Read Omerta (The DeLuca Family #1) Online
Authors: K. A. Ware
This is going to be a long two weeks,
I thought to myself as I settled back down at my desk. Gina was a handful. From the looks of it Mia had been on her best behavior since she had been here, I had a feeling that was going to change. I certainly did not need Gina filling Mia’s head with any romantic notions of me. I was a 28 year old man, I had no business starring in any 17 year-old girl’s fantasy, or she in mine for that matter.
Sure there were plenty of men out there that would lavish in the attention of a barely-legal young woman, but I am not one of those men. Relationships are complicated, and getting involved with an underage girl that is supposed to be my sister or her obviously very willing friend, would be beyond complicated. Not that Mia wasn’t beautiful, she was, but she was still a child.
Yeah, keep telling yourself that.
I tried for a half hour to get some work done but I couldn’t focus. My thoughts kept drifting off to Mia. It’s not like I didn’t notice she was attractive. I’d noticed that right off the bat, but as soon as she’d taken that gun from my hand my view of her had changed. She had become a comrade, someone I could relate to.
What the hell did I get myself into?
I ran a hand down my face, I just needed to work some frustration out, and it had been too long. Maybe I would call one of my regular girls when we were in the city tonight, get rid of this tension. In the meantime my concentration was shot, a few laps in the pool might help clear my head.
I heard the music as soon as I walked through the patio doors, the outdoor stereo system had been turned on and was currently playing
Work it,
by Missy Elliot. I looked up and stopped dead in my tracks. Mia was laying out by the pool. I knew Gina was there too but I didn’t see her because my eyes were stuck on Mia. She was wearing a
tiny
white bikini, a stark contrast to her olive skin. I had never seen this much of Mia, she wore modest clothes and every time I had glanced out the window when she was using the pool she was in the water. I had been way off, she was
all
woman. She was dancing in her lounge chair, arms above her head, back arched, wiggling her hips to the music and singing along to the song. I felt my swim trunks start to tighten.
I am so fucked.
Gina and I were set up by the pool jamming out to one of our favorite mixes and soaking up the sun. “I’m so glad you’re here, we’re going to have so much fun,” I said without opening my eyes.
“Damn girl, if that is the view you get every day I may never leave,” Gina said to me, then raised her voice, “You coming out for a swim?”
I opened my eyes and looked in the direction she was speaking. Carlo had come out of the house in nothing but swim trunks.
Wow.
A shirtless Carlo was a sight to be seen. He had broad shoulders, washboard abs and
the V.
The tattoo spanning the front of his chest from shoulder to shoulder caught my attention; one word,
Omertá.
He had other tattoos as well. From this distance I couldn’t really make them out, what looked like some sort of script on his left ribcage and possibly a dragon or some other animal starting on the middle of his right side and dipping below his low-slung trunks. I unconsciously licked my lips.
Carlo cleared his throat, “Yeah, I was coming out to do a few laps, if you don’t mind.”
He started walking towards the edge of the pool, still on the opposite side. I watched him from behind my sunglasses. He moved quickly, throwing his towel on a lounge chair and diving into the deep end.
“Dude,” Gina said.
“Yeah, I know.”
I am so fucked.
She licked her fucking lips.
After an hour of laps I was still thinking about it. I tried to busy myself for the rest of the afternoon, get some work done, distract my mind, but nothing was working.
That mouth, fuck!
Yeah, I was definitely going to need to call one of my girls while we were in the city.
I was mentally thanking Elena for making me buy a couple of cocktail dresses on our shopping spree a few weeks ago as Gina and I got ready in my room. I hadn’t thought I would ever really have the need for such fancy clothes but obviously I had been wrong. Carlo was taking us to the five-star hotel he owned. Where he told me he kept an apartment in the hotel for when he was in the city and we would be staying there for the weekend.
“Holy fucking shit, this dress is bananas!” Gina squealed as she took a turn in one of the full length mirrors in my closet. Gina’s boobs were bigger than mine but other than that we were about the same size so I lent her some of my new clothes for the weekend.
