Sonata (Butcher and Violinist 2)

I muttered under my breath, “Jesus, Mary, and the other guy.”

With the wallet folded, he placed that on his lap.

I rubbed my face with one hand. “I’m just glad no one is shooting at us right now, because we would be dead.”

This is why Jean-Pierre never lets Giorgio drive him around.

The key was already in the ignition. A wise man would’ve simply started the car and drove off. Giorgio needed to clean the keys. And then place that stained cloth into the bag with the other dirty wipes, which then went into another tiny bag.

He’s fucking with me. Right? He can’t be serious.

Just when I thought Giorgio had finally finished, he pulled out a comb from his breast pocket, gazed into the rearview mirror, and ran the comb carefully through his hair.

I pulled out my gun but didn’t point it at him. “I swear to God I will shoot you right now, if you don’t put that comb up.”

“You’ve never been one for etiquette.” Frowning, Giorgio put the comb back in his pocket, leaned forward, and finally drove us way.

Thank you for this small mercy.

While we headed to Shalimar’s present address, I thought back to my childhood.

Many had changed from boys to man, but Giorgio had remained the same. He’d been a neat freak as a kid. The cleanest boy on any playground. At times, he could be found wiping another kid’s snotty nose or tidying up their shoelaces. His catholic school uniforms had been tailored and impeccable. His mom would brag to everyone how he ironed all his clothes himself. That blabbering had our mothers thinking we could iron too. I intentionally burned a hole into my jeans to stop that thinking.

But Giorgio remained the Golden boy. One summer, he spent the days, volunteering to wash dishes and sweep for our mothers. That made him the favorite to all of them, until years later they discovered he’d been banging their maids.

I turned to him. “Which maid took your virginity?”

Giorgio frowned. “What? That’s an odd question.”

“You have an odd fetish.”

“Fucking a maid is not a fetish.”

“I bet it is.”

“It’s not.”

“Why do you like to do it?”

“Why do you care so much about my dick?”

“Good point. Keep your dirty little secret.”

“Perhaps, that’s the point. Maids are good at cleaning up dirty secrets.” Giorgio had always said that. Even at a young age.

For some reason I thought of that fact right now. It seemed important, if not significant to my life. In fact, everything began to feel like it connected to other parts.

I thought back to Jean-Pierre and my relationship.

When Jean-Pierre’s father was killed, his mother and him had come to live with us.

Jean-Pierre and I built a secret fort in the yard. We’d sit in it, smoke stolen cigarettes, and lie about our adventures to each other.

Jean-Pierre coughed and gave me the cigarette with his small hands. “I think I’ve killed a hundred men by now, but I stopped counting at fifty.”

“Me too. I’ve killed a hundred men. Kids will tell you about it, when you go to school this year.” I took the cigarette and inhaled. The smoke entered my lungs. I must’ve coughed and spit on the fort floor for a good hour.

We hadn’t killed anyone and didn’t comprehend the true idea of power or death. We were fatherless boys, pretending at being men.

We’ve been trying to figure out how to be men all our lives.

I wasn’t sure when we truly learned to be men. Perhaps, the world was still teaching us. Surely, blood and violence brought lessons.

Either way, Jean-Pierre and I had the strongest bond out of all of our cousins. It was a fierce one that no one could break. But every time Shalimar’s name rose in this situation, and the dead bodies continued to link between her and Eden’s safety, I worried what would happen to our bond.

Will there be a moment, when I would have to choose?

My phone rang.

I picked up. “Yes?”

Louis came on the line. “I figured out why Shalimar doesn’t leave her spot.”

“Why not?”

“She’s making money doing nude webcam shows.”

I didn’t like her showing her body to anyone else. Especially, when I could give her all the money she needed.

You know I would give you the money, and you wouldn’t have to talk to me.

“She’s on the web now,” Louis said. “I was going to send the feed to your phone.”

“Do it.” I covered the bottom of my phone and looked at Giorgio. “Pull over. I want to check something.”

The signal was doing good now, but I didn’t want it to go out as we continued to drive.

Giorgio slipped the car over to a parking lot with an abandoned corner store. No other spots were open. The area had shut down for the evening.

I got out the car, not wanting Giorgio to see Shalimar naked on my phone. I walked past the building to get out of Giorgio’s eyesight. Who knew how hard my cock would get with Shalimar’s body bare to me?