Me too.“We mainly stayed around the boutique. It was casual the few times we got together. Mostly coffee.”
The waiter came, and Trey ordered wine for us. I chose the spaghetti alle vongole, in the mood for clams and pasta. He chose the filetto alla barolo. Of course, I had second thoughts and wanted to taste the filet mignon with wine sauce and wild mushrooms.
I took a sip of my wine, savored the spicy flavor, then leaned back in my comfortable chair. “What are you thinking, now that you’ve had some time off from the hospital?”
He set his glass down and grinned. “It’s refreshing. For the most part, I enjoy working there. But the demands of my family are difficult to balance with the hectic and long shifts at the hospital.”
After meeting more of his family, I could understand wanting to be there for them. “And you need to be more available?”
“With Marco as boss of our family, yes. There’s more pressure.”
“Not something you’re unfamiliar with.” The demands of med school, residency, and working in the ER were intense.
Trey fell silent as the waiter placed our meals before us. My traitorous stomach growled at the heavenly smell of the food. The dishes were a work of art, and I almost felt bad messing it up by twirling some pasta onto my fork.
“It’s nothing new, but my loyalty lies with the family.” After cutting a piece of filet, he popped it in his mouth.
I studied his features as we chewed. I wanted to know more about him. There was a half-inch scar on his forehead, slightly off-center. “Where did you get that scar?”
“The one on my head?”
I nodded, twirling more of the pasta with a bite of clam.
He chuckled. “Emiliana threw a book at me when we were young, and I refused to let my mom take care of it because I wanted her to see what she’d done. It was stupid, but at the time, I thought it was important.”
“What did you do to make her that mad?” I had trouble thinking of the gorgeous woman I’d met throwing anything. She’d seemed so controlled, even if my instincts were screaming to tread carefully around the Mafia women.
He shook his head. “I can’t remember what it was about anymore. Emiliana’s got an even worse hairline trigger than my sister. I know Nico was involved. He instigated something that I inevitably picked up. Obviously, we were teasing them about something. Anyway, I took the brunt of her anger. Nico took off when she threw the book. Traitor.”
“I can picture your brother doing that.”
Trey finished chewing another bite. “You saw the joking side of him the other day. He’s pretty serious most of the time. He’s responsible for the finances of the Five Families. It’s a lot. There are times he needs to let off some steam, but it’s all in good fun. He’s got a huge heart, and he used to have a monstrous crush on Emiliana.”
“Isn’t she married?”
Trey snorted. “To the capo. And Stefano is very possessive of her.”
“Aren’t all the guys with their wives?” They made an impression on me. The love they had for one another was tangible, and I ached to have what the Mafia women had.
Trey regaled me with stories of his wild childhood for the rest of our meal. Even with the danger they lived with day in and day out, their closeness and loyalty were apparent. They managed to live each day to the fullest—at least that was what I got from how he talked. The pain of the last handful of years weighed heavily on my heart. I’d wasted a lot of time letting life kick me around. The loss of my dad and sister then the rejection I’d felt on a cellular level from my mom had both hit me hard. The messy breakup at MIT and how I’d chosen to leave, blaming the decision on not knowing what I wanted to do or major in while there instead of facing my problems with my ex, also haunted. It was easier to run, and I’d been doing it for far too long now.
“Do you want to order dessert?”
My hand settled over my stomach, and I groaned. “No. I’m stuffed. It was amazing.”
No bill appeared, and Trey stood, offering his hand to help me up. I wanted to ask about paying, but since the restaurant was Mafia owned, maybe he didn’t have to. He went to loop my hand in the crook of his arm, but something must have caught his eye. A commotion sounded near the front of the restaurant. Trey pulled me behind him, his hand tight on my arm.
“Stay here, Hailey,” he ordered as shouting cut through the muffled conversation of the other patrons. Someone screamed, and Trey jolted forward.
I couldn’t see what was happening with his body blocking my sight. Dishes shattered. With Trey farther away, I caught sight of his bodyguards. They all converged on a man.
“I’m going to take what you value most!” the man bellowed.
There was a thump and a grunt, then a gunshot went off. I jumped, my fear for Trey gripping me in a choke hold.Where did the shot go? Was Trey hit?
My heart jackhammered against my ribs, threatening to break them. I rushed forward as Trey’s fist slammed into the man’s face. He crumpled to the ground, and I kicked the gun that had dropped from the stranger’s hand away.
Trey turned to me, fury pulling his features taut as he scanned me for what I assumed was a bullet hole. “I’m fine.” I flung myself into his arms, uncaring of the scene I was making. His arm wrapped around me like a steel band, and he buried his face in the crook of my neck.