Page 38 of The Coldest: Stay Dangerous Part 2

“Corazal.” He says it with an accent.

“How old is Miele?”

His lips twitch at the mention of her. “Twenty-two.”

“She’s directly related to Hoop Earring?”

Rico throws away the used wipes, flicking his gaze to me before grabbing the gauze. “Reno is her first cousin, yes. NiNi is her brother.”

I file away their names. NiNi, I’m assuming, was the giant man who shushed her in Spanish.

We were the only people younger than forty at the table, excluding Mars.

“Okay. So, about Mars.”

Rico sighs, clenching his jaw. He meets my gaze while continuing to wrap my cleaned cut.

“I’m sure you thought he was my son at first.”

I narrow my eyes. “It’s definitely less surprising than Fredo knocking someone up. Especially someone here. He was into Ju pretty heavy–”

“You know Ju?” Rico asks, his fingers digging into my wrist.

I snatch my hand back, the gauze loosening immediately onto my hand. “Watch it!” I hiss.

Rico switches from leaning onto the counter, to crouching in front of me. Reluctantly, I give him back my hand, and he starts over.

“What do you know about her? In the spirit of being honest.”

I scoff, rolling my eyes. “I asked you a question first, but fine. She was… Fredo’s girlfriend.”

Rico wraps from athletic tape around the gauze and presses down so it sticks. “Just Fredo’s girl? Not Slime’s?”

My lips pull as he meets my gaze. When I only shrug, he stands, bringing me face to face with his crotch.

A strong hand collars my throat,and he tilts my gaze to his. I snort, full on giggling when he tightens his hold just a bit.

“I’m sorry. It’s just, you really have on an eye patch,” I cackle.

Suddenly, I’m airborne, by my neck.

I squeal as I land hard on the counter, with one-eyed Rico crowding my space.

“You know, I really should have killed you last night,” he grits, effectively killing my amusement.

“I spent all day rearranging my life because I’ll most likely have a visible scar. I’ll be lucky if I get full vision back in this eye. Once again, you’ve got me all the way fucked up, Snow. And to top it all off, you’re still lying to me… and you stink.” He sniffs me obscenely, and my chest and ears grow hot.

“Asshole,” I mutter, covering my armpit with my good hand. “Back up then, since I stink.”

He leans in more, his lips grazing my ear. “Tell me the truth, Snow. Before I get angry.”

This nigga’s always angry. I push him back some, and he moves, giving my heart some peace.

“Okay, okay. Yes. Fredo, Slime, and Ju were all… together. Until they weren’t. Auty said she lied about her age, and Fredo dropped her for the both of them. Last time I talked to Fredo, he said he was done with women, and it was just gonna be him and Slime.”

“And when was this?”

“Like… I think February. It was after Shad’s twenty-first birthday, when Set and Tiny got into it.” I fight off a shiver, thinking about that wild ass dinner she invited me to.