“You look great, sweetie,” I said with a laugh. Gina had an incredibly interesting vocabulary. She was wearing a tight black tube dress with lace covered cut-outs on the sides, it was pretty short but she rocked it.
I had chosen a white pencil dress with a sweetheart neckline and cap sleeves, pretty modest next to Gina’s getup but still sexy as hell. I decided to go retro and paired it with blood red peep-toe pumps, lips to match and thick winged black eyeliner.
“And you, damn girl, that boy isn’t going to know what hit him.”
“Gina, stop. I am not going to try to seduce Carlo. I’m pretty sure he is like, un-seducible. He is way too old, and I’m just barely out of high school, and Jesus it’s not like I have any family or anyone to take care of me. What if he got pissed and threw me out? I would have nothing. I’d have to forgo college and get some crappy job and I still couldn’t afford an apartment by myself so I would have to get a craigslist roommate and what if they turned out to be a total creeper? And now I’m rambling, God!”
“Whoa there tiger, calm down. I was just teasing, I know you would never try anything with McHottie,” Gina said coming over to rub my back while I regulated my breathing. I was having a total freak-out moment and I had no clue why.
Get a freaking grip Mia.
“I’m good, sorry. I don’t want to talk about Carlo like that, okay?”
“No problem babe, mums the word if you’re going to go all crazy on me like that,” Gina said stepping around to face me head on she grabbed my shoulders. “Okay, so I have an extremely serious question to ask you.”
“Okay,” I said a bit worried with where she was going with this.
“Are you ready to PAR-TAY?!” she screamed right in my face. God I loved this girl.
“YES!” I screamed with just as much enthusiasm and we burst into a fit of giggles. It was good to act normal again. Even though I only acted this way when I was with Gina before, I had missed it.
“Okay,” I said, “We better get downstairs, it’s almost time to leave.”
“Hell yes! Let’s make this night our bitch!”
I was just putting on my coat in the foyer when I heard the girls come down the stairs, I turned around to greet them and nearly fell over from the immediate lack of blood flow to my head. She was in white again, God that was a good color against her bronze skin, and she was done up like a 50’s pinup.
This woman is going to be the death of me.
I let out a breath.
Girl,
this
girl.
I had to keep reminding myself that she was a teenager, not a woman, nope not at all. I cleared my throat, “You ladies look lovely, are you ready to go?” I asked as I helped them with their coats.
“What about our bags?” Mia asked.
“Sal already has them in the car. Let’s go, we don’t want to be late.”
I opened a bottle of champagne once we were settled in the limo and poured each of us a glass.
“What are we toasting to?” Mia asked.
“To a wonderful night,” I said and we clinked glasses. I had the urge to drain my glass in one gulp but I resisted. It wouldn’t do any good anyways, I was going to need something much stronger to get through a night with her dressed like a fucking wet dream. It was starting to piss me off, my reaction to her, and what the hell did she think she was doing dressing like that?
God, I was an asshole. I shouldn’t be mad at her, I should be mad at myself. Her dress wasn’t even all that revealing, it came down to her knees and it had sleeves for Christ sake. Not like Gina who looked like a trophy wife in training.
“And your birthday, of course,” I said as soon as Mia took a sip of her champagne. Her eyes got wide, did she think I didn’t know when her birthday was? Or did she think I just didn’t care?
“How?” she asked.
“Doesn’t matter, it’s your eighteenth birthday, a day worth celebrating,” I said.
“Thank you,” she said quietly with a smile and slight nod of her head. With that, the subject was closed. I knew enough about Mia by now to know she wasn’t flashy like her friend. She was understated in everything she did. She didn’t enjoy the spotlight, preferring to observe, unlike so many women. She was different, and that had me feeling something I hadn’t felt in a long time, fear.
The ride into the city was uneventful. The girls played music and got tipsy on champagne. I had switched to scotch after that first glass and sat in the corner like a creep nursing my drink and not saying anything.
When we got to the hotel we were led through the restaurant and into a private dining room. Once we were seated I ordered a bottle of wine for the table and tried to make polite conversation.
