Dante #2
“We got another job, be here around lunchtime.” He cuts the call.
Since we argued the night Natalie tried to take her life, there’s been a lot of tension.
We have argued before, normally about the way he handles ‘taking care’ of people in the locked room.
I hate the way he drags out their pain. Quick and easy is the way for me.
A bullet between the eyes. I won’t kill unless I have too, I normally leave it to the other three.
But seeing him last week trying to force Natalie to take Howard's life, I had to step in. I couldn’t let her live with that guilt .
Not her, she has enough emotion to deal with.
And adding guilt to that would have pushed her over the edge.
I look at my son, now sitting on the floor playing with his toy cars.
Fuck, I have got to go to work , but I have no-one to leave him with.
Unless Natalie can watch him for me. But can I trust her?
She tried to kill herself a week ago and this will be the first time we will be leaving her alone.
She may leave Nico by himself in that place.
I hate taking him there at the best of times, let alone potentially leaving him there alone.
No, I can’t do it. I’ll have to let Julian know I can’t go.
But then he might go crazy without me there to calm him down. Fuck.
Nico makes engine noises and starts racing his cars out of the room. I smile at him. My boy. My child.
“I called her Anya, but that was before she was ripped from my arms and taken away from me. Her other parents probably changed her name .”
She may have only been a child herself. But how could anyone rip a baby from their mother.
If someone took Nico away from me the moment he was born, I would’ve gone ballistic, so would have the rest of the team and the big boss.
Natalie had no-one. She was all alone. I smile at the memory of the call last night.
She remembers. Did she feel my finger writing on her back?
I did it for weeks before audibly telling her.
Is that what she was trying to tell me when she said she remembers everything ?
“Papa, can we have breakfast now.”
“Coming.” I call back. Jerry-Lee, our two year old German shepherd jumps down off the bed and heads downstairs where Nico is shaking his dry food.
When we adopted him a year and a half ago from the shelter, I told Nico that because he begged so much to get a puppy, he can be responsible for feeding time.
And to give him credit, he hasn’t missed a day.
He hasn’t whined or complained. Nothing.
He has been responsible the whole time and I couldn’t be prouder of my boy.
I join him in the kitchen and start making a coffee.
“Papa. Can we have breakfast with new auntie.”
“You mean Nat?” He nods his head, “I can ask but she might be busy.” I send a quick message to her.
“But she’s poorly and in bed. How busy can she be?”
He has a point. My phone dings with a message back from her.
Kitten:
I can do breakfast . Where
do you want to meet? We
can talk about things too.
I’ve asked Julian to drop me
off at home so can meet you
in about an hour. And if he asks,
Nico invited me out. It was the
only excuse I could think of, if he
knew it was you he wouldn’t have
let me go. And we swapped
numbers last week, okay?
Me:
Good job it was Nicos
idea, kitten. Have you heard
of OnlyFurs? It’s in the next
town so it’s far enough away for
us not to be recognised.
Kitten:
I haven’t, can you send
me the address ?
I text across the location and tell Nico to get ready.
Kitten:
Change of plan, Julian
said I’m not allowed to
be alone, eye roll emoji
can you pick me up from
my apartment?
Me:
Sure, we’ll be there soon.
Pulling up outside Natalie's apartment building, I see her standing with Julian, he has his arms crossed and looking pretty pissed. Not like I blame him. From his point of view I am taking his woman out on a ‘date’. Even though she was mine first - technically. Nat looks fucking stunning in the pale green knee length dress she wears, the same one she wore on our first date, her hair falls around her face with her natural waves - I always loved her natural hair, and I’m not afraid to admit I begged her not to straighten it again after seeing them the first morning after sending the night together.
“Hey.” She smiles at Nico who's waving at her from the back seat.
“New auntie.” He beams back. “Hurry, I’m hungry.” He starts jumping up and down in his seat. My boy gets so excited when it comes to his food.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come?” Julian mumbles.
“ You weren't invited. I was.” She jests back. “Worried I’m going to run away?” I swear his whole body shakes with frustration at her attempt at a joke. “Geez, I swear I’m not going to run away, Julian.” She rolls her eyes.
Brave .
