I shrugged. “I don’t really have any intention. We’re not technically dating or anything.”
Her eyes narrowed, wrong answer I assume. “So then why did he bring you home?” she asked.
“Because someone told your mother about me, and she asked me to come. I didn’t see why not.”
“You got money?” She asked.
I frowned, and my easy going demeanor slipped. I told myself that these were his sisters and they were just looking out for him. It was easy to see his family was close, nothing that I’d had with my own… but still. “Why? What is this, a shakedown?” I asked.
She scoffed. “Please. You know better than to think I need to take your money.”
I crossed my arms matching her defensive stand. “So why does that matter to you?” I challenged.
“Because that’s my brother, and there’s no way I’m going to let a gold-digging hussy weasel her way into his life.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yea, I’m after his money. That’s why he’s never done anything but give me a ride.”
“But you went and got a job working in his club.” The younger sister Sofia pointed out. That one had more venom in her than the rest of his family did, except for the man in question.
“Yes, I did. Nowhere else was hiring, and I did it on a whim. I didn’t tell them that I knew him or anything. I was hired before he even knew. He didn’t know I even tried until he saw me training.”
“You couldn’t go somewhere else? I’m supposed to believe that?” His sister challenged.
I dropped my arms. I was done with this, and I was feeling defensive. I’m used to altercations, and they usually ended with fists flying, so I mentally prepared myself. “I don’t care what you believe, to be honest. It was his fault we even met. I’m not going to waste my breath trying to explain myself to you to try to get you to like me.” I took a breath. “It’s really this simple. You like me because you’ve met me and got to know me a bit or you don’t. You can have whatever preconceived notions about me that you want. It’s not going to change a fucking thing for me because when I leave here with or without him today, I’m going to be the same person. It’s no hair off my back.” I said straight to the point.
Sofia squared up with me. “And if I said I didn’t believe a word of your bullshit.”
My fists balled up. “Then I would have to inform you that I wouldn’t give a flying fuck in hell.”
Her eyebrow cocked. “You do realize we’re his sisters and this is his house. We come first, we always will.”
“And I would expect nothing less.” Because really, I didn’t. I would lose respect for him if it were any other way.
Francesca pushed her sister back and looked at me with a newfound curiosity. “And you're okay with that?” she asked.
I looked at her confused. “Why wouldn’t I be? You’re his sisters. I have a twin sister who I basically despise and has done some seriously fucked up shit to me. Doesn’t stop me from helping her. I always did, probably always will.”
Her eyes went to balled up hands. “You know if you hit one of us, we’d jump you and he’d probably kill you.” She warned.
I took a step closer to her. “I won't throw the first punch, I have no reason to. But you’re giving me the fifth degree, and I feel like you’re the judge and jury right now and you’ve already made the decision, I'm just waiting for the execution. I’ll tell you this much if you got them coming don’t waste any more time. I’m more than ready.” Again, to the point. If that’s where this was going, I was ready to get it done and over with.
A loud whistle cracked the tension and Francesca started laughing. “Holy shit. I like you.” She shook her head. “I never thought I’d see the day I would say that about a girl my brother is into.” She looked towards the ceiling, and a small smile graced her face. “Hell, I never thought I would meet a girl my brother was into.”
I frowned. “What?”
Then a loud husky chuckle broke through. “We came back for the stuff to set up the card game and walked into an interesting cat fight going down.” I turned to see his father and uncle entered the room. Michael, Angelou, Dante, and a fuming mad Giovanni was standing back.
“It wasn’t a catfight,” I argued. “We were just talking,” I explained.
He scoffed. “Honey we caught the whole show. You three were so into it, you didn’t notice the audience. I gotta give it you princess, you got my respect earlier for socking my boy.” He shook his head as he stared at me in disbelief. “But I gotta say, it rose to new levels. You just threw the gavel down on my girls and told them to make a move.” He looked back to Gio. “You got a keeper here boyo.”
