Epilogue #7
Nicky runs to the bathroom, followed by Nacho, and I let my back drop against the chair.
Kids are a handful, even if they are cute as a button.
The drawing room is filled with toys Nicky carried from his room that he wanted to show to us, the cutie pie.
I look at the table littered with half of Fly’s shit from his Mary Poppins bag.
A little mouse doll, a pair of chopsticks, a small watering can, and a feather duster aren’t the craziest things he carries around.
“Why do you have a stone polisher?” I lift the object, but he’s too concentrated on finishing the bracelet Nicky braided for me.
“To polish stones,” he deadpans.
“What stones?” I look inside his bag, not seeing any.
“Stop judging my bag choices.” He lifts his head to glare at me. “Did you like your gun?”
I pout not liking the change of topic, but go with it. “It’s little, but easy to carry.”
“I’m sure that’s why Seb chose it.” He points at my small purse, hanging on the back of the chair.
“Is he that observant?” I ask, pushing the toy train on the rails.
“Maniacally. He sees and knows all.”
Everything? Does he know about my suspicions then? About his father?
“Does he know I peed a little when I saw this house?” I flail my arms around the huge drawing room.
It’s a Victorian house with steep roofs, white and gray-painted bricks, bay windows, a wide porch, and an asymmetrical facade.
The stained glass creates a radiant, glowing effect on the richly detailed interiors.
Wooden floorboards, plaster cornicing, sweeping staircases, and tiled entrance hallways.
This house is truly something else. I can feel the history in every brick.
“It was Don Massimo’s. Luca and Marco used to live here. Their rooms are still on the third floor.
“I want to see Luca’s! Maybe even let him ream and cream me on his old bed.” Oh, that’s hot. We are definitely going to do it in his childhood bedroom. “That baseball-bat-sized dick needs some illicit fun.”
Fly scrunches his nose. “Does he have the holy grail of D’s?”
“Yes, my friend. My holy crusade came to a successful end the day I met Luca’s shtick.”
“Shut up!” He smiles.
“Like Marco is any different. His belt draws the eyes to the more than decent bulge in his pants.”
“A grissino slap is coming your way,” he threatens, grabbing a breadstick.
“How can you be this cold?”
“Practice,” he tells me with a sharp grin.
“I want to share boyfriend dick stories, and you dare treat me like this? For shame. Shame. Shame. So shameful—”
Fly stuffs a grissino inside my mouth, cutting my monologue short. I nibble it as fast as a squirrel, letting breadcrumbs fall over my shorts and sweater. It tastes amazing, so I grab another one.
“It’s nice that Seb kept their rooms,” I say, flicking some crumbs away.
“He doesn’t like change much,” Fly tells me.
“You seem to know him well. Is he really human? Or wearing a skin suit over his alien suit?”
He chuckles. “He’s peculiar but okay once you get to know him. He did give you that gun for safety. Since your father is still out there.” I can hear the deep concern in his voice.
I’m worried too, but more for Luca than me. “Yeah, I believe the cow snatcher will never let anything happen to us.” That’s why I should tell him about my father and his.
He rolls his eyes at me. “Do you have a nickname for everybody?”
“Of course,” I say with an arrogant tone. “You are…naughty pixie.”
“You just made that up. How about thick-skinned, stern-faced gorilla for Marco?” His eyes widen with mirth.
“The wacko psycho for Luca.” I wiggle my eyebrows at him, getting another laugh.
“Luca ‘The Blade’ Nero has a nice ring to it. You did well there,” he lets me know.
I’m spreading the word when I go to my clubs, and it’s working.
Sebastiano ‘Ice’ Leone doesn’t need a change. “I get now why the boss is il capo dei capi.”
“His chill, intimidating vibe, right?”
I nod at him. “Yeah. He’s charming in a cold, bordering freezing, composed way.”
“I can’t imagine him having sex,” he leans into me to whisper. We are still drinking wine; maybe stopping would be the right choice. Maybe…
I roll my eyes at him. “How do you think Nicky came to be? Under a cabbage?” I tease him.
He slaps my arm and shushes me.
“So, tell me! These are not taxi doors, they are ears, spit it out.” I slap him back.
“Don’t know the details. But it’s not a nice story.” It’s all I get.
Fuck me, poor kid. He’s so innocent and wary. He needs someone sweet and loving near him. I can’t picture the boss doing that, even though I learned never to judge a book by its cover. Need to keep an eye on them now that I’m part of the family. God, it’s so nice to belong somewhere.
“Okay, tell me, dancing with a T. rex or swimming with Godzilla?”
“Can I choose the location?”
Nicky chooses that moment to come back with Nacho.
Fly is finally done with the bracelet, and the kid ties it around my wrist. I feel a rush of emotion surging from my chest, and I have to clear my voice and blink a couple of times to shove it back.
