Page 27 of For Life
“Hi Roman,” I leaned back on the tree as I answered, “it’s Ant and Maxx here.”
“Oh, good! Been trying to call you two all day,” Roman relaxed his serious tone, “Didn’t want to say anything until I was sure, because I have deets, folks!”
“Go ahead, we’re listening,” Maxx’s face turned stony, and I realized the cautiousness was for a reason. “Are we looking at organized crime here?”
“Hoo-boy, are we,” the sound of ruffling papers and keys clacking came through before Roman was back. “First off, Officer Wu, your partner is dirty as the toilet seat at a gay bar after last call?”
I met Maxx’s eyes and saw that he was processing. It had to come as a surprise, since they’d worked together for a while and I couldn't see him letting that go. But he also said he believed me when I told him his partner was at the shooting I’d witnessed. It was time to see if that was true.
“Sorry, Maxx.”
“No, it’s…” He shook his head and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath in and out before speaking. “Matlock being a dirty cop doesn’t surprise me. I already knew he was a horrible person. He’s been nothing but rude and racist to me, misgenders you and others, and you saw him yourself, so… yeah. News to have it confirmed, but not really new. You know?”
Moving to stand beside him, I wrapped an arm around Maxx’s shoulders. He stiffened at first, but then melted into my side and hugged me back as Roman continued. I realized Maxx probably wasn’t used to accepting comfort from men. Well, he needed to get used to it if he was going to be around me. When Maxx felt calmer, his breathing evened out, I spoke again.
“Alright, Roman, let's hear all your deets.”
Chapter seventeen
MAXX
BACKATTHECABIN,Ant and I sat silently on the couch, processing everything we’d learned. Roman told me to ignore how he got the information, and I was going to do that. As a cop, I knew he had to have broken multiple laws, including getting into Matlock’s personal finances. As a man who hated that asshole even more after learning the whole truth, I didn’t care what laws were broken.
Matlock had been taking money for years from different criminal organizations. Mostly the Russians, but the Italians and Irish before that. He didn’t seem to have connections to crime families that weren't white, which made sense given his obvious racism, and it looked like the Italians cut him off when they closed shop in SF.
Roman also gave us the update from Felix. His cousin, Ivanna, was behind the meeting Ant saw, paying Matlock, and the hit on Ant. According to Roman, he thought it was Ivanna Kiselov trying to take over again and needing a scapegoat. She was a jealous tech-savvy woman who had kidnapped and tortured Felix, and I got the abbreviated version on that too. It was likely Ivanna fired the gun, according to Maksim, who was head of the guards in the family now. They couldn’t find a legitimate reason the Italian man was meeting with them, or if they were involved at all, only that Matlock had met with a known Mob associate since I’d left town. Maksim and Felix were setting up a meeting with Giogio “George” Greco, the same guy, hoping to work out what is happening there. Felix doesn’t want a war.
It was all too much.
Ant sniffed beside me, and I realized how in my head I’d been. Turning to look at them, I didn’t see tears, but the sun had moved a good bit. It looked like midday or early afternoon, so we hadn’t moved in over an hour.
“Are you hungry?”
Ant blinked as if coming out of their own head, forehead scrunching in concentration. Trying to talk, it stuck in Ant’s throat, so they just shook their head in the negative without looking at me.
That was a bad sign. I was worried about Ant. If I couldn’t feed them as a distraction from the fact that they had two different criminal families and a dirty cop after them, maybe I could do it a different way.
“Want to try fisting?”
Ant choked on a laugh and finally looked my way.
“Excuse me?”
“Ah, there you are,” I smiled back at them and ran my fingers across their cheeks until I held them in place and Ant focused on me. “I’m down with whatever you need, but I know I’d like to stop thinking of all this shit. How about you?”
Ant seemed to consider my words carefully, a mix of curiosity and trepidation written clearly on their face. Using my thumb, I pulled Ant’s lower lip out of their mouth where they had been worrying it.
“Doesn’t have to be fisting, obviously, but whatever you want. I’m down to try it.”
Ant took a big breath in and let it out in a rush, a decision apparently made.
“I want to try it, after last night I definitely do. I was just deciding if I should tell you something embarrassing.”
Their pale cheeks heated under my fingers and I couldn’t help teasing. “If it’s embarrassing in a dirty way, I definitely want to know.”
“Can you,” Ant licked their lips. “Can you pin me down and pull my hair while I say it?”
“You want to feel like I’m forcing the confession out of you?” I moved my fingers to Ant’s hair, but didn’t pull, only threaded them deep. “To start the scene now?”