CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO #2
Then I proceeded to fall sound asleep, and he had to wake me up when we arrived.
I don’t even remember making it upstairs and collapsing into bed, but I know I did.
That’s where I woke the next morning with a crashing headache; waves of pain rolling over me.
“Oh, fuck.” I sat up and had never been more grateful for a day off.
I took pain medicine, drank a full glass of water, and went right back to bed.
I didn’t even think to text Jelly and check on her.
***
I woke very late in the day to the sound of my phone ringing. Something told me it had probably been going off for a while. I reached for it, hoping to see Jelly’s name on the screen. Instead, it was my father’s.
“Oh God.” I wanted to throw my phone across the room and go back to sleep, but I figured I might as well get the conversation over with. “Hello, father.”
“Good lord, Paolo. Why did it take you so long to answer the phone?”
“I was… in the other room.”
“Whatever. Tonight, you need to take Gia out on the town again. Show her the best places. Understood?”
“What? No, that’s not understood.” He didn’t need to know I’d already promised Gia I’d take her out again tonight. “Look, I was bringing Jelly over because she’s my girlfriend, and I…”
“Unacceptable. I do not approve of that girl and neither does your mother. She’s… beneath you.”
Unbidden, images of Jelly beneath me came to mind. I immediately started thinking of random sad things so I wouldn’t get turned on in the middle of a conversation with my father. He must’ve mistaken my silence for agreement, because he barreled on.
“You will take Gia out. Remember, if you don’t want your mother and brothers living under an overpass in cardboard boxes, you will marry Gia. At the very least, you will give Gia a chance, a real chance. I mean it.” He hung up before I could argue.
How do you argue with a crime boss anyway? I immediately dialed my brother Raphael again. I waited impatiently, but the call went to voicemail. Again.
“Raphe! Call me back.” I started to hang up, then said, “This is Paolo,” like a dumbass. Like he wouldn’t know it was me.
In the meantime, I guessed I needed to get dressed to go out with Gia Santoro again.
I wondered what Jelly was doing. God, it had been too long since I’d been inside her.
I groaned and fell back on the bed feeling sorry for myself.
This all sucked. Every last bit of it. I called her, worried about how she was going to take the fact that my parents wanted me to date Gia.
Or that there was supposedly an arranged marriage contract between me and Gia our fathers had agreed to years ago. Or that Gia was also blackmailing me.
Not well. That’s how she was going to take it.
Her phone also went to voicemail, and I hung up, immediately sending her a text for her to call me as soon as she could.
The phone rang instantly, and I breathed a sigh of relief. “Hey,” I said, thinking it was Jelly.
“Hey, handsome,” Gia Santoro’s sexy voice came over the line.
I swallowed hard. “Um… hey.”
“What plans do you have for me tonight?”
Jesus. Did she have to make everything sound so dirty? “I hadn’t really thought about it. Is there something you want to do while you’re in town?”
“I think you know,” she said, making me remember that she wanted to go to Cayenne.
“I can drop you off there, but like I said last night, I’m not going in.” There was no way I was going to risk my relationship with Jelly by getting seen at Cayenne with Gia fucking Santoro.
“You’re no fun,” she pouted. “Well, I guess we could just go to dinner. What’s the best place in town?”
“We could go back to where we went last night, Bahia Del Sol, or there’s another good restaurant called Salt. We could also get tapas at Salazar Nights. It’s an upscale nightclub…”
“Yes! That. I’ve heard of Salazar Nights. Do you ever see any of the Salazars when you go?”
“Yeah…”
“Let’s do that. What’s the dress code?”
“I’ll wear a suit.”
“That doesn’t help me too terribly much.”
I shrugged even though she couldn’t see me. I thought it would help more than if I’d said I was going to wear jeans and a T-shirt.
“I’ll pick you up at eight,” I said. “I have to go.” I hung up before she was finished talking. It might’ve been rude, but I’m not exactly a phone talker, and I’d reached my limit for the day. At least, my limit for people I didn’t want to talk to.
I texted Jelly again, asking her to go to Salazar Nights with me. I didn’t mention the fact that Gia would be there, but I figured I’d ease her into that.
But I never heard back.
I had a definite sense of unease as I left my building and went downtown to pick Gia up for our ‘date,’ but I didn’t know what to do about it.
Gia and I sat at a nice table along the edges of the nightclub. Enzo and Carmen were both in the club and worked their way over to say hello.
