Maneuver_Men of Inked_Southside Read online

  Delilah stands outside the Jeep on the passenger side, holding Lulu, and she smiles at me for a moment. I want to ask for her number, but hell, she’s a mom with no time for an asshole like me. What mother from the North Side, swimming in cash, wants to date a South Side guy who owns a bar? I’m not hurting for money, but I’m probably not the type she was brought up to marry.

  “I’m going to wait here to make sure you get in,” I say instead, trying to be a gentleman like my mother raised me to be.

  “We’ll be fine. The doorman will let us in.”

  “I’ll feel better if I stay and know you’re safe,” I tell her, memorizing her beautiful lips and deep blue eyes.

  She backs away slowly with her eyes locked on mine, maybe trying to remember every inch of my face too. A few seconds later, she turns her back to me, and I shake my head, chastising myself for being such a fool. I always ask women for their phone numbers. Never had an issue with it before, but there’s something that stopped me today. Hell, I still don’t know if she is married or single, and the lack of a wedding ring means nothing in my book.

  She looks over her shoulder and gives me a small wave before pushing through the revolving door, disappearing.

  “Way to be a pussy, asshole,” I grumble to myself and tap against the steering wheel, trying to stop myself from running after her.

  My ma has hated every woman I’ve ever brought home. And while Delilah isn’t a girlfriend and just happened to wander into my bar, Ma took to her immediately. Well, she took to Lulu, and that’s all that seems to be needed to win her over.

  Not that I need my mother’s approval, but it makes shit a hell of a lot easier when Betty likes the girl sitting across from her. My ma may be a tiny thing, but her mouth most certainly is not. I can’t live out the rest of her life with her hating the woman I decide to marry. I would rather spend eternity single than listen to Ma go on and on about my poor partner choice.

  My phone pings from the center console, and I lean forward to see my mother is sticking her nose in my business…again.

  Ma: Get her phone number.

  I type out my reply, erasing and retyping it three times before hitting send.

  Me: She’s already gone.

  Ma: How could you mess this up so badly?

  Me: She has a kid.

  Ma: That means she’s stable and a good choice.

  Clearly, my ma doesn’t know some of the girls from the neighborhood who have children and are more off their rocker than many of the people in the mental ward at County Hospital. Popping a tiny human out of your vagina does not mean you’re a good person, normal, or stable. It only means you got laid and nothing more.

  As I slide my phone back into the center console, I notice Delilah coming out of the revolving door with Lulu on her hip and tears streaming down her face. I rush out of the Jeep and stalk toward her, calling her name.

  When she sees me, she cries harder, practically falling against my chest as I touch her arms. “I got you,” I tell her.

  Whoever her family is…they are pieces of trash. I grab Lulu from her grip and wrap an arm around Delilah’s back, ushering her toward the Jeep and away from this place. “Let’s get out of here.”

  5

  Delilah

  Lucio places Lulu back in the car seat without asking me any questions. I stand on the sidewalk, staring up at my father’s penthouse and hating him more than I’ve ever hated another human being. Lulu’s father is a piece of shit, but at least he had the decency to leave before she had any memories of him crushing her heart like I do with my father.

  I wipe away my tears, trying to collect my thoughts and calm down before I throw myself into a full-blown panic attack. Eli, my doorman since I was in kindergarten, said he was under strict orders not to let me upstairs. I begged him to let me get my things, and although I saw the pain in his eyes, he still turned us away.

  My knees start to grow weak as I think about everything that’s happened in the last twelve hours. Suddenly, I’m not only a single mother, but homeless and penniless too.

  Lucio opens the passenger door and grabs me by the waist, basically placing me in the car with as much care as he did Lulu. “In you go, sweetheart,” he says softly, and I move with him.

  I don’t put up a fight and push his arms away. Besides being completely devastated and in shock, I like him…and the way he treats my daughter. He is a total stranger, but in the few hours I’ve known him, he’s shown me more kindness than my father has in the last ten years.

