Alessandro and Giana decided to talk in private somewhere outside of the doctors office where it's less awkward. That let me off the hook thank god. This was all so awkward and honestly overwhelming.
I let Giana take my car since Alessandro drove in with Dom, and Dom no longer seemed to be here. I could use a walk if I'm being honest. I just started along the sidewalk without really knowing where I was going. I just started walking while I digested the news.
So Giana is pregnant with Alessandro De Luca's baby. And she's due within the next few weeks. Giana had confided to me that she was afraid to give birth, and to have to take care of a living breathing child totally under her care.
She no longer had her own apartment here and was looking for a new place, since she couldn't stand the animosity between herself, her father, and her brother.
Maybe now she doesn't have to answer all those questions herself. Maybe Ale can help her out. I'll help if she needs me to, but it really isn't my place at all.
I walked until I spotted a coffee shop, and then I decided caffeine sounded like a good idea. When I walked in it was like a starbucks, but not a name brand. Still they had sleek stainless steel appliances and fancy coffee makers.
Their menu was on a board above the counter. I ordered a pretty plain coffee, and when I turned to grab it at the pick up end of the counter I paused.
I had suddenly caught eyes with a pair of beautiful greens. Mia. And she's alone. I wasn't sure if she'd scowl, cringe, or hide from me, but I was pleasantly surprised when she just gave me a small smile.
"You must've done what I did. Walk the block for air, ended up in here for coffee" she kind of giggled. I hate that it stirred something inside me.
When she caught me looking around the shop she played with the lip of her drink when she stated, "He isn't here." So she knew what I was looking for. Dom. My name was called at that same moment, so I turned back to the counter and grabbed the drink. I wasn't planning on staying inside, but when Mia invited me to join her I found myself saying yes rather than no.
It was a tiny round table with two chairs across from one another. If I stretched my legs at all I could feel her knees on me. It was that small. I felt like we were tucked away in some corner. When our eyes met they lingered, but neither of us said anything.
"How are you?" She finally asked. She has pretty lips that I thought I couldn't find better, but Lexi has her beat there. I cleared my throat and sat up straighter to untangle myself from her gaze. "Good. Fine" I nodded. Fucking smooth Rizzo. I cursed myself internally.
"Uh, how are you?" I returned the question. "Over all or right now?" She gave me a kind of sad smile. "Both" I said genuinely.
"Right now I'm a little overwhelmed," she told me. "Yeah, I know. That was a lot, huh? Giana wanted the moral support or trust me I wouldn't have been there" I let her know in case she wasn't sure why I did come.
She smiled softly and took a short sip of her drink. "You're a good person," she stated quietly. I swallowed hard. "If you wanna...if you need to unpack all this you can do it with me, Mia. I'm here" I finally got some words out. "It's not weird?" She asked me. I chuckled.
"It's been weird, but here we are," I smirked.
Giving her permission seemed to be all she needed. She started to vent all this pent up stuff she must've been storing inside herself. She told me all about the fight the first time around when she originally found out Dom and Giana had unprotected sex, and how she was pregnant, then not pregnant.
She told me how she took him back, but that they're working on themselves. She specifically said, "Please don't judge me for taking him back. I know it was weak of me to do so, but it was with the promise to work on ourselves and he's kept the promise thus far."
"I'm not judging you" was all I could think to say. I don't wanna talk about how much I think she made a mistake. It's not my place to tell her she could've had better. I said it once back then and that's enough.
"I guess the reason why I'm still feeling so upset about all this is because it was something that really hurt me. And it's something I feared so deeply. That if she were pregnant she'd be starting this life with Dom that'd ruin everything we had...and she is pregnant, but it isn't his, so I should be content. But I'm not...is that selfish?" She asked me.
She's good at taking over a conversation. I sat and genuinely listened to her, but I also watched her. I didn't mean to do it, but I watched how her mouth moved when she talked. The cute expressions she makes when she becomes really passionate about what she's saying.
