“You need to listen to yo bitch,” the kid with the knife started to say as the other one tried to stop him.
It was too late, though. I’d already had enough.
I pulled my Beretta out, pointed it between the younger kid’s eyes, and flicked the safety off. I could hear Lia’s quiet gasp and watched the younger guy as he started to take a step back. He seemed confused for a moment, and I thought he might actually be stupid enough to take a stab at me.
“Go ahead, you piece of shit,” I said calmly. My eyes stayed locked with his. “Take a swing. I’ll make sure my bullet doesn’t hit you fatally so you can watch me castrate you with that piece of shit blade. Dick to throat, I’ll show you what a cut really looks like, and then I’ll slam my fist through your ribcage and fuck the hole I made. What do you think of that?”
There was a long moment of silence as the kid’s eyes got bigger and bigger. He didn’t seem able to move or speak.
“We cool,” the older one finally said as he cleared his throat and took a step back. He smacked his friend on the arm with the back of his hand. “Come on and let these nice folks git on wid der business.”
They backed up slowly until they were a good twenty feet away, then turned around and quickly made their way back across the street toward some nasty-looking liquor store. I took a calming breath and turned to face an ashen Lia.
“Come on,” I said quietly. “Let’s get inside before any other trash wanders up, okay?”
She could only nod dumbly.
“You fuckin’ mo-ron,” the older guy was saying as the pair reached the other side of the street, “don’t you know who dat is?”
I grabbed Lia by the arm and headed for the motel entrance before the gang-bangers started yelling out parts of my resume for everyone to hear. She’d already seen and heard enough from my own mouth. It wasn’t something I wanted her to see, but I wasn’t about to risk her getting hurt. Demonstrating exactly who I was ensured her safety.
They knew better than to mess with the mafia. We’d put them in their place before, and we’d do it again. Even though I was in their territory, they still knew power when they saw it.
Lia didn’t say a word until after we’d checked into the motel, found the right door, and hauled our bags inside.
“Are you going to explain that to me?” Lia asked quietly as she sat down on the end of the bed.
“Explain what?”
“For fuck’s sake!” Lia stood up and put her hands on her hips as she glared at me. “Explain all of this shit! What are we doing here, and where are we going? What the hell was that testosterone display outside? Where the fuck did that gun come from?”
“I wasn’t going to let them mug us,” I said with a shrug. “This isn’t a great neighborhood, so I was prepared to deal with it. I was in the Marines, so yeah—I have a gun.”
“Don’t you bullshit me,” she snapped. “That was hardly a little display of self-defense. I am not stupid, and I’m not blind!”
I sighed and dropped my ass to the edge of the little desk and looked her in the eyes. I knew immediately that she wasn’t buying any of this shit and that holding off on answering her questions wasn’t going to work much longer.
“That guy out there—he knew who you were.”
I rolled my eyes.
“How did he know you, Evan?”
I didn’t respond. I didn’t even look at her.
I really didn’t know what to say.
“Fuck this,” she snapped. She stood up, grabbed her bag, and headed to the door.
Moving quickly, I stood between her and the door and placed my hands on her shoulders.
“You can’t leave,” I said.
“Like hell I can’t!” she retorted. “Am I a prisoner or something? Is that what you’re saying?”
“No, but it’s not safe for you in this area by yourself. You might have noticed that already.”
Her eyes tried to burn little holes in my forehead.