// 𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐩. *

Xander nodded as the man spoke, eyebrows raised as the corners of his lips turned downward. “Are you implying I wanted to run into you?” He asked, his tone even as he took a small step forward. Xander gave the other a once-over, eyes narrowing as he worked not to lash out at the other right then and there. After a few moments of silence, he nodded again and relaxed his shoulders. “Good to know you recognize beauty when you see it. That’s an important trait in a place like this.” Pulling his cigarette pack from his pocket, Xander pulled a stick from the bunch, bringing it to his lips as he spoke. “Alright, Mary fucking Poppins. I’ll take your word for it. Got a light?” He asked. 

--

Is Dom pissing off the stranger? Probably. And with the way the man steps forward, he knows he probably has about 8 minutes left in this world. Still he holds his ground because, again, pussy. “I mean if you did, am I gonna judge? Fuck no. It’s flattering really.” With bated breath, he waits for the gun and wonders if he’s hit deductible on his health insurance but the shot never comes and it’s the effort in not rolling his eyes that pulls him back. “Beauty? In Santa Ysabel? You really telling me there’s beauty in this shit hole?” Is Dom’s life worth more than his lighter? Yes. Does he want to give this man his lighter? No. Wanting to live wins out and he pulls it out for the man, handing it over. “Mary Fucking Poppins says that’s bad for your lungs, you know.” Hypocrite.

“You can have anything that your heart desires. Well, almost anything. At this time of night, our selection is pretty shitty. But, if you come here tomorrow, I’ll make sure to set aside one of your choosing,” she explained. Who wanted cookies that had most likely being laying out all day anyways. There was nothing better than one that was fresh out of the oven. “I have had a hell of a day at work so you’re basically my saving grace right now. Tell me you’ve had a more exciting night than me. Mine’s been filled with mopping and counting money.”

--

“My heart desires a cookie laced with something but I doubt you’ll have that…a ha…unless?” Richie considers coming back in the morning. At least then, he’d have an excuse to get out of his place, but an O’Riley out in the daylight is just asking for trouble. Still. Cookies. “A hell of a day? Damn, what kind of cookies do you have in there? They’re laced with something, huh. Please tell me they’re ‘special’ cookies because then I’d just be thinking everyone in SY has a sweet tooth.” He offers the woman a warm smile, hoping that one day he’d only get a day filled with just mopping and counting money. “Well my night’s barely beginning. You wanna come join? Problem is, you just have to have the stomach for it. You think you up for it?”

“Dommie pooh,” she greeted back, with an illuminating smile. She was certainly surprised to see him, but not in a negative way. She actually hit an internal sigh of relief at the individual being someone of familiarity. He was considered someone of great significance to her in this town, considering the mutual connection between the two, via her dearly departed sister. The nickname she had for him signified how adorable she thought he was, even if others may not have necessarily. He was one of the few she actually felt like she could trust, plus him serving as a reminder of one of the only family members she got along with played a part.  “You know I literally cannot with you right now,” she shook her head and giggled some. “Not you assuming I’m here doing adult things, for your information, I was just visiting a friend. No nastiness…well at least not until later,” she teased, before crossing her arms, with a tilt of the head following behind. “What exactly are you doing here sir?“ 

--

Dom cringes at the God awful nickname. It’s a testament as to how much he actually loved her sister that he let it slide. Still, it doesn’t stop the disgust from forming on his face. “Let’s make a deal. You get to call me that two times a year, yeah? I don’t want anyone around hearing that I got someone calling me ….. Dommie pooh.” Even coming from his own lips, he hates himself a little. “Cap. What the fuck does that mean? ‘You cannot with me right now.’ Cannot what? I swear, you kids and your lingo. The generational dumbing down is scary. Let’s get you to the library or a college or something.” Somewhere where you can be safe, but Dom doesn’t voice it. At the comment on ‘adult things,’ he visibly flinches and is reminded of moments when her sister would laugh when he does so. The man can’t help it; he still sees Caprice as a baby sister — proxy of his own siblings and connected through the only woman he’s ever loved and lost. “Me? Doing here? What am I doing here? What is this, an investigation? Calm down. I’m fine. I just like visiting friends and what not. Same as you.”

