Packing Heat(40)
“Relax,” I said to her. “I got it.”
“Sure. I’m fine.”
I couldn’t help but notice that she was gripping her fork so hard that her knuckles were turning white, but I didn’t say anything. I got up and walked over to the door, opening it a crack.
“What?” I asked.
“Hey there, Rafa.”
It was fucking Ernesto.
“You dragged your own old ass down here. I’m impressed.”
“You’re staying nearby. I figured I should do this myself.”
“Good for you. What do you want?”
“I want to talk to the girl.”
“No.”
“Arturo’s orders.”
“Actually, that’s a fucking lie. I spoke to him this morning, and he didn’t say shit about that.”
I savored the sour look on his face. “Listen, you little jumped-up street rat. You’re shit, you know that?”
“Fuck off, Ernesto.”
“Talk to me like that again and you’ll start a war.”
I glared at him and wanted so badly to beat his old ass down. I wanted to kill him right there in the hallway, but I spotted a few of his goons standing nearby and thought better of it.
“Go away now,” I said.
“Let me in to see the girl.”
“You’re not coming in here.”
Ernesto smiled at me. “One day, you’re going to regret this decision. Don’t for a second think that I didn’t try to do this the nice way.”
“I prefer the hard way, you old sack of dicks.”
“Bye, Rafa, you stupid cunt.”
He turned and walked off. I smiled at his goons and then shut the door.
Cassidy was staring at me, her eyes locked on mine. I could see the fear in the way she held herself.
“It’s okay,” I said. “He’s gone.”
“That was the guy? Ernesto?”
“That was him. But he knows he can’t get to you here.”
“What if he decides to knock the door down and take me anyway?”
I laughed at her, grinning hugely. “I’d love it if he tried.”
“You can’t take on his whole gang.”
“Maybe not, but I’ll make them think twice about it.”
She sighed, putting her fork down. She crossed her arms. “What are we going to do, Rafa?”
“We’re going to finish eating, maybe take a walk around campus. I don’t know. We’ll fucking kill time.”
“Not today. I mean about this situation. We can’t just keep sitting around.”
“No,” I agreed, “we can’t.”
“Tell me you have a plan.”
“I have a plan.” I sat down across from her. “You won’t like it, though.”
“Tell me.”
“I spoke with Arturo this morning. He wants information, and he doesn’t care if you have it or not.”
“How does that help?”
“We know what we need to get you out of this. If we get Arturo some information, we can exchange that for your freedom.”
She was quiet for a second, chewing her lip and staring at the window. “We can’t,” she said finally.
“What are you talking about?”
“We can’t help them, Rafa. We can’t do that to the Spiders.”
“Fuck the Spiders. I don’t give a fuck about them.”
“I do. I care about them, and I care about the women in this city.”
I sighed. “Cassidy, we can’t help anyone if we’re dead.”
“True, but we’re not worth anything compared to the Spiders.”
“The Spiders are my fucking enemy.”
“Are they?” She stood up. “I’m not so sure. You’re not involved in human trafficking, are you?”
“No,” he said, “I’m not.”
“Then they aren’t your enemy.”
“The mafia is my fucking family. I may not agree with everything, but I’m loyal. I don’t go against my family.”
“Your family is wrong, and you know it.” She paced toward the living room. “I can’t give them up.”
“We don’t need to give them up. We just need something.”
She sighed, shaking her head. I got up and moved toward her.
“I don’t even know how to contact them.”
“You contacted them before. You can do it again.”
She bit her lip. “They messaged me.”
I paused. “When?”
“Recently.” She looked at me. “But you knew that, didn’t you?”
“I suspected it.”
“They offered me protection. I turned them down.”
I nodded, not surprised. The Spiders would definitely want to protect someone like her.