"Don't get that piece of shit." Alessio said rudely.
I glanced up to the poor customer service representative and then back to Alessio. "Hon, it's fine." I said despite the fact that I was thoroughly humiliated.
He'd had a piss poor attitude from the very beginning of the day when I purposely woke up before him and took Donato on a jog alone and his scowl had become growing deeper the more time passed.
"What the hell are you going to do with 16 gigabytes?"
"I, uh, store photos?"
"You'd run out of memory in a month. Get a bigger one."
I rolled my eyes. "It's fine Alessio. I'll probably break it in a month anyway."
He snatched the phone from my hand abruptly. "Well of course you will it's a flimsy piece of shit." He snapped and threw it as hard as he could onto the ground shattering it.
"Alessio!" I gasped.
"Relax, I'll pay for it." He rolled his eyes.
Again, the customer service rep seemed baffled on what to do. Alessio turned his attention back to her and looked at her like she was insane. "What are you still doing here? Clean this up? Get your manager? Or get out of our hair." He snapped and she scurried away to retrieve a manager.
"Honestly Alessio." I scolded in a hushed voice. "Must you give the poor woman such a hard time?" I crouched on to the ground and began picking up pieces of the broken phone.
"She started it." He muttered in response. "She tried to sell you the cheapest piece of shit in the building."
"It's a cell phone not a Ferrari, it's fine."
"It's disrespectful."
"I don't need a big fancy indestructible phone. Just because you do doesn't mean the rest of us do too."
"When I'm the one buying the phone you do."
"Excuse me but I can pay for my own phone." I huffed.
He raised an eyebrow and I deflated a little.
"Well I could make payments." I muttered and turned away.
The manager approached us slowly. "I'm sorry folks, do we have a problem here?"
"Yes." Alessio snapped. "I came in here to get my girlfriend a good phone and your people keep handing me pieces of shit." He reached into his pocket and I was expecting him to pull out his gun but he brought his wallet out instead.
"Sir I'm sure you understand we appreciate your business but you simply cannot break the merchandise. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to pay for the phone you've broken."
"Or?" Alessio stopped just as his fingers brushed against his bank card. He'd had every intention of paying for the phone because he could but it had suddenly become a demand and he did not respond well to those.
The manager blanched slightly.
"Alessio please." I groaned. I was so ridiculously embarrassed.
"I'm just asking what would happen should I refuse."
"Well..." The manager said and took a step back. "We would have to involve the authorities sir."
"That's what I thought." Alessio drummed his fingers along the cards, clearly torn. If he paid for it now it would be a sign of submission. He didn't do submission.
"Please Alessio. I'll get whatever one you want, get the most expensive one, just don't make a scene."
"I'm not. We're having a friendly conversation." He glanced towards the manager and with narrowed eyes sneered sharply, "Aren't we?"
"I-I don't want any trouble sir." The manager stuttered.
That did it. Alessio's scowl suddenly turned to one of false friendliness as he pulled the card from his wallet and handed it to the manager. He'd won. "You heard the lady, the most expensive thing you've got."
"Uh, and the broken one sir?"
"Of course." The manager looked instantly relieved as he moved around to the register. "I expect a call when the new model comes out." Alessio added.
"Of course sir."
He leaned against the counter and turned to me with a pleased look. "See darling? This was no trouble at all. I don't know why you insist to make such a big deal out of everything." I rolled my eyes. "She'll take all of the accessories."
"All?"
"Did I stutter?"
"No sir."
Alessio turned back to me with a pleasant smile. I shook my head and turned away. He slid his arm around my waist and pulled me into him he gave me a light kiss on the cheek. "You know I love you."
"You're such an ass." I muttered and he released me.
"Women." He shrugged to the manager.
We left the store and Alessio took the phone from me immediately and made a phone call. "Ciao Roberto."
"Sure, help yourself." I muttered as we walked.
"Ho bisogno di un aggiornamento." He continued on while ignoring me completely. "Domani? Perfetto!" He hung up the phone and turned to me with a smile. "Great news, you'll have your phone tomorrow."
(I need an upgrade.) (Tomorrow?) (Perfect!)
"Silly me, I thought I had it today."
"Roberto needs to put the software on it."
"You mean the tracker." I said flatly.
"Among other things."
"I'm just tired, can we please go home and take a nap or something?" He was doing it on purpose I was sure. He took me to a dealership and made me come with him as he test drove four cars, then he took me to a surprise kick boxing class, followed by the cell phone store. He knew I was exhausted and he was pushing me to my limits today. I knew why too.
Matteo.
"It's not my fault you stayed up late and decided walking the dog was more important than your sleep."
I grumbled in response.
"We have to make another stop."
I groaned loudly and he had the nerve to chuckle at me.
"We need to get you a new gun, and no, it cannot wait until tomorrow. Don't worry, I have a guy."
"Can't your guy just pick one and bring it to me? Why does everything with you have to be such a big process?"
He shrugged with little interest and I sighed. I had really hoped to get a nap in before having to head back to the station for the evening news.
"Can you please just drop me off at work?"
"What?"
"Work. You know, that place that gives me money in exchange for-"
"Don't you think you should take a few days off." This should have been a question, but it sounded much more like a statement.
"I really can't afford to take off anymore work Alessio. I'm going to get fired."
"Let me take care of you."
"I like working."
"Katherine." He said with some sort of stern, almost fatherly tone. "You have finger prints along your neck."
"So I'll wear a turtle neck." He looked frustrated, probably from not getting his way. "It's not like I'm going I'm grabbing a shield and a sword and going into some medieval war, I'm going to work to sit behind a desk and look at a camera. I'll be fine."
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Happy Thursday readers!
If you direct your attention to the media of this you will find the trailer for book three! I apologize for the sound...my other trailers were made with a high quality movie editing software and unfortunately for me my trial ended and I was stuck using the window movie editor my laptop came with which in comparison to what I have been using is severely lacking. So somethings weren't working out the way the were supposed to, thus the choppy sound. Sad face, but I take what I can get.
Anyway, I DID actually start book three, well, not START. There are no chapters up, but I did create the book and upload the preview and the trailer to it as well. So you can go to my profile and find "Kissing The Moon Goodbye - A Midnight Mafia Novel" and add it to your library or reading list so you will get the notifications of when it is finally updated.
Chasing Stars should be finished early April, I will be taking a bit of time to go back and revise WTSGD and CS and then KTMGB will begin updating regularly end of April.
Don't forget to vote and comment (: