Damn, Lucca had to fucking dispose of his own bodies. Countless nights he had spent burying bodies in graveyards. Meanwhile, he was pretty certain the residents of Blue Park would pick up the bodies for Dominic, probably to make some quick cash. Turned out they might not have been so dumb after all …
Realizing he was late, Lucca drove off as night began to fall. Heading to the place where they had first met, he parked his car a bit down the road from the park in a rundown cul-de-sac. Certain his car wouldn’t be seen if a Luciano drove by, he got out and started walking.
He heard shouting as he drew closer, and his instincts told him what was going on before he had even entered the sketchy playground.
He cut through the circle of kids to see Cassius sitting on a kid’s chest as he repeatedly punched him in the face. He had seen that look on Cass’s face before, but it had been years ago when they had first met—boredom. This time, it was much more disturbing to see because … how could the kid be bored in the moment? But it wasn’t until a spurt of blood escaped the pinned-down kid’s lip that something flashed across the youngest Luciano’s face.
“That’s enough,” Lucca’s sharp voice cut over the chanting. It was the fact that it wasn’t much of a fight and more like a beating that had Lucca pulling Cass off him. “Show’s over.”
Cass fought being pulled off, but once he realized who was pulling him up, he finally got off the kid’s chest and that crazed look in his eyes disappeared.
“He called me a little Luciano bitch, and then he went to steal my candy after he said he wasn’t afraid of me or my father.” He spoke a bit too evenly after just having been in an altercation.
It wasn’t until the boy who had been mauled managed to stand up that Lucca noticed how much bigger he was than ten-year-old Cassius. This kid was around thirteen years old, so he had to have a few years on Cass, at least.
“Well”—Lucca looked at the older kid, who was now holding his bloody, broken nose—“how do you feel now?”
“I-I’m sorry,” he cried through his tears. It was clear the kid had had a change of heart as he ran away in fear.
When he watched the boy trip over his shoes and fall flat on his face, both Lucca and Cass laughed.
“Who taught you to fight like that?” Lucca asked with a smile still on his face.
Cassius picked up the plastic bag that was full of candy as they headed for their spot on the swings. “Dom.”
“Oh.” Lucca stared at the candy that Cassius started to take out of the bag once they sat down. Most of them were the exact same ones Dominic had held in the gas station before the robbery had taken place.
“He got us this candy to share, too.”
“Really?” Lucca should have known all that must’ve been for his siblings. He wiped the smile off his face. “Does he know about me?”
“I talk about you all the time to my brothers and sister, but I’m pretty sure they still think you’re imaginary,” Cassius revealed, opening a bag of gummy worms. “Want one?”
“No, thanks.” He shook his head, craving only one thing. Pulling out the pack of cigarettes, he put his second-to-last stick to his lips before he lit the end with a match.
“How long have you smoked?”
It was the first time Cassius had ever asked about his smoking habits.
“A long time.”
The kid seemed more disinterested in his gummy worms by the second. “Can I have on—”
“No.” Lucca’s firm voice stopped him from asking. Then he wondered what had garnered such a strong reaction out of him, knowing he hadn’t been much older than Cass when he had put his first cigarette to his lips. He should be giving the kid a hit and hoped he died of lung cancer at a young age, but he decided that it was only the fact he only had one cigarette left as to why he didn’t.
“Sorry, jeez.” Cassius’s interest returned to his gummies.
“Has your brother taught you anything else?” Lucca asked, changing the subject back to the reason why he ever crossed those train tracks.
“Yeah, he’s going to teach me to shoot soon. I can’t wait.” Cass popped a worm into his mouth. “It’s not fair I’ve had to wait so long, ’cause Dad taught him how to start shooting when he was five.”
“Five, huh?” Lucca’s brow rose. “So, he must be pretty good, then.”
“Pssht, he’s better than good. He can shoot through the middle of an O in a Coke can from like here to”—he looked around until he pointed at a dirty, old shoe far, far in the distance—“there.”
Lucca laughed. “That’s impossib—”
“No, it ain’t. I’ve seen it with my own eyes,” Cass told him dead serious, and Lucca knew he was telling the truth.
His brows furrowed as he checked his watch.
“You need to go?” Cass asked with a hint of disappointment.
“No, I can stay a bit longer.” Lucca got back to their conversation, no matter how badly he wanted to leave to go see something. “So, why did your dad teach Dom to shoot so young but not you?”
“Well, he always said he wanted an army, so he taught us different things. Dom got to learn how to shoot, and then Angel, he taught how to use a knife, which made Matthias beg to learn the same thing Angel was doing.”
“And you?” Lucca asked.
“Dad wanted me to learn everything off the bat,” Cass said proudly at first. “But Dom somehow talked him out of it.”
I can’t imagine why.
“That’s a shame,” Lucca lied through his teeth, sure Dominic knew the same thing he did—that this city didn’t need two Lucifers running around armed.
“Dom said I needed to focus on one skill at a time, so we’re working on fighting first.”
“Clearly,” Lucca complimented, staring at Cass’s still bloody knuckles.
Cassius ripped a head off a gummy worm with his teeth. “Soon, he’ll teach me how to shoot, though, I’m sure of it.”
God, let’s hope not, Lucca thought, looking at his watch again.
“It’s okay if you need to go. Dom told me not to be out too late after dark, anyway.”
“You sure?” Lucca pretended to ask if it was okay, knowing he was going to talk his way out of leaving soon, anyway, if he was going to do what he needed to in time.
“Yep.” Cass threw the leftover gummies back into the plastic bag before he jumped off the swing. “See you same time next week?”
“Actually, I needed to talk to you about …” Lucca’s words trailed off once Cassius’s face fell. Suddenly, he didn’t have the heart to tell him that he was going to be too busy with a new job and his visits to Blue Park were no longer going to be weekly. “Sure, kid.”
Putting out his fist, Cass smiled.
Lucca bumped it before they did their secret handshake that a once littler Luciano had come up with on their third meeting.
As he started to walk home, Cass yelled, “Bye, Luke!” over his shoulder before he disappeared.
Shit. Lucca stood still then started walking, counting his paces. He almost lost count due to his distracted mind. Truthfully, he was no longer so sure if he was capable of killing the kid. With each visit, he got to learn something new about his enemies that he could one day use to take them down, but it also meant he grew closer to the Luciano each time. Cassius happened to be the same age as Leo, and while he was nothing like his sweet little brother, he was starting to see him as one.