Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Matteo
Anya
Also, does your dad have many friends?
Istare down at the message, completely bewildered.
I don’t know if I’m more shocked by her question, or the fact that Anya Morozov listens to Nickelback.
I mean, Nickelback of all bands. I’m not hating, honestly.
I like some of their music too. But the girl looks like she could star in Disney’s Rapunzel and she apparently likes Divorced Dad Rock.
Why am I into that?
Matteo
Usually I listen to a bit of a mixed bag of genres. But my top three songs right now are Eye of The Tiger by Survivor, Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas, and (Don’t Fear) The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult.
Matteo
Jade and I have been watching Supernatural since she’s never seen it before. Can you tell it’s influenced my choices?
Matteo
Also, did you just ask me if my dad has friends?
Obviously, I know that’s what her message says, but I definitely feel that checking before I answer makes sense. Maybe she didn’t even mean to ask that. It could be a typo. A really strange typo, but a typo all the same.
Anya
I did, yes. I’m wondering if he has many friends. Does he?
Laughing at her lack of clarification to go along with her confirmation, I start to type a reply.
Matteo
Not really. I mean, he had my Uncle Cesar until he passed. And Apollo is like his best friend in a way. He’s friends with Martha? I think that might be it.
Matteo
Why do you ask?
Her reply is speedier than I expected.
Anya
I think we should make our fathers become friends.
I can’t help the bark of a laugh that bursts out of me. I’m so amused by her innocent suggestion and so wildly confused as to why she would suggest such a thing.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Jesus.” I flinch, almost dropping my phone.
I fumble with it and turn around to glare at Ivan.
I only left the living room thirty seconds ago to throw away my wrapper and get another water.
I didn’t expect to be followed. “What the heck? Are you some kind of ninja today? Coming up behind me without making a sound. I could have punched you.”
“Why are you laughing?” he repeats, voice thick with tension.
“Are you really going to make me say it?” I ask, shaking my head.
He blinks expectantly.
“God, you’re just asking to be pissed off, aren’t you? Your little sister made me laugh. Do we need to argue about it now or are you going to take a fucking chill pill, man?”
“I don’t like you talking to her,” he says, taking a threatening step forward. “She doesn’t need you messing with her head and flirting with her like you do with everyone else.”
Fucking rude.
Jaw clenching, I force a smile. “You think so highly of me, Ivan, darling. It means so much.”
He scowls at the patronizing nickname. “Anya is a nice girl.”
“And I’m just what? Some degenerate asshole? Wow, dude. I thought we were becoming friends, but fuck me, I guess.”
“We are friends,” he agrees, crossing his arms stiffly. “Which is why I don’t like the idea of you talking with her. She doesn’t need to get caught up in your games.”
“My games?” I scoff. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“Your games,” he repeats, sniffing dismissively. “You flirt with people, and you can’t help it. You play the overly confident cocky fuckboy role, and she doesn’t need that.”
“I haven’t been a fuckboy since I was eighteen years old,” I quickly gripe, starting to genuinely get pissed. “And for your information, the most I’ve flirted with Anya is by telling her she was pretty at the wedding. She made me laugh just now because she wants to play matchmaker with our dads.”
I turn my phone around, flashing the most recent message like a badge of innocence. Ivan stares at my screen as I resist the urge to hit him. “I’m so bad for her that she’s already conspiring friendship between mafia bosses with me, how horrible.”
After a moment, I lower my hand back down, ready to chew him out some more, when I find him smiling. No, not smiling. Smirking. Fucking smirking.
“What the hell are you grinning at?” My hands land on my hips. “You were really fucking rude to me just now, Ivan. I don’t see why that could possibly be amusing.”
“I wanted to see how you would respond,” he says, lifting a shoulder in an offhanded shrug. “She’s my sister, and even though she hasn’t been able to say a word to me in years, I still care about her. I’ll protect her even if she doesn’t want me to, including from you.”
My jaw drops. “You were…Were you fucking testing me?”
“Of course.” He tilts his head, eyes flicking to look me up and down.
“You’re a good friend to Jade, but she’s your sister.
That’s a different dynamic and you do flirt too much.
You flirt with men, and you’re straight.
I wanted to make sure you weren’t doing that here.
Being Anya’s friend is a good idea, but anything more? It’s not the time.”