He gave a sharp nod before he glared at his sisters. Francesca raised her hands up in the air clearly showing her surrender, but Sofia was still hell-bent. She was glaring at me, and I met her gaze head-on. Sister or not, I wasn’t dumb. She wasn’t ok with me like the others, but that was fine. I wasn’t fucking her, and if he couldn’t get past the fact, his sister didn’t like me then so be it. But I wasn’t going to bend and kiss nobodies ass for nothing. If this is how they wanted it, then that’s how it would have to be. She gave me a look that clearly said she wasn’t backing down, and I met it with my own message, ‘challenge accepted.’ Gio stepped into my line of vision stopping our silent battle.
He ran his fingers through my hair, and that eased me a bit. He leaned down and laid a gentle kiss on my lips. “You ok?” he asked.
I nodded because I was. “Yes, I’m fine.” He looked at me with a frown as if he didn’t believe me. I sighed. “Seriously, Gio. I can handle my own.” I reassured him.
He ran his hands down my arms until his hands reached mine and he twined our fingers together. “I want to take you home, baby. I need you.” He pushed closer to me letting me feel his erection through his pants, and that just made me throb with need.
I was exhausted, so I nodded. “Ok. Please.” I agreed, and we said our goodbyes much to his mother's dismay and left for his place.
When we got back to his, we made love, and I slept like the dead.
Chapter 12
Julie
I was currently at Giovanni’s house. It was a Friday, Gio had things to take care of, and I was once again monopolizing his computer. We’ve been going strong for the past month and a half. We’d gone back to his childhood home and had a smaller dinner with his mother and father. She got the opportunity to fulfill her motherly duties with me in regards to her son. She seemed happy about it. As a matter of fact, she called me regularly just to chat and ask questions about her son. I listened and laughed with her as she complained about how her son seemed to be too busy for her. To just call her and chat and she’s expressed how grateful she was to have me there because I made sure he called her at least once a week, mostly for a short time just to talk.
I was in the kitchen fixing my third cup of coffee when I heard a phone ring. I frowned that definitely wasn’t a ringtone I’d heard before. I looked at my cup longingly before I put it down and went in search of the sound. It was like 100 rings later when I found the source, he had a house phone situated in a corner in the living room. I hesitated my hand over the phone, not feeling all that comfortable answering his phone. I wasn’t one of those types of girls. After it rang another four times with my hand hovering, I picked it up and decided to bite the bullet. I would hope no one would let the phone ring that many times unless it was important.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Julie? Is that you?” a frantic woman’s voice came through the line that I recognized immediately.
“Mrs. Ruzzo?”
A groan. “I hate that name I told you, it makes me feel old. Would you call me mom already? Everyone else does.”
I smiled. She’s been trying to beat that into me, but I still didn’t feel like I had the right to do so. “I’m sorry,” I said instead.
“Marco isn’t answering his phone, and yours went straight to voicemail.” She said frantica
lly. “Lorenzo and I are still on vacation in Belize. That damn Sofia got herself into something, and we need someone to get to the school. I know she isn’t your biggest fan, but she’s just very attached to her brothers. Would you mind?” she asked desperately.
She was right, Sofia still hated my guts, and I couldn’t care less. I mean, I cared because it tore Gio up inside and I know he’s gone to Sofia on more than one occasion against my requests to try to talk her into calming down and accepting me. That made her hate me more because she thought I was behind it. I gritted my teeth anticipating the glares and bullshit she was going to give me. “Sure.”
A big sigh of relief. “Oh my god, thank you, dear. I owe you for this.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I answered, but what I was thinking was ‘you really do. Preferably a huge pan of lasagna’.
I fished out my cell phone and saw it was dead. Shit.
“Where does she go to school?” I asked.
Her mother gave me all the details down to the directions and the principal's name before we hung up. I plugged my phone in for a few minutes to get a bit of juice as I got myself dressed. I took a deep sigh, grabbed my bag – which happened to be my bookbag – and walked out of the apartment.
