Dante walked away laughing. He was still smiling when he rounded the old house and took the shortcut necessary to avoid the general public. The path was hidden by butterfly trees in full bloom, and Dante found himself alone, until the distinct sensation that he wasn’t swept over him.
He slowed and glanced over his shoulder. There was no one there, not even a shadow. Shivering, Dante turned back and collided with a solid mass of muscle. The scent of expensive cologne and city smog invaded Dante’s brain. He backed up, an apology he didn’t mean on his lips, but brute-sized hands seized him before he could speak, shoving him against the tall fence.
The last face on earth he wanted to see grinned down at him, flashing his veneered white teeth. “All right, mate? We need to talk.”
17
Dante’s heart stilled, frozen in time with the arrival of the inevitable he’d convinced himself had been nothing but a bad dream.Asa fucking Gerrard. The gentle giant who wasn’t gentle at all if you took the time to look deeper.He’s a fucking viper.His teeth might have changed, but that hadn’t.
He was bigger than Dante remembered, too. Or maybe it was that Dante had never seen him this close before. Back in the day, Asa had been a weapon to him, nothing more. He’d never stopped to think about how it would feel if Asa had ever turned on him.
That’s because he’d never have done it while Luis was still in the game, but he dug Luis out of that hole, remember? That’s why he let Martell take you down.
It made sense. Dante had spent months trying to unpick the riddle of how Benito Martell had destroyed him so efficiently without Asa’s assistance, and then one winter day as he’d stood alone in the prison yard, bruises from the hellish time he’d spent on remand still mottling his skin, it had clicked. Asa’s assistance had come in the form of his feigned ignorance. Martell had usurped Dante because Asa hadallowedhim to, and that made him more dangerous than any road man Dante had ever known. Only his affection for Luis made him vulnerable.Remember that. It might be all you’ve got.
In the thirty seconds it took for all that to pass through Dante’s brain, Asa had moved closer. He crowded Dante against the fence. “Did you hear me, Pope? I said we need to talk.”
“I heard you.” Dante let Asa tower over him. It was easier than fighting him hand to hand—no version of Dante had ever been that stupid—and it made Asa feel powerful, which was clearly what he wanted. And he could have it. Dante didn’t care.No drama. No trouble. The mantra he’d carried with him for the long years he’d spent inside and every day since he’d got out. Head down, one foot in front of the other. One day at a time. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Not here. Come with me.”
“No.”
“I ain’t exactly asking, Pope.”
“Give a fuck. You want to talk to me? Do it here.”
“Fine.” Asa stole a glance around, then backed up enough to let Dante detach himself from the fence. “Let’s walk.”
“You’ll be seen.”
“So? I didn’t come here to whack you.”
Dante should’ve been relieved, but he felt nothing as they emerged from the secluded section of the path and followed it to the lake. Asa showing up felt like karma, and he couldn’t bring himself to be shocked, or even mad about it.I did this to Luis. I let him have moments where he thought it was over, then I came back, over and over, until I fucking broke him.
“How much weed are you smoking these days?”
“What?”
Asa slung Dante a dry look. “You ain’t as sharp. Can’t decide if that works in my favour or not.”
“Depends what you want.” Dante’s legs felt like lead as they ambled along the lakeside track. More than heavy, they were dead weights, and he let his thoughts drift to Sid, just for a moment, and wondered if his legs felt that way all the time... when they didn’t hurt, at least. Sid was an expert at concealing most of his daily discomfort, but there were some things—manythings—he couldn’t hide, and Dante always knew when he was suffering.
He’s always suffering. No days off, remember?As if Dante could forget, but even that seemed disloyal. Sid was more than his disease. So much more. Right now, he was a man shifting heaven and earth by himself because of a misguided notion that Dante deserved the afternoon off. A kindness that had walked Dante into Asa’s path. Fate was cruel.
And so was Asa. Dante choked on his silence. “Come on, man. Unless you came all the way here just to rattle me.”
“I didn’t.”
“So...?” Dante glanced up, but Asa wasn’t looking at him. His gaze was fixed on the glittery water, distant, pensive, the tiniest of slips that gave him away as human.He’s not human, though, is he? He’s the king, and he wants something only you can give.“Get on with it, Gerrard. Talking to you is against my release conditions.”
“Don’t fancy going back inside?”
“What do you think?”
“Lots of things. None of them good.”
Frustration simmered in Dante’s veins. He rubbed the back of his head with rough fingers, resisting the urge to ball his hands into fists. Asa wasn’t as perceptive as Martell, but he was watchful and shrewd. Dante wanted him under his skin as much as he wanted leprosy. “Tell me the worst of it,” he said. “Are you in trouble?”