Ambrose (The Theriot Family 5)

“I don’t think monkeys are supposed to eat lasagna.”

“Says who?” Lance asked.

“Anyone who knows anything about monkeys.”

Lance shrugged. “They don’t know Tony.”

“Good thing he gets plenty of exercise the way you feed him.”

“Tell me what’s going on,” Lance growled.

I could tell he was nearing the end of his patience, and while it was always fun to rile him up, that wasn’t what I’d come for. I told him about Eric’s call this morning and what I’d learned from him when we’d talked.

“We’re going to end Carlotti like I wanted to before,” Lance declared.

“Are we any more prepared for that than we were then?”

Lance sighed. “Yes, but we’re still not ready. We have an informant who’s a member of Carlotti’s organization.”

“How?”

“Remington won’t say.”

I glared at him. “I don’t like this.”

“Trust him. He’s also working on a financial angle. Our informant let him know Carlotti is deeply in debt, and his creditors are restless.”

“But Remy would still say we need more time?”

“Yes.”

I huffed. “I’m not waiting.”

“No, neither am I. Remy will accept that we’ve got to speed up the timeline with Carlotti in our territory again.”

“Fuck right. There’s no way in hell I’m letting that bastard harm anyone in Eric’s parish.”

“Feeling very protective of the sheriff, are you?”

I did not acknowledge the insinuation in his statement. “I brought him into this, so I owe him my protection.”

“Uh-huh.”

“What the hell are you saying, Lance?”

“You like this guy.”

“He’s honest, and good with people, and… everything I’m not.”

“And you like him.”

“I… admire him.”

Lance grinned. “If you’re willing to admit that, then I’m really onto something here.”

I flipped him off. “Fuck you. We need to deal with Carlotti.”

“We will deal with him. He’ll regret ever setting foot in this state, but I need to know what to expect from Eric.”

He didn’t truly intend to include Eric, did he? “What do you mean?”

“How is he going to help us bring this motherfucker down?”

“He’s not. I want him out of it and safe where I don’t have to worry about him.”

“You didn’t have a problem with him being involved in our operation against LePlatt.”

“That was… different.”

“How is it different?”

“Carlotti is a hell of a lot more dangerous.”

“True, but Eric is well trained to go against the bad guys. He’s not always been a backwoods sheriff.”

“I only agreed to bring Eric in on the takedown of LePlatt with the understanding that we would protect him.”

“Is that what you told him?”

This was starting to feel like an interrogation. “No, that’s what I told myself.”

“This time, he asked for your help, and he wants to be part of this. He could be very useful to us.”

“I don’t want him being useful.”

Lance studied me. “What’s going on with you? You’re not acting like yourself.”

“I’m being forced to spend time around people. It’s making me crazy.”

“No, it’s making you act more normal, and that is fucking disturbing.”

“I shouldn’t be a freak, but I shouldn’t be normal either. Jesus, Lance, what do you want?”

“For you to be happy.”

I snorted. “That’s… not likely to happen.”

“Does Eric make you happy?”

“No, he makes me furious.”

“Hmm. Sometimes that’s close to the same thing.”

Now he was being absurd. “That makes no sense.”

“It would if you knew Julian better, not that you’re allowed to. In fact, you should stay the hell away from him.”

“Be nice, Lancelot,” Julian called. “Ambrose came to you to talk.”

“I came to him to propose a plan.”

“Are all of you incapable of admitting you need someone unless you’re asking them to go take down an enemy with you?” Julian asked.

“Why don’t you go back to bed, Julian?”

Julian tightened the sash of his robe and walked into the kitchen. “It’s the middle of the afternoon, and this is much more entertaining.” He got a glass from the cabinet and poured some very fine whiskey into it.

He lifted it as if toasting us, then looked from one of us to the other. “You need each other, and it sounds like you’re going to need the rest of the family. And Sheriff Winston as well. As much as I like to pretend our confrontation with Carlotti never happened, I know how fucking scary he is. We need to get rid of him.”

Lancelot sighed.

“What?” I asked.

“Julian used to be innocent. Before me, he never wanted to off anybody.”

“That’s not exactly true. I just never would have actually gone through with it.”

Lancelot scowled at him, and Julian laughed. “Whatever y’all decide on, you better call Remy. If you don’t bring him in on this from the start, he’ll be furious.”

Lancelot snorted. “I can handle my brother.”

“That just gives you more to do, and he wants to help. He wants Carlotti gone. He just knew better than to do it back when Carlotti took me prisoner.”

Lancelot turned to me, obviously uncomfortable thinking about Julian being in danger. “Why didn’t you go to Remy first?”