The Tempted Series: Collectors Edition

by Janine Infante Bosco

  “Daddy is on his way home,” my sister said. I watched her look at my mother for a moment before her eyes found mine again. “He went to see Michael.”

  I looked at her confused as to why this would be sad news. It’s been years since we’ve seen Mikey. I can’t help the excitement that filters through my body at the mere mention of his name. I’ve missed him and tried to understand why he and Maryann shoved us out of their lives, but I can’t deny that I missed him. How great would it be if he finally came around and reached out to dad? A smile tugs at the corners of my mouth.

  “Nikki sweetie, it’s not what you think,” my mother said sadly before looking down at the tissue she was twisting nervously in her hand. She lifted her head and looked at me with despair in her eyes. “There was a horrible accident and Maryann…well she didn’t make it,” she said her voice catching.

  I stared at my mom in shock for a moment and then it dawns on me that Mikey is suffering the loss of another parent. My eyes instantly filled with fresh tears as I put myself in his shoes for a moment. Even though it’s a strong possibility given the line of work, my dad is involved in it still tears me up at the mere thought of losing one of my parents let alone both.

  “Oh my God, how is he? How’s Mikey?” I asked through my tears. My heart broke for him. It didn’t matter that I hadn’t seen him in ten years or that he hadn’t kept in touch when he promised that he would. I watched him mourn his dad all those years ago and couldn’t imagine him having to endure that pain all over again this time losing his mom. Life wasn’t fair, in fact, it was sometimes cruel.

  “Daddy’s bringing him home. They’re flying the body here in the morning and the service will be Wednesday,” Adrianna said.

  I nodded, thinking that at least he won’t be alone. We’ll be there for him.

  “I can’t believe she’s gone,” I heard my mom say just before the front door opened. We turned around and watched my dad and Jimmy walk inside. Immediately the three of us Pastore women stood to our feet seeking out Mikey but Jimmy closed the door behind him. My shoulders slumped, and I looked up at my dad expectantly.

  “Where is Michael?” Mom asked.

  My father looked around his eyes locking with each of us briefly before he answered. “He’ll be here any minute. He’s driving with Anthony.”

  “How is he doing?” I asked quickly.

  “He was doing a pretty little thing when we got there, Jimmy said from behind my dad. My father looked over his shoulder shooting Jimmy a deadly glare sending him cowering back into the hallway. My father turned back around and looked at me.

  “He’s not doing too well,” he lifted his gaze to meet my mom’s eyes. “Drinking a lot,” he shook his head, running his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know how I can help him. He hates me.”

  “He doesn’t hate you, Victor. He’s just hurting and to be fair, there is a lot of unresolved issues on top of all this,” my mother alleged, laying a soothing hand on his shoulder. I looked at my sister and wondered if she knows what the hell my mother’s talking about. She and Mikey were even closer than I was with him. Since they were the same age they had a lot more in common, especially the fact that they both considered me a tag along. What they both don’t know is that I was completely jealous of my sister. Everyone joked around that she would wind up with Mikey and she probably would’ve had he not moved. The idea of her and Mikey drove me crazy of course that was because at ten years old I had the biggest crush on Mikey Valente. Too bad all he ever saw me as was a little girl who followed him and my sister everywhere begging them to include me in whatever it was they were doing.

  I was startled from my thoughts when I heard the alarm beep three times outside the house. It’s a quirky thing that Anthony did every time he got out of his car. He hit the locks on whatever car he was driving three times. I’ll never get why he does it, but it’s his trademark and the signal that he’s arrived. Maybe he feels the need to always make his presence known who knows.

  It dawned on me then that Mikey is with him and I am about to see him for the first time in ten years. I don’t know why I was suddenly nervous. It’s just Mikey my Mikey. I shook my head, dismissing my silly thoughts. He just lost his mother he’s going to be distraught this isn’t some happy reunion.

