Chapter 3
Throwing my work uniform and apron in my hamper, I climb into the shower and wash the smell of the restaurant off me. I always smell of cooking, even on nights I’m only out front collecting payments. When I turned sixteen, I convinced Papa V. to let me work so I felt less like a burden to them. He reluctantly agreed but it was on one condition, that I worked at one of his many Italian restaurants. He wanted to make sure I was always safe and I guess that was his way of feeling less like it was his fault that I was orphaned at such a young age.
I lather up my favorite Sol De Janiero body wash and rub the rich scent all over my body hoping to rid some of the smell of garlic from my skin. Next, I wash my waist length, dark brown hair and smother it in a mask before wrapping it high on top of my head to let the mask do its thing for the next hour.
Climbing out of the shower, I wrap a towel around me and retreat into my room. “Holy fuck! What are you doing in here? You scared the shit out of me.” I clutch my chest at the unexpected guest in my room.
“Waiting for your slow ass to hurry up and get out. What were you doing in there for so long, anyway?” Rome eyes me in suspicion as he stands there in baggy jeans and a plain black t-shirt that shows off all his muscles.
Rome could be mistaken for Sinisa’s twin with his black messy hair, dark brown eyes and killer smile. He’s all muscles and tattoos, but the similarities end with their looks. Where Sin is evil to the core, Rome has flickers of good in him that he only shows toward those he likes. He’s my best friend and soulmate. We’ve been inseparable since we could crawl, spending most weekends together when he isn’t busy with the other two, Chaser and Sin, doing work for their dads.
“Cleaning myself, something you wouldn’t understand.” I flip him the bird and make my way to the bed and sit my ass down so I’m not standing in the middle of my room with only a towel on.
Before I can move, Rome has launched himself into me and tackled me onto the bed, rubbing his armpit into my face. “I don’t smell, baby.”
Pushing at him with one hand and holding onto my towel with my other, I burst into fits of laughter. “Rome, stop. Stop. I can’t breathe.” My senses are flooded with his masculine scent, a mix of enigmatic neroli and deep black leather. He smells like my Rome.
“Tell me I don’t smell.” His full body weight pushes me into the bed and I try to ignore the fact that I’m naked under this towel. “Tell me.” He moves to look at me, his face close to mine.
The steady pounding of his heart beats in time with mine as a moment passes between us, a moment of uncertainty and hesitation. But it was there, behind his guarded eyes. A look I have glimpsed every so often lately when we’ve been alone. With each passing second my mind races with our pact and pulls me in deeper, threatening to make me do something stupid.
“Rome,” my soft voice quivers with his arousal pressing into me. His features tighten as he stares down at me, unsure of what we’re doing.
“Rome, you here, dude?” Sin’s voice echoes around us.
Rome jumps off me quicker than I can say go away to Sin but it’s too late, he’s already standing in the doorway glaring at Rome. He’s wearing gray sweats and his favorite t-shirt with some car on it. I swear he has it in every color.
Sinisa, my pain in the ass adoptive brother, is the definition of asshole. If you look it up in the dictionary, his face would be next to it. He’s tall, with broad shoulders, covered in tattoos and a sinister grin that gets all the girls throwing their panties at him, begging him to ruin them. And ruin them he does. I would never admit it out loud, but he is hot. Not the usual boy next door hot, but the you want him to pull your hair and rearrange your insides type of hot. He has the typical southern Italian looks, with his deep tanned skin, almost black hair and the darkest brown eyes to match his soul.
“Yeah, dude, just teasing Monroe that I don’t smell. Are we leaving already?” Rome’s attempt at covering up our innocent wrestling piques my interest.
“Leaving for where?” I sit up on the bed and adjust my towel, wrapping it tighter around me.
Sin lets out a frustrated snort. “We’re leaving for the airport. Didn’t you get the message?” He crosses his arms and pins me with an expectant glare.