Leaving New York had been the safest option for them, and it still was. This town may be lawless, but they were gaining pretty solid footing fairly quickly. The O’Riley’s that is, the Cirrilo’s were still safely tucked in NYC. There were days where she missed her family more than anything, but being here with Richie is where she needed and wanted to be. She’d do anything for him and he’d do the same for her. Alessia knows how important it is for Richie to stay here and build things up from what had happened and she would be by his side for all of it. 

Alessia closes her eyes as she feels his lips press softly against hers. It feels so natural in such a brutal situation, but this is what needed to be done. She has another smile quirking on her lips at the gallow’s humor of the situation. “That’s definitely it, it’s the good looks.” She adds, lightly tapping his cheek before pressing a kiss to the same spot. In the next moment, they seamlessly switch tones from light to serious. “Okay, tell him to be careful. If this is what we were hit with, maybe he shouldn’t go alone. Should you send someone else too?” Not you. She didn’t add, he would know. Alessia nods, stepping back toward him. “I know, baby. You also know I can handle myself when I need to as well. I never want you to get hurt because of me.” Pulling her sleeve over her hand, she gently rubs the slow trickle of blood from his temple. “I love you forever and always, you know that.” 

--

The juxtaposition on how someone who could make him so soft amidst violence isn’t lost on Richie. Mason’s voice in his head instructs for a more destructive approach on the assailant – giving out a message and all that – but he’s not about to torture someone in front of his girlfriend. His goal out of this relationship is that he would never have to see the look of fear in Alessia’s eyes directed at him. It’s remnant of his mother and thoughts of her have always had a giant, neon “do not enter” sign practically plastered everywhere.  

“So you admit I’m sexy.” There’s teasing in his voice and Richie should have definitely joked about this in a less grimy location. “It’s Gio, babe.” The switch comes. Thankfully she still manages to keep Richard at bay. “The order’s out. They can do what they want with it.” End of discussion. Or, enough so that it shouldn’t be a main topic between the two of them. Letting the tension roll off his shoulders, he decides they need a distraction and with the affirmation of love hitting him right in the chest, it doesn’t take long for Richie to pull the woman in closer to his arms. “Forever’s a long time, you know,” he warns her, leaning on to rub the tip of his nose against hers. “I’ll turn forty one day and fifty and next thing you know, you’re waking up next to a bag of wrinkles.” The thought of it is meant to poke fun but the actual image of him sits a little lighter, a little warmer, and a lot more happy – a feeling that doesn’t really come natural to an O’Riley. “Will you still love me then?”

Of course, Xander only rarely watched where he was going when he walked. Given his status and ties to the O’Riley clan, he found that the people who knew or even had an inkling of who he was tended to move out of his way, and those who didn’t read his face and energy and moved anyway. On this particular day, though, he found himself colliding with something- someone- and that someone apparently had a mouth. When they collided, Xander didn’t stumble at all, in fact he stood his ground as he stopped his movement completely. “Funny. I could say the same thing to you.” His features were calm, and outside of his words he appeared to give no reaction at all. 

--

It’s not like Dom has a death wish, okay, and it’s not like he’s stupid either, but when it registers that he’s up against someone from one of those families, he’s on the defense right away. The smart thing to do would be to let this go and continue on his merry way, but surviving in Santa Ysabel is a whole lot easier when no one considers you, for lack of a better term, a pussy. “Nah, man, I just definitely wanted to go smack right into you. Easy on the eyes. How could I resist?” Sarcasm laces his words and he holds his ground with caution. “I’m not looking for trouble here, my dude, but I’m just saying this town could use a little sprucing up with the manners and whatnot. I’m like Mary fucking Poppins with this shit, ya’know?”

