Alessandra comes out of Erin’s room and
heads to the refrigerator for a drink. I’m still a little pissed
off at Troy, and then he stares at Alessandra’s ass with no shame.
I want to snatch his fucking tongue out of his throat and hang him
with it. I wish I could shoot metal daggers out of my eyes. I reach
across the table and whap him on the back of the head.
“Owww! What did you do that for?” Troy
yells.
“Don’t be a chooch,” I rumble. Jake tries to
cover up his mirth. Carlo, also noticing Troy’s behavior, bursts
out laughing. Megan looks at us all quizzically as Alessandra sits
at the table with her iced tea. Her big brown eyes dance as she
beams at Megan and me.
“There are some truly spectacular clothes in
that room over there,” she says.
“I’m sure there are. What we saw at our own
personal fashion show was fabulous,” Megan agrees.
Alessandra doesn’t even look at Troy. I’m
glad she’s not interested in that chooch. She wouldn’t stop talking
about him before, so she must have come to her senses. In the back
of my mind, I was questioning why she really came here, thinking
the reason might have been Troy. But she’s giving him the cold
shoulder...that is a relief!
Alex comes out of Erin’s room and walks over
to me. He leans down, whispering, “I’m going to get the cake.
“See how they’re doing with the food, too,”
Carlo adds.
I see Vito lounging in an armchair with his
feet up on the coffee table flipping through the channels. Erin
comes out of her bedroom, clearly happy. Clarissa talks up a storm
to Erin about how to match up different outfits.
“Antonio, thank you so much!” Erin exclaims.
“This is the best birthday ever.” She leans down and kisses me on
the cheek near my bruised eye, then she gives Megan a hug. I say in
a low tone, “Vito bought most of it.” They turn their heads to him
as he monotonously clicks the remote, his head resting on his fist.
Erin pats my shoulder, letting me know that she isn’t going to say
anything to him right now.
The group gets up and makes their way over
to watch TV. Jake sprawls out on the couch next to Erin and
Clarissa. Troy finds a leather armchair to crash in. Alessandra
sits in the matching one. Vito sets the remote aside after finding
an old eighties movie. His melancholy mood has not lessened with
the passage of the afternoon. Carlo senses it too, and he pulls a
deck of cards out of his pocket, offering to play with Vito. Vito
nods in agreement.
I snuggle up on a small loveseat with Megan.
Her body is pressed against my chest. The clean scent of her hair
tickles my nose. The movie holds no interest for me. It is hard to
think when she’s this close.
Alex opens the door ahead of the wait staff
who carry an enormous light purple cake and large silver trays
which they place on the counter. Carlo and Alex organize and fix a
lunch buffet.
“Come and get it! Birthday girl first,” Alex
calls out. Erin dishes up a plate as the others gather around the
food. I grab a plate and pile it with gnocchi and meatballs. Megan
follows behind me.
“This looks delicious,” she says.
“This is my favorite,” I tell her.
“This is awesome!” Jake says. ”I wish my
mother could cook like this.”
Everyone is shoveling food in their mouth,
and the room quiet until, one by one, each person finishes and gets
up and throw their plate in the trash.
“Meg, why don’t you play something for us?”
Alessandra asks.
“Great idea,” Erin says and her eyes light
up.
I gently kiss Megan’s temple and squeeze her
shoulder in acknowledgment. This is something that means a lot to
me. I have never heard her play the harp. The one and only time I
had the opportunity was in church, but I ended up knocking out Dino
Prazzo for making a lewd comment about Megan and I had to leave
quickly, missing her performance.
“Sure,” Megan replies shyly.
She slowly gets up and walks to her new
instrument. Her expression is dazzling when she sits down behind
it. The exquisite harp was made for her. Everyone gathers back at
their seats waiting with anticipation.
Megan leans forward and positions her
fingers gracefully above the strings. She begins plucking them like
a professional at Carnegie Hall, and the music sails and flows
across the room, just as mesmerizing as a track on an iPod. The
whole room is captivated and unflinching as they watch and listen
to the magic that pours out of the harp.
Too soon the song ends, and Megan steps from
around the harp. Erin immediately stands and claps, giving her
sister a standing ovation. Troy hoots and follows suit. The rest of
the room stands. Megan blushes faintly.