“Some of us work and don’t have the luxury of playing on our phones all night.” I stand and pad across the room to retrieve my phone.
“I was playing with Katelyn. If you really wanted to know what I was doing.” Sin smirks.
“Please don’t update me on all your conquests. I don’t need that mental image.” I open my phone up and see a text from Mama V.
Sin steps further into the room and fist bumps Rome. “Are you jealous that I play with them and not you?”
“Fuck off, shit stain.”
“Okay, children, let’s not get into a slurring match. We have a long ass flight ahead of us.” Rome slaps Sin’s chest and pushes him out of the room but not before glancing back at me and grinning.
“See you on the plane, Mono,” Sin calls out as he’s pushed out of my room.
“Fucking idiot,” I grumble under my breath.
I don’t know why I let him get under my skin so much but he manages to irritate me almost daily. I check the time and double check the message. “Shit!” I groan as I notice I have exactly thirty minutes before we leave for the airport.
Rushing into the bathroom, I turn on the shower and as I wait for the water to warm up, I throw everything my hand touches into a toiletry bag. Jumping into the scorching hot shower, I adjust the water temperature and wash out the hair mask as quickly as I can and jump back out to towel off.
I head to my walk-in wardrobe next and drag out my suitcase, opening it in the middle of the floor and start launching shoes, clothes, underwear and swimsuits into it. Wrinkles be damned. Grabbing out a g-string, bra and yoga pants, I manage to wrestle them on as I’m still damp from my shower, before kneeling down to shove the clothes around in the suitcase in order to make room for my makeup.
Taking an empty makeup case from my shelf, I head to my makeup table and throw all my favorites in. I doubt I’ll be needing any of it as I’ll be laying by the pool the whole time, but I like to pack it just in case. Monaco this time of year is the best to get a tan and that is what I plan on doing. Tanning and reading my latest book, Full Throttle by R.E. Bond. There’s something about biker boys.
I scramble back to my suitcase, throw my makeup in, and close it up without much effort. Ha, this non organized way of packing works wonders. I’m sure I’ve missed plenty of clothes I’ll need but I can always buy more when I’m there. As long as I have the basics, I should be good.
Pulling the suitcase toward the door, I realize I don’t have a top on and grab the first thing sitting on top of my hamper at my bedroom door. Smelling it to see if it’s dirty, I throw the t-shirt over my head and don’t give it another thought before closing the door after me and heading downstairs.
“Sweetie, hurry, the limo is waiting for us.” Mama V. ushers me out the door as I’m shoving my feet into my fluffy Chanel slippers, but not before kissing my forehead as she always does when I leave the house.
The three boys, Rome, Sin, and Chaser, have already piled into our limo and the driver waits for me by the trunk. Handing him my suitcase, I round the car and climb into the back. The parentals have their own limo, so they don’t have to deal with our shit for a while longer before we’re all stuck on the private jet for a good ten hours.
“Saved you a seat.” Chaser taps the seat next to him as he can see I won’t sit in front of Sin. I notice he’s dressed pretty much identically to Sin, right down to the same t-shirt.
Chaser is the chalk to their cheese, he’s the prankster and always up to no good. His chocolate brown hair sits flopped over his face, hiding the true monster I know he can be. Chaser’s azure eyes with gold flecks and his lopsided grin can both melt panties and at the same time fire a warning. He’s like a devil in disguise, it’s always fun and games until you piss him off.
Chaser is overprotective when it comes to other guys but doesn’t hold back on giving me shit any chance he gets. Rome, Chaser, and I spend more time together than is socially acceptable apparently. Rumors have always circled through our elite schools that we secretly see each other but nothing could be further from the truth. They’re my best friends.
“Really?” I stare at Sin when he refuses to move his long legs from in front of where I’m supposed to be sitting. I step over his legs and half sit on Chaser so I’m as far away from Sin as possible.
Sin ignores my existence, not once glancing at me, and continues to play on his phone.
