Mobster's Angel (Mobster Series) (13 page)

Silence on the other end.

“Hello.  You there?”

“I’m here.”

Continued silence.

“Just forget it.  I didn’t mean to bother you
,” I say, awkwardly.  “My parents are having people over tonight and I
so
do not want to be here.  And Megan’s out with Antonio.”

“Who’s coming?”

Ugh.  I really don’t want to answer that question.

“Um, friends of the family…
Troy’s family
…” I say in a rush.

“I’ll be there soon.”

I hear the click of the phone.  He hung up. 
Odd.

I grab my purse off my bed and put some money in my wallet.  I slip on my everyday high-heels
:  the ones that are really comfortable, but that also have some height to them.  Lately, I haven’t been wearing flats.  I feel better being taller.  I grab some lip-gloss off the top of my dresser and apply it smoothly to my lips. I consider adding more black eyeliner, but I change my mind.  I run a brush through my long black hair and put it back in a ponytail.  The door bell rings.

I look out my window
, relieved to see a sleek black Cadillac idling by the curb. 
Whew, not the O’Connell’s.

“Erin.”  My mother knocks on my door.

“Coming.”  I say and open it.

“Antonio’s friend, Vito, is here to see you,” she barks as softly as she can
through her tight lips.

“Yeah.  I know.  I’m going to hang out with him tonight.”

My mother’s eyes flash angrily.  “No, you are not.  We have company coming.”

“That’s okay.  I’m going out.  Tell everyone I said hello.”

I squeeze past my mother and through the doorway.

“It is not okay.  You
’re having dinner with us this evening!” the angry voice she has been desperately trying not to raise unleashes itself.   I keep walking to the stairs.  “Stop right there, missy!”

I fly
down the stairs and swing my pocketbook over my shoulder. 

“Erin!  Get back here right now!” she yells.

I ignore her.

“I have my phone on.  I’ll be back later.  See ya.”  I act like my mother is not going
totally ballistic right now.

Vito is in the front doorway.  I see my father out of the corner of my eye leaning against the molding by the kitchen.  I send him a smile.  I glance back at Vito
, and as I walk to him I see that he’s focused on my dad.  They’re sharing a look.

“I’m ready
,” I say.

Vito moves aside for me to go first.  I jog down the steps to Vito’s car with him on my heels.  The windows are darkened
, but I see that someone is inside.  I open the door.  It’s Ronnie.

“
Hey, Kid.”

“Hi!”  I get in the backseat and shut my door. 
The driver’s door opens and Vito slips behind the wheel. “So, what have you guys got planned for tonight?”

My question earns me a pregnant pause from the two of them.

“Vito has some stuff to do.  So it’s you and me, Kid,” Ronnie tells me.

“What stuff?” I question.

“I have to go to the other side of town.  You and Ronnie are going to catch a movie.”

I feel… sad.  I used Connor coming over as an excuse to call Vito
. I really want to spend time with him.  I like it when he’s around.  I feel more myself… more whole.

“You’re not coming with us?
”

“Nope.”

I know it has to be “mob stuff.”  I’ve spent enough time with Joey, Antonio, and at the Casino to understand what’s going on.

“If
it’s mob stuff, Megan gets to go. Why can’t I?”  I ask, sounding like a whining child.

“No,” Vito says again.

I sit back in my seat and pout, acting extremely immature. 
This rots. I want us all to stay together.

“How about Ronnie and I wait outside until you finish, and then we all go to the movies?”

“It’s not really ‘mob stuff,’” Ronnie says, turning to me in the back seat and air quoting.

“Okay, then you can tell me
. What is it?”  I say, eager to know.

“You’re not going to like it,” Vito grumbles out.

“What movie do you want to see?” Ronnie asks.

“Don’t change the subject.”

“Why are you being so difficult?” Vito asks, getting heated.

“I asked a simple question.  I’d like an answer,” I retort firmly.

