Accardi (Genevieve and Matteo) by Allison Franklin novel Chapter 85

Chapter Eighty–Five

Geneving paced bark and forth b

watching the morters for when hat pote

with an annoyed expesion

“Before the car splitting squeals start, there are a few roles we need to go over, Gen, Frankie begen, pulling & réperts from the park be

pocket.

“Excuse me, Sir,” an elderly airport werker interrupted.

“Yes, Beautiful?” Frankie asked, flashing his best you know you want to do me smile.

The woman was completely unphased. “There’s no smoking in here. Come on.*

Frankie’s smile returned to a scowl. “Is it fucking illegal to hold a cigarette now?*

The older woman rolled her eyes and continued onward while Frankie’s hot glare followed. He rolled his eyes and shook his head before bghting the cigarette and taking a hard pull.

“Where was I?”

“Rules,” Gen reminded him, her eyes returning to the monitors.

“Ah, right, some people, I swear. There are a few things we need to get straight. One, I don’t carry baggage. Two, I don’t do tampon runs. Three, no leaving the apartment. Four, any food you order has to be from one of Accardi’s restaurants. Five…”

“One of his restaurants?” she asked, with a raised brow.

Frankie smiled and tilted his head. “Aww, you two still have so much to learn about each other.” Gen rolled her eyes and looked away. “Five, if I say you can’t do something. You can’t do something. Six, and this is the most important one, don’t do anything that’ll put yourself in danger.”

Gen waited a beat before she looked back at him. “Oh, are you done?”

“Unless I think of something else.”

“Well, in that case, let me tell you my rules.”

“You don’t get…”

“One, no listening in on us. Two, no bitching about how far beneath you this detail is. Three, and this is the most important one,” she mocked. She narrowed her eyes as she looked at him. “My friends are off limits. Keep it in your pants.”

A slow smile crept over Frankie’s face. “You won’t have to worry about that, Gen. I’m off the market.”

“What? Are you serious?”

“Don’t get jealous, I’ll still have time for you,” Frankie told her.

Gen rolled her eyes. “Please, your boss keeps me plenty busy,” she said. “Who is she?”

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Chapter Eighty–Five

she works at the club‘

“What’s het name:

“I don’t know.”

“Frankie… you don’t know?

He shrugged. “She says her name is Lilah, but she’s definitely hiding something. I’m intrigued.”

“Oh, a fake name? Just think, two months from now you’ll be flying her four best friends down to see her while you go off on a trip to her dosad

undercover cop.”

Frankie scoffed. “Please, we won’t end up like you and Accardi.”

“No? Why is that?”

Frankie’s smile turned sinister and she was reminded of how terrifying he could look. “I won’t let her run.”

A second later the same elderly airport worker walked by, grabbed Frankie’s cigarette from between his lips, held it in front of his face and then dropped it so she could stomp on it. She put her hands on her waist, gave a sharp nod and walked off. Frankie watched the entire encounter with his mouth hanging

as he stared after the brazen woman. off its hinges. He used a finger to put his jaw back in place

“Then again… that was hot as hell,” Frankie admitted.

were receiving an Amber Alert. She yanked it out of her purse and started bouncing on the Gen started to laugh when her phone began to buzz as if she balls of her feet as she was flooded with texts saying they’d landed. Frankie started to groan obnoxiously but Gen could do little to care. It was girls night and she was ready to cut loose.

A few hours later, all five women were packed in Matteo’s apartment… Their apartment. Gen stood at the island gathering all the ingredients they would need for Sangria. Abigail sat on a stool across from her, already nursing a glass of red wine while the others meandered aimlessly around the apartment, taking it all in.

“I still feel like going to a club is the right choice,” Louise said, causing everyone around to groan. “What?! I’m just saying, we’re in New York! We flew first- fucking–class, Gen’s got a sugar–daddy, and we look hot as hell. We should be out!”

“You heard what Gen’s hot babysitter said,” Abigail reminded her.

“No clubs!” everyone recited together.

“By the way, we would all love to hear an explanation to the, ‘Or do you not remember the last time you were at a club?‘ thing,” Sarah said, coming out of Matteo’s office carrying a glass container of Scotch that was probably worth more than her car.

Gen shrugged one shoulder as she added the orange slices to the pitcher. “Just got a bit drunk is all.”

“At a club!” Louise shrieked. “The audacity!!”

Sarah took a swig of the Scotch she’d found and immediately spewed it across the island. “What the fuck is that?!” Sarah yelled, wiping her mouth while everyone else rose from where they’d ducked down.

“Gimme,” Louise demanded. She smelled the glass Sarah had poured, took a sip, and swished the liquid around in her mouth. “Mmm, Glen McKenna. Very

nice.”

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Chapter Eighty–Five

You can keep it.” Sarah said, putting the glass stoppet back on the botile and shoving it away.

“What else did you find in there?” Emuise asked, sashaying with her glass of Scotch toward Matteo’s office… which he’d foolishly left unlocked.

“Oh, oh! I found some cool books,” Sarah said, rushing after her.

“Books?!” Abigail squealed, nearly falling off her stool as she went to see.

Becca appeared then and barely managed to squeeze herself against the wall before the other women came barreling past. Gen shook her head and chuckled as she uncorked another bottle of wine and started pouring it over the fruit.

“How you doin‘ Bec?” Gen asked, “You’ve been quiet. I understood why at the airport but you’re safe here. It’s just us.”

Becca sighed as she pulled herself up on the stool Abigail had just vacated. “I talked to Noah before coming down,” she said.

Gen snorted and shook her head. “What did that sleazebag of a brother want this time?”

