"Malik-"
"no. go" he grumbles.
I look at my little brother, in his hospital bed. he's become a psych case. turns out he wasn't on medication yesterday and his schizophrenia triggered his manic response. that's what the doctors say. but knowing my brother, he's always out for blood. on meds or not
As result, he's handcuffed to the bed. he has different medication fluids being inserted into his body, to keep him in control.
mom and dad have to talk to our lawyer, so I offered to stay the evening with Malik. but he's mad that I'm missing homecoming. Nyla even offered that we have a small homecoming here in his hospital room, but he wants us to go to the dance.
"I'm not letting you fuck this up. four years of you crushing over Nyla, I've listened to every single detail you remember, I'm not gonna go through four years of you missing her," he says. I roll my eyes, but he's right. she's giving me a chance.
"Nyla's understanding. she-"
"shut up and go." he groans
I sigh.
"it's 5:00. go get ready, pick her up and go to the venue. I'm 14 and telling you what to do. go!"
"Will you be ok?" I ask getting up from my chair.
"I'll be fine. I have a phone and I'm locked to the bed." he tugs on the cuffs.
"ok, I'll see you later," I say ruffling his hair, lightly.
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"you look great."
"thank you, Tony," I say to our butler.
I fix the cuffs of my wool Burberry tuxedo.
"red bottoms or jordans?" Tony asks.
"come on Tony. you know me." I scoff.
"Jordans then," he mumbles to himself. "I think those Eminem ones would look good."
"agreed. but if they get ruined, they're coming out your paycheck," I warn.
"ok, that's fine," he says handing me the shoe box.
I sit down taking the shoes on. once I carefully put the 30,000 dollar shoes on. I stand up and Tony hands me my jewelry. white gold Cartier bracelet and chain, Harry Winston earrings, white gold Bvlgari rings and my Longines pocket watch.
"now this is fashion," Tony says behind me
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I stand outside Nyla's house, waiting for her to come outside with her friends. she wasn't expecting me to come, according to Jacob. he said she was a bit upset, but she also understood. he said she was just gonna come to the hospital. but I told him to convince her to go to homecoming.
I also know that her friends all drove, so I was able to bring three Maybach SUVs. Courtesy of Mercedes providing the company cars.
I get nervous when the front door opens. I haven't seen Nyla's dress at all, she said it's nothing special since she's not a dress kind of person.
I stand up straight when I see her come out. words can't describe how beautiful she looks, even if it's a simple dress. the black off-the-shoulder dress hugs her body perfectly. her hair curled to be wavy, the same red bottoms on her feet from Monday. simple hoop earrings in her ears and the necklace I got her. she's wearing it.
"Close your mouth, you'll catch flies," Nyla says in front of me. I close my mouth, still in a daze.
"you look- you look amazing." I stutter.
"thank you, so do you." she says. "is that a pocket watch?"
"yeah, I collect." I nod
"that's different," she says looking at the watch.
"well that I am," I say
"Maybach SUVs?" she asks looking at the cars.
"yes. we're going in style," I say opening the car door for her.
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"I know you said you're not really a party person, so we don't have to stay long," Nyla says as we approach the venue.
"it's fine. we can stay as long as you like," I assure her, before getting out the car. I round it, going to the back passenger side and opening it for her. I hold out my hand and help her out.
the planning committee really knows how to go all out. A blue carpet goes up a cement staircase, balloons outlining it. the venue is the same venue the school uses for every event. every preparatory and private school uses this venue.
Nyla hooks her arm around mine and we make our way up the staircase. The thing with Breckinridge Prep is that social status means everything to everyone. Especially when a billionaire, me, attend.
I've done things in the past that I should've been expelled for. but that would ruin the school's social status and ranks. if Malik was more well known, like me, the school wouldn't have expelled him. Malik's only now getting popular because he had his 'glow up'. the same thing happened to me freshman year.
I wasn't as active as I am now. I was scrawny and had bull cuts. never speak on that. then the summer we moved back to Miami, I started working out. that's all I did. Work out and learn how to own a restaurant. That September I opened a restaurant under my dad's company, but in my name. I got a lot more attention from the media and soon attention from other people.
with that came rumours and assumptions. lots of false ones.
"Mateo James and Nyla Jay. Who do you have on?" one of the school's morning reporters ask. like I said, social status.
"Bottega Veneta and Burberry." Nyla answers.
we keep going down the carpet until we reach the open doors. music blasts through, the building, the lights blue and white. the school's colours.
It's not that I don't like parties. I'm just not social. I don't enjoy the socialization part. I also don't like people touching me. that's something I'm working on since old businessmen like to hug.
when we walk through the doors and are met by a greeter's table.
"Student I.D and 5 dollar fee." The brunette says.
I take my wallet out, taking out a 10 dollar bill and my student I.D.
Nyla tries to pay but I take the 5 dollar bill out her hand.
"what the fuck?" she looks up at me. I ignore her, taking back both our I.D's.
"I wasn't gonna let you pay, Tesoro," I whisper to her, handing her back the bill and I.D
"keep the bill," she says.
"take it back," I say to her as we walk to the ballroom
"Mateo"
"Nyla"
"Take it." she looks up at me with an angry expression.
I take the small pouch in her hand and put the bill deep inside it.
"that's the last time you're paying for me." she grits out before walking away.
this woman confuses me.
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I sit as I watch Nyla dance with her friends. I'm glad she's having a great time, that's all I wanted her to have. I sniff the drink in my cup. it's spiked.
we've been here for a couple of hours now. I haven't gotten up to dance or anything, I'm not the dancing type of guy, I observe. simple.
I don't expect anything to happen at a dance full of rich kids. nothing ever does.
