Page 72 of Cocky Jerk

Well, I never saw the crooked cop coming.

Shame on me.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Marco

“How was your weekend, Pirelli?” Richie asks as he looks over the selection of donuts in the breakroom. I don’t know why he bothers. The guy never strays from the Boston Cream.

Leaving him to his donut woes, I think about the question. At the risk of sounding like a total pussy, I contemplate telling him the truth. It was the best fucking weekend of my life. But that would cause the poor bastard to spit his coffee out and Judy would have my balls in a vise for ruining the donuts.

“It was great. Tig and Delia were surprised, and everyone loved Antonia, including my mother.”

There, short and sweet.

So why the fuck does he still spit his coffee all over the donuts?

“You introduced her to your mother?” he admonishes, wiping the coffee from the front of his uniform.

“Judy’s going to kill you, man,” I point out, handing him a stack of napkins. He snatches them from me and narrows his eyes.

“Don’t change the subject,” he says.

“I didn’t purposely introduce them,” I explain with a sigh. “I took Antonia to the feast on Friday and I got into a scuffle. The Santa Rosalia statue broke and the priest who gave me my First Holy Communion decided to rat me out to my mom. She came over on Sunday to have me write a check to the church and Antonia was there.”

I purposely leave out the details on how the saint broke. If I tell Richie I got into a fight with Hound and had words with Tank, I’m sure he’ll have something to say and I’m not ready to deal with it. When word gets out that things between me and Antonia are serious, there’s going to be talk around the department. My patience will likely be tested and my reputation as a cop may even be tarnished.

“Did your mother give her hell? God, I wish I was a fly on the wall,” Richie says. “I can just picture it.”

It was something that’s for sure.

“Pirelli! Galante!” Judy calls.

“Shit,” Richie murmurs.

“You’re dead.”

“Put your street clothes back on and grab your vests. Sergeant Floyd needs all hands on deck.”

Richie and I exchange a look. Floyd seldom recruits us to his unit which only means something big must be going down. My guess is they’re finally ready to move in on the mob case they’ve been building.

“Well, don’t just stand there. Get a move on!”

“Yes, sir!” Richie says. “I mean Sarge…”

Stifling a laugh, I watch Judy flip him off before disappearing out of the breakroom. Turning to Richie, I loop my thumbs through my belt.

“Looks like Dinaso and Floyd are ready to put a pin in Bendetti.”

“And here I thought the highlight of my day was going to be you telling me about your mom and your girlfriend,” he retorts as he starts for the door.

I never thought the day would come but, I suppose he’s right, Antonia is my girlfriend and if things don’t work out with her father, later on, she may even be my live-in girlfriend. Talk about a mindfuck. Things are moving at lightning speed and I’m not even bothered by it.

Richie and I hurry to our lockers and change into our regular clothes. I grab my bulletproof vest and fit it to my body, securing the tabs at my chest before pulling the chain with my badge over my neck. Lastly, I check the safety on my gun and slide my piece into my holster.

A break in patrol duty is a welcome reprieve and Richie and I are eager to help. We meet the unit in the back of the precinct. However, there is no time to brief us on what’s going on and we’re told they will catch us up to speed on the way to the sting.

We climb into the back of the van where they wire us with recording devices and give us earpieces so that we can remain in contact with Floyd during the raid. We drive through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and I turn to Richie.

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