C A T A L I N A
"The phrase, 'ignore it and it'll go away' doesn't work when you have a dozen cops on your ass because you lit a building on fire." Paolo came stumbling into the living room gasping for air.
"You lit a building on fire? No way!" The three other men in the room remained calm and unfazed, as if this were an everyday thing.
"It was," he panted, "for a good cause."
"Did anybody get hurt?"
"No, it was empty." I handed him a cold water bottle and he threw the cap off and poured the water all over himself, making himself choke on the contents inside the bottle.
I slapped Paolo's back a couple of times so that he'd stop choking on the water.
"Thanks, sweets. I got a piercing on my dick, y'all wanna see?"
Everyone in the room cringed and groaned in annoyance at Paolo.
"Shut the fuck up."
"Nobody wants to see that shit."
"For fucks sake, Paolo."
All three of them attacked Paolo in a chorus.
"Can I see?" The three men shot straight up to their feet at my request. Marco came up behind me and covered my eyes, though I could see between the gaps. Lorenzo pushed Paolo away from me with the shake of his head. And Rocco stood in front of me protectively, blocking me away from Paolo.
"Fuck no," Lorenzo grumbled at Paolo, making him zip up his pants.
"What's the big deal?" It was only a piercing, why were they getting so protective?
"Love, you're too innocent," Marco chuckled at me.
As I took a seat back on the floor to continue my card game with Marco, I frowned at the fact that they wouldn't let me see Paolo's new piercing. He seemed so excited about it, I bet he was sad that nobody wanted to see it.
Marco and I continued playing our card game until I won. I had my suspicions that he let me win since it seemed all too easy. Though, a win is a win and I'll take what I can get.
"Ha! Sucker," I blew raspberries at Marco and threw the deck of cards in my hands at him like it was money.
"What can I say, you're too good." He put his hands up in the air and accepted his defeat. I ended up feeling bad for him, he has such a kind heart, I should have let him win instead.
"Can we play again, please?" This time, I was going to let him win.
Marco's attention suddenly shifted onto the abundance of notifications coming from his phone. With guilty eyes, his face fell. "I'm sorry, love, I gotta go." He opted for a smile instead on a forehead kiss this time and I silently thanked him in my head for that.
I looked around the thoughtfully decorated living room that had accents of gold flickering around everywhere, it was beautiful. Donna did a great job decorating this place. I wonder what it would have been like to grow up in a place like this. Did all three of them grow up together? Were they showered with love? I barely knew anything about all of them.
Now that Marco was gone, and Rocco and Paolo were too busy fighting each other in the living room, that left Lorenzo.
Shortcake.
Ever since the day we went to the park, which was the best day of my life, he stopped talking to me as much.
Numerous times, I tried to get him to speak to me but he didn't budge. It was as though he was back to how he was when I first came here.
Meanie.
I shouldn't take it personally, he clearly has a very heavy and intense work life that I have no doubt affects him personally.
"Enzo," I knocked on the door of the main office, "Can I come in?" My voice wobbled a bit, I was slightly scared that he would start yelling at me or hurt me like how he did with my wrist. And although he didn't intentionally hurt me, I couldn't control my sudden need to be cautious around him.
Shortcake would never hurt me intentionally, I know that, he's a sweet guy. Our friendship might be on a rocky road right now but I won't stop until I fix it.
"Hm?" He kept his eyes fixated on his laptop as he typed away at the keys with a rapid speed.
"Hi," I smile.
His grass green eyes flickered up to mine, completely emotionless. I soon realized that I was staring at him and he could see me. I don't know why I thought I was invisible.
With hesitance in my step, I walked my way over to Lorenzo's desk and reached my fist over to his, nudging his hand with mine ever so slightly.
He finally gave in with an annoyed bump to my fist and I grinned at the man with victory. We were still friends. We were okay.
Content with our achievement, I walked out of the office and went up to my room.
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"Eat." Rocco threw a Nutella sandwich at me as we walked into an SUV.
"For me?" I pointed to myself, surprised that he took the time to make a sandwich.
"Who else?" He hopped in the back seat next to me and signaled for the driver to start driving.
I wiped at my eyes with the back of my hand to stop any tears from running down my face. Rocco was so sweet.
"Are we going to get ice cream?"
"It's December, like hell i'm going to freeze my ass over to get some ice cream." It's never too cold for ice cream but I decided to stop annoying Rocco with my constant chatter and instead, look outside onto the busy road.
Laughter accidentally spilled out of me when I realized how silly I probably looked. I was staring outside the window with a sullen expression, pretending to be in a sad movie as my finger brushed the rain droplets that were streaming down the window.
When my laughter died down and Rocco stopped looking at me like I had grown two heads, I drew a bunch of hearts on the fogged up glass.
