by L A Cotton
I snatched the brown paper bag open and pulled out a pastry. “And I’ll always be your best friend. Especially, if you keep bringing me treats like this.”
That earned me a small chuckle. “What really happened last night?”
My sugar high crashed and burned as I stuttered over the words. “Nothing happened.”
“Nor, I’m not stupid. Enzo was extra grouchy after you left, and Matteo said he saw the two of you slip out of—”
“He’s such a gossip,” I grumbled under my breath.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“There’s nothing to say.” My shoulders lifted in a small shrug.
“I don’t believe that for a second.” A beat passed as Ari searched my face for answers… answers I didn’t have.
I couldn’t explain why I felt drawn to Enzo, why I wanted to understand him, to fix him. Sure, he had that bad boy appeal, but it wasn’t only that. I saw the torment in his eyes, felt his defenses ripple around him like a shield every time we were close. Enzo Marchetti was a complicated guy—layered and complex—and I wanted to strip back each layer and uncover the real him. The guy he didn’t let anyone else see.
Even if I didn’t like what I found.
“Did he tell you he won’t be starting MU on Monday?”
My stomach sank as I tried to school my expression. He’d been inside me, fucking the very soul from my body, and he hadn’t mentioned a goddamn thing.
“No,” I steeled my spine. “He didn’t… You knew?”
“Nicco only confirmed it last night.” Sympathy shone in her eyes. “You know there’s stuff he can’t tell me.”
“So that’s it? He’s just throwing away his entire college career?”
“Nora, you know that’s not how it works.”
“Nicco and Matteo?” I asked, knowing it was a stupid question. Nicco wouldn’t leave Arianne, and Matteo… well, he was different. Something told me he wanted life to be as normal as possible.
But not Enzo.
He’d never really fit in at MU. It didn’t make it any easier to hear though.
“What will he do instead? Wait, forget it. You can’t answer that either.”
She reached over and took my hand. “Because I don’t know. If I did, I’d tell you.”
“I guess that explains last night then,” I murmured, trying hard to erase the images of last night from my head. Enzo’s hand around my throat, his body riding mine.
“The two of you—”
I nodded. “It was goodbye.” The thought hit me like a wrecking ball. Enzo hadn’t dragged me to that storage room because he was jealous, although I didn’t doubt that had a little to do with it. He’d done it because he wanted one last time with me.
That cold bastard.
He’d stoked the flames of hope in my chest while knowing he didn’t have to see me every day around campus.
A wave of nausea rolled through me.
How foolish I’d been.
Enzo didn’t care about me. He cared about what I could give him. A warm, willing body. My stubbornness had refused to accept that, because I felt the threads connecting us. And until this moment, part of me had truly believed that if I pulled hard enough, eventually, I’d find Enzo on the other end.
“Oh, Nor,” Ari said, squeezing my hand.
“I’m fine.” I shot her a weak smile, surprised to feel the dampness on my cheeks.
I rarely cried.
I was stronger than that.
But I was also only human and being wrong about Enzo cut deep.
“There’s someone out there for you, I promise.”
But what if I’d already found him?
What if I’d found the guy I was supposed to be with, and he refused to accept it?
What if he rejected me?
I guess I didn’t need to wonder anymore.
My heart withered in my chest as reality crashed over me.
“Yeah, well, I think I need to focus on other things for a while.” I stuffed the last bite of pastry into my mouth.
“I hate that he hurt you again.”
“It’s fine.” My shoulders lifted in a half-hearted shrug.
“Nora, it’s not fine. You deserve so much better. Enzo is… complicated. He doesn’t know—”
“I really don’t want to talk about this anymore. He’s not coming back to school, so it’s a moot point.” I’d probably still see him occasionally at family events, but I could handle that. “Tell me about the party. Did Arabella enjoy it?”
“She did… until she got caught taking shots with Bailey and Dane. You should have seen Matteo, he lost it.”
“Oh wow, I’m sorry I missed it.” My lips curved.
“Everyone missed you.”
I didn’t believe that for a second, but I appreciated the sentiment.
“Bella and Sia made me promise we can all hang out soon, just the four of us.”
“We totally should. We could have a girl’s night. Face masks, manicures, champagne, a movie…”
“They’ll love that. Sia is always talking about you. You’re like the older, cooler sister she’s never had.”
“She loves you too.”
“I know. But it’s different. I’m her family now.”
Her words stung. I knew Ari didn’t mean them with any malicious intent, but there it was again. That word.
Family.
I had my mom, my dad, and my brother Gio. It’s just the four of us. Three, if you count the fact that Gio was off at UPenn living out his dreams of going all the way to the NFL.
It had always been me and Arianne, the two of us against the world. But she had Nicco now. As the Capizola heir and the newly crowned Marchetti princess, she had a legion of men all willing to lay down their lives for her.
Enzo included.
He would take a bullet for his cousin’s wife, protect her no matter what the costs. Because she was family now.
And me?
I was just the best friend worthy of sex…
But not good enough for his heart.
Chapter 7
Enzo
“You look like shit,” Matteo said, looking far too breezy for the morning after the night before.
