“He just… he got handsier tonight than usual,” I admitted.
“Fucking asshole.”
“Really, it wasn’t that big a deal.”
“Anytime someone is handsy when someone else doesn’t want it, it is a big deal,” Massimo clarified.
“It was just unexpected,” I said, looking up at my reflection. “He’s usually… he’s very distant physically. With occasional almost like… bodily threats, if that makes sense, without him actually manhandling me. He just makes it clear that he can. But tonight he… his hand placement was…”
Ugh.
I couldn’t even say it.
“Can take him out in fifteen seconds if you want this done now,” Massimo said.
I did want it done now.
I wanted it done before anything else happened. Anything worse.
“It’s smarter to take time, right?”
“Smarter doesn’t mean better if you have to suffer in the meantime.”
“It’s okay. Really. I think it was just a combination of things today. I promise I will let you know if it gets bad.”
“What if you don’t have the time to tell me?” he reasoned.
“At least a couple days. Just to give you all the information you might need,” I said.
“If you’re sure,” he said, sounding like he was sighing, like he would have preferred I ended it now, despite it being the more dangerous idea. “So, what do you have for me?”
“Well, I was going to tell you that Larry was kind of an asshole. But, ah, I think Colin might be…”
“Something happen with Larry today?” Massimo asked, surprisingly intuitive for a guy. I mean I loved my brothers to death, but they could never tell what was going on in my head if I didn’t tell them myself.
“He made some comments. I accidentally sort of let one slip in front of Colin. And then he pushed until he got the worse comments out of me. So, yeah, I’m not sure Larry is going to be around long.”
“I don’t get this fuck,” Massimo admitted. “He keeps you prisoner for years, makes you miserable, but defends your honor?”
“I think it is more about him than me,” I told him. “He doesn’t want his men talking shit or implying shit about his personal life. And, in his mind, I am part of his personal life.”
“Yeah you’re probably right. So, if Larry lives, he’s on the list.”
“Albert isn’t. He seems like a good guy. Probably just got caught up in the money and such.”
“I think that will likely be a lot of his men. It’s not the best area. Not a lot of opportunities to better your life unless you go to college, and who the fuck can afford that these days? So they do what is easiest.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “It’s a vicious cycle. “I think you can probably put the enforcers on the bad side of your list, though. They are the most loyal to Colin.”
“And the ones who have done the most fucked up shit for him,” Massimo said.
“Yeah. I’ve met a few of them. They’re never around me much because they’re, you know, more important than the usual guards. But they’ve been around when I have before. And they have eyes just like Colin. Dark and empty.”
“How many of them?”
“Three that I know of.”
“Do you know names?”