Page 27 of Alfie: Part One
Aw, screw me sideways with a chainsaw.
I scrubbed a hand over my face and?—
“Tell me this is not Finnegan O’Shea, Alfie,” she demanded. “He isnotyour cousin in any way that matters.”
Well…
I made a face, annoyed. But that was all. I had expected way more—anxiousness, nerves, worries. Ma could be scary, and I hated hurting her.
Thing was, I knew where I had to draw the line. At some point, my mom had to accept that I’d acknowledged Finn. I didn’t have many friends in my life, and I liked him and Kellan. What I’d never mention was my affiliations with the Sons, of course.
I might as well get to talking before she lost her English.
“It’s possible I reached out to him through Kellan,” I admitted. “I found out they still knew each other, so I told Kellan the truth.”
“Found out…?” She folded her arms over her chest and cocked a brow. “Excuse me, was I born yesterday? In what universe did you need tofind outthey were friends? You watched them grow up together! I warned you about Kellan years ago.”
“So? You don’t think people can grow apart?” I couldn’t help it; I got defensive. “Ma, I’m not gonna apologize for wanting more family. It’s not like I reached out to the sperm donor—it’s just my cousin. And maybe John’s eldest.”
And here came the Spanish. We were off with a solid “Ay, Dios mio,” before she started ranting and speaking with her hands. She came over to me, visibly angry, and eventually switched to Italian.
It was not an improvement.
Although, I did know the meaning ofcazzo.
“Ma! You know I don’t understand.English.”
“Do not raise your voice at me!” She raised her voice at me. Shook her fist at me too. “Do you not understand,ragazzo?They’re going to recruit you! This is what they do. They make you feel like family?—”
“I am family!” I yelled. Fuck! That burst of anger came out of nowhere and dissipated as quickly as it’d arrived. Shit, shit, fuck. I pinched the bridge of my nose and ignored Ma’s shocked expression.
Goddamn you, West! Mind your fucking business!
She let out an unsteady breath. “You have cousins—who love you, who would never force you to steal and murder.”
I withheld a groan and knew the only way to calm her down was to divulge even more. “Finn isn’t gonna force me to do shit, Ma. For the record, I’ve been working at his company for over three years.” That part was true. Kellan had gotten me employed so that everything looked legit. I’d just never set foot there. “If he was gonna recruit me to do anything, he would’ve done it by now.”
I’d shocked my mom again.
“Your job—the security thing? That’s for Finn? He’s your boss? You already know him?”
“I didn’t say that,” I replied quickly. “I didn’t meet him until this week. I’m just sayin’, I’ve been on their radar for a long time. If they were interested in recruiting to the Sons of Munster, they’d probably start by asking their own employees.”
Ma straightened automatically and folded her arms over her chest again. “So you’re saying that you work for Finnegan O’Shea’s security company, but you never met him until this week, and you are friends with Kellan Ford, and you did not know they were still friends, despite that you grew up watching them in the community?”
Um.
Yeah?
Maybe I needed to learn to bullshit better.
“I don’t know what to tell you.” I shrugged. “It’s not a habit of mine to tell my mates everything. The last thing I wanna do when I meet up with Kellan for a few beers is talk about work.”
“There are evidently many things you’re not in the habit of telling people,” she replied. “I don’t believe you, son. You are lying to me. You’ve lied to West. I don’t buy this story. You’re—” She waved a hand at me, and she was disappointed. “So many times, I have talked to my friends about how fortunate I am. They have children who lie about what they do for a living—and now I see. You are just like those mobsters…?”
I clenched my jaw, and for a chest-tightening moment, I regretted everything. The way she looked at me—I might as well be a stranger.
What the fuck had I done?