Mean Little People

by Dearth, Paige

  Kate hugged Darren. “I swear to you that I’ll be careful. You still like Tony, right?”

  “Please, Kate. Who couldn’t like Tony? He’s a good guy. I just don’t like his choice of friends.”

  As Kate lay on her bed that night, she thought about all that had happened during that day. She worried that her mother was right but couldn’t deny that she felt complete with Tony beside her. Kate promised herself that if things ever got bad, to where she was fearful being with Tony, she would run away as fast as she could, just like her mother had told her to do.

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  On Saturday night, Tony drew in a breath when Kate opened the door. She was wearing the new sweater with jeans and her mother’s only pair of good shoes, which were a little too big on Kate.

  “You look great,” Tony said.

  Kate blushed. “Thanks. Ready?”

  Tony brushed by Kate and went in to see Darren. “How are ya feelin’?”

  Darren motioned for Tony to come closer. He put his ear next to her mouth, and she whispered, “It’s gonna be soon. Ya make sure she ain’t left alone. Ya keep checkin’ on us every day.”

  Tony took her bony hand in his own. Darren had lost so much weight that her skin hung on her body like an oversized shirt. “I’ll take care of her. Ya ain’t gotta worry. When we’re done at Salvatore’s, we’ll come back and sit wit’ cha awhile.”

  Darren patted Tony’s hand. “OK. Ya go and have fun. Just remember you’re dealin’ wit’ bad people.”

  When Tony and Kate arrived at the Moranos’ house, they were greeted with the scent of homemade Italian food. Kate took in a deep breath, savoring the aroma that danced in her nose and made her mouth water.

  Salvatore was giving Kate a hug when his mother, Alessandra, floated up the hall behind them. “Tony Bruno, get over here and give me a hug,” she said.

  “Hi, Mrs. M. It’s real good to see ya.” He leaned in a little closer. “Even better to smell your cookin’ again. Salvatore don’t know how lucky he is.”

  “Well, I’ve been asking where you’ve been for forever. Finally,” she said, shooting Salvatore a scathing look, “my son decided to indulge me and have you over.”

  “It ain’t his fault, Mrs. M. I’ve been livin’ in North Philly, and I ain’t got a whole lot of time to hang out.”

  Tony turned toward Kate. “This is my girlfriend, Kate.”

  Alessandra took a few steps toward Kate and extended her delicate hand. Kate put her hand in Alessandra’s. “It’s very nice to meet you, Kate. My son tells me that you’ve captured Tony’s heart. I’ll tell you, that isn’t easy with these boys. By the way, your sweater is precious.”

  Kate’s heart leaped; she’d been right to make sure she wore something nice. “Great to meet you too, Mrs. Morano. Whatever you’re cooking smells delicious.”

  Kate was nervous, and her hand was sweating in Alessandra’s cool hand. She slowly inched it back to her side.

  “Where’s Vincent?” Tony asked.

  Salvatore shrugged. “You know him—he’s never on time,” he said, as he led them into the kitchen.

  Vincent arrived just before Alessandra served the salad.

  “Mrs. M, was ya about to eat wit’out me?” Vincent said, faking a hurt look.

  Alessandra glanced over her shoulder and gave him a warm smile.

  The group sat and ate the courses that Alessandra put on the table. The boys talked about the neighborhood and excitedly discussed the new café that had opened in the Italian Market.

  Alessandra put the main course of veal parmesan on the table. Tony speared a large piece with his fork and plopped it onto his plate, “So, what’s your pop doin’ in New York?” he asked.

  “Business. He’s working on a deal with a family that sells produce.”

  “The freshest fruits and vegetables you can find on the East Coast,” Alessandra added.

  “How’s business been for him?”

  Salvatore met Tony’s gaze. “He’s doing really well. Vincent and I have been helping with some of the vendors in South Philly.”

  “What kinda help are ya givin’ ’im?”

  “What’s with all the questions?” Salvatore said. He clearly didn’t want to discuss the mob business in front of Kate or his mother.

  “Nothin’. I just…I’m gonna need to make some extra money soon and thought maybe there was some work I could pick up.”