“I didn’t realize how much I missed hearing
you play the harp, Meg,” Erin says.
“That really was incredible,” Jake says in
awe.
“I could listen to you all day,” Alessandra
comments.
I am speechless. Megan is more captivating
with every new thing I learn about her.
“Cake time!” Clarissa calls out.
Alex lights fifteen tiny purple candles that
are spaced evenly across the top of the cake. Clarissa starts us
off to sing happy birthday. At the end, Erin blows out her candles
and everyone claps.
*****
After cake, it is time to escort Jake and
Troy back out. There are some things Vito and I have to do. As the
rest of us head to the elevators, Erin, Clarissa, and Alessandra
say their goodbyes in the suite. It is obvious that Erin doesn’t
want to see them with bags over their heads again. That’s fine. I
think she did really well today, considering it was her first trip
off the family floor. Too bad that whole shit storm with Demetrius
caused a slight setback, but it seems to be forgotten now. I force
the unwanted thoughts of the favor to the back of my mind.
Megan hugs Troy tightly when we get to the
floor of the main entrance.
“Thank you so much for coming,” she says. ”I
know visiting Erin and I is a little unconventional.”
“No,” Troy says sarcastically. “Never.”
Jake shakes my hand. ”Thanks for the very,
um, interesting day.”
“No problem,” I tell him.
As Alex escorts them out, I turn to
Megan.
“Come on. I need to get a few things.”
Vito and I need additional fire power. Pop
called Carlo while we were taking the girls shopping to talk about
a tip Carlo got from one of his enforcers. Apparently, a guy named
Zee over on Pine Street is working for Tutti. Pop wants us to leave
early on Sunday to chase this guy down before we have our next sit
down with the Furlottis.
Megan, Vito, and I get back into the
elevator and ride it to the basement. We walk into the range, which
is just how I remembered it, except now there are neatly stacked
boxes against the wall filled with ammo. Vito immediately begins
packing up what we need into a bag.
I glance at the targets at one end of the
range. “Megan, I’d really like to see what you've got. Why don’t
you come over here with me and fire a couple rounds.”
I put my arm around her back and gently
guide her over to one lane. I pick up a pistol and check the stock.
It is loaded. I pick up some ear protection and gently place them
over Megan's ears as her eyes find mine. Her gaze makes my heart
melt - so warm. She looks so cute with the headphones on, and I
can’t help but kiss her. I gently twirl her around and hand her the
pistol. Megan drapes her hand over mine, the pistol beneath our
intertwined hands. She takes it from me and raises her arm and
focuses. I gently reposition her, just slightly, and step back.
She fires, the blast echoes throughout the
room. A perfect shot, straight to the heart.
Joey comes running in. “Aww, I missed
it!”
“Glad she’s on our side,” Vito says.
“I wonder how she would do with moving
targets?” Joey asks thoughtfully.
I snake my arm around her and kiss her neck.
”You did great!” I say congratulating her.
She pulls off her headphones. “Honestly, I’m
not really sure how I’m doing it.”
“It doesn’t matter, just keep doing it,”
Vito tells her. He’s right.
Chapter 7
Faction: mob family
Antonio:
The day ends too fast. I really want to
spend another night with Megan, but I need to take care of some
business. Being with Megan doesn’t help with my focus, so Vito and
I go back to our shitty hotel room.
Chasing Uncle Tutti is the most aggravating
thing I’ve had to do in a long time. There are too many places to
hide in Chicago, too many people to shield him. Allies are easy to
come by here for him. Add on top of that the shit with Demetrius
and life just keeps getting more complicated.
Vito and I stop by Starbucks, the same one
we’ve been going to for the past three weeks for morning coffee.
It’s early Sunday morning, and I am in a foul mood. The shit-hole
we’re staying in doesn’t even have a coffee pot. Vito sits at a
table in the back while I go to the counter.
“Hello!” a perky girl says.
“Hi, I'll take two Grandé coffees, black,
and a couple of those weird pastry things.”
“Would you like lemon poppy seed or ginger
spice? We also have chocolate chip,” she chirps brightly.
“Whatever is fine.”
The waitress dips her hand in the case of
baked goods.
“Do you live around here?”
What a line?
