“Yes. That. We’re going to end up overrun with your ex girlfriends. I know you’re chronically incapable of settling down but maybe go a week between them at least.”
I frown. No one tells me I can’t do something. “I could settle down with any girl I like, thank you.”
A look passes between them and I think if they weren’t so well trained they would burst into laughter.
“You? Go steady? The longest you ever went steady was Valentina Ridicci and that was because we were visiting her for the weekend,” Apollo says.
“I totally could,” I say firmly, eyeing him. He meets my gaze and I see the moment this becomes a competition. We’re as bad as each other in that.
“Okay, fine. Let’s make a bet. I bet you can’t make a girl…”
“One that we choose,” Daniella cuts in.
“Yes, a girl that we choose. I bet you can’t make a girl stay with you for a month.”
I consider it. A month is a lot longer than I usually stay with a partner that’s true. “What do I get if I win?”
“My motorcycle,” Apollo says immediately, knowing how much I want that beautiful beast of a thing.
Daniella inspects her nails. “I’ll give you my nonna’s limoncello recipe.”
I squeal, that recipe is like gold. “Deal! And if I loose then I’ll apologize to Stefano and let him keep his stupid girlfriends in peace.”
“Agreed,” Apollo says and we shake on it.
Daniella gets up, leaving a huge tip for the waitress. “Okay then, let’s get moving. We need to find you a girl.”
We stalk out of the club and I send a wink and an apologetic wave after the waitress who looks a little bereft to see that I’m leaving. We walk down the busy city street for a while with Apollo and Daniella debating the various pros and cons of types of women for me.
I don’t bother getting involved. I’ve had just about every kind of woman that there is so I know that I can manage whatever they decide to throw at me.
Suddenly Daniella stops still and points. “Look. A late night bookshop.”
“That’s perfect,” Apollo says. He sounds so excited that I want to remind him that he regularly kills people and see if that will help bring things back into perspective.
Mob capos can sometimes be really dramatic. Apollo, Daniella and I grew up together. My father wanted to make sure that his family was as spread out a target as possible so Stefano and I really didn’t have much to do with each other until we were in our teens at least.
I feel a lot closer to these two idiots than I have ever felt with him. Maybe that’s part of the problem. We three have shed blood together and I know that I can trust them whereas the most I’ve seen of Stefano is him falling over sick at a Christmas party.
“Who less likely to keep up with our Rafaela than someone who spends their evenings in a bookshop,” Daniella says with a smirk and I roll my eyes at her.
“Bring it on.”
They do their little fist bump thing that they will not teach me and then we walk towards the bookshop together and towards my new romance.
Three
Heather
I’m thankful that my Dad could take Emma for me for the night because this way I can work this shift, as well as have a bit of fun. Oh, I’m not going to get involved with anything and I likely won’t even watch any of the demonstrations, but at least I can enjoy the eye candy and wonder wistfully what it would be like to be daring enough to go down there.
Working the BDSM evenings here at the Cozy Nook are always fascinating, but also very frustrating for me. You see I’d love to be one of those beautiful, confident women who stride on in there to watch and maybe even get involved, but I just can’t. I’m too shy and I can’t seem to bring myself to even walk down there, let alone stay to watch anything.
Oh well, at least I can use this time to enjoy the view of the people coming and going, as well as go over my bills and try to figure out some way to make things work. I’ll probably spend some of the time day-dreaming about waltzing in there and meeting the love of my life too, but that’s about as far as I’ll get, I figure.
I can’t help but feel a bit lonely these days, especially as I see couples coming and going and looking so happy to do so. Not to mention the fact that Lucille and Sara finally got together a few months back, and while I’m really happy for them, it’s only amplified my feelings of wanting to be with someone of my own. I see them so happy with each other and I can’t help but wonder if I’ll ever find that for myself.
It seems like more and more, people are pairing off with one another and I’m just stuck here, all by myself and too scared to even take the chance to change my situation. There are so many beautiful and gorgeous people that I see on a daily basis, every one a reminder of how much I long for companionship.