Chapter 5 Reign
REIGN
It only took the little princess two days to set up a date, but fuck if I wasn’t excited about it.
I looked at myself in the mirror before leaving the apartment for our so-called date. My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out to see Rose’s name flashing on the screen.
Dad would have approved of Rose.
More specifically, he would have approved of her parents, especially her father—a greedy, shoddy, egotistical politician who had been in the game more years than I had been alive.
On the surface, Rose was a good girl.
Virginal.
How fucking amusing. The girl wasn’t even a virgin when I fucked her for the first time, even though she pretended to be one by feigning pain and cutting her finger in the middle of the night to stain the white sheets we had been sleeping on.
Did she think I was easily fooled? Like one of those frat boys she used to play around with? The thought was fucking laughable.
I sent her call to voicemail and left the apartment, taking the elevator down to the lobby and heading straight outside.
A car was already there, idling silently.
At least she was punctual.
I walked over to it and knocked on the passenger side window until I heard the lock disengage.
I opened the door and climbed inside.
She was already frowning at me. It looked like this date was off to a good start. “How did you even know this was my car?”
“Lucky guess,” I said, smiling at her.
Her lips curled a little, as if she were disgusted with me, before she changed her facial expression.
“You know this is the first time I’ve had to pick a man up for a date. Car trouble?”
I laughed. We both knew I didn’t have car trouble. “I just wanted you to put in a little effort. You keep this up, and I might just put out by the end of the night.”
She wasn’t so good at hiding her disgust this time. My smile widened.
I thought it once, and it was still true now. She really was an amusing little thing.
“You’re unbelievable, you know that?”
I adopted a serious face and nodded. “Yeah. Like a dream. Or a fairy tale. Some might even call me their very own Prince Charming.”
“More like the Prince of Hell,” she muttered under her breath.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she said, smiling at me. “Let’s get on with our date.”
She pulled the car away from the building, and I took a moment to check her out for the first time. She was wearing more makeup now than she had the other times I saw her, and her hair was smooth and brushed down her back.
She had on a black cardigan, with a white shirt underneath, and a black skirt that I was sure reached her knees. “You look like you’re going in for a job interview,” I said.
Her nostrils flared. “A job interview?”
I chuckled. “No worries. You still look cute as hell.”
“Thanks,” she said blandly.
I reached over and placed my hand on her thigh. The car swerved a little.
“Careful, darling. We wouldn’t want to get into a car accident before the date.”
“Then you might want to get your hand off my thigh. I have a handgun in the side of my door. And I have good aim.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt it one bit, sweetheart.” I was sure both her dad and brother made sure she knew how to use a gun at a young age.
“Then remove your hand.”
I let my hand linger for three long seconds before slowly moving it away.
“Do you know how sexy it is to hear you threaten me with a gun?”
“It’s pink,” she said casually. “How sexy do you think it would be for you to die from a pink handgun?”
“You can find that answer if you move your hand down to my—”
“Reign?”
“Yeah?”
“Shut up. Please.”
I laughed and leaned back against the seat.
Fuck, but I couldn’t remember the last time I had laughed this much.
We made the rest of the drive in silence. I kept my eyes on her the entire time. I was sure she was aware of that, but she didn’t comment on it. And she didn’t turn to look at me once.
It didn’t matter.
I didn’t look away.
She was much prettier to stare at than any scenery out there.
And there was just something about her facial features that had me interested. She seemed to have gotten even prettier since the last time I saw her, which was unfortunate since this date wasn’t real.
In no time, we pulled up in front of a small restaurant not far from my apartment. She parked her car on the side of the road, but didn’t turn off the engine. She didn’t turn to look at me either.
I waited for her to speak first. I didn’t mind if she wanted to play this silent game with me. I was a patient man.
She shifted in her seat before finally turning to me, looking as if she were bracing herself for the inevitable.
We were going on a date, but hell if she could convince me of that. She looked like she was on her way to being executed.
“We’re here,” she said lamely, waving her hand out in front of the restaurant. She forced a smile.
I nodded. “So we are. Can you get the door for me, sweetheart?”
Her smile faltered, her eyes narrowing a bit. “You can’t get the door yourself?”
“I want the whole princess treatment. You’ve already picked me up for our date.”
She pointed to the restaurant. “I’m going in there. You can either join me or sit here in the car and wait for me to finish my meal.”
With that, she pushed the door open and got out. I followed her out and waited for her at the hood. My mood hadn’t felt this light in days… hell, in weeks, even.
She shot me a sideways glance before walking over to the front door.
It didn't take me long to catch up, and I opened the door, holding it for her.
She looked exasperated as she walked through, and I followed soon after, my eyes moving down to that perky ass that I imagined would look fucking phenomenal with my handprint.
Hell, what would I need to do to make that happen?
What Devil did I need to bargain with? ‘Cause I’d do it. In a fucking heartbeat.
