Last night was hectic. Aaron and I got back home at around 1AM with the money and satisfaction of nothing going wrong. I ended up not texting Taylor and falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Today my dad organized a celebration for Aaron for going and succeeding on his first mission, starting his body count with two people in their first time when most kids that debut with their first mission barely shoot with good aim. That's my brother, I'm proud. I know it sounds awful when you celebrate a murderer. It is what it is... I'm still trying to figure out how things work in the mafia world but one thing I have clear is that we're all murderers and there's no sugar coated word to describe it.
"Hey, Cam." Bailee, my brother's girlfriend greets me as she walks into the kitchen where my mom is making desert for tonight.
"Hey, Bails, how are you doing?" I ask her, giving her a side hug.
"I'm good, happy for Aaron." She smiles and I return it. Bailee has always been supportive of my brothers and I. Does she know about the business? Yes, she does. After a year and a few months of dating, my brother decided it was best for her to know since there were days, weeks and months where they'd hardly see each other and he couldn't tell her we were in London dealing with drug cartels that try to intercept our shipment to Russia and he sure as hell couldn't tell her the amount of people we killed in the process. Of course she started suspecting about him having an affair and they almost break up because of that and he loves her so much that he had to sit her down one day she came over and reveal everything.
You'd think it was stupid of my brother to bring her into this life so soon but when I tell you this girl is the one for him, she is. A couple months ago we had an initiation meeting where she swore on her position on this mafia and to be loyal no matter how hard the circumstances get. Bailee turned out to be smart, a quick thinker, and very helpful with strategies. It's safe to say Dad is proud of my brother for being with such a lady.
I walk into my room closing the door behind me and lying on my bed enjoying a moment of peace before associates come into the house and disrupt the place with money heist talks, drugs, guns and cars. Also inappropriate, highly detailed talks about sex and how much they enjoy Roy's strip club with A-List hookers and proudly admitting on cheating on their wives.
Taking my phone from my nightstand, I open Imessage and finally text Taylor.
Cameron: Hello there, did I take too long to text you?
I lock my phone and put it over my chest waiting for a reply. My eyelids start to close slowly as I let myself drift off before my phone vibrates startling me completely.
Taylor Marie: I was about to give up on getting your text lol
I smile at her reply and decide to talk a little more.
Cameron: would you believe me if I told you I thought of texting you all day yesterday?
Taylor Marie: do ladies believe you?
Cameron: Mostly :)
Tayor Marie: good try hahaha
Cameron: what are you up to?
Taylor Marie: nothing, just having a coffee
Taylor Marie: what about you?
Cameron: you're working late today?
Cameron: and nothing much, relaxing a little before people barge into my house for a party
Taylor Marie: yeah, I work until 8 today :(
Taylor Marie: oooh a party? care to invite me?
Cameron: do you have a ride home?
Cameron: lol I wish I could invite you, it's mostly my parents' friends and my little brother's friends too
Taylor Marie: sounds fun! how old is your brother? it can't be that bad
Taylor Marie: yeah, the bus lol why?
Cameron: he's 18
Cameron: I can pick you up if you want. I know that part of town is quite dangerous after 7 and especially in autumn where the sun goes down at 6
Taylor Marie: don't you have a party to attend?
Cameron: they're coming at 9:30 and I'm not exactly the best host hahah
Taylor Marie: okay I'll take you up on that offer then, it's about to rain and I didn't bring my umbrella
Taylor Marie: see you at 8, my break is over and there's a lot of tables to get
Cameron: see ya
I put my phone down and decide to get in the shower. It's only 6:30 so I have time before I have to pick her up. I wish I could invite her tonight but if anything happens it will not only be a huge mess but also the fact that her life could be at risk. If anyone who's not from our community sees any type of crime or hears any kind of information they shouldn't have, they are most likely dead on the spot. I've seen my dad and he hardly ever likes to negotiate. I lost a friend by making that mistake once.
I'm in only my boxers about to get into the bathroom, water already running in the shower, when somebody knocks on my door. Peaking my head out of the room, Charlotte, my ex, is standing there with a smile on her face.
