Oscar had a beautiful home. He had a lovely condo with heated hardwood floors running throughout the entire house, comfortable yet attractive furniture, a beautiful wife a son of almost eight and two daughters, one age two and the other maybe six months old and a shitzu. The yappy little shitzu had followed me around the house any time I moved barking and snapping at my ankle.
Annoying little shit.
To say I was surprised would be an understatement. I didn't envision Oscar or any of the guys to have such normal lives and who the hell would want to marry him anyway?
Granted when Oscar had run the casino and took to teaching me how to mix drinks I had thoroughly enjoyed his company. Now he was just some mafia man who encouraged Alessio to have some other woman grinding up on him.
Truth be told, I wouldn't care if Alessio had just gotten a lap dance. Honestly, I wouldn't unless it was something he did all the time. I know in some relationships it is a big deal, just like watching porn can be a deal breaker for some couples. It wouldn't bother me. If that was all that happened I would have been fine. The problem first off being that I didn't even know if that was all that happened. And the even bigger problem? The way he rubbed it in my face. The way he said he had her all night. If he had gotten a lap dance fine, cool, whatever, but to get a lap dance and tell me how amazingly gorgeous this girl was? With long dark hair and a body to die for? Me with my short blonde hair and the fact that I was a speed walker at best? Basically, I was comparing myself to this woman who I had no idea what she really looked like, what she did, or what had happened between her and Alessio.
Was she involved in the mafia? Was she Italian? A better shooter than I was? Did they have more in common? If he told her to do something would she roll over and do it? Was she everything I was not?
I would be lying, lying through my teeth if I said I thought Alessio and I were a good fit. Honestly, I loved him, and I wanted him to love me. But if anyone were to pick Alessio's perfect match I'm sure she wouldn't be some blonde journalist. She'd be Italian, she'd be involved, she'd be sexy as all hell. How was I to know that this woman who muttered Mister Genovese into his ear all night wasn't that exact woman? I had never been more jealous or felt more insecure than I did just now.
Even worse than that? He wanted to hurt me. That was the worst part. He, someone who was supposed to love me, went out with the sole intention of hurting me. You shouldn't ever want to hurt the person you love. I certainly did want to hurt him when Nash was scouting for my help. I was torn up, heartbroken over the idea and in the end I couldn't even do it because I loved him too much. Because I couldn't hurt him like that.
But Alessio was different. He wanted to hurt me. He came home and he rubbed my nose in it, and he enjoyed it. I knew he did. The way he brushed his thumb across my lip when talking about her speaking, the way he touched my short blonde hair when describing her long dark hair. Alessio came home specifically to tell me what he had done just to hurt me, to watch me squirm. That in itself was worse.
Don't even get me started on what went down once he was actually home. The whole night. Don't get me started, not unless you wanted even more tears. If I had any left that is.
It was nearing dinnertime and I was starting to get concerned. On one part Pietro had promised he would get me in the morning, if no one came for me did that mean he was dead? On the other hand what if Alessio woke up, remembered Nash and I in the bathroom and was so furious he decided he didn't want me to come back at all?
Oscar had been pretty frantic most of the day. Ushering his wife and kids out, calling in arrangements for a dog kennel "just in case" kissing up to me in every way he possibly could. He was pretty well convinced Alessio was going to shoot him, or that I was going to tell Alessio to shoot him in which case Alessio would shoot him. I had to hand it to him, at least he got his family out of here so they wouldn't have to see it if he did.
When a knock on the door finally sounded he paled and turned to face me. The bruises along his jaw and around his eyes looked even worse when he paled. His wife hadn't even asked him what happened or why I was crying on their couch all night with a bag of frozen peas to my hand.
I gave Oscar a lack luster stare from the couch, knees to my chest, still in my pajamas as I had been all day. It's not like I had had time to grab anything before we left anyway, what would I possibly change into.
After too long there was a second knock and he cursed. "Tell my kids I love them...and tell my wife I hated that damn little shit dog of hers."
