The Wrath Walker (The Wrath Series Book 1) by Matthew Newson (moboreader txt) 📕

I charged over and grabbed Enzo by his jacket. “Where have you been? I called you over an hour ago, or have you forgotten I’m the one who gives the orders around here?”

“Get your hands off me,” Enzo’s stern tone came back at me.

“Or what? What are you going to do about it? Are you going to raise your hand to the boss?”

“I would never do a thing like that, but still, get your hands off me.”

“So now you’re a big man giving me the orders.” I growled in his face. “You make me wait over an hour like I’m some kind of jerk and all you have to say to me is get your hands off me! Tell me where you were before I do to you what I did to that phone.”

“I was at my favorite girl’s place, Skeeter. She didn’t want me to leave after you called, so let’s just say she made a very convincing argument for me to stay if you catch my drift. But please know I meant no disrespect to you.”

“That’s the reason you made me wait, and all you have to say to me is you mean no disrespect.” I pushed Enzo into the wall behind him. “I don’t care if you’re spending time with your own mother. The next time I tell you to be someplace, you better be there. If you’re ever even a minute late again because of her, I’ll see to it personally that she’s never seen again. You got me?”

I was fully prepared for Enzo to spring off that wall at me with everything he had, and a part of me wanted him to after the news I’d just received. God knew I wanted to hurt someone at that moment, but he did something I wasn’t prepared for him to do. Enzo raised his hands in a non-aggressive way which told me he wasn’t looking to fight. I figured I was the only one in the world who could have talked and pushed him around like that and get away with it without getting filleted for my troubles.

“You’re right, I’m sorry, Skeeter. I disrespected you, and it won’t happen again.”

“It better not,” I said as I returned to the bar and downed another shot. I motioned for Enzo to come over and poured him and myself a drink. That was my unofficial way of apologizing to Enzo for being a little over the top, but I had made an example so he or anyone else wouldn’t make a habit of it.

“Let’s sit at the table.” I grabbed my glass and the bottle and took a seat at the head of the table. Enzo carried his glass over and took his seat to my right.

“Thank you for the drink, boss.”

“You’re welcome.” I gulped down another shot of the smooth-tasting alcohol.

“Skeeter, I’m sorry again. You know I’ve always been loyal to you, tell me what’s got you so upset.”

“I know, you said that. Quit apologizing already.”

“You got it. I know you called me here for a reason, so what can I do for you?”

“Frankie.” I looked over at his open seat at the table.

“What about him? Where is he anyway? Has he dealt with our mutual problem yet? Or is he still trying to figure out how he’s going to remedy the situation?”

“He hasn’t taken care of that problem yet.”

“Why not? He was so hard up about going after Brandon that I thought he would have the thing taken care of by now. I bet you anything he’s going to call me now to help him do the job.”

“Frankie is not going to call you because he’s dead, Enzo. It was just confirmed to me on what’s left of that phone out there.”

Enzo’s eyes widened some, and he gave a quick frown and shook his head. He never did show much emotion since death was pretty much all the guy knew. He dealt it out so much over the years that I was sure he had become jaded to it all. He had killed a lot of people during his life, and many of them were friends at one time or another. But friends were a rare commodity in that business because it was usually your friends who would rat you out or stab you in the back to save themselves from jail time. The only real friends a person had in our line of work were a wad of bills in their pocket. But Enzo was a rare breed who never once tried to turn on me, and literally slit the throats of those who had before they had a snowball’s chance in Hell of doing anything to me.

“I’m sorry, Skeeter. Frankie was a good friend of ours, and a great earner too.”

“Yes, he was.” I rubbed my face and took a deep breath, and then poured us another drink. We raised our glasses to Frankie’s empty chair, and then downed the intoxicating liquid inside of them as we both sat in silence for a moment.

“I’m sorry about back there when you came in, Enzo, I shouldn’t have done that to you.”

“It’s okay, Skeeter, I shouldn’t have acted so disrespectful. Besides, it’s understandable since you had just received some extremely upsetting news, so your reaction to me is more than a little justified.”

“Thank you, Enzo.”

“May I ask how our friend came to be no longer with us?” Enzo asked as he placed his hands on the table and patiently waited for my response.

I was quiet for a moment as I turned over the story in my mind trying to find where to begin. I had lost two of my top guys in a week from a nut job who claimed a man in a red suit was doing it all. I had seen that sort of thing before, and it had all the signs of a man with an axe to grind but was too scared to take on