  Sitting in the front seat, I fiddle with the hem of my T-shirt and stare down, waiting for Lucio to climb inside. I don’t know what to say or where to tell him to take me. I have nowhere to go and no one else to ask for help. I don’t have any identification, and probably by now, not a dollar in the bank account I shared with my father.

  “You can just drop me off at the nearest shelter,” I tell him because I assume that’s what happens in situations like this. I mean, where else does a penniless person go with a baby? I can’t live on the streets, and without any family, I have nowhere else to turn.

  Lucio leans against the door of the Jeep and turns in his seat. “Absolutely not.” He shakes his head as I start to open my mouth to say something. “I’m not taking you and Lulu to a homeless shelter. That’s out of the question.”

  “It’s just for a few days. We’ll be okay until I figure out what to do,” I explain, figuring what I’m saying makes complete sense. But he isn’t having any of it.

  “Have you ever been in one of those places?” He raises an eyebrow.

  I shake my head, twisting my fingers in my lap. “I don’t have anywhere else to go,” I whisper.

  “You have me.”

  My belly flutters. “We’re not your problem.”

  “Not another word,” he tells me. “The place next to mine is empty. You can stay there.”

  My mouth falls open immediately, and my hands still. “I don’t have any money, Lucio. Like, not even a penny to pay for a place.”

  “Lucky for you, I know the landlord.” He smirks and makes everything seem so easy when it isn’t. “Do you have a job?”

  I shake my head, totally embarrassed. I wanted to stay home with Lulu for as long as I could and live off the trust fund my grandmother left me that I got when I turned twenty-one.

  “You can help out at the bar if you’d like to earn some cash. You know, to get back on your feet.”

  I widen my eyes for a moment before they fill with tears again. I don’t know what to say to this beautiful man sitting next to me, offering us a roof over our heads and a place to work. He doesn’t owe me anything. He definitely doesn’t have to be nice. Lord knows, my own father couldn’t find it in his heart to be kind to me or his granddaughter.

  “I don’t know what to say,” I mumble between my sobs. I’m somehow happy, thankful, and crushed all at the same time. I don’t know what else to do but cry and fling myself into his arms. “Thank you.” I plant a big kiss on his cheek, finding comfort in the warmth of his skin and the hardness of his body. “I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”

  Lucio rubs my back, soothing me in the same manner I often do Lulu when she is upset. “It’ll be nice to have the little squirt around. Life’s been way too quiet anyway.”

  Even through my tears, I smile. This beautiful mountain of a man is lying through his teeth, but I’m not going to call bullshit even though I know it is. For now, I’ll take Lucio up on his offer and try to stay out of his hair as much as possible so we don’t ruin his life. “I promise you won’t even know we’re there.”

  “Sweetheart, you’re doing me a favor, not the other way around.”

  I back away, untangle my arms from his body, and stare up into his deep green eyes, completely confused as I wipe away my tears. “How’s that?”

  “The place has been empty for far too long. I need someone to live there to keep everything working until I can find a new tenant.”

  “Oh.” I
nod, pretending like I understand, when I don’t have a clue what he is talking about. “So, you want me to fix things?”

  He rests his thumb against my cheek and brushes away a few tears I missed. “Absolutely not, but if a place is empty too long, things start to go bad. I just want you to make yourself comfortable for a while and not worry about anything.”

  I gaze up at him, not moving away from his touch because it’s nice to have someone be there for me in a way no one else ever has been. “We’ll be gone as soon as I can save enough money to give you your place back.”

  “Or you can just stay there and rent the joint from me. Don’t have one foot out the door the entire time.” When he smiles, it’s like the entire world shifts and the dark cloud that’s been following me around moves away.

  “Thanks, Lucio. You’re almost too good to be true.” I grimace, knowing that’s a shitty thing to say. I don’t mean the words in a bad way, but where the hell did this guy come from?