“I don’t know how to react right now,” I admit, shaking my head. “I want to be mad, but I don’t know if I can be. You had me so convinced you were calling me too bad of a person to be around Anya that I almost wanted to kick you in the junk, bro.”
“Almost?” he teases.
“No, I definitely wanted to kick you in the junk,” I clarify, nodding to emphasize my desire. “I just barely resisted the urge.”
“Lucky me.” He rolls his eyes. “In all seriousness, I’m glad she feels comfortable enough to text you. I won’t lie and say I expected this. I was surprised she danced with you, but I assumed the fact that she didn’t expect to see you again afterward helped her get up and do it.”
“Pfffft.” I wave a dismissive hand. “No one can resist my charming good looks, dear Ivan.”
His smile flattens. “And this is what I mean. You can’t help yourself.”
“Do you think I’m flirting with you?” I taunt, tilting my head. “Because I can show you what me flirting actually looks like.”
He steps back immediately as if burned. “Just be nice to my sister, all right? I can’t kill you because Jade would be devastated, but I can cause a lot of pain without ending your life.”
“You say the sweetest things,” I deadpan. “You don’t have to worry about my friendship with Anya. I wouldn’t hurt her.”
My phone pinging draws my eye, and he takes that as his cue to leave.
Thank God, because he just gave me emotional whiplash.
I thought I was going to have to fight him in the middle of the kitchen and then Jade would be upset all day.
Martha too, since there’s no way we wouldn’t break something while brawling.
Anya
They’re close in age, they essentially have the same job, and their kids are married. That seems like a good recipe for relationship building, doesn’t it? It’s not like they can betray each other without hurting their own kids and grandkids.
Anya
So, it’s like built-in trust, isn’t it?
A smile lifts the corners of my lips.
Matteo
Wow, you’ve really thought this out, haven’t you?
Anya
For about ten minutes now. I have to be honest, it seems like an excellent idea to me.
Matteo
Well, you make a lot of solid points. But they are also on opposite sides of the country.
Anya
So are we…
Matteo
Yes, but we’re young and tech savvy. They’re old and technology vexes them. Do you really see them texting and FaceTiming like frat buddies in college?
Now that’s a funny thing to picture. Dante Moretti and Anton Morozov at college age—in frats, no less.
Anya
Do you think it’s dumb, then?
I frantically type to deny her assumption.
Matteo
Not dumb. I guess I just don’t understand where this is coming from. If you want to play Daddy Matchmaker though, I’m 100% in.
Anya
Really? You’ll help me? I just think that he needs a friend. He’s always taking care of everyone and never takes time for himself. He says my uncles are his friends, but Uncle Mikhail is antisocial and so are his sons. And Uncle Lev has a wife and daughter that he wants to spend all his time with.
Anya
Which is good, of course. But he says he doesn’t trust anyone else to have friends. I just thought that maybe your dad was in the same boat?
Well, when she puts it like that, I can’t help but agree.
Matteo
I mean, you’re not wrong. He basically only has us. And yeah, there are a lot of us. But maybe having a friend who you didn’t give life to might be nice for him.
Matteo
We should probably get them girlfriends next though. My dad is pushing mid-fifties and hasn’t had a lady in far too long. Or is that too ambitious?
I hope my joking suggestion doesn’t come across the wrong way.
I’m sure she has tough feelings where her father’s love life is concerned after her mother…
but she said she didn’t want me to walk on eggshells around her.
I’m just going to have to trust for now that she’ll tell me if I say something stupid.
And learn to beg profusely for forgiveness if I do.
Anya
It might be too ambitious for now. I know very little about romance, and I don’t see him opening up to anyone anytime soon. Maybe after we secure the friendship it will come easily, though.
Matteo
I can dig it.
Matteo
Also, I do believe we’ve just hit a friendship milestone of our own, Miss Morozov.
Anya
Have we?
Matteo
We’re conspiring together. That’s some serious friendship shit right there, if I do say so myself. Want to rob a bank next? Plan an art heist?
I picture her laughing at my ridiculous suggestions and make myself smile at the phantom sound. I wonder how soon I can suggest we try video-chatting to make the idea real. Maybe I’ll give it a month.
It would be nice to see her face again and watch the way she reacts to what I’m saying. I like the idea of it, of feeling like we’re in the same room rather than over 2,500 miles away from one another.
Anya
I’m afraid I would be a particularly bad robber. Too much anxiety, I think.
Matteo
That’s okay. I have plenty of blind confidence to spare.
