“Oh, finally getting the picture now, aren’t you?” Mickey lifts the gun and points it directly at me.
My hands shoot up to show him I’m not moving. I wouldn’t say I’m not a threat, but I’m not going to let him hurt my brother.
“Now, he owes me at least a thousand dollars today, Hernandez.” My heart sinks, fuck. But I don’t let him know that. “Today. I’m not giving any more extensions. Either you get me the cash, or your brother fucking gets it.” My chest clenches tightly as Mickey turns the gun, pressing it tightly against Mario’s temple.
A thousand dollars? What the fuck did Mario spend all that shit on? How am I going to…
“What do you want?” I snap. “You obviously came to me with an idea on how I could pay that off. You know I don’t have that kind of money. So,what do you want?”
Mickey’s smile turns sinister. Joker-like as his demented smile grows.
“See, I knew you weren’t so stupid,” Mickey laughs menacingly. “Terecino Hernandez. The guy that my Roxanne did everything to keep hidden. The stoic, quiet, giant,” Mickey says the words with a big guffaw, rolling his eyes like the very notion that someone thought that of me was ridiculous. He laughs, but keeps the barrel trained on Mario. “Who only thinks about others and how he can help them. Nice. A really nice story.” Mickey’s voice turns serious, no trace of the laughter in his tone now. “But they don’t know that you’re a fucking thief.”
My eyebrows shoot up in surprise.
“A thief? What have I stolen?”
Mickey’s eyes narrow as a thread of pure anger floats through his eyes.
“You’ve stolen Roxie. You stole my best fighter.My girl. And you stole the fight that could’ve made me a top manager.”
I try not to fixate too much on the fact that he called Roxiehisand take a shallow breath.
“If you’re mad at me, Frank, let’s settle this. I told you I was going to pay off Roxie’s debt, I’ll pay off Mario’s too. You know I’m good for it.”
“Not good enough,” Mickey snarls as he presses the gun harder against Mario’s temple.
My hands clench tighter but I don’t move more than that, just focusing on appearing non-threatening.
“What can I do to prove to you that I’ll get Mario’s debt paid? That I’ll pay Roxie’s too?”
“You’re going to fight,” Mickey announces, as if he already knew the outcome of this confrontation.
Like he fucking planned this whole thing.
“Mario,” I say and watch as my too-young-for-this brother looks at me in terror, “did he give you drugs at the start?”
“Don’t answer that.” Mickey tightens his grip on Mario so much that I can see the way his skin stretches over the bones, even in the dark.
Anger. Pure hot anger fills my chest as all the pieces fall into place. Mickey’s been feeding Mario’s addiction. Mickey abused Roxie for years and when she left, he couldn’t handle it. He thinks it’s my fault.
And I want to kill him. Cold-blooded murder, right here, right now. But right now, I’d lose.
“You son of a bitch,” I snarl, stepping closer, but Mickey turns the gun towards me.
“Uh, uh, uh,” he says in a sing-song tone, “Not so fast, big guy. You want both your precious baby brother and your used-up old lady to walk away from me free and clear?”
I don’t answer. He already knows but just wants to make this painful. To stick the knife in and twist while dangling the carrot just out of reach and watching as I bleed out to try and get it.
“Oh, that got your attention, hm?” Mickey’s smirk darkens. He knows he has me on the ropes. “Luckily for you, I have a deal. Just for you.”
I clench my teeth, breathing in deeply through my nose to try and control my anger.
“What do I have to do?”
CHAPTER 29
I’m watchingthe fucking timer as I hit the bag. I’m so fucking tired, I just want to go home, shower and pass out. If I had it my way, I’d go straight to Ty’s house, climb into his bed, and have him eat me out until I passed out from orgasmic bliss.
