Free Outside the Lines by Lisa Desrochers Page A

off Frank’s fender and nudge his shoulder. “I won’t tell.”
    His mouth tugs into a half smile. “I suppose if you guess, I didn’t tell you.”
    I spew every famous person I can think of off the top of my head. I’m about fifteen names in when he points at me.
    â€œDid you see him in the halftime show of the Super Bowl?” he asks. “He’s much shorter than you’d think in real life.”
    â€œNo way!”
    He winks at me and pulls four quarts of oil from the rack.
    But then something occurs to me. “Are they looking for anyone else? There’s a new kid in my class whose family just moved here. I think his older brother just got out. He might need a job.”
    He shrugs. “I can ask Elaine. I’ll let you know.”
    So, maybe there is something I can fix—or at least take the first step toward fixing. “Thanks, Chuck.”

Chapter 5
    Rob
    When Lee and I got Sherm home from school, I went for a long run on the beach to clear my head . . . and get my libido in check. I don’t know what it is about that backwater schoolmarm, but I swear I got hard just from the look she gave me as she backed toward the classroom door. She’s got small town written all over her—Mary Ann when Ginger is more my style. But something in that look tells me she’d give me what my body undeniably wants from hers. She’s fucking with my head, and right now, I need focus more than I ever have in my life.
    I have to know who took out the contract before I can make any kind of move, but I’m so fucking isolated here.
    I lean against the shingled side of the widow’s walk, kick my foot onto the rail, stare at the list I’ve made. It’s too short. I haven’t dared contact Pop yet because the Feds catching wind I did is a one-way ticket out of WITSEC for all of us. But if I’m going to exact my revenge and secure my place at the head of the organization, I need guys loyal enough to kill for me . . . to die for me. Out of the entire Delgado crew, I got three I know I can trust. Me and three guys against the Savocas or any of Pop’s associates equals four dead guys.
    I bang the back of my head hard against the shingles and wonder what Pop knows. He can do a lot from inside, but if there’s no one on the outside protecting his interests, his reach is limited. There’s also the problem of the wider community losing a whole bucket load of respect for him when he broke omertà, the Mafia code of silence, and turned evidence on Victor Savoca. No one trusts him. He’s damaged goods.
    No one would have ever considered Felix Delgado a good guy. Well . . . except Mom. She always had a blind spot for all the crazy shit Pop was neck deep in. The truth? When she was alive, he wasn’t quite so power hungry or bloodthirsty. That all changed the night she was run down outside the Bienville. It was a clear message to Pop. The Delgados had been horning in on Savoca “territory.” Strong-arming their connections. The Savocas couldn’t let that stand and save face. Any shred of decency Pop had died that January night on the cold Chicago pavement along with his wife.
    That was five years ago today.
    Mom’s murder was labeled accidental, but that’s only because the Savocas have guys inside the Chicago PD. Everyone knows it was them. That was the point.
    Which is why, when the FBI took our dad down for racketeering, he made sure Victor Savoca, the head of the Savoca family, went down with him.
    People don’t realize all that shit still happens. They watch
Goodfellas
and think the mob is ancient history. They think the only gangs they need to worry about now wear tats, gold chains, and low-riding jeans. They’re wrong. The Mafia still rules Chicago. Probably always will. The violence isn’t as in-your-face as it used to be, but plenty of people still “disappear.”