I ordered an Uber, because I didn’t have a car and trying to figure out how to get there on public transportation seemed like more work than it was worth. I was there within 15 minutes and let myself in. Sofia was the only person sitting in the office, and when she saw me, she scowled. Here we go.
“I’m here to pick up Sofia Ruzzo,” I informed the woman at the front desk.
She scanned me before speaking. “And you are?” she asked.
“Julianna McKenzie,” I stated.
She glared. “You have ID?” she asked.
I huffed as I took my bookbag off my back and began to ruffle through it. I found my school student ID first and pulled that out. It had my name and picture on it, it would have to do. “Here.”
She scanned it and even looked at the back as if proving the legitimacy of it. “Her mother called and said you would get her.” She murmured as she put a book in front of me. “Sign her out.”
I rolled my eyes as I signed my name. “If you knew that, why waste my time.”
She didn’t bother looking at me. “School policy.”
I scoffed. “More like I look like white trash, and you didn’t believe me.” I shot back to her clear as day and didn’t miss her expression. I’d called her on her bullshit, and she knew it was true.
I turned to Sofia. “Let’s go.”
I didn’t wait for her but began making my way out. This was one of those pretentious highschools that I had no business setting foot in. Lower class slum didn’t belong in a place like this, and it was pricking a nerve that I hated. I didn’t think of myself as beneath anyone else, but it still stung to this day when I’m treated as such. It doesn’t matter how much I try to make myself immune to it. Sofia followed me out of the school and crossed her arms when I stopped.
“Well?” she asked.
“Well, what?” I asked her with an arched eyebrow.
She crossed her arms. “Why are we just standing here?” she asked.
I held up my phone. “I’m getting an Uber,” I informed her.
She snorted and rolled her eyes. “I take it you don’t have a car.”
My eyes narrowed. “That would be correct,” I said dryly.
She laughed to herself, probably talking shit about me in her head but I didn’t care. I groaned when I saw that it was going to take 11 minutes. Great, that wasn’t going to be awkward at all. The school doors opened behind me, and I saw Sofia tense, her eyes focused in that direction. When I turned to look, there was what looked like a soccer mom and two girls with her.
“What are you looking at Sofia.” One of the girls snarled at her.
Sofia rolled her eyes. “Really? You’ve got balls now cause your mama is here? You didn’t have balls to fight me before. Instead, you ran and snitched.”
The second girl, who looked to be the older of the two stepped up. “Oh please. Noone is afraid of you.”
“Danielle.” The mother scolded, but she didn’t pay her any attention and continued taking a step toward Sofia.
“You think you’re so tough because your last name is Ruzzo. Nobody cares.” Danielle finished. There it was, jealousy.
Sofia pushed her chin up. “I don’t give a shit what my last name is. That has nothing to do with the fact that your sister deserves to get her ass beat. She talks a lot of crap and can't back it up. Stop trying to fight her fights, Danielle. Just because you had one fight doesn’t mean that you're tough. You’re here coming at me for what?”
“Oh, my. You have such a foul mouth young lady.” The mother shook her head then looked at me. “You’re going to let her talk like that?”
I shrugged. “Well, your daughters started with her first.” I pointed out.
She glared at me. “What are you? Ten? I can see where she gets it from.”
I looked pointedly at her daughters. “And you’re the epitome of raising perfect kids?”
“Excuse me?” she snapped.
I sighed. “How did this become about me? The girls had words ok? It’s going to happen eventually. Whether they do it now or next time they see each other at school. Let them get it off their chest so they can move on. At least if they do it now, they have you here as a buffer.” It was the truth.
Her stubborn ass, of course, wouldn’t accept it. “My kids are above this.” She was bent on arguing me apparently.
“I see that,” I responded dryly and checked my phone for the car. Eleven minutes hasn’t passed yet?
“Mom, she’s right. Just let me fight her now and get it over with because I’m not going to let her touch Jennifer.”
