Part 4/7
WARNING FOR BRIEF VIOLENCE, BLOOD AND TALK ABOUT BLOOD. The injury is neither serious or fatal.
Lorenzo punches Riario in the face as soon as he sees him walk through the door of the coffee shop. The blow knocks Riario to the side, and Lorenzo uses his greater weight to bear him to the floor and continue beating him.
Everyone is stunned by the violence for a long moment, then customers are screaming, Zo is swearing, and Leo knocks over hot drinks and customers alike as he vaults the counter and rushes to them. But Lorenzo is fighting like a wild bull and is roughly the size of one, and Leo can't pull him off alone. He shouts for Zo as he works to get his arms under Lorenzo's and ends up clambering onto his back which only seems to enrage Lorenzo more.
Lorenzo is grappling with Riario, shouting things about defending the Medici honor from the damned invaders. Although Riario is mostly trying to protect his face from the wild blows, Leo is sure he sees a chunk of Lorenzo's arm in Riario's teeth at one point and Lorenzo howls. Leo doesn't have time to be alarmed by the amount of blood that is spraying around.
A group of frantic customers nearly runs them over in a panic to escape the coffee shop by the time Zo finally reaches his side. Between the two of them, they tug Lorenzo off Riario and Leo leaves Zo to sit on their employer while he tries to get Riario away.
Riario sits up and looks at the blood covering his shirt, tie, jacket and coat, brushing at it in disgust. Leo grabs his hand since it is only smearing fresh blood around everywhere, and cups Riario's chin, trying to look into his eyes.
"Are you all right? Of course you're not all right. Can you stand? We need to call an ambulance," Leo grasps at Riario who bats him away in annoyance.
"I will be fine. Do not call anyone," but he accepts Leo's hand and sways a little when he stands, bumping into Leo's side. Leo wraps his arm around Riario's waist and helps him toward the nearest chair.
Lorenzo is still pinned on the floor by Zo, who is sitting on his back and looking quite impressed by the colorful curses Lorenzo is spitting at Riario. Leo is ready to shout at everyone to shut the fuck up when Vanessa steps up to Riario carrying towels and ice.
Considering it was the lunchtime rush, the police and an ambulance arrive in no time responding to 911 calls from panicked customers. Riario waves away medical assistance with a snarl, but accepts a clean towel and a baggie of ice from Vanessa who tries to wipe away excess blood to see the damage to his face.
When the police attempt to question him, Riario only responds dryly, "I walked into a door," and on further questioning, "A very large, angry door."
The police look from his bloodied face to Lorenzo still on the floor cursing, blood spattered over him and his bruised knuckles. Several officers are talking to frightened customers who are pointing and showing cell phone video.
But Riario refuses to say a word against Lorenzo, and although the police don't like being told no for an answer, they won't charge Lorenzo without the victim's evidence. One officer even offers to put Lorenzo in a 72-hour psychiatric hold, but Riario and the employees decline. It isn't until Lorenzo is stood up, talked to sternly by several police officers, and then escorted off the property with a warning that Leo breathes a sigh of relief.
"You told him our plans? You were right about his reaction," Riario says in a nasally voice as he tries to staunch the bleeding from his injured nose. It seems to have suffered the worst injuries, although his lip is split and he will probably have a black eye.
Leo shakes his head quickly. "I didn't say a word, I swear. When he saw you, he just went fucking crazy."
"Fucking crazier than usual, you mean," Zo says, dropping into the chair beside Riario. "I've never seen him lose his shit like that. You must be quite the annoying fucker."
Riario grins at Zo who leans back at the sight of all the blood still flowing on his face. "Would you like to find out?" he says in his lowest, roughest voice.
"Fuck me, Leo, you sure do know how to pick them," Zo says in disgust and turns away.
Riario winces a little when Leo tries to hold another bag of ice to his eye. "What are you doing here? Not that it isn't nice to see you. Usually."
Riario's baleful glare is muted a little by the ice bag and the towel at his nose, but it still gets the job done. "I came to tell you that I must leave town for work for the weekend, and I will be unable to dine with you tonight."
Leo winces when Riario pulls the towel away to see if his nose has stopped bleeding. Leo tries to dab at it with another damp towel, but Riario swats him away.
"Are you sure you're okay? You should at least get checked out for a concussion. Or a broken nose," Leo worries.
