AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Doesn’t look like a tattoo,” I said. I nodded my thanks to the cashier and grabbed the handles of the dozen cloth bags.
“You put water on it and it sticks to your skin,” she explained.
“Pick up the key chain and those plastic things,” I ordered.
She grabbed them off the floor and stuffed them into one of my bags.
“Thanks for offering to carry one,” I said sarcastically as we walked towards the door.
“You’re a BIG guy,” she said lasciviously. “You seem to be handling them just fine.”
Rather than have her start talking about penis size again, I just carried the bags in silence as she inspected her sticker… tattoo… whatever the hell it was.
Once we got back to the car, I loaded everything into the trunk and stepped away to make a phone call on my cell. There hadn’t been any reception at the house, but I had three bars here in town.
I still kept Lucia within sight, though. She placed the tattoo on different parts of her body over her clothes, trying to figure out the best place for it.
Some of the places she put it – over her left breast, on her ass, low on her belly – caused an inconvenient stirring in my pants that made me have to adjust myself.
Niccolo answered on the first ring. “You alright?”
“As best as can be expected.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means my traveling companion is annoying the fuck out of me.”
He chuckled. “Well, it could be worse.”
“I suppose. How’s it going on your end? Did Lars catch the shooter?”
“No,” Niccolo said, and his voice sounded dire. “The shooter got away clean.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. But nothing else has happened since then. I’m still paranoid about who I can trust, so I haven’t found a plane to pull you out yet.”
“Not a problem.”
“I’ve been in contact with the Widow. She’s still wary that Fausto’s men are lurking in the shadows, so she told me to tell you NOT to bring Lucia in until we’re convinced it’s safe.”
“Okay.”
“Look, not to be overly paranoid… but it might be a good idea for you not to use your cell anymore. In case they can trace it.”
“I was thinking of that. I’m not going to get much reception where we’re going, anyway, but I think I’ll still keep it as an emergency back channel. Text me if you need to get in contact and I’ll call as soon as I can.”
“Understood. Anything else?”
“Aurelio called me yesterday as I was driving away from Venice.”
“REALLY,” Niccolo said, surprised.
“He threatened to escalate things unless I turned over Lucia. A couple of things he said gave me the feeling that maybe he’s behind this and not Fausto. That maybe he went rogue.”
“What specifically did he say?”
“Nothing concrete – just that he wouldn’t let me talk to Fausto, and he seemed to avoid talking about Fausto whenever I brought him up.”
