Chapter 157
Alcee was sitting in a coffee shop on her lunch break, eating one of their sandwiches while Susana and Amal argued over which of them was going to wear their nonna’s wedding dress. Genevra and Lorita were both sipping their iced coffees, enjoying the argument. When they’d all descended on her at work to ask her to join them for lunch she’d tried to refuse but they’d dragged her out. She took another large bite of her tuna fish on white bread and reached for her coffee.
“Why can’t you both wear it?”
“Because I’m getting married first and it needs to be taken in to fit me.” Amal said bluntly.
“If you make one fat ass comment,” Susana growled, “I’ll end you right here.”
“I’m so glad I was the only girl,” Alcee mumbled under her breath and sucked down some coffee.
“Are you going to eat that?” Susana eyed the chocolate chip cookie which accompanied the sandwich and coffee in front of Alcee.
“Touch my cookie and your fight over a dress won’t be the last one you engage in today,” Alcee shot her a warning glance, pulling the napkin holding her treat closer. “Do you know how often I get to eat tuna fish and store–bought cookies? This is a treat for me so piss off.”
“Speaking of the boy who hates the smell of tuna to the point he can vomit at will, how was he feeling this morning? Lorita mentioned he seemed perfectly fine by bedtime last night.” Amal asked wrapping her hands around the biggest mug of latte they’d been able to make her.
“He is fine. I think,” she took a breath, “realizing his dad wasn’t going anywhere and Nonna and Tia and Nonno were on his side did wonders for him. He soaked up their attentions yesterday. They all followed my lead and talked to him normally. They didn’t feed into his attitude, but they all made him feel very loved.” She looked at Lorita, “Lorita took him to the roof while we were dealing with Cianna and Raniero. Whatever you did with him up there, he came back down a healed little soul.”
Lorita shrugged, “I told him a story.”
“What story?”
“A story about a little girl who wasn’t particularly good at telling people how she felt and how one day her big brother brought her out to the barn and let her beat up a bag of feed and it felt really good. I might have shown him how to throw a punch and let him punch my hands a bit and promised to get him his own punching bag and boxing gloves.”
“You box?” Genevra asked with a curl to her lip.
Lorita shrugged, “my father is Cicciu. My brother is Torq. Do you really think I don’t need to get the rage out of me from the pair of them? They’re the worst.”
Alcee snickered, “so Torq, the big bad mob boss, taught him to cry yesterday morning and you, his teeny tiny aunt took him to the roof to fight. Interesting family dynamic I have now.”
ง
“Torq taught him to cry?” Genevra quirked an eyebrow. “No way. Torquato Lozano? The Grizzly, taught someone to cry.”
“Held us both on his lap while the three of us sobbed our hearts out.”
“He is not what I thought he was going to be,” Susana frowned.
“Speaking what you didn’t think they’d be, how is Jesus?”
*Do you remember the time we went to the zoo as teenagers and there was one monkey in the cage who was bouncing everywhere, flinging himself from tree to tree, hanging upside down off the cage, flinging poo at everything.”
“The one whose little penis was out. The tour guide called him a horny teenager?”
“That’s the one,” Susana made a face. “He drove me home last night after taking me for dinner. He drove. Not his guards. He drove us in his car. Somehow he managed to get me into the back seat. He didn’t even open a car door, Alcee. He climbed over the middle console, dragged me back there with him and girl, when I say he had his dessert in the car, he left no crumbs.”
They all threw their heads back and laughed at Susana’s words.
1/2
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Chapter 157
“I’m telling you. He has the energy of one of those high–speed trains you see in Japan, but it’s contained in this compact body. He told me he’s giving me one week to get my IUD removed or he’s taking it out himself.”
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