Page 13 of The Air You Breathe

“Nonsense, you’re my son, you have that instinct. Giovanni is an excellent fighter, but his time is needed elsewhere,” he said, finishing his drink. “I think this would be perfect. I’ll set you up and I’ll make sure we ease you into this.”

His phone rang and he answered it right away, changing to Italian quickly. I took that as my cue to leave, downing the rest of my drink before I left. As soon as I opened the door, Giovanni and Evan were still in the hallway. They looked at me with worried expressions and I knew there was something else going on.

“What did he want?” Giovanni asked.

“He said he wants me to start fighting,” I responded and Evans' eyes widened.

“Che cazzo,” Giovanni cursed but he looked relieved. I knew that there was definitely more going on but knowing Giovanni, he’d keep me out of it for as long as possible.

* * *

Havingyour father be a Scarface wannabe was exhausting. He always wanted me to be some version of him. I felt bad for Giovanni because he was the spitting image of our father and Lucio was grooming him for when he would take over the business. I know this is all my brother knows but I can’t imagine doing what he is doing.

I grabbed another battery from our stock room, taking it to a Honda CRV I was working on. I set it on the rolling table I used that had all my tools on it. I rolled it to the front of the car as I looked at the worn tires, thinking I was going to have to call Martha and recommend new ones.

“Dev!” Jaime, my boss, yelled from his office.

I checked the clock, registering that it was three in the afternoon as I wiped my hands on a rag, walking to his office.

“What’s up boss?” I asked, leaning against the door frame.

“I’m about to head out. I need you to lock up and open the garage tomorrow.” He threw me the keys and I caught them one handed. “There is also going to be a drop off in about an hour so make sure you don’t leave until that is completed.”

I nodded, hating that I had to be here for the drop off, but that was one of the easier things to do that was associated with my father.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, kid.” He stood up and clapped my shoulder as he passed me.

“See you tomorrow,” I said, throwing the keys in the air and catching them. Jaime hauled ass out of the garage giving me the space I thrived in. I called Martha, suggesting tires and worked out a deal with her. She would replace two today and two in a couple of weeks. I turned the music up but low enough to hear someone or the drop off dudes as I continued to work on Martha’s car.

I tightened the last lug nut when I heard a hello. It was feminine voice and I figured it was Martha.

“Give me a second!” I yelled. I stood up grabbing a rag to wipe my hands off, throwing it over my shoulder as I walked to the front and noticed a blonde woman turned away from me. “How can I help you?”

She turned around quickly, and I noticed it was Darcy. I had seen her around, but we never talked except for the coffee I picked up every week with my sister. I knew Evan and her had history. He had talked about her when she showed up at the club with the new girl from Texas. She was a beautiful woman, with a lot of curves, and big green eyes.

“Hey Dev, I really need your help.” She smiled looking worried.

“What can I do?” I asked.

“My car won’t start. It did this a few days ago and it started on the third try but now it's not wanting to start up,” she said quickly.

“Is it at the coffee shop?” I asked, looking at the clock, seeing I still had about another twenty minutes to wait for the drop off.

“Yes,” she said, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear. “Do you think you can come and take a look at it?”

“I’m actually waiting for someone and I’m alone. If you can wait until they get here, and I finish with…”

“Yo Dev!” I turned around to see Marco and Geraldo walking in from the back door with two duffle bags each. I nodded at them.

“They are who I was waiting for. Give me five minutes and we can drive the tow truck to the coffee shop.” I said, looking back at the guys again to make sure they weren’t doing anything stupid.

“Oh my god, thank you!” she said, looking relieved.

I walked to the back to see them bringing in another set of bags. This was a lot of cash, more than I’ve ever seen them bringing in before.

“Where’s Jaime?” Marco asked, looking towards the area Darcy was in. I knew Evan wanted to keep her far from this and she didn’t need to get mixed up in this bullshit.

“He left about an hour ago, left me to lock up,” I said, trying to get his attention away from where Darcy was.

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