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by Sweet Baby Girl Entertainment

  “Gather around, everyone!” Nicola instructed her family to sit at the dinner table. “It’s time to say grace and dig in.”

  Joey sat next to Zoe and noticed the bewilderment in her eyes. “Everything okay, Zo?”

  “Um…” Zoe studied her plate and was convinced she couldn’t see the edges. “…how am I supposed to finish this?”

  “Just each as much as you can, regina, and whatever you don’t eat, we’ll take home.” Joey softly rubbed her thigh underneath the table. “Don’t worry if you can’t eat all of it.”

  “I was told the same thing,” Zerrin leaned over to Zoe’s right, “I strongly suggest you try to eat as much as you can. These brothers don’t play when they say they’ll finish it for you. It is game on around here.”

  Zoe’s eyes widened upon thinking about dessert. How was she supposed to fit room for that? “No kidding!”

  The family gathered hands and quickly said grace before they began eating. Tony took a bite of lasagna and his lips curved into a sarcastic smile. “So Zoe…”

  “Ah shit!” Joey rolled his eyes and turned to his brother. “Tony, man…I’m warning

  you…”

  “No, no, no…I won’t be rude or crude with what I got to say.” Tony defended his past behavior. “I just have a question.”

  “One.” Joey answered. “Just one.”

  “It’s okay, J,” Zoe stood up for herself, “I’m sure I can handle one question from Tony.”

  “You clearly don’t know Tony,” Eli chimed in.

  “Diarrhea mouth,” Nick added.

  “I’ll be good,” Tony’s smile seemed to become more sadistic with the passing moment, “I just have one.”

  Joey eyeballed his brother and silently shot daggers through him. “Tony, man…I swear…”

  Zoe placed a hand on Joey’s thigh to calm his temperament. “What’s your question,

  Tony?”

  Joey placed his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his hands. “Does Kieran know you’re playing with Joey’s balls?”

  “Dude, I swear I’m going to…” Joey’s lips puckered and he shook his head. “Can

  somebody please…?”

  “Actually, that’s a good question,” Nick agreed, “crude as all hell but that’s a good question.”

  “I concur,” Eli nodded.

  “He does have a point.” Zerrin slightly shrugged.

  “What the hell?” Joey looked around the table.

  ****

  “You like my son, don’t you?” Nicola asked.

  Zoe was suddenly taken aback by the matriarch’s question. After what turned into be a very entertaining dinner and conversation, Zoe helped Nicola put away food and clean up while everyone else gathered around the living room to watch Sunday Night Football.

  Now she was alone with Nicola. What was an appropriate answer? She really liked Joey?

  She liked him enough that he was in the starring role in her dreams every night? That whenever she got off, he was on her mind?

  She played it safe. “I think he’s charming.”

  “You can be honest with me, Zoe,” Nicola’s eyes danced as if she knew Zoe’s secret

  before she admitted it, “I won’t hold anything you say against you.”

  Zoe smiled. She didn’t have to wonder where all of the brothers got their charm; Nicola was evident in all of them. “I know Joey’s reputation, Nicola, and I don’t want to get myself involved in a situation that wouldn’t be worth my time. We know what this is.”

  “So what is it?”

  Zoe scrunched her nose. “What is what?”

  “You just said you both know what this is, and my question is what is it?” She raised an eyebrow. “Because it seems to me neither one of you know what this is.”

  “We’re friends…” Zoe paused. Friends? Really? Could she honestly say that without a shadow of a doubt? He practically claimed her as his girlfriend, without actually saying it. Every free moment Joey had, he spent it with Zoe. If he truly wasn’t that interested in her, whatever happened on the first night would’ve been it.

  “Friends, huh?” Nicola replied back with a sweet smile on her face. “Darling, I was born at night but not last night.”