  A knock sounded on the door and Jimmy made himself useful by opening it. I saw Anthony step inside first. The big lug took up most of the doorway so it wasn’t until Anthony walked into the living room that I was able to see the man who walked in behind him. He lifted his head and his eyes wandered the room slowly. I heard my mother gasp from behind me and I knew it was taking all the restraint in the world for her not to run and throw her arms around him. He tipped his head, his face softening as he acknowledged my sister. He barely looked at my father and when he did, I swore he snarled, but I’m not a hundred percent sure. Then his gaze landed on mine and something flashed in his chocolate brown eyes. I stared at him, hoping that my mouth wasn’t hanging open because the man before me is nothing like that teenage boy that left ten years ago. The man before me is lethal to my system because I’m not sure I’m breathing as he holds me captive with just his stare. This little mob princess is royally fucked.

  I snapped out of my trance when my sister brushed passed me wrapping her arms around him. I watched him return the embrace, closing his eyes as he relished in the comfort she provided.

  “I’m so sorry Michael,” my sister whispered, sounding all sorts of emotional. I frowned unable to find any words or gestures of comfort. Granted, I thought about hugging him, but I was too stunned by his good looks to make a damn move. Now he was being cuddled by my sister and my mother who had joined their embrace. I felt out of place as if I was invading a private moment between the three of them, which was bizarre. I needed a distraction because I was staring at him actually I was ogling him.

  “Excuse me,” I mumbled. I walked passed the three of them embracing and hurried out the front door.

  I smack the palm of my hand against my forehead. I felt ridiculous. It was as if I was a ten-year-old girl crushing again. I was so mad at myself, I could’ve screamed. Instead, I sat down on my parents’ stoop and lit a cigarette.

  “Well played Nikki,” I thought before taking the first pull off my cigarette. I rolled my eyes, disgusted at myself. I let bulging muscles get in the way of doing the right thing. But fuck Mikey’s muscles were pretty impressive. His arms alone had struck me stupid and my feet froze in place. It wasn’t my fault that I couldn’t find any comforting words how was I supposed to form a sentence when the epitome of sex stood before me. And to be fair, he didn’t look so distraught not that I’m doubting he is but… well, he looked simply delicious.

  “Oh my God stop it!” I yelled to the voices in my head. “Get it together, Nikki. Think of Rico. Rico has muscles too,” I spoke aloud, trying to shake the thoughts creeping into my head. You know the kind of thoughts that involve undressing your old friend who just lost his mom yeah, those kinds of thoughts. I groaned, realizing I’m going to have to see him in a suit. He’s probably deadly in a suit.

  “That shit will kill you.”

  My eyes widened hearing his voice from behind me and I began to cough on the smoke. I came to the conclusion that this is pretty much the worst reunion in the history of reunions. He sat beside me on the top step of the stoop and leaned close. I tried to stop myself from choking on the smoke, struggling to take a deep breath I inhaled the scent of his cologne instead. I wondered if anyone has ever died of embarrassment before.

  Mikey grabbed the cigarette from my hand and flicked it into the street before turning his attention to me. Instantly I felt his eyes on me and I forced myself to take another breath finally able to stop myself from coughing up a lung. I turned around daring myself to meet his gaze. His brown eyes met mine and I couldn’t help but get lost in them for a moment.

  “I’m sorry about your mom, Mikey,” I whispered softly.

  He reached out his fingertips bru
shing a piece of hair that had fallen over my eye, he tucked it behind my ear. A sad smile flashed across his full lips. “Thanks, kid,” he replied hoarsely, his voice was deeper than I remembered, but I guess that came with age. He wasn’t a teenage boy finding his voice it had been found. He pulled his hand back, and I frowned slightly rolling my eyes as I did so.

  “I’m hardly a kid anymore Mikey,” I said, looking away from him staring into the street.

  “So, I noticed,” he followed my lead and looked towards the street. He ran his hands along his thighs stopping at his knees. “It sucks that she’s gone. I just wish there was something I could’ve done to keep her from being on that road that night.”

  I didn’t know what to say. I was awful at consoling people. I was a realist, and I knew those few words wouldn’t help. Nothing I could say would bring back his mother and nothing I said would mend the hole in his heart losing her surely left. The only thing I could do was offer a distraction. There would people bombarding him in the next few days offering their condolences suffocating him with the words “I’m sorry.”

