The Family Business 3 by Carl Weber

easily have been a movie star instead of the hired gun he was? It took some effort on my part not to reveal my crush, but I did what I had to, because I didn’t want to embarrass myself or make things awkward for him. Just because he wasn’t homophobic didn’t mean he was down with the program, if you know what I mean. Considering the fact that we were entering a potentially dangerous situation, now was not the time to be distracting Kennedy with sexual advances, whether they were unwanted or not.
    â€œHere we are,” Kennedy said as we pulled up to Sonya’s house. While my mind had been wandering, his serious expression told me he was totally focused on our mission. “You ready for this?”
    I shrugged. “Sure. Are you?”
    â€œYou know I get paid to stay ready. You, on the other hand . . .” His words trailed off.
    â€œWhat?” I suddenly wondered if I’d misjudged him. Maybe he was just as homophobic as the rest of them.
    â€œWell, I’m used to this kind of thing, you know, dealing with unexpected trouble. Clubbing someone over the head if I have to. And you. Well . . .” He looked me up and down, his eyes traveling over my vintage Versace shirt and leather loafers.
    â€œWhat about me?” I challenged, daring him to call me a sissy or something.
    â€œYou know. You just like to club. I mean, look at you. Your Pops gives you an assignment that could be deadly, and you show up in your Versace shirt and some six hundred dollar leather loafers.” He laughed. “You look like you just stepped out the pages of GQ magazine. All handsome and shit.”
    I rolled my eyes at him. “Mm-hmm. Thanks for the compliment.”
    His laughter ceased when he realized I might have been offended—which I wasn’t. If anything, I was flattered by the fact that he’d noticed what I was wearing. I was just playing coy by refusing to look at him now.
    â€œAnyway, you strapped?” he said.
    I snapped my head in his direction. “Am I strapped? I’m a Duncan. That’s like asking a stripper does she know how to slide down a pole.”
    â€œI guess you got a point there.”
    â€œBesides, all we came to do is see if Junior is here. Either he is or he isn’t. That shouldn’t involve a weapon,” I said casually.
    â€œIt shouldn’t, but you never know.” Kennedy unlocked the doors and stepped out. I followed behind him, up the walkway and to the door.
    â€œWhoa. Hold up.” He put out his hand, which just so happened to press flat against my chest. I knew he didn’t mean anything sexual by it, but that didn’t make my heart beat any less rapidly.
    â€œWhat?” I asked, hoping this man would leave his hand right where it was just a little bit longer. So what if he was straight? A boy can dream, can’t he? The way he looked at me sometimes, I refused to believe that he might not play for the other team every now and then.
    â€œCheck that out.” He removed his hand from my chest and pointed at the door, which was slightly ajar. I might not be in the heart of the action most of the time, but any fool knows that an open door is not a good sign.
    Kennedy took out his gun and held it in front of him, so I did the same thing. Just to prove I wasn’t scared, I made a move to step around him. Once again he stopped me with a hand on my chest.
    â€œLet me go first,” he said.
    I sure was grateful that he was in charge. If anything jumped off, it would land on him first. Not that I wanted to see anything happen to Kennedy, but I loved myself too much to want to risk my life. Truth be told, no matter how happy I was that Pop was including me, I was too damn cute for this shit. However, if anybody heard me admit my true distaste for violence out loud, I’d get my Duncan card revoked, so I just nodded at Kennedy and stepped back.
    Kennedy crept up to the door and pushed it open, pointing his gun