Taste of Iron

Twenty Eight: Esteban's Pipe

Twenty Eight: Esteban's Pipe

"Okay. What is it?" Ava asked. "You've been staring into space and smiling like a lunatic for the past ten minutes now."

"Nothing," Emil grinned, making the woman raise a questioning brow, not buying what the gangster was trying to sell.

"Nothing as in really nothing, or nothing as in you will make me ask you four times before you finally spill?" Ava retorted. "You know what? I don't even want to know now. You can keep it—"

"Atlas and I kissed!" He had been dying to tell somebody. Saying the words just made it all seem more real. "Thrice. Once at his apartment— can you believe he let me in? It was my first time going over to his place since I broke in and he finally trusts me enough! I was so happy when he asked me. And then we kissed that night! And then the next day at work in the morning and once after he was done with his shift and was about to leave for—"

"Hold your horses, I don't want too many details," Ava interrupted, before clearing her throat. "But I'm glad that things are going well between you and Atlas."

"For real?"

"Yeah," Ava nodded, passing him a small smile. "He seems like a good guy and you deserve someone like that."

"He is a good guy. A great guy, even. He's beautiful, actually. And I don't mean just his looks, which obviously he's super hot too. But also his heart and his wit and his... his everything. I don't think I've ever been this smitten by anybody and I wouldn't change a single thing about—"

"Emi, sweetie, just breathe," Ava chuckled. Emil paused, inhaling and exhaling deeply. It wasn't on him that he always seemed to go off the tangent whenever he was thinking or talking about Atlas. It was the chef's fault for being that fascinating.

"Sorry," Emil said with a sheepish smile.

"Don't be," Ava mumbled.

The two of them were on the roof of Ava's apartment building, sitting over the ledge and overlooking the city with a packet of potato chips and two coke cans between them. They fell back into silence as they stared out at the lights.

"Does he know, yet?" Ava questioned, not meeting Emil's eyes but looking ahead. "About what we do and how we...how we got into all of it?"

"No."

"Will you tell him?"

"If he asks then yes, I'll be honest with him," Emil answered.

"What if he doesn't like what you have to say?" Ava asked, her voice low.

"That will wreck me, but I'd rather be honest and lose him than lie to him. I don't want our foundation to be built on deceit," Emil stated, before adding, "breaking and entering was already bad enough."

"For a criminal, you're sure an honorable guy," Ava glanced at her friend. "Be careful with Atlas."

"Huh?" Emil blinked. "What do you mean?"

"You've never dated anybody that wasn't involved in our world one way or the other," Ava pointed out. "And if you're forgetting... we've made a couple enemies in the last few years."

"I won't let anyone hurt him," Emil furrowed his brows.

"I know. But just be careful. I got word that Randy still isn't over you sleeping with his girl," Ava said. "So don't go around kissing Atlas in public just yet, okay? Wait for the heat to die down a bit."

"Seriously?" Emil scoffed. "It's been months since then."

"What can I say?" Ava shrugged. "That bald fucker can apparently hold a grudge."