Page 256 of John + Siena: The Complete Duet

“Not going to apologize for that.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

John’s jaw clenched so hard, his goddamn molars ached. The anger that had damn near controlled him for the entire day before, and this morning, was still entirely present. Apparently, there was no getting rid of it.

He tried using one of Leonard’s techniques, which meant John had to make a conscious choice to put his reactive nature aside when something got to him. Whatever it might be—anger, or something similarly overwhelming. He needed to try and give it some time to settle, and then handle it appropriately.

Clearly, that had not worked.

Here he was.

“They change your fucking meds, or something?” Andino asked.

That hit a nerve.

John’s fist came out like lightening, and landed hard to Andino’s kidney. His cousin’s air came out in a sharp whoosh, and then a low fuck followed right behind. Sweet satisfaction curled through John.

“Don’t take cheap shots at me about being bipolar, or my meds. You fucking asshole.”

“All right, all right. I kind of deserved that one,” Andino grumbled through pants of air. “Jesus Christ, that hurt.”

“You deserved it a little more than kind of, prick,” John replied. “You’re putting her in a lot of fucking danger, Andino.”

“What, who?”

Oh, so now his cousin wanted to play dumb?

John wasn’t up for that.

“Siena.”

“Shit, John—”

Quick as a blink, John rolled over, got to his knees, and then stood from the floor. Andino stayed right where he was on his back, and looking up at John. In a way, it gave him the feeling that his cousin was the weaker between them for the moment.

In a sense.

It didn’t matter who was the weaker one between them. Either way, John still had shit to say, and he needed it to be heard. He needed Andino to fucking hear him, and get it. Really fucking get it. He wasn’t playing these stupid games anymore, and he didn’t want Siena to be playing them, either.

“Siena showed up at my place the night before last,” John said, “you know, after Kev Calabrese croaked at his birthday party. Somebody poisoned him, huh?”

Andino lifted a single brow. “Word made rounds, yeah. What about it?”

“That’s how you want to play this?”

“John, come on, now.”

“You had her do that job, Andi.”

Andino sucked air through his teeth, but his cold gaze never wavered from John for a second. “It needed to be done, and I couldn’t trust anyone else to do it. Who the hell else is that close to those brothers, John?”

“Any one of their fucking men, Andino!”

“Couldn’t turn one. Or rather, I couldn’t trust one to turn them. That’s not my goal in this—that’s not the job I need to be concerned about at the moment. I just need those goddamn brothers out of the fucking way. That’s it.”

John didn’t have the first clue what his cousin was talking about. “You’re trying to ruin that family, but you don’t want the task of controlling them once you’ve done that?”

Andino rolled his eyes. “She got it done. What else is there to say?”