Chapter 28 #2
The sound of a gun cocking had me glancing up. “Seriously?” I asked, looking at the loaded barrel of Kieran’s pistol. “I wonder, does that holster in your ass ever get sweaty?”
“Did you seriously just refer to Haz’s long-lost father as a bag of bones?” he asked. Didn’t even react at all to me asking about his sweaty crack.
Grimacing, I glanced at Haz. “I’m sorry, half-pint. I’m just on edge because Pip needs to see a doctor, but I gotta make sure the local hood alchemist doesn’t get to him first.” I sighed. “Being a husband is stressful.”
Haz’s mouth dropped wide. “You got married?”
“Practically,” I replied. “Got three kids now too.”
“Oh my god! You met Harold Jr., Hercules, and Spike?”
I nodded. “My sons.”
“Who?” Kieran asked, finally lowering the gun.
“Rett has plants like we do!” Haz informed Kieran. Then to me, he said, “You’re going to be a great plant daddy.”
Obviously.
“Can we get back to the important stuff?” Kieran asked.
“Shh,” Haz shushed him. “So who’s the biggest?”
“Well, Harold Jr. has some height on him. But Hercules is just like his dad,” I said, flexing my arm. “Built.”
Kieran muttered something rude.
“Spike is a little shy. He stabbed me on the way to our place, but he was probably just nervous about the move.”
“You should get them some vitamins,” Haz suggested.
“Oh, for shit’s sake,” Kieran muttered.
“And get them a plant stand so they don’t have to use a barstool.” Haz went on.
“I’m not the one who put Cliff and Hazard on the barstool,” Kieran interjected.
“Well, they were getting fried on the windowsill,” Haz argued.
The doorbell rang.
Haz started forward, but both of us made a sound while Kieran snatched him back. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Answering the door.”
“No,” we said at once.
“But that’s usually what people do when someone rings the bell.”
“Were you expecting someone?” Kieran asked.
“No,” Haz said, and then worry clouded his face.
“Stay here with Ghost,” Kieran said, pushing Haz toward me.
“But—” Haz started, but the look Kieran gave him had the words dying on his tongue.
I dropped my arm around his shoulder and pulled out the knife I kept tucked away.
“Do you think it’s Tommy?” Haz whispered.
“How quickly you forget that people were trying to kill you until yesterday.”
He stiffened.
Kieran grunted, pulled back from the peephole, and reached for the door. He did not put away his gun.
“Who is it?” Haz worried.
The door opened but blocked our view of whoever was standing on the other side.
“What are you doing here?” Kieran asked, his voice cold.
“I’d like to see my nephew.”
Haz made a sound and pulled away from me to rush toward the door as it was pushed back to reveal Enzo Salvatore, mob boss extraordinaire.
He was a tall man with an athletic build.
He clearly worked out, but he didn’t look overly muscled.
His dark-brown hair was buzzed short on the sides but long on top and combed away from his forehead.
Probably with gel. He looked like he was slick.
You know what I’m saying? He was dressed in black dress pants, a black button-down, and a black jacket with fine red pinstripes.
The open collar of his shirt exposed the tattoos covering his neck, an aesthetic that matched his tattooed hands.
His discerning gaze went right to Haz, sweeping over him from head to toe as if assuring himself his newest family member was unharmed. “Hazier,” he said.
“I told you to call me Haz, Uncle Enzo.”
“And I told you not to call me uncle.”
Good luck with that. Haz listened as well as Pip, which was not at all.
“What do you want?” Kieran asked after shutting the door.
Enzo glanced around and cocked a brow. “Do you always answer the door with a gun?”
“Don’t you?” Kieran countered.
“I don’t need to.”
“Big heads like that make an easy target,” I observed.
Enzo’s dark eyes flashed to mine and dismissed me almost as fast.
“Haz, I’ve come to see if your friend is here. The small blond one from yesterday.”
Mistake number one: dismissing me.
Mistake number two: asking about what was mine.
I moved with all the grace of the ghost I was, appearing in front of him before anyone saw me move to bulldoze him into the front door and pin him there with a knife to his throat.
He didn’t fight back, but every muscle in his body was tense, and the way his eyes flamed would have made a lesser man wet his pants.
He had the audacity to try to speak first, so I pushed the knife a little harder into his jugular, just enough to have blood dripping over all that ink.
“Men have died for less,” he told me.
“What do you want with Rett?” It wasn’t a question but a demand.
“The blond?” he asked, interest in his gaze. “It’s business.”
“My business, so you better spill that tea before I spill your innards all over Kieran’s entryway. He hates messes. Don’t piss him off.”
“You won’t get a drop of tea until that knife is gone and your dragon breath is killing someone else’s brain cells.”
I exhaled a little extra right in his face. “Get stupider.”
“That’s enough,” Kieran spat. “Ghost.”