"Hello there." She says trying to push the door open to let herself into my room.
"Hello. Can I helpyou?" I say not letting her in. The smile on her face washes away and crossesher arms over her chest.
"Seriously?" She scoffs.
"I'm about to get into the shower and I'm wasting water by every second I speak to you so please, what do you need?" I try to sound as polite as possible.
"Just wanna catch up with my favorite Holland brother." She says and now it's my turn to scoff.
"Not interested, Turner." I say and shut the door, locking it too in case she decides to pull any funny business. We didn't exactly end it on good terms, both of us did things to upset each other until it turned painful to even be around each other and since I couldn't stand it anymore, I had the balls to actually speak first and end it. Thinking back on that day, she was so mad at me she pointed her gun at my foot and threatened to shoot me...yeah, it wasn't a good, healthy relationship at all.
After a comfortable, steamy thirty minute shower I step out and get changed. I slip on my boxers and black jeans and then choose a decent long sleeved shirt but not that formal since it's just people we all know, not a gala. Grabbing the pair of black, shiny shoes and put them on so I can check out my outfit on the mirror. The clock reads 7:25, I'm supposed to leave in 5 minutes tops and be able to make it early enough for her to not wait alone in the dark so I grab my cologne and spray some on my neck, chest and wrists, I'm a man that likes to smell good and if I ever forget about wearing cologne I hate it.
Walking down the stairs I notice my brothers with their...girlfriends? Aaron has a girlfriend?
"Hello," I appear behind my brother startling the girl beside him and him. He lets out a dry laugh and rolls his eyes. "I'm Cam, Aaron's brother."
"Kayla." She smiles and shakes my hand, taking that chance to stare at me up and down giving me a subtle smirk. Yup, it's not my brother's girl.
"Son, come meet Nicholas." My father says and I comply. This guy, Nicholas, is as tall as I am, blonde hair, green eyes and you can easily tell he is big on working out. "He's now been assigned to your team, starts on Monday."
"Hey man, how's it going?" I greet him and exchange a few words before heading out the door. The time on my phone reads 7:35 so I'm still on time, sadly no texts from Taylor yet so I assume she's still working or getting ready to get clock out.
"Where are you headed?" I hear Charlotte's distinctive voice and completely ignore her as I get in the car. "If you don't tell me where you're going, I'll follow you."
"Can you fucking stop? Don't mess with me today." I plead in an intimidating tone. She rolls her eyes and doesn't step away from the car. "Really, Char, stop it."
"Fine, just take care." She says and I start pulling out of my driveway slowly only to check she walks inside. Once she's in I text Marcus to keep an eye on her and not follow me to which he responds he will but I have to hurry before guests get here. After a short drive I reach Little Italia where Taylor is turned to the door closing up as I stop the car.
When she sees me her face lights up as it's starting to rain and it's cold as hell, not to mention I forgot to bring a coat. Taylor almost runs inside the car and the moment she's in she looks at me and reaches her hand to squeeze my arm gently. "Thank you for this." She smiles.
"No problem." I say and continue to drive off. "How was work?"
"Huh?" She looks over at me with an amused expression on her face.
"Just trying to make conversation! I'm not an Uber but if you want a 'no speak' option I guess I can take it." I joke and she laughs. Great, it's not that awkward then.
"I hate silent rides." She admits and then talks again. "The day was pretty good, honestly. Many people came and Miss Scaglianno was very happy."
"Miss Scaglianno was there today?!" My voice becomes a little higher. "I love that woman, she's the sweetest."
"I know, right?! You should've seen the joy in her face as people walked in and greeted her. Especially students that finish study hall early and pass by." I notice the little wrinkles on her eyes as the smile on her face becomes all I see when she talks about Miss Scaglianno.
