Kissing the Killer: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance (Barone Crime Family) by B. B. Hamel

you?” John asked after eyeing my piece.
    “Got some questions for you, Rat.”
    He made a face. “You know I hate that name.”
    “It suits you, though. You’re a fucking rat, aren’t you?”
    “You come here just to insult me?”
    “Nah. I need information.”
    “I don’t know nothin’, Brooks, so just leave me be and fuck off.”
    I sighed. “Come on now, Rat, I haven’t even asked yet.”
    “Fine. What do you want?”
    “You heard all those gunshots last night, yeah?”
    “I didn’t hear shit.”
    I laughed. “The whole fucking city heard, Rat. I’m not some fucking cop.”
    “Okay, fuck. Fine. I heard.”
    “Did you see some girls come around here since then? Young, pretty, and thin. Clothes probably pretty dirty. Most of them wouldn’t speak English, just their leader.”
    “I didn’t see no girls.”
    “Rat, don’t make this fucking difficult,” I said, leaning toward him. “I know you have your little rat paws in everything around here. I know you heard something.”
    He frowned. “I heard a rumor. That’s all.”
    “What’s the rumor?”
    “Bunch of half-naked chicks were running around all wild last night, knocking on doors, asking for help. But some guys in black masks ended up grabbing them and dragging them off.”
    That wasn’t good. It sounded as though the Spiders had gotten to them already, and that was going to piss off Dante and Gian. Not that I had any control over it, though it was my fault they got away. Still, they didn’t know that.
    “Who’d you hear this from?”
    “That asshole beggar, what’s-his-face. Roger or something.”
    “Ryan Green. I know the guy.”
    “Panhandles down the street sometimes. Go ask him.”
    “Thanks, Rat,” I said.
    “What, no fucking reward?”
    “Your reward is me not beating your fucking ass down, you dumb shit twat.”
    He flipped me off as I walked away, smiling to myself.
    Ryan Green set up shop down at the corner of the street where a major road crossed through. I spotted him perched up on a wall, holding his cardboard sign and looking out across traffic.
    “Green,” I called out.
    He looked down at me. “Brooks. I know you.”
    “Yeah, you do. Can I ask you something?”
    He shrugged. His sign said that he was a Vietnam vet, but unless he was ten years older than he looked, there was no way he had served in that war.
    “I’ll make it worth your time,” I said.
    He hopped down off the way. “What you need?”
    “I heard you saw some girls last night.”
    “Oh yeah,” he said. “Pretty girls. It was recycling night, you know, so the good cans and bottles were out. I was walkin’ around, diggin’ like usual, gettin’ the good stuff. Those girls came outta nowhere, runnin’ around like crazy, screamin’ and shit. Then some guys in big black vans came and hauled them off. I swear it.”
    “Okay, Green,” I said. I handed him a twenty. “Anything else you remember?”
    “Girls didn’t talk English good,” he said.
    Damn. So it really was them.
    “Thanks,” I said and walked off.
    So the fucking girls got snatched by the Spiders after all, despite trying to let them get away. Fucking dumb girls should have run faster and sooner. They fucked themselves when they tried to get help in this damn neighborhood, but how could they have known? They weren’t from around here, and they had no clue that people didn’t fucking help other people and that they mind their own business.
    I got back into my car and headed back downtown, crossing the city. I got a glance of Green sitting on his wall, looking like he was falling asleep in the bright afternoon light.
    Emma’s place was a fifteen minute drive. I pulled up onto her block and parked at the opposite end, sitting in the car and waiting.
    The place looked silent again, but I couldn’t be sure. There was no reason for the mafia to watch it, but that didn’t mean they weren’t. Dante was suspicious of me, and it would look pretty damn bad if he caught me coming