Rocco helped me out of the car because the drop was apparently 'too high.' I thought I could get down just fine with a little jump but he said that Lorenzo would shoot off his... thingy if anything happened to me.
"Why are we in a gym?" I looked around the place and there were punching bags, a bunch of mats placed on the ground, and all kinds of workout equipment supplying the gigantic room.
"Because we're going to get you in shape." Rocco swiftly took off his shirt to reveal eight buns placed on his abs.
Whoa.
"Am I not a good shape?" I looked at him, frowning as I grabbed my stomach through my hoodie. I know I don't have the best body but it works perfectly fine. My legs help me go places, my arms help me feed myself, my stomach protects my organs, and my girls protect my heart.
Barely though. They're so small. Not that i'm complaining, I think they look like little Hershey's kisses.
He looked uncomfortable with my question. I could tell by the way he was awkwardly scratching his neck and how his eyebrows raised in surprise.
"There's nothing wrong with how you look. We're getting you stronger." Lorenzo came walking into the room shirtless. The sweat on his body made it glisten, he looked like he was glowing. I tried my best to keep my eyes off the complex tattoos on his body, but I never allowed myself to fully soak them in. There were symbols, numbers, words, and unique looking patterns marking his body.
So epic.
"Fellas, fellas." I held my hands up, "Did we forget that i'm a top class assassin? Need I remind you of my deadly skills?"
"Have I told you how much I look forward to seeing you everyday? I swear, she's so fucking entertaining." I blushed at Rocco's compliment and I didn't know what to say. I'd never been told things like this and the fact that somebody looked forward to seeing me made my heart happy.
"Ah! Fuck." I looked over back the boys, still hiding my blush between the sleeves of my hoodie, and saw that Lorenzo was holding Rocco down with the weight of his body.
I ended up having to watch the both of them perform a series of different scenarios on how to defend yourself. And now, it was my turn to fight them.
"But I'm wearing a skirt," I frowned.
Lorenzo walked over to me, pushing Rocco away, and put his hands at the bottom of my skirt.
"Whoa, brutha, i'm not fighting him commando." Did he seriously want me to fight them naked?!
Such a weird guy.
Sighing, he brushed a hand through his chestnut brown hair. "I'm- what? No." Poor Lorenzo, he seemed at a loss for words. "I'm pulling your skirt down, now come." I followed him into a closet and shut the door behind me.
"Don't you think Rocco is lonely out there all alone? We should invite him in."
"No." He cut me off with irritation and threw a pair of black basketball shorts at my face.
He continued staring at me with a hard set expression and I grew increasingly uncomfortable with the tension.
When I realized he wasn't going to turn around so that I could change, I waddled behind his ginormous frame.
"Don't turn around." With that, I pulled my skirt down and threw on the pair of basketball shorts he gave me.
With a tap on his back, I let Lorenzo know that I had finished changing. The shorts went below my knees by an inch and I bet I looked silly.
Lorenzo looked like he was hiding back a laugh and although It made me feel insecure, i'm glad that he's at least close to laughing. This man barely ever shows any emotion so it making fun of me will get him to feel better, then that's okay.
Opening the closet door for Lorenzo, I let him walk out first before I followed behind him.
"Where is Catalina?"
"Right here!" I popped up behind Lorenzo's back and gave Rocco a wave.
When his eyes raked over what I was wearing, he broke out in a fit of chuckles and clutched his stomach.
Did I look that bad?
I smiled at Rocco because his laugh was absolutely adorable, it was too hard not to laugh with him.
The both of us walked over to one of the thick mats and got into our starting position: Slightly bent knees, legs shoulder-width apart, and fists guarding your face.
Lorenzo said he would watch us and then we'd go off from there.
Rocco was the first to throw a punch and I swiftly dodged it by ducking under his arm. We ended up doing this back and forth until he actually punched me straight in the jaw.
"Rude," I laughed while I clenched and unclenched my jaw.
Disappointed with myself, I quickly dodged another one of his punches and aimed for his hard stomach. This didn't cause much damage to him... unfortunately. I was kind of hoping he'd end up falling and gasping for air. Maybe even injuring him to the point where he needed to be taken to the emergency room.
Just kidding.
Suddenly, I was tackled to the ground as a heavy body plastered me to the mat.
"Oh, you're so fat, I can't breathe!" I tried to slam my head with Roccos, but so ended up causing much more damage to myself than him. I could already feel the throbbing headache that was going to settle in.
When Rocco lightened his weight on me, I used this as an advantage to slip under him and hop on his back, straddling him. My elbow hooked around his neck and I put him into a light choke hold.
"Tap out, buttercup."