  Tony had to figure out a way to make more money once Darren died. It was his only chance of getting Donata to let Kate live with them. The old woman couldn’t afford to take on another person, not on the meager salary she earned from the bakery.

  “Why don’t you swing by tomorrow around noon? My pop will be home by then, and you can ask him if he has any work for you.”

  Tony shoved a stuffed shell into his mouth and nodded. “Yeah, good, tomorra,” he garbled. “I’ll come by tomorra.”

  When Tony announced that he and Kate were leaving, Salvatore got up from his chair slowly. “I’ll drive you two back.”

  “Whata ya mean? Since when do you drive?”

  “Since my pop bought me a car and gave it to me yesterday before he left.”

  “Are ya shittin’ me?” Tony exclaimed.

  “Tony Bruno,” Alessandra said sternly.

  “Sorry, Mrs. M. Are ya kiddin’ me?”

  “Nope. Come on. I’ll give you a ride to Kate’s.”

  The teens thanked Alessandra for dinner and headed out back to Salvatore’s new car.

  “Fuckin’ A, Salvatore. I can’t believe your dad bought this car for ya. This don’t look like just any car neither. Your pop musta paid a fortune for it. Hell, it’s nicer than anything I’ve ever seen,” Tony said excitedly.

  The four teenagers climbed into the new Bentley.

  Salvatore beamed with pride. “Yeah, my pop said it’s important that I drive a nice car. He said that if you want respect, you have to give people a reason to show you respect.”

  Vincent looked over the front seat at Tony and Kate in the back. “He also told Salvatore that this car is gonna get us laid every night.”

  Tony scowled at Vincent.

  “Sorry, Kate. I meant that it was gonna get me and Salvatore laid every night,” Vincent explained.

  Kate giggled. “I knew what you meant. But I thought Salvatore wanted a real girlfriend.”

  Salvatore met her eyes in his rearview mirror. “Only if I can find a girl just like you, Kate.”

  “Hey, keep your eyes off my girl,” Tony said mockingly.

  At Kate’s house, the couple stood and watched Salvatore and Vincent drive off. Kate turned to Tony. “So do you think about that too?”

  “Think about what?”

  “Getting laid?”

  Tony nervously rubbed his chest. “I mean, sure I do. Look at you. You’re gorgeous, Kate.”

  “When you said I was your girl, did you mean that?”

  “Of course I did. Ain’t we together almost every day?”

  “Yeah, but we never talked about us being, you know, exclusive.”

  “What’s that mean? Ya got some dude on the side I don’t know about?” he said, nuzzling her neck.

  “No. It’s just that we’ve never…done anything more than kiss. I mean it’s been over six months.”

  “Wait.” Tony laughed. “So you’re asking me why I ain’t tryin’ to get in your pants?”

  Kate slapped Tony’s chest. “No, you perv. I’m just trying to find out if you like me in that way.”

  “Course I do. I wanna take it slow, is all. Ya know, I got the gang, and I don’t want cha to get hurt.”

  “What do the Slayers have to do with anything?”

  “I just gotta be careful,” he said evasively.

  “Careful of what? What aren’t you telling me? Do you have a gang girlfriend?” she said, sounding panicky.

  “No. I don’t want none of those broads. It’s just that…the Slayers don’t let anyone date outside the members.�
�

  “Oh. Are you saying they get to tell you everything to do?”

  “No, I’m sayin’ it’s complicated. I don’t want ya to get hurt.” Tony’s frustration was building, not with Kate but because he had the Slayers to answer to and because they dictated some aspects of his life. “Can we just drop it?” Tony looked deep into Kate’s eyes. “I love ya, Kate.”

  She drew in a sharp breath. “Oh my god, I love you too, Tony. I was so afraid to say it to you, though.”

  “Well, now we’ve both said it, and we both mean it. Let’s go inside and see how Darren’s doin’.”

  As they walked hand in hand up the rickety front porch, Tony and Kate felt the love flow between them.

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  “Where the hell have ya been, Bruno?” Razor snapped when Tony got home from Kate’s house.

  “What’s it to ya, Razor? You my fuckin’ mother now?”

