Page 45 of Tammaro DeLuca

“Then I guess you need to make sure that Cruz stays happy.” I walked over to him and made eye contact. “Because it won’t be him that kills you. It’ll be me.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And if I need something else from time to time…”

“It’s done.” Lias said quickly.

“Good. Cruz, untie him.”

When he did, Lias fell to the floor, scooting away from Shield’s body.

“Not so fast.” I warned him. “Make sure that Shield’s body goes somewhere safe. He needs to disappear for a few months or forever. You’re going to make sure that happens.”

“How?” He asked.

“That’s not my problem. There’s a car out back for you to put him in. After that, he’s your problem.” I nodded to him.

Cruz left the room to call in the guys for a cleanup. When they came in, one of them cut Shields from the beam and helped Lias get him to the car. Then they got to work making sure that it never happened down here. They took our clothes and Max handed me sweats to change into.

“You alright?” He asked.

“Yeah,” I’d never handled this side of things and it was … different.

“Let me know if you need something. You might have a nightmare or two, but you have to remember why you did what you did. And whatever happens with Chambers, that ain’t on you anymore.”

“True.” I exhaled, finally able to make peace with it.

“I hear Yolanda found a place.”

“She did. When Asmaria said she didn’t want to go back home, she called in a bunch of favors to get a new place asap. The movers are getting things switched over as we speak.”

“Good.” He nodded.

“Look, Max. I know we didn’t start out on the right foot but, I wanted to let you know that I’m sorry about everything I said.”

He nodded again. “I need to know, though. Man to man. If I am gay, does that bother you?”

I thought about the question before I answered. “In a way, I grew up understanding that two men having sex was wrong. But if it is, why is it that two women being together is right? I know Papá had an immense problem with it. At the end of the day, it’s not my bed that you’re crawling into. We’re brothers and I’d rather focus on leaning into that brotherhood than to worry about who you’re screwing at night. Hell, I don’t want to think about Beni and Simone, so it’s not really anything different. As long as you’re good, so am I. You’ve more than earned my respect, and not only because I whooped your ass.”

“Pfft. Tell the story how it goes. I kicked your ass and let you live to talk about it. Those little baby hits that you dished out mean nothing.” He pushed at my shoulder.

“Let’s leave it at ‘never letting it happen again’.” I said to him.

“At least not at Martina’s. You should really try to figure out what about her house makes me and Beni want to kick your ass.”

I laughed, remembering when I arrived here for Thanksgiving and how Beni wanted to knock my face in.

“Yeah, we should probably work on some different traditions.” I admitted.

“So, you’re sticking around?” He asked.

“Why, you want me to?” I asked, wondering how he really felt.

“Yeah, it’s nice to have another brother. One that isn’t into stuffy suits and will get dirty.”

Brother.

“Cool. I think I can stick around for a while.”

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