

“Oh yeah?”

“I’m going to take the GED exam. I’m going to apply to school. And in the meantime I’m going to find a real job that comes with an actual paycheck, not a bunch of sweaty five-dollar bills pressed into my hand.” She paused, bit her lip, then spoke. “I’ve been a prisoner of tradition all my life. Now I’m going to find my own way.”

At that moment a shadow passed across her face. Not a metaphorical one but a real one, as a bird—a seagull or a pigeon maybe?—swooped close to the window. She glanced up quickly and frowned.

“What is it?” he asked, when she remained unmoving, staring out the window, almost a full minute later. “Is that some kind of sign?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” She looked worried.

“I thought you weren’t going to pay attention to that stuff any more.”

“I guess old habits die hard.” She spoke slowly, still looking past Joe and out the window. Then she shook her head and forced a smile to her lips. “Ugh, I really do need to stop letting all that traditional stuff mess with my head. Like I said, I’m starting a new life, and from now on…”

A loud banging sound interrupted her words.

“What the hell?” Joe flinched out of their embrace, adrenaline firing his blood.

The banging thundered through the apartment.

Joe leaped off the bed. The door to the living room was open, and he quickly identified the sound as being a fist pounding hard on the metal front door to his apartment.

“Susana!” yelled a voice from the other side of the huge door. Then a different voice, also male, “Open up, before I smash it down.”

“Oh, no,” whispered Susana. “It’s my cousins.”

CHAPTER 9

S
usana’s face blanched with panic, and she clutched the sheet about herself. “Don’t open it!”

“How would they know you’re here?”

She shook her head, eyes wide with terror. “I don’t know, maybe they went to my apartment and found the note you left with your address.”

Joe took a few steps into the living room, grabbed his jeans off the floor and tugged them on.

“No, Joe, don’t open it,” she pleaded, her voice reedy. “They’ll kill you.”

“No one’s going to kill anyone.”

“You don’t know them, Joe… Please, I’m begging you.”

He picked up her dress and tossed it to her. “Put this on.”

Maybe he said it too harshly, because her lip quivered and tears welled in her eyes. She remained frozen on the bed, kneeling with the sheet clutched around her. The hammering and shouting became louder and more insistent.

“I’ll take care of them,” he said softly. He walked to her and stroked her cheek, wiping away a tear with his thumb. “I won’t let them hurt you.”

He turned and walked toward the door.

“Don’t!” She shouted loud enough for the men on the other side of the door to hear.

“I knew it! Susana! She’s in there!” Boots kicked at the metal, and Joe heard something being thrust into the lock.

Anger fired his gut as he strode to the door. He’d be damned if he’d let anyone threaten Susana, and he certainly wasn’t going to cower behind a locked door in his own apartment.

“Don’t force the lock. I’m opening it.”

The silence from the other side of the door was more eerily threatening than the shouting and banging of a few seconds earlier.

Joe pulled back the ancient deadbolt. He hoped Susana had her dress on by now. He sucked in a breath as he tugged the lever that opened the door and slid it aside.

Two men stood on the other side, glaring at him with black eyes very much like Susana’s.

“She’s here,” hissed one. “I heard her.”

“Yes,” Joe said coolly. “She’s here.”

Both men were tall, black haired, with intense faces. One looked a little older than the other, maybe mid-thirties. Joe quickly took in the details and assessed the situation.

No unconcealed weapons, except teeth-baring rage.

The younger one tried to push past him, but Joe caught his arm and held him back. The older one stared at Joe, narrowing his eyes and fixing him with a stare that bored through his skin like a laser.

“You can come in only if you promise not to hurt Susana.”

“Hurt Susana? I’d slit my own throat first, you
gadjo
scum.” The man in Joe’s grasp raised his fist but stopped an inch from making contact with his chin. He pulled his fist back. “We’d never hurt her. We look out for her.”

Joe glanced from him to the older cousin, who still regarded him with his chilling stare.

“Can you respect my home?”

They both just looked at him.

“Well, can you?”

The grunts they gave could be taken as assent or not. He decided to give them the benefit of the doubt.

“Then, come in.” He stood aside and ushered them into the room, then closed the door.

The open door to the bedroom revealed Susana, hastily clad in her rumpled burgundy dress, her hair wild, falling about her shoulders.

Damn, he’d never seen a more intoxicating sight. He almost forgot about the two menacing goons beside him as blood rushed from his brain to his groin.

“What has this
gadjo
done to you?”

Susana obviously wasn’t there on a palm-reading housecall. Her red and swollen lips, her glowing skin and wild hair all painted her as a woman who has made mad, passionate love in the very recent past. The twin spots of color high on her cheeks darkened under her cousin’s gaze.

“I’m here of my own free will,” she said, her voice a little unsteady. “Joe is my friend.”

“You’ve had sex with him, haven’t you?” said the older one, his voice low and controlled.

“Yes.” She lifted her chin, and Joe saw her swallow.

The younger man clenched his fists. The older turned to Joe and looked hard at him, shaking his head. “You don’t know what you’ve done.” He stared into his eyes, and Joe stared back, unblinking. The piercing black gaze wandered down over Joe’s torso, his lip curling as he took in the tattoo and scar before returning to his face. “You’ve ruined my cousin’s life. You’ve contaminated her. From now on, she will always be unclean.”

Joe heard Susana whimper, and he froze, not wanting to take his eyes off the man. Not sure how to respond. What did he know about the gypsy world? Maybe he had ruined her life.

“No Romani man will want her now. She’ll be an outcast, a pariah.” He looked past Joe to Susana. “Do you still have the third eye?”