  Zoe relaxed her shoulders. “Nicola, it’s complicated…”

  “My son plays the field; there’s no question about that. Some of the girls I often wondered what pole they just got off from.” Nicola rolled her eyes and Zoe smiled. “But he’s also a good kid. I personally think he plays around because it’s easier to not get attached than to admit he’s in love,” Nicola gave a half-shrug, “but that’s just my feeling.”

  “I like Joey a lot,” Zoe finally admitted.

  “Hmm…it seemed I had to force that answer out of you…” Nicola picked up on the young woman’s mannerisms.

  Zoe didn’t just like Joey; she loved him. She loved him with everything she had and she was confident he felt the same. “We’re trying to keep this private for obvious reasons.”

  “Kieran?” Nicola asked and Zoe nodded. “Don’t worry about him. He’s just very

  protective and only has your best interest at heart.”

  “He’s going to be mad when he finds out,” Zoe replied back with worry in her voice, “I’m afraid he won’t trust me to the do the fashion line or he’ll try to keep J away from me.”

  “Kieran may be stubborn but he won’t sabotage your career or Joey’s for his personal reasons. He has a lot to gain from you doing the fashion line and he and Tiana have a lot of faith and trust in you.” Nicola briefly paused before continuing. “He would be concerned, for obvious reasons, because of Joey’s reputation. But I can tell there’s a change within Joey. He always brought girls home but it was clear he did it to prove some point to me. He really cares about you, I can tell.”

  Zoe’s lips curved into a smile as her heart warmed up. It was one thing to hear it from Joey himself; it was completely different to hear it from his mother, who seemingly knew him best.

  “Thanks, Nicola.”

  “I’m just the observer, don’t thank me,” the matriarch replied back, “I do want to give you some advice, though. I know how passionate you are about fashion and how passionate you are about love and relationships. I can tell you don’t do either halfway; you give it your all. No matter what happens between you and my son, here is one key piece of advice: don’t sacrifice one just so you can have the other. Find a way to make them both work or you’ll regret it.”

  Twenty

  Present Day, New York

  “You came.” Nicola sat in an empty chair, next to Joey.

  Joey greeted his mother with a kiss on her cheek. “I’m surprised I came too, actually.”

  “I didn’t think I would see you here. I thought it would be too uncomfortable for you to be here,” Nicola flipped through the fashion show program.

  “Well, I’m not exactly comfortable, yes.” Joey admitted. His heart was playing Russian Roulette but he was determined to ignore it. Zoe made her decision and that was that, no matter how much it hurt still. “But I’m here to support K and Tee on their new venture. If anything else, it’s for them.”

  Nicola put the program aside and looked over at her son. He may have been too stubborn to admit how he really felt about Zoe, though it was clear as day on his face he was still madly in love with her. She could also tell he’d hoped to see Zoe, even if she didn’t return the interest.

  “I spoke to her recently,” Nicola casually mentioned.

  Joey glanced around the room, ignoring his mother’s comment. He didn’t care for the fact she kept a close relationship with Zoe and frequently spoke to her. He made it a point that whenever she was in town and stopped by Nicola’s, he suddenly had business meetings to attend to or out-of-state trips that needed to take place. Joey made sure he was busy and incognito. He was his own version of Where’s Waldo?

  “She asks about you all the time,” Nicola continued

  Joey silentl
y groaned and cursed under his breath. His ex cared enough about him to ask his mother, but not contact the source? How lovely of her. “I’m sure the two of you have great discussions at your tea times.”

  “Joseph, she realizes she made a mistake,” his mother pressed, “if she could take

  everything back, she would.”

  “Coulda, woulda, shoulda but didn’t,” he bit, hoping it didn’t sound as harsh in his voice like it did in his head. “What’s done is done.”

  “You want to give her a second chance,” Nicola replied. It wasn’t a question.

  Did he want to give Zoe a second chance? He had spent much of the year silently cursing the ground she walked on, entertaining countless women in his bed, hoping to forget about her when each woman reminded him she was nowhere close to what Zoe was and what he had with her. “I’m here to support K and Tee, ma. That’s it.” He said.