No use in brooding the whole night.
“So have either of you given any thought to which college you’re going to in the fall?” I asked thinking this was a safe subject to start off on.
Good idea genius, remind yourself you’re a fucking pedophile.
“I hear Oregon State is a kick ass party school, but my father wants me to go to an Ivy League and get my MRS degree.” Gina giggled.
I raised my eyebrow, “Your, what degree?” I asked.
“You know, MRS like Mrs.” Gina replied. When I didn’t respond she continued with less enthusiasm, “My father wants me to go to college and find a husband.”
“Oh,” I said.
What the fuck?
“It’s no big deal, he’s just kind of old school like that. You know, be the good wife, stay at home, raise kids and listen to your husband. Yada, yada, yada.” Mia cringed at Gina’s words, I had heard her mother say something similar that first day I’d met Mia. Gina didn’t seem to notice her friends discomfort at her words so I turned the attention to Mia.
“What about you Mia?”
“Umm, well not really,” Mia said, keeping her head down.
“What the fuck are you talking about Mia?” Gina questioned, “Dude, you got into every college you applied to and you’ve been talking about going to Northwestern since we were like twelve. What do you mean you haven’t thought about it?”
Mia shot Gina a look, but her friend didn’t seem to get the hint and just kept staring at her like she just grew another head. Mia let out a sigh, “Well, that was before, things change.”
I could see where she was going with this, and I’d be damned if I was going to let her. “Mia, you can go to any school you want, don’t worry about the money.”
“But Carlo, I don’t—“
“No, in fact, I insist you go to college. I don’t care how much it costs, I can afford it.”
“But you shouldn’t have—“
“I want to. End of discussion,” I stared her down until she looked down at her plate again and nodded.
“Okay,” she said, “But I’m not sure I still want to go to law school.”
“I don’t care what you study as long as you get a degree. You could be an art history or philosophy major for all I care, it’s not like you have to make money at it. Just do whatever is going to make you happy.”
Mia scoffed, “Of course I have to make money at it. I need a career to support myself!”
I looked at Mia confused, “Why?”
Gina’s head was bouncing back and forth between Mia and myself during our exchange as if she would miss something if she wasn’t careful.
I could see anger start to flicker in Mia’s eyes, “I will not be
that
woman. I will not run off and get married and live off of a man with no way to support myself.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, “I didn’t say you had to.”
“I won’t live off of
any
man without a way to support myself,” I didn’t miss the emphasis on the word any.
“Are you kidding? Have I given you any indication whatsoever that I want to control you? Mia all I want is for you to be taken care of and happy, that’s it. Besides, you won’t be living off of me, you’ll have your own money.”
“Carlo, it’s not you, it’s the principle of it. I am grateful for everything you have done for me. Wait, what? What do you mean I’ll have my own money? I don’t have any money.”
“Not now, but you will. I set up a trust fund for you a few weeks ago that fully matures when you turn twenty-one. You’ll have plenty of money to live comfortably and do whatever you want,” I shrugged, it wasn’t a big deal. It didn’t even make a dent in my fortune. With my various businesses, even after pulling myself out of the financial ruin my father had caused before his death, I had more money than I could ever spend on my own.
“You what?” Mia whispered, she was staring at me with her mouth hanging open.
Gina let out a whistle, “Okay folks, that’s my queue.” She got up from the table and headed out to the main restaurant without another word, leaving Mia and I staring at each other.
“Mia, we need to get something straight. I am not your father, I am nothing like him. I meant what I said that first day. You are my family and I
will
take care of you. You can try to fight it all you want but I will win, I always do. I don’t care if you want a career and you want to make your own money, but I’ll be damned if you toil away at a job you hate just for a paycheck. That is not a life Mia and I will not allow you to merely survive. You’ve done enough of that for a lifetime. I want you to
live,
to feel, to experience.
Understood?”
Mia took a deep breath, “Yes, I understand.”
“Good, now let’s eat,” As soon as I said it the waiter came in with our food.