“Yeah. Lemme figure some shit out tomorrow. You get everything packed. We’ll go tomorrow night.”

Josiah’s mouth came down hard on his. Finally they were going to get out of NYC. “I love you, Mateo.”

“Te amo.”

Chapter Twenty

Mateo

“Sit down, hermano. Have a drink with me. You’re always in such a fucking hurry to get out of here. I’m beginning to think you don’t like me.” Javier laughed, making Mateo’s skin crawl. Brothers. Yeah, right. They weren’t anything close to that. But he also couldn’t disrespect Javier, especially in his own home.

“I need to get back and check on the kid.” The name tasted like bile on his tongue.

“The kid, huh?” Javier shook his head.

Josiah. His name is Josiah. I love him and I’m getting him the fuck out of here. “That’s what I said, yeah.” Teo crossed his arms. He glanced at Javier, his black hair slicked back, and watched as his eyes narrowed.

“Sit the fuck down, Mateo.”

Icicles froze inside him, but he had no choice but to sit down. This time when Javier spoke, every word was in Spanish. “You must think I’m a fucking idiot.”

Mateo struggled to steel his emotions. Not to wipe the sweat from his forehead. “Whatever you have to say, spit it out,” he replied in Spanish.

“You think I don’t know what that little white boy is to you? You’re a disgrace. A disgrace to your father and to all of us.”

Mateo pushed to his feet. But sat back down when Javier set a gun on the table in front of himself. “We came for you because you’re Ricky Sanchez’s son, my nephew. We protect you out of loyalty to your father, even though you deserve nothing more than a bullet in your head.”

Teo squeezed the arms of the chair. Javier was going to fucking kill him. Who would take care of Josiah?

“You abandoned your family, yet I saved your ass when I heard you were in town. You’re a dick to everyone here, running back to your fucking boy like you’re better than the rest of us, yet I put up with it, for your father. That won’t last, Mateo. You need to decide where your loyalty lies, and do it now. You’re either with us, or you’re the enemy. You’re dead.” He ran his hand over the barrel of the gun. “I wonder what would happen to your boy then.”

Mateo shoved to his feet so hard that the chair fell over backward, hitting the ground. “No one fucking touches him. No one looks at him wrong. I don’t give a fuck who it is. They do and they’re dead.”

Javier’s black eyes looked at him and then he smiled. “Protective. You know I don’t want to hurt him, Teo. I don’t even want to hurt you. You’re more than my nephew. You’re like a son to me. A brother. I’m your godfather. Ricky wanted you to be my second. It’s time you wake the fuck up and be the man your father raised you to be.”

Teo’s jaw hurt he held it so tight. He was too fucking late. He’d fucked up again. Why the hell didn’t he leave with Josiah that first night? Or any night over the past month? Or hell, never stayed here in the first place?

“You know you’re never really alone, don’t you? I have eyes on you all the time. If you’re thinking of running, you won’t get far. Won’t even see the bullet coming.”

Those words were the nail in the coffin. He couldn’t risk Josiah like that. It was over. “What do you want?”

“What your father wanted. What he wants. You, here where you belong.”

He threw his hands in the air. “Where the fuck does it look like I am?”

Javier grabbed the gun and aimed it at Mateo. “This is the last time I tell you to watch your mouth.” He was quiet for a minute, his eyes never leaving Mateo. “I remember when your mother died. It killed your father. Killed you. I told Ricky, to love her was a liability. In our world, he was asking for her to get hurt. She was his weakness, and she died because of it.”

Mateo’s stomach bottomed out. As much as he hated it, Javier was right. His dad’s lifestyle got his mom killed, just like he would do to Josiah. Staying with him, being with him, was like hanging a target on his back. Even from Javier. That’s what he was telling Teo right now. Even if Josiah stayed, they were at risk.

He bit back the urge to puke. “I’ll take care of it. I need 10 G’s for him.”

“What do I get in return?” Javier smiled.

Mateo hung a noose around his neck with his words. “I’ll owe you.”

Javier nodded, opened the drawer next to him and pulled out a stack of cash. He tossed it to the table. Teo picked it up and shoved it in his pocket. “Don’t fuck up. We’ll be watching.”