Page 61 of Mine

He tipped his head at me. “Ask.”

“So,” I said and cleared my throat. “Your boss never wanted the runners killed. That was all on Kady?”

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “I mean, come on, that makes no fuckin’ sense. Why would you kill the guys that everybody knows bring in the money? From what Eisa told me, Rigel had a fuckin’ fit. I think he cut shit off Kady before they buried his stupid ass.”

I nodded. “He deserved it.”

“Fuck yeah, plus he owed you guys a ton of cash.”

“He did.”

“Well, everything he owned belongs to Gabriel now, so… whatever the hell you guys want to do with it.”

I took a breath. “I… the Masada family, they’re what?”

“How do you mean?”

“Their ethnic background.”

“Oh, Arabic.”

“Muslim, then.”

“Yeah, so?” He bristled. “You got a problem with that?”

I coughed. “No, but… I’m gay. Here’s Landry with me, so you understand what I’m asking.”

He scowled at me. “It ain’t shit, man; we’re not the fuckin’ mob, you know? This is modern times.”

“Not really,” I told him.

He gave me a head tip. “Yeah, maybe not, but Zahir, he’s got a wife, right, and he’s got his half brother, and we know but we don’t say and he don’t say, and so…. Gabriel told Rigel about you already, and he don’t care, so nobody else does neither.”

I just looked at him.

“Things will change when you get home.”

It sounded like it.

He leaned forward again, studying my face. “Ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Is Conrad Harris really your guardian angel?”

I smiled. So even José Cruz knew Conrad. “He’s my friend.”

His eyes flicked to Landry. “Because your boy’s here I don’t wanna say, but I’ve seen Conrad do some seriously fucked-up shit.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “You should be careful.”

I shrugged. “I’ll say it again—he’s my friend.”

Palms up to show me he meant no harm. “Whatever, man, all I’m saying is that ain’t nobody gonna fuck with you whether you’re in or out, ’cause no one wants to see Conrad Harris up close, you know?”

“I know.”

“So I guess it ain’t as done as everybody thinks. It’s your choice, I guess, and you get to make it because you’re friends with the fuckin’ angel of death.”

All of them were scared of the man who would come and sit with me at the hospital and drive me to my mother’s house. It was so weird. A chance meeting that could grant me freedom if that was what I wanted.