After introductions were made, Enzo took Carmen’s lead and talked with Gia. Carmen only wanted to talk to me. She’d been barely polite when I introduced Gia, and I was a little nervous. Carmen was obviously not in the best mood.
“What the hell are you doing out with another woman after you told Jelly you loved her?”
My mouth dropped open. “Hello to you, too, Carmen.”
She wasn’t amused. She just stared at me, waiting on my answer.
“How did you know I told Jelly I loved her?” We were supposed to be keeping that under wraps for now.
“She told me, dumbass. Now why are you out with her,” she gestured rudely to Gia, who could totally hear her, “when you’re supposed to be with Jelly?”
I was feeling a bit attacked, to be honest. “I tried to call and text Jelly, but she never answered,” I said defensively.
“That’s shocking,” she said cryptically. “Maybe after you’re done with your date, you should stop by your girlfriend’s condo and check on her.”
“Why? Is something wrong with Jelly? Is she sick?” Shit. I’d just assumed she had a headache or something the other night at my parents’ place. What if she was lying in bed with a fever with no one to take care of her?
“You’re a fucking idiot,” Carmen said and walked off.
I stared after her. My sense of unease had turned into a tidal wave of nerves. Enzo saw Carmen leave, wrapped up his conversation with Gia, barely nodded at me, and walked off after his sister.
Gia was bubbly and happy from having talked with the Salazars. “Carmen is just like they say she is—beautiful and scary. And Enzo! My goodness, he’s ridiculously handsome.”
I smiled and nodded, barely listening. “Are you about ready to go?”
Her eyes widened. “We haven’t even danced yet.”
I shot up from the table, put my hand out to her, and said, “We’ll leave after one dance.”
Surprised, she put her hand in mine. I twirled her around the dance floor to a jazzy version of an Ed Sheeran song.
“You’re a great dancer,” she said, holding onto my arms after I dipped her at the end of the song.
“Thanks.” I pulled her up to standing. “Let’s go.”
“What’s the rush?” she complained as I strode out of the nightclub. She was enough shorter than I was that she had to almost jog to keep up with me.
“I just need to get home early tonight. I have surgery in the morning.”
“Oh… that’s why you were drinking water.”
“Yes.” I helped her in the car after the valet brought it around, drove her to her hotel, and pulled into the drop off area in the front. “Have a nice night,” I said.
It was a clear signal for her to get out. But she didn’t.
Instead, she leaned towards me, sticking her tits out as far as she could, and they were definitely on display in the dress she was wearing.
“Paolo,” she said, putting her hand on my thigh and squeezing. “Don’t you want to come up?”
I looked at her. She really was a beautiful woman with an amazing body. A few months ago, I would’ve taken her up on it and spent the night fucking her into the mattress. But now? There was only one woman I wanted.
And it wasn’t her.
I moved her hand from my thigh. “I’m sorry. I really am. But I’m in love with my girlfriend.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What if I told you that if you don’t sleep with me, I’ll expose your precious little Jammy’s secrets?”
Did this woman have no shame? Why would she blackmail someone into sleeping with her?
“You know, if you’re looking to get laid, just go to Cayenne and give my name. They’ll give you a pass and you can have all the fun you want there. Hell, you might even hook up with a Salazar.” I threw the last sentence in there casually, as if I didn’t know it was like catnip to her.
“Really?”
I nodded. “At least one of them is always there. More likely than not, all five brothers will be in attendance.”
“Thanks.” She grinned, leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Don’t forget that you still have to take me to the hospital gala.” Then she got out of the car. She gave her hips extra sway as she walked inside the hotel, but I hardly noticed.
I didn’t know how I was going to explain the hospital gala to Jelly. Of all the social functions for me to not take her to, this was by far the worst. But I couldn’t think about that now.
I was a man on a mission. First a phone call, then I was going to get Jelly.
***
I finally connected with Raphe on the way to Salazar Heights.
“What’s up, brother? Everything okay?”
For a scary mafia-type, my brother worried like an eighty-year-old grandma. He’d be the first to deny that, but we all knew.
“Yeah. Everything’s fine.”
“Whew. You had me nervous.” I could hear him sitting down.
“Yeah, sweetheart, can you get me a glass of water?” he said to someone in his house, probably a maid.
Or some woman he was fucking. I heard water in a sink and then then sounds of him drinking.