"Never," he laughed. If he didn't want to accept his defeat then i'd gladly stay in this position all day until he decided to tap out.
I unraveled my arm from his neck and criss-cross-apple-sauced my legs on his back so that I was sitting on him.
A weird growl came from the back of Lorenzo's throat, making my attention fix on him. When his body stalked towards mine, I looked up at him curiously. Was he alright?
Lorenzo put his warm hands on my waist, making the area warm up immediately, and lifted me off of Rocco's body.
His touched always elicited the weirdest feeling out of me.
Whenever Lorenzo touched me, it felt like I was eating a bunch of fresh, homemade, and warm chocolate chip cookies.
"Come on," Lorenzo smirked. He flicked his fingers towards himself before forming fists and lightly shielding his face with them.
Gulping, I pulled up the shorts that were beginning to slip off my hips. He wanted to fight and I was intimidated. Lorenzo was too big for me, there was no way i'd be able to take him.
"I won't go easy on you." The grin on his face made me feel like I had elephants stomping around in my stomach.
Without warning, I was already knocked down onto the ground with a quick swipe at my feet.
The sight of Lorenzo's about to hold me down made me roll over on my stomach and hastily jump up to my feet.
He laid himself on the ground and put an arm behind his head, making his muscles bulge.
What is he doing? I thought we were fighting.
Before I knew it, I tripped over Lorenzo's leg and fell on top of him, making a loud 'oomph' sound as our bodies made contact.
This is my chance.
To kill him.
Bad Cat. No.
Grabbing his wrists, I pinned them to above his head and held his body down with my weight that was sitting on him.
"I win!" I giddily smiled at him, flashing my teeth.
Lorenzo's hands eased out of my grip and he flipped us over. Now, his hands were pinning mine above my head.
"I'm still in the room, you fuckers." Rocco began to blast some music so loud that I couldn't hear our heavy breaths anymore.
Lorenzo stood up and held out a hand to me. Gladly, I took his hand and he pulled me up with so much force that I bumped into his chest.
"Wow," I said, groaning.
This caused him to hold me at arms length as his eyes scanned me for any injuries.
My eyes nearly dropped out of their sockets when they had told me that I wasn't done with today's training.
We spent at least two more hours working with me improving my strength and working on boxing along with proper technique.
Although it was definitely physically draining, I was glad that I had the opportunity to be able to work on myself, physically, with people who knew what they were doing.
Working out with them was definitely not only going to make me stronger physically, but also mentally and I was looking forward to that.
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"Shortcake, did you eat?" I had to make sure this man was doing healthy things for himself, I barely ever saw him eat.
I asked my question whilst limping my way toward Lorenzo to catch up with him.
"No." He stopped walking and waited for me to catch up.
When I caught up to him, I looked up at him through hooded, tired eyes, and smiled. "Do you want anything?" Even though I felt like I could pass out at any given minute, he needed to eat.
"No." Lorenzo poked my dimple whilst mumbling a quiet, 'dimple' to himself as if he just figured out I had one.
"I think i'll just accept my death right now, you go on without me soldier." I ushered him away with the flick of my wrist as I allowed my body to slump onto the driveway of the mansion.
I heard him let out a defeated sigh before I felt a pair of strong arms lift me from the ground and into a warm chest.
"At my funeral, if you see anyone I hate, make sure you beat them up, it's what i'd want. It's my dying wish." I made a 'bleh' sound and let the strong man carry me into Donna's house.
Donna is Marco's mother and she had invited us over for dinner. I was quite nervous to meet her.
"You don't hate anyone," he grumbled, reminding me.
He's right, I don't hate anyone. But I only said that for a dramatic effect to my slowly dying body.
Lorenzo smelt so good, I was trying hard to control myself from inhaling his addictive scent.
Just once.
Do it.
Leaning forward, I let the freezing December breeze blow the scent of his cologne towards my nose.
Satisfaction.
"You can put me down now, i'm good." I got what I needed.
Lorenzo didn't end up setting me down until we reached the inside of the house safe and sound. I could tell that there was a deep blush burning my face from how hot it felt. Being carried by him without feeling like I was in danger just felt so...intimate. At least for me. My body usually perceived most physical contact as a threat and the fact that I didn't react negatively in his hold confused me.
When we walked through the house Donna said that food was ready and she wanted all of us at the main table.
Taking a seat on the empty table, I felt my mouth water at how much food there was. There was tomato soup, salad, rice, and ravioli. A couple of chefs went back and forth placing even more food on the table, it was surprising that they had made all this when there were only a couple of people.
Donna finally came and took a seat across me at the table with a smile. "Lorenzo is on a phone call." I didn't know what to say so I simply remained quiet, which is unlike me.
