Coveted: An Alpha Male Romance (3 page)

She reached back and grabbed my hair. “Don’t think about that.” There was a brief pause before she sighed and asked, “What are you going to do?”

“First, I’m going to kick Courtney’s ass for talking to me like that. I know he thinks I let that shit slide.”

We both giggled.

“Then I’m going to find out what’s going on. Somebody has it out for me, and I need to know who.”

She didn’t argue with me. She knew better. She knew me. She knew how I operated, so she was quiet, but I could sense her heart began to race, so I changed the subject.

“I also have a meeting with my father tomorrow.”

“Really?” she asked curiously.

“Yes. Something is going on at the club.”

She chuckled. “Good luck with that.”

“I don’t need luck as long as I have you.”

Even in the shadows of the candlelight, I could see her smile. “You know you have me.”

Again, I kissed the top of her head and told her for the umpteenth time. “I love you.”

She leaned back and cuddled underneath me as if being closer was possible. “I love you too.”

This wasn’t us at first. We had grown into this, this love.

Well,
she
had to. I knew from the moment that I saw her that she would be mine.

1987

Chapter 2

Rocco de Michele

“Mettilo giù! Per favore, Alesandro? Mettilo giù, ora!”

My mother was screaming at the top of her lungs. She was asking that my father put me down. She was begging really, as she followed behind him. She was literally on his heels as he ran down the stairs of our home in Little Italy.

I was in his arms.

I was five years old.

“Per favore, Alesandro?!”

“No!” my father barked, as he reached the bottom of the staircase. “He wants to be amongst trash! I’ll show him trash!”

“Mr. de Michele, please?!” I peered into the eyes of Tracy, my nanny. She was crying. And so was I. I didn’t understand what I had done wrong.

Tracy and my mother screamed for him to stop, to let me go, but he wouldn’t. He dragged me along as he opened the front door. My mother attempted to grab my legs, but he was stronger.

“Alesandro!”

Her threats fell on deaf ears. He was flying down the steps outside of our home. It was easy for him. He was in his late thirties, but he was a tall, brawny man, so he carried me down the steps like a baseball.

I couldn’t see anything beyond my father’s fat belly that my face was pressed against. That and tears. Lots of tears.

I didn’t understand what I did wrong.

“
Vuoi essere di spazzatura?! Con sporcizia?!”

I was confused. I didn’t understand what the fuck my father was ranting about. I didn’t want to be with trash and I didn’t want to be amongst filth.

I couldn’t comprehend what the fuck the old man was fuming about.

Suddenly, my body was being tossed. I hit the metal trash can along the sidewalk. He’d put me in the trash because I insisted on being amongst what he thought was trash. But to me, she was a treasure.

I could hear my mother’s cries as she pulled me out of the trash can.

“I’m so sorry, Mrs. de Michele. I won’t brang her ‘round no mo’.”

Hearing Tracy say that made me feel something that I didn’t recognize at five years old. I remember looking at her as she held her daughter’s hand.

“I think that’s best,” my mother told her.

And I immediately started to whine, “Mama, no! Please. She’s my friend.”

“That’s enough! Let’s go in, Rocco. It’s time for dinner.” She was attempting to save face for the neighbors that had exited their homes in curiosity. She dragged me along quickly, as I continuously looked back to catch a glimpse of her as she and her mother walked towards the bus stop.

She was the love of my life. At five years old, I knew that I wanted her to be my girlfriend. I wanted her to be to me what my mother was to my father. That’s why I had kissed her as we played in my room. Unfortunately, my father had caught me smack in the middle of me putting my lips on hers and now she was trash and so was I.

Her name was Yanna E. Hill.

Yanna E. Hill

“What you doin’ kissin’ that boy, Yanna?! You gon’ make me lose my job!”

My mother was practically dragging me down the street towards the bus stop. We rode that bus every day that summer. Traveling from our place in the projects on the South Side of Chicago to Roc’s family’s home in Little Italy on Chicago’s West Side was like taking a field trip every day. The people were like the difference in night and day.

