Bang Bang(21)

“Got it.”

“Bye.”

I hung up the phone and stared at it while a picture text came through. Her dad looked like hell, but I still recognized him. His hair was disheveled like he hadn’t showered in years and he looked like he’d had two of his teeth knocked out. Heavy circles looked drawn under his eyes, crow’s feet were deep enough to take a bath in. His mouth was twisted into a frown. The guy next to him was close to my age. And I knew immediately who he probably was… her brother. The guy was a few years younger than all of us, and a total piece of work. I wasn’t a fan of killing kids under the age of twenty-one, but I knew I would probably have to kill him if he showed up. The thought made the beer go sour in my stomach.

I ordered some water and then some food and waited. All the while mulling over all the things Tex had said on the phone. Friends. I liked that. I liked the idea that we weren’t just a business, but family… even though the five families rarely got along it seemed like they’d finally managed a truce. I just wondered how long it would last before everything went to shit.





CHAPTER ELEVEN



Amy



“SO…” ELLA, THE lady who’d deemed herself my personal shopper for the past two hours, pulled the last of the clothes I had picked out from the pile. “He’s hot.”

I laughed. “Yeah, he’s good with a gun too.”

She giggled and gave me a saucy grin. “I bet he is.”

Wasn’t kidding. That was the fun part of walking around with a trained killer; he looked pretty on the outside, but I knew what he was capable of. I knew what all those guys were capable of, and it still gave me chills when I thought about it. How could he hold me throughout the night? Then use those same hands to choke the life out of someone?

I knew firsthand that a lot of the people the mafia hurt were bad people — but some were good, some just fell on bad times, some were just caught in a bad situation.

“I think we have enough here, are you sure you don’t need more shoes?” Ella pointed down at the four boxes of shoes. I’d chosen a pair of sparkly flip-flops, some black leather ankle boots, a pair of Converse, and spiky heels that she said I had to have. I hadn’t ever worn heels so I wasn’t so convinced, but I liked the way they made me feel so I went ahead with it.

“Yeah. I’m good.”

“Great.” She grinned. “I’ll go fetch that man of yours and we can ring you up!”

I followed her out of the dressing room as a few more employees breezed by me and started packing up all the clothes. I hadn’t looked at the price tags. After the first one said five hundred dollars for a pair of leather pants that I knew I’d never wear or need, I decided I didn’t need to know.

Ax arrived a few minutes later. He looked less tense then before, his eyes crinkled at the side as he took in my new outfit. Ella said I needed to wear one of them out of the store, so she ripped the tags off and left with my Walmart clothes — pretty sure I was never going to see them again.

I had on dark skinny jeans, the flip-flops, a white t-shirt that hung off my shoulder, and a strappy blue tank top underneath. It was simple, easy, and it was comfortable. But Ax looked at me like I’d just put on some sort of cat suit and whipped him.

“You look beautiful,” he finally whispered, then kissed me on the forehead. “All ready?” He addressed Ella.

“Of course.” She flashed him a winning employee-of-the-month smile. “I tried to grab some pieces she would be comfortable in, but I convinced her to pick out a few skirts and dresses too.” She shot me a wink.

“Fantastic.”

“So the total…” Her eyebrows arched. “Is four thousand thirty-two dollars and twelve cents.”

Ax didn’t even blink, just reached for a shiny black AmEx card that had some sort of roman soldier or something on it. All I knew was when he handed it over Ella looked like she was about ready to pass out.

She lifted the card closer to her face and grinned such a wide grin I almost wondered if the card was fake or something.

“Don’t think I’m unprofessional…” She swiped the card and handed it back to Axton. “But I didn’t think these actually existed.”

Ax laughed. “Well I’m glad I could put the urban legend to rest. They exist, but they’re a pain in the ass — lots of fees.”

“But at the end of the day does it really matter when you have an invite-only card like that?” She shook her head again, her smile still firmly in place.

“Nah.” He put the card back in his wallet. “Not really.”

“Alright, just need your signature, Mr. Abandonato.”