"I want you to remember that he is killer and a weapon, don't forget that. Lorenzo ruins everything he touches, he's cursed. Be careful with him, okay?" Her sudden comment about Lorenzo made me stiffen and lose my appetite. Why would she say that?
"I- I'm sorry, I don't understand why you're-"
"The food is delicious, no?" Donna cut me off when Lorenzo came walking into the room. Unease washed over me when he took a seat right next to me. I felt like I was betraying him and I didn't even say anything.
Even though I felt like I was growing even more nauseous by the moment, it would be rude if I didn't eat the food on my plate. I didn't want to give off a bad impression and look unappreciative of the food that was clearly made with a lot of thought and effort.
Silence filled the room and it was getting even awkward when there were only three of us sitting by the table.
The doorbell suddenly rang, making me drop my fork onto my plate. I apologized for the disturbance I caused and Donna gave me a smile as she excused herself to go open the door.
Neither of us talked to each other and I couldn't make myself start conversation like usual because of what Donna said to me earlier.
When I saw a group of men and women dressed in lavish, formal clothing walk into the room behind Donna, my palms began to sweat and my heart picked up in my chest.
I didn't prepare myself to be around this many people.
What if one of them pulled a gun on me?
What if they're with uncle Finn?
What if he sent them here?
I could feel Lorenzo stiffen beside me and it made me wonder why it seemed like he had an issue with these people.
Everyone's eyes soon fixed on me and Lorenzo. I didn't know what to do now that the chatter between them settled down and the attention was on us.
I was about to get up so that I could greet them but Lorenzo pulled me back by my upper arm. Confused, I turned to face him and saw him lighten his hold on me as he shook his head no.
Soon, everybody took a seat by the rectangular table and whatever I had left of my appetite ran out the window.
"What's this doing here?" A bald man that looked like he served ice cream from an ice cream truck for a living spoke at me with clear distaste.
"Are you pregnant? That's the only reason he'd keep her."
"Probably an escort he felt bad for."
"Look at what she's wearing."
Everybody began to speak about me in not so kind ways and i'd be lying if I said It didn't hurt. Because it did, like a butt cheek on a stick.
They even went as far as switching from Italian to english so that i'd know what they were saying.
"Se tu avessi un po' di rispetto per me non parleresti di lei in questo modo," Lorenzo calmly interrupted them through gritted teeth.
If you had any respect for me you wouldn't be speaking about her this way.
When nobody said anything, he chuckled dryly, "Patetico. Se lei non fosse qui, vi pianterei una pallottola in testa."
Pathetic. If she wasn't here i'd put a bullet through all of you.
The tension in the room raised ten stages. I was sweating balls. Fat ones.
I kept my head down as I played with the food on my plate that I had yet to eat. This poor family of food was going to go uneaten.
Not knowing what to do with the anger that was radiating off of everybody in the room, I dropped my knife onto the ground so that I could have an excuse to do something.
At this, Lorenzo and I both leaned down below the table at the same time.
Surprised that he actually wanted to help me, I looked up at Lorenzo whilst we were still below the table. Our eyes locked into each other and I tried to ignore how his eyes kept flickering between my lips and eyes.
Do I have something on my face?
We were still under the table and i'm sure this was growing suspicious, so without warning, I flicked my fingers at Lorenzo Adam's apple to make him stop staring at me.
"I think I actually hate you," he lightly chuckled. I didn't ignore the fact that he said that with a playful tone, it was unlike him.
"Did you just confess your undying profound love for me?"
Lorenzo rolled his eyes at my comment and picked up my knife.
What a diva.
As we got back up, the both of our heads hit each other, making me let out a quiet groan which was followed by a laugh.
"Good?" Lorenzo asked me as his eyes flashed with guilt.
"Super." I gave him a thumbs up.
When I took my focus away from Lorenzo, I felt unease wash over me when everybody still had their eyes on us. With an irritated inhale, Lorenzo pushed his chair back and got up.
He flicked his index and middle finger towards himself, telling me to come with him.
Thank God.
I was about to push my chair back but Lorenzo was already doing it for me.
Swoon.
"I have to go um iron a suit for my cat, it was nice meeting you all! You're all very... unique people!" I gave them a wide smile and hurried after Lorenzo.
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A U T H O R P O V
Please don't kill me for this filler chapter
(￢_￢) the next couple of chapters will also need to be filler chapters because i have to build up to what is about to go down.
question : how do we feel about Donna? ;) do you guys still like her? do you think she had a right to say what she did to Cat?
question 2 : does it bother you all that so far, this book hasn't been heavy with mafia related things? i promise that this whole mafia thing will definitely become heavier later on in the book.
thank you for reading this bye bye now! i'll see you in the next chapter :D