A fairytale without name (Rose and Marco)

Chapter 15

Rose

"Maybe I should go. They are looking for you." I jerked my hand from his and turned around. The stunning woman kept her eyes on me and when I tried to walk past her, she stopped me.

"I'm sorry for the interruption. Just wait for a second and I can pay for your trouble." she said in a demeaning tone and opened her purse.

"Excuse me? Look I don't know what you are talking about, but I don't appreciate your tone." Marco was quick to stand by my side, but instead of annoyance in his face, I saw amusement and a smile. Jerk.

"Veronica. Basta." (stop)

"Come on Marco, you called me saying it was an emergency and I leave everything, to find you in an alley with a prostitute. No offence miss. I don't know the term you prefer. Sex worker perhaps? The thing is, he won't be needing your services any longer. He has more important things to deal with tonight. I'm afraid his dick is not one of them." Stunned, unable to respond to the mad woman's absurd monologue, I turned my gaze to him. He had crossed his arms in front of him and watched the woman with a stern look.

"Are you quite finished sister? If so, I would like to introduce you to my friend Rose." He slightly touched my arm and I flinched. "Rose, this is my lovely sister Veronica, the lawyer I was telling you about." She instantly paled and looked at me with a sad face.

"I'm terribly sorry Rose. Forget anything I said. I was so annoyed when my brother called. He ruined my perfect date with my fiancé and I was furious. I should have known you were not a prostitute. You are far too dressed." I stifled a laugh but Marco got angry.

"Will you shut up? You are embarrassing both yourself and our family."

"Of course, the family. Always the damn family. You know Rose, it's so frustrating to ........" she didn't finish her sentence. Instead, Marco caught her hand and switched to Italian.

"Mi dice niente. Non lo sa." (Don't say anything. She doesn't know.) She just nodded and smiled kindly at me.

"Well, I'm just going to grab my bag and ask Jay to leave." I said trying to escape the awkward atmosphere surrounding the three of us.

"You know Jay?" she asked and I stopped walking.

"Yeah. He's my friend."

"You sure have a lot of friends in the family. How come I've never seen you around?" What did she mean by family? Is Jay related to Marco? How come everyone knows each other? The giant question mark which was surely painted on my forehead, made Marco to ask me to follow him back inside. Veronica walked by my side with so much style and elegance. Maybe it's a family thing. When we finally reached the bar, I studied her appearance in detail. She wore a knee length red dress, her short, black hair in perfect waves and her makeup flawless.

"I'm sorry about my sister. She doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut when she's pissed. She didn't mean it. You don't look like a ..... and certainly I never pay women to have sex with me. I feel awful. Can I get you another drink? I have to talk to my sister for a moment, but I'll make it as quick as possible, if you wait for me."

"I don't think that's a good idea. I'll better get going." Turning my attention to Jay to ask him to go, he said that it was still early and I hadn't celebrated enough. Bringing me another drink, he winked at Marco and made me sit down. Traitor.

While Marco and his sister vanished to talk, Jay asked me questions about him.

"So, you keep meeting him at the café? Did you two...? You know....?" he asked and I almost choked on my drink.

"Jay, what are you talking about? We're just friends. Nothing more." He started laughing and came closer to me.

"Marco Mancini doesn't have lady friends, Rose. He obviously wants you but I can't understand why hasn't he made his move yet? You said you met him like two weeks ago?" I nodded yes and he kept laughing shaking his head. "That's so unlike him. I've known him for so many years and he has always been so clear and direct with what he wants." Not knowing how to respond to that, I just stared at Jay. "Rose you know how much I love you. I am your friend, you know that, right? I would do anything for you." He kept giving a rather sappy speech, but I was unable to follow. Maybe the drinks had kicked in and I was losing my ability to comprehend simple sentences.