Page 46 of The Cat's Mausy

Coffee Chats

Felinus never thought that he’d have a Russian in his personal vehicle, nor did he think he’d be sitting in a shitty chain coffee house drinking a latte that made a mockery of the beans. Yet he found himself doing both.

Adrian ordered his coffee black, then added enough sugar packets that Felinus’s teeth hurt as they sat opposite each other at the little table. One of the muscle cars Issac had seen idling had torn out of the parking lot after them when Felinus had driven off and the three large men had crammed themselves into a table on the other side of the room. The brick house from the mall was eating a chocolate croissant.

“Precautions, you understand,” Adrian had said with a shrug.

Felinus did understand, but it didn’t mean he enjoyed being in the Russian Ring, outnumbered and out-gunned if things went sideways.

“You don’t come to these places,” Adrian said, watching Felinus sip his bad coffee.

“I have my own espresso machine at home,” Felinus replied. “There’s not really a reason to buy coffee when you can make it yourself.”

Adrian let out a soft hum, looking away. “You like expensive things.”

“I do,” Felinus confirmed, never seeing the point in trying to play down his tastes.

“You like dressing the people around you the same way,” he said. “Expensive.”

Felinus lifted an eyebrow. “I can afford it.”

“And they like it,” Adrian asked. “The people being dressed up, I mean.”

Felinus sighed slowly, shifting in his hard little chair to lean his elbows on the table. “You are either trying to hint at something or you are angling for a makeover yourself. Which is it?”

“I like how I look, thanks, Kot,” Adrian said tightly.

“Then what are you hinting at?” Felinus asked him. “We have time, but not all day. You never struck me as a man to mince words or waste time.”

Adrian took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “My father wanted me to let you know he’s looking forward to seeing you and Issac at the children’s charity event tomorrow evening.”

“Charity event,” Felinus repeated then sighed slowly. “Cazzo.”

“You have had an eventful week to forget about something like that,” Adrian commented raising his hands when Felinus narrowed his eyes. “Don’t look at me like that. I don’t even want to go to the thing. I still rent the suits for them.”

“If you need the number for a tailor, I have the card for mine,” Felinus said.

“Italian?”

“Lebanese,” he said, resisting the urge to rub at his eyes and sipping his coffee instead. The anniversary of the treaty was this month, technically next Tuesday, but there was always some charity event that one or more of the Big Three hosted. This year was the Family’s turn, and Don Esposito had decided about two months after the previous event to raise money for the children’s hospitals. As one of his Capos, Felinus had been told his presence and contribution to the charity and silent auctions were expected. He had already taken care of all other obligations but the actual event had completely slipped his mind. It would have never occurred to him that they actually expected him to bring Issac. Two days ago, he would have shrugged it off and bought Issac a suit. Now… he didn’t really want to bring Issac around a room of gangsters from all three Rings knowing what he knew. But it wasn’t as if he could tell Adrian that. “You can tell the Pakhan that we look forward to seeing him tomorrow night.” At least he would get to dress Issac up in a suit earlier than he expected and all the fun of having that argument with him.

Adrian let out a soft laugh that Felinus raised an eyebrow at. “If it makes your upcoming argument with him any better,” he said, a grin on his lips, “Dimitri has been trying to get Issac to one of these things for years. I love my little brother, but him coming home moping because whatever plan he had failed miserably is one of the highlights of my year.”

“You have a complex relationship with him, don’t you,” Felinus commented. “Next you’ll tell me that you and your men have bets on how it’s going to go wrong for him.”

“Not my men,” Adrian said leaning back in his chair. “Babushka.”

Felinus stared at him then started laughing himself. “You and your grandmother place bets on your baby brother getting rejected every year?”

“That woman has very few joys left in life,” Adrian said, grinning. “She said that if she’s not getting great-grandbabies any time soon, she might as well profit off his blundering attempts at giving her another grandson to feed.”

Felinus shook his head with a chuckle. “She doesn’t bet on our rejections, but my Nona has said similar things to all of us in the past. I suppose when all your grandsons follow your sons, you take what you can get.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “He will be there. I just make no promises on how polite he’ll actually be when he learns we’re monopolizing another study day from him.”

“Part of the reason I’m letting you deal with it instead of me,” Adrian said, sipping his sweet black coffee. “I have enough fighting with one twenty-something without adding a second one with the glare that goes straight through you.”

* * *

“Absolutely not,” Issac said over the plate of lasagna Maria had put in front of him.

---