I rubbed a hand over my head and down my face. “Is there juice?”
“Should be.” He flicked his head to our refrigerator. Although he didn’t stay here a lot anymore. He liked to be around for Arabella, so he usually crashed at their house.
But not last night.
Last night, I had hazy memories of him and Dane carrying me to one of the cars and shoving my drunk ass inside.
Fuck. I’d really hit the liquor hard after Nora left.
I went to open the refrigerator, but groaned in agony when a pain shot through my skull.
“Here,” Matteo said. “You sit, and I’ll get it.”
Slumping onto one of the stools, I buried my face in my hands.
“Want to talk about it?” he asked.
“Nope.”
“Good, I’ll talk then, and you can listen. What the fuck are you doing, E?”
My head whipped up, another flash of pain ripping through me. Matteo smirked. “Serves you right for drinking your bodyweight in whisky.”
“The juice?”
He handed me the carton and I drank straight from the box.
“That is so unhygienic.”
“So don’t drink it,” I grumbled, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. “Thanks… for getting me home.”
“It was that or leave you there. She’s really under your skin, huh?”
My eyes narrowed and his smirk only grew. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“Sure, you don’t. So I didn’t see the two of you slip out of the staff exit together?”
“Wasn’t me.”
“You’re a terrible fucking liar. What I really want to know though, is what you did to her to make her leave?”
My chest tightened. It had been a dick mov
e. Not the sex, the sex was great. But everything else had been an absolute shitshow.
“Fuck you, man,” I hissed. “Fuck you.”
“Nora is good people. You know that, right?”
“Seriously,” my eyes shuttered as I inhaled a resigned sigh, “I’m not doing this.”
“Okay, so you don’t want to talk about Nora. Let’s talk about the fact you’re dropping out of school to run with Gino and his crew. We both know what he and his guys get up to.”
“Don’t start, Matt, you sound like Nicco.”
“He’s worried. We both are. This isn’t you, cous.”
“Do you have any fucking idea what it’s like?” A violent storm raged inside me. “I pulled the trigger, Matt. I pointed the gun at my old man’s head and I. Pulled. The. Trigger. Me.” I inhaled a shuddering breath that I felt all the way to my dirty black soul. “So don’t stand there and tell me running with Gino isn’t me. Because from where I’m standing, I think it’s exactly me.” I leaped up, and the sound of the stool legs scraping the tiles filled our apartment.
“I’m sorry, okay?” He let out a thin breath. “I know it’s hard—”
“Hard?” I sneered. “You don’t have any fucking idea what it’s like.” His world hadn’t been blown to shreds that night, not the same way mine had.
“Maybe you should talk—”
“I swear to fucking God, Matt, if you tell me to talk to someone, I’ll—”
“Yeah, you’re right. That’s not the answer.” He scrubbed his jaw. “But it’s a damn sight better than selling your soul to the likes of Gino and his crew.”
“I need this, cous,” I said, the anger inside me abating slightly.
Trust Matteo to worm his way under my skin. I knew Nicco didn’t approve, but he was less direct than our cousin. He believed in letting people arrive at their own decisions, and I was pretty certain that deep down, he knew what this meant to me.
I needed time away from Verona County. At least until I’d finally slayed the demons that haunted my every waking thought.
“Just promise me you’ll be careful. Something’s coming. I can feel it.” His expression darkened.
“Aunt Marcella giving you too much of that damn tea again?” She was as superstitious as they came.
“Don’t you feel it?” He rubbed the back of his neck. “That shit with Johnny Morello… It was a warning.”
“Nah,” I said. “It’s nothing. And even if it was, we’ll deal with it.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Matteo wasn’t like me. He didn’t revel in this life. Tolerated it? Sure, he had to. You didn’t escape the Family. If you were born into it, you died in it. It was that simple. La Famiglia prima di tutto. The Family came first, always.
Ever since I was a kid, I’d wanted it. I’d wanted to do the Family’s bidding. Back then, I’d wanted it so that I could be closer to my old man. I thought it would bond us, make him pleased. I thought if my father saw I was made for this life, he’d be proud.
Looking back, I’m not sure Vincenzo Marchetti was ever cut out to be a father. His parenting skills were lacking at best, but I’d never doubted his ability as a capo.
He was everything I’d ever wanted to be.
Fearless.
Merciless.
Unwavering.
But it was all a lie.
A sham.
He wasn’t fearless. He was a fucking coward.
The blare of my cell phone cut through my thoughts and I dug it out of my pocket. “Yeah?” I barked.
“Enzo, son, it’s me,” Uncle Toni replied.
“What’s up, Uncle T?”
“Change of plans. Gino is staying in Providence for a little longer. I want you to ride down there and meet him.”
“Today?”
“The sooner the better.”
“I’ll leave right away.”
“Good. I knew I could count on you.” A beat passed. “And pack a bag, you could be gone a while.”
“On it.”
“Good, call me when you get there.” He hung up and I pocketed my cell.
“You’re leaving?” Matteo let out a long, steady breath.
“Gino needs me in Providence.”
“Nicco isn’t going to like this.”
