Smoke (The Carelli Family Saga #1) - Eden Butler Page 0,43

fuck out of here.”

The earmuffs were gone. So was my Ma, but the curse was necessary. Besides, from the look he gave me, saying “Mama” like he knew exactly who the woman was when I showed him Maggie’s picture on my cell, had me shook.

“Who the hell told you, you could talk?” I held up my phone, swiping to the next picture, this one of Maggie on her own, laughing at something Toni said. She didn’t know I took that picture, but it was a good one. Fucking gorgeous as always.

The kid pointed at the screen, his smile wide and he said clear as day, “Mama.”

“Holy shit!”

I jumped from the sofa, digging into the pantry to grab one of the old cells I kept charged for emergencies and moved back to the sofa, pulling up another picture of Maggie, this one with her holding Mateo.

“Who is this?” I asked him, pointing to the screen.

Once again, the kid stared at the screen and pointed, the smile on his gummy mouth was massive. Fuck me if the kid wasn’t the cutest damn thing I’d ever seen. I inched back, this time holding up my phone to catch the whole thing in case he said it again. Maggie would lose it if she didn’t get to see this shit for herself, so I made sure I fired off a text the second I hit end on the video.

“Mama. Mama. Mama,” he said, laughing before he picked up the cell and brought it straight for his mouth.

“Don’t get cocky now,” I said, laughing at the boy as I took the cell from him, using the emergency phone to send the video to my cell and send off the clip to Maggie.

He wasn’t done, reaching for my phone after I’d sent her the video, and continued saying the word, each time seeming to surprise himself when he spotted Maggie’s picture and got the name right. When he looked up at me and I nodded, not correcting him, the kid laughed, looking pleased and surprised at the same time.

“What can I say, man? Shit happens.”

Twenty minutes later, the kid yawned, scrubbing his fat fist against his eyes, and I got the hint.

“Alright. I got you.”

He came to me when I grabbed him in a one-armed grip, moving us both to the sofa as I relaxed against the cushion.

I hated putting him to sleep so early, but Maggie’s cleaning was running over and the kid was tired, likely thanks to my Ma stuffing him with butter noodles.

He crashed on the sofa and not for the first time, I reminded myself that I had to get a hustle on bringing all of Maggie and Mateo’s shit to my place. They were only partially moved in here, having left most of their stuff at her old apartment, claiming she didn’t want to leave Vi without any furniture, even though I’d already offered to replace what Maggie took.

My cell jerked to life with a text and I thumbed the message open, breathing a little easier when Rick’s update told me no one had been hurt cleaning out the north dock. Mickey would have to be dealt with and fast, before he got too full of himself and thought he was doing something other than being a pain in my ass.

He made Dino bleed. He’d ignored the lesson I’d tried to teach him. This shit was personal now.

I wasn’t a don. I didn’t have a syndicate, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t above handling shit when I needed to. I reminded myself there was more than business I needed to protect now.

This was what I wanted to avoid.

Entanglements.

Complications.

Shit that could get hurt because of me.

Mateo snored, his low, soft breathing evening out as his body relaxed. He’d fallen asleep with his fingers locked around my crucifix, something that had become a habit for the kid.

Something, I was surprised to admit, I started to like.

It felt…good.

Maggie, and this kid, they were everything to me.

“Fuck,” I said to the empty room, wincing when my voice made the kid jerk in his sleep. I eased down onto the cushions, pressing a kiss to his head before I got up, going to the bar in my kitchen, needing a drink.

The television in front of me played a repeat of an old Mayweather fight, but I wasn’t paying attention. Then, the door creaked, the metal hinges whining open. The worry over Maggie I’d felt since she told me about this Reynolds asshole vanished when I spotted