At this rate, she would probably kill me before ever letting me touch her.
Who knew Jamie Caparelli would be like this?
It didn’t take long for us to be seated. I tried to sit on the same side of the booth as her, but she must have sensed my intention because the little princess sat close to the edge of the seat, not moving in.
I winked at her and took the seat across.
She shook her head. The look on her face told me she really didn’t find me all that charming. That was a first.
“Your server will be right with you,” the hostess said, looking directly at me.
“Thanks, sweetheart,” I said, using my charm on the girl. She blushed red.
See, I was charming. Spending time with Jamie almost made me doubt that.
I felt a kick on my shin just as the hostess walked away. I looked over at Jamie, wearing a murderous expression on her face.
“Don’t flirt with other women when you’re with me,” she said.
“I wasn’t flirting.”
“Really? What would you call that, then?” she asked, waving her hand in front of me.
I pointed at myself. “This is just my face. I can’t help it if other women find me sexy.”
She rolled her eyes so hard, I was surprised her eyeballs didn’t stay lodged in the back of her head.
“You’re full of it, aren’t you?”
“I want you to be full of me,” I said without missing a beat.
Outrage instantly filled her face. Fuck, how fascinating. Before she could say anything to that, the server came up.
“Welcome, folks. Have you been in before?” he asked, his eyes lingering a little too long on Jamie for my liking.
Jamie nodded.
“Perfect,” he said. “Are we ready to order, or would you like more time to look at the menu?”
“We’re ready,” Jamie said without looking at me. My smile widened. Luckily, I wasn’t picky.
I glanced down at the menu and picked the first thing I saw. “Give me a New York strip. Rare. And the bottle of your best red wine.”
“I’ll have the salmon,” Jamie said. “With a side of brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes. No gravy. Thank you.”
I watched as the fucker looked at Jamie one last time before walking away.
Jamie looked off to the side, shifting a little in her seat as soon as it was just the two of us. I watched her.
I knew she could feel my eyes on her, but she pretended not to notice, and I let her have that time to gather her thoughts. She seemed almost… awkward about the whole thing. Had she not been on many dates before?
That would make sense, given who her father and brother were, but I didn’t think it was because she wasn’t allowed to date.
While Davide Caparelli had a reputation for being a cold and heartless monster, it was no secret that he treated his children well. As well as a capo dei capi of one of the most powerful crime families could treat their offspring, I supposed.
She would have had as normal a childhood as her family could allow. It would have been nothing like the kind of environment Kingston and I grew up in.
She turned to me suddenly, as if she had just thought of something, and blurted out, “Tell me something about you.”
I raised one eyebrow at the awkward outburst, and her skin took on a slight red hue. “What do you want to know?”
She shrugged. “Anything. Your family. Your childhood.”
“And you’ll tell me about yours?”
She hesitated. Did she think this date would just consist of me telling her everything about myself while she gave nothing away?
She nodded.
I smiled. “I am the youngest. I have an older brother. My father is an angry bastard, and my mother is a doormat.”
She blinked in surprise, obviously not expecting me to say that.
“Oh… Are you and your brother close?”
“Nope. Maybe because there’s a big age gap between us, and he got sent away to boarding school when I was young.” Not because Kingston was a fucking psychopath.
“I’m not really close to my brother either.”
I nodded. I didn’t know much about the ins and outs of the Caparelli family, but I imagined he wasn’t close to his sister because he didn’t want anyone to know she was his weakness.
Or perhaps she really wasn’t. It didn’t matter.
The fact that she was even on this date with me in the first place would be enough to give the fucker an aneurysm.
I smiled a little at the thought, tempted to take a picture and send it over.
“It’s just you and your brother, then?”
Something in her expression shifted before she nodded. “Yeah.”
“Your dad?”
“He’s there,” she answered, not giving anything away. Smart girl.
“And your mom?”
“She’s gone.”
“Gone?”
She nodded. “Gone.”
I actually didn’t know what happened to the former Mrs. Caparelli.
Some said her husband killed her when he caught her in bed with another man.
The woman hadn’t been known to be faithful.
Others said she had run away from home. That rumor was even more ridiculous.
No man in Davide’s position would ever let his wife run away.
Not only would it damage his reputation, but I was sure she knew more about the organization than she let on.
She would be a treasure trove of Caparelli secrets.
“Do you miss her?” I asked, wondering if I would miss my own mother if she were to ever decide she’d had enough of the abuse and leave.
Her eyes cast a faraway look before she answered, “No.”
The response was quick and decisive. I nodded, not asking any more.
The food came out then, along with the bottle of wine.
We didn’t talk much during the rest of dinner—me, because I didn’t want to give too much away, and I still didn’t know what she wanted from me, and her, because it seemed my questions about her mom had affected her mood.
I didn’t mind it too much. After all, I had made friends with the silence a long time ago. And it seemed Jamie was the same way.
It was… nice.