“Yeah, well, Nicco isn’t calling the shots anymore.” Not for me, at least.
“You don’t have to do this, cous.” Matteo smiled weakly. But not even one of his puppy dog smiles was going to change my mind.
“Yeah,” I said, grimly. “I do.”
Pulling off at a rest stop, I cut the engine and ran a hand down my face. My cell phone had been blowing up since I left Verona less than an hour ago, and I knew the news had got back to my best friend.
I dialed Nicco’s number and waited.
“What the fuck, Enzo?” he growled, the hostility in his voice making me bristle.
“I didn’t want it to be a big deal. It’s not like I’m leaving forever.”
“You left without saying a fucking word.” Hurt coated his words, making guilt snake through me.
“I need this,” I said.
“And I need my best friend to talk to me. But I guess neither of us are getting what we want.”
“Shit, Nic, I didn’t do it to piss you off…”
“No, you knew if anyone could persuade you to stay, it was me.”
“Maybe, yeah.” My chest heaved as I expelled a long breath. “If it’s any consolation, Matt gave me a pretty good talking to before I left.”
“It doesn’t,” he snorted, “but I would have paid to hear that.”
“You’re worried, I get it. But you don’t need to be. This is who I am.”
“E, that’s not—”
“We both know you’re destined to call the shots and I’m destined to get my hands dirty. I’ve made my peace with it, you should too.”
“Not like this though,” he said quietly. “Never like this.”
“Gino is good people. He’ll look out for me.”
“Damn right he will, or he’ll have me to answer to.”
“Hey, this thing with Morello,” I said, “do you think we need to be worried?”
It wasn’t uncommon for gangs or other organizations to try and make their presence known, especially in and around Providence. But the city had always been Marchetti territory. There was an MC, the Providence Phantoms, who rode out of their compound on the edge of the Woonasquatucket river, but they generally kept to themselves. Then there were the small-time dealers we let fly under the radar so long as they didn’t start making waves. The Cruzers controlled all of the heavier narcotics coming in and out of Rhode Island, but we had a good thing going with Santiago Cruze, their top guy. The Family didn’t usually get involved in narcotics, but it enjoyed a cut of the profits for letting Santiago and his guys operate out of Providence.
They had been the ones to hand over the rat when they’d gotten word that he’d been whispering Dominion business in a couple of guys ears. Guys no one recognized.
Outsiders.
The rat hadn’t talked yet, and poor fucking Morello was lying in a hospital bed pissing through a tube.
“It could be nothing…” he said.
“Or it could be something.”
“Yeah.” Nicco let out a long sigh. “Just watch your back. Morello is a good guy, no enemies… an innocent.”
I knew what he was saying. As far as we were aware, his only vice was being on the Family’s books. An attack against him—random or otherwise—was an attack against us.
“Relax, I’ve got this.”
“Yeah, that’s what worries me.” He scoffed.
“Don’t you have husband duties to carry out?”
“Fuck you, cous, fuck you. One day some girl is gonna swoop in and knock you so hard on your ass you’re not going to know what’s hit you, and I’ll be there to enjoy every second.”
“I hate to disappoint you,” I said, “but you’re going to be waiting a long
fucking time. I’m not cut out for that life.”
“We’ll see,” Nicco grumbled under his breath.
“I need to get back on the road.” I chose to ignore his comment. “I’ll text you when I meet up with Gino.”
“Make sure you do. I mean it, E. Just because you’re running with his crew now, doesn’t mean I don’t want to be kept in the loop.”
“Yeah, yeah, boss. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Stay safe.”
“You too.” I hung up, gunned the engine, and headed for the city, not stopping until I pulled up outside the address Uncle Toni had sent me.
It was some dive motel just outside the city, and Gino Lupo was leaning against the railing waiting for me.
“Enzo, my man,” he said as I climbed out of the car, “long time no see.” He approached me, thrusting out his hand.
I accepted it with a firm shake. “Gotta say, I wasn’t expecting this. Not after—”
“What’s the deal?” I cut him off. I didn’t want to shoot the shit or dredge up what happened with my father. Everyone who needed to know the truth, knew about Vincenzo Marchetti’s betrayal. And those that didn’t, knew about his untimely death thanks to an oncoming truck and bad driving conditions.
Either way, he was gone.
Dead.
I didn’t want to keep talking about a ghost.
“We got some intel that some outsiders have been sniffing around. Cruze gave us a name. Dominic Alejandro.”
“Never heard of him.”
“Tommy did a little digging and Alejandro has ties to a Mexican cartel in Connecticut. Rumor on the street is he’s looking for somewhere to put down roots.”
Tommy Gabini was the Family’s investigator. There wasn’t a secret he couldn’t uncover, or a ruse he couldn’t foil. He was the best, and so compensated heavily for his work.
“You tell Toni all this?”
“Of course. Why do you think he asked us to stay put? He wants us to feel Dominic out, and if necessary, handle him. But enough of that.” He came around to my side and slung his arm around my shoulder. “Work can wait. Tonight, we induct you into our crew.”
My brows furrowed. “Should I be worried?”
“You like liquor and pussy?” Gino grinned, revealing his gold tooth.