Becca shrugged and fiddled with her fingers. “I called him, actually. I needed a little help with, um, rent.”

“Oh no,” Gen sighed, putting everything down to give Becca her full attention. “Please tell me you didn’t accept any help from him.”

Becca shrugged again and started tracing the marble pattern with her fingers. “He wouldn’t help anyway. He wanted to know what I was doing and I told him I was coming down to see you. He went off on a tangent about the guy you’re seeing again.”

“Again?”

“Yeah,” Becca seemed to be slowly shrinking in on herself as though she were filled with shame. “When you first started going out with him, I tried to do a little digging. I got caught hacking the police database again.”

“Such a fucking bad ass!” Abigail yelled, overhearing the tail–end of her conversation. She plopped into the stool beside Becca and slapped down a book that looked much too old to be slapped down.

“Careful, Abigail,” Gen said, wincing as she clumsily opened it.

“Don’t be silly,” Abigail began. “It’s just a book. It’s meant to be read. It’s not like it’s a…” She stopped talking as Gen delicately peeled back the cover to reveal the ‘first edition‘ tag line. “Oh, I’ll just go put this back then.”

“Thanks,” Gen said, patting her hand. “Anyway, back to you. You hacked their system again?”

“Yeah, I just thought if I could see there was no record of the guy, it would make me feel better. But, someone picked up on what I was doing. Told Noah.”

“I bet he was pissed.”

“Not really,” she said, surprising Gen. “He asked why I was looking into him and I told him you were dating him. I’m really sorry.”

“There’s nothing illegal about dating a man,” Gen assured her. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Yeah, it’s just, when I told him I was coming down here he got really angry. When I wouldn’t do what he wanted he threatened to turn me in to his department.”

“Son of a bitch. Well, don’t worry about it Becca. You’re safe here and I can help you with rent. You don’t need to go to him for anything ever again. Do you

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Chapter Eighty–Five

understand?” den reached ever and lack Becca’s İrand

Beves shrunk down even more. “It’s just…”

The front doin slammed open. “Do none of you answer your phones?!” Frankle yelled, staggering with the numerous bags of take–out in his hands.

Becca pulled her hand away as the other women in the apartment came bustling out. They tan in his direction and swiped a bag each until his arms were his own again. He shook them out as if the bags had been cutting off his circulation, Gen walked up to him and patted him on the back.

“Thanks, Frankie. I really appreciate it,” Gen said.

“I would think you’d get a bit sick of Italian at some point,” Frankie said with a shake of his head as the girls all pulled out the various dishes they’d ordered from Matteo’s Italian restaurant in Chelsea.

Gen smiled wickedly. “You’d be surprised how much Italian sausage I can devour.”

“But… you didn’t order sausage. You ordered the chicken parmesan…”

Gen laughed. “Good night, Frankie.”

“Lock up tight and set the alarm!” he called as he sauntered out of the room to the catcalls of three horny women.

“Alright, we got food,” Abigail listed.

“Check!” Sarah and Louise answered.

“Drinks.”

“Check!” Gen called, carrying the pitcher and five glasses over to the table.

“Movies.”

“Check,” Becca said, putting her movie pick into the dvd player.

“Now all we need is the gossip. So, Gen, where in this apartment has the Italian Sausage defiled you?” she asked, raising her brows twice.

Gen glanced down at the table and remembered how it had creaked against the floor as Matteo fucked her.

“Oh, God,” Louise said.

“What?” Sarah asked.

“Oh, no,” Abigail said, understanding dawning on her face.

“What?” Becca asked, coming over to see what the problem was.

“You fucked on the table we’re about to eat on?!” Louise yelled.

All at once the other three girls yanked their takeaway containers off the table.

Genevieve laughed so hard tears were streaming down her face. “What?! Oh come on, I disinfected it!”

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“Not enough,” Sarah said with a shake of her head, “I’m taking this to the sofa,”

“Ditto,” Abigail agreed with a nod.

“Unless…” Louise said with a raised brow.

Gen shook her head as she poured them all a glass. “Sofa is safe.” She took the glasses over and started setting them down on the coffee table. “The floor on

the other hand…”

All of their feet lifted off the floor at the same time and gasps circulated around the room.

“Oh my God, I was kidding,” Gen said with another laugh.

Four pairs of feet returned to the floor and Gen sat cross–legged in front of the coffee table, facing them. Suddenly her phone started to light up. They all sat forward and started making lewd noises as they noticed the name on the screen. Gen snatched her phone and stood away so she could answer it.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Weakness,” Matteo said on the other end, his voice smooth and rich as honey, making her thighs clench. She’d already had too much to drink, that

was for sure.

“Hey, what’s up?” she asked, waving her hand at the girls who were trying to get close enough to hear.

“I just wanted to check in. I saw your friends‘ flight landed and Frankie told me you got some dinner.”

“Yeah, we’re just about to sit down to eat,” she said, dodging around the arm chair to get away from the crowd of nosy friends.

“Well, I won’t keep you. I have a feeling you won’t be much for communication once the drinks start flowing so I wanted to tell you good night and that I

love you.”

“I love you too,” she said. The room quieted. All the girls stared at her with wide eyes. “Oh shit.”

Matteo chuckled on the other end. “You hadn’t told them that bit yet?”

“Nope.”

That’s when the squealing started.

“Good luck, Weakness. I’ve faced psychopathic murderers and I’d choose that over what you’re about to go through.”

“Thanks a lot. Good night.”

“Good night!!” Abigail called.

“We loooovee you!” Sarah sang.

“You two can have a minute in the bathroom if you want a little video call action!” Louise prompted.

“Gotta go,” Gen said quickly.

Matteo chuckled again. “Good night, Genevieve.”