I really liked playing at Roc’s house because he had all of the nice toys! Me and my brothers had put the same toys on our Christmas lists, but we never got them. Roc even had a TV in his room! And he had his
own
room at that! Me and my two brothers shared a room in our two–bedroom apartment. Low–income housing wasn’t very spacious, so we were literally on top of each other.

I couldn’t wait to get home to tell my brothers about what happened. I thought maybe they’d help me understand. Since they were older than me, mama let them watch themselves while she worked. But I had to go with her since I was the only girl, and the baby.

“I can’t afford to lose my job because you’re being fast, Yanna! How we gon’ eat?!”

How in the hell was I supposed to know at three years old? I didn’t care about anything except… “I can’t play with Roc anymore?”

“No!” She fussed as we finally made it to the bus stop.

“Why? He’s my friend.”

“No, he’s not!”

That made me cry. Ball really. At three, who wants to hear that the friend that you thought was your friend wasn’t? I was mortified. And I was scared to death about him being in the damn trash can.

“We only good enough to work for folks like that–”

“Folks like what?”

“Folks with money. Lots of it.”

Still I didn’t understand, but she kept ranting as she attempted to turn her hand into an air conditioner in attempts to cool down under the August sun. “Now I gotta find you a sitter! Who’s going to watch you while I work? I can’t afford to pay –”

Yadda, yadda, yadda.

I didn’t understand any of it. I just wanted to know why I couldn’t play with my friend anymore. For the life of me, I didn’t know we’d done that was so wrong.

But it had to be really bad because I didn’t see Rocco de Michele again for a very long time.

Present day
….

Chapter 3

Rocco de Michele

I left Baby in an orgasmic coma the next morning. I felt bad for taking her all night and all morning, but every time I tried to close my eyes and get some sleep, her arcs kept provoking me, taunting me.

I hated to leave her, after being away for so many days, but I had to get to the bottom of this… and see what the fuck my Pops wanted.

“What’s this about, Gabe?”

We both sat in the truck, looking up at the bright lights of Tantrum with telling expressions that we hated to be there. The family owned Tantrum. It was initially a front for all of the illegal money that my father was bringing in. But being one of few Italian owned clubs in downtown Chicago at the time, it became very popular, thus maturing into a life of its own. Though my father owned it, many of the family members ran it; now twenty years since its grand opening. The old man didn’t know shit about hiring a DJ or go–go dancers, so he just basically told people what to do.

Not me, though. Which was why me and Gabe couldn’t understand why I had been summoned to this “emergency” pow–wow.

My father and I have had an estranged relationship for years. Against tradition, my dealings in the street weren’t under my father. Though I held the de Michele name, I had my own operation and my own reputation. Though my father loves to claim that my reputation is solely birthed from his influence, I, and every soul in the streets, knew different.

I was my own man. I was a respected and feared man, and that had nothing to do with
Alesandro
de Michele.

“Beats the fuck outta me,” I answered Gabe.

“Humph,” he grunted. “Well, anyway, the streets are quiet as a mouse pissing on cotton. We have no enemies, so we think…”

“So we think… Well, I got that fuckers blood off of my fucking fifty thousand dollar Persian fucking rug…” I groaned. “Why don’t you see if our friend, Detective Dope Fiend, can get that DNA analyzed for us in exchange for some product?”

Gabe nodded as he grabbed the door handle. “Will do.”

We both hopped out and made our way towards the blinking lights of Tantrum. It was about ten in the morning, so the usual bouncers were ghost. The club was pitch black, but lights from my father’s office on the second floor could be seen through the glass floors of the second level.

On any given night, this place was full of naked twenty–one year olds and horny idiots trying to get some ass.

I fucking hated this place.

I didn’t bother knocking on his office door, Gabe and I just barged in.

“Rocco, my boy,” my father greeted me. He hugged me with a kiss on the cheek. “Gabe, I didn’t expect you to be here too.”

“Now, Pops, you know I don’t go anywhere without him unless it’s to get in some pussy.”

My father met my smirk with a roll of his eye. I did shit like that on purpose.

“Sit down, son.”

“I’d rather not. Don’t plan to be here long. Why am I here?”

“I’ll tell you in a second. I’m waiting on more guests.
Sit
.”