“Thanks.” I lean into Chaser and give him a small nudge. “If only everyone had nice manners in here.”
“Did you bring any snacks?” Rome throws me a look I can’t decipher, his gaze a puzzle of confusion and curiosity.
I shake my head. “You know I literally had thirty minutes to pack and get changed. When would I have grabbed snacks?” I adjust myself in the center seat so I’m not leaning on Chaser too much.
Tapping on the divider between us and the driver, Rome waits for it to go down when he asks the driver for snacks. “You’re a fucking legend, man.”
The driver hands through bags of chips and some salted peanuts before he closes the divider again. Chaser hands me a crystal tumbler, and proceeds to hand both Rome and Sin theirs before opening the bottle of Macallan M whiskey, which is the only whiskey Papa V. will drink.
As kids we would be divided between the parentals on our way to the airport, but as we got older, we were able to have our own limo. All three boys always drink themselves into oblivion and need help getting out of the limo by the time we reach the airport. They spend their time on the plane sleeping or throwing up in the toilet. I never drink as it makes me feel like utter shit by the time we land, and it’s not worth it.
Chaser pours himself, Sin and Rome a glass of whiskey each and then grabs the orange juice for me. “Together we reign,” he chants.
“Together we fall,” we all chant together in reply.
It was one of our silly sayings as kids. I swear, Rome only made us say this to make me feel more included. Sin has always excluded me as much as he could through the years. His idea of including me in their little friendship was to pull some sort of prank on me. But it bit him in the ass in the end, because Rome, Chaser and I are as thick as thieves. Our close friendship evolved into something that can’t be broken and I’m thankful for both of them making my existence a little less lonely.
“You guys are going to feel like death when we land.” I shake my head at them and sip on my orange juice.
“But you’ll take good care of us like you always do.” Rome grins at me.
“Nope. Not this time, boys. You’re on your own. I’m planning on doing nothing but sunbathing and reading by the pool.” Just the thought of doing nothing for a whole week before I go off to college sounds so good, I could salivate.
“Don’t think they’ll want you ruining their pool side aesthetic, laying there in your bikinis.” Sin’s voice comes out all gravelly.
Glaring at him and not even being surprised at the mean shit that spills through his lips, I kick his legs in anger and hope it hurts. But, you know how the saying goes ‘No brain, No pain.’
His attention turns to me, and his eyes dip to my tits before his face turns into a murderous scowl. “Why the fuck do you have Rome’s practice shirt on?” The tone of his voice chills the air.
Glancing down at the t-shirt I grabbed on the way out of my room, I notice it has Rome’s number sitting over my breasts. “What’s it to you what the fuck I choose to wear?” I bite back. I’m not going to have him ruin my mood because I’m not wearing one of my own t-shirts.
I see Rome shift uncomfortably; he’s been quieter than usual come to think of it. “I was wondering where my shirt disappeared to,” he says, trying to lighten the mood.
We’re all versed in the act of trying to dissipate Sin’s outbursts, we’ve learned the art to a fine T. But I’m not entertaining him and his shit today and I throw him the finger.
Sin’s dark eyes narrow and his thick eyebrows draw together in one of his signature glares. He returns his attention to his phone but not before shooting Rome a look I can’t decipher. End of discussion apparently but I can’t keep my mouth shut and I enjoy giving as good as I get from him.
Throwing his words back at him from before we left. “Are you jealous I’m not wearing your shirt?”
“You’re hardly worth being jealous over.” He doesn’t even look up from his screen and it irritates me more than it should.
Chaser hands me a tumbler of whiskey. “Can you two quit it for a bit? At least while we’re in confined spaces.”
“Cheers to that.” Rome clinks his tumbler with Chaser’s and they both chuckle.
Irritation festers in me. I want to knock his stupid phone out of his hands, but instead, I lean back and close my eyes for the remainder of the ride to the airport. If I can’t see him, he doesn’t exist.