Page 7 of Tesio
“Yeah, I heard about that. The grapevine here’s a great thing.” He cast a look over his shoulder, and I realised the people here weren’t quite as oblivious as I thought, and they were definitely paying attention.
“What’s going-”
“Darling, I’m going to need you to do me a favour.”
“What?”
“You either quit that damn job, or you help me out with something I need.” I literally felt like I’d just been stabbed right through the heart. What did he just say?
“What?”
“You heard me,cop. You realise how dangerous it is for me, with a fucking cop in the family? I need you to quit. Either that or I need you to help me get access to some things to keep me safe in here.”
“Th… things?”
“Drugs.”
Chapter Four
Club life was exactlywhat I’d been missing, and hadn’t even realised it. Sure, I was kept busy doing the whole tech job I had always done, but now I had a partner in crime, if you like. I had Ice, and despite his bitching and moaning, and how much I heckled him for it, I fucking liked the guy. I was pretty sure he adored me too, because he didn’t hide his feelings real well. Just the other day, he punched me for spilling his coffee. That right there is love, I tell ya.
“So Torch is really fucking his doctor now? Good on him,” I said, flicking through camera feeds, as I looked for the shadowy fucker who’d been coming and going, right under our fucking noses. The one time I got called away for mafia business, I missed the latest development in the love lives of this fucking clubhouse. I swear, it was like a soap opera, it really was. I mean, a guy falling for his doctor, am I right? Mind you, look who I was sitting beside. The guy who fell for his fucking therapist.
“Guess you can’t really say much about that, huh? You guys both use the same playbook or what?”
“Fuck you. It’s not like I went looking for Lissa. She just happened, and I wouldn’t change a damn thing, so wipe that smug look off your face, yeah?” Honestly, if someone made me feel the way he felt, because it was written all over his fucking face, I wouldn’t regret it either. But then, what kind of woman would want a guy like me?
I mean, I might look like a biker, but I’m not, am I? At some point this would come to an end, and I’d go back to trying to fit into a life that never quite felt like it belonged to me. I was fucking amazing at my job, but the stuffiness of mafia life honestly felt like a noose around my neck at times.
“Must be weird for him to be back though, to know that someone here tried to kill him. I mean, how do you look everyone in the eye, knowing one of them literally stuck a knife in you?”
I knew what the mafia response would be, but was the biker version any different?
“Uh, what happens when we do find the cunt? He dies, right?”
Ice grimaced, keeping his eyes on the screen, but I didn’t think it was because the words on there were particularly thrilling.
“I mean, the obvious answer is yes. And he should. Whoever he is, he fucking should…” he trailed off and I frowned, abandoning the camera feeds for a second.
“But?”
Ice groaned, dragging a hand down his face, as he finally sat back and looked me in the eye.
“Chances are it’s someone we all like, love even. A brother. Someone we saw as family, for god knows how long. I mean, none of the newest people here are looking like the culprit, which means this person has been around us foryears. How does that happen? And how the fuck do we murder someone who’s been that close to us for so long? I mean, I get why he should die, but the actual killing? That’s gonna destroy us, andit’s maybe even more likely to than what he’s doing to us. I want this resolved before someone else gets hurt, but I’m just as fucking afraid of what we’ll find.”
He looked frustrated that he’d even given voice to his fears, at least in front of me, but as much as I could see how the mafia would handle this, I could understand that the betrayal was going to be as damaging as what had already happened, and having to turn on one of their own was going to devastate someone. Maybe many of them.
See, I’d been trying to work it out in my own mind, putting aside their feelings, because as an outsider, I had that benefit. That strength, because I didn’t have to worry about who it really was, just help find them.
There were obvious assholes here, and there were guys who seemed to be the heart of the fucking club. I had this awful feeling it was going to be the latter, just like Ice said. Someone they trusted without question, when they were the one stabbing them in the backs, in Torch’s case, literally.
It was dumb luck that I got called away for a meeting with Don Rossi a week later, and missed the fucking big reveal of who the asshole was. And itwasone of the assholes, in my opinion;Micro. I was pissed as hell that I missed getting a few hits in, but worse than that? It meant that my time here, this fucking holiday of sorts, was coming to an end, and you know what? I never fucking wanted to go back to my old life. There’s a word for that, so maybe I was more like Micro than I realised.A traitor.
Jamie
That meeting with myfather felt like it had tainted everything for me. My career, my life choices, everything. Suddenly I felt like I was a tool, if not for him, then for someone else. I wasn’t about to risk everything by trying to sneak drugs into the prison for him, and I was just as unwilling to give up everything I’d worked for. Hadn’t he taken enough from me over the years? Could I really allow him to take this too?
“Fuck’s sake, Jay. You were bordering on unnecessary force there. You’re going to end up in a fucking disciplinary,” Evers hissed in my ear as we left the scene, the suspect safely ensconced in the back of the car.