  “No, I ain’t your whore-bitch mother, but I’m the leader of this gang. We’ve noticed the last six months you’re here less and less. Makes some of us wonder if you’re bein’ a traitor. Maybe you’re out there tellin’ other gangs our secrets,” Razor said, his voice dripping with poisonous venom.

  “Ya ever call my mother a name like that again, and I’ll snap your fuckin’ neck,” Tony said, rushing at Razor.

  Some of the other members stood between the two teens.

  “Stop changin’ the subject, Bruno. Razor asked ya a question—where ya been hidin’?” Boner said, his bloated belly hanging a foot in front of the rest of his chest, making his stumpy body more of an eyesore.

  The members in the room were intent, waiting for an answer. Tony felt small under the scrutiny of so many eyes watching him.

  “I got some family issues…been spendin’ some time in South Philly.”

  “What kinda family issues?” Boner asked.

  “The cancer kind. OK? It ain’t nobody’s business but mine. I handle my shit here. There ain’t nothin’ that I was supposed to do that hasn’t been taken care of,” Tony said.

  Several members nodded.

  Razor puffed his chest out. “I thought the reason ya came here was ’cause ya didn’t have family that wanted you. Now all of a sudden ya got family issues. Somethin’ don’t smell right.”

  “You all know my story,” Tony said, turning and making eye contact with several of the other boys. “My father is a mother fuckin’ prick, but my mother ain’t. She might be weak and ain’t able to stand up to him, but she ain’t never done anythin’ wrong to me.”

  “Your mother threw ya outta your own house, ya moron,” Razor barked.

  The verbal jab stabbed Tony in the heart. “I know what she did, but it ain’t ’cause she didn’t want me.”

  “Right, it’s ’cause she cares more about herself than she does you. Open your eyes. I don’t give a shit if she got cancer.”

  “I can’t turn my back on her; I ain’t made that way. Just like I can’t turn my back on none of you, ’cause you’re my brothers,” Tony said in a mellow voice, trying to defuse the situation.

  “Tony’s right. I get what he’s sayin’,” Smoke said, one of the least verbal members, cut in. “Remember what happened wit’ my mother? That fuckin’ bitch let her boyfriend beat the shit outta me day in and day out. But when that prick turned on her, and Josie,” he said, pointing to one of the girls in the room, “saw her sitting on a curb with her arm all busted up and face all broken, I went and found that no-good bastard and stabbed him till he swallowed his last breath with a mouthful of blood. Don’t mean I see her now, but I did what I had to do. I get cha man,” Smoke stated and slapped Tony on the back.

  Tony noticed the tension of the other gang members visibly dissipate. He took that opportunity to change the subject. “How are we handlin’ our shit tonight?”

  Razor’s lip curled in a snarl. “Like we always do. We’re gonna go after those pricks who raped Charity. Nobody fucks with our bitches. She’s all freaked out and scared and shit. We can’t have it.”

  Tony turned and looked at Charity as Blondie gave her a hug. She had been severely traumatized when a rival gang pulled her into a van and gang raped her.

  Razor turned to the room of gang members. “No knives tonight. What they did to Charity deserves bullets. I wanna kill as many of them as we can. This ain’t no joke. Nobody fucks wit’ our bitches. Got it?”

  There was grumbling in the room, and Tony went upstairs to the bedroom to grab more bullets for the gun he kept tucked in the back of his pants, except when he was with Kate. Tony had bought a secondhand ankle holster so Kate wouldn’t accidently stumble across it.

  The Slayers set out that night into the darkness of the unsavory streets. When they came upon the house where the other gang members lived, they spread out. Razor and Boner were the first two through the front door, immediately followed by Tony and Blast. The bullets flew through the air as the Slayers killed as many gang members as they could. Tony fired his gun several times, but always aimed for arms and legs, all the places that weren’t deadly. One member ran upstairs, and Blast yelled to Tony, “Get him.”

  Tony ascended the stairs, two at a time. He pounced on the teen in the hallway, flipped him over, and put the gun to his head. The teen had no fear; instead his whole persona was projecting hatred.

  “I recognize ya. I didn’t before, but I do now,” the teen said to Tony.