And experience being a criminal, but I don’t think I need to point that out. Plus, most of my crimes involve violence, murder, and tax evasion. I’ve never actually robbed a bank. I bet I’d be really fucking good at it though.
Anya
How does one spare confidence to a friend?
I chuckle, coming up with something quickly.
Matteo
It’s a complex but relatively quick process. I need to extract the confidence and mold it into vitamin-style gummies. You take the little lemon lime-flavored treat and BOOM, confidence.
Anya
Lemon lime flavor, huh?
Matteo
The universal flavor of courage, of course.
She doesn’t respond immediately, so I take the opportunity to grab a fresh water bottle and throw in an electrolyte packet.
I have a workout planned with Armani later today, and the last thing I need is him nagging me about my hydration levels.
Training with him is like three workout sessions in one, but it’s more fun than just sparring with Elio or Apollo.
I’ve been working on taking my fitness more seriously again now that Jade has settled in with the kids.
And apparently, Apollo has taken on the Todorov boy, Yordan, as a mentee—meaning things are going to get pretty physical around here.
He’ll be retraining the Bulgarian mafia descendant who he claimed responsibility of at the wedding and molding him into a man fit to join The Outfit.
What his plans are beyond that, I have no idea. He’s moving fast though, already formally introducing Yordan to Dad yesterday at the house. Dad, who seems to think that Yordan’s older sister Rayna might be a good fit for Apollo. I think he’s just desperate to have his heir settle down.
Dad isn’t getting any younger, and if Apollo isn’t married and producing an heir of his own soon, Leon might just be thrown in his place.
I’d like to think that our father wouldn’t have the heart to replace Apollo as our future Capo, but the family tradition of a married Capo is decades old and one of the few that seems unwavering.
The Outfit Capo must have a successor of his own, and if he doesn’t…
Well, his brother will. Leon already has two babies, Bastian and Leo, and experience running his own sector.
As an Underboss, and second eldest son, he’s the second in command.
And if Apollo doesn’t make a move to change his bachelorhood soon, he could find himself in Leon’s home rather than running this one.
Shaking out of the thought, I gulp down the rest of my bottle and toss it in the sink. Thirst satiated, I look down to check my messages just in time.
Anya
I thought texting you would be difficult, and that I would embarrass myself and then block you to pretend it never happened.
Anya
But then you say things like courage has a universal flavor and I think I’ll be okay.
My chest feels heavier all of a sudden. Full of pride for doing this right, maybe. Keeping things lighthearted has never been difficult for me, but I definitely felt pressure where Anya is concerned. I was also afraid of saying the wrong thing and messing it all up.
Matteo
Are you saying I’m embarrassing myself, Anya? I thought we agreed on a judgment-free zone. *tongue out winky face*
Anya
You’re not embarrassing yourself. You’re just not afraid to be silly. It takes the pressure off, you know?
Anya
I didn’t expect you to be so easy to talk to.
I catch my goofy-ass smile in my phone’s reflection.
Matteo
Well, I’m glad to have surprised you. I take great pride in not being a boring stiff. That’s Apollo’s job.
Matteo
Youngest sibling privilege means no one expects me to step up and be a strict, boring-ass leader. I get to make everyone laugh.
Doesn’t come with the same respect that leadership does, but I think I’d rather be adored than respected.
Anya
I like that. Laughing is nice.
Her laugh is nice, I agree silently.
Anya
Also, I almost forgot to ask. What is Supernatural?
My mouth pops open, gobsmacked by the question. Has she never turned on a television before? Never doom-scrolled on the internet?
Matteo
What’s Supernatural?
Matteo
Only the longest-running American live-action fantasy series. Fifteen seasons of two brothers who hunt supernatural beings all over the country in a badass car like absolute legends.
Matteo
Do you not watch TV?
Anya
I watch TV. I’ve just never heard of it.
Anya
Should I try it?
Yes.
Matteo
What do you normally watch?
Anya
Movies, mostly. Some Russian stuff, some American.
Movies are great, don’t get me wrong. But there’s a whole world of TV shows she’s probably missing out on if she’s never even heard of Supernatural.
Matteo
Try episode one and let me know what you think. If you don’t hate it, you’ll love the rest.
We’re sharing plans to set our fathers up as friends and now TV show recommendations. Day one is going pretty fucking good, and it’s not even lunchtime yet. I can’t wait to see where the rest of the day takes us.