“Shooting.” Bee grinned happily. “Trace and Mil said they’d teach me, can you help?”
“Uh… sure.” Mo set her coffee down. “That would be fun.” When she reached for her coffee again it was at the exact moment Tex reached for another roll.
Their hands collided.
Awkward would be an understatement.
I decided to make it worse. Mainly because I could, and because after looking at the way Mo stared at Tex, I knew. She’d never be for me. I wasn’t him, it was as simple as that.
Didn’t mean I couldn’t at least get in a good jab so he realized what a complete and utter ass he was. “So the girl you’re going to shack up with.” I cleared my throat. “You see her picture yet? Rumor has it Nicolasi girls are really… bendy.”
Mo’s face paled as Tex pushed back his seat and stood. “I couldn’t care less.”
“Well,” I kept poking, “You are going to marry her, I mean the contract’s been drawn up, and you’d be an idiot not to take the protection of the only family still in Sicily… right?”
He closed his eyes briefly before a cruel smile plastered across his face. Phoenix nodded his head to Tex and returned his attention to the paper.
“It only makes sense.” Tex puffed out his chest. “The Cappo di Cappo marrying the Nicolasi clan, just think… we’d be unstoppable. Hell, the Alferos, De Langes, and Abandonatos combined couldn’t out buy us, out weapon us, or stop us. I’m thinking…” He nodded and offered another smirk around the table as he walked into the kitchen. “I’m thinking it sounds good. Damn good, after all what type of leader would I be if I wasn’t fully invested in all that power?”
Nixon clenched his teeth while Chase gripped his coffee cup so hard it almost splintered into his hands.
Phoenix, however, appeared indifferent.
“Good call,” I finally said. “Abandoning the family that raised you in order to join the devil… how… typical of a Campisi.”
Tex froze and then slowly turned his murderous gaze on me. I had the sudden urge to jump out of my seat and run. Like a complete coward. “They say a boss always has to order a first hit, Sergio. Don’t make me an enemy, you don’t want to know the pain I could bring you. The suffering, the absolute entertainment I’d feel at strangling you with my bare hands.”
With that he walked off.
Chase let out a whistle and set down the paper. “Happy Sunday.”
“God’s day.” Nixon added.
“I’ve got some prayer beads if you need them, Sergio.” Chase nodded. “You know, just in case.”
I rolled my eyes and leaned back in my chair.
What was Tex doing?
And why was Phoenix okay with it?
Hell, even if I did end up dead, I’d be okay with the situation as long as it was handled in a way that protected the family. What a completely morbid thought.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
The Mafia by definition should say. “Happy Endings die here.”
Tex
I HAD TO ADMIT, watching Sergio’s shit-eating grin fall from his face as he turned the color of a ghost was probably the highlight of my week, maybe even my month.
With a grunt I punched the bag harder. I needed a way to get out my aggression, and sitting at the table with Mo, pretending not to care when she was staring into her coffee like it held the secrets to the world? Hardest damn thing I’d ever done.
Damn contract. I barreled my fist into the punching bag.
Damn Luca. Two roundhouse kicks. Another punch.
Sweat was pouring down my face.
“Did you get the text?” Phoenix scared the hell out of me as he walked into the weight room and held the bag. I continued punching.
“You mean the text with all the pictures?”
Phoenix nodded slowly.
“You know I have a good memory, man. Six of Alfonso’s men are going to be dead by my hand come this Thursday.”
“And the other fourteen?”
I paused, allowing myself to catch my breath before landing a right hook then a left to the bag. “They’re all old.”
Phoenix sighed. “Kind of the point, Tex.”
I stopped punching and hung my head. “You’re asking me to cleanse the old to make way for the new.”
Phoenix released the bag. “How do you suck out poison? Fast or slow?”
“Why are we sucking poison?”
His eyes flashed. “Answer the question.”
“Fast, you have to get as much out as you can otherwise the person loses time.”
“So you shoot fast… you suck out the poison. The slower you go about it the more dangerous it becomes. Kill them all, Tex. Not one lives. That list, if it ever gets back to you, to me, to us?” he cursed and ran his hands through his hair. “It’s almost like treason, you know?”
“Yeah.” I chewed my lower lip. “I’m well aware of what we’re doing.”
“That’s why they can’t know.” Phoenix grabbed the back with his hands. “Now hit.”
Right, left, right, left, I hit until I was completely spent. Until sweat poured down my face into my eyes.
“Good.” Phoenix stepped back. “Some of the targets will be out tonight. I’ll text you the address. Watch them, memorize their movements, their mannerisms, even drunk they’ll show you their tells. But don’t let them see you.”
“Got it.”
“And Tex?” Phoenix stopped halfway to the door.
“Yeah?” I wiped my face with a towel. “If I’m in the line of fire… I won’t hate you… just know. I would never hate you. Rather I die than any one of those bastards live.”
I swallowed. “Phoenix… were they a part of it? I have to know.”
“It’s not a personal vendetta, Tex.” Phoenix swore and slammed the wall with his hand. “If it was I’d be the one doing the shooting. Just know… those men… they were with my father and with yours. If they don’t die… that prostitution ring stays open. If they don’t die, those weapons keep coming up from Columbia. If they don’t die, it will be our heads. They won’t stop until they’ve hunted us all down.”
“I wish there were another way.”
Phoenix let out a large exhale. “Don’t we all?”
“One more thing.”
“Dude…” Phoenix hung his head. “I’m tired.”