Page 18 of From My Past
“I just need to check something.”
“I don’t know you. I think you should give me my keys and fuck right off.”
“These keys?” I shook them in front of his face, the keys clanging together. “I’ll give them to you. For two answers.”
“Don’t you know who I am? You are messing with the wrong guy.”
“Why don’t you tell me?” I said with snark.
“Give me my goddamn keys.” He leaned up and tried to rip them from my hands. It wasn’t hard to sidestep his drunken misstep.
“What is your name?” I demanded.
“You are going to regret this. I promise you.”
“Let me guess,” I put both my hands in my pockets, my fingers still clenched around the keys in my hand. “You’re Luca Garzino. The son of the head of the Italian gang here in Boston. Am I right?”
I could tell that if Luca had been sober, he would have kept his emotions and thoughts on lockdown while in a stranger’s presence. But luckily for me, he was completely wasted and like an open book.
He truly didn’t think that I knew who he was. And I could tell that he recognized me, but in his drunken stupor he couldn’t place who I was.
“Now tell me, what happened to your knuckles?”
His head lobbed down to look at his hands as if he didn’t know what I was talking about. But then when he saw the bruising, I saw his fingers curl and he made fists with both his hands.
“Just some asshole who wouldn’t listen. It’s my business, not yours.”
I wanted nothing more in that moment than to kick his drunken face in, make him stop breathing. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t do anything.
I stood up and tossed his keys at his feet.
“Now, see. That wasn’t so hard.” Using all my inner strength, I turned my back on him. With every step I took, it felt like I was walking away from Talia again. The sheer knowledge that she was inside, that I could protect her, could make her life easier, was stifling. But I had to play this right.
* * *
I peeled my car into my garage and the roar of the engine in the confined space helped calm me down. Trent’s car was parked on the street in front of my house so I know that I’m going to be taking care of his drunk ass.
Turning the engine off, I climbed out of my car and listened to the pops and creaks of the engine cooling. I loved this car. It’d been with me through most of my life and I made sure to take care of it so it can continue running like a dream for as long as possible.
I leaned my hands on the hood and took a deep breath. That didn’t go how I wanted it to. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting to happen, but that wasn’t it.
“Fucker, what did you do?” Trent said from the doorway into the house from the garage. I looked over to my friend, thankful that he was there and also annoyed that I couldn’t wallow in peace.
“Nothing, I didn’t do anything. I asked his name, and asked how his knuckles got busted. And I left.” I walked past my red-headed friend and into the house, going straight for the fridge to grab a beer. I needed alcohol, lots of alcohol.
“Wow. That’s actually kind of impressive.” Trenton laughed and stood by the sink as I downed the beer from the bottle.
“Fuck off.” He must have seen how much I was torn apart over this because the smile melted right off his face.
“What can I do?”
I shook my head and let it hang. “I don’t know yet. I need to think.” I opened the fridge and got another beer bottle.
One hand went to my head to run my fingers through my hair and my fingers got snagged in the bun my hair is pulled up in. I slammed the bottle down on the counter and pulled my hair out of the bun again. My curls fell loose around me and the tension headache that was starting to form relaxed.
“Did you see her?” Trenton asked, he stood with his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the counter.
I nodded, taking a drag of the beer.