  “You didn’t have to come here, Joseph. You could’ve supported them afar.”

  “Yeah, and if I didn’t show up, everyone would know why I didn’t and then I would get comments on how I should get over her.” Joey knew how his family talked amongst themselves.

  Everyone acted as a therapist and counselor whenever someone went through tough times.

  “Are you?”

  “Am I what?”

  “Are you over her?” Nicola wondered.

  Joey leaned forward and rested his elbows on his thighs and sighed. In short, he was nowhere close to being over her. In long, it was more complicated than that. Maybe when he finally saw her up close and not-so personal, maybe then and only then, he would finally move on. “I think we both know the answer to that question.”

  Nicola chuckled and settled back into her seat, causing Joey to look over to his mother.

  “Something funny, ma?”

  “No, not really,” Nicola casually shrugged, “it’s just interesting.”

  “What is?”

  “That you finally found a woman who is just as stubborn as you are.”

  Twenty-One

  Los Angeles, two years ago.

  Joey leaned against the brick wall outside of the Griffith Observatory, admiring the Los Angeles night. It was peaceful and quiet, a far cry from the hustle and bustle that awaited him below.

  At the observatory, he was one with his thoughts, only nature and the starry sky above offering any distraction.

  I could get used to this. That’s the scary part. I could get used to this.

  It had been a few months since he and Zoe started seeing each other and it was already the beginning of the New Year. They kept their relationship private and guarded, knowing the intense scrutiny they would face from Kieran. But Joey wasn’t at all concerned with his brother’s reaction. He would just have to deal.

  Joey was more concerned with the relationship itself. It was long distance and even he was getting tired of the week-long ventures on a monthly basis. Sure, he could schedule

  teleconference and video calls from L.A. But L.A. was not like New York.

  Joey loved New York.

  The smell and feel of it – a collusion of smog, food, and exhaust. Crisp during the best season – fall. Soft and dreamlike during the winter. Thirst-quenching and almost unbearable during the summer.

  The traffic, with it being bumper to bumper on the roads and people racing to catch the next subway at the station.

  The people, from Wall Street executives wearing the latest Armani suits to the street kids on the corner, trying to become the next big hip-hop star.

  The food with every imaginable cuisine offered to all palates.

  The noise. The street kids on the corner rapping and selling their newest mixtapes. The street vendors hawking their hot dogs and pizza slices. The constant traffic with horns seemingly every waking hour.

  The Knicks. The Yankees. The Mets. The Giants.

  All four distinct seasons.

  The New York skyline.

  Central Park.

  New York was his home. His friends were there. His family was there. All that was

  missing was Zoe.

  He needed to convince her to move.

  He began upgrading little things about Zoe’s life to help her see why being with him in New York was better than a long-distance romance that spread between several thousand miles and different time zones. Zoe’s Chevy was replaced with a new Mercedes SUV. Her cheap handbags now boasted of Chloe, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton. Whenever she was in New York, Joey made sure she was treated like a celebrity no matter where she went, even if he wasn’t with her at the time.

  “I know you’re not just staring up at the stars and admiring the view,” Zoe snaked her arms around Joey’s waist as she approached him from behind, “what’s on your mind, lover?”

  It was complicated; she more so. It wasn’t a fling. It wasn’t a friends with benefits arrangement. She was his girl. No, that wasn’t appropriate. Zoe was his woman. Thinking about her sometimes made Joey’s heart to cease, as if he was trying to grasp for that final breath. He was more interested in the sketches she’d showed him, asking what inspired her to come up with that particular design.

  They would converse for hours about anything and everything and if time permitted (and it always did), they would have phone sex – eventually moving to a Skype session for the visuals.

  There was nothing hotter seeing his woman get off by her fingers or whatever device she used as he instructed her and stroked his cock.

