Page 54

“Ang, I appreciate you and the time we got in the fucking box, but be nasty to her one more second, and I’m fucking cutting you out again. Keep your mouth shut. Now. Where is he?”

“Who?” She plays dumb. She’s fighting with me to keep me here. I could have been patched in a fucking minute. She finishes sealing, and now she’s holding it shut until it sets.

“How long we got?”

I knew we were in the wrong place as soon as she was gone too long looking for glue because she keeps it in her junk drawer of her kitchen. She stops pinching my skin, and I touch it to see if it’s dry. She covers the area with a gauze pad and I toss on my shit. Then my voice raises, “HOW LONG?”

She tries to touch my chest, but I step back. “You need to listen to him.”

“I don’t need to listen to shit. The man has been hunting me and mine for far too fucking long. The money isn’t his. The power sure as shit isn’t. He’s borrowing it from a fucking bigger source like a parasite. It’s all he’ll ever be, a leech. You balling him?”

“You chose outside the family. But then you always did.”

“What the hell’s that talk? Stop with the old shit,” I yell at her.

“What they say is true?”

“What’re they saying?” I ask.

“You sold the numbers, rackets, containers, the fronts, and the corners. You sold us all out.” Us? What the fuck is this greedy woman talking about?

“You ain’t earning, just fucking those that do. Let’s not get nasty, Ang. You’ll find a rich moron to open your fucking used up cunt to again, and they’ll happily buy you another brood of yappy dogs to make you feel like you matter. You’re a cat who always lands on your feet.” I tower over her and look down. “How long?”

“You have like five.”

“You money grubbing piece of shit. He’s not even a Pietro. How’s that stand with you? He’ll never get control, and you go back to being a low level goomar. You fucking whore. You’re poison and always have been.”

She slaps me and I shove her away. I won’t hit her as much as I want to. I take her keys off the wall.

“Motherfucker. That’s my car.”

“You buy it?”

“Don’t touch my special edition Camry.”

I laugh at her, “You must be a lousy lay these days.”

She charges at me, and I hold her face like a fucking cartoon while she swings. I yell, “Poppy! Get in here now.”

“No!” I roll my eyes.

“Fucking emergency. Cut the shit.” She comes in and sees me holding her off. She walks in, doesn’t break stride, winds up, and cold cocks the bitch. She’s on the floor but tries to sit up only to have Pop hit her again so she stays there. My eyes get wide.

“Who the fuck taught you how to throw a punch?”

“Baxter and Josh. All so I could handle myself on my first date.”

“Remind me to send them a fruit basket. We gotta go. She’s Enzo’s lay now.”

“Ew, that’s gross. You’re related.”

“No, we ain’t.”

“She didn’t know that.”

I agree with her. “Yeah, that’s gross. But we do have to go. Move your ass.”

We spark up the compact car, making sure the garage door closes after we pull out. It will give us a minute or so extra time. I peel out around the corner. I slow it down and join the traffic.