  “Who is Rico?” he asked, still looking straight ahead.

  I raised an eyebrow. “How do you know about Rico?” I didn’t have to turn my head to know that he had turned his. His eyes were fixated on me and I knew because my body told me so. Strangely, I never had that feeling before. It was as if his eyes were swallowing me whole. How could one not feel that?

  “When I came outside you were talking about Rico and his muscles,” his voice held the slightest hint of humor in it. “So, I was just wondering…,” he cleared his throat, and I assumed he did so that he wouldn’t laugh in my face. “Who Rico was?”

  I turned to face him, which was a big mistake. His chiseled jaw was covered in a day or two of scruff and he was scratching the side of his jaw trying hard not to smile at me. He dropped his hand from his face running his tongue over his lower lip before winking at me and treating me with a sly smile. I swallowed hard moistening my suddenly dry throat.

  “Rico is my boyfriend,” I croaked. I literally sounded as if I had been stranded in a desert for days with no water. I watched as he straightened his posture. His face didn’t give anything away as to what he was thinking. The silence was annoying and lasted longer than I would’ve liked it to make things even more awkward.

  “Anthony mentioned you had a boyfriend on the way here,” he leaned forward so that his head was level with his knees and stared back towards the street. “Hard to believe you have a boyfriend.”

  “Excuse me?” I said finding it hard not to take offense to his comment. Maybe my sister was gorgeous, but I was no slouch. I busted my ass every morning in the gym so I didn’t feel guilty for the amount of chocolate I consumed in a day. I could probably afford to lose five pounds but…

  He laughed beside me peering at me from the corner of his eye. “You should see your face right now,” he placed his hand on my kneecap and his eyes met mine. “I meant it’s hard to believe that you’ve grown up into this woman who has a boyfriend. My little Nikki is all grown up,” he shrugged his shoulders all the while keeping his eyes on mine. “You don’t look like a little girl anymore,” his voice dropped. “You’re beautiful,” he nodded his head, as he looked me over as if to confirm what he was saying.

  Mikey thought I was beautiful… I didn’t know what to think of that. I liked it. I liked the way he looked at me when he said it. I liked hearing it come from his mouth. I opened my mouth to say thank you maybe throw in a ‘you’re not so bad yourself’ but was interrupted when the storm door opened behind me.

  “Jesus Christ, it’s colder than a witch’s titty out here. Are you kid’s crazy?” Jimmy declared as he lit his cigarette.

  Mikey leaned into me. “Is he always like this?” he murmured against my ear.

  “Pretty much,” I said as Jimmy started cursing because the flame of his lighter kept going out from the cold.

  “One of you kids got a light?” he barked.

  I rolled my eyes and pulled out the lighter from my coat pocket holding it above my head for him to take. Once he lit his cigarette properly, he took a drag before he spoke.

  “Your old man sent me out here to ask if Val was eating dinner or if he’s in a hurry to get the fuck out of here,” he took another puff on his cigarette. “Boy has it out for your pops.”

  “I’m right here Jimmy. If you’ve got something to ask me why don’t you do so?” Mikey said through clenched teeth. I watched as his jaw ticked and his foot tapped nervously against the concrete step.

  I looked back and forth between Mikey and Jimmy just as Anthony stepped outside. I was thankful the big brute came out when he did because I didn’t know how to handle a pissed off, Mikey. What he was pissed off about had something to do with my father and I was anxious to know what that was actually about.

  “Mike… Grace ordered some pizza’s do you want to stay or do you want to head back to my place?” Anthony asked.

  “So, I guess it’s been decided that I’m staying with you while I’m here?” Mikey said, sounding rather perturbed, and a bit defeated all in the same breath.

  “Like Victor would let you stay in his house with his daughter that you’re cozying up to,” Jimmy laughed. “I doubt he forgot the scene we walked in on when we came and got your ass,” he lifted an eyebrow displaying a rather impressed facial expression. “Hell, I didn’t,” his laugh turned into a smoker’s cough.

