Page 36 of Desperately Delicate Viper

“Kinky.”

“I’ll give you kinky, you stalker,” Sparrow grumbles, kissing him back.

When the kiss deepens, I clear my throat, just in case they’ve forgotten I’m here. They break apart and both look over at me.

“Ah, shit,” Xav mutters. “I should get a hold of Luca. He’s going to be pissed that you’re mixed up in any ofthis.” He waves his hand at the dead body, but then something else flickers through his eyes and he smiles. “Hey, wait, Luca is just one of Sal’s soldiers, which means he’s basically my bitch.” He chuckles and pulls out his phone. He presses a few buttons and then puts the phone to his ear. “Hey, Sal, I just sent you my location. Tell your nephew his boyfriend killed a dude and he needs to come clean it up.”

I open my mouth to protest that I onlyhelpedkill the guy, but Xaviaro just smirks.

I think I spoke too soon earlier when I said my life had gotten weird.

Chapter 14

LUCA

“Lorenzosaidtogiveit a week,” Sal reminds me, sipping from a steaming mug of coffee while I leave mine untouched on his counter.

“I know, but I thought maybe…”

Uncle Sal’s phone starts to ring, and he holds up a finger to tell me to give him a second. That’s fine, because I have no fucking clue what I was going to say anyway.I thought maybe you’d give me the go-ahead to take care of this scumbag quick and easy.I thought maybe we could get this prick behind bars before the end of the day today. I thought maybe you’d tell me to forget about waiting and do what I have to…

“Xav, what’s up?” Sal says into the phone. His eyes snap to mine and dance with a mixture of concern and amusement as he listens to whatever Xaviaro is saying on the other end of the phone. “Yeah, he’s right here. I’ll send him over. Thanks.” He hangs up and then spends a second tapping on his screen.

I raise both eyebrows. The trigger man was calling aboutme? That can’t be good.

“What—” I start to ask, but my phone vibrates in my pocket and Sal cuts me off.

“Xav says your man killed some dude. I just sent you the location so you can go clean up after him.” My uncle stuffs his phone back into his pocket and takes another sip of his coffee like what he just said is no big thing.

“He—Anders? Who?” I fumble for my phone to see where the location is. I would ask what Xaviaro has to do with any of this, but I’m guessing it’s related to Sparrow shaking me down this morning for my credit card. Sal just shrugs. Apparently asking follow-up questions didn’t occur to him. I don’t bother with pleasantries, I just mutter a thanks, dump my full mug of coffee into the sink, and take off.

A million thoughts run through my head as I weave through traffic, ignoring honks and dirty looks from other drivers on my way to find out what the fuck is going on. Did Anders’s father find him somehow? I can’t imagine who else he might have killed, although if he was with Sparrow, fuck only knows. I’ve only met the man twice, but he seems a bit unhinged.

Since I’m anticipating hauling a couple hundred pounds of dead weight, I pull around into the wider end of the alley near the delivery entrances and dumpsters and park. I’m not sure what I expected to find, but Anders and Sparrow leaning against the building, laughing while Xaviaro busies himself sorting recycling out of an overflowing trash bin and an unmoving body lies in a pool of blood a few feet away isn’t it.

“What the hell happened?” I ask.

“I didn’t actually kill him,” Anders says. “I only stabbed him once.”

Sparrow pats his arm consolingly. “If it makes you feel better, he would have bled out eventually, I just sped things along.”

Xaviaro grunts in agreement, and I just gape at the three of them for a few seconds. Anders doesn’t appear to be upset, butit’s possible he’s just in shock. I step over the body and make my way to him. He straightens up, and I notice he’s wearing my clothes still, his messenger bag slung over his shoulder as usual and a shopping bag at his feet. When I reach him, I cup his jaw and lean down to rest my forehead against his.

“What happened, little viper?” I ask again, more softly this time.

“That asshole went after Sparrow, and we took care of him.” The confidence in his voice and the unwavering way he meets my gaze makes my heart fucking soar.

“And you’re okay?”

He straightens up just a little more and gives a sharp nod. “I’m fine.”

“Alright.” I run my thumb over his smooth cheek and then brush a quick kiss to his lips. “Looks like I’m on cleanup duty then.”

Xaviaro finishes pulling large scraps of cardboard out of the trash and wipes his hands off on his suit pants.

“You got it from here, or do you want us to hang around?”

“I’m fine.” I wave him off. “Thanks.”

---