The Family : The Spitfire Book 4 Read online

  And then there’s the baby. I try not to think of the little one, not until I’ve taken care of all the mess in our lives. It’s not that I don’t want him or her. My hand went to my tummy again. It’s just that that’s the way I’ve always worked. I like to compartmentalize everything and deal with shit in tiers. The baby isn’t part of this, will never be part of it. So therefore now was not the time to think of it. After the wedding and we’ve settled down to a life of boredom then I’ll deal.

  I felt a panic attack coming at the thought of what it was I was supposed to do here as a wife and mother. Shane seems sure that I can do it. When he’s not bossing me around he’s reassuring me that we’ll be fine. Somehow it’s not that easy for me to accept. In my life there’s always some asshole that needs to be dealt with. I don’t know where he gets the idea that just because he’s decided to go legit that everyone else will just fall in line.

  It’s not a problem though. I’ll just keep my eyes and ears open and deal with shit as it comes. “Mouth.” Shit I jumped at his voice coming out of the dark, and the rumble under my cheek that laid on his chest. “Go to sleep. What’re you thinking about?” I felt his eyes on me in the dark and hid my grin.

  “Nothing, I’m sleeping here.” I wasn’t in the mood for another one of his lectures. He rolled over taking me with him until I was under him. In the moonlight his eyes looked sleepy and hot as they studied mine. It was as natural as breathing to reach for him and pull his head down to mine.

  This time when he slipped into me there was no soft finesse. As soon as my body adjusted to being pierced by his he pounded me into the mattress, just what I needed. It was quick, fast and thorough. “Take your ass to sleep.” I was out before he rolled away from me and hauled me back into his arms. I don’t remember a damn thing until I woke the next day.

  5

  Prince of The City

  I watched over her until I was sure she was asleep before giving into peaceful rest. I knew that shit wasn’t gonna last. She woke up this morning with the devil in her ass. “Listen you, I don’t want you anywhere near those fucks. I’m gonna be in and out. You’ll stay here until I get back and for the love of fuck, don’t off anyone in the meantime.”

  Pain in the ass! Since I turned bitch I tell her every damn thing but that shit only leads to trouble for me. “I don’t take orders from you Fredo.” That’s what she thinks. I made the monumental mistake of telling her I had a meet with the other heads this morning and her ass got it into her demented head that she was coming with.

  “Mouth, do you want me to lock your ass in a room again?”

  “Yeah how’d that work out for you last time big shot?” I’ma pop her, right across that damn mouth of hers. Since I knew that wasn’t gonna happen I changed tack.

  “Baby, you’re pregnant. I know unless I’m balls- deep in you you like to pretend that the kid doesn’t exist, but he does. You can’t go running around getting involved in this shit. One last hit. In the meantime try to control that Italian gene that makes you thirst blood at every fucking turn.”

  She tried to brain me with her damn shoe and spouted some shit about leprechauns at me. I slammed the door as I left the room. The twins were in the kitchen pretending not to have heard the screaming match.

  I pointed a finger at both of them as I headed for the door. “She leaves this house I will personally cut both your dicks off and stake you out on an anthill.” Good, that took care of their disrespectful smirks. Sister in law one and two was making their way onto my driveway looking like two saps.

  “What the fuck? I got all day in this bitch? Move.” They looked at each other with some secret language between the two of ‘em that I was sure was making fun of my ass. That’s another thing, ever since the Italian pain in the ass waltzed into my life everyone around me now thinks it’s okay to fuck with me. They see how twisted she has me and thinks I’ve lost my balls.

  “Where’s your woman going bro?”

  “Who?” I turned in the direction Mikey was looking and saw her storming across the compound. Probably going to see ma. Good, at least I know she can’t get into any trouble over there. “Oh fuck, Jimmy.”

  I didn’t have time to go referee her and my brother’s shit so headed for my car praying for peace. If the fucking mob doesn’t do me in, she will.