Alessia likes to say she’s lost track of how many times Richie’s smacked his head hard enough to be concerned, but it’s a lie. Every time she adds a tally to her mental chart she likes to call “Concussions for Richie: How many is too many?” Really, she knows when it’s too many and god he’s getting up there. She’s gotten much better at not audibly calling out to him everytime he gets hit. Turns out that leads to far too many people knowing about their connection and it can cause some serious problems. So instead, she just grits her teeth when she watches the gun connect with his skull.  As soon as she’s beckoned, she’s moving. Kneeling down, she places her first two fingers at the base of the man’s jaw, feeling the last remaining beats of a pulse disappear into nothing. Nodding, she looks up at Richie, “He’s dead.” Alessia straightens back up and immediately moves to his side, hands delicately ghosting over his injury. Sighing softly, she lets her eyes meet his, “Y’know this needs to stop happening.” Her tone moves to something that sounds firmer, but he should know it’s lighthearted. “I don’t know how you’re going to do it, but you’ll come up with something I’m sure.” Alessia pats his chest with a half smile before turning to survey the scene. “Really though, this was a lot. More than it has been in a while.” She finished, looking over her shoulder at him. “It was far too close for comfort.” The thought of losing him was one she couldn’t bare to think about, even though it was a highly probable end in their line of work. He was constantly jumping in front of her and though she made sure to tell him over and over she could handle herself, he never stopped. Alessia knew he never would either. 

--

A smarter man would leave a place like Santa Ysabel and live the rest of a perfectly normal life with his girlfriend somewhere safer, but his family’s business is pretty much frowned upon elsewhere — not to mention, he’d probably be locked up in federal prison for years — and he would be damned if he left everything he’s worked hard for in the hands of his older brother. Richie’s the one getting almost gunned down just walking the streets of the town and he’s the one that manages to live through it so he gets to keep this even if it means staying at a place where he can barely look over his shoulder without getting a thwop to the head.

God damn Z-A’s.

He watches her and for a moment, worried that some reenactment of a horror movie scene would play out and he’d have to bash the guy’s head in. His knuckles are barely healing since the last altercation but if it means keeping Ale alive then he can go with a few nasty scars. Gaze locked on to hers, he can only give her a nod, closing the little distance between them with a soft kiss on the lips. “I know, baby, I know, but what can you do? People are getting way too jealous of how good I look.” And that’s the best part of being with Alessia — she makes his life seem normal when they both know it definitely isn’t. She’s the little bit of fresh air he selfishly lets himself have. “I think it has something to do with burning that dispensary a few weeks back. I’ll get Gio to take a look at it.” It has been a little too much but he knows his family’s presence is only pissing off the competitor and Richie did like to win. “You know I’ll never let anything hurt you, right?”

The sun is shining. The birds are singing. The dealers who don’t give a crap at what the Zapata-Acostas would do to them are handing out free half oz baggies. Dom manages to score one before flipping the guy off as they try to promote whatever the fuck they’re selling. Dom would rather have his balls in tact, thank you very much, and buying from someone who’s probably giving him mostly stems based on a quick rub through the product is not one of his top things to do today. Besides, he’s more up the nose than down the lungs, you know? Save the environment and all that crap.

In his effort to lose the sales pitch, the man bumps into someone else as if life is giving him one big fuck you for going out on his day off. “I swear to God don’t you people know how to walk? You see a guy. You step aside. These are basic fucking skills, bro.”  

There’s blood dripping down the side of Richie’s temple and he ends up smearing it by trying to wipe it away. How many concussions are too many concussions? He’s not quite sure but he figures he’s struck gold by dating someone who can fix him right up. That, and if he ever needs a quick way to die, he’s pretty sure Alessia would be able to give him some mercy. Groaning, he kicks away the gun their assailant struck him with, bending down to make sure that the guy is indeed dead.

“Hey babe come over here and tell me if he’s breathing. I’m getting tired of getting too close to someone without getting my junior played with.” Richie calls back out to Alessia, the relief that he’s managed to shield her from a stupid oncoming attacker pushing away the anger he felt at the thought of losing her by letting his guard slip just a little.