Page 51 of Tesio
He didn’t take the hint, following me as I started walking again.
“Seriously, though. You went after her, right? You musta got laid.”
I spun on my heel, and he groaned.
“Fuck’s sake, okay. I’ll shut it, just, you know… she’s a cop, man. She’s gonna be all up in your business, and all of our business. Still, pussy’s pussy, right?”
“You were on thin ice before, fucker, but it just broke. Back the hell off unless you want to see what I’m like when I’m really pissed off.”
Micro joined us, took one look at me, and smacked Stag’s back.
“Fuck off, will you? I need a word with Grease.”
I watched as Stag rolled his eyes and strolled away, and turned to Micro, because if he was also going to give me shit, he was going to get it back too.
“I don’t wanna know, man. I could see he was trying to get himself killed, and I didn’t want the extra paperwork.” Thank fuck for Micro, and did I ever think I’d say that?
“Thanks.”
“Will you be around later? I’ve got some quotes for upgrades to the security setup that I wanted your thoughts on.”
I nodded, checking my watch. “Gimme an hour to get my head down, and I’ll come find you.”
“Nice one. I need to take Soph for a check-up, but I’ll be back by then.”
His old lady was pregnant, which was great, you know, for them. It wasn’t my thing. Babies, kids, all of it. When you grow up in the mafia, any connections are just tools for others to use against you. You make acquaintances and business associates, but you don’t get closer than that. It sucked, but it was what I’d been born to. It was getting harder and harder to keep people at arm’s length though.
Islept for longerthan I planned, dragging my ass out of the bed at about three in the afternoon, which was shocking really, for a grown man, but I’d had an odd night, and I hadn’t been sleeping great anyway. It wasn’t the bed, or the place, no… it was the thought of returning to another bed, another place, and never being here again. Every time my fucking phone rang, I was waiting for Don Rossi to say it’s time. In fact, it was equally unnerving that he hadn’t.
I headed for Micro’s office after a quick shower in the fucking shared shower in the shitty clubhouse. We were going to rebuild it, but after the fucking office building was burned down at the patchover party back in October, that had become the priority to rebuild. As it was, it was still under construction, but they’d crammed Micro’s office in there, and I had my replacement kitin a spare ‘bedroom’ if it could be called that. It was a lockable room, and that was the best I could hope for right now.
“Hey man, I was just gonna look for you,” Micro said as he opened his door, and nearly walked right into me.
“Yeah, sorry,” I dragged a hand through my hair, accidentally fucking up my carefully constructed quiff, “I slept like the dead for once.”
He nodded, gesturing to the coffee machine he had on a foldout table in the corner. I couldn’t wait until this place was fucking finished, but then, would I even be here to enjoy it?
“Why hasn’t he recalled me yet,” I blurted as I closed the door, and Micro froze, halfway around the desk.
“Huh? Oh… him. I guess he’s letting us keep you while we rebuild.” He watched while I grabbed a black coffee, and sat down opposite his desk, and he settled back in his own seat.
“You want to stay, don’t you?”
I shrugged, glancing around the room to try and hold back just how much I wanted to fucking agree with him.
“Cameras aren’t set up in here, man. It’s safe.” That was one good thing about the fire, because the place had been rigged to fuck with cameras before. Even ones he hadn’t known were there, which was why Ice and me had both seen way too much of him and his old lady fucking. I didn’t miss that for a minute.
“I don’t know what you want me to say. I’m a mafia guy, right? I don’t get to choose.”
He leaned on his forearms, and stared me down. “But you want to, don’t you?”
Jesus. “Yes, okay? Yes. This is the life I really fucking want, but you don’t get to choose to leave my old life. You want out, you do it in a bag. I don’t know what other fucking option I have.”
Micro scratched the side of his head. “What, like we fake your death or something?”
I barked a laugh, because did he even see how ridiculous that was? I couldn’t just pretend to die, then stay here as Grease, or at the original Phoenix clubhouse. They were affiliated with Rossi, for fuck’s sake.
He rolled his eyes at me. “Fuck me. I’m a dipshit. Of course we can’t do that, not unless you blow town, and join a club somewhere else, and I kinda like having you here. I guess…” he glanced at the desk, picking up some papers he’d had set out ready, “I mean, we can keep finding reasons we need you here. Beefing up security, improving our tech side, that kinda thing. I don’t know how long that buys you though.”
