He assesses me, eyes skating up and down my body, plainly unamused by the fact that I’m next to naked and only my thin boxers are covering my junk. “I’m assuming my daughter’s in there,” he says stiffly.
“Uh, yes?” Thank fuck I actually put on the boxers. I wasn’t going to bother. The parking lot behind the hardware store is obscured from the street and isn’t overlooked. I’ve made the mad dash down to the car naked before, when I’ve needed to grab something quickly. I only changed my mind because Silver threw my underwear at me and ordered me to cover myself.
Cameron’s mood is almost as stormy as the night we broke into Weaving’s pool house and he pulled out a motherfucking gun. He rubs a hand over his stubble, looking back down over his shoulder at the Parisi’s van that’s blocking me into my spot. “Put some fucking clothes on and come meet me down by the car, Alex. I need to talk to you.”
“Should I arm myself?” I’m only half joking.
Cameron doesn’t smile. “Hurry up. It’s cold and I have a headache the size of fucking Texas. Tell Silver you’re going out to grab some food or something. Chinese. She loves Chinese.” He turns and walks down the metal fire escape, his boots clanging on every step, and it dawns on me that Cameron’s about to finally give me the ‘stay the hell away from my daughter’ speech. What else could he possibly want to talk to me about, when he’s shown up on my doorstep wearing that murderous expression?
Back inside, Silver frowns at me from the bed. Holy fuck, she looks so damn good lying there, wrapped in nothing but a sheet. “That was quick,” she says.
I kick my way into my jeans and snatch up a t-shirt, hurriedly getting dressed. “Figured I’d run out and grab some supplies for us since I’m up anyway. You want Chinese?”
She flops back against the pillows, groaning loudly. “Oh my god. You read my mind. Have I told you how much I love you recently?”
Socks go on next. I nearly eat shit as I balance on one leg, trying to shove my foot into my one of my sneakers without undoing the laces. Silver laughs at me under her breath. Once the task is accomplished, I kneel on the edge of the bed, kissing her firmly on the mouth. “You haven’t told me in at least five minutes,” I say softly.
She bumps my nose with the end of her own. “Well I do. Very much, Mr. Moretti. Come back soon. I need your naked body back in this bed.”
My dick would be rock hard if she’d said this to me any other time. Cameron’s looming presence outside seems to have rendered my cock incapable, though. Goddamnit, this is gonna suck.
I give her another kiss, this time on her forehead, and then I hurry out of the apartment, grabbing a hoody and pulling it on as I run down the fire escape towards the van. No sooner am I sitting in the passenger seat than my temple is bouncing off the window, pain splintering my skull apart. Stars explode in my darkened vision, lighting up the inside of my head.
“You’re lucky I’m not more like you,” Cameron snarls.
What…the…actual…?
I hold my hand to my face, staring dumbly down at the flecks of blood that stain my palm when I lower it again. He hit me. Cameron fucking hit me. I gape at him, trying to make sense of what just happened.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Cam hisses. “I thought about taking a pair of secateurs to your balls.”
“What the fuck are secateurs?”
“Does it matter? They’re sharp. You wouldn’t like them. Put your seatbelt on.”
“What the fuck! I’m not putting my seatbelt on until I know that you haven’t actually gone and lost your fucking mind.”
I’m fizzing with anger. I can’t help it, not that I should have to. Cameron belted me hard enough to ring my fucking bell and then some. It hurt way more when my head smashed into the fucking window, though. My temple feels like someone just took a sledgehammer to it.
“If I were more like you, both your legs would already be broken, I’m betting,” Cam says. He tries to pretend that he’s just rubbing his hand over the top of his thigh, but the way he’s flexing his fingers suggests he probably hurt himself almost as much as he hurt me when he lamped me. “Tell me something.” He turns sharply, gunning me down with a vicious glare. “Have you ever killed anyone?”
“What? No! God, can you stop being so fucking crazy for one second? You’re not the fucking Godfather.”
“Have you been present when that boss of yours has killed someone?” he asks.
No, of course I haven’t, Cam.
This is what I’m a second away from saying. I close my mouth on the lie I was about to tell, quickly looking away. Fuck, it hurts to clench down on my jaw but it’s the only thing keeping me from losing my shit right now.
Gary was the last man I let hit me like this. When I was young and smaller than him, there was nothing I could do but let him hit me. The moment I was strong enough to retaliate, I threw my punches as hard as I could manage, and I didn’t hold back. I was hit plenty of times in juvie, too. Not once did I allow someone to get away with the infraction unpunished. My body wants to launch a counterstrike of epic proportions against the man sitting next to me in the driver’s seat…but I can’t allow that to happen.
He's Silver’s father. I like him more than I thought possible. And…well, he kind of owed me a jaw-rattler. I’ve hardly been subtle when it’s come to Silver. I’ve disrespected his home, and him in turn, with some of the shit I’ve done to his daughter under his roof. I don’t blame him for wanting to tan my hide. Fuck, I totally deserve a beating, I guess. That doesn’t stop the fire in my veins from demanding I grab him by his fucking throat and choke him out until he stops breathing.
“I don’t work for Monty anymore.” I grit the words out between my teeth, the coppery tang of blood coating my tongue. “I quit working at the Rock. I’m not gonna be around that kind of shit anymore.”
“Oh, yeah?” Cam doesn’t sound convinced. Sounds like he thinks I’m fucking stupid. “And your pal Monty just waved a hand in the air and said, “Cool, see you around, man. Nice knowing you.’ Is that what happened? He wasn’t even slightly concerned that the guy who’s been cleaning up his messes for him the past god knows how long just…doesn’t feel like doing it anymore?”
I don’t say anything. I’m not accustomed to being spoken to like this. Not even by Monty. Cam hisses angrily under his breath. He turns the key in the ignition, and the van grumbles to life. He reverses back out of the tiny parking lot way too fast, not even bothering to pause and check for on-coming traffic before he veers out onto the road.
He drives down Main Street, muttering furiously to himself. It’s not until we’re pulling into Raleigh High’s parking lot and he’s cutting the engine again that he quits muttering and speaks to me properly. “I wanted to be the cool dad, y’know. I was doing all kinds of shit when I was Silver’s age, so I figured fuck it. Better that I know what she’s up to. Better that I know where she is and who she’s with. I’ve never once judged you, Alex. Most fathers in my position would have shot fucking first and asked questions later. But I gave you the benefit of the doubt. I thought…Cam, it’s gonna be fine. They’re just kids, figuring out their shit—”