Taking Care Of The Mobster

“I’m not planning on returning to the streets, Mandy,” I say, quietly interrupting her.

Mandy’s eyes go wide in stunned surprise. “What are you talking about, Carlos? Surely you don’t mean that.”

“That life is no life, Mandy,” I say, shaking my head from side to side. “You know how many lives were lost in the last hit?” My chest constricts as memories of the bloodbath invade my mind. I barely escaped with my life intact. I let myself be dragged away like a fucking coward while my men battled for their lives. Anger, vicious and deathly, thrums in my veins as the memories flash rapidly in my head.

“But that was an unprovoked attack, Don Pablo is going to pay,” I say through clenched teeth. “I will hit him where it hurts the most and run him off the streets for good.”

“Revenge,” Mandy says. She leans forward, her eyes passionately lit. “That’s a good start, Carlos. We get our revenge on the Don and rule the streets once more. You can reform as you deem fit, but...leaving? The streets raised you, Carlos? You were made on the streets. You are the king of the street. And you’re going to leave all that? For what? Diamond Investments?” Mandy scoffs loudly and sits back in her chair. “That’s bullshit, Boss.”

I suddenly feel a heaviness settle over me. Mandy is right. This is the only life I know. It’s what I was born into and the only purpose crafted out for me. Gang life is the only thing I’ve known for all forty-two years of my life.

But what is this desperate urge to get out?

Nothing makes sense anymore, and this feeling of unfulfillment is not one that I can describe. People refer to me as the king of the streets, but all I see every time I look in the mirror is an empty shell without essence.

But could there be something more for me outside of gang life?

“I’m tired,” I say, running a hand down my face. “I need to rest now.”

Mandy recognized the command in my tone because she stands. “Yes, Boss.”

I watch her walk out of the room, feeling my heart sink even deeper in my chest. It seems like I keep letting those around me down with every decision that I take.

CHAPTER FOUR

Abby

I can’t seem to stop thinking about that moment in Carlos’s room yesterday. Would he really have kissed me if Mandy hadn’t chosen that moment to intrude?

I trail a finger slowly along my lower lip and imagine Carlos’s lips on mine. I quickly drop my hand and shake my head vigorously.

It’s not possible.

Men like Carlos don’t go around kissing girls like me.

Besides, it’s not like I want to be kissed by a man like Carlos. He’s a man who distributes drugs and arms on the streets and beyond. I’ve heard tales of the horrors of gang life and have seen what a menace they are to society.

A man like Carlos is without conscience and humanity. It doesn’t matter that he looks like an archangel carved on a holy day or has a fascinating sense of humor. I’ve heard and read enough about him to know that I should keep my distance from him.

I save lives for which he has no regard. I don’t have any business thinking about him or the feelings of his lips against mine. I shouldn’t be thinking about his woody scent or the fascinating story behind his tattoos. I shouldn’t be flexing my fingers from the urge to run my fingers through the rich dark strands of his hair or how his stormy dark eyes seem to see right through me.

I shake my head again, harder this time. I close my eyes and let my head fall back, magically wishing the bad thoughts away like Beth taught me when we were little.

“Are you alright?” Sarah’s concerned voice penetrates through my musings.

I open my eyes in time to see her walk into the kitchen with two bags that seem too big for her petite size. Her brows are knitted in genuine concern as she walks toward me. I suppose it’s alarming to see the new nurse in the kitchen looking like a nutcase in her baggy nightwear and her hair plastered all over.

I don’t need a mirror to reflect my appearance, it’s how I look every morning. I’d be alarmed too if I came across myself this early in the morning.

“I’m fine,” I say with a small smile. I take a sip of my coffee and place the cup down on the counter with a sigh. “I just need a shot of caffeine to boost my system.”

“You seem a little pale,” Sarah says, heaving the grocery bags onto the counter with a small grunt. “You must not have slept well. Of course, that’s understandable, seeing as it was your first night in a strange house and all that.”