“I’ll pass, but while we wait, let’s talk about why Baby got ambushed last night.”

Immediately, my father’s face was full of concern. “Ambushed? What happened?

I told him the story. With each detail, his eyes popped in shock.

“And you don’t have any beef?”

“None,” I verified. “Do you?”

My father waved his hand as if I were being silly. “Our businesses are different. Everyone knows that you aren’t a part of this family.”

“Aren’t a part of this family.”
I cocked my head as my eyes shot daggers into his.

“You know what I mean, son.”

My father rubbed his chin and he sat in his recliner behind the desk. “I wonder who would have the nerve to come against you.”

Though we didn’t quite get along, family was family and we were raised to be loyal, so I believed him to be genuinely concerned. Before he could say anything, I heard a giggle that was eerily familiar coming towards the office. Even Gabe’s radar took over. He sat straight on the couch in the back of the office that he was seated on. I glanced at my Pops and he had a guilty look on his face where the concern once was.

Now
, I was going to sit down.

When she appeared in the doorway, I ignored her. It was hard to ignore those big, huge, silicone breasts and injected lips, but I did my best and gave my full attention to the other woman with big hair and lots of cleavage.

“Jaime, what the fuck are you doing here?” I asked her.

Jaime flipped me off as she went to embrace our father.

“Ignore him, sweetheart,” he told her. “Hello, Tia.”

Tia, with her fake tits and lips, went to embrace my father as well.

“Good to see you.” As she hugged him, my father was damn near moaning, as her auburn hair fell in his face.

“You too, Mr. de Michele.”

“Call me, Alesandro.”

Get the fuck outta here.

“Well, you can hug your little sister, can’t you?!” Before I knew it, Jamie was smacking me on the shoulder and standing over me with opened arms.

I hadn’t seen her in five years. However, she’d left Chicago right after high school, ten years ago, to get some fancy education in Florida, where she met Tia, her best friend. After graduating, they both got some fancy positions under Tia’s father, Governor Barkin, in the Governor’s office, so Jaime decided to stay in Florida. This was a sweet set up for my father, who had many operations along the coast of Florida. My sister came back and forth on the holidays over the years, but as time went by, I saw more of her over Skype, than in person. I loved her; it was her immature antics and the company she kept that kept me at bay.

Tia sat next to Gabe. I could hear them speaking and catching up. I sat in the chair across from my father’s desk waiting for him to get to it and ignoring Tia.

“Okay, I’ll make this quick so that the girls can leave. Matilia is waiting for the girls.”

Matilia is my mother.

“I’m retiring.” That was it. The old man just blurted it out.

Fuck. Please don’t tell me…

“I can’t run this place anymore. It’s taken on a life of its own. I’m not willing to give up the money coming into this place, but it’s going to take a younger, savvier mind to run it at its fullest potential. I need someone that I can trust and someone educated to run the books. So…. Jamie is going to take over for me… along with Tia.”

Are you fucking kidding me?
I was relieved that the old man wasn’t forcing this place down my throat, but Tia? Fucking Tia? So Jamie was moving back home to run the club and
Tia
was coming with her?

Everything this man did was to fuck with me.

I had stood up before I knew it. Like a pit bull, Gabe was by my side.

“Roc, where you going?” I heard Jamie ask.

I ignored Jamie. “Why am I here, Pops? I don’t give a shit about this club and you know it.”

Again, Jamie was speaking out of turn. “Calm down, Roc. I told Daddy to invite you. Tia wanted to see you–”

“Fuck you,” I shot back over my shoulder. As far as I was concerned, that was meant for her
and
Tia.

My father sat up in his seat. “You watch your mouth, Rocco.”

“Goodbye, Pops.” There was need in giving this any further energy. “See ya’, sis.”

I could hear her grumbling some obscenities as I opened the door of the office, but I left without another word.

Gabe sighed deeply. I knew what he was thinking. Though we were genetically cousins, mentally we were like brothers. “Baby is going to freak.”

See? He was in my fucking head every time.

I released a sigh of my own, and adjusted my hood over my head. “Yep,” I sighed. “She is definitely going to freak.”