Vice Enforcer
Page 27
“Pierce, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be alive! I’d be dead at the bottom of a river after a lengthy warehouse beating!”
I shove him, much to Miles’s surprise, and he almost falls flat on his back. He catches himself and recovers, confusion written across his face.
“You owe me nothing,” I shout, unable to control my volume. I don’t care if the whole goddamn neighborhood hears what I’m saying, so long as it sinks into Miles’s head. “You paid me back! You saved me from Jeremy, and now I have a life again. We’re even. You’re duty bound to nothing!”
“Everything I do—” Miles walks up close and returns the shove, both his hands on my shoulders. “—I do for you!”
I stagger a moment and grit my teeth. “What’re you talking about?”
“All those awards? All my scores? All my success? It’s to show you that I can do it! I can be the man you depend on! Someone you can trust!”
“You said you were doin’ it for you.”
“I am!” He grabs my shirt and twists his knuckles into the fabric, keeping me close. “I want to be the man you can depend on!”
“You’re confused,” I practically hiss. “You could have anyone you wanted if you stopped being naïve and thinkin’ with your dick.”
“Tsk. I’m not confused—you’re confused! I know exactly what I want, Pierce!” He half laughs while grinding his teeth. He collects himself with a few short breaths. “I want… I want you to live as long as possible. I want to give you everything you’ve ever wanted. I want you to see all the things you’ve been missing in life. And then, when you’re gone, I’m gonna spend those last twenty years counting the days until we’re together again.”
Miles pulls me even closer and slams his forehead down on my collarbone. I feel his breath come out in short, ragged bursts. I stand still, mulling over his statements, unable to move or respond.
I wish I was half the person he thinks I am. I’d be a goddamn superman.
With an unsteady hand, I trace the length of his spine. Miles must take my motion as acceptance, because he releases my shirt and wraps his arms around me. Together, held tightly by Miles’s grip, I relax a bit. He smells good.
“Tell me why you’re really leaving,” he demands in a hushed tone.
“I don’t want to see you hurt,” I reply, all anger gone. “At first I thought my past would haunt you…. Now it’s my future. What if someone comes looking for me? And they will. What if you’re caught up in it?”
“I want to be caught up in it.”
“What if your family is caught up in it?” I ask, serious and cold. “Jayden already got shot. Lacy abducted. How much more will have to happen before you realize it’s me that’s the cause?”
His nails dig into my back. “I’m not going to let them dictate how I live my life. We can beat them, Pierce. And even if you leave, I’m going to go after them, so there’s really nothing you’re saving me from.”
“Them?” I ask.
“Jeremy. His mob. All of them. I want them gone, and come hell or high water, I’ll do it.”
I return his embrace, unable to stop myself from smiling. “Pretty ballsy.”
“Yeah, well, stop trying to ditch me,” Miles states. “No dying. No leaving in the middle of the night. It won’t change what I’m going to do—and I’d rather have you with me. I… I want to be more confident. Like you. And when you’re around, I feel like your conviction rubs off on me.”
“Heh. All right. You have me. But I can’t promise anything about dying, except that it’ll happen one day.”
“So we’ll do this together?” he asks. “I don’t need to worry about convincing you ever again?”
It’s his conviction that gets me. He wants to do it together. No hesitation. And he wants to right the wrongs of my past. No reservations. Even I wasn’t that sure when I mulled over the possibilities of the future. Maybe he’s right. Maybe I was the one confused about what I wanted.
Marry me.
It’s what I want to say, but even in my mind, it feels awkward—something I never considered right for me. The crimson orange of the setting sun lights everything in a passionate way, and I blame the atmosphere for my sudden swell of emotion.
I don’t need any formal paperwork or ceremony to know that I’d die for him, or that I’ll never contemplate leaving him again. Still, he waits for my response, and I know he wants to hear my deepest thoughts.
“I love you,” I say. Words I haven’t uttered since childhood.
His voice is thick with emotion when he replies, “And I you.”
“Heh. Don’t get weepy on me.”
Miles breaks our embrace and smiles, a sort of mirth about him that I enjoy. “We have to move, by the way. My mother thinks our neighborhood is to blame. She won’t let me see Lacy again until I find a better place.”
“Fine.”
“Really? You don’t mind?”
“The kid next door won’t like it, but we can go anywhere you want.”
Miles rubs at his neck and stares at me. He lifts both eyebrows, like he wants to suggest something, and I wait for it, knowing it’s something preposterous.
“We could ask them to move too,” he finally says.
“Yeah. The old lady really has the funds for that.”
“We have the funds for that.”
Eh. I think back to Shannon in the retirement home—about how she said no one would come for her—and I know I can’t stand the thought of up and disappearing on her, especially when she and Lacy became fast friends. Then again, we aren’t made of money. We’re bound to burn through most of my mob money helping people out. You’d think half a million goes a long way, but shit isn’t cheap.
“We don’t have to do it unless you want to.”
“Fine,” I drawl. “Talk to her. Let’s see what we can do.”
Miles taps me on the arm. “I knew you’d come around, Pierce. You’re a good guy.”
More from S.A. Stovall
Vice City: Book One
After twenty years as an enforcer for the Vice family mob, Nicholas Pierce shouldn’t bat an eye at seeing a guy get worked over and tossed in the river. But there’s something about the suspected police mole, Miles, that has Pierce second-guessing himself. The kid is just trying to look out for his brother any way he knows how, and the altruistic motive sparks an uncharacteristic act of mercy that involves Pierce taking Miles under his wing.
Miles wants to repay Pierce for saving his life. Pierce shouldn’t see him as anything but a convenient hookup… and he sure as hell shouldn’t get involved in Miles’s doomed quest to get his brother out of a rival street gang. He shouldn’t do a lot of things, but life on the streets isn’t about following the rules. Besides, he’s sick of being abused by the Vice family, especially Mr. Vice and his power-hungry goon of a son, who treats his underlings like playthings.
So Pierce does the absolute last thing he should do if he wants to keep breathing—he leaves the Vice family in the middle of a turf war.
Readers love Vice City by S.A. Stovall
“A fantastic and intense read that deeply satisfied my love of gay fiction and noir. Buon appetito!”
—The Novel Approach
“This was a super intense, high energy story that kept me on the edge of my seat.”
—Love Bytes
“I am a sucker for a hard hearted fella finding and fighting for love.”
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S.A. STOVALL grew up in California’s central valley with a single mother and little brother. Despite no one in her family having a degree higher than a GED, she put herself through college (earning a BA in History), and then continued on to law school where she obtained her Juris Doctorate.
As a child, Stovall’s favorite novel was Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell. The adventure on a deserted i
sland opened her mind to ideas and realities she had never given thought before—and it was the moment Stovall realized that storytelling (specifically fiction) became her passion. Anything that told a story, be it a movie, book, video game, or comic, she had to experience. Now as a professor and author, Stovall wants to add her voice to the myriad of stories in the world, and she hopes you enjoy.
You can contact her at the following addresses:
Twitter: @GameOverStation
Email: s.adelle.s@gmail.com
By S.A. Stovall
VICE CITY
Vice City
Vice Enforcer
Published by DSP PUBLICATIONS
www.dsppublications.com
Published by
DSP PUBLICATIONS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dsppublications.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Vice Enforcer
© 2018 S.A. Stovall.
Cover Art
© 2018 Aaron Anderson.
aaronbydesign55@gmail.com
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact DSP Publications, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dsppublications.com.
ISBN: 978-1-64080-123-3
Digital ISBN: 978-1-64080-124-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017916219
Published April 2018
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America