Page 53

“Ouch. Jesus, ease up there. And what’s with the Bounty?”

“Fewer fibers, less chance of infection. And you were shot. I was almost shot.” I steady my hand and my nerves by pressing the towel in, and he jerks away from me.

“Poppy, ease up.” I don’t.

“Look, it’s not like there are a lot of open safe spaces for me to get fixed up. It’s a scrape, but it needs to be sealed. I didn’t have a whole lot of options. We’re fine, Pop.”

“We’re fine?” I narrow my eyes at him and say, “Say that again. I fucking dare you. We’re on the run, and there’s a contract on my life. Not only did we make me bait, but we didn’t close the trap. The other guys are missing, and Lou has flipped sides. And now…” My voice gets low as I pull all the steel into it, “We’re twisting in the wind while you bleed to death at your ex’s house. Hold this your damn self. You told me to trust you, sure. Her, never.”

Ang yells from the other room, “Yeah, yeah, I seen Lou. He’s not dead either. Did you know?”

I roll my eyes and whisper at Sal, “Really? Her?”

“What? We were fucking kids. She had tits and let me touch them. You can’t blame fifteen-year-old me for this shit.”

I yell to Angelina, “You know Lou is dirty now, right?” Whether he is or not, she should stay away from him.

Ang yells again from the other room, and come on, how hard is it to find gunshot glue? She’s taking forever. “And you know, there are no sides, you dumb Mick. Lou works for the Family. That’s all. The company and the Family are your loyalty, not dead Dons.” I bristle, and Sal doesn’t move but goes stoic again.

I yell back. “And thank you for patching him up and having the right kind of gunshot glue on hand. That’s totally freaking normal.”

She enters the room and says dismissively, “Guess I just know what he needs.”

Sal’s voice interrupts us. “That’s enough. Both of you.”

I turn to him. “If I had a car or a gun, I’d be out of here.”

“He’d never give you a gun. He gave me a lovely piece a while ago, but he’d never give no one else a gun.” This bitch flies past me, starting to clean out his wound. She even has Betadine like she runs a gunshot clinic.

“You know I should charge right over there and knock you out of the way, but I don’t know how to glue a wound shut. I was raised in a normal life. But you know what Sal did do for me and never did for you?”

She pops her hip at me. Her dogs yap around my ankles like they know I want to flatten their mother. “He married me. He may have fucked you first, but he’ll fuck me last.” She gasps and turns to Sal.

He levels a look my way and then turns his head to Ang. “It was written, Ang. No choice.”

Ang responds manically and tosses her hands up in the air, “Fess up, Sally. What’s the deal?”

“Get to it, Ang. Our life is not for your approval.”

I roll my eyes. “I’ll be out back, dear. You find me when you want to discuss how we get the fuck out of the suburbs of Long Beach without dying. Or having to come back to this doggie daycare from hell. And don’t fucking touch my husband more than you have to.”

I storm out through her sliding glass door and try to find a spot in the backyard where I can’t see them while avoiding all the tiny piles of little dog poop. I end up smashed up against the corner of the fence near the garden hose. But I can’t see them.

Chapter

Thirty-Two

Sal

“Really? That one?”

“We didn’t tell nobody, and neither can you, sister.” I raise an eyebrow to her. My side burns but not as much as the ballbusting I’m going to get in the car when we leave. I need information. I knew this was fucked up, but she used to fuck Enzo’s man, Gerry. I could have gone a million places, but I need specialized info. I needed Poppy to hate her so I could look like I was taking Ang’s side. She likes to be queen bee, and then she’ll let shit slip.

“Sister? Now I’m your sister.”

I pull out the charming voice, and it’s killing me but I need intel. “You know you and me didn’t work. It was always like that with us.”

“I see it now. I wasn’t a small annoying red head.”