  “You sure you don’t want to take the others Shane?”

  “Nah, they won’t fuck with me there. They know poppy would kill their unborn grandchildren if they fuck with me. No, if they try anything it will be after and in a way that no one would suspect.”

  Fucking sneaky fucks.

  It’s poetic justice I guess you can say, that I ended up with an Italian princess. For years my family was the only Irish in the game. Poppy had worked twice as hard back in the day to gain the respect we now enjoy, but it hadn’t always been easy. Fucking Italians thought they cornered the market on crime. Now they know better.

  I wasn’t nervous about walking into a room with them. I’ve proven time and again that they have nothing on my ass when it comes to handling my shit. But now there’s a monkey wrench in my shit in the form of a five foot and change pain in the ass set on destruction.

  “You know what they want don’t you?”

  “Of course, but they ain’t getting it.”

  “What if they start some shit? We just put out a few fires and the city’s still hot plus…” I looked at Tony when he trailed off.

  “You might as well say it. My pain in the ass is running around the city offing anything that moves and not even having the decency to clean up her mess.” Mouth don’t give a fuck! She leaves more bodies lying around than Mao Zedong.

  “You gotta admit though, if we weren’t getting out of the game she would’ve been a great asset.” I mumbled some shit under my breath. That was part of the problem. No one around me wanted me to quit.

  They fuck outta luck with that shit. Before I was just doing this shit for myself, now I have a wife and a kid to look out for. Poppy had raised dad who had nothing to do with the business and that turned out fine. I want that for my sons and daughters.

  Maybe that’s how it goes in my family, we skip a generation. Unlike her family that is a long line of murdering fucknuts. “I hear either one of you putting ideas in her head you’re fucked.” The two idiots laughed and turned back around.

  Shit, I hadn’t given any thought to whether or not any of the men I was about to meet knew about her. I hadn’t spent much time thinking about the fact that once we’re married the two families combined would be more powerful than everyone else. I doubt they’d believe that we weren’t planning on taking over their shit. Fuck!

  Rossi had handled things on his end but as far as I know everyone still thinks he’s dead. It goes without saying that once the truth comes out a lot of people are going to be nervous. I’ll feel out the room and see who knows what, but it’s not going to have any influence on my life and the things I’ve set in motion.

  Shit was starting to give me a headache. Fucking Mouth is wealthier and her old man has more power than I’ve ever had. The fact that on the day of my wedding he plans to pass that power onto me, and his daughter, is something I haven’t let myself dwell on too deeply. I want her, period. Everything else can get fucked.

  I fell in love with her before I ever knew who she was. The fact that she’s known in the underworld as the heir to one of the most, if not the most powerful family in the business is just something I have to live with. I’ve already been looking into Rossi’s businesses, making sure that things are as he said. That like me he’d gone legit.

  So far everything looked to be on the up and up. The only good thing about all this is that no one knew what she looked like. I guess I can thank the two fucks for that at least. For sheltering her and keeping her well hidden. I still don’t know how they’d pulled it off, but I’m grateful. Fuck if I’ll be telling them that shit anytime soon though.

  We pulled up to the place and I released a breath.
“I hope this is the last one. I’m tired of looking at these fucks.” I climbed out the backseat and put my shades on, scanning the area for any undesirables. Fucking mob got more leaks than a damn waterfall.

  I walked into the building flanked by the only two men I trusted implicitly. I knew they weren’t sure about this move we were making, but they trusted me enough to know what I was doing for all of us. My sisters needed to grow old with their husbands. If we kept going the way we were we’d all be dead in ten years. This next generation of fuckwits didn’t have any heart, and loyalty was just a word in the dictionary.

  I give them a lotta shit, but my brothers in law are solid. That’s when they’re not being my sisters in law that is. No one looking at them now would see anything soft and playful. Everyone knew these two would shoot their way out of an ambush to protect me and heaven help anyone involved because their families would be next.

