Chapter 13 #2
Trino might actually kill me.
A bit of panic shivers through my limbs, but I just remind myself he deserves it for what he did to me. Doesn’t he care at all how others feel? How I felt up there?
Of course not. He’s a freakin’ mobster.
After about twenty minutes of talking myself off a ledge, I direct the cab driver to leave me at the corner of Trino’s block.
“Here should do.” Taking a wad of cash from my G-string and placing it on his center console should be enough for no questions asked, so I exit, waiting for him to drive off.
Waving my hand multiple times to say ‘bye’ in case he wants to be a gentleman.
“I’m trying to avoid you, byeee ,” I keep mouthing to myself as he nods through the window, pretending to understand me.
As soon as he’s out of sight, I take off my heels and sprint for Trino’s uphill cul-de-sac.
He’s going to kill me.
He’s going to kill me.
He’s going to kill me.
Each breath is littered with that mantra.
Thinking back, I should’ve asked the Russian if he had a phone charger.
Oops. Now I’m literally alone, in the dark, on a hot and peaceful night in the Jersey summer.
Things could be worse. I could’ve stayed to watch Trino emerge from the private rooms full of glitter and slime.
Ugh.
I go around the back of his house, praying I don’t step on a landmine or activate blood-seeking hounds or something.
Nope. Still peaceful.
Nice tall bushes frame the city view from his backyard, and some long-chairs on the grass perfect the scene. I’d say I’m sufficiently exhausted from all the near-death excitement, betrayals, stripping . Yeah, screw this.
I put my heels down beside me and take a load off, relaxing into a comfortable chair tilted slightly up so I can watch the lights. The water is serene. Grass meticulously sprayed so no mosquitos bother me. I can just simply… be.
Small party boats in the distance make me remember my lawyer friends going to happy hours after work. Normal times. Feels like a lifetime ago, and it’s only been a few days.
Is that what it means to be in the fast lane – feeling like you’ve lived a lifetime in a day?
It takes a few minutes, and I’m out like a light.
xxx
I’m on the bottom of the ocean in pink lace, staring at dolphins choking on an oil spill, in the midst of the Adriatic Sea. The oxygen tank rubbing against my bare skin weighs a ton, sinking me out of reach of the wildlife I’m trying to save.
What’s my plan down here? I have no idea. Just kind of showed up clawing desperately to reach the dolphins. I can understand them. Their pain.
Each barrel of oil dumped from the very bright surface is being hugged by one of the Star Dust strippers. Their twerking creates bubbles all around them as the oil drains by the gallon.
It’s so frustrating. They can’t hear me, and I’m just sinking deeper, and deeper into the black depths.
The hitmen that were after me stick their oversized faces into the water. My goggles zoom and can see them so clearly – nasty smiles, silver teeth, forked tongues.
Everywhere I turn, I’m losing, and I don’t have the strength to swim up.
…
“Huu!” I flail awake when warm water splashes over my skin, only to find Trino standing over me with a furious frown, holding a dripping wet bucket.
“I had a mind to make it ice cold.” He throws the bucket behind me as I clamor off the long-chair and onto the grass. My legs are rubber, refusing to let me stand.
Wringing out my soaked top, I realize where I am. It’s still nighttime in his backyard. I effectively ran away from him and cut all communications.
“Get the fuck inside. Now .” He rips the chair away with one hand and flips it deeper into the grass.
I get to my feet and straighten. “Now you know how it feels, jerk off.” I rip out some of his grass and toss it at him. “Does that bother your OCD? Huh?” I rip more, then rub dirt all over his nice patio leading toward his house.
“I run three fucking businesses, and babysitting isn’t one of them! You could’ve been killed on the way back here. The mob is scrambling to find you and your father right now. The fuck were you thinking?”
“Maybe you should’ve thought of that when—”
“Shut up,” he says eerily quietly. “Get inside. Now.”
I scoff and open the sliding glass door. “I’m so done with this bullshit.”
“ Likewise .” He slides the door shut behind him. “Shower, get in bed, and don’t say another fucking word. I’m behind on work because I spent four hours trying to find your dumbass.”
“Maybe if you weren’t face deep in a pair of tits that weren’t mine , I would’ve made it to the end of my shift,” I mumble to myself.
“What was that?”
“Nothing,” I scoff.
He shakes his head, stomps into one of his office rooms and slams the door. It makes me want to use the spike of my heel to carve ‘asshole’ into the wood. A flash of my dad’s scared face holds me back, though. Even though my old man was selfish in this whole charade, I can’t lose him.
My arms go slack with a heel in each hand, and I dejectedly ascend the steps, watching my dirty feet leave residue on each step.
The shower I take steams up as I scrub the stench of Star Dust off me, thinking the most vile thoughts about everyone who’s touched my life in the last forty-eight hours. Then when I finally dry off and throw on an oversized shirt, I notice a brand-new pair of panties wrapped in plastic.
Those weren’t there before.
He’s so weird.
I tear open the plastic and hop into them before faceplanting on the bed. No matter how hard I try, I’m tossing and turning thinking about tomorrow. I have to marry an asshole to save my father’s life. A cheating, piece of shit, asshole . No respect for me. It’s disgusting.
I slap the bed and spin on my back.
Sunlight drips through the curtains.
“Capri. Get your ass down here. It’s time.”