“Great.” Billy opened the door and motioned us to follow. “Come on in.”
We followed him through the front door, past the living room, and down the hall, and I had to say, I was a little thrown by what I saw. Everything in the place was white—the walls, the sofa, the chairs, and the rugs. Hell, even the paintings on the walls were shades of white with a black or gray background, and the white theme continued throughout the entire house with the kitchen cabinets, countertops, and all the bedding included. It was all nice stuff, really nice stuff, but it was odd—like an OCD, off-the-charts kind of odd. Billy opened one of the doors and motioned us inside, then said, “This is it. Not much to it, but the bed’s comfortable. I think you both will be pleased.”
“Wait, Menace and I both will be staying in here?”
“Is that going to be a problem?”
Before Parker could respond, I stepped between them. “Not at all. This will do just fine.”
“You sure?” Doubt riddled his voice. “I’d offer my daughter’s room, but there’s a chance she might—”
“That’s not necessary, Billy.” I didn’t even know the man had a daughter, but then again, I didn’t know anything about him except the fact that he was the club’s cleaner. “This is perfect. I appreciate you putting us up.”
“No problem. Glad to help you and the brothers any way I can.” Billy looked down at our bags, then said, “I’ll give you two some time to get settled, and then we can have something to eat and discuss what we’re going to do about your friend here.”
“Okay, sounds good.”
“I’ll be in the kitchen preparing dinner. You can just meet me in there when you’re done.”
“Will do.”
Once Billy left the room, Parker took her bags and started putting away her things into the closet and adjoining bathroom while I simply shoved mine in the corner next to the dresser. I’d just lain down across the bed when she appeared in the bathroom doorway and whispered, “Hey, how well do you know this Billy fella?”
“Not that well. Why?”
“I don’t know... He’s not what I was expecting.”
“Um-kay. So, what exactly were you expecting?”
“I don’t know, but I wasn’t expecting Mr. Prim and Proper, and I certainly wasn’t expecting him to live in a place like this.” Her brows furrowed as she whispered, “Is it just me or does it seem like he has a thing for white?”
“It’s not just you.”
“It’s weird, right?”
“Maybe a little.”
“A little?” Parker smiled and almost laughed as she whispered a little louder, “Come on, Menace. Work with me here! The guy is a little off his rocker, don’t ya think?”
She was saying exactly what I’d been thinking, but I wasn’t going to let her know that. I sat up on the bed and looked at her. “You can’t judge a book its cover.”
“I don’t know, man. I think this time we can.” She teased. “I feel like we just stepped into that movie, Sleeping with the Enemy. Next thing you know, he’ll be telling us we gotta line up the hand towels in just the right way. Oh! And I bet the cans in his cabinets are lined in perfect little rows with all the labels facing forward.”
“I think you might be getting a little carried away here.”
“Nooope! I’m just getting started.”
She smiled one of her smiles, and it got me right in the gut. Damn, this woman never ceased to amaze me. Parker’s life was in danger and she was in a place she never dreamed she’d be but could still find a way to laugh. I hated to put a damper on her fun, but I didn’t have a choice. “Well, you’re gonna have to give it a break for now.” I got up from the bed and nodded my head towards the door. “He’s waiting for us.”
“Okay, if I must.”
She giggled quietly as she followed me out the room and down the hall to the kitchen. When we walked in, Billy was standing at the counter chopping vegetables. There were several pots boiling on the stove and something cooking in the oven. Even though he’d been busy preparing a big meal for us, everything was in perfect order. As Parker approached the counter, she smiled and said, “Wow, it smells wonderful. Is there anything we can do to help?”
“No,” he answered assertively. “I just need to finish this salad, and then we will be ready to eat.”
“Oh, okay.”
Parker gave me a side glance as she sat down on one of the stools next to the counter. I took a seat next to her and said, “I hope you didn’t go to a lot of trouble on our account.”
“No trouble.”
He continued chopping away at the onions and carrots like a fucking sous-chef. Parker gave me a little prod with her elbow, then her eyes widened as she motioned her head over to one of the open cabinets. I looked over to see what had her so excited, and just as she’d suspected, all the cans were lined in a perfect row with all the labels facing forward. When I turned back to Parker, her lips were set in a grim line and her eyebrow was cocked high. I gave her a stern look, warning her to knock it off, then turned my attention back to Billy. “So, uh... Viper filled you in on everything that’s going on with Parker, right?”
“He did.”
“Do you think you can help her?”
“I can.” He tossed the vegetables into the bowl with the other ingredients for the salad, then said, “We will discuss it after dinner.”
It was impossible not to feel a little unsettled by Billy’s peculiar behavior, but I didn’t care how strange he behaved—not if he could help us solve Parker’s problem with Rossi and his crew. Parker and I waited until he had everything finished, then we helped him carry it all to the table. The guy had gone all out: homemade rigatoni with garlic bread and a huge garden salad. Once we were seated, Parker looked out at the entire spread and said, “This looks wonderful, Billy.”
“I hope you will enjoy it.”
After laying his napkin across his lap, Billy lowered his head and mumbled a quick prayer, then started placing food on each of our plates. We were all about to start eating when Billy reached over and moved the salt and pepper shakers to the center of the table, slightly turning each one so they were both positioned just the way he liked them. Parker gave me another side glance, but I refused to look at her. Instead, I tried to focus on eating my food and nothing else. But it wasn’t easy, especially when Parker kept nudging me with her foot every time Billy did something odd. Thankfully, she finally stopped pestering me and actually started eating. We all just sat there in silence, and it seemed to suit Billy just fine. Once we were done, Parker and I helped him take the dishes to the counter, and I placed our glasses in the sink. “Dinner was great, Billy.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” He motioned his hand towards the door. “We can talk on the porch.”
“Okay.”
Parker and I followed him out front, and we sat down on the swing while Billy got comfortable in one of the rocking chairs next to us. We each sat there for a moment, taking in all the colors of the sunset. I had to give it to Billy. The man had quite the setup. It almost made me want to move out of the city and find me a place out in the country. We hadn’t been sitting there long when Billy looked over to me and asked, “May I speak freely?”