  That’s why I have to get out. I can’t stand the thought of some asshole going after Mouth or my kid because of some shit I did and I’ve done plenty. So far I’ve taken care of all the obstacles in my way, with a little help from Mouth, but this meet today could very well set off a whole new batch of shit for me to deal with.

  I saw that everyone else was already here. Good, that means I don’t have to be in this bitch any longer than I needed to be.

  “Tony.” I nodded and he searched the room for bugs. If the feds busted this room they’d be taking out the heads of all the families in the west. That’s why I hate coming to these things. There’s always a safe bet that somebody at the table is under surveillance, somebody’s on the take and some fuck is a damn snitch.

  If I had any sense I’d let Mouth loose on their asses and let her murdering ass take them all out one by one. Thinking of her made me smile as I recalled her antics of the morning. After making love all night you’d think for sure that she’d be in a good mood. Not my nut. She rolled over and out of bed with me trying to pull her back in for a cuddle.

  She took two steps before running for the toilet and I was hot on her heels for hair duty. I held her hair back as she spewed her guts into the bowl. Maybe that’s what had put the burr in her ass. She hates being reminded that she was breeding. Only when I’m fucking her was it safe to mention her condition. Any other time she acts like the shit don’t exist.

  I’d helped her get cleaned up and put her back to bed and then she started her shit. I told her I wanted her to rest while I made this little run. She wanted to know what run is that, so I told her like a dumbass and she hopped off the bed.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m coming with you. This concerns me too.”

  “How do you figure?”

  “Well, because we’re a team mob boy and I know you. You’ll talk and talk and nothing will get done.”

  “Unlike your demented ass who’d just shoot them if things don’t go your way. I’m trying to get out of the business not start a war. Bloodthirsty Italian nut.” She hates that shit, like it’s not the truth.

  “At least when I’m done with them they don’t come back to annoy my ass. I thought you had a meet with them already what is it they want now?”

  “Mouth, stay out of it. I mean it. Disobey me on this and it’ll be your ass.” I shook my head and came back to the present. Let’s hope ma’s keeping her busy enough to keep her outta my shit.

  Tuning back into the room I noticed there was the usual bullshit back and forth between the men. Most of the old guard like poppy was gone, making room for their progeny. The problem with these men was that they had no vision. They wanted to carry on like the old glory days when the mob ruled. I guess they didn’t hear about Hoover and his shit, or if they had they didn’t understand the long arm of the law and the repercussions.

  Poppy and his pals’ way of doing things died in the mid eighties when I was still a young boy, but not too young to see and learn. Thank fuck I had the good sense to want more. I was never in it for the violence and bullshit that some of these men found so fascinating. I never lived my life through some glorified movie that didn’t have an ounce of reality in it.

  I wanted success and power yes, but by the time I took over I knew there was only one way to get it. And fucking gun battles in the street wasn’t it. I had to admit, Mouth would have a field day in this room with these fucks though. She could probably take every last one of them.

  “So, Flanagan, word on the street is that you’ve gone legit.”

  “You knew this.”

  “Yeah but uh, we thought maybe it would take you a little longer. Maybe give us some time to see if this thing would work for the rest of us.”

  “Yeah Flanagan, we don’t all have the connections you and your grandfather got squared away in your pockets.” What the fuck!

  “Gentlemen let’s not turn this into an attack. We know Flanagan we all know he’s a fair man.”

  “Fair? You’re going legit but you’re taking all the business with you.” Scarletti gave me a look like he could intimidate me into giving him a cut. I stared him down until he swallowed and reached for his glass.

  “My business. Shit I nurtured when the rest of you fucks were standing around holding your dicks and living off my kindness. I tried telling you fucks a long time ago that this life is dying. You couldn’t see farther than what was in front of you. Don’t blame me for your shit.”

  “We all know you went to school college boy and got all that fancy education. That don’t mean you’re better.” What the fuck, is this kindergarten? These motherfuckers always fall back on the same shit.

