Chapter 19 Constantine
Constantine
“Would you stop doing that?”
“What?” I asked, sitting in the seat beside Rocco and looking out the window.
“You’ve been grinning like a goddamn dog for the last fifteen minutes.”
“I like dogs, so no offense there.”
“You look ridiculous.”
I turned to look at Rocco in the back seat next to me. “I’ve been told I have a nice smile.”
“By your mother, maybe.”
I smirked, then punched him in the arm. “That was a good one.”
“Seriously, tell me why.”
“I locked it down with Aurelia.” Now, I grinned wider, remembering what she’d said to me over and over . . . and over and over. It was definitely a favorite memory of mine.
“That was a one-eighty.”
“Well, I can be very convincing.”
“Am I gonna meet her?”
“Not sure you want to. Because I’ll look like this the entire time.” I leaned toward him, smirking widely once again.
Now he was the one to punch me. “Come on, let’s set something up. I gotta make sure I humiliate you in front of her.”
“I don’t think you can. I’ve got nothing to hide.”
“What about that time we had to share a shower at the gym because all the others were broken?”
I laughed at the memory. “Honestly, she’d probably think it’s hot.”
“Jesus . . .”
“What?” I asked with a smirk. “We’re both good-looking guys. Could have recorded that and put it on OnlyFans.”
“I’m gonna punch you for real this time.”
“Now it looks like I’ll be the one embarrassing you at this dinner.”
He made good on his word and really did punch me hard in the arm.
I grimaced as I leaned forward. “Still worth it.”
The car came to a stop in front of the pavilion.
“Need a minute?”
“Nope.” I shook my arm to get the cramps out of the muscle. “Let’s do this.”
The iron gates opened, and we were let onto my private property, a three-story villa that wasn’t connected to any other building—a very rare find in Rome. The security guys were outside, some stationed on the roof incognito, and I had a few positioned in certain corners of the house.
The only place they weren’t was in my wing on the top floor.
The only two allowed there were my butler, Elio, and Medusa.
It was a long walk to the very top, over the thick carpets, passing the Egyptian statues that belonged to my family by birthright, and past the sculptures and other collectibles that made my home a personal museum—and reminded anyone who walked in there exactly who the fuck I was.
I had an elevator, but I always took the stairs to keep my ass tight. I was almost there when my mom decided to call me.
I pulled the phone out of my pocket and answered. “Hey, Ma.”
“My boy,” she said with so much pride that only a mother could produce. “How are you?”
“Good. Just had a meeting with—”
“How’s Aurelia? She still around?”
“Ah, that’s the reason you’re calling,” I said with a chuckle. “You don’t give a damn about me.”
“Of course I do, son. I haven’t heard from you in two weeks, so I wanted to check in.”
“Check in on my personal life, you mean.”
She became a lot sterner, the authoritative disciplinarian, because my dad hadn’t had the balls to fill the role. “Answer the question, Con.”
“All right, all right,” I said. “I think you’re going to be seeing her around. That’s all I’ll say.”
She was quiet over the line, probably hiding her tears or muffling the phone as she jumped up and down with Aunt Chiara, who pretended not to be there. I was pretty sure that’s exactly what happened, because when she spoke again, she was so deadly calm. “Oh, that’s great.”
“Oh, that’s great?” I teased. “All you’ve got to say?”
“I just don’t want to pry.”
“This whole phone call is a pry,” I said with a laugh. “But you know what, it’s fine.”
Her voice suddenly changed, and then it was Aunt Chiara on the phone. “Con, we love her. We love her hair—”
My mom was in the background now. “Give me back the phone. That’s my son.”
“She’s so beautiful, Con. Like a mermaid.”
I chuckled. “If you put the phone on speaker, I can talk to you both, you know.”
“Speaker?” my mom asked in the background. “Ugh, I can’t remember.”
“Right on the screen.” She refused to keep up with technology. She’d had a rotary phone for the longest time before I forced her to get a cell phone. No matter how many times I taught her how to use it, it always baffled her. “Just hit the button.”
“Let me try it,” Aunt Chiara said.
They fought back and forth.
I stopped outside my bedroom door.
“Give it back—”
Click.
“Well, so much for that.” I put the phone in my pocket, then opened the enormous golden door that led to my bedroom, a door that cost fifty thousand euros, completely bulletproof and impenetrable—and stunning.
