Page 40 of One Breath After Another

“Well, not exactly the same. But enough.”

Hmm.

“And,” his father added like the man hadn’t already said enough for Luca to think about you, “I’m only hard on you because no one else is. Something to consider, yeah?”

Was it?

He might have questioned his father a little more on the topic, but the familiar man that rounded the rear of the shipping truck stopped him from saying anything other than, “Gotta get back to work, Dad.”

“All right. Call your mother later—she misses you.”

“Will do.”

Maybe.

If he had the time.

It seemed like Luca didn’t have a lot of that lately, but he wouldn’t apologize for his lack of presence because of it, either. He couldn’t be all the things, all the time. Some shit had to give whether everyone liked it, or not.

He ended the call with his father and stuffed the phone into the pocket of his leather jacket just in time to greet Naz as the man came to stand in front of Luca.

“Working hard or hardly working?” Naz asked, grinning.

Luca pulled the last drag from the cigarette before tossing the butt to the ground without care. The sparks bounced over the asphalt like small fireworks as he smirked back at his friend. “Since when do I have to actually do the work?”

Naz laughed. “Fair point. They keeping straight?”

“Doing fine, man. They don’t give me shit. No trouble.”

“Good. That’s what I wanna hear.”

Even as Naz said that, his gaze followed the group of three guys that came back to the rear of the truck with another armload of boxes. None of the young men—ranging in age from seventeen to twenty-three—passed a second look at the arrival of their actual boss. The boys were accustomed to Naz coming and going at times. If anything, it should prove to the guys that their boss trusted them enough to do what he told them to do, and without issue, when he was comfortable leaving them to work with someone else to oversee their business.

A guy needed a good crew to do that.

Not every Capo had one.

“Nice chunk of change in there,” Luca said, referring to the cartons of illegal cigarettes.

Naz shrugged. “Exactly, change. But shit, it keeps them well paid for the month, and I can’t complain about that. It’s a little job in the grand scheme, but the boys gotta eat, too.”

Right.

“And,” Naz added, his dark gaze coming to settle on his friend sitting on the tailgate, “was that your father I heard you talking to?”

Luca rolled his eyes, pushing off the back of the tailgate to stand at his full height. Next to Naz, the two were about eye level give or take an inch. As kids, he was always shorter than his best friend, and it only added to the whole following along complex that developed over the years for him. Now, it wasn’t so bad. Not that it had ever been a thing for Nazio.

“He’s happy. I’m doing work for you. What can he bitch about?”

Naz sighed. “Who else is gonna give us trouble, huh?”

He gave Naz a second look.

His friend only shrugged.

Zeke had said something similar, but Luca still didn’t like it. Nor did he think it was particularly right, either. Who was he to say, though?

He didn’t have a kid.