Sofia dropped her bag to the floor and moved forward. I groaned as I went after her to stop her. Was I being punished for something I did? “Ok Sofia, just chill out.”
She shook her head. “You said it, it’s going to happen. I’m ready to get it over with.”
“Let’s go bitch.” Danielle bit out.
Fucking hell. I looked at her mother who was trying to comfort the other daughter who I’m assuming was Jennifer. All that bullshit she was saying, and she was just going to stand back and let them throw down? The fuck type of shit is this? Sofia took another step forward, and I placed my hand on her chest stopping her.
“Little girl. Those are fighting words.” I warned Danielle. “You sure you want to do this?” I asked.
She smiled to herself. “Oh so now you’re trying to save her?” I shook my head. I hope I wasn’t this stupid when I was younger. This girl was too confident, and I’d bet my right butt cheek she probably only had a fight or two in her life and thought she was a G. I know her type. She was so sure she was going to be able to beat Sofia. She was bigger than her and probably in a grade higher. Sofia fucks with me, but I think it’s just because I’m dating… sleeping with… messing around? Hell whatever I was doing with her brother. Gio told me that she’d never been a bully which was why her reaction to me surprised him. I also knew that Gio and his brothers made sure their sisters knew how to fight. They were paranoid like that… and Gio is lethal with his hands. I watched him spar one day, and the man’s got serious hand skills.
“I get it. You feel like you have something to prove, but I’m warning you to back down.” I gave the girl another out.
Her mom decided that was the moment to intervene. I wasn’t surprised either. “Are you threatening my daughter?” she asked moving closer to the girls and me.
A sigh. I was doing that a lot lately. This was exhausting, and my patience was on the verge on snapping. “No. I was warning her… like I said.”
She decided it was smart to get in my face. Danielle went giddy seeing her mother creating an altercation. “Don’t talk to my daughter. And who are you anyway?” She looked me up and down with disgust and narrowed her eyes on my boo
kbag. “Are you the nanny?” she asked.
“Yes. I’m the nanny.” They were annoying enough that I was strongly considering letting go of Sofia and letting her take the snot nose down.
“Go figure. How about you take that wild child home and clean her diaper.” She said with a shooing motion.
Yep. She went there. I dropped my hand forgetting about Sofia for a second. “Did you just fucking insult the both of us?” I asked. Because yea, that diaper jab was definitely at Sofia.
She opened her mouth to talk, and screeching tires captured my attention. I turned my head in time to see Gio jumping out of his car with Dante in tow. “Are you guys ok?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yea, we’re fine. I was just thinking whether I should let your sister knock some sense into this woman’s daughter or not.” I told him honestly.
His eyes narrowed, and he looked back at the woman who was glaring at me. “Why?” he asked.
“Because her daughter said she wanted to fight her,” I said simply, then threw in. “And they were annoying the fuck out of me.”
Sofia snickered behind me, and he caught his sister's eyes. “If you want to fight her, go ahead.” He gave her permission with a small shrug.
“She will not touch my daughter!” The woman shrieked. Oh, so now she cared?
“Your daughter called her out.” I reminded her.
She shook her head and looked back at Danielle who looked smug. “Don’t worry mom. It’s going to be here or in the locker rooms tomorrow. Let me just handle her.”
Dante snickered, and I met his eyes. I crossed my eyes, and he laughed. Gio grabbed my arm pulling me out the way and crossed his arms. Sofia grinned and began walking towards Danielle who looked ready. As much as I would love to see this, I would feel bad later when Mrs. Ruzzo found out. With a sigh of regret, I grabbed Sofia.
“It’s not worth it,” I told the both of them honestly.
Sofia pouted but looked at me and gave me a curt nod. She thought so too. Gio didn’t look like he cared either way and shrugged. “Come on then.” He said just as the Uber pulled up.
Taken by the Boss: The Ruzzo Family Page 14