Page 90 of The Tempted
Chapter Two
June 2005
I was twