“I thought beards made you older? Or was it lazy?”
“You’re just jealous because you can’t grow one, Mr. Patchy face.”
Laughing, I didn’t acknowledge his statement or the partial truth of it. I’d tried once, and it had been patchy, but it also didn’t go well with my clean look. I found it more intimidating to scowl down at others when they could see my whole face.
“What movie is this? If you liked it, maybe it’s worth a watch. I realized the other day I’m severely lacking in pop culture references.” My conversation with Mrs. Carter reminded me I didn’t take time for frivolous things. I’d never cared before, but her shock had made me wonder what I was missing.
His face tinted red a little and I wondered what movie he would be embarrassed by. “You didn’t… watch something inappropriate with my little sister, did you?” I choked.
“Don’t be a fucking sicko, Mas. Besides, Ims is like a sister to me.” His whole body convulsed in revulsion, and my heart rate slowed back to normal.
“Sorry! You just seemed embarrassed. It was the only thing I could think you wouldn’t want to tell me.”
I pulled between two buildings in an alley, and Sax immediately exited the car, avoiding the question. Sighing, I turned off the engine and wiped down the areas we’d touched. We’d both worn gloves, but it was always a precaution. Pulling the black sock cap off when I exited, I shoved it in my pocket. The fucking thing had heated my head, and my hair stuck out in all angles. I smoothed it down using the tinted window as a mirror the best I could. The trunk slammed, and I watched as Sax walked over, the deadweight still out on his shoulder.
“How hard did you hit him? Is he still breathing?”
He shrugged, the body moving up as he did. Sax started toward the building a few blocks over as we left the car behind. One of our ‘friends of the family’ would retrieve it later. I trusted Pops to only send a trustworthy person to retrieve the car and return it, but it didn’t mean I was stupid. Leaving prints on something was the sure-fire way to find the feds at our door. So while it would probably be disassembled and sold, we didn’t need our DNA anywhere in the car to be used against us. Paranoid? Maybe, but if you weren’t suspicious in the mafia, you were dead.
I spotted Lucca and Joel waiting at the end for us, so I stopped, needing to know before we became our mafia roles.
“Seriously, I promise not to laugh. What movie was it?”
He exhaled heavily, stopping in his tracks. Sax looked over his shoulder at me and finally gave in. “Harry Potter, okay. She bugged me enough at the estate I gave in, feeling bad for keeping her away from everyone. We had a whole marathon the weekend you went to deal with the permits in the city. Now, can we go? This asshole is heavy from all the bullshit he spews.”
Blinking, a broad smile crossed my lips. “She conned you too?” I laughed. Picking up my pace, I came level with him. “I think she’s successfully managed to get four people now.”
Sax snorted, shaking his head at the realization. “I should’ve figured. Beau and Topher kept giving me knowing looks.”
“I’m having a hard time placing the bearded guy, though?” I mused, thinking of all the characters. It had been a few years since I’d sat down with her, but it wasn’t like I watched a lot of movies for them to fade away.
“You know, the one in charge.”
I stopped in my tracks, a laugh spilling out before I could catch it. “Do you mean Dumbledore?”
Sax kept walking, and I jogged to catch up. “You do, don’t you?” I chuckled. “I bet you’re a Hufflepuff too,” I teased, wanting to bait him.
“Fucker, I’m a Gryffindor. Check your Slytherin ass at the door.”
“Ha! You admit to taking the test then.”
Sax paused, shaking his head before giving me another look. “If you breathe one word of this...”
“You’ll what? Use your wand on me?” I smirked, crossing my arms. The lunacy of this conversation before we went into the meeting wasn’t lost on me, but I found myself needing it.
“No, I’ll tell Immy you were the one who outbid her on the signed first edition of Order of the Phoenix.”
Shocked, my mouth dropped open as I ran to catch him. “What? How do you know that? You can’t tell her, she’d kill me.” I yanked his arm, needing to know. Sax raised his eyebrow, refusing to answer.
“Fine, what do you want?”
“For you to admit you like Loren and that you’ll actually try until she gives you a chance to show her you’re not an asshole all the time.”
“I thought you were leaving it up to me.”
“I changed my mind.”
Dropping my head, I looked up to the sky as I debated. Focusing back on Sax, I sighed. “Fine.”