I snatch it out of her hand and hit thetalkbutton, but I already know who is going to be on the other end before I answer.
“What do you want?” I ask.
“Gabe ... you’re looking real fine. The training is already showing. You been workin’ hard, haven’t ya?” Just like I knew it would be, Moses’s accented drawl comes through the other end of the line.
“What do you want?” I whisper through clenched teeth, even though everyone in the SUV can hear me.
“Nothin’ much. Just wanted to see how you were doing. Can’t I keep tabs on my old friend GabrielLegend?”
I stay quiet, fighting the urge to yell and tell him how the fuck I really feel about him terrifying the shit out of Bump,again.
“Nothing to say to me?” His tone shifts, turning harder and more serious. “That’s fine, Gabe. I don’t need to say much to you either. Just wanted you to know that I’m watching you. Might even call it watchingoveryou. Making sure nothing happens to my prizefighter so fight night goes off without a hitch. You stay healthy now. Eat your vegetables and keep training hard. And think of your old buddy Moses here and there if you need any motivation to make this shit count.”
“Stay away from my people,” I grind out as sweat collects on my forehead from all the rage I’m bottling up inside.
“You’d like me to promise that, I’m sure. But I don’t take orders from you,Legend.I give them. Now, you and your new little family have a nice afternoon. Tell your lady I like her purse. She’s got style.”
My eyes lock on the red leather bag Scarlett pulled the phone out of. Moses wants me to know he was close enough to touch her.
The old me would lose my goddamned mind and threaten to kill him if he ever came anywhere near her again, but I can’t do that right now, not in front of her and Bump. The kid’s been through enough, and Scarlett doesn’t need to hear it either.
“I hear you, Moses. Everything is coming throughloud and clear.”
“Good. That’s real good. Now y’all go get some real food. Because you can’t be training just on french fries. I am glad to see you finally found a woman who ain’t afraid to eat, though. I always like me some meat on them bones.”
Wrath is threatening to burst from every pore of my body as my temperature rises higher and higher.
“Don’t look at her again. I promise you’ll regret it.”
His snicker is dark and twisted. “Then stay the course, boy. You know what you gotta do.”
The call goes dead, and I drop the phone on my lap.
“It was him,” Scarlett whispers.
My entire body feels like it’s been filled with concrete. I don’t want to move a muscle, because I’m afraid I’m going to do something stupid like punch through the window to my left with my fist.
I’m not going to let him dictate how the fuck I feel too, I tell myself, fighting for control over my rioting emotions. Moses Buford Gaspard knows how to push all my fucking buttons, and I won’t allow it to keep happening.
“I need to make a call when we get back to your place,” I tell her.
“Okay, whatever you need.”
I note her pale complexion and wide gray eyes. “Alone.”
She nods slowly. “Okay. I’ll take care of Bump, and you take care of business. We’ve got this, Gabe. Whatever it is, we’ve got it.”
I sit quietly in my seat, staring out the window as we drive back to Curated, wondering what the fuck I’ve gotten myself into, and how the hell I’m going to get us all out.
I replay the call with Moses in my head a half dozen times, grappling with my anger. When we get out at Curated, Hal walks us up to the front door and checks every room in the entire building to make sure it’s secure.
By the time we reach Scarlett’s apartment, something occurs to me.
“He doesn’t know about the mob,” I whisper to myself.
“What?” Scarlett says from beside me.
I glance at Bump to make sure he can’t hear us, but he’s on the floor of the living room, letting Roux cover him with welcoming doggy kisses.