  Out of all the places on the South Side of Chicago I could’ve walked into, I went into his bar…a guy who’s more like a knight in shining armor than a super-muscled, womanizing hottie.

  “I mean…” I stammer, trying to think of a good recovery, but fail.

  “Listen, Delilah. I have no doubts about how people look at me and what their first impressions are because of my good looks and hot body—” he waves his hands in front of himself and flexes at the same time “—but I’m not some asshole who bangs everything with two legs and kisses his own reflection in the mirror every day.”

  “You sure about that?” I laugh because this man does love himself. He can deny it all he wants, but there is no getting around his ego. “I mean, not many guys say they’re good-looking and have a hot body.”

  He lifts his chin at me as one corner of his mouth turns upward. “They just don’t say it out loud, but they’re all thinking it.”

  I roll my eyes and swat his arm. “Well, at least I know.”

  “Know what?” He quirks an eyebrow and somehow looks even more handsome.

  “That you’re not just a pretty face.” I shrug and try to maintain a straight face, but I can’t with the way he looks at me. Lucio is nothing short of drop-dead gorgeous, but the problem is…he knows it too.

  “I’m totally yanking your chain, Delilah. All men are dicks. I’m no different, but I was brought up to respect women and do a little good in the world while I’m here.”

  “So, you don’t think you’re good-looking and have a hot body?” I resist the urge to let my eyes drop to his very well-formed muscles peeking out from the sleeves of his T-shirt. Even worse, I want to feel them with my fingertips.

  “Do you think I’m good-looking and have a hot body?” he asks, turning the tables.

  “You’re all right,” I tease, because Lucio is, in fact, all of that and more. But at his core, he’s a good guy who is willing to help me out when no one else will.

  “So are you,” he says with a wink before he picks up his phone and sends a text message. He starts the engine without another word and takes off for wherever I am going to call home.

  Lucio has a way about him. At one of the lowest points in my entire life, he is able to make me forget the shitshow and laugh. No matter what, I’ll forever be grateful to him for giving me a moment’s peace and a little security, as well as a place to sleep.

  “Where’s the apartment?” I ask as we pass the bar I wandered into last night.

  The neighborhood looks different in the daylight. Way less scary than I let myself imagine on the moonless light with nothing illuminating the two- and three-story buildings except the nearby streetlights.

  “It’s a block away from the bar, and it’s a house, not an apartment.”

  I turn my head toward him and try not to ask too many questions because I don’t want to seem ungrateful. “So, we’re going to share a house?”

  “I live downstairs, but the upstairs unit is empty. Don’t worry. There’s a door with a lock at the top of the stairs for your privacy.”

  I wasn’t really worried. I mean, how could I be? He didn’t ask anything of me. He hasn’t even come on to me and has barely flirted. Who really wants a homeless chick without a penny to her name? He could probably have any woman he wanted flat on her back in under five minutes, me included, so why would he bother with me? Nothing in my life is easy, and he seems like the type of guy who likes everything easy…including his women.

  “That’s good to know.”

  “You’ll have everything you need to get started. The place is even completely furnished, and my ma is bringing over some hand-me-downs, so there’s no need to worry.”

  I almost let out a sigh of relief, but although the physical things are being taken care of, I have no way to feed either of us. I can’t even afford a container of formula for Lulu. I couldn’t care less about myself. I could go a few days without eating and survive, but not my baby girl. Nothing in the world is more important than her.

  When we pull up to what I assume is his place, there are two cars and no less than four people unloading groceries, boxes, and a crib. “What the…” My voice drifts off because I can’t believe my eyes.

  Who does this? What kind of people help out strangers? My family never did. Definitely not my father. Sure, he gave to charity, but they were always nameless, and the entire thing was only to get a tax write-off at the end of the year.

  “We got your back,” Lucio says as he puts the Jeep in park and tips his head forward. “This is how my family is. When someone’s in need, we rally.”

