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Magnum and I get into the car. The divider is down, and it’s just the two of us.
“So, what is it?” I ask as he pulls away. This car always looks so strange in this parking lot. It’s by far the best one compared to any other.
“Big Daddy K and Johnny are meeting with Roza Fonz. They’re arranging the fight. She won’t agree until she meets you first.”
My stomach pitches, but at the same time, excitement fills me. This I can do. This is what I came here to do. What I can’t do is navigate three guys. Actually, just two. There is no third. The third is a puppet on a string who thinks about his own pleasures before anyone else’s.
Right? Right.
“Let’s do it,” I say, leaning back casually.
Magnum glares at me through the rearview mirror. For all the time I find him staring at me, it’s a wonder we haven’t gotten into an accident yet. “You seem so blasé about all of this. Aren’t you worried?”
“I know fighting. It’s the one thing in my life I can control right now, so no, I’m not worried…especially.”
Magnum shakes his head. “There’s a bulletproof vest in the back there. Johnny wants you to put it on. In case,” he says snidely.
His words are so cocky it makes me narrow my gaze at him. He must think I’m a complete idiot. “I understand there are other factors, Mag,” I say, drawing his name out like it’s a tease instead of the badass name it really is.
Fuck him for having such a cool name.
I pull my shirt off and inspect the bulletproof vest. It’s not as if I’ve put one on before. I get it around my shoulders like a vest, but I can’t quite figure out how to fasten it. When the fasteners won’t go, I lean back in the seat, sighing. “I hope someone thought to bring me another shirt because that fucking thing is not going to stretch over this.”
“There should be a hoodie to your left.”
I look over, finding an oversized hoodie. Bringing it to me, it smells musky like Johnny. I put it back without breathing it in.
A few short minutes later, Magnum is pulling to a stop. The windows are so tinted I can’t tell where we are. He shoves his door open, and I catch him before he gets out. “I’m going to need some help with this.”
“I noticed,” he says.
He shuts that door and then opens up the one to my left, sliding in next to me. As soon as he’s in, he turns toward me, his copper hair darker in the low light.
“Only speak when spoken to when we’re in there,” he says. He looks down at the fasteners and the cleavage underneath before tightening the vest across my chest, making quick work of getting it all set up for me. “This is in Fonz’s neck of the woods, so be on high alert. Stick with us. Don’t do anything stupid. Wait for Big Daddy’s orders.”
His list of things to do sounds like a bunch of “duh.” I roll my eyes to tell him what I think about it. His jaw tenses, the coppery stubble of his beard sticking straight out in some parts now that he’s agitated with me.
“I won’t do anything stupid,” I promise.
Those sound like famous last words, but I’m going with it.
Magnum holds the hoodie out to me and then gets out of the car. I work it over my chest. Despite the fact that it’s big for me, it just barely conceals the fact that I’m wearing a bullet stopping vest. I hope I won’t need it, but the brick in my stomach tells me I’m not sure either.
I step out, and Magnum slams the door to the car behind me. Much like where K lives, we’re in an underground parking lot. This area of the city is a lot less dingy however. We take the elevator up to the highest level and step out. Magnum steps forward first, standing there in his tactical black pants and tight-fitting black shirt. He has bodyguard written all over him.
Unlike where K and Johnny live, though, we’ve come right out into Fonz’s … place of business? It’s definitely not homey like a house. There are glass walls everywhere that lead into different rooms with large tables like usually meetings are held behind the closed doors.
Johnny steps out of a room down the hall, his face grim. He nods when he sees me, and for some inexplicable reason, the fact that he’s here calms me.
A guy, dressed much like Magnum, moves forward. He has a metal detector wand in his hand accompanied by a cocky grin. “You understand?” he says to Magnum.
Magnum shrugs, taking the usual position. The wand goes off by his belt where he keeps his gun.
“You can just take that out and set it on the table,” Fonz’s guard says. “You can get it back after the meeting.”
Magnum does what he’s told and then moves to stand next to Johnny. I’m next. Nerves prick, making their way to the very tips of my fingers until it’s painful. The guard just stares at me for a moment until Johnny shifts on his feet.
“Eyes to yourself,” Magnum finally says.