Page 97 of Tesio
“I can only imagine how you came by the information that led you to the meeting with Amato the other night, but, well…” he had the good grace to look awkward, or at least regretful, because we had absolutely saved his fucking ass.
“Boss-”
“I’m not sure what possessed you to throw yourself into the line of fire like that, but your lady there did the same thing, and thanks to one or both of you, I was unharmed, and more importantly, my daughter was unharmed.”
Jamie
Was this how amafia asshole said thank you for saving my life? I kept wanting to interrupt, but not only had he said not to, but every time Grease tried, he cut him off. At least I’d managed to not interrupt him. I’m not saying I was keeping score, but I was definitely winning, and planned to wind Grease up with that fact later, you know,ifwe survived.
“Because of your actions, I’ve decided that this can’t be settled as easily as we’d expected. Certainly, I’d feel a little perturbed if we killed either of you.”
“Aw it’s like he cares,” someone murmured behind us, and my money was on Micro, although Torch had been mutteringa whole lot too. I’d have laughed at their behaviour if our lives weren’t in the balance.
“Boss?”
The Don sighed heavily, and waved a hand at Grease, who let out a heavy rush of breath.
“Look, I never wanted to betray you, hell, that wasn’t even what I was consciously doing that night. I was saving the woman I… that…”
“For heaven’s sake, you can’t even say it now?” The Don demanded. “Grow some balls, Tesio.”
There were chuckles coming from both sides of the table, and Grease glanced at me, his eyes softening as he smiled.
“The woman I love, happy? Yes, she’s the woman I love, and I’d die for her, but I’d really rather have an outcome here where we all live, and get to enjoy life.”
He looked at me again, having turned to announce his love to his boss instead of me. I did my best not to let that piss me off, because at least he’d said it at last.
“I do, little pain, I fucking love you, and I struggled to say it before, but apparently I had to grow some balls first.”
Chuckles behind us barely permeated, as did the comment from one of the peanut gallery, stating that they’d told him that a hundred times.
“You’re saying you love me? Here? In front of them?” I gestured at the men all around us, but I knew I was smiling. I knew that my relief showed on my face, and the fact that we were here was the only reason why I wasn’t in his lap already. Later, I’d give him hell for telling me here, where we couldn’t celebrate instantly.
“Ahem.”
“That’s mafia speak for pay attention, Grease,” Reacher said, as he slapped the back of Grease’s head. He turned back to face the Don, but his fingers were now firmly linked between mine.
“Sorry, boss. Kinda having a moment here.”
“And if this were a fine restaurant, or your bedroom, I’d say carry on. We do, however, have matters to discuss. I’m willing to remove the death order from both of your heads, with some conditions.”
Uh oh. They were doozies too.
Epilogue One
Fuck me. We lived.We got to walk out of there alive, and unbeaten. And with hope. I mean, Jamie was pissed as hell, and the bikers backing me were all muttering and cursing, but I felt like the weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I felt like I’d been given a second, or third, chance, and I was grabbing it with every part of me.
The Don’s conditions were nothing less than I’d expect of the bastard. They were going to ruffle a few feathers though.
1. I was no longer part of his trusted team, however, he was willing to maintain his connection with the club, as long as I remained a go between, based at the club itself. As in, I got to fucking stay a biker. No more Tesio, no more fucking deathly silences or eyebrowing… or at least less of both.
2. Jamie was to quit the police force, effective immediately, because apparently there was a line in the mafia, and marrying police officers was on the wrong side of it. Oh yeah. Marriage, by the way. While he couldn’t order us to tie the knot, he was‘strongly recommending it’, because it could somehow reflect poorly on him if we lived ‘in sin’.
3. His collaboration with the Phoenix MC was going to be reassessed, in terms of running other lines of business through them, particularly in the Hampshire area, aka the club I’d be based at. I knew he was running more of the drugs they were unwilling to traffic, so that would be a fun argument when it came up, but I probably wouldn’t be privy to it.
Basically, it worked out great for me, but everyone else was getting fucked by it. I felt bad, of course I did, but there was a sense of euphoria that had filled me ever since the meeting ended.
We were going to live. Survive. But LIVE, like actually get to enjoy life, kick back with my club brothers, and basically be who I really was. I didn’t know Grease existed in me, until I was sent undercover, and now? Now I couldn’t imagine being anyone else.
