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“Lala, I hate to interrupt your—” Val gazes down at Roger. “Playtime, but we have a meeting with the New York outfit and we’re already late.”
“Wait—” Roger’s hand comes to my arm. “You’re Lala? As in La Rosa? As in Ruby La Rosa?” He bangs his head against the back of the kitchen counter. “Fuck! I should have known.”
“Mmhmm,” I say, dragging the tip of my knife up the curve of his jaw. “You should have known. You definitely should have known.” I sink the tip into his jugular vein, as blood spills over my hand. I step back, grabbing the towel again and wiping myhands. I spin around, my eyes colliding with Val. “Oh, don’t judge me.”
“I’m not!” He raises his hands. “But you’re gonna have to wash your hands before we leave and I’ll call the cleanup.”
Rinsing my hands in the kitchen sink, I pick my phone up from the counter and make my way to the door. “Yes, but I want those who know me toknowthis was me and I want the cops to continue chasing their little piggy tails guessing.” I swirl my finger around the space, leaving the door opened for them both and making my way to our parked G 63. I slide into the back seat, opening my compact mirror and pulling out my powdered foundation. When they’re both in and reversing, Tony is the first to say anything. He usually is. Tony is for my logic, where Val is for my chaos. He fuels it. Makes me feel like my irrational actions are warranted. He’s kind of like my hype man.
“Alright, I’m going to say it. I think you whacking off the Irish is a bad move.”
“Bad, how?” I ask, batting my lashes at him in the rearview mirror. “Bad because he didn’t even know who his grandfather is, or bad because now I’ve gone and stirred the pot for the first time in years?”
“Both fucking bad, principessa. We all know—everyone knows not to cross you, and they go to great lengths to make sure they stick to that, but you being a little shit stirrer and whacking off the long-lost Irish grandson, knowing that Jeremy had every intention of taking him under the family and teaching him everything there is to know—is bad.” He isn’t lying, I know it is, but I also know why I did it. If we had it Tony’s way, we would negotiate our way out of bad situations. I’d rather leave a body count with Jimmy Choo stamps over their forehead. And anyway, the Irish aren’t going to do anything. They can’t now…
“You ready for this meeting?” Val asks, turning to face me. Val is also half Tony’s age, so he’s just—immature. I know that.He’s even younger than me. But it works. He and I—work. As long as I don’t accidentally fuck his pretty face. Which I have tampered with inner thoughts daily.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Val continues to drive us to the other side of town, and I open my phone and click a new message to Mama. Over the years, I’ve made it my mission to keep my family life separate from who I am here. Who I have to be and who I have so easily become. It’s as though Papa saw the monster inside of me a long time ago and continued to feed it until it was ready to be unleashed.
“Mama,” I say when she answers almost instantly. “Bedtime?”
“It is. He’s all brushed teeth and ready for bed. Are you going to be back late tonight? I think Betty is staying over again.” I take a deep breath and count to ten. Betty is the only part of my old life that I brought with me into my new. She’s there for two reasons, but the main one is to keep me grounded.
“She will be there for a while, Mama. I’ll be back later. Put Wolf on the phone.” There’s shuffling in the background before a little snore noise. “Is that my favorite little wild one?” He giggles in the background. “Have you brushed all of your teeth?”
“Yesh!” he says proudly, stammering over his words. Wolf is ridiculously smart, but he’s just not aware of it yet. He will be, though. One day. Unfortunately. “I bwushed allllll of them too because Nona said if I didn’t I wasn’t allowed Christmas chocolate!”
I stifle a laugh, my eyes drifting out the window to the bright city lights and busy streets. Some people are running, some pushing strollers, and others obviously heading out for a night out. “Nona is right, my love. Santa always knows when you haven’t brushed your teeth!”
“Love you, Mama.”
“Love you, son.” I hang up my phone and take in ten deep breaths.
One.
Two.
The car rolls to a stop at a red light, but I keep my eyes closed, calming my racing heart. It only beats for Wolf and my family, and those people are not who I’m going to see tonight.
Three.
Four.
A loud rumble of bikes rolls to a stop beside us, and if they weren’t so fucking loud, I probably would have continued my counting. My eyes open and I turn out the window to see who, or what, dickwad is using his big, loud engine as compensation for his little dick, when I see around ten men, all idling beside me. The one closest to my mirror has a large body and tight rippled muscles as arms. His fingers flex around his higher handlebars and I read the patch on his back.
“That must be the patch over that’s happening tonight,” Val says with a grin.
“Patch over?” I ask Val, unable to remove my eyes from the bike beside me. His bike is glossy white. The loud pipes that shake my car hook to the back near his tire. “I didn’t know about any patch over?”
“You wouldn’t and don’t because it’s fine. It’s civil, and they know that if it gets out of hand that you will have something to say about it.”
“Hmmm… and how doyouknow?” I ask, glaring at Val in the rearview mirror.
“Because my best friend from childhood rides with them. He’s patched in and is moving here with their new president.”
“Well…” I whisper. “Thank God for that because their last one here sucked.” The light turns green, and just as we pull away from them, I turn to maybe get a look of the beast that sits onthe bike beside my window, but as soon as I get a view, my hopes are crushed by the fact that half of his face is covered by a skull bandana and the other half a helmet.
“Damn. Could bet my money he was fucking hot.”
