Swan Song Read Free Page B

everything.”
    He lifts my whiskey to his lips, grinning at me over the rim. “It’s the better of my many burdens.”
    “What the fuck is this?”
    Damn.
    Tommy’s back and what he sees there at the table between Drew and I obviously does not make him happy.
    I gesture casually across the table, pretending I don’t notice his tone. “Tommy, this is Drew. Drew, Tommy. He was keeping me company.”
    “You know this guy?” Tommy demands.
    He’s not looking at me. He’s staring daggers at Drew who sits back in his seat, appraising Tommy.
    “We just met,” Drew tells him evenly.
    “And what? She invited you to make yourself at home?”
    “No, but we’ve become fast friends, haven’t we, Adrian?”
    “I don’t know,” I reply flippantly. “I think you’re something of a pill.”
    He grins at me, the amusement back in his eyes.
    Tommy, however, does not find us funny. He straightens his dark suit jacket over his shoulders before telling Drew, “I think it’s time you hit the bricks.”
    “You might want to ask Bottles about that first,” Drew suggests, his voice dipping. Becoming dangerous. His entire demeanor changes from grins and banter to bullets and business the second he turns his attention to Tommy. It’s the gangster in him. In both of them.
    “You got business with Ralph?”
    “And Al.”
    Tommy’s jaw clenches briefly. “Your name is Drew?”
    “Andrew.”
    “You’re Birdy.”
    “That’s right.”
    “Birdy?” I scoff, surprised.
    He grins, raising an eyebrow. “You don’t approve?”
    “No, I do. It’s… sweet.”
    “Let me tell you something,” he says, snuffing his cigarette. “Never trust a man with a ‘sweet’ name. The story behind it is almost always ugly.”
    “So you’re telling me not to trust you?”
    “No farther than you could throw me.”
    “We’ve been waitin’ on you,” Tommy interrupts, but his tone has changed. It’s not friendly, but the hostility is gone. He’s respectful. Cordial at the very least, and it dawns on me. ‘Birdy’ here is the butcher.
    Birdy shakes his head at Tommy. “I told them that I wouldn’t meet in an office. I don’t do private engagements.”
    “What? You want me to drag ‘em out here to meet with you?”
    “Either that or I can finish this drink and go home.” He makes a show of looking at me out of the corner of his eye. “The trip won’t have been a complete waste.”
    “Scram, Adrian,” Tommy snarls abruptly.
    I don’t complain as I stand to leave. I’m used to being sent away when business is being handled, and besides, I saw it coming the second Tommy laid eyes on me at a table with a strange man, and I know it’s not Drew that’s the problem. He’s not handsome, he’s not competition for Tommy as far as he’s concerned. The problem is the way I reacted to him. Smiled at him, laughed with him, leaned into him and lured him closer to me.
    Drew stands as I do, but I nod to him only briefly, avoiding his eyes and pushing past Tommy.
    “Go straight home,” he commands curtly. “Alone.”
    “I always do.”
    “Adrian,” Drew calls after me.
    I sigh internally, but I turn to look at him one last time, noting the way the shadows hold him. Hugging him like he was born of them.
    “What was it?” he challenges. “Was it real or was it whiskey?”
    I want to lie to him. I want to tell him that my laugh was whiskey all the way. That it was a lie, a fake, an act. But for reasons I don’t quite understand, I don’t.
    “I can’t stand whiskey,” I tell him honestly.
    When I finally walk away, my hips swinging to the rhythm of my heels snapping on the hard floor, I feel two heavy sets of eyes watching my every move.
    I hoof it home after that. Just like I’m told. I should take a cab or have one of the boys call around a car, but I need air. It’s dangerous for me to walk around unguarded like this with the war going on, but I live here in Cicero not far from the club and right now if there’s a