“Just passing through,” Jules said, turning to offer his hand to David. “You must be Big Twigs.”
David actually laughed, shaking Jules’ hand as he said, “I guess I am? David Poe, a pleasure. Wow, you’re a big one, aren’t you? You must be Jules Price. Tamerlane told me a lot about you.”
“Oh, yeah? Some of it may have even been true,” Jules laughed heartily.
“Good morning, Dad!” Jimmy piped up. “How’d you sleep?”
“Pretty damn good,” David replied, walking over to kiss Jimmy’s forehead before sitting back down at the end of the table as he had last night. “Still woke up at six thinking I was going to hear call.”
“It gets easier,” Jules said sympathetically. “Being in the joint shapes you a certain way. Hard to break back out.”
“Spoken like a man who’s done some time,” David said with a wry smile.
Jules smirked, which then grew into a giant joyful leer when he saw Jerry swooshing in to bring David coffee.
Jerry was glaring contemptuously and very much looked like he wanted to throw the scalding beverage at Jules.
They’d both been courting the same woman, Dr. Madeline Queen, and Jules had been the victor. Jerry had not been very happy about it, especially since Jules liked to rub it in his face whenever he could.
“Hey, Jerry,” Jules greeted cheerfully. “Guess where I was last night?”
“Face down in the gutter, rolling around in a pile of your own disgusting filth because your head is as stupid as your feet?” Jerry retorted sweetly.
“I was with the Doc,” Jules sighed longingly. “We had us a swell fucking time.”
“Ugh, that poor woman,” Jerry groaned. “Ah, well. She is a doctor; she’ll be able to write herself a prescription for whatever venereal diseases you’ve spread to her.”
“Hey, hey!” Jules barked angrily, puffing up his chest and staring Jerry down. “What are you trying to say, you fuckin’ twat?”
“Eh, my apologies,monsieur. I forget how weak your brain is. Let me try using smaller words—”
“Enough,” Cold warned, holding up his hand for silence.
Jimmy tried to bury his face in his plate, swallowing back a fit of giggles.
Sniffing stubbornly, Jerry ignored Jules’ sneering and asked David politely, “How do you like your eggs,monsieur?”
“Mmm, just the coffee for now,” David said, doing his level best not to laugh over the hilarious exchange. “Thank you, Jerry.”
Jerry looked to Cold for instruction. “Anything else,MonsieurCold? More coffee? Perhaps throwMonsieurPrice out into the trash?”
“Once David here is ready, please bring the car around,” Cold replied sternly, ignoring his last comment. “There are some errands he and Jimmy need to run today.”
“Oh, we don’t really need a limo, do we?” David glanced over at Jimmy for confirmation. “I really just want to go see Maury and go to the cemetery.”
“I must insist,” Cold said politely.
“All right,” David chuckled, holding his hands up. He smirked playfully at Jimmy. “Living the big life now, aren’t you, son?”
“Yeah,” Jimmy said shyly. “I guess I am.”
“I take care of what’s mine,” Cold explained fondly. “Jimmy is very important to me, and if I cannot be with him, I want him accompanied by someone I trust.”
“You’re not coming with us?” Jimmy frowned.
“I have business,” Cold replied with a shake of his head, nodding toward where Jules was still hovering.
“Okay,” Jimmy said with a faint frown, returning to his eggs. It was hard not to worry about Cold, especially when it felt like something was going on. Not that it was unusual for the Gentlemen to pop in like this, but so many of them in a short amount of time was troubling.