Mafia Gala's though are the most entertaining. Once a year, there's a Christmas Gala, all the mafias are invited. It's held in New York by the New York-Italian Mob. All Italian Mobs have a truce. we all have each other's backs.
My Family's Mafia has a truce with the Greeks, Latinos, East Asians, Middle Easterns and Regular Americans.
Our biggest enemies are the Russians, Polish, Uzbeks and the Irish. the Russians always try and start something with us Italians. The Russians don't have a truce with anyone, so immediately they're losing. The Irish like to come to Miami acting like we don't have eyes on every single movement they make once they cross the border. Immediately they're gunned down by the greeks.
Arsenius Katseros is one of our dearest friends and the Don of the greeks. He owns Stripclubs and sexclubs. His Mafia does more trafficking than we do. My dad doesn't do human and sex trafficking. Arsenius does. we just do gun and drug trafficking and other things. one thing we do that not many other Mobs do is we own gangs. we own a couple of gangs in New York, a couple in Los Angeles and some in the DMV. they sell our drugs and give us 80% profits. the 20% they keep is a lot, but we just get the majority.
"Hey Mateo, where's your date?"
I'm looking right fucking at her. Obviously, she's blind.
"You look bored, wanna ditch this place?" Katie asks touching my arm. I move my arm harshly, making her arm fall.
"I don't think she's a good date if she left you here alone."
she didn't leave me, I told her to go. I didn't want to ruin her fun.
"come on, I can give you a better night," she whispers into my ear. I cringe and push her head back. she's doing a lot. trying too hard. very uncomforting.
Señorita Por Favor comes on and I stand up. most people clear off the dance floor, but the Latinos stay on. or anyone who knows how to dance the bachata.
"May I have this dance?" I ask Nyla
"You may." she takes my hand into hers, my other hand going to her waist.
"Why does Katie look like she's trying to plan our murders?" Nyla asks as we dance.
"She's jealous," I answer.
"of?"
"you. I just rejected her." I say looking into her eyes
"Katie. Jealous of me? she's never Jealous of anyone." Nyla scoffs.
"She's jealous that I picked you. that I want you," I tell her, I watch her blush and avoid eye contact. I spin her around again as I did on Wednesday. her back is to my front.
"lots of people are gonna be jealous of you, Tesoro. you're all I want, you're all I've ever wanted." I tell her as the song ends.
Nyla pulls away, her face flushed. we go back to the table sitting down.
"don't drink too much of that, it's spiked," I say to Nyla when she picks up her drink.
"I won't," she assures, leaning against me entwining our hands.
"how's malik?" she asks
"he's good. not sure what medication he's on, but he's very optimistic," I say.
"are you ok?" I look down at her, to find she's already looking at me.
"I'll be ok. as long as he's ok," I tell her honestly.
"you're a good older brother." she kisses my cheek. I blush instantly, looking away. I hate but love the effect she has on me.
"I'm gonna get some fresh air," I say to Nyla
"ok," she says as I get up. I kiss this side of her head before walking out the ballroom.
some people are outside, drinking, talking or just by themselves getting fresh air like me.
I leisurely walk to the side of the build, checking my surroundings now and then. my hands go into my pockets, feeling around for a certain something.
once I locate it in my left pocket, I get ahold of it, having an internal battle if it's worth it and if I need it.
"I need it" I mumble taking out the vape.
I don't smoke nicotine. I smoke weed, even though I shouldn't. Alcohol and Cannabis mess with my medications and wear them down. and the next morning I always throw up. not all the time, just depends on how much I intake.
I put the Vape to my lips, inhaling the cotton candy flavour. I don't smoke often, or when I do I don't get too high.
I made the vape once, out of boredom. I had no intention of using it, it was just an experiment. but I was curious if it worked, so I used it. After that, I kept using it. I've made more and longer-lasting ones, all made out of boredom. not that I needed them.
I look down at my watch noticing I've been out here for 45 minutes. I put the vape back into my pocket heading back into the ballroom.
"what happened?" I ask Ryan when I see Nyla leaning against her. Ryan looks at me with wide eyes, this being the first time she's heard me ever speak.
"she had too much to drink." Ryan answers.
"I'll take her home," I say pulling my drunk date up.
"Nyla, baby. I said not to drink too much." I say to her.
"the drink was so good." she slurs, shivering. I take my blazer off, wrapping it around her.
"let's go," I say leading her out the ballroom.
"you know... Mateo. I thought you were a self-centred, spoiled, man whore, piece of shit. but I was wrong. and I shouldn't have assumed. you're a good guy, so sweet, so soft and so fine." she says stumbling.
"I'm only those things for you, darling," I say helping her down the stairs.
"I mean. you were crafted from the gods above. what fucking human looks like this. I'm 5'11, 5'12 on a good day. I'm in fucking 3 inch heels, and you're still towering over me." she mumbles.
"I'm 6'8. you still have to grow." I tell, preventing her from falling as we get to the last step.
"you're making me feel short. stop." she looks up at me angered.
"you're not short, baby." I nod.
"don't call me that. it makes me feel some kind of way." she slurs
"it should." I say waiting for the driver to pick us up. Nyla leans against me, her face against my chest.
"you even smell like a billion dollars. Jesus."I hear her grumble
she wraps her arms around me and I do the same. I can feel Nyla mumble some words to herself, playing with the buttons on my shirt,
"Are you putting a spell on me?" I ask looking down at her
"no I'm trying to figure out what the fuck you're doing to me. why the fuck I have feelings for you." I look down at her completely shocked.
I tense. she just admitted to having feelings for me. will she even remember this? is it just her drunk words?
"don't look at me."
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