“Fine,” Jimmy grumbled, stalking out toward the limo. “Take me over to Maury’s, please.”
* * *
“Hey, Maury!” Jimmycalled out as he strolled into the pawn shop. “You here?”
“Door says open, don’t it?” Maury yelled back with a short laugh. “Where else the fuck would I be?”
Jimmy threw himself down on the creaky old couch Maury kept by the counter. “I’m sorry I didn’t call first. I just had to get out of the house.”
“Aw, you mean yous tore yourself away from your big fancy mansion just to come slummin’ downtown with me?” Maury cackled as he waddled out from the back of the store. “I’m fuckin’ touched.”
“How’s it going?”
“It’s fuckin’ goin’,” Maury grunted. He cocked his head and eyed Jimmy suspiciously. “The fuck’s wrong with you?”
“You’re looking at a very angry newlywed.”
“What? Yous got married?” Maury blinked in shock. “Uh...mazel tov?”
“No!” Jimmy groaned. “Cold did it without telling me. Says it’s to protect me and blah blah blah. Have you ever heard of such bullshit?”
“Wait, what the fuck happened?” Maury was lost, scrubbing his hand over his wrinkled face.
“He faked a marriage certificate so now our one-year anniversary is in a month,” Jimmy explained grumpily. “He’s already got a wedding planner and a ring—”
“But don’t you love him?”
“Of course I do, but not right this freakin’ second,” Jimmy growled. “He didn’t even propose. He just told me. And then he started all of this crap about spousal privilege as if that’s supposed to be romantic. Ha!” He stopped, noticing that Maury’s expression had become grim. “What’s wrong?”
“Feds are in town,” Maury said, pushing Jimmy’s legs out of the way so he could sit down with a grunt. “Little birdies have been yapping that they’re here for Cold. Got invited in on a local murder case.”
“Dickie White?” Jimmy asked quietly. He could feel his heart crawling up the back of his throat.
“Nah, that fucker Detective Duplin has done good on his end, and Dickie’s case been colder than a penguin’s dick. This is somethin’ else.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Jimmy sat up, gawking at Maury.
“It was just a fuckin’ rumor!” Maury protested. “My information ain’t always the most accurate, okay? People are just talkin’ is all.”
“I feel like this is the kind of thing I should know about.”
“Come on, kid. You think that Cold don’t already know there’s feds crawling all over the place? That big ol’ ugly man of yours is smart. He’s definitely wise to ‘em.”
“The marriage,” Jimmy gasped. “He knew the feds were coming, and that’s why he married me.”
“See?” Maury clapped his hands together and grinned. “There ya’ go! Everything is right as the fuckin’ rain!”
“No,” Jimmy scoffed angrily. “No, it’s not. If he knew that the feds have been coming for freakin’ weeks, he should have told me.”
“And told ya’ what exactly?” Maury scratched his head.
“Told me that something was happening. Anything! Anything other than marrying me behind my freakin’ back and expecting me to be okay with it.”
“Right! Got it! He’s a fuckin’ bastard!”
“Exactly!” Jimmy growled.
“Fuck him right in his mouth!”