  Proposing Zoe to move to New York was a touchy subject. What if things didn’t work out when they saw each other all the time instead of a week-long monthly excursion? They briefly talked about marriage and babies, both excited about having children but shied away on the topic of marriage. Joey didn’t want to be married and Zoe surprisingly felt the same. She wanted a career and if marriage was in the cards, so be it.

  She definitely wanted children, though. Joey wanted to be the one to give them to her.

  “How do you feel about moving to New York?” Joey asked, finally taking a chance on the question that had been burning him for several weeks.

  Zoe loved New York. She loved it the instant she stepped off the airplane. She knew at some point, a permanent move to New York was going to happen if she wanted to get serious about her fashion career. And she was getting serious about it. With Tiana’s and Kieran’s assistance, Zoe had made several trips to New York to meet with fashion designers and speak more thoroughly about Tyson’s Heart and her creative vision for it.

  Joey, however, didn’t know about those trips.

  Zoe was determined to keep her business and personal life separate; never combining the two out of fear of distraction. She felt bad about being in New York without Joey’s knowledge but she also realized if he knew she was there, she wouldn’t get any work done. Her time would be spent making love and enjoying what New York had to offer; not meeting with the fashion industry bigwigs and attending important meetings about Tyson’s Heart.

  Most importantly, she was on Kieran’s time, not Joey’s.

  It was a delicate situation – one brother was her boss while the other was her lover. Which one could she give the most attention to without offending the other?

  She loved Joey and could admit she didn’t see anyone else in her life but him. But there was something unsettling about their union. It seemed Joey was trying to buy her love and affection when she was giving it to him for free. Her Chevy SUV was perfectly fine but Joey upgraded her to a Mercedes that had so many bells and whistles, Zoe had to pull out the operating manual each time she drove the car. She loved her cheap handbags so she could abuse them in way she liked without being worried she spent several thousand dollars on them.

  The preferential treatment she received in New York was what really bothered her. It felt like no matter where she went, everyone knew she was somehow connected to the D’Amatos, specifically Joey.

  A kept woman. That’s what she felt like.

  “I want to move,” she answe
red as he rubbed her hands with his, “eventually.”

  “How soon is eventually?” Joey asked.

  Zoe started apartment hunting not too long ago. She narrowed her choice down to a few places. She balked at how expensive the apartments were and almost reconsidered moving. Then she thought about the bigger prize and not only did she bite her cheek, she swallowed the pride that has held her back for so many years. “Hopefully within the next six months.”

  The thought of Zoe moving warmed Joey’s heart but it wasn’t soon enough. Six months

  was way too long and his patience was already treading on thin ice. “Is there a way to convince you to come out sooner?”

  “What are you saying, J?”

  “I want you to move in with me,” he said, blatantly. He turned around to face Zoe so he could be clearer with his thoughts and words. There was no time to beat around the bush. “I’m tired of traveling back and forth and I want you to be with me full-time.”

  “It’s kinda soon for that, don’t you think?” Zoe replied back. She wanted to move to New York but only if it was on her terms. She silently admitted she didn’t trust Joey as much as he did with her. “We’ve only been together a short time and you’re talking about us moving in together?”

  “Why not?” He shrugged. “I don’t see the issue with it unless you do?”

  There were a few issues Zoe saw and she contemplated how badly she wanted to bring

  them up. The thought of being Joey’s kept woman was one of them and it bothered her more than it should have. “I just need to think about it.”

  “Well…” Joey pulled out a long, velvet box and presented it to his girlfriend. “…I hope this will convince you.”

  Zoe stared down at the raspberry-colored box and looked back up at Joey. The box was too long for a ring and she breathed a small sigh of relief. “What is this?”

  “Open it and find out,” Joey smiled.

  Zoe opened the box and sparkling before her was a diamond tennis bracelet. “Joey…” she stammered. She had never seen anything so beautiful in her life. She knew based on the quality of the bracelet, Joey dropped a small fortune and it was probably more than her mortgage.