"I've had worse," Riario says darkly.
"Why didn't you tell the police what happened?"
"It didn't seem sporting. I don't want Lorenzo claiming that I used underhanded tactics to win this prize," Riario waves around the coffee shop in disdain.
Zo snorts. "Maybe you need to take some self-defense classes, then? Learn some karate moves so you don't get your ass kicked again by—"
Zo has no sooner said the words than Riario springs up and into a whirl of motion Leo can't follow. It ends with Zo's chair on the ground and Zo suspended in air by Riario's hand around his throat and a thin, very shiny blade pressed against Zo's neck.
"I think I have all the moves I need, don't you?" Riario rasps in Zo's face, and he tries to nod but can't.
Leo refuses to be turned on by the violence against his best friend, but for one instant, he wants Riario to press ihim/i against a wall like that and do his worst. Then he steps over and lays a gentle hand on Riario's shoulder. "Let him go, please. He's just shooting off his mouth, as always."
Riario hesitates before letting go, all the time staring without blinking into Zo's eyes. Zo makes a big production out of coughing and rubbing his throat. "Thanks a lot, Leo," he mutters, but Leo knows he's all right. Riario sheathes the knife somewhere under his jacket, and Leo wonders what else he's hiding under there.
"You're fine, Zo. Go get the mop; we've got a lot of cleaning up in here," Leo orders. Zo glares at him and where he is still holding Riario's shoulder and, with another pointed cough, leaves.
Leo sighs, "I guess we're closed for the day. Are you sure you don't want to go to the emergency room and get checked out?"
"I'm sure," Riario shakes his head. "I will take my leave. I should be back Tuesday, but perhaps I could call you rather than dropping by here again?"
"That would be great, yeah," and Leo accepts his phone to enter his number. "Have a good trip."
Riario looks like he tries to smile but it makes his lip start to bleed again, and Leo reaches out to touch him, but Riario stops his hand. "Until later."
"Until then," Leo says, and Riario leaves, Leo staring at him until he gets in his car and drives away.
Lorenzo doesn't make an appearance the entire weekend, and Leo, for one, is extremely thankful. Although he wonders briefly if Lorenzo is possibly in jail or a psychiatric ward somewhere, Giuliano doesn't show up for work either, so he figures Giuliano must know what's going on.
Which is more than Leo and Zo can say about the old man who shows up Saturday morning and putters around the tables and front room without ordering anything. They're particularly busy all morning so neither gets a chance to ask the man what the hell he is doing. He mumbles to himself, knocks on walls, crawls under tables to examine the baseboards, and finally whips out a measuring tape and starts making notations in a tiny notebook.
"What the everloving fuck is this?" Zo finally demands when the man has tried to climb behind a table full of young women to look at an electrical outlet. Zo grabs the man by the collar and pulls him away, apologizing to the women. Leo joins him as he pulls the man toward the counter.
"What are you doing? You're bothering our customers," Leo says.
The old man blinks up at him. "I'm the Architect."
Leo and Zo exchange looks because the man clearly capitalized the title but it didn't mean jackshit to them. "That doesn't mean shit to us. Who are you?" Zo asks again.
"The Architect," he repeats. "Pope Industries hired me." And Leo and Zo both groan, but the man beams at them, seeing their recognition.
"What the fuck are you doing? You don't own this place yet," Zo informs him.
"No? Well, that's not my department. That nice young man—you know, the one with the eyes—he takes care of all that. I just come and make the plans, draw the designs, decide what can stay and what needs to go." The Architect sweeps his gaze over the coffee shop again. "And I can tell you right now that all this needs to go."
Leo groans and points to the door. "You need to leave right now. This is not your shop, and you don't have any right to be here."
"What if I want a cup of coffee?" the Architect bristles.
"Do you want a cup of coffee?" Zo counters.
"No."
"Then get the fuck out. And don't let the door hit you in the ass." Zo points at the door, too, and although the Architect looks from him to Leo and back, neither relents. He huffs at Leo.
"You will regret this. You are turning down a chance to become one with very important people. Think of how different your life could be."
Leo snorts. "I'll take my chances."
When the Architect finally leaves, Leo and Zo share a long look. "I think we need to get everyone on board and come up with a plan," Leo says finally.
"A council of war," Zo agrees. "Your place, tonight. You call the gang; I'll bring the beer."