I blinked unaffected and watched him stalk slowly over to the door. After muttering a quick prayer he opened the door.
It wasn't Alessio.
Pietro stood in the doorway looking pleasant as always wearing faded grey jeans and a plain black v-neck, on his face he wore a huge bruise on his jaw line going nearly to his cheek bone and a half smirk. "Ciao pasticcino." He said casually.
(hello cupcake)
I would be lying if I said I was surprised. I was fully expecting Alessio. "Pietro, your face-" I started and for the first time, minus a few short bathroom breaks, I stood up. I was stiff, moping didn't suit my body all that well.
"Come on a drive with me." He interrupted me without hesitation. I stared at him in disbelief and he held up a pink shopping bag. "I come baring gifts?"
My mouth parted and I stared blankly at him.
"It's just clothes." He said after a moment. When I was still silent he grinned. "I have a big greasy burger in the car, fully loaded, guaranteed to make you gain two pounds or your money back."
I glanced to the bag and then Pietro before nodding slowly. He tossed me the bag and I caught it with both arms and pressed it against my chest. As I stalked off to the bathroom I overheard Oscar and Pietro's brief encounter.
"Nice shiner." Pietro said in a harsh tone.
"Look who's talking...damn, he got you good."
"You know this is all your fault, right?"
"I didn't know, okay?"
I closed the bathroom door and pressed myself against it for a few seconds before opening the bag. Simple blue jeans a loose fitting sleeveless top and a pull over hoodie. Grey.
I dressed and slipped on the pair of flip flops from in the bag as well and came out just as Pietro was assuring Oscar that Alessio wasn't going to glue him to the stripper pole, after a moment he hesitated and added a probably. Both turned their full attention to me as I entered.
"Kate, again, I'm really, really sor-"
"I know." I interrupted him flatly.
"Have you eaten?" Pietro asked as he opened the door to let me out.
"Not hungry."
"Not buying it." He chuckled.
I followed him silently down the sidewalk and into an orange car I hadn't seen before. "You have a jag?"
He shrugged.
"Why don't you ever drive it?"
"We typically stick with the heavy cars."
"Oh."
He glanced to me as I put my seat belt on. "You know, bullet proof, guns loaded, fully tracked. The works."
"Of course. Where are we going?"
"Just a drive. No destination. They've always served to relax me."
We drove in silence for a few minutes and I appreciated it. I didn't want to talk about last night. I hadn't decided how I felt about last night yet. Shitty, sure, but otherwise I was still lost.
I was guilty for conspiring with Nash, angry with Alessio for spending time with another woman like that, depressed that he actually wanted to hurt me, ashamed at my body's betrayal, and so very very confused about what went down in the kitchen all together.
I was surprised Pietro had no qualms with me eating in the car. It was such a nice car, what if I got ketchup on the seats? Oscar had tried to get me to eat, offered me something of his wives to wear, was in full on kiss up mode but I had refused. Once I got into the car and Pietro handed me a burger with French fries, bacon, and mozzarella sticks on it, how could I refuse? I hadn't eaten since dinner the day before and admittedly...I was hungry.
We were silent for a very long time. Long enough that it grew to be almost natural. The atmosphere relaxed. Pietro sighed heavily after some time and I knew words would follow soon after. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine."
"Kate. I mean really, are you?"
I hesitated this time to consider this before shrugging. "The burger was good."
I watched Pietro, he kept his focus on the road, a nearly neutral expression, I wonder if Alessio taught him that one. "Did he hurt you?" His hands on the steering wheel tightened as if bracing himself for the answer.
"Alessio wouldn't hurt me." I didn't think, at least I hoped not.
Pietro's grip relaxed and he sighed. "I'd like to think not too Kate but, well let's just say you're lucky Siv called."
"Silvano called you?"
He nodded but still didn't look away from the road. "Yeah. He's never actually dealt with Alessio like that before. He wasn't stupid enough to stick around, but he was worried about you being upstairs. How'd you think I knew to get there?"
"I, well I hadn't really thought about it to be honest. You're just always there. I really didn't know..."
