Page 16 of Redeeming Bosley

“Nah. Shit happens. Don’t nobody care about that. But Nico, I think you hurt his feelings or something when you didn’t show up as soon as he was made Don. But Vin, yeah, he’s been carrying his hate towards you around for a while. Nico and Vita think I’m kidding, but I worry about his heart.” He clasped his thumb and two fingers together and thumped his chest. “It can’t be good to always be so pissed off, am I right?”

Was he right? Absolutely. Should he be running his mouth so much? Hell no. He knew his brothers didn’t trust me right now, and I hadn’t sworn an oath to the Family. “You talk too much.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Nearing the alley where I’d rescued Charity, I saw one of the blondies bent down, speaking with a man through the open window of his car. I pulled over quickly and hopped out of the car. “Hey, excuse me!” I yelled.

The guy looked in his rearview mirror, then revved his engine and pulled away with a squeal of his tires. The young lady turned around, glaring at me.

Rocco caught up to me, cackling his fool head off. “Oh shit, she wants to kill you.”

Ignoring him, I reached into my pocket and took out my money clip. Her scowl turned to interest as I pulled out a few bills. “Pretend were negotiating,” I said to her softly, not sure where her pimp, Tad, was.

Her gaze flicked from me to Rocco and back again. “That’s gonna cost you triple,” she said. She blew a bubble with her gum and popped it loudly. “You know, on account that you lost me that last guy.”

Jesus. She was a baby. How’d I end up here? “Nah, the big guy here has himself a man. Plus?—”

Cutting Rocco off, I said, “Tell me where to find Tad.”

Her face went blank as she took a step back. Another girl, this one with blonde hair but auburn roots, came up, asking loudly, “Can I get in on this?”

The first girl spun toward her. “They don’t have anything we need.”

The new lady—a little older than the first or Charity—hissed, “Aren’t you the guy who helped out Cha—our friend?” she asked quietly, peeking over her shoulder the minute the question was out of her mouth.

“I am.”

“How do you know?” Rocco asked curiously, keeping any suspicion out of his voice. I was glad he asked since I wondered, too.

“I was behind the dumpster, trying to find something to hit the guy who was attacking my friend, when you came up. Thank you for helping her. Is she okay?”

Her concern was so sincere that I answered honestly. “She is, but I’d like to have a chat with Tad. That’s your boss, right?”

“Whatcha you gonna do?” the first girl asked. “You can’t hurt him. He keeps us safe.”

Rocco moved forward, clasping both her hands in his like he was trying to cajole her into coming with us, like we were potential clients. “Here’s the thing, doll. Your boss has you set up in Buccelli territory. Our Boss doesn’t like the way he runs his business.”

I cleared my throat. “What he’s trying to say is that his…our Boss, prefers you ladies having a better set up. Somewhere for you to stay, someone to take care of you who can vet your clients. That kind of thing.”

The younger girl glanced nervously at the older woman, who huffed out a laugh. “That would be nice. How do you know this Boss of yours will really help us out?”

Rocco’s gaze slid to her. “Because I’m his younger brother. I have the authority to speak on his behalf.”

I wasn’t sure that was true in all situations, but we’d discussed this matter, and Rocco had assured us that he could relocate any of the blondies who had nowhere to go. Since I assumed that was most of them, I was thankful that he frequented a certain establishment.

“And you really have somewhere for us to go already?” she responded. “I could figure it out and make it, but some of thesegirls…” She trailed off as she side-eyed the young one, who was staring at the ground and gnawing nervously on her bottom lip.

“I do. My friend Lola already knows you’re coming…I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

“Evie. It’s Evie, Mr. Buccelli.”

Ah, this one had been around awhile. She knew exactly what the Buccelli name stood for. Before Rocco could insist she not call him something so formal or really piss me off and puff up like a peacock from her respectfulness, I cut in. “So, if that’s taken care of. Is Tad around?”

Evie gave us directions to an apartment right around the corner. “Thank you. Can you do me a favor and gather up the other girls?”

She nodded. “Of course, but Tad will?—”

Rocco snorted. “Don’t worry about Tad.”

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