Rolan waved a hand. “You mean Camillo? Don’t worry about him. He’s always causing trouble. Just the kind of asshole he is, although that particular kind of asshole can be very useful in our line of work.”
“No, I mean, how’d he become the boss?”
“Ah.” Rolan ran a hand through his hand and hesitated. “It’s not a real interesting story. You want to hear it?”
“I think so.”
“He killed the last boss.” His eyes sparkled and he didn’t smile. I knwo right away that he wasn’t lying.
“How’d it happen?”
“A few years back, before the main crew splintered into these smaller crews, Owain was another one of the central figures in the whole thing. It’s hard to explain, but there was like this council of twelve guys with Hedeon at the top. Owain was on that council.”
“So he was like a leader in the original group?”
“Exactly. There was another leader, this guy named Frank. He built our crew originally, got the whole drug network set up. Owain joined up with Frank, and together they got the pill trade up and running.”
“So why would Owain kill him?”
“Apparently they got into some disagreement. I don’t know about what, but I do know Frank was stealing from the crew. Not a lot, but a little here and there, you know, getting high on the stash, pocketing a few hundred bucks when he wanted it, petty shit. Most bosses would let that kind of thing slide.”
“But Owain wouldn’t.” I let out a harsh laugh. I could imagine how he’d react to something like that. It wouldn’t be kind and it wouldn’t be forgiving.
“No, Owain wouldn’t. He got angry, really fucking angry, and I guess they got into some fistfight. You’ve never seen Owain fight, not really, but the guy doesn’t know how to stop until his opponent’s not moving anymore. I think he goes into it thinking that only one person was gonna walk away, and he always made sure it was the other guy.”
“So he beat Frank to death?”
“With his fists, yeah, beat him to death. Maybe didn’t mean to do it, since Frank was older and couldn’t take the beating like some younger guys, but still. Smashed his face in with his fists. Knocked all his teeth out and left his face a wrecked pulp. Even if he had survived, he never would’ve been the same.”
I shook my head, trying to imagine it, and realized it wasn’t hard. Owain could be funny and kind and even gentle when his hands were on my body and he wanted me to feel a particular way—but the danger always lurked just below the surface, ready to manifest at any time.
“I don’t get why the guys would let that happen, if Frank was their leader.”
“People didn’t like Frank all that much. Owain’s got a way about him, you know?”
“I do know.”
“Sucks you in, huh?” He smirked at me and laughed. “Guess so, since he’s got you doing his dirty work.”
“And paying me a shit ton more than he’s paying you.”
“Fair enough.” Rolan pushed off the shelf. “Fact is, Owain’s got that something. Don’t know what it is, but some people are magnetic. They pull you into their orbit and don’t let you go spinning away even when you want to. It’s some cult leader shit, or maybe the shit politician’s have, I don’t know, but whatever it is, he’s got it out the asshole. Hard to ignore, even if you want to.”
“I noticed.”
“He’s fair though, Owain is. You follow the rules, you do what he asks, and he gives back in spades. He’d take a bullet for any one of us, and even though we don’t agree with everything he does—” He gave me a pointed look, eyebrow raised. “—we still respect him enough to go along with it.”
“Thanks for telling me all that.”
“Yeah, sure. You’d hear it all eventually. Might as well hear it from me.” He stretched and yawned. “Anyway I’ll be outside if you need me.” He walked toward the door then hesitated and looked back. “And hey, just a warning. The guys will accept what Owain says, but that doesn’t mean they like it. So be careful around them, especially Camillo, at least for a while.”
“Thanks for the warning.”
He shrugged and left. As the door shut, Owain appeared, said something to him, then stepped inside. I smiled at him, head cocked to the side as he approached.
“How’s my favorite girl doing?”
“I’m doing good. I was just talking about you.”
“Telling the world how much you’re obsessed with me?”
“Pretty much. Can’t keep you to myself.”
He laughed, deep and throaty, and came around toward me. He out his hands on my hips and lifted me up then set me back down on top of the counter. I wrapped my legs around him as he pressed himself closer, running his strong, big hands through my hair, his lips inches away from mine.