Page 87 of Mafia Scars

“Only this.” I pulled out my gun and fired two shots. One in each of his arms.

Billy screamed out in intense pain.

I wouldn’t kill him, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t teach him a lesson.

“So, standard warning,” Claudius informed him. “That was the first warning. If we hear you’ve been sniffing around again, I’ll deal with you next time. Probably cut out those eyes of yours that saw too much, then burn you alive and throw you in the river.” He laughed.

“You might want to go to the ER for that,” I added, watching the blood soak his white shirt.

Claudius and I walked out of the little deadbeat office Billy was shacked up in.

It had been a long but profitable day. We’d made fifty g’s each today just in interest. Five people who’d borrowed from us couldn’t pay up, so we’d hit them with our interest package. A hundred dollars a day for every day they kept us waiting. By Saturday, we’d add to our handsome earnings again. I planned to buy another car. A blue Cadillac I’d had my eye on for months.

It was a thing of beauty.

“Bar?” Claudius motioned to the bar across the street.

“Oh yes.” I nodded. Time to end the day. I needed a beer and a woman.

Nothing ended the day better than drinking and fucking.

We got to the bar, and I smiled when I saw that Maria and her friend were waitressing tonight. Both were beautiful with big tits and the kind of asses that would make a man beg on his knees for more.

I’d have them both tonight.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out to see a message from Henry.

The only time he messaged was when it was an emergency, and his emergencies meant he needed help with his kids.

There was no way I was babysitting tonight. Me babysitting like some shmuck.

The thing was, I was a hypocrite to myself because I’d always kick up a fuss about doing it, then find it hard to leave those kids when I was with them.

Uncle Luc, they’d call me, and I’d melt. My heart would literally melt, and those kids would own me, making me do whatever they wanted.

My little Susanna had me playing tea party with her, and Jack making objects out of Play-Doh. Me.

Unbelievable.

Every time I was at Henry’s house, I kept thinking back to our days as the wild, crazy guys we used to be. I’d met Henry the day after Claudius and I came back to Chicago. We got on like we’d known each other since birth. I wished we had.

We were all crazy.

Crazy to the max with no limit and no off-switch.

Okay, that was still me. Henry, though, shocked the shit out of me when he told us he was getting married to Lydia.

Marriage, as in she’d be his wife. His actual wife. And we couldn’t get up to the mad shit we used to get in trouble for.

He’d found one woman who was enough for him, and here I was, thinking of having two tonight and getting lucky with Candace tomorrow.

Henry’s love for Lydia was evident, and I didn’t know how this was possible, but he seemed to fall for the woman more and more every day. And the kids seemed to make that love even stronger.

That wouldn’t work for me. Sure, I saw myself with a family in the picture, but I didn’t know how I’d go about making that happen.

One woman wasn’t enough for me. I didn’t do relationships because I knew I’d end up doing something to mess it up, and I was no cheater.

Not like Mom. Her betrayal to her family still stung me. We’d lived like rats, so that she could have what she wanted. Things were bad with us for too long.