I watched her chesnut hair hang around her little petite shoulders and pictured my fist around it, tugging it while I fucked her from behind.
She's a beautiful and honestly good person. She's smart and she's talented. She deserves the world.
"That isn't selfish. I would feel the same in your shoes" I told her. If I was a girl and my boyfriend potentially had someone else pregnant because of some deranged revenge fuck I wouldn't feel great about it either.
Even if you thought she wasn't pregnant, then found out she was pregnant, but the baby isn't his. Still leaves a sour taste in your mouth.
Finally Mia just shivered and shook her head clear. "Anyways," she said, making it known she wanted to move on.
"Answer my other question. How are you in general?" I asked her. The widening smile she gave me slayed me. "So good. I was just off a couple weeks ago doing some photo shoots for Fendi in Europe. And Karl and I are talking through some ideas...yeah, things are really good" she told me.
I shouldn't have stayed here. I keep feeling this annoying, embarrassing flutter in my gut while I'm talking to her. When she smiles or absentmindedly touches me as she talks on. I should tell her I have to go.
"What about you Anthony Rizzo?" She said my full name the way she knows I like it. Damn her. She always made my name sound so good. "What about me?" I asked her.
"Tell me what's going on in your life" she waved for me to say something. For the life of me I had no idea what. "Any girls?" She peeked up at me through her lashes and I couldn't do it. I quickly muttered a no and looked away from her. To change subjects she quickly asked a different question.
"I heard you run illegal fights. You'd never told me that, but I heard my brother mentioning that the other day" she randomly said. "Uh, yeah, have been for years" I told her. She gave me this soft smile and said, "No wonder you're such a heavy hitter."
I forgot that Mia had even seen me in action before. I knocked a man out cold with one well placed punch the first time I went out drinking with her and Sophia. Another time when I fought the bouncers at Dom's club, when Dom had me kicked out. The prick.
I looked down at my hands and flexed them.
"I guess so. I've been doing this a long time" I told her. "I wanna come," she suddenly added. I did a double take. "That's not really your scene. Trust me, sweetheart" I didn't mean the pet name, but that's what I call everybody. "Why not? Soph would totally come with me. I wouldn't be the only girl" she pressed this.
That feels so out of character for her to wanna go watch a sweaty fight. Was this some weird 'F you' to Dom because I don't wanna be a part of it.
"Are you scared to fight with an audience?" she tried teasing me to coax me. What do I even say to this? I can't stop her from coming in. It's heavily a men's only population, but there is no actual 'no women allowed' rule. She could come.
I ran my thumb across my bottom lip, and her fox eyes followed whether she realized it or not.
"I don't shy away from an audience. Trust me, sweetheart" I slipped back into smooth Rizzo. I shouldn't, but it's my first nature. "When can I see you then?" She asked me. And I knew she was just talking about the fight, but my gut was acting strange at her words. To see me. She wants to see me.
"Tonight? It's been a hell of a morning. I wouldn't mind blowing off the steam" I told her honestly. Whatever. If she wants to come then she can come. I can't see her enjoying it, but she asked, not me.
"But you better bring Sophia along so you aren't alone, huh?" I nudged her foot under the table because I could feel it right beside mine. She nodded okay to me.
Well, fuck, I guess I'm gonna fight...in front of Mia Fiore.
-
"Rizzo, what the fuck were you thinking?" Enzo sucked his teeth at me when I told him about the day. Not about Giana and Alessandro having a kid together. No, he digested that news much earlier in this conversation. He didn't know what to make of it, and ended up just walking out and smoking a bowl. So moving on.
I told him about Mia. How we saw each other for the first time in months honestly, and how we ended up at the same coffee shop. He kept fucking with me saying I did it on purpose, but the crazy part is that I really didn't. That was just fate right there.
Last thing I told him was about the fight tonight. How she wanted to come and how I'm letting her.
"You're a stupid mother fucker" he shook his head at me as he was sitting against the side of the house parting up weed to pack himself another bowl. "How?!" I huffed. I know why, but I won't admit to that yet.
