Page 43 of The Forever One
“I’m not sure yet. I’d like to, but… I don’t know. We’ll see. Anyway, what are we eating? Do you want to share a platter?”
“Why the Hell not? Let’s go for it.”
As we’re finishing off the last of our food, Devon saunters over, now in his chef whites with the sleeves rolled up his heavily-tattooed forearms.
“How was it, ladies?”
“As delicious as last time, thank you. But don’t pull that not paying thing on us again, okay?” I give him my best serious face, which currently consists of a smirk and two raised brows.
“Can’t promise that, love.”
I shake my head in defeat as his attention is back on Lina. I’ve got to give it to him, the man’s a trier.
“You ready for me to take you on that date yet, sweetheart? Anywhere you wanna go, anything you wanna do?” He rests his hands on the edge of the table and leans forward, the veins in his painted forearms bulging, and I shake my head again.He knows exactly what he’s doing.
“You really won’t quit, will you?”
“Never.” He winks at her again, blowing her a kiss before picking up our empty plates and taking them into the kitchen.
She’s not outright saying no to him, which makes it clear that she likes him, but I can’t deny her love-life is already complicated, even without all the other shit that’s gone on. Lina laughs gently as he walks away and I love the small spark I see there. I kinda hope this Devon guy doesn’t give up.
“Come on, you. The car’s waiting on the next street over.”
“I don’t like him, you know?”
“Of course you don’t, Gorgeous.” I smile to myself as we head out and I leave cash on the table for our food, knowing we’d be waiting here for hours for no bill to arrive.
As we make it to the door, a huge, mammoth of a man is blocking our exit, dressed in a black suit with his arms folded across his chest. Two more huge men in black suits appear from behind him and I know this isn’t good. The man on the left with a dodgy eighties-porn mustache steps forward, breaking their trio formation and pulling a gun from behind his back quicker than I can blink. The others do the same.
They’re pointed at us and I’m not going to lie, I’m shitting myself, but also, I’m so fucked off with guns being pointed at me and feeling helpless.
“Got a message for Mr. Mancini.”
“Well I think you must be confused then, because neither of us are Mr. Mancini.” I trust that Sam and Ryan, our appointed security for the day, have our backs, because I’m all bark and no bite in the weapons department.
“Don’t get smart with me, Mrs. Mancini. You tell your husband that we don’t give a fuck about peace. We’re not giving up Ugo.”
At the mention of his name, I hear Lina inhale a sharp breath beside me and I grip her hand, squeezing it in mine.
“What in the actual fuck is going on here? Who the fuck do you think you are pulling a gun in my restaurant?” Devon saunters over, changed back into his slacks and deep-purple shirt, as if people holding guns up all around us is just a walk in the park.
Sam and Ryan are just in front of us, their own guns raised at the three intruders, at a stand-off because I presume no one really wants to start a shoot-out in the middle of Manhattan. The restaurant may be otherwise empty, and the mirrored windows basically blacked out from the outside in, but guns are loud.
“This has nothing to do with you, scum. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll fuck off back to the kitchen.” Mustache guy looks bored as he barely makes eye contact with Devon.
With the guy distracted and feeling a little over confident—but fuck it—I quickly step forward, grip the guy’s wrist, trying to grab the gun, and knee him in the balls. The gun falls to the floor, which is a massive fail, but he’s now bent forward, clutching at his crotch and yelling out in pain. My hand is still gripping his wrist tightly, and I use the other one to yank his head toward mine.
“I don’t do threats. And neither does my husband. I suggest you three scurry the fuck out of here because, as you can see, you aren’t the only ones with guns.” Then I let my knee meet his face, because it’s right there, so why not?
“You fucking bitch!”
“Oh, so original.” I push him away and take a step back, realizing Lina had followed my lead and now has one of the guys in a chokehold with his gun pressed against his head. Sam and Ryan have their guns both pointed at the largest man and he slowly lowers his, knowing he’s absolutely going to die if he even tries to pull the trigger. Devon is still standing off to the side, a little pride on his face as he twirls a kitchen knife that appeared from nowhere in his hand.
“You’ll regret this.” Mustache guy spits out a little blood from his broken nose, gesturing for the others to follow him out.
“You’ve got to let him go now, sweetheart.” Devon approaches and gently lifts Lina’s arms from the man, letting her keep the gun but allowing the man to leave with the others. He trips the man up as he scrambles for breath and tries to hurry out. “Whoops.” He laughs and brings Lina into him, wrapping his arms around her, and she lets him. It’s clear to see the soft and content look on her face as she’s held by him after another fucked up life-moment.
Sam holds her fist out to me, a look of respect in her eyes, and I obviously bump it. My plan wasn’t to drop the gun, and thankfully the safety was on and it didn’t go off, but I think I got my point across.