Page 28 of Bronx

“Are you sure? Because he smells like an ashtray and he’s got a hooker in the car.”

“You think she’s a sex worker?” I whisper.

“Officially or unofficially, a hoe is a hoe, and that asshole is getting some ass if he hasn’t already from her.”

“Why do you think he’s an asshole?” I ask, trying to say anything so that I don’t have to imagine Bronx and that woman having sex.

“He’s not the nicest person I’ve ever met.”

“He’s all right.”

“And what’s up with his throat? He sounds like a mafia hitman. Was he in a bad bar fight or something?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”

“And then there’s his car.”

She pretends to stick her finger down her throat to express her disdain for it.

“What’s wrong with his car? Lots of people drive luxury cars.”

“Yeah, but there’s luxury cars, like my aunt’s Audi sedan, and then there’s over the top luxury. Your friend’s car starts at one-hundred and fifty grand and that’s without navigation and heated seats.”

Holy smokes.

“How do you know that?”

“I read, honey.”

Bronx leans into his horn to interrupt us and it seems as if the entire neighborhood just turned around to stare at us.

“Let’s go,” he leans out the window to say. “Time is money.”

“Are you sure about him?” Ruby asks skeptically. “We can figure out another way to find your brother.”

“I’m not sure about much of anything, Ruby, but Lev seemed confident about him, so I’ve got to try.”

“Okay, girlie, do you what you need to do. I need to head out, but call me when you’re on your way back to the house.”

“Where are we going?” I ask as I walk back over to Bronx’s truck.

“Dinner and then I’ll take you back to Ruby’s.”

Ruby’s engine rumbles loudly as she drives away in her minivan.

“Um, so, the three of us are going?” I ask.

The woman in the car purses her lips and waits anxiously for Bronx’s response.

And so do I.

9

Karma

“The three of us?” Bronx repeats as if I’m asking a stupid question. “No, we’re dropping Michelle off first, and then the two of us will go to dinner.”

The look on Michelle’s face is priceless. It appears as if she didn’t understand what Bronx’s plans were for the night either, but evidently she assumed she would be a part of them.