“It’s Friday Night Fights,” Ronnie says.  Vito punches him lightly in the stomach.
Wow, it doesn’t take much to wear Ronnie down.

“What
’s that?  You’re going to watch a fight?  Like on pay per view?”

Ronnie laughs.  “No, Vito is going to fight.”

“What? Are you crazy?”  I yell and it dawns on me.  “Is that how you hurt your hand before?”

“No.
He punched a wall.  Really hard,” Ronnie adds.

“Can you please
shut the fuck up?!” Vito yells at Ronnie.

“What!?” I ask.
  “Wait a second.  You’re planning on fighting tonight?  Who? Where? Why?” I rush out, alarmed.

“In an old warehouse basement,” Ronnie shares.  “He’ll fight with who ever they set Vito up with and… they
’ll pay him.  I haven’t been in a long time, but it’s cool to watch Vito beat the shit out of people.”  Ronnie is pleased to supply all of this information.

“You’ve got diarrhea of the mouth,
dude!” Vito is mad.

“Well, I can’t say it doesn’t explain a lot,” I
say cryptically to myself.  “I want to go,” I tell them.

“No,
” Vito says sternly.

“Fine, drop me off here.  I’ll find something to do on my own
tonight.”

“No.”

“Yes!” I raise my voice.

“No!” Vito bellows back.

“Either you take me to the fight or I’m outta here.” I mean it, too.  I’m tired of people telling me what to do.

Vito pulls over and slams on the breaks.  He turns to me.  He’s not happy.
   I’ve been making a lot people unhappy lately.  A year ago I would’ve submitted.  Not anymore.

“Go ahead, Vito, make a decision
or I’m getting out right here.”  I go to reach for the handle.  Vito is staring at me. 
Is he trying to intimidate me?

“The
Mafia-Death-Glare
isn’t going to work with me.” I give him some sass as I say it.

Ronnie is laughing his ass off
as we face-off.

“What is the
mafia-death-glare
?” Ronnie finally blurts when his laughter calms down.

“It’s what Vito is doing right now.  You all do it.  But it’s not going to work on me because I
know
him too well,” I say to Ronnie without glancing away from Vito.

“I’ll be with her the whole time,” Ronnie offers.  “She’ll be fine.”

Vito turns his attention to Ronnie.  “If anything happens to her, I’ll rip your head off and shove it up your ass.”

Ronnie brushes off Vito’s threat. “Don’t worry about it.”

*****

Totally not
what I pictured.  What a musty, dirty, smelly, crap hole! 
Why would anyone want to hang out here on a Friday night?
I wrinkle my nose as the three of us walk to a ramshackle bar.  Vito is immediately handed a beer.

“Thanks, Ziggy,” he says.  “What do you want to drink?” Vito asks me
, but I don’t answer because I’m stunned that his drink is unsecured.  It’s beer in a glass!  Not a can that’s sealed.

“You told me never to drink anything opened or that I didn’t make myself,” I say
, bewildered, with a hand on my hip.

“Yeah.  That’s right.”

“But you’re doing it.”

“Do as I say, not as I do,” he lectures.

His attitude and reprimand pisses me off.  It makes me want to order a beer or liquor, something dangerous, but the girl in me is skived at the filthy glasses lined up along the bar mirror.

“I’ll ask you again.  Would you like something to drink?”

“Um. No thanks.  I prefer to take my stand against
Vito’s Rules of Life
with a clean glass.”

He smiles
at me, big and beautiful.  Small butterflies jump in my stomach as our eyes lock.  He motions to Ziggy.

“A bottled water.”

Ziggy nods, reaches below the bar and pulls out a FIJI water.  The design on the bottle immediately takes me back to Brice’s house and that whole mess.  I shiver.

“You cold?” Vito asks.  He takes off his jacket.

