Pink Walls

The Carmosinos [Part III]✓

"I'm a runner."

When I opened my eyes again, Saffron was no longer driving and I was no longer resting on Alex's shoulder. It had stopped snowing for a while now and we had spent at least an hour on the road—that much was obvious to me, despite the fact that the window I was looking at was upside-down.

"Comfy?" Ron asked with a wide grin the moment she pulled open the car door. She peered down at me and bent over until our noses brushed.

"Yes," Alex answered as I hurried to sit up. He didn't seem to mind in the slightest that I had been using his lap as a pillow this entire time.

Saffron chuckled and straightened up again. "You are really cute when you sleep, Kay."

Alex hummed in agreement while I stewed in mortification. It was already bad enough that I almost got them killed, why couldn't they just let me forget about it?

"Get out, Alexiares," Ron hissed and jabbed her index finger at him. Her nail ended up just an inch away from his eye but he didn't even blink.

"Yes, boss," he murmured demurely and got out of the car without a word of complaint.

Ron slid into the spot beside me and held my gaze. "Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes." I tried to not look too touched by her concern and turned my gaze to the tall, unfamiliar buildings looming over us. We were definitely in a part of the city that I had never been to before—the richest part—but it wasn't anywhere the Carmosinos owned. "Where are we?"

"We're close," she said. "But we have to keep up appearances. Are you okay to drive now?"

I nodded and got out through the other door.

"Kay," Ron called the moment my boots hit the snow, and I ducked my head into the car to see what she wanted. She held a roll of expensive-looking leather out to me then shut the door before I could ask what it was.

I leaned against the body of the car and tugged on the knotted string tying the bundle together. When it came apart in my hands, my gaze fell on the set of throwing knives sitting snugly in its pouches.

Extra knives. I had never needed more than one before. Frank's knife was usually enough no matter how hard a job was. I didn't need to kill people after all, just disarm them. So why—

I was pulled out of my thoughts when Alex walked to me and clapped a hand on my shoulder.

"I don't like this," he said, the moment I turned to face him.

"You think it's a trap?" That would explain why Ron had given me more weapons.

"This is not our territory," was his curt reply, and that was as good an answer as any.

If Alex was worried enough to verbalize his uneasiness then we were definitely walking into a trap. There was no doubt about it.

On the other hand though, Ron wasn't stupid. She had been made the heir of the Cisco family for a reason. So I didn't need to think hard of a way to assure him that we'd be fine. I said, "If the boss thinks it's safe, then it is."

Instead of replying, Alex just stared at me, and for a moment I froze, thinking that he was going to hug me again, but he only gave my shoulder a hard squeeze before nodding one and walking away.

I turned back to the car and got behind the wheel. When I started the engine and looked into the rear view mirror, I saw Ron staring at me.

"What?"

"What did you two love birds talk about?"

I put the car in reverse and backed into the street behind us. From the map and aerial photos I had studied before this, we were less than a block away from Antonia's mansion. That distance gave Alex a lot of potential spots to set up his rifle.