Page 52 of Playing for the Dark
He’s well over six feet tall; I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in anything other than a perfectly tailored suit that always compliments his eye color. And no, he never wears the basic colors, black or navy, that you normally see. It’s the wildest suits I’ve ever laid my eyes on, but that body sure as shit can wear them. Not a single strand of the jet-black hair is ever out of place. I would love to see it when it’s a mess when he’s fresh out of the shower… Water dripping down what I know would be a tight as fuck body under those overpriced clothes.Fuck I can’t be getting hard in the middle of his apartment!
Marcello breaks the silence, looking right in Zamir’s eyes. “Time to come out of retirement.” What is he talking about? He’s not in retirement… Then it dawns on me—he wants to bring him out of his mafia retirement.
I bark out, “No!” before my brain even has time to think about it. At this moment, it would take no convincing me that a demon has taken over Marcello’s body with how evil he’s looking at me.
“Oh,Il Novellino,if you want to be around my precious Ellie, you will know how to protect her as well. You’ll be trained. No questions asked if you want access to her.” He pauses, but I’m pretty sure it’s to see if we’re going to fight him on it. We don’t, obviously, and he continues, “You’re both already in danger from beinganywhere near me, and they’ve already gotten wind of Ellie as well. Exactly what I didn’t want to happen.”
Zamir pats my leg. “Djale I Bukur,I like it when you worry about me.” He’s staring at me like he wants to eat me alive but continues to assure me, “I’ve been itching to get my hands dirty again. Playing good boy has never worked for me, and it’s getting old.”
“What if you get hurt and I don’t have my wide receiver?” I sound absolutely pathetic, but I’m willing to pull any of the stops out at this point. I should be used to this. With a father that’s a cop you never know when the last time you may see them is. It might sound bad, but I already care more if Zamir gets hurt than I ever did for my own father. Marcello’s going to be shocked knowing I’m already trained, but I’ll let that come out naturally.
Dad ingrained so many bad beliefs into my head that I’ve had to unlearn. Starting college and seeing how differently I thought about everything was the slap in the face that I needed. My core beliefs were challenged from day one, and they were all I knew. Once I started therapy, I realized it’s okay not to obey your parents so blindly and to find my own beliefs to believe in, and that made sense to me. Going through all of that while also starting as a freshman, for a Division I school was so deeply soul-draining, but I will forever be thankful for the friends and teammates who stuck by my side.
It’s been years of ongoing therapy, and I still feel like I have things holding me back. Being raised in the catholicchurch and thinking you’re going to hell for eternity for most of the shit I’m doing nowadays still bounces around the back of my brain. Things I would have always seen as being wrong if I didn’t get out of my house and away from my father.And here’s the pang of guilt for leaving Willow there with him.
One of the main things I fought with is my sexuality and who we’re allowed to love; what I’m doing right now would send my father into a full-on mental breakdown. I stopped living my life for that man a while ago, but that doesn’t mean his voice doesn’t crawl into my head every now and again.
Marcello starts to describe what happened the other night with the car incident. “Noah, our hacker had seen movement at the bar earlier in her shift, but nothing too out of the norm.”
“Who the fuck was there protecting her if you knew she was at risk?!” Zamir’s seething.
Marcello just raises his brows and informs him, “Rhett was there; he’s one of my most trusted me—”
He cuts him off. “You might want to take another gander at him, Bossman. Something seems fishy,” Z states matter-of-factly.
Marcello’s jaw is flexing. “I’m going to let that go one time,Uccisore.You will not undermine me.” He pauses, waiting for Z to fight, but he doesn’t say a word, so Marcello continues, “I have eyes on Ellie at all times and have for a long time. Her safety is my top priority. A badfeeling was sitting in my gut, so I went to Shenanigans, and Rhett was drugged, knocked out cold.” He’s staring off into the distance, probably thinking about how close we were to losing Ellie.
I question, “Do you know who may have done it? Or did Rhett see anything before they drugged him?”
He’s already shaking his head. “They hacked into the cheap ass cameras they have at Shenanigans, putting them on loop, causing us to get no view of whoever did it. They came in behind Rhett… Needle in the neck.” He looks at Zamir before speaking again, “We discovered yesterday it was most likely the Albanians.” I feel Zamir stiffen beside me.
Zamir sighs. “Fuck… who was it?”
“The head that was out here, Enis, and his second. They spilled every secret they had, trying to stay alive. I never liked those fucks, but we have a bigger issue with who’s going to run the Albanians now.”
I look at him in pure shock. “Are they—”
“Yes, Nash. That’s what happens in this world when you cross somebody you shouldn’t,” Zamir explains. “He was always easy to pay off, from what I remember. I just don’t know why he would have crossed you knowing how powerful you are.” He’s wondering out loud, and Marcello seems very interested in what he has to say.
I’m in the middle of them, twisting my head back and forth, listening to what they both have tosay. “I know the Albanians were in my shit the past week, but I figured that was you, Zamir.”
“I did have Arben look into you a little more and your involvement with Ellie. All her stalker tracks lead back to you, Boss… Not saying anything about that is bad.” He throws his hands up in surrender when Marcello bucks like he’s going to come over the counter. “Whatever your reasoning, I get it. She’s different and intelligent; you can tell she’s been through shit, and she fights for what she believes in. Trust me, I really do get it, and I haven’t said anything to her about knowing who it is.”
Marcello’s backed down now, and thank god Ellie is at the gym downstairs. The questions are eating away at me. “Why stalk her, though? You could have any woman you want.”
“It’s not safe being around me… clearly. We were close back in the day, really just childhood best friends. Once I got older and took over the business, we grew apart, and I would not risk her being attached to me. If anyone had known I had or have the obsession I do with Ellie, that would’ve been my downfall. And ended up with her being dead. Last night was the perfect example.”
He seems tired, and I’m sure he is. Never being able to have Ellie and the constant worry has to be taking a toll on him. No wonder he had me thrown against that elevator wall in rage.
“Now that you both know what’s going on, we have to protect her at all times. I know with the traveling it’sgoing to be hard, but my team will pick up the slack. You all also need to watch your back. You now have targets covering your backs as well. With the spotlight you two carry, though, I doubt anyone will try anything…” I don’t like how unsure he sounds with those words coming out of his mouth.
1Marcello’s glacier-blue eyes are staring into my soul again, and I’m fidgeting under the intensity. He questions me, “I know that dirty cop father of yours trained you. Let’s go see how good, though.”
He’s up, moving toward the door, and we follow him out. “Are we not going to talk about what happened last night on the phone?!” They both ignore me and keep walking toward the elevators.
Marcello had us out the door and piling into his Aston Martin Rapid AMR in thirty seconds flat. I look down at the rest of the cars on this side of the parking garage and gasp.”Marcello, are all ofthese yours?”
“Yeah,Il Novellino.If you’re a better shot at the range than me, I’ll let you drive whichever you choose.”
