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“Yes, ma’am.”
Chapter Four
Striker
"You sure you're ready for this, bro?"
Those are the first words out of my sister's mouth the second she steps out of her car and onto the bustling San Francisco sidewalk. It's foggy, as San Francisco always is, and more people than I feel comfortable with bustle by. Big cities always bother me. The people, the closed-in buildings, the alleys; where others see signs of life, of community, of vibrant dreams and stunning ambitions, I see choke points, obstacles, and ample openings for murder and ambush.
Right now, I'd prefer an ambush over what I'm about to do.
"It's just suit shopping, Striker. There's nothing to be worried about," says Maddy, exiting her car that she's parked right next to Natalie's. Hers is far nicer than my sister's. Natalie drives a Corolla not much newer than our grandmother's, while Maddy drives a BMW that shines like the sun. This is her home turf, close to the fancy financial offices she works at during the daytime. No wonder she's comfortable in this steel and concrete death trap. "It'll be fun."
"I'm ready," I say, not happy about it at all. Though a part of me feels something akin to excitement. Not at the act of shopping for a proper tuxedo to wear to Michael Vertucci's wedding, but to have something that'll make me look halfway decent as I stand beside Dani. I still can't get out of my head how good she looked wearing a simple work outfit — a skirt, a blouse, a jacket. It was like seeing her for the first time.
I'd liked her plenty when she would chase after us wearing a ratty old t-shirt and torn jeans. When she was that girl who was always down for adventure or trouble, but now? Now she's so much more, and I'm left wondering how I never noticed before how truly gorgeous she is.
"I still can't believe you're going to the Vertucci wedding with Danielle Green," Nat says. "Or that Dixon asked you. When he told me he was going to, I was speechless for nearly a minute."
"Why is that so strange?" Maddy says.
"Because, back in the day, Dixon and my brother beat up more than a few boys who looked twice at Dani Green. They protected her like she was a little sister to both of them, not just Dixon’s sister."
"And?"
"What do you mean 'and?'" Natalie says.
"Why is it weird that he'd ask the person he trusts the most to take care of his sister? Especially someone who has already protected her in the past?" Maddy replies.
"Why don't you tell her, Owen?" Natalie casts a long, knowing look at me that says that she'll spill everything in merciless detail if I don't answer to the fullest extent of the truth.
"Dani may have had a crush on me back when she was younger."
"A crush is an understatement. Crush is a mediocre orange soda. What she felt for you was a crush in the same way those gigantic machines at the wrecking yards crush cars. I mean, do you remember the way she looked at you? She wasn't just moon-eyed. It was the entire freaking solar system in her eyes. Everything from Mercury to Pluto — which, by the way, is still a planet in my book."
"Oh, now I see." Maddy nods and shares a look with Natalie. A look that, despite how well I know my sister, I still can't interpret.
"See what?" I ask.
I don't like that I don't know what's going on between them. This is a simple bodyguard mission to pay back the man I owe my life to. That I'm guarding a woman that I've also had a crush on for years is entirely unimportant to my mission objective.I can follow orders, and my orders are clear: protect, but don’t touch.
“Be careful," Nat says, mimicking Elmer Fudd’s voice. "Be very, very careful."
"Yes, I will, because there are fucking hitmen at this wedding. Which, for some reason, Dani is completely unbothered by."
Maddy's eyes go wide momentarily. Only momentarily. She’s seen more than her fair share of shit since hooking up with Bullet.
"Why exactly is she intent on going to this wedding?" She says.
"Because her best friend's little sister is the bride," Nat answers, as if that explains everything.
Maddy nods, as if she gets it immediately.
I don't.
To me, this is a situation you'd solve with a kidnapping, a stern lecture to the kidnapped bride, and a severe beating — maybe a murder — of the groom. You would not, under any sane circumstances, dress up and support your best friend's sister as she signs her life over to some small-time Mafia boss.
"So this tux is important. Doubly important," Maddy says, eyeing me up and down. Then her eyes go to the sign of the tailor's shop in front of us. She returns her gaze back to me, and suddenly I feel like I'm a stock symbol — or whatever the fuck she deals in with her financial work, I don't know, and hell, I don't think Bullet even knows; it's all a mystery of math, which frankly, is more of a crime of war than anything I saw on deployment — and she is silently picking me apart, reducing me, weighing me. "We've established how Danielle feels about you, we've ascertained the insanity of this wedding, but before we step into this tailor's shop — which may or may not be the place we use — I need to know how you feel about Danielle."