"I was at Stacey's. Siv called me, I called Oscar on my way over and he met me at the house."
"I'm sorry Pietro you shouldn't have had to interrupt your night like that."
He laughed. "You really think I'm more concerned about sneaking out of Stacey's in the middle of the night than Alessio potentially killing you or setting the house on fire?"
"Well." I flushed. "I don't know, you never get a night off. I just feel bad and I know how Stacey can get."
"I sent her a text after everything calmed down. Explained it was an emergency business thing."
"Does she believe you?"
He grinned. "Highly doubtful."
"I'll talk to her."
"It's fine."
"No, I'll talk to her. I owe you that. I'll tell her, or you can. You don't have to protect our reputation or anything like that. I tell Stacey everything." Well that was a bold faced lie. I kept a lot from Stacey. Everything about the mafia actually. Everything.
"I do. Protecting Alessio, his reputation, his investments, his life, it's what I do, and realistically, you are his investment and his life. If something happened to you, if Alessio hurt you, well I have no idea what he would do."
"He wouldn't hurt me."
"Kate." His tone was knowing, I pursed my lips. "I've known Alessio for a long time. I know how he is when he's drunk. He's put my head through a wall before. And I would dare to say before you came along, I was the most important person to him aside from his own mother."
If I hadn't seen Alessio take a swing at Pietro myself I wouldn't believe it. I understood he reacted harshly from time to time but to Pietro?
I looked down to my lap and fiddled with my hands. This conversation wasn't making me feel better. At all. "I did something wrong Pietro, so wrong." I muttered. He was respectfully silent, allowing me the opportunity to work myself up to telling him more. I looked up through my lashes to see his attention still on the road. "I'm sure you've heard he caught one the Bonanno men in his restaurant. With me. In the bathroom."
"If you've done something with him Kate, don't tell me. If you tell me I have to tell Alessio and if I tell Alessio you will get hurt."
"I didn't. I swear. But he was so mad. I don't blame him. Really, for acting the way he did. Matteo is just a friend but Alessio had every right to be angry but..." I chewed the inside of my cheek silently for a few seconds not wanting to admit this. "He scared me last night." I finally confessed.
"Me too." I lifted my head fully to look at Pietro in shock. "Kate Alessio loves you. You know that, don't you?" I nodded. "He loves you and I think the idea of you hurt would probably send him into a blind rage but there are things you don't understand about Alessio. He loves you, but Alessio isn't the kind of person you want to have drinks with. He keeps a lot in you know. All the time that is. He's seen a lot, been through a lot. He doesn't even laugh most of the time when he finds something funny, it's like he thinks showing any of that stuff is showing weakness, and showing weakness is opening him up to certain death. I know you may think you've been through a lot since you've met Alessio, and compared to a normal person maybe you have; but you haven't a clue the things Alessio has done or witnessed. I don't even know the extent... I think when he drinks everything he always keeps in sort of just snaps. He has a lot on his plate, all the time. And when he drinks he doesn't handle it. Not well, not at all."
"I see."
"He hurts people Kate. He's been raised to hurt people his whole life, it's what he knows. He's loyal to a fault but he doesn't understand the simple concept like having a deep conversation. We live in a world where if we want answers we beat it out of people. We don't ask, ever, we demand. Even with our own guys. People get hurt when Alessio is involved. It's all he knows."
"You think if you hadn't come-"
"I don't know. And that's what scares me. Alessio is pretty sporadic when he's drinking."
"I don't think he would have hurt me. Honestly Pietro."
"Do you think he would have stopped?" I felt color rising immediately to my cheeks. "You think I would have ripped him away from you like that if I wasn't concerned? I mean you know what I walked into, right?" I looked out the window my vision growing blurry. "He had you bent over half naked, you're crying and yelling at him not to touch you? You don't think that was a fȕcking concerning ass scene to walk into? Would he have stopped Kate?"
I blinked through tears and turned to face him again. I had no clue. "What did Alessio say?"
