“It’s not,” I said. “But if you’re so frustrated, go hide over there.” I gestured toward the kid’s section. “If you stand right on the other side of that shelf there, you’ll hear us just fine.”
She hesitated, her anger turning into uncertainty. I was sure she didn’t want to be out of my sight, but I didn’t want her to see her uncle. That really might push him over the edge, and I wasn’t ready for that yet.
“Fine,” she snapped. “Asshole.” She whirled around and stormed off.
I laughed to myself and paged through the book some more as she turned the corner and disappeared.
I leaned up against the shelf and read a few pages. It brought me back to my days with Dante, back when we were both just a couple of young guys looking to get into trouble. We used to steal from the backs of bodegas, used to beat up older kids and steal their drugs, used to get in fights with other rival tough teenage assholes all the time.
Those were the days. We ran around all day, fucking shit up, stealing and fighting and doing whatever we wanted. We thought we were invincible in those days, and in some ways we were.
But then we got older. We joined the Leone Crime Family, we turned ourselves from a couple of up and coming street thugs into legitimate business men and real deal mafioso.
I never could’ve pictured how we’d end up. I always thought I’d be robbing bodegas and working construction my whole life. I never imagined running my own crew, a real deal Capo in the biggest crime family in the city.
Now I know I was nothing back then, and I still might be nothing. But I was going to try and make myself something.
As I turned the page in the book, I saw someone turn into the aisle just ahead of me. I looked up and saw a man standing there. He wore khaki slacks, brown shoes, a white button down shirt, and a dark blue cardigan over top it. His hair was black with streaks of grey, and his eyes were a light blue. His nose was fat and crooked, and his cheeks were ruddy and red.
I recognized Mathis Colley from photos. He looked older and more tired than I would’ve guessed, but it was him. He was a large man, about my height and probably twenty pounds heavier, though he carried it all in his gut.
“Steven,” he said.
“Mathis,” I said. I slid the book back into the shelf and tilted my head. I hoped Colleen could hear everything. “Thanks for setting this up.”
“And thank you for coming. I’d say, thanks for coming alone, but I saw your boy down in the lobby.”
I frowned briefly but pushed that away. “Can’t be too careful.”
He waved that away. “No worries. I brought my own boys, just to be safe.”
“We’re not going to shoot up this book store, are we, Mathis?”
“No, we aren’t,” he said, meeting my gaze. “Not like you shot up my bodega.”
I grinned. “Did you own that now?”
“It was on my turf. And those were my boys you murdered.”
“I think there was a clear reason for that.”
“Go ahead and tell me.” He stepped forward, glaring at me, cheeks turning redder.
“It’s simple,” I said. “The Celtic Club’s been running free and easy all over Point Breeze for a few years now. You pushed the Russians out when they were weak, and now you’re reaping the rewards. But the fact is, I need to do a little expanding of my own, and you’re in the way.”
Mathis glared at me, didn’t smile, didn’t move. He stood like a statue, looming and menacing. “All this over turf,” he said, almost spitting the last word. “Three dead boys, over turf.”
“That’s all there is, Mathis,” I said. “That’s how these things go.”
He grunted and leaned closer. “I pushed the Russians out without killing anyone,” he said. “Did you know that?”
“I know you broke a few legs and paralyzed one of their soldiers,” I said. “Sure, you didn’t kill, but you weren’t kind.”
He grunted and straightened up. “Well now. You seem to have done your research.”
“I’m not the kind of man to go into something blind. And I suspect you’re not either.”
“No, I’m not. Although I haven’t found much out about you. Only that you were second in command to that boy Dante, the one that’s been moving all over Eastwick.”
“That’s right,” I said. “But I’m out on my own now.”
“So I see.” He let out a breath. “I need you to understand something, Steven.”
“Okay, Mathis.”
“I need you to understand that you can’t just take what’s mine,” he said. “Point Breeze is mine. The Club’s been there for a long time, even before the Russians arrived. They understood it, and we worked out an agreement.”