“Hear that, Antonio?”Michael asked, in that overly friendly, insincere way thatscreamed‘my wife read me the riot act prior to coming here.’“Need to start taking Jeeps.Modern cars.Make real money.”
Discomfort plucked at their bond.Leather cracked, brittle, under too much sun.“Modern cars run on computers.Need diagnostic shit I don’t have.”
“Do they, truly?”Declan asked.“That’s unfortunate.Doesn’t sound nearly as fun as working with cars like yours.Real, hands-on work.Not that I can say much, given my ‘hands-on’ includes dust and books.”
Antonio beamed at him and hooked Declan’s ankle with his foot.Declan couldn’t help but smile in turn.
“Yeah.Soon they’ll all turn into Apple.Everything proprietary and you gotta pay the company in blood for a basic fix.”
“My brother’s paranoid,” Angela said, with an unmistakable note of reproach.“Don’t get him started.So, Declan, does your business bring you back to Ireland often?”
“No way in hell.You’re not gonna be disappearing on me,” Antonio had said when Declan asked if he should be on better behavior this go about.“They’ll need to get used to me having a thing for mouthy, hot murder punks.”
What they needed to get used to was someone who wouldn’t allow them to call Antonioparanoidwithout comment.If Eithne said it to Declan, that would have been one thing.Declandidn’t sport a schizophrenia diagnosis.
“Paranoia would be expecting us to pay them with bone marrow.Blood’s just enterprising.”Declan breathed in the burnished red sunlight of Antonio’s appreciation.Steadied himself with it.“As for Belfast, not often.I only travel for work if it can’t come to me, and the vast majority of my attachments are in the States, now.”
“Ah.Of course.”
Flint and steel, sparked hot, quick.Indignation like a cut lip.
“Could be nice though,” Antonio said, none of his firestarter indignation apparent.“You’ve always said you wanted Mara to see more of the world.Think she’d be interested in touring Belfast?”
Antonio was brilliant, and Declan loved him.
“That’s not–” Michael started before Angela cut him off with an unsubtle glare.
“I think, with … everything, you shouldn’t get your hopes up too high about traveling.”
“Why not?The passport process can’t bethatarduous,” Declan said because he was a prick.“Neither part of the isle is going to deny a bloke just for having spent some time away.Not for something vehicle related, with no human damage.”He glanced to Antonio.“Unless you were actually a serial arsonist or out terrorizing the public?”
“Not that I remember,” Antonio answered, grinning.
“That’s very sweet, Declan,” Angela said, in a voice that said it wasn’t sweet at all.“But I’m afraid you haven’t fully considered what it means to date someone with Antonio’s … history.Most countries don’t welcome felons, though I can’t speak for Ireland.But it touches everything.”
Hard to speak for a country that didn’t exist.Declan would give her that.He was the veryimageof restraint, up to and including not dropping his glamour just to fuck with her.Antonio would never forgive him.
It galled him, was all.The way she said it.As if a person fully in the know about her brother wouldn’t bother with him.
“Angela, can we skip this?”Antonio asked.“Declan knows about all that shit.”
“Before we started dating, even.The only thing that gave me a moment’s hesitation was that he returned my mother’s horrible, jean-shredding cat.”Declan smiled at Angela and Michael with plenty of teeth.“But I’m more than happy to divulge in graphic detail all the considering I’ve done of him if you’d rather not skip this part.”
Angela tried, and failed, to not look offended as Antonio snickered.Michael, though–the prick–furrowed his brow and turned to shoot Angela a triumphant look.
“This is exactly what I was talking about,” Michael crowed.
“Michael.”
“See, Antonio, it comes down toinfluence.You can do whatever you like.It’s your life.But I can’t have Mara thinking it’s okay.”
Hot steel and cold water.Cracks turned to shattering, chips everywhere.
Antonio paled and opened his mouth to speak.No words came.
“This isn’t what wediscussed,” Angela hissed.
“Which ‘this’ do you mean, Michael?”Declan asked, his voice gone allfae.Pointedly, politely passive-aggressive and topped off with a smile.“A slightly off-color insinuation?I’ll admit, it wasn’t on par with the level of class and discretionyoudisplayed when we first met.”