“I don’t know. I don’t care.” Susana’s determined tone made Joe turn to her. “I’m tired of being a professional gypsy all the time. I don’t have to make a living telling fortunes. I’m intelligent, I’m hard working, and I want a real life.”

“Susana.” The older man shook his head, his face grim. “You know the
gadjo
world is not your home. You know what happened to your mother.” He fixed her with his fierce stare. “She tried to live among the
gadje
, and it killed her.”

“Did it kill her? Or did the family kill her to end the embarrassment of her living with a
gadjo
man?”

Both men froze, staring at her. “This
gadjo
scum is planting his filthy ideas in your mind. Our family is not a gang of murderers.” The younger man had finally spoken, and he still held his fists clenched, ready for use.

“Don’t treat me like a child. I know what our family is and isn’t.”

“Do not speak of the family in front of a
gadjo
.” The older man said it quietly.

Susana glanced at Joe. Suspiciously. Suddenly he really did feel like a
gadjo
, whatever that was. “Listen,” he said, “I’m not interested in airing anyone’s family laundry. Susana’s a grown woman who can make her own choices. She doesn’t need to be chaperoned or bossed around by you.”

“You don’t understand,” said the younger man. “She is a Romani woman. Our ways are different.”

“She’s only half gypsy,” Joe interrupted.

“Even one drop makes her all gypsy,” intoned the older man quietly. “We take care of our own.”

“Susana can take care of herself.”

The younger man snorted. “See! This scum is not even offering to take care of you, Susana. He’s used you up and now he’ll throw you aside. He has another woman’s name tattooed on his arm.”

“That’s my mom’s name. Maria. I had it inked there when she died.”

“Yeah, right,” said the younger man. The older man raised an eyebrow.

“What do I care if you believe me? Susana knows I won’t lie to her.”

There was a long, awkward silence.

He had once had another woman’s name tattooed on his arm. He’d pledged his life to her and given her almost a decade of it. Burning her name off his arm had left it scarred, along with his heart. He knew he was damaged goods.

He hadn’t promised Susana anything beyond one night. Maybe they thought he really had screwed up her life and was about to leave her twisting in the wind?

Maybe they were right.

The thought twisted in his gut like a knife.

“Susana,” the older one crossed his arms over his chest and looked at her. “Do you wish to marry this man?”

Susana looked panicked, her face suddenly white, lips quivering. “I…I… No.”

Joe’s heart palpitated out of control as she hesitated, but at the sound of Susana’s,
no
, it deflated like a balloon. He swallowed hard and drew back his shoulders.

“Because if you wish to marry him…” He paused and glanced at Joe with disdain. “He
will
marry you.”

“No. No.” Susana’s voice quavered, and tears filled her eyes.

Why did it hurt so damn much to hear her say no?

“See,
gadjo
scum, she doesn’t even want you.”

Something surged inside Joe as the younger man sneered at him. Next thing he knew he’d grabbed the front of the kid’s leather jacket and flung him to the floor, sprawling on top of him. His knees hit the wood hard and the jacket zipper scraped his knuckles.

“Joe!” Susana’s panicked voice squeezed his heart.

The tide of rage ebbed, leaving regret in its wake. “Look, I’m sorry.” He loosened his hold on the kid and scrambled to his feet. “I don’t want to start anything ugly. Could you just lay off calling me
gadjo
scum? It’s getting on my nerves.”

“We’re all adults here,” said Susana. “Step away from each other, and we’ll start this over. I’ll introduce you, and you can meet each other like normal people. Okay?”

Joe nodded.

“Joe, this is my cousin Janus.” Janus, back on his feet, scowled at him and brushed imaginary dust from his jacket. “And this is my cousin Roman,” she indicated the older man in the incense-reeking coat, who hadn’t moved a muscle. “They’ve looked out for me since I was born. I love them like brothers, even though they don’t know when to stop treating me like a baby.”

She pushed her hair back with her hand. “Janus and Roman, this is Joe Figueroa. He’s a good man.”

“How do you know?” asked Janus.

“Because I know.”

Joe knew she was fibbing. She didn’t know him well enough to say with any assurance that he was good. He wouldn’t even make that claim himself, but he was grateful all the same.

He looked from one to the other. “As Susana said, she came here of her own free will. She’s an adult, she can make her own choices.”

Susana moved until she stood next to him, presenting a united front against the two intruders. He half expected her to take his hand, and the flesh of his palm began to heat in anticipation. But she tossed her hair again, lifted her chin and crossed her hands over her chest.

“As Joe said, from now on I’ll be making my own choices. I’ve been a prisoner of this family too long. I’ve lived like a nun and worked like a slave since I was thirteen. I would have done anything for Granna, but she’s gone now, and it’s time for a change.”

“Susana.” Roman spoke slowly. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

“I know what I’m doing, all right. I’m taking charge of my own life, and if anyone doesn’t like it, they can keep their thoughts to themselves.”

Joe shot a glance at her and took in the confident tilt of her chin with a swell of pride. He was genuinely glad to see her stand up for herself.

“But the family…” Janus hurled his words out like fists, and as he trailed off the unspoken ones seemed to clang together in the air around them.

“The family will only know as much as you tell them,” said Susana. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, but I can’t live someone else’s life any more.”

“Susana.” Roman’s eyes narrowed. “You are Granna’s successor. It’s your duty to help shape the direction we all go in.”

She blew out a frustrated snort. “I’m twenty-three years old, for crying out loud! I can barely figure out what direction I want to go in when I leave my apartment. I have no business telling a bunch of other people what to do.”