“Okay. I think I’m calmed down now. Jesus, Paolo.
Text me before you call next time. You almost gave me a fucking heart attack! ”
I rolled my eyes and did my best to hold back a sigh.
“I can hear you rolling your eyes, you bastard.”
“That’s impossible…”
He laughed. “Just tell me what the fuck was so important you thought it was okay to put me in an early grave.”
“Dude. You’re barely over thirty.”
“Fuck off. What’s up?”
“I just needed to tell you I’m sorry about the whole Gia Santoro thing, man. I’m not going to marry her. There’s no fucking way. I’m just not interested. Dad said that means the business is likely to go under because there won’t be a contract with Geno Santoro…”
He started laughing. Hard. It took him a while to calm down, too.
“Oh my God. You don’t know how bad I needed that laugh today.
Let me give you a couple reality checks here, older brother.
First off, he’s tried to pawn Gia Santoro off on every last one of us.
We’ve all fucked her, but hell if we’re going to marry her.
You were his last resort. If I’d known he was coming after you, I would’ve warned you.
We all thought you were safe since you’re not in the business.
Fuck her if you want, but that girl is… mean. ”
“Yeah. I’ve… well, I’ve figured that out. She was mean to a friend of mine.”
“A girl, huh?”
“How’d you know?”
“She’s done the same damn thing to all of us. Tries to run off whatever girl we’re into, you know? Anyway, she’s poison. Steer clear.”
Too late. I scrubbed a hand over my face and wished to anything Raphe had called me back just one of the times I’d left him a message.
“Now, let’s talk about the other thing. There’s a couple things you need to know.
First, we don’t want you back in the business.
Not even a little bit. We all remember when Pops told you to shoot that guy and you fainted.
” He chuckled. “And second, we’re making more money than we ever have before.
Like, way more. That’s one of the reasons Pops is freaking out.
He retired, telling us all that we wouldn’t be able to make a go of it without him, and we’re killing it.
He’s got nothing left to control anymore.
That’s probably why he’s messing with you. ”
“Y’all are doing fine?”
“Yeah, man. We’re more than fine. We’ve even expanded into the ports of Charleston and Savannah.”
“Business isn’t going to crash and burn if I don’t marry Gia Santoro and get some contract for the business from the Santoro family?”
“Uh… no. Pretty sure there’s not a contract with the Santoro family. Geno Santoro sells race donkeys, and I can guarantee I don’t want in on that action. Pops is so full of shit.”
I was going to have to have a serious discussion with my lying asshole of a father. But I could only focus on one crisis at a time, and right now that was getting Jelly back. “Gotcha. Okay, then. Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t screwing up anything for you.”
“Not at all. And if Pops tries to pull that shit on you, just tell him you talked to me. He’ll back way the hell off.”
“Good to know.” Something he’d said finally clicked with me. “Wait… what’s a race donkey?”
“Don’t even ask, man.”
“But I really want to…”
“You shoulda called me if you were so worried about it. Never trust Pops. He lies almost all the time. It’s pathological.”
I made a face no one could see. “Check your missed calls and voicemails, dumbass. I called you like fifty times.”
“Oh. Sorry. Anyway, see ya.” And he was gone.
I pulled to the side of the road, put my head in my hands, and took deep breaths.
I’d been given a huge reprieve. Not only was I not going to be forced into some kind of arranged marriage with Gia Santoro, there was no chance my brothers wanted me to give up my medical career to come try and work for the family business.
As soon as I had calmed down enough, I sat up straighter in the car and decided to think through my problems logically.
The problem with my family business was made up.
Fictional. I didn’t need to worry about that anymore.
The same thing could be said of the bogus arranged marriage with Gia Santoro.
I had two more major problems to work through.
First, I had to check on Jelly and make sure she still wanted to have anything to do with me after the horrible dinner at my parents’.
Then I had to figure out how to stop Gia Santoro from blackmailing me.
I pulled back onto the road and resumed the drive to Salazar Heights.
First, I would talk to Jelly. I would make her understand that things were fine between us.
That I would handle my parents—I just couldn’t do it yet because it might tip Gia off that I wasn’t falling in line like she wanted me to.
I let the problem cycle around in my head over and over again until I pulled into my spot in the parking deck under Salazar Heights.
No matter how I tried to come at the problem, I kept running into a major roadblock.
How did I convince Jelly that everything Gia said was bullshit without telling her Gia was blackmailing me?