Page 39 of Hash

“Hey,” Cyrus whines. “I always share with you!”

“No, you fucking don’t. Why are you here?” I ask, annoyed.

Cyrus comes to the garage only to bother me.

“Prez wants us to go on a run real quick. I guess our buddy Rail is out.”

“How the fuck is he out? Before we went two weeks ago, he told us he was getting four bricks from his supplier last weekend. There’s no way in hell he moved that much in his area.”

“That’s what I thought too. I think Prez thinks he’s moved into territory that’s not his. He has to be dealing in Ravenna Heights. His small ass town doesn’t have that kind of movement,” Cyrus says.

Setting my torque wrench down on my bench, I wipe my hands off with a rag. “How much does he want from us?”

“Just a brick.”

“Jesus.”

“I know.”

“You think he’s moved onto Adduci’s territory?” I ask, moving to shut the hood on the car.

Matteo is not one to mess with. And if Rail thinks he’s pulling a fast one getting involved with the Italian mafia, he’s got another thing coming. Matteo will have him taken out before he can blink.

“I kind of hope so. It means we would get to help. I liked Gio. He seems like a fun guy to fuck shit up with,” Cyrus says as he thinks about it.

Of course, Gio is his favorite.

“That’s because you both are equally psychotic.”

Cyrus waves me off. “You say psychotic, I say fun.”

“They’re not the same.” I shake my head. “When does he want us to head out?”

“Saturday.”

“Fuck.” I sigh.

“What?”

“I told Aisling I would pick her up on Saturday to bring her out to meet everyone.”

“Whoa, big step meeting the fam.” Cyrus slaps me on the back. “I guess it’s about time, since you already have a baby and all that jazz. Ya skipped a few steps, didn’t ya?”

“I’m going to fuck you up.” I grab a wrench off the bench and throw it at him.

Cyrus dodges it as he laughs.

“I’m just fucking with you. Bring her out on Sunday. You know Evan is always cooking something for family dinner.”

I guess that could work. Evan always does a huge spread, from appetizers down to desserts. The funny thing is, there are never any leftovers.

“I don’t know, man. You think it’s too soon? I don’t want to freak her out.” She already seemed freaked out about Saturday. I hate that she used to want this and now I fucked it up so bad, she doesn’t seem to want anything to do with me.

Cyrus leans up against the bench and crosses his arms. “Not to sound like a dick, but don’t you think it’s a little late for wondering if it’s too soon? I mean, whether she likes it or not, you two are going to be in each other’s lives for the rest of your life. And if it were me, I would want to know the people my kid is around.”

“I think she’s more reluctant on me staying. She doesn’t want to introduce Cormac to everyone if I leave again.”

“You need to prove to her that you’re going to stick around.”