The necklace around my neck and now this bracelet, they are proof that this is all real.
“I’m starving, should we check lunch?” Fly asks.
I nod with enthusiasm, and Nicky quickly and obediently leads the way, too obediently.
When we reach the dining room—another humongous space facing the beautiful garden—I quickly walk to the sideboard covered in trays of sweets.
I don’t let anyone stop me as I start the tasting.
I intend to let my belly burst like a garbage bag today.
“Who else is coming for lunch? All of Ireland?” I joke, dropping a piece of banana to Nacho.
“Lunches at Leone’s house are notoriously and impeccably exquisite.” A stiff old man in uniform appears from nowhere, delivering the haughty statement while giving me the stink eye. He positions two baskets of bread on the long dining table and leaves.
The butter biscuits are melt-in-my-mouth divine. Same for the cherry rolls.
“Who’s Nosferatu over there? He almost gave me a heart attack.”
“Giovanni, the butler,” Fly tells me. “He’s very serious about his job.” Nicky nods, earning a biscuit.
He doesn’t eat despite the eye-loving he’s giving it.
“It’s only healthy to be a little naughty sometimes.” I wink at him while taking a bite of a pistachio cream-filled croissant and moaning like I did this morning under Luca.
“Did you take a bite from all of these sweets?” I suddenly hear the butt-ler’s nosy voice again, and when I open my eyes, yes, he’s glaring at me.
“Need to find which one I’ll eat first,” I explain, putting the croissant on the plate with the other half-eaten sweets.
“First?” He scrunches up his face, and I didn’t know a human could have this many wrinkles.
“Don’t worry, I’ll eat them all and more. I predict a food coma in my very near future.” I give him a bright, large fuck-you smile.
“He will, I assure you,” Fly tries to help. But the butt-ler still glowers before taking that stick up his ass away with him.
Windbag, I think, but don’t voice. Nicky is with us. He’s pulling at my sweater.
“How old is he? A hundred and ten?” I joke, enjoying the kid’s glowing smile.
“Lil’ bro!” I hear from behind, before a mountain of a man lifts Fly off the ground and hugs him.
It’s River, the resurrected brother. Nicky steps closer to me, and I lay a reassuring hand on his shoulder, pushing him more firmly against my side.
“The infamous Art Enzino.” Akira, River’s colorful husband, stops in front of me, while the brothers keep yapping joyfully.
“The more infamous Yakuza heir. I’ve heard interesting stuff about you.”
“It’s all true,” he states, looking down at Nicky. “Hey, little twerp, like my hair?” He points at the green tips. He’s wearing a white jacket with nothing underneath, showing his hairless, well-defined chest, and jeans. Not bad for a thug.
Nicky touches his ear.
“My rabbit earring? Is this what you dig?” Akira smirks, looking back at River for a moment. “Do you believe me when I say that I live with a six-foot bunny?”
Nicky shakes his head.
Akira chuckles. “Fair enough. But watch. Bunny?” he calls, and River turns toward him straight away. “Ta-da!” He gives Nicky jazz hands, making the kid frown at him.
“Yep, River doesn’t look like a bunny to me either,” I whisper to Nicky.
“Art, this is my brother, River.” Fly finally comes back to us.
We exchange introductions, then Nicky points to his father’s office and runs there with Nacho. That kid needs a dog of his own.
“Nice outfit,” Akira compliments me, just as I feel a strong arm wrapping around my waist.
“Thank you, although I’d have chosen a little differently.” A quip to Luca’s crazy jealousy.
“Big men are so impatient,” Fly interjects, raising a brow at Marco. I told him what happened this morning, and he shared his fight with his fiancé.
“Preaching to the choir, dude. You can’t rush the perfect outfit!” I push my head on Luca’s pec.
He grunts. “Don’t think we are going to postpone our wedding with the excuse of finding the perfect dress.”
Silence falls over the little group of people. Did Luca just announce our engagement?
“Wedding?” Fly gasps out?
“We’ll get married next month,” Luca keeps talking nonsense.
“What?” I spin in his arms to face him. “You can’t just-just…?”
“What?” He looks at me with no shame, no idea what he just did. Is he staking his claim or something?
I’ll show him. “Propose to me the right way, and I promise I’ll say yes.”
“So the first proposal was shit,” I hear Akira whispering very loudly. Is he chewing cinnamon gum?
Luca growls. “It wasn’t shit!”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Fly interjects.
I turn to him. “Because the wacko didn’t propose.”
“Yes, I did,” Luca states.
“You knew?” Fly asks Marco.
“I didn’t know he would do it today.”
Fly next looks at River. “Why did you nod a moment ago? Did you know as well?”
“Aki called Marco while they were talking about it,” his brother explains.
Fucking hell!
“I’m going to place your engagement in the paper.” Aki already has his phone out.