I backed off. But I enjoyed the red stain on his neck.
Enzo straightened his jacket but ignored the cut like it wasn’t even there. He glanced at Kieran. “I thought I’d get a better welcome.”
“I’m sorry, Uncle Enzo,” Haz said, hurrying over. “Ghost is just on edge because it’s the second time today someone from the Salvatore mafia has come looking for his boyfriend.”
I cleared my throat.
“I mean, husband.” Haz corrected himself.
I nodded.
Enzo glanced at me. “You’re married?”
“No. They just met,” Kieran lamented.
Traitor.
“And I was going to ask you to be best man,” I cracked. “And we’ve known each other for two years.” I reminded everyone. Technically.
“What do you want with Rett?” Kieran asked.
“I’d like to know who else came around looking for him today,” Enzo replied and glanced around. “I’ll just ask him myself. Is he here?”
“You don’t look at him or ask about him without my permission.” I informed him, words dripping with malevolence.
Three sets of eyes moved in my direction. Tension coiled in the air, filling the apartment until I was sure Kieran was going to have to open the windows to ventilate the entire place.
Finally, Enzo met my stare. “Your husband is stealing from me.”
I appreciated that he used the term husband. Mad respect for that. But everything else in that sentence? Murder-worthy.
Before I could just put him down, Kieran pressed a hand to my chest.
I gave him a look.
“He’s Hazard’s uncle.” He reminded me as if he were bored. Don’t let him fool you. He was titillated by this drama.
“He just accused Rett of stealing.” Did everyone around here have hearing problems?
“Maybe we could use our words like big kids,” Hazard announced. Instead of waiting for us to agree or murder each other, he went on. “Is this about Tommy?”
Enzo glanced at Haz. “You know Tommy?”
“Of course, he’s the one everyone in my neighborhood—” He glanced at Kieran. “My old neighborhood got their drugs from.”
“And what else do you know about Tommy?” Enzo asked.
“That he’s a dead man walking,” I intoned.
“Funny,” Enzo deadpanned, malice shifting back to me. “He wants me to kill you.”
Haz let out a worried shout and ran in front of me, throwing his arms up like an X. “You can’t! Ghost is my family.”
“My guy,” I said fondly and patted him on the head again.
Kieran got his gun back out.
“Please, Uncle Enzo, I know we just met and all, but—”
Enzo cut Haz off. “You’re family. My nephew and last remaining connection to my big brother. So imagine my surprise when hearing that your best friend stole a million dollars’ worth of product from Tommy, and when he went to get it back, Ghost tried to kill him.”
“I don’t try to kill anyone.” I corrected. “If I’d gone in for the kill, he’d be dead.” Which was exactly what I was going to do the next time I saw him.
“He’s lying!” Haz exclaimed. Then he seemed to feel the need to clarify. “I mean Tommy. Not Ghost.”
“Doll, come over here,” Kieran said softly.
Haz went to him immediately and was tucked beneath his arm. “After everything you’ve been through, you need to relax.”
“How am I supposed to relax when Tommy is spreading lies and Uncle Enzo wants to kill Ghost? And maybe Rett! He’s going to change his mind about being my friend if everyone in my life keeps trying to shoot his face off.”
“No one is shooting Rett’s face off,” I growled.
“I don’t want to kill your friends,” Enzo told him.
“They’re not my friends,” Haz said. “They’re my family.”
Enzo inclined his head. “And that makes them my family as well.”
Pretty sure I wouldn’t be calling this dude uncle anytime soon, but look at me keeping my mouth closed.
“Which is why I’m here and not doing what I normally would.” Enzo went on.
“What do you normally do?” Haz asked.
“The same thing your boyfriend would do.”
Haz’s two-toned eyes rounded. “Do you have a murder locker, Uncle Enzo?”
Enzo glanced at Kieran. “What is a murder locker?”
“A place where you keep your guns.” Kieran’s voice was bland.
“Then no,” Enzo answered. “I have too many guns to fit in just a locker. I guess you could say I have an entire murder den.”
“Whoa,” Haz whispered. Clearly, he was impressed.
“Someone is overcompensating,” I sang.
“Can I see?” Haz asked, completely enthralled. Half-pint had a weird fascination with murder weapons.
“No,” Kieran said at the same time Enzo answered, “Of course.”
“Did my dad have a murder den too?” Haz asked.
“Look, this is sweet and all, and I respect you trying to learn your family tree, but can we get back to the fact that your employee of the month is out there spreading lies and trying to get Rett killed?”
“Rett would never steal from Tommy or anyone. Well, unless he was really hungry. But then it’s okay, right?” Haz said and looked up at Kieran.
“Steal whatever you want, baby doll.”
Enzo nodded.
“The point here,” I said, getting frustrated, “is that Tommy is manipulating you, and you’re falling for it.”
“I don’t fall for anything.” His words were steel.