“What was it you called him once?” Levi asked, staring at the phone with a hardened expression. “A self-serving, arrogant, high-minded piece of shit?”
“Doesn’t sound like me,” I said, glaring at the phone. “I mean, it sounds like something I would want to say because it’s definitely how I feel about him, but I wouldn’t say it like that. You’re the smart one.”
“You’ve never lacked brains,” he said, his expression softening into a small smile when his gaze flicked to me. “But no,not a particularly effective communicator. I have undoubtedly translated what you said into my own words.”
“Undoubtedly,” I said with a smirk. “You always used to do that. Usually, it was so you could make what I said sound better.”
“It always drove you crazy,” he said with that same small smile that reminded me of the first time I’d met him, tucked away from everyone else, trying to live his life as quietly as possible and then surprised that someone wanted anything to do with him. Now he was...what? Maybe trying to live that same quieter life, but finding it impossible when people refused to let him. First, it had been me, a young kid with a lot of anger and nowhere to put it, and now it was his father, who refused to let him do what he wanted because it wasn’t what Augustine wanted.
The thought stopped me short, and I stood there as I realized that comparison wasn’t very flattering to me. Was I not doing the same thing to Levi right now? He clearly wanted me not to be a part of his life, but I was refusing to let him get away with that, not without a fight anyway. Just like Augustine wasn’t letting him do whatever it was he was doing before, and now had him?—
“Shit,” I said, my guilt disappearing in a wash of horror and understanding. “You’re not just?—”
I barely paid attention to the news. Current events were boring or the same fucked up shit over and over again. At the same time, there were some things I couldn’t help but notice, and I remembered the news report about the death of a big-time member of the Marelli family over a month ago. There had been a lot of guessing about what the feds and cops would do next, and a lot of speculation about what the Marelli Family would do now that they had lost one of their big names.
That had been up in Portland, but now Levi was here...in Cresson Point. Not that far from Portland, but still a decent distance from where that head honcho had been taken out.Not to mention how busy Levi had apparently been ever since arriving, and the way he had refused to talk about it even when I hinted and poked at him. And now this conversation with Augustine, mentioning how Levi was doing something Augustine had all but forced him to do.
“Fuck me sideways with a rubber hose,” I muttered, bringing my hand to my face and wiping it vigorously. “You’re here because you’re running shit, aren’t you? You aren’t just playing middle manager or errand boy for Augustine, are you? You’re the guy he has running things.”
Levi stared at me for a moment before sighing and turning away, heading back toward the living room and a cabinet tucked into the corner. “Like I said before, you’ve never lacked brains.”
I scowled. “Seriously? It’s not like all the hints weren’t there. And it’s not like you didn’t know I was coming in and let me hear that conversation between you and Augustine. You wanted me to figure it out, and you made the ‘riddle’ easy.”
“If I didn’t want you to figure things out, I would have sent you somewhere other than my home,” he said as he pulled out a couple of glasses and began filling one of them. “I was going to say I’d forgotten what it is you drink, but actually, I have no idea what you drink. All I remember is sneaking alcohol occasionally. Back then, you accepted whatever you could get your hands on rather than worrying about whether it was to your taste.”
“Beer, usually,” I grunted, not sure if I was unhappy about that knowledge gap. Just one more thing we didn’t know about each other, and it wasn’t like that gap existed because of me. “So long as it isn’t tequila, I don’t really care.”
“Of course it’s beer,” he said, and although his back was to me, I could hear the smile in his voice.
“Why? Because it’s simple?”
“Yes...but that’s not a bad thing,” he said, pouring something else into the other glass, capping the bottles, and sliding themback into the cabinet. He set one of the glasses in front of me, walking back toward the living room and standing at the sliding door that looked out onto the woods. “I have always believed there is beauty in simplicity. I always strove to make my life as simple as possible, if only because simple usually results in less stress and worry. Not always, but usually. Sadly, my life doesn’t allow for much in the way of simplicity, even when I’ve found ways to let it into my life.”
“Well, I imagine that trying to...shit, I don’t even know what you were doing before you came here,” I admitted as I picked up the glass and eyed it warily. For a moment, I wondered if I should be concerned about what it was, and then felt like the world’s biggest bastard. A lot of things had changed about Levi, but not for a moment should I have considered he’d try to hurt me, let alone kill me. Hell, the asshole had done his best to keep me away; I didn’t think he would go so far as to poison me, even if that would ensure I wasn’t going to get too close.
“I was basically an accountant,” he said with a shrug. “Mixed with a middle manager. It was my job to make sure operations up and down the West Coast were working as intended, and I was charged with increasing efficiency, filling gaps, shoring up weaknesses, and occasionally finding something that might work better. Mostly crunching numbers, putting together the results, and using that information to make sure people listened to me because I was right.”
“Wow, sounds...well, that sounds a lot quieter than you made it sound,” I told him with a snort. “But, uh...what kind of number crunching? Drugs? Weapons? People?”
He turned to frown at me. “The Family is a great many horrible things, but human trafficking? No.”
“Right, and those illegal brothels of theirs? I’m sure all the workers want to be there. Totally not because they’re trapped or were dragged there.”
Levi opened his mouth and then closed it, hard enough that I thought I heard the click of his teeth. “Truth be told, the sexual side of things was never of interest to me.”
There were about a dozen things I could have said to that, the angriest being that it was probably a lot easier to turn a blind eye to what The Family was doing than deal with the reality, but instead I found myself saying, “Huh. I guess some things do change in fifteen years.”
The glass door was just reflective enough that I could see the hazy outline of his reaction as he stared at the woods. I saw him jerk a little, his expression flashing surprise, then tilt his head slightly, and, while the reflection was hazy, I thought I saw him smile. “That...isn’t what I meant.”
“I know,” I said as I finally took a drink and blinked at the taste. Jesus, this shit was better than the top-tier stuff at the hotel. It was hard to tell what it was, since it was just...smooth and rich, but I thought it might be dark rum. “But it was either make a joke that shook you out of this funk, or make a comment about how shitty the things you and the rest of The Family do are. I want the first real conversation you and I have to be something that doesn’t involve trying to duke it out...for now.”
He snorted. “Alright, I suppose that’s fair.”
“But, uh...Augustine really made you do this?”
“I see that lasted long.”
“Hey, I’m not trying to argue, I’m trying to decide how much more hate for Augustine I can fit into my body.”
