Read Cautious (Sequel to Disastrous) for Free Online Page A

changed.” His laughter went louder when Buddy glared
at him. “Well, Buddy, Marky may be pussy-whipped, but he ain’t no pussy. Lesson
learned.” Gio patted Buddy’s shoulder.
    “Fuck off.” Angrily, Buddy shoved away and stormed out of the
room.
    Still pinned to the floor, my body jerked. “Let me go!” After a
moment, both Jimmie and Vinnie hesitantly loosened their grip. Jumping up, I
straightened my shirt. “What?” I asked, responding to Jimmie’s dubious
expression.
    Raising his hands, he shook his head. “Nothing little bro, it’s
your show.”
    “Fuck off, Jimmie.”
    “Marky, go clean your fuckin’ face. You have blood all over it,
and let’s get this fuckin’ meeting over with, eh?” Lou’s raspy tone pierced
through my growing anger. I stared at Lou for a few harsh seconds before
sniffing and heading toward the sink.
    After a few minutes, we surrounded the sectional area. I stood
and leaned against the glass wall as everyone sat. “Okay, as you all can see, I
brought my nephew Gio back for a reason. He’s going to be working on figuring
out who the rat is. Marky, don’t worry about it. Just keep doing what you do
for me, and Gio will take care of the rat.” I nodded at Lou in response. “As
far as the pigs sniffing the warehouses, we have to move to a different
location. Marky, we’re doing it here.”
    “No.” I blurted. “We’re not doing exchanges here. I refuse. You
should know better than to ask that.”
    “Did I fuckin’ ask?” Lou spat with a tightened jaw. Gio put his
hand on Lou’s shoulder.
    “We don’t have a choice, Marky.” Gio chimed in. “Unless you have
a better suggestion?”
    “Pick another fuckin’ warehouse, somewhere out of the city, or
even a storage unit.”
    “A storage unit don’t sound like a bad idea, boss.” Vinnie
mentioned.
    Lou shook his head. “No, too many people go in and out of storage
units, and if a deal goes wrong, they’ll hear gunshots. It’s too risky.”
    “We do exchanges at three sometimes two in the morning; storage
units are packed during the day. There’s no way we’ll bump into anyone.” Vinnie
argued.
    “I fuckin’ said ‘no’ and that’s that. Anybody got a problem with
that?” He looked around the room, and when no one responded, he went on, “Your
job, Marky, is to come up with a new location for our exchanges by next week.
Vinnie, you can help him with that, but no storage units. If you can
find a warehouse outside of Boston that’s been secluded for years, I’m in. Other
than that, it will be here.”
    “You do understand this is a club, full of people six nights a
week?” I clarified.
    Cocking his head, his stare hardened. “Exactly, six nights a week,
Marky. Our exchange dates can easily be changed to Sundays.” With that said, he
and Gio were gone.
    ***
    After the meeting with Lou and the men, I took care of
a few issues regarding inventory at the Club and then headed home. By the time
I got into bed, it was close to three in the morning. What a fucking night!
Tossing and turning, I couldn’t get comfortable and had trouble falling asleep.
My mind drifted back and forth between the night before when Mia and I were
standing in the pouring rain as I begged her to take me back, and a few hours before
when I found out about all the shit I was going to have to deal with in trying
to locate a new spot for Lou’s exchanges.
    I felt physically drained with all of the fucking stress between
Mia and me, as well as the whole fucking Lou situation. I wished Mia was lying
next to me so I could feel her warm soft skin, kiss her lips, and lose myself
in those eyes. She made everything go away, even if it was for a few hours or just
a couple of minutes. If it weren’t so early in the morning, I would have called
her just to hear her voice. Not able to control myself, I sent her a quick text
telling her that I loved her, and to my surprise, she responded immediately.
    Mia (2:58 a.m.): I love u too. Why r u