My gaze darts around the space in front of us, hyperaware of the possible threats. There are too many for me to have any real ability to control the situation.
Malakai rises from behind a table with a giant smile as his eyes land on my grandfather. “Tino,” he says in a cheerful tone that totally throws me off-kilter. “It’s good to see you, old man.”
My grandfather extends his hand to him and laughs. “You’re not looking so young yourself anymore either, Kai.”
Malakai shakes my grandfather’s hand, and it feels more like a reunion of old friends than a matter of life and death. “Sit. Sit,” Malakai tells him as the handshake ends.
“You remember my grandson,” my grandpa says as he glances over his shoulder to where I’m standing.
Malakai’s gaze lands on me, and he pauses halfway in the sitting position as if stuck. “That can’t be Brax. I remember when he was a wee lad.”
“Brax has never been wee,” Gramps tells Malakai as he eases into an open chair across from the mobster.
“I suppose not,” Malakai says, finally planting his ass back in his chair.
“And his girlfriend, Iris,” Grandpa adds as we move closer to the table.
I pull out a chair for Iris, and she gives me a terrified smile before she sits. “Thanks,” she says as her voice quavers.
“Malakai,” I say, greeting him as I take a seat between my grandfather and Iris.
“Hey, kiddo,” Malakai says, sounding every bit like my grandfather with the nicknames. “Time moves quickly, eh?”
“Too fast,” Gramps says as he reaches for an empty glass and the pitcher of dark beer in front of him. “Thank you for taking this meeting.”
Malakai strokes his reddish-blond beard. “Of course. I was confused at first. I’d never heard Iris’s name before you called.”
Great.
If she wasn’t on his radar, we put her there.
I slide my hand onto Iris’s leg, closing my fingersaround the top to ground her, hopefully calming a bit of the energy that’s practically vibrating off her.
“But Lucas… Him, I know too well,” he adds with a sinister smile, showing the slight gap in his front teeth. “He owes me more than he can probably ever earn in his lifetime.”
My grandfather pours the beer with ease, not a single tremor in his hands, as if we’re discussing old memories and not the immediate threat. “Iris hasn’t dated him in years, but the boy called her to warn her you’re coming after her.”
Malakai laughs and shakes his head. “Tino, come on. You’ve known me for what…fifty years? Have I ever gone after women or children?”
My grandfather slides the pitcher of beer toward me as if I’m in the mood to have a drink right now. “No. I can’t say I remember a time when that was ever your MO.”
“The beef is between Lucas and me, not the girl.”
Iris’s tense leg muscles relax a little under my palm, and I wonder if Malakai’s toying with us.
“So, I have your word that no harm will come to her?” Gramps asks as he lifts the glass of beer to his lips.
Malakai holds up a hand. “No harm will come to her from my hands.”
My grandfather places the beer back on the table, but he keeps his eyes trained on Malakai. “And thehands of any man in your organization,” my gramps adds, lifting a brow.
I stare at my grandfather in utter surprise. I wouldn’t have thought to ask for the clarification. I would’ve accepted Malakai’s word at face value because I didn’t grow up in this world of double-talk, backroom deals, and illegal activity.
“I have no beef with her. She wasn’t on my radar before you called, and she isn’t on it now. Lucas is the only person who will pay for what he owes me, Tino. I won’t let anyone, including my men and myself, touch the girl. You have my word as men and old friends.”
My grandfather lifts his glass, raising it over the table. “I’m going to hold you to it. Or else…”
Malakai lifts his glass too. “There’s no or else. Nothing will happen. My word is my bond.”
