Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 117(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 117(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
Chapter One
Constantine
"What are you doing?"
"T.C.O.B." I clutch the phone between my ear and shoulder so I can peer through the binoculars at the dilapidated house down the street and talk to Dimitri Arakas at the same time.
"What the fuck does that even mean?" my best—and oldest—friend demands.
"It means I'm taking care of business."
"You couldn't just say that, you jackass?" The smile in his voice gives him away.
"Fuck off. I'm busy."
"Right. You're taking care of business. Again. For someone with no goddamn social life and no hope of ever getting laid, you have an awful lot of business to take care of." He snorts. "Annnd I just solved the mystery myself, didn't I?" He raises his voice, shouting into the room, "Alexa, buy stock in lotion and tissues."
"You asshole." I chuckle, shaking my head. Since marrying Snow a few months ago, Dimitri is on top of the world. It's good to see him so happy, but he's turned into an even bigger pain in my ass than usual. He's always fucking chipper. It's sickening, really. "I'm not jacking off. I'm out scouting for Dante."
"You're looking for the cartel again?"
"Something like that."
The Arakas family is known in Texas for their not-strictly-legal business endeavors. Frankly, Dimitri and his uncle, Dante, are the closest the state has to the mafia. Until recently, we were sitting pretty in Houston, but shit changed. Dimitri's baby sister flew the coop to Silver Spoon Falls, and a cartel moved in on the area. I guess they thought it was ripe for the plucking since it's flush with billionaires.
Dimitri doesn't fuck around when it comes to his sister, so we packed our shit and set up shop here to keep an eye on things. The cartel didn't appreciate our presence and decided to play dirty. They attacked Dante and his girl. Dimitri's wife, Snow, got caught up with them too.
They've been otherwise occupied since. Kidnapping and killing the mayor's daughter in a botched ransom will keep anyone busy, I guess. Dimitri doesn't know I found them two days ago. Dante gave me explicit instructions not to tell him. After everything they've put his family through, if he gets his hands on them, it'll be a bloodbath we can't explain our way out of this time, so I'm handling the situation myself.
I always murder better alone, anyway.
Dimitri talks too fucking much.
"Well, hurry it up. Snow wants you over here for dinner tomorrow. She thinks you spend too much time alone."
"I like being alone," I grunt. It's the truth…more or less. I grew up running the streets. I'm sure I had parents, but I never met them. I was dumped in foster care when I was a kid and never adopted out. I ran away from my last group home at fourteen. Until Dimitri found me trying to boost his car ten years ago, I haunted every back alley in Houston, lying, cheating, and stealing to survive.
I've done a lot of things in this life that I'll pay for when I'm burning in hell. Most of Dimitri's men call me the Grim Reaper because of the demon tatted on my chest, but the truth is…the name fits in more ways than one. I've sent more than my fair share to hell ahead of me. Some, I sent because I had to do. I like to think most deserved it. Others though?
Well, I have no illusions about the kind of man I am.
If heaven is real, the angels will bar the doors to keep me out. Domestic bliss and eternal salvation aren't for men like me. It is what it is.
I'm not complaining. I may not be bound for heaven or ever have a wife and kids, but life isn't all bad. I've got money in the bank, beer in the fridge, a bed to sleep in, and people who consider me family. Not bad for a motherfucker who came from the streets.
"Yeah, well, I'm not telling my wife that, so suck it up, buttercup, and get your sorry ass over here for dinner tomorrow. If she's not happy, I'm not happy," Dimitri says.
"I'll be there." There are four people in this world I never refuse. Devin, Snow, Belle, and Ariel, Bruno's new wife. They're soft in a way the rest of the world isn't. It's soothing to know such light exists. Perhaps the light the four of them shine will counteract the dark deeds I do. I don't fucking know. All I know is, if they want something, they're getting it.
"See you tomorrow." Dimitri pauses. "And just so you know, if you don't stop taking care of business by yourself soon, you're going to regret it. You're allowed to be two things at once."
I quirk a brow. "We are not talking about my dick, Dimitri."
"We're talking about you, you jackass. You're allowed to find a little slice of happiness in this fucked up world. That's all I'm saying."