What it was, was an indication that perhaps I’d been hasty in agreeing to fast-track a relationship with a man who had a life, a past, his own issues, and I did not have a lot of experience or understanding of any of that.
Truthfully, he seemed perfect.
And that was too much weight to put on anybody.
Even someone as strong as Mag.
He’d turned off Broadway to Lincoln and then onto Speer, heading north, when I began, “Danny—”
“You do not call me Mag.”
I shut my mouth because that wasn’t what I was expecting.
“You never call me Mag,” he went on.
Okay, his voice was tight, a little rough, he was pissed, but not out of control.
I could work with this.
“But, I was trying to—”
“I know what you were trying to do,” he bit out. “But you had my attention, Evan. You always have my attention. But after you’re taken by Denver’s most wanted lunatic, you absolutely fucking have my attention. So you do not ever call me Mag. I’m Danny to you.”
One could say I was significantly confused as to why this had such great meaning to him, but I was sensing I should broach that subject at a later date.
And for now, say what I said.
“All right, Danny.”
He let that settle for a beat before he spoke again.
“You should know, I was pissed. Out of my mind pissed. After it was all said and done, that’s why it took so long to get to you. The boys saw it and they made me have a sit-down with them to talk it out. That was how pissed I was. I’m still pissed, but this is a discussion. I’m not gonna lose it.”
“Okay,” I whispered. “But can I, uh, ask, well…why you were so pissed?”
A very heavy vibe settled in the cab before he asked, “Why I was so pissed?”
I looked to him, saw how hard his jaw was, the tenseness around his eyes.
I nevertheless persevered.
“Yes, honey, I’m okay. The girls are okay. I’d like to know what’s going on with Dad, but—”
“Evan, you do not handle a guy like Cisco. You do not make deals with him. You do not work things out with him. You do not do shit to circumvent what people who know what they’re fucking doing are planning in order to get you and your friends safe. It doesn’t matter. You’re never gonna be in that position again. But, God fucking forbid, if you are, sit tight, shut up and wait for the people who know what they’re goddamn doing to sort shit out for you.”
Okay.
Now it was time for me to get pissed.
“All right, Danny, next time you get kidnapped, after you’re safe, I’ll weigh in on how you should have handled it. That work for you?” I asked sharply.
“Evan,” he growled, “you are not hearing me.”
“I heard every word you said,” I snapped. “And really, as lame as this is, how fucking dare you.”
He shut his mouth.
“He had that place wired to blow,” I informed him. “The guys are my friends. I wasn’t big on them being blown to pieces. You mean the world to me, so obviously, I didn’t want that in your future. And by the by, if someone had perchance talked to me or any of the girls about what we saw and heard, we could not only tell you where that place is, we could tell you that Brett informed us there’s a tailor on Evans who deals in explosives behind his shop.”
“Brett?”
“Yes,” I bit out. “Brett.”
“You know, baby,” he said in a smooth, velvety voice that nevertheless gave me a chill, “I got a call, personally, from Brett, informing me where we could go to find your girls’ bags.”
Oh shit.
Mag must have felt my changing vibe because he purred, “Oh yeah. He was all about making sure he returned what he confiscated from you when he fucking abducted you.”
Yikes.
“He also,” Mag went on, “shared, if I didn’t treat you right, he’d cut off my balls and shove them down my throat.”
Eek!
“So,” he continued, “you wanna talk to me again about how you should have handled that sitch?”
I was understanding now why he was pissed.
It wasn’t jealousy, per se.
It also maybe kinda was.
“He’s creepy,” I said.
“I know he’s fucking creepy!” Mag exploded. “Jesus Christ, Evan, could you not be you long enough you didn’t give some crazy-ass felon the hots for you?”
It was highly inappropriate at that juncture, but I had the