My wing of the house had a private bedchamber with its own dining room and living room, basically a luxury apartment within the villa. And the second I opened the door, I heard Medusa jump off the bed and sprint across the room toward me with the speed of a jet.
I took a knee right when she crashed into me.
I let her knock me over as I laughed. “That’s my girl.
” She licked my face as she moved over me, her paws on my chest, looking down at me with those brown eyes that always made me a sucker.
I gave her a good rubdown behind the ears before I pulled her into a bear hug.
She let me hold her for a second before she was anxious to break free.
I got back to my feet, grabbed a tennis ball from the floor, and chucked it across the large room, watching her sprint after it. She was quick like a racehorse, grabbing the ball and running straight back to me like she was in training.
I played with her for a while because I hadn’t seen her all day.
My butler took care of her walks and made all of her meals from scratch, so she was well taken care of.
She hung out with the security guys during the day so she would feel like part of the team.
But like everyone else at this time of day, she got a little tired and retreated to my room for some peace and quiet.
I sat on the couch, and she immediately jumped with me, cuddling into my side and resting her chin on my thigh, her eyes glancing up at me every few seconds. I gave her a pat before I rested my arm on her back.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out, hoping it wasn’t Rocco or more bullshit for me to handle for the day. I hoped it was one person, the person I always hoped to hear from, the one who made me smile in a way I hadn’t since I was a boy.
Hey. It was her.
The woman who was falling in love with me.
Looks like I wasn’t the only sucker in this relationship. Hey, sweetheart.
Can I take you to dinner?
Damn, she really was into me. No. But I’m happy to take you out.
So you’re one of Those guys . . .
Yep. I’ll be there in an hour. And let’s stay at my place tonight.
Bit presumptuous.
Am I wrong, sweetheart?
The three dots were visible for a while before she finally responded. No comment.
Good. I want you to meet someone.
Who?
The woman I’ve been sleeping with for the last four years.
Sorry, what???
I chuckled to myself before I took a picture of Medusa as she lay across my thigh.
Oh my god, you have a dog??? Oh, she’s so cute. I already love her.
Well, not gonna lie, you’re going to be a tough sell for her.
Yeah, I can totally see why.
I picked her up in my Range Rover, which was stocked with guns, just out of sight so she didn’t have a clue.
If you lifted the floor panel in the back, five loaded shotguns were on racks beneath.
A handgun was stashed both underneath my seat and hers.
And if she checked the glove compartment, she wouldn’t like what she found.
She wore this little dark-blue dress with a ton of boobage . . . and damn.
I parked my car wherever the fuck I wanted, then I took her hand, and we walked inside together. I didn’t have reservations, but that wasn’t an issue when I was friends with the owner. They whipped up a table for me, and the two of us were seated where there’d been open space just a moment ago.
“So what’s her name?”
“Medusa.”
“Whoa, that’s quite the name. Is she a sea monster?”
“She’s definitely a monster,” I said with a grin. “She’s a police dog. Met her at work one day, but you know, it was love at first sight, so I took her home.”
“Aww, that’s cute. How old is she?”
“Four.”
“Good, she’s still young. Why didn’t you mention her before?”
I shrugged. “Didn’t come up.”
“I can’t believe you went a week without her in Taormina.”
“I mean, I missed her, but she’s well taken care of. She still has a family at the house when I’m not around. She sleeps with my butler, Elio, when I’m out. Everyone loves her. She’s a great estate dog.”
She didn’t react to the words butler or estate, as if she’d already assumed I was wealthy. But she probably didn’t understand exactly how wealthy I was. “How have you been?” It’d been a couple days since we talked. I gave her some space after the whole I’m falling in love with you thing.
“Kinda overbooked myself with shoots,” she said with a quiet chuckle. “So I’m working a lot, which is good.”
“Why is that good?”
“I feel better when I’m busy. My mind doesn’t linger in places it shouldn’t.”
Was she referring to Enzo? Did that loser really still have space in her beautiful head? I almost asked, but I didn’t want to ruin the night by being combative.
“I hope one day I’ll have a studio and an assistant . . . and work will be less chaotic.”
“Why do you want a studio?”
“It’s a lot easier for the fine art photography I want to do.
I can manipulate the shot and the lighting and all that.
I can bring a model in and control the environment.
And for all the shoots I do to pay the bills, I can book them back-to-back in my studio to make my life more efficient.
Most of the photography I do now is on location, which is great, but it eats up a lot of time hustling from one place to the next. And then there’s traffic . . .”