  Mikey stood up abruptly turning around to glare at Jimmy. I’m pretty sure he was about to lay into him when a horn sounded. We turned around to see a white Chevy Tahoe double parked in front of my parent’s house. Rico turned off the truck and hopped out of it. In true Rico form, he strutted around the truck, ignoring his surroundings. He flashed me his signature smile not paying any attention to the men that surrounded me on the stoop. He climbed the stairs two at a time eating up the space between us. He leaned in smashing his mouth against mine.

  There wasn’t much I could do other than kiss him back despite the audience, I was aware we had. I pressed my hand against his chest and leaned back breaking the kiss after a moment.

  “What’re you doing here?” I asked nervously although I wasn’t sure why I was actually nervous.

  “It’s nice to see you too babe,” Rico said with a laugh before he glanced around the stoop. He nodded to Jimmy and Anthony acknowledging their presence. He took my hands and pulled me to my feet before he wrapped his arm around my waist. He looked at Mikey for a minute, sizing him up.

  “Who’s this?” he asked me as he kept his eyes on Mikey’s.

  Mikey leaned against the railing of the banister crossing his arms against his chest. He glanced at Anthony quickly before turning to face Rico again. “Let me guess… Rico?”

  “Yeah. I didn’t catch your name,” Rico said as he tightened his grip on my waist.

  “I didn’t say it,” Mikey clipped. He looked at me for a second before he looked at Jimmy and Anthony.

  “So, pizza yeah? Sounds good,” he said, climbing the remaining steps he reached behind Anthony and pulled open the storm door. Without speaking another word, he walked back inside my parent’s house. Jimmy stared at the closed door and then back at us a sly grin spread across his face and I rolled my eyes. The poor bastard lived for this shit.

  “What the fuck is his problem and who the fuck is he?” Rico said into my ear.

  “That’s Michael—he’s a good friend of the family. His mom just passed away, so he’s not really acting himself,” I said, scrambling for an excuse as to why Mikey was so rude to him. Anthony stared at me with an expressionless face before lifting one eyebrow questioning my reply to Rico. I replayed my words in my head and I realized I had no idea if Mikey was acting himself. Ten years was a long time and as much as I had changed, I'm sure Mikey had too. Anthony opened the storm door, holding it open for Rico and me. Well, dinner would be interesting that was for sure.

  Chapter Four

  I leaned back in m
y chair, chewing on the mouthwatering slice of pizza. It was true what they said New York had the best pizza. It was like heaven in my mouth. Grace must’ve noticed that I was thoroughly enjoying it because she placed another slice on my plate before dropping a kiss on the top of my head. It was a motherly thing to do, and I welcomed the sentiment treating her with a rare smile. She smiled back before I set my lips in a straight line after swallowing the rest of the food in my mouth. I glanced across the table and watched Nikki intently. She played with the folded slice of pizza her eyes lifted feeling my stare she peered at me through her long eyelashes. Christ when did she get so fucking pretty? She was always pretty even through the awkward stages, but now she was drop dead gorgeous.

  I didn’t care that she caught me staring at her, nor could I stop if I tried. I watched intently as her tongue peeked out and ran along her plump lips before her teeth sank into her bottom lip. I wanted to be the one nibbling on those lips, tasting them with my own tongue. I bet she tastes fucking delicious. I lifted my eyes from her mouth and stared into her chocolate brown eyes. They were mysterious and sexy eyes that bore into you and made you want to know all the secrets they held. More importantly, they had the ability to make me forget my own fucked up life.

  Her douche bag boyfriend cupped the back of her neck, startling her out of our stare down. She twisted to face him turning her lips upward and offered him a smile. I may not have seen Nikki in years, but she was very transparent people who don’t have a phony bone in their body usually are. Their facial expressions could never hide what they were truly thinking or feeling. Nikki put on a forced smile as she looked at Rico.

  “Babe grab me a drink,” he said before releasing her neck, his fingers lingered by her collarbone and the prick stared at her mouth just as I had been.

  She rolled her eyes prying his fingers from her exposed olive skin. “Get your own drink,” she said with her voice full of sugar and sass. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop the smile that threatened.