"Cuz you still like the chick. Cuz you're going to send Dom into a fucking frenzy and get yourself killed. Cuz you're nervous to fight, like you don't always do this shit. You never lose. You got into your head today over what? A chick. Who fucking cares" Enzo waved me off.
I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. "I know. But just tonight then it's done" I told him.
My cousin stayed quiet, but I can read him like a book. He called bullshit on that. "And what about the model? You're over it?" He asked me. "Lexi?" I asked for no reason. His dark brow ticked up. "Are you fucking more than one model right now? Pass one off to me" his smartass remarked.
Enzo started patting himself down for a lighter once he was satisfied with his packed bowl. The rest of the weed nuggets he dusted back into the grinder. I saw the lime green lighter there beside his foot on the half step at the backside of this condo. I bent and tossed it to him.
Flick. Flick.
"Nah, I'm still talking to her. Well, not talking-talking because I'm keeping shit casual, but we've fucked a couple times" I nodded to him. He paused while inhaling the smoke. A few seconds later he was releasing the smoke again and gave a short cough.
When he held the bowl up as if asking if I wanted any I side eyed him. "I'm fighting tonight. I can't be high for a fight unless you wanna see me laid out" I told him.
His chuckle can be raspy, and he chuckled at the idea of me high and getting my ass handed to me. The fucker.
"You should come tonight. You don't have Daisy tonight, so you have no excuse" I told him. He goes a lot, which means he's not as enthusiastic about the idea unless he's in the mood. "You can be my chaperone" I gave him a crooked grin.
"Yeah, to make sure you don't look like a whipped bitch for this Mia chick. Set you straight" he shook his head and took another long hit.
"Sophia will be there too. You're friends, right?" I was trying to sell the idea. After Enzo released his breath he pinched one eye shut to see through the smoke.
"You know..." he started talking, but trailed off. I just stared at him waiting for him to continue.
"You know. I always wanted to fuck that chick. Just once. Just to see if she was wild in the sack like I feel like she might be. You know, Soph. She's chaotic. I bet she's an excellent fuck" he used the end of the lighter to further pack the bowl nice and tight.
"I thought Dom was your best friend and you wouldn't go there" I quoted something he said to me before. "That was before he fucked Giana" he deadpanned.
I pinched my lips tight and said nothing about it. "You're also Isabella's friend though. And that's her baby sister" I tried it from the other angle. I honestly don't care if he fucks Sophia. I'm just talking so he doesn't bug me about Mia.
"I got real close to fucking Isabella once. When she was less uptight in high school. She gave me a hand job in the closet of Bianchi's friend's old house that had the pool we'd always crash" Enzo started down memory lane.
I threw my head back and laughed.
"You got a handie from Isabella De Luca, and I'm only now learning about it like 12 years later?!" I started cracking up. Enzo was done smoking, so he was gathering his shit and heading around the building to the front of the condos.
His eyes were red and hung low. He walked at leisure to the door, and then finally inside the house where he plopped down on the sofa.
"If you order me food I'll be your buffer tonight with little Fiore" Enzo pulled his feet up onto his coffee table and tucked his hands behind his head to chill out. I rolled my eyes, but didn't respond. He stayed quiet for a few minutes while I was scrolling on my phone.
"Oh...before I forget," my cousin interrupted the quiet.
When I glanced up he said, "De Luca reminded me about that goddamn meeting coming up with the fucking Russian's, man. He's really putting the responsibility on us for this one cuz he's dealing with the Irish bullshit. Our time to shine, my man" he swatted my thigh from where I'd plopped down on the sofa with him.
"Oh fuck...that's a big fucking business deal he's conveniently tossing onto the shoulders of the Rizzo's" I shook my head. I wanted this, but things are pretty up tight with all this looming mob war bullshit. This really isn't something we can fuck up.
And from what I hear...those bastards are goddamn crazy.
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Author's Note: Thoughts on Mia and Anthony?