Page 9 of The Carver

“Did you take care of it?” I asked.

“I got the money.”

“You know what I mean.”

Luca nodded to the other guys, telling them to leave.

They filed out of the room and got back to work.

“Bastien, we don’t have to cut off a hand every time someone gets out of line.”

“I disagree.”

“Being a couple hours late isn’t a big deal. Shit happens.”

“What shit?” I demanded.

“The big storm delayed the shipments. You know this. We’re gonna chop people’s hands off because of the weather?”

I grabbed a beer from the fridge and took a seat at the head of the table. The cards were still there, so I swiped my arm across the table and sent them flying.

Luca watched me in silence for a while. “What the hell happened?”

“If we got the money, then nothing happened.”

“No. What happened to you?” He gave me a glance over. “When did you become the world’s biggest asshole?”

“I’ve always been the world’s biggest asshole.”

“We disagree on a lot of things, but you’ve never been an asshole. So what the fuck happened?”

I gave a slight shake of my head then took a drink.

He arrived at the conclusion on his own after he gave it a couple minutes of thought. “So, the baggage was too heavy after all.”

“Shut up, Luca.”

“I fucking told you?—”

“Shut the fuck up!” I yelled so loud that it went silent in the other room, everyone stopping their work because they thought bullets would start to fly. Even Luca flinched at the ire I expressed.

All those times Fleur had thought I yelled at her…she had no fucking idea.

Luca was quiet for a long time, his elbows on the table. “You know you’re my boy. You can talk to me.”

“I’m good.”

“I’m serious.”

I drank my beer, unsatisfied with it because it was so fucking weak.

“Tell me what happened.”

“No.”

Luca gave a sigh. “I’m sorry for the shit I said before. You can talk to me.”

“No, you were right,” I said. “First time I actually give a shit about a woman, and she doesn’t trust me and she’s scared of me.”

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