That woman was there five years ago when I first set foot into that bakery – slash- coffee shop and instantly knew I was not a New York native. She would make conversation all the time when she saw me finish my essays after spending all morning sitting in the corner booth and also gave me a couple of free lattes with a special cake she only baked for me until I told her to sell it since I thought it would be her most successful product, or at least one of them. Two years later I came all bruised up to the shop to get a coffee and a muffin and she got really worried but not scared. I didn't want to tell her that I was just beat up by my dad's rival mafia's son and his boys so I tried lying until Miss Scaglianno revealed to me that her husband used to be in the Italian mafia until he had to retire due to health complications and, of course, old age. I found that impressive since she's such a sweetheart and the mafia world is so nasty.
"I haven't seen her in like a month, I miss her." I say and Taylor nods.
"She got very sick so that's why she hadn't been coming to the store. I offered to stay in charge until she got better." She says, a hint of pity in her voice.
"Why? Was it the flu or something?" I ask and she just shakes her head.
"She was diagnosed with cancer three months ago and didn't tell anyone so last month when she started chemo she said she'd be absent for a while until she felt well enough to be at the store again." A pang of guilt and a rush of sadness suddenly hit me and I cannot hide it. "Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah...I'm just shocked. I could've thought of anything other than cancer." I say.
"Me too but she's a fighter! Also very optimistic, you should come one day and see her." Taylor offers.
"I would love thatvery much." I give her a shy smile as I stop my car on her street. "Which oneis your house?" I ask looking at the houses in front of Charlie's house. All ofthem are huge and really beautiful, blend in just right with the neighborhood.
"That one with the Range Rover outside." She says pointing to the gated, beige colored house. The illumination outside is the exact same system I have been begging my dad to put on our front yard but he refuses saying it would make our house too "welcome-y" to people. "Thank you so much, Cameron."
"Anytime." I smile as she closes the door. I look down at my phone while I wait for her to go in but a knock on my window startles me. It's her so I roll the window down. "Is everything okay?"
"What are you doing tomorrow?" She asks and I try my hardest not to show any emotion on my face.
"I train in the mornings but I'm free the rest of the day. What are your plans?" She bites her lips briefly and my eyes take in that image. What a fucking gorgeous woman.
"My parents will be out of town until Tuesday and my sister is practically living at your best friend's house so I was thinking snacks and a Brooklyn 99 marathon. What do you think?" She smiles causing me to do it too.
"Text me your favorite snacks and I'll bring them." I tell her and she nods, waving goodbye and running into her house trying to not get soaked because of the rain. "Damn..." I laugh and start the drive home. It's already 9 so I'll be a little late, nobody will mind since I'm not the one being celebrated.
Walking inside my house I see the living room empty so I assume they're already in the dining room gathered together. Mom is going to kill me if I arrive and they're toasting for Aaron. See, I have a tendency to being late to these types of family celebrations unless it is for me...sometimes even if it is for me, I'm late, and my mom dislikes it so much because is disrespectful to the guests. To me, guests can suck it. The party for my brother will last as long as people finish their dinner, then when music comes and the youngest of the mafia are asleep in rooms around the house, everyone starts drinking, dancing and talking about business forgetting about my brother completely. It's not that bad though since you have time to be on your own, nobody is onto you and you can do whatever you want. That's how I lost my virginity.
"Oh- there's my son! Just in time." Mom says as I shyly make my way to the table full of guests, their plates already have the appetizer on them. Laila must have had all her chefs working tonight, you hardly ever see appetizers, wine and the amount of snacks and desserts that are on the table against the wall. My mom made a chocolate mousse but it doesn't compare to all the things the cooks prepared for tonight.
"Do you know if the bartender was hired for tonight?" I hear my brother ask me as dad gives the 'proud father' speech.
"Yeah, he is. He texted me a couple hours ago asking me if he could bring weed or not." I tell Marcus and he smiles. Marc and I buy weed from him whenever he tells us he's selling on a weekend when we go out. Theo's weed is great so in exchange for weed, we give him coke from dad's associates, who give him a certain amount per month, to sell too and make more profit; it's a little deal we made with him and him only. Our dad doesn't know about it but after Theo makes his profit off of the coke, he gives us a thirty percent of the money because, since coke is more expensive than weed, money has to come from somewhere. Also if our dad finds out it's only that small percentage he'll cut heads and Marcus and I don't want to tell him we smoke weed or else he'll start a plantation and that involves more agreements and bribes to the police and several other authorities.
