“Probably. Maybe I should ask her to take better care of you. Or I could get her to suck your dick, if you’re still into women, that is. Prison can fuck with a man like that.”
“I didn’t need prison to know I like all kinds of folk to suck my dick.”
“That’s cute, brother. But don’t be saying that shit on the street. I haven’t got time to protect you from that.”
“From what? What homeboy on the street cares who’s sucking my dick?”
Dante stubbed his smoke out in a nearby ashtray. “None of them until I direct them to that cosy cafe of yours—”
Luis blurred across the room and yanked Dante off the sofa by his neck. He threw him against the wall, blind rage stoked by the flash of shock in Dante’s eyes. “Stay away from the cafe.”
Dante tried to speak.
Luis pressed his forearm over his throat. “I mean it, stay the fuck away. I don’t need your bullshit in my face when I’m trying to work.”
Dante’s face reddened, and his eyes bulged. He scrabbled for his phone in his pocket, but Luis got there first and tossed it aside. He pushed harder against Dante’s windpipe, and a red mist descended.You could kill him. Be free of him forever.But Luis was no longer a slave to the madness that made him want his brother dead. He was a man who wanted to grill bacon all day and hold Paolo all night long, not spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder in prison.
He let Dante go.
Dante slumped against the wall, rubbing his neck. “You know I could have you whacked right here right now, don’t you? For that shit you just pulled?”
“Go on then. I don’t care.”
“You really don’t, do you? About yourself. It’s that cafe boy that’s got you worried.”
Luis couldn’t deny it. What was the point? He’d given himself away the moment he’d thrown hands. “What do youwant?”
Dante stopped rubbing his neck and returned to the couch to relight his blunt. His first drag made him cough, and he rubbed his neck again. “I was going to ask you to do me some muscle work, but seeing as you’ve got yourself some anger issues, I don’t want you on the street like that. Reckon you’d make a better mule.”
“What?”
“You heard me, bruh. I got food I need moving up north. I want you to take it.”
Food.Man, it had been a long time since Luis had heard the street slang for the kilos and kilos of coke and smack Dante moved around the city. Prison had a language all of its own. “What do you mean, up north? You got some county lines shit up and running?”
“County what? Don’t be saying that up in here. Just take the food where I tell you.”
“I ain’t doing shit for you.”
Dante rolled his shoulders in an easy shrug. “That’s your choice, but I’ve already told you what’s gonna happen if you don’t.”
“Why me? Why can’t you use some wide boy who actually wants this life?”
“I don’t need wide boys. I need you. My brother. Cos I know you’re good for keeping your mouth shut.”
“That’s not true. I took a six-year stretch because I pled guilty. I didn’t keep my mouth shut about anything.”
“You never said shit about me. You took them years for your family.”
“I took them for myself.” The truth hit Luis like a sucker punch. As if saying it out loud had solidified it enough to be real. “I took them to get away from you.”
Dante laughed. “How’s that working out for you, considering you’re in my flat?”
It wasn’t Dante’s flat. It belonged to the council, just as it had twenty years ago when it had been their family home. Luis couldn’t believe Dante still had it. How many strings had he pulled to keep the tenancy? Or maybe it was still in their mother’s name. Whatever. Luis didn’t give a fuck. He only cared about Paolo.
He stepped up to Dante again and leaned over him. “You gotta leave him alone.”
“Who?”