  “But…”

  Lucio places his finger against my lips and stops me from speaking. “Don’t say another word. Grab Lulu, and we’ll head up to your new place.”

  I can’t wipe the smile off my face. Less than an hour ago, I thought my entire world had ended and Lulu and I would spend the night in a shelter huddled together for safety. Now, we have an apartment, food, and an entire group helping us out when I’m not sure what we did to truly deserve it.

  6

  Lucio

  Delilah hasn’t moved from the landing at the top of the stairs. She’s just gawking at the upstairs apartment with her mouth open as my two brothers, sister, and mother walk around her, dropping items on every available surface before they head downstairs to grab more.

  “I just can’t believe this,” she whispers before she takes an uneasy step forward, as if she moved too fast, everything would disappear.

  “This is the last box,” Vinnie says as he pushes past me, knocking into my shoulder just like he did the last three times he made the trip up the steps. The once punk-ass teenager is now a college kid with more muscles than brains. “Where would you like this, ma’am?”

  Delilah’s eyes sparkle as she stares at the box in my kid brother’s hands marked Little Kid Shit. “Anywhere you’d like.” She looks almost as happy as she did this morning when she ate the blueberry scone.

  Vinnie grunts, lifting the box higher because he always likes to show off his strength, even if the woman is way out of his league. As the star quarterback in high school and now the sophomore starter for one of the biggest football colleges in the area, he thinks he’s God’s gift to all humanity, especially women. Delilah might have thought I was full of myself, but she doesn’t know Vinnie and how his ego barely fits in the room with the rest of us at Sunday dinner.

  My ma grips Delilah’s shoulders, and Lulu instantly grabs at Ma’s pearls again, but my mother doesn’t seem to mind. “Dinner’s at one tomorrow. You know where I live, honey.”

  “What?” Delilah’s face scrunches up again, the tiny wrinkles returning toward the tip of her nose. She turns to me, looking for help, but I only shrug.

  I’m not about to say anything. Family dinners have always been a special time and a requirement if you were born into this ragtag group of people I call my family. Although my mother seems warm and fuzzy, she doesn’t often invite people we just met to sit down at our table. But Ma being
Ma, she is doing her best to make Delilah feel included, and I’m sure she’s pushing us together in some way. As if living under the same roof and working at the same place isn’t enough, Ma wants to make sure we don’t spend a moment apart.

  “Family dinner is always on Sunday at one.”

  “But I’m not…”

  “Don’t say it,” Ma tells her, beating me to the words, and gives Delilah her very stern, motherly, don’t-mess-with-me look. “The more, the merrier. Family is more than blood, baby.”

  Delilah seems to eat it up, smiling bigger and brighter than she has before. “Thank you so much, Betty. It’s very kind of you to offer, but I think it’s going to take me days to unpack everything and get settled.”

  “Hush now.” My ma waves her hand in my direction. “Lucio will help, and besides, you need to eat. One o’clock. Don’t be late.”

  Delilah only nods.

  “We’ll be there, Ma,” I say, saving Delilah because she looks overwhelmed.

  Ma walks over to me, throwing her arms around my shoulders and putting her mouth right next to my ear. “Don’t fuck this up,” she whispers as I stare at Delilah and she stares at me. “You help this girl and keep them safe.”

  “I know, Ma,” I whisper, but neither of us is speaking softly enough for Delilah not to hear us.

  Ma doesn’t say anything I don’t already know or think. In the short amount of time Delilah and Lulu have been around, they’ve grown on me, and I feel responsible for their safety.

  As quickly as my family gathered to save the day and fill the upstairs apartment with so much baby stuff the place looks like we robbed the going-out-of-business sale at Toys “R” Us, they disappear, leaving us alone.

  “So, your family is…” Delilah looks around the room and pauses with wide eyes. “I don’t know how to describe how I feel.”

  I rub the back of my neck and start to laugh. “They’re crazy at times, but—”