Page 48 of Complications

“If I let you get into something and you don’t come out of it, Matteo will kick my ass. You and I both know you’re his favorite.”

“Oh my God. It was ninth grade, and it was a fucking basketball team, and we all sucked.”

“He still picked you over me,” Frankie said dryly.

“Jesus, you need to let things go. Nobody holds on to that shit.”

Frankie stared at me like he was trying to solve all the mysteries of the universe and somehow thought they’d be found in my face.

Spoiler alert: they would not because I barely knew what the fuck I was doing when it came to him.

“It’s who I am.”

“Frankie, I’m serious. Let me the fuck out of his goddamn holding pattern. I know goddamn well you weren’t trying to hurt me that day. I also know you did what your dad wanted because you were terrified he’d know you were a goddamn queer. It’s fine. Nobody’s pissed off about it.”

“Why do we act like we are?”

“Fuck if I know.” I shrugged. “Can we just call a truce and get this shit taken care of? That’s literally all I want. I just want to get this handled, and then we can go back and figure out all our shit. Deal?”

“Yeah. Let’s do that.”

I’m not exactly sure how the mechanics of it worked, but we sealed our decision with a kiss. A hard kiss that was all tongue and hands and knees, and it made me regret that we were sitting in the shoebox office and not back at the cabin where he could’ve pushed me down on the bed and just dicked me down.

“Let’s go see Matteo on the way to our visit.”

Goddamn, I needed a vacation.

CHAPTER SIX

Frankie

“Mr. Cille, I got a package for you. Need a signature.”

In his brown uniform and cap, I could almost believe Joey was delivering a package. With the brim pulled down low, it was hard to distinguish his features, but we slipped in the side door just to be on the safe side.

“What the fuck are you talking about? I didn’t order a goddamn package,” Cille groused when he opened the door.

I immediately stepped inside and blocked the exit, and Joey followed me inside. He kicked the door shut with his foot and stood behind me, arms folded across his chest. Of course he was standing at my back, but I knew him well enough to know that was always the way he stood because it’s not like I hadn’t spent the last twenty years studying him, watching him, and being slightly obsessed with him. I turned my head just a little to confirm that I was right, and I was because Jojo was who he was.

He gave me a dirty look and jerked his head, telling me to turn back around.

Goddamn, I loved this man.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“We have a couple of questions about your extracurricular activities.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” The fake bravado in his voice caused it to crack a few times. He cleared his throat and glanced over at a table near the couch.

Joey casually walked over, pulled the drawer open, and helped himself to the gun inside.

“Mr. Cille, that is not a very hospitable way to treat visitors,” I told him.

His Adam’s apple bobbed a few times as if on a string. His eyes slid across the room to the cabinet.

Holy shit, he was bad at this.

Joey obligingly walked over to the cabinet and found the second gun.