I roll my eyes.
“No,” I deadpan.
“So, where are you from?”
“I'm not from around here. Jus’ visitin’.” I
clip my words off hoping she gets the idea that I am not
interested.
“Oh, visiting friends? Or family?” She
tallies up the order.
“A little of both.” I throw a twenty on the
counter trying to end this conversation. “Here, keep the change,” I
say as I grab the bag and coffees.
“Thank you!” she calls out, but my back is
already to her, walking away.
I sit down next to Vito. He is playing on
his phone. I place the coffees on the table and shove the pastry
bag towards him. He sticks his hand in.
“What the hell are these?” Vito breaks one
in half and shoves it in his mouth. “Ugh, it’s dry.”
“Whatever, dude, just eat it.”
I take a piece. Vito was right, it is
crap.
“Where are we going today?” Vito asks.
“Tonight we’ve got another meeting, so I
really wanted to follow up again on Carlo’s lead. He thinks Zee is
getting sloppy.”
Vito chews the foreign pastry slowly as he
stares at the wall of Starbucks.
“I’m going with you,” he says
matter-of-factly.
I sigh. “Not this again. I have to deal with
Demetrius on my own.”
“I don’t trust that fucker!” Vito says, eyes
flashing with severity.
“Neither do I.” I finish my strong as hell
coffee and stand to leave.
We toss our cups in the trash and step out
onto the street. We get in our borrowed SUV, and I drive us towards
Pine Street. Vito is silent. He is stewing. Vito doesn’t like to be
told no. He’ll follow orders, but it doesn’t mean that he likes it.
I understand his frustration. I would feel the same way. I wouldn’t
want Vito dealing with a sick fuck like Demetrius on his own.
Vito’s loyalty runs deep.
The street is pretty much deserted. I slow
the car down to a crawl, and the two of us scan in between
buildings and down alleys. The new intel reported that this
scumbag, Zee, has an apartment over here. Carlo says that this guy
is an underling for another family he screwed when he took up with
Uncle Tutti. What my uncle has to offer him has to be worth a lot
to justify the bullshit of taking off from the other family. This
idiot is taking a big chance because, if the family he left wants
to, they can mark him...then he’ll be as good as dead.
My cell phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it
out while I maneuver the car to the sidewalk. It’s Patrick.
“Hello,” I say.
“How’s Erin?” Patrick grumbles out.
“She’s doing better. Did you even know it
was her birthday yesterday?” I had to ask. It pisses me off that
neither of her parents called her on her birthday. I know it
bothered Megan. She was just closed lip about it.
A long pause hangs on the other end. “Of
course I did.” He sounds pissed, but that doesn’t mean much with
Patrick since he constantly sounds bad tempered and cross.
“You could’ve called.” I wasn’t holding
anything back about how I felt. These are his daughters. He and his
wife should be more involved.
“Don’t lecture me,” Patrick says
sternly.
I decide to play nice. “Megan and Erin are
doing great. I took them out yesterday in the casino, and we bought
Erin some new clothes.”
“Who’s we?”
“Vito and I.” I hear Patrick suck his teeth.
“You have a problem with that?”
More silence fills the line. Patrick clips
off a short, “No.”
I got the impression from the conversation,
or lack thereof, that Patrick feels beholden to me for taking care
of his girls. It doesn’t sit well with him.
“I am not doing this as an obligation. I’m
doing this because I love Megan and in turn her sister. I would do
anything for your daughter, never forget that.”
“I know.” His voice is deep.
“I’m chasing somebody down, so I have to
go.” I say and take the opportunity while on the phone to check the
street again.
Wait! What’s that?
In a flash, Vito’s door flies open and he
takes off running. I click my phone off, grab the keys, and shove
my phone in my back pocket. My legs take over, and the chase is
on.
For a big guy, Vito is fast. The slime-ball
slips in between two brick buildings and zips towards the back. He
reaches a chain-link fence, jumps up, grabs on, and starts scaling
it. Vito is only seconds behind him. Using his height to his
advantage, Vito leaps and grabs the guy’s leg, yanking him to the
ground. Zee yells as his back collides with the cement. He clutches
him by the shirt and wrenches him to his feet. The loser is sweaty
and pale. He must’ve taken something.