think she’d fuck me if I didn’t have a face left at all. I like girls like that. Easier than the ones who run away screaming.” Any joking vanishes from his expression.
Tobias leaves. I know he’ll stand just outside while I talk to Lucas.
“Drink?” he asks, gesturing to the bottle as he puts his dick away.
Taking it, I drink a swallow. Quality is okay, not great. Probably the best this place stocks. But I know when he’s drinking tequila, it’s bad. He used to do it when we were younger too. Tequila hits him harder. I guess he needs the oblivion.
I think about what I told Cristina. About everything I told her. I’ve never spoken a word of that to a soul. Not once. No one knows about how we grew up.
Taking a seat, I rest my head against the back of the tall bench.
“How did we get here?” I ask.
“We were always going to get here,” he says, sounding remarkably sober. Maybe there isn’t enough tequila in the world to send him into oblivion at this point. “Heard what you did to the Clementi brothers.”
I went old school but kept my word to their father. They’re alive. Each only had one kneecap blown out. And they got to choose which one.
“You here to do the same to me?” Lucas asks, turning to me. “Or worse?”
I’m surprised. I guess I expected him to deny his involvement. And when I look at him, in his eyes I see what I used to see when we were younger. Especially at the beginning when he finally took over beating me while our father watched with pride in his eyes.
Pain. And fear. But more pain.
I reach for the papers that I’ve folded into three and tucked into my jacket pocket. I set them on the table beside the money.
“You supplied the drugs.”
“That’s not accurate.”
“You put up the money to do it.”
He swallows three gulps of tequila. Again, no denial. I get the feeling he’s tired.
“Does Father know?”
“Does it matter?”
“Matters to me.”
“No.”
“What did you tell the Clementi brothers to get them to agree?”
“Told them the truth. You’re not interested in moving drugs, but I am, and there’s money in drugs. Considering my position, I needed a trustworthy player.”
“You mean a gullible one.”
“Most people are gullible.” He pauses, never taking his eyes off me. “They hate you, Damian. They think you take more than your fair share.”
“I take the risk. The ships are mine. What was your intention? What did you expect or want to happen?”
“The feds would have received an anonymous tip.”
Well, at least he doesn’t lie.
“You realize that would ground the fleet at the very least and for quite a while. Feds are already chomping at the bit to put us out of business.”
“Us?”
“The family. Like it or not, you are a part of this family.”
“But you’re the boss.”
“And that burns you up.”
“Interesting choice of words.”
“How much did you pay Cash to get my wife into your car.”
“Your wife walked into my car of her own free will. And before you ask, she called me. Not the other way around.”
“How much?”
“Not enough for what you did to him, I’m guessing.”
“Is there anyone else? Any other traitors I should know about?”
“You cleaning house?”
I don’t answer.
“I’ll let you figure that out for yourself,” he says. “Let it be a surprise.”
“It doesn’t have to be this way between us, Lucas.”
“What other way can it be, Damian?”
I take the bottle from him and drink.
“What happens now? We going out back? The alley here is pretty suitable for the kind of work we do.”
I put the bottle down.
Shit.
“I deserve it, don’t I?” he asks, not quite looking at me anymore. “I beat the shit out of you. Repeatedly. When you were powerless. I can fight, at least. Tables are finally turned. Bet you’ve been waiting for that.”
“I haven’t been.”
“And you know what else? I’d have done what you did to Michela too if he’d told me to. Probably worse than you did, if I’m honest. I know what I’m capable of.”
“What he made you capable of.”
We sit in silence for a long minute, the only sound the beat of music beyond the door.
“Can I ask you something?” he asks, surprising me.
“Yeah.”
“Do you love her?”
I’m caught off guard. I don’t expect that.
He studies me while I absorb his question. I try to figure out when it happened, when I fell in love with her. When she went from being the object of my vengeance to becoming something—someone—I took care of.