"Nothing. He's still asleep. He should be up in a few hours, he's usually out for about fifteen hours after a binge. Last night he wasn't much of a conversationalist."
Pietro and Alessio. They must have been through a lot together for Pietro to know him so well. I didn't answer. Well fell into silence again, though this time it was not relaxed nor comfortable. We were both stewing on less than pleasant thoughts.
Alessio would have stopped. I know it. I'd sent him mixed signals, had I actually been clear on the matter, if he really knew he would have stopped. No matter how drunk he was. He didn't hit me, despite being so furious, he insisted he hadn't cheated, despite wanting to. He would have stopped.
Just like I had pulled out at the last moment with Nash, just as he insisted he had walked away from the other woman, we would both always stop for each other. No matter how bad it would get, we would always stop.
"He loves you Kate. He's not great at this. Dating, he hasn't actually tried for any one in a long, very long, time. He tries with you. I know it might not always seem that way, but he tries."
"I love him too. Maybe I just haven't been trying hard enough." I sighed. "I could have given him the benefit of the doubt before. With all those police reports. I could have talked to him."
"You're right. You could have. In fact, you should have. Regardless of what you could have done better in the past, mixing Alessio with alcohol is not a risk I would suggest you take in the future. He's mean as hell when he's drunk and he doesn't normally care who he takes down when he blows. I think you are the one person he would not hurt, you are the person he feels most passionately about. But that also makes you to him, and he to you, that much more dangerous."
"How come when we were down under you said maybe two words to me and now you're spewing some Ghandi-like shit?"
Pietro's serious face broke suddenly and he grinned. "It's not that I didn't like you, it's just that my job was, and has always been, to protect Alessio. Down there you were just another girl."
"And now?"
"Like I said. My job has always been and will always be to protect Alessio. I don't believe anything could hurt Alessio more than you Kate. If you were hurt, it would kill him. So my job now is to protect Alessio and you."
"You know my job is to protect Stacey. So if you hurt her-"
"Alessio Is more than a job." Pietro continued blatantly ignoring me. "You are more than a job. And Stacey is much more than just a girl. I can promise you all of that."
"We should talk like this more often."
"We should."
"Does he remember everything from when he was drunk?"
Pietro considered this for a few moments. "You know, I'm not actually sure. The first time he was drunk he purposely drove the car into a brick wall."
"Oh my God. Is that why you always drive?"
"No." He laughed. "I drove back then too but he was pretty insistent on driving himself. I think he only did it because his father was in the front seat beside him. Anyway, when he got up the next day he got up, got dressed and went, in the busted car, to get some breakfast. He acted like he hadn't even noticed. The morning after he put my head through a wall." He ran a finger up his nose. "My nose was broken and I had two of the blackest eyes you'd ever seen and my head was still matted with blood. He sat down across from me, asked me if I'd like a cup of coffee too and began reading the paper."
"Wow."
He laughed again and I realized I'd very rarely heard Pietro laugh before. "Wow indeed. You could ask him, but don't expect any answers. Social communications and admitting his faults are generally not his strengths."
I hadn't been paying attention to where we were as we had been driving so when Pietro pulled in in front of the house I was surprised. I was feeling emotionally spent and my stomach tightened with nervousness. I wasn't sure if Alessio should forgive me for Nash, nor if I should forgive him or even the extent of what I had to forgive. We had so many problems to work though. But like Pietro said. We should talk.
"Does your cheek hurt?" I asked while watching the house.
"I've had worse."
I nodded and after a few more seconds of staring the house down opened the car door and began the journey up the walkway to the house, my chest thumping insanely on every step.
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Dun, dun, dunnnn.
I kinda like this chapter because we actually really DON'T get a lot of Pietro. He's almost always there, but always in the background. So it's nice to see and hear a little more from our favorite bodyguard/cousin/bff.
Now more Alessio in the next chapter and God willing, he'll be sober.
Just out of curiosity where are my Philadelphia Eagles fans at? (American) football is back and I'd honestly just like to know who my readers are rooting for.
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