  “You’re the ones that called this meet. You’re the ones begging this college boy for scraps. You tell me.” The room got a little restless but I didn’t even blink. I wasn’t afraid of them and they knew it. They also knew I was unpredictable enough to shoot every last one of their asses where they sit if they pissed me the fuck off.

  “We might’ve been hasty when we said we weren’t interested. Things have changed we see that now. All we’re saying is, you need to let us in on this thing you’re doing. All we hear anymore is how good Flanagan’s business is doing. You got all the politicians and bigwigs in the city singing your praise, while looking down at us like thugs.”

  When these dumb fucks were still shaking down garbage-men for a piece of the action, I was making deals. Why the fuck they would think I should feel guilty for that shit was beyond me.

  “Who was it that told you five years ago to leave that drug shit alone? My poppy never got involved with that shit and he told your fathers and grandfathers before you not to get involved in that shit. But just like you, all they saw was the money. No vision then, and you’re fuck stupid now. You wanna talk about my college degree, I’ll match that shit against anything you got any day.”

  “This ain’t right Flanagan.”

  “What the fuck fat Tony?” The fuck, fucking Mouth and her shit’s rubbing off. “Look, I didn’t come here to play this game with you. I offered each of you a way out. You laughed and said going legit would never work. Life was good and you wanted it to stay that way. I knew better, so I did what I had to and now here we are.”

  “What about the Chinese?”

  “What about them?”

  “They want a cut.”

  “Tell them to take their asses back to China, the fuck. Look, these fucks barely have any rights in their own country, you let them come to yours and rule your shit that’s on you. Me, I’m not down with that fuck. What else you got?”

  They looked around the table at each other and I guess Tony Luca was the one they’d chosen to make the plays. “Look Shane, we’re not trying to muscle in on your shit. You’re right it’s yours free and clear. But maybe you can see your way to helping the rest of us get a leg up. The Feds are breathing down our necks at every turn and now we’ve got the Russians and the Chinese trying to horn in.”

  6

  Prince of The City

  I sat back in my chair as if giving it some thought b
ut I really wasn’t interested. A year ago I would’ve been more sympathetic, but even then it wasn’t my problem. The thing is, if they fucked up, their shit might splash back on me and I didn’t want that. It’s the only reason I was even here entertaining their bullshit.

  “If you’re all agreed then you’re gonna have to get all the way out in your individual territories. That’s the only way we can do business with each other in the future. It’s not easy but it can be done. To do this you’re gonna have to get rid of all these new factions that keep cropping up. I’ve already cleaned up my backyard, you’ll have to do the same.” I knew they weren’t ready for that shit. As soon as the Feds eased up on their shit they’d be back to their fuckery.

  I let them throw around ideas, putting in my two cents where it was needed, but with the knowledge that it was an exercise in futility. I knew every man in the room, knew more than they knew I knew. Poppy had made sure I learned all their weaknesses and their strengths years ago.

  The ones I’d taken out were the ones who posed the greatest threat to me and mine, they’re gonna have to do the same. But they’re gonna have to do that shit without me just like I’d done my shit on my own. I was starting to get hot under the collar at the reminder but kept my cool as they started to wind down. “We done?” They don’t need me here for this shit.

  “Who’s this new guy you got going around offing people with a bow and arrow? Didn’t know you were into archery Flanagan.” There was a round of laughter around the table at Scarletti and his shit. I didn’t change my facial expression, didn’t even blink. When they realized there was no answer forthcoming they took one look at my face and got smart real fucking quick.

  I got up and left with the understanding that they weren’t to call my ass again unless it was some sort of emergency that impacted my life in some way. It’s not like we were friends or some shit. I knew part of the problem was that I had done away with shit they would’ve loved to get their hands on. But once I’d made the decision to get out, I’d decided to eliminate all the illegal activity in my territory. If I’m not running that shit why the fuck would I want some other less qualified asshole doing it?