“That’s not funny.” He grumbles under his breath.
I feel a little bad for the guy, but she’s right.
It’s not like she is moving to the other side of the country, she is going out for breakfast with friends.
Before an argument ensues, I open the door and step out, walking around to the passenger side and opening the door for Natalie.
“Milady.” I bow. Nico chuckles from the back seat.
“What are you doing?” Julian huffs.
“Following my boss’ orders.” I glare up at him. “My son is in charge this morning as the new king of pranks so…” I shrug.
Natalie plays along with Nicos playing, probably feeling all the angry tension in the air and wanting to distract us from starting a fight in the middle of the street.
“Why thank you kind sir.” She curtseys, lifting her dress a little as she bows her head, her pretty waves fall like curtains around her face before she looks up and grins at me.
“Your majesty.” She looks toward Nico. “Thank you for your generous invitation to breakfast.”
Nico pokes his head out of the window along with Jerry-Lee, “you are most welcome, princess. Now please get in the carriage so we can go and dine on some fabulous food .” He puts on a posh voice and I can’t help but laugh.
Even Julian breaks his grumpy composure and chuckles lightly.
Natalie climbs into the car and I close the door.
“Keep her safe.” Julian says quietly. “Please, brother.”
I exhale. “Of course.” I put a hand on his shoulder.
“I promise. Nothing will happen, she seems to be doing better. She still has a long way to go but look.” We both look toward the car where Natalie and Nico are still acting like royalty and fussing over Jerry-Lee.
“As long as you don’t fuck up again, she’ll be fine. ”
I’m glad they managed to talk, and they mostly made up. But I still need to find out what her decision is. I need to hear it from her that she has chosen Julian.
“Ha. You’re right. Thanks mate.” He pats my shoulder and heads back to his own car. “Don’t be late for the meeting.” He calls before driving away.
Looking back at Nico, she notices he has his headphones back on.
Nico gets antsy whenever we go for a drive, so he likes to wear his headphones and watch a movie - whether it be a quick drive around the corner or a six hour road trip.
He gets so nervous in a car that we found the only way to keep him calm is distraction.
He’s quick to take them off as soon as we get to our destination though.
“Soooo, I have a confession.” she admits quietly when I get back into the driver's seat. I give her a look of concern. “Nothing bad I swear.” She smiles. “I remembered something, and when Julian finally let me be alone in my apartment I went to grab them.” She pulls a gift bag from her bag. “I got them the night of the accident. I found them in my purse when I got home and was so confused on why I got them, I put them into my jewellery box and kept them there all this time,” she starts pulling out the items, I look toward her when we hit a red light. In her hand she holds three braided cords. One has a kitten dangling from it, another has a heart and the third has a puppy. “I remember you told me how much Nico loved dogs.” She reaches her hand behind my chair and gets Nico's attention before asking for his arm.. She connects the cord around his wrist, “they’re friendship bracelets. I got one for each of us.” I can’t speak as she wraps the one with the heart around my wrist then the one with the kitten around her own.
“Thank you, new auntie!” Nico calls from the back as he inspects his new gift. I inspect mine quickly before the light turns green.
“Thank you, Nat.” I smile. “It’s cute.” Definitely not something I would have worn myself, but coming from her I will gladly show it off. “I see you have a gattina on yours.”
“Well, you do call me kitten.”
“Papa, she is a signora not a kitten!” Natalie bites her lip to stop herself from laughing as I get berated by my seven year old. “Now correct yourself!”
“Yes sir. You are correct. Natalie is a signora . A very special one.” I wink and she looks out the window to try to hide her blush but fails as I can see her reddening skin in the reflection.
Damn it, Dante. Stop. Flirting.
“Nico, why don’t you tell her all about the festa da ballo we had last night.”
As Nico excitedly tells Natalie about the dance party we had when we got home last night, I sneak glances to the woman beside me. Someone I used to call mine, someone I thought would be mia moglie . Fuck I can’t think about that right now.
Breakfast goes well, too fucking well. Natalie and Nico get along so admirably you would think they’ve known each other for years. And yet, I can’t get rid of that hate toward her. I have no clue why. None of it was her fault .