Page 78 of Clean Slade
“You like coffee?” he asked, confirming my suspicion.
I nodded.
“Then get the Mother Parker, and thank me later,” he said.
I laughed.
“You’ve named a drink after you?”
“Not me,” he grumbled and glanced at his boyfriend.
“What? It’s all about the branding.” Hwan flashed us a smile and got to work making our drinks while Parker prepared our paninis.
“One Oreo & Peanut Butter milk tea, extra chocolate chips, and one milky coffee with taro and tapioca, also known as the Mother Parker.” Hwan placed both drinks in front of us and stood there, waiting for us to try them.
I brought the straw to my lips and took a sip to satisfy him. I was immediately hit by a sugar rush mixed in with the undeniable bitterness and intensity of coffee, and I all but sighed with satisfaction.
I didn’t particularly care for the chewy tapioca, but they were easy enough to avoid when sucking.
“Love it,” I told Hwan, and he did a little happy jump, turning to share the bliss with his boyfriend.
“Okay, I already know I need another one, and Joey will have the Thai milk tea that you make so well,” Tiago said before the door opened and Joey and Slade walked through.
“What? Nothing for me?” Slade asked Tiago straightaway as Joey bent to kiss my best friend.
Everyone around me was getting paired up, yet I was just as single as the day I left my old life behind.
But the difference was everyone around me deserved to find love, and I didn’t. And even if I did, who would ever want to be with a mobster like me, become part of my fucked-up world with all the dangers it entailed?
Maybe after I’d finally killed my father, I could live my life, but would anyone be willing to love me after such an atrocity?
I looked at Slade as he ordered the same drink and gave me a stupid grin that shouldn’t make my insides all tingly, but it did.
Oh, who am I kidding? The only person I wanted to love me was sitting right next to me, and I couldn’t ever tell him.
He was a Navy SEAL, for crying out loud. He’d served our country. He’d kept us protected from people like me and my family.
He’d never fall for me. He’d never love me.
Not if he knew who I truly was.
NINETEEN
KING
It was two days before I decided to inform my father. Two days in which the bricks of cocaine were sitting in my trunk gathering dust and making me worry I’d somehow get caught and go to prison before I even had the chance to do anything about it.
They became a weight on my shoulders, and the only way I could lift it was to get rid of them, even if it meant they went to the mob and were used for nefarious purposes.
I didn’t know why I thought I could do this in the first place. At this point in my life, I’d spent longer away from the mob than in it.
Tony:
Hummingbird Road. Midnight.
Sure. Be vague, won’t you? It’s not like Hummingbird Road is endless.
But I didn’t have an option. I needed to speed things up so I didn’t spend the rest of my probably short life awaiting either death or arrest.