"As soon as this shit starts, we get it and leave." He says and I frown.
"Leave? What about Bailee?" I ask confused.
"I'll drop her off at her place so we can go smoke."
"Did you guys fight?"
"Yeah, before dinner." Marcus admits and I raise my eyebrows. "I'll tell you later, okay? How did it go with the barista?" He asks referring to Taylor.
"Oh shut up." I chuckle. "Her parents are away for the weekend so she told me to come over tomorrow."
"Damn...she wastes no time, little bro." We both laugh.
"She said we'd watch Brooklyn 99 and eat snacks, I dig that plan." I smile thinking back to a few hours ago when she asked me to.
"By eating snacks she meant your dick, you know that, right?" He chokes on his laugh and makes me burst into a fit of laughter causing some guests to look at us. Nosey assholes.
"Not everyone is like that. I'm not going to go with my mind set on having sex because if it doesn't happen I'll feel like an idiot." I tell him and he nods.
"Fair enough. All jokes aside, though, take condoms with you." He warns and I roll my eyes. "Bitch, you may be twenty three but you're still my little brother."
"I know, I know." I grin and my phone vibrates in my pocket. I check the text and it's Theo telling me he's outside, if we want the weed now or later, I reply 'now' and tell my brother before sneakily standing up while everyone's eating the main dish and meet our friend outside.
***
"So, you think she's cheating?" I ask my brother as I smoke. We decided to go to our neighborhood's private park since it stopped raining to be in peace and quiet, also knowing that everybody else is already drunk and partying.
"Yup." He replies. "Last month when we were in bed, she was asleep on my chest and her phone rested on my stomach. It was around four in the morning when an instagram notification pops up and it's a dude named Alex and the text said 'hope you're not asleep but if you are, sleep tight princess'." He quotes the text in a mocking voice, clearly pissed off.
"And you confronted her about it?" I ask, passing him the blunt.
"No, I wanted to believe it was just that one time or maybe just a friend but after observing her behavior around me when she was on her phone made me feel one thousand times more aware." He tells me and shakes his head in disappointment.
"Please tell me you didn't tell Paco." Paco is our private investigator, he finds everything and anything about whoever we tell him to. I once used it on a teacher and other time on my ex-girlfriend although he refused after I asked to track the guy she was cheating on me with because there's a moral code that specifies that if there's no urgent or highly risky situation, we do not investigate members of the mafia so I never knew which guy on my team she cheated on me with.
"I did. I had to." Marc shrugs. "She's part of our family but this is a potential betrayal, I won't risk my family to a dude named 'Alex'." He lightens up with a joke making me laugh.
"Oh boy...what did he find?" I ask in concern, giving the blunt a last drag before tossing the filter.
"She's been fucking Alex for over two months, met five months ago and not too long ago Paco told me she had a pregnancy scare and she knew it wouldn't be mine." Marc huffs and anger takes over my features.
"What a fucking bitch." I shake my head.
"I told her tonight that I knew everything and she started playing the victim." He sounds defeated, not even angry or annoyed anymore. "I never loved anyone like I loved her, I brought her into this world!"
"I know..." I say and I hug him, feeling his tears on my shoulder.
"I had to tell dad and he says I should come to an agreement or kill her." My brother sobs and I pull away to face him.
"I offer to do the haunting if you can't take it." I tell him and he cracks a smile.
"If she doesn't want to shut up then yes, I'll tell you to...as much as it fucking hurts." He says. "Let's get our asses home, I want to drink and forget."
"Wait, we have to take the cars-"
"You're so lightheaded right now that if I let you drive three meters down the street you'll crash it and I don't feel like giving dad any explanation of why we're high." Marcus scolds me sarcastically and I nod without saying anything else as we make our way home. It is safe to say we're going to get very wasted tonight.