  “No, ya don’t. Shut the fuck up,” Tony growled.

  “Yeah, I know ya real good. My aunt lives on the street where that little girlfriend of yours lives. Ya know the one wit’ the blond, curly hair. I’ve seen ya there a lot. Do the Slayers know ya got yourself a bitch that ain’t part of the gang?”

  Tony could hear Razor’s voice coming up the stairs as he sat on the teen with his gun to the boy’s head.

  “Hey,” the rival gang member yelled, “your boy here has a little secret.”

  Tony’s instincts to protect Kate took over, and before the teen could say another word, Tony pulled the trigger of his gun, splattering the boy’s head across the walls and floor of the hallway.

  “What was he talkin’ ’bout, Bruno? What secret ya got?”

  Tony hoisted his body from the floor and faced Razor. “I ain’t got no secrets. The prick was lookin’ for a way not to die. Don’t cha know a scam when ya hear one? I thought ya was the expert on death, but cha don’t seem to know the game too well.”

  Tony tried to look calm, as if nothing had happened, while jumping beans did a jig in his belly. He began to sweat, and regret for killing the boy settled in his bones, seeping into his soul. I just killed another person, but he didn’t give me a choice. It was him or Kate, he thought. Tony had hurt many people during his time with the Slayers, and he may have even killed some without knowing it, as stray bullets were always a part of gang battles. But this was the first time he’d looked into someone’s eyes and pulled the trigger with the intent to kill—the intent to silence the boy who was ready to reveal his secret life with Kate.

  Tony stepped over the boy’s dead body, and his eyes swept over the carnage he’d left on the ground. He walked down the stairs and out the front door, where some of the other Slayers were waiting.

  As Tony stood with his gang, he hoped they couldn’t see his pulse throbbing through his veins. He rubbed his forehead, trying to understand his own feelings, trying to convince himself that he had done the right thing, but the frosty layer of ice over his heart remained intact. Tony swiftly followed the other gang members as they left. By the time they reached the Slayers’ house, a warm feeling ran through Tony’s body. The regret he had felt earlier was erased. The boy he had killed had been about to put Kate’s and his life in jeopardy. Tony cringed, thinking how awful it would have been had Razor found out the truth. He had no choice but to embrace the belief that he’d done the right thing. It gave him a sense of power and peace. He would kill or be killed if either was necessary to protect Kate.

  Chapter Sixty-Nine />
  At noon the next day, Tony knocked on the Moranos’ front door. Salvatore answered and led Tony into his father’s office.

  “Hello, Tony,” Johnny Morano said and then took a long sip of his coffee.

  “Hey, Mr. Morano. How ya doin’?”

  “I’m doing just fine.”

  Tony turned to Big Paulie, who was slouched on the overstuffed leather sofa and nodded.

  “Looks like ya grew a little since we seen ya last. Put a little meat on those bones,” Big Paulie stated.

  “Yeah, sure,” Tony acknowledged, feeling flattered and insulted at the same time.

  “I’m leaving, Pop,” Salvatore said, walking toward the office door.

  “No. Just close the door. You can stay.”

  Salvatore followed his father’s instructions and sat on the sofa next to Big Paulie.

  “What can I do for you, Tony?” Johnny asked.

  “Well, I wanted to see if ya got any work for me. I got this girlfriend, Kate, and her mother’s dying. Kate ain’t got nowhere to go after she dies. I know a lady that I think she can stay wit’, but I gotta make money to pay for her to stay there.”

  “What is it you want from me, Tony? I haven’t seen you in quite some time. Trouble tends to follow you.”

  Tony bit back the words that clung to his tongue. He had an overwhelming desire to punch Johnny in the face.

  Instead, Tony swallowed hard and cleared his throat. “Anyway, I really need a job so that I can help my girlfriend. If ya ain’t got no work for me, that’s fine—just say so,” Tony said, feeling agitated.

  “I see.” Johnny turned to Big Paulie. “Do we have any work that Tony can do for us?”

  “Sure, Boss. He can collect money from our business partners. I’m sure Salvatore and Vincent won’t mind letting Tony in on some of their business,” he said, turning to Salvatore, who shrugged and nodded in response.