“I’m okay,” I tell him, but he ignores me and lifts my arm into the sleeve of his jacket.  Gently, he spins me around to finish putting it on me.  It’s enormous.  I lower my hands and the sleeves fall well past my fingertips.  “This reminds me.  I think I have one of your t-shirts.  It must have gotten mixed up in the laundry at the Casino.  You’re never getting it back, by the way.  It’s too comfortable.  I sleep in it.” Vito smiles again, which is a rarity.  I feel honored to be on the receiving end of two smiles tonight.

“Hey Vito!” A good-looking, nicely built guy comes up to us.  He looks at me, surprised.

“Hey. Who do we have here?  A woman brave enough to come to the hell-hole?”

“This is
Ty.” Vito says to me. “Ty this is…” he pauses. 
Awkward!

“Hi, I’m Erin.”  I smirk and reach my hand out to Ty.  He shakes it and gives me a non-stalker once over.

“You look familiar,” he says.

“I do?”

“Yeah, you look like one of Alessandra’s friends.  Did you dye your hair or something?”

“You
’re thinking of my sister, Megan,” I correct him.

Ty’s eyes go wide and fill with humor.  “That’s interesting.
”  He gives a funny look to Vito. “So you’re going to be Tonio’s sister-in-law.” I glance at Vito and his face is colorless.

“Yes.”

“Ronnie!” Vito yells and waves for him to come over to us.  He skirts a few people and stands next to me.  “Ty, can I talk to you?”

Vito and Ty walk away from us.  Whatever Vito is saying is making Ty laugh. 

“Don’t worry about them, Kid.  I got your back,” Ronnie states with his usual joking inflection.

He spin
s me towards him.  He takes the sleeves of Vito’s jacket and rolls them so they don’t cover my hands.

“Thanks.” 

Vito comes back.  “Your name is Kid.  If anyone asks you, or if you speak to anyone, your name is Kid.

“Kid?  What the hell kind of a name is that?”  I ask
, angry.  “Why can’t I be
Er-in
?”

“I call you
kid,” Ronnie says.  “Vito and Tonio call you that.”

“I’m humoring all of you.
” I turn back to Vito.  “I’m not going to introduce myself as Kid!”  I say, getting heated.

Vito scrubs his face with his hand in frustration.
He leans down and whispers to me, “I don’t want people to know your name. Or who you are.”

“Why?” I ask, curious.

Ronnie starts with the air quotes again and mouths, “Mob stuff,” with ridiculous exaggeration.  I roll my eyes.

“Fine,” I concede with the utmost reluctance
. I want to put my two cents in again when a brutish, upset man stands before me.  Vito and Ronnie are next to me, but immediately, Ronnie stands in front of me and shoves me behind him.

“Hello, Jack-o,” Vito says with disgust.

I giggle. 
Jacko, what kind of a name is that? 

Jacko’s head whirls around to me.  Ronnie’s arm shoots out to keep him back. 

“What’s funny, bitch?” Jacko hisses at me.

I really need to
Google how fast a flash of lightning is because I would stake my life on the fact that Vito is faster.

In a half a second, Vito uppercuts Jacko under the chin, sending him flying backwards.  Ronnie lifts me and sends me up and over the bar.  I land behind it on my feet.  I
touch arms with Ziggy.

“Down!” Ronnie yells to me.  The place is
loud, the crowd is cheering.  I crouch down, blind to what’s going on. I fight the urge to stand to see the fight. I look up and Ziggy is shaking his fist at whatever he’s witnessing, praising Vito.  There’s a ton of scuffling coming from the other side of the bar, but I’m afraid to stand up. There’s banging, yelling, and I think punching.

The commotion calms down. “What did I tell you last week?!”  The words hurtle with force across the basement.

I slowly stand and peek over the counter of the bar.  Vito is huffing and puffing, out of breath.  Ronnie is right in front of me, but slightly to the side, leaning his elbow on the bar.  He sees me peeking, but doesn’t say to get back down.