“I told you this was a shitty plan,” Dwayne said right before Sal punched him in the stomach. I actually winced, knowing how hard my brother hit. Salvatore was a fighter. Always had been. The second-born, he always tried to make up for not being the first. He didn’t harbor any ill will towards me, and for that, I was grateful, but he didn’t like coming in second.
“Any other bright ideas, Obi-Won?” Dwayne coughed as he spit blood on the floor.
“Shut up, Dwayne.”
“For the record, Asshole, it was all Reggie’s fault.”
“How? How was it my fault, Dwayne?”
“You were the one who wrecked his car.”
“Did not!” Reggie gasped. “That country bumpkin came out of nowhere. You were the one who grabbed the wheel. It’s not my fault you aimed his car straight for a tree.”
And like all the times before, Dwayne deflected and retreated to his childish ways. There was never a time I couldn’t remember when he was in trouble that he would make light of anything that he hoped would get him out of trouble. The problem was, I didn’t care about some car I owned when we were seventeen. Nor did I care that they totaled it. I cared that they were alright. But Dwayne never got that. All he cared about was deflecting, and he was damn good at it.
Moaning as Sal punched him again, Dwayne asked, “Yo, Asshole. What time is it?”
“Five minutes later than the last time you asked,” I sighed, looking at my phone, following Dwayne’s narrative. He was always like this. What his obsession with time was, I never understood, but he never failed to ask the time when he was getting a smackdown for just being himself. Sighing, I nodded to my brothers to continue.
Luciano smiled brightly and said, “God, I’ve missed you, Reggie. I’m happy your home. When you have time, you really need to see my new work. I’ve got a new exhibition showing next week,” right before his fist collided with his face.
Grimacing, Reggie muttered, “Sure, Luc. Love to.”
As beat downs went, this one was pretty tame. I wanted answers, and I knew Reggie wouldn’t give them to me with so many present, so I tried another tactic. I still had a woman in my house I knew nothing about, and then there was the vague story Reggie gave me concerning her. I needed to know what he knew and fast.
“So,” I said calmly, putting my phone down as I watched Dwayne and Reggie cringe. “Who is the woman?”
Reggie quickly looked at Dwayne, who was too busy spitting blood on the floor. Turning back to me, Reggie simply replied, “She’s just a sister of one of our brothers. That’s it.”
“Try again.”
“Look Gio. I can’t. I really can’t. You may scare the living crap out of me, but Reaper will have my soul if I say anything without his permission. All you need to know is that she is with us and needs our protection. That’s all I can say. I’m on the level right now.”
“I want her full name.”
“Layla. Her name is Layla.”
“Does this Layla have a last name?”
“I’m sure she does, but I don’t know it,” he lied. Reggie was many things, but a liar, he was not. The man I remember could never tell a lie to save his own life, and it looked as if that continued. He was too expressive. His thoughts, feelings, and worries were written on his face, and when he lied, he never looked anyone in the eye. It was his tell, and I knew it, so did everyone else, especially Dwayne, who immediately asked, “Why do you want to know?”
“I want to know who’s in my house. Friend or foe, I have the right to know.”
“I say we get the bees,” Salvatore grinned wickedly.
“NO!” Dwayne shouted as I looked at Salvatore as if he was crazy. It was one thing to take a couple of hits, but bees were no joking matter. Especially since Dwayne was highly allergic to them.
Which reminded me, I needed to get my mother to call in for Dwayne’s prescription of epi-pens. We needed them here just in case.
Massacre grinned wickedly. “You even think about it, Sal, and I will put my boot so far up your ass, you will be able to tie my laces with your tongue.”
“Big talk from a man who is tied up, hanging from the ceiling.”
“Oh, I won’t be here much longer dickhead.”
“Oh yeah, and how do you plan on getting out of this?”
Massacre grinned, then yelled loudly, “AUNT NIKKI!”