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Back Blood in the Water
Chapters (82)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY
  54. FIFTY-ONE
  55. FIFTY-TWO
  56. FIFTY-THREE
  57. FIFTY-FOUR
  58. FIFTY-FIVE
  59. FIFTY-SIX
  60. FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. FIFTY-NINE
  63. SIXTY
  64. SIXTY-ONE
  65. SIXTY-TWO
  66. SIXTY-THREE
  67. SIXTY-FOUR
  68. SIXTY-FIVE
  69. SIXTY-SIX
  70. SIXTY-SEVEN
  71. SIXTY-EIGHT
  72. SIXTY-NINE
  73. SEVENTY
  74. SEVENTY-ONE
  75. SEVENTY-TWO
  76. SEVENTY-THREE
  77. SEVENTY-FOUR
  78. SEVENTY-FIVE
  79. SEVENTY-SIX
  80. Praise for Blood in the Water
  81. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  82. Newsletter Sign-up

She put her face up close to his, keeping her elbows on his chest, but pulling his face down so that their noses were only an inch or so apart. “You’re an asshole!” she hissed at him, her eyes conveying the threat, her heart beating out of control.

He looked at her, still recovering from the shock, not yet able to assert himself. And then he gave her a crooked smile and raised his hands in surrender. “Guilty as charged,” he said.

She looked at him for another moment, her eyes still hard, her fists still clenched against the fabric of his jacket collar. Then she pulled him even closer and put her lips on his and kissed him deeply, closing her eyes and slipping her arm into his jacket and around his body.

He kissed her back, and brought her body into his. For a few moments they stood there, lost in each other in the frigid alley hidden in heart of Southie. When the moment was over, he smiled at her. “I take it I’m forgiven.”

“Why the hell would you tell me to meet you at the Eye? It’s a strip club, and I know people there!”

“It’s the only place I knew your father would never go,” Buddy said.

“It would have been easier if we’d told him I was seeing you months ago.”

He shook his head. “How do you think he’d react? You’re his precious little girl. You’re smart. You’re gonna go to college eventually. I’m a two-bit dockworker who does jobs for him on the side, and not all of that on the up-and-up. I’m not exactly the kind of a guy he’s gonna welcome to the family.”

“Who’s he to judge? He knocked my mother up and then left her because she was a drug addict. I know he’s connected, that much is obvious. We’re not exactly the Kennedys, for Christ’s sake.”

“All the more reason he won’t want you hanging out with the likes of me. He knows you could make it out of here, if you wanted to.”

“Maybe I don’t want to. Maybe this is exactly where I want to be, and maybe he should know that.”

He shook his head. “This isn’t the life for you, and I’m not the man. You deserve better, and your father knows it. He can’t find out about us.”

Diamond thought about her father’s face when she’d told him she was pregnant. She knew Buddy was right. “Then why were you calling out to me in the middle of the street? I had to slide into this dump of an alley, or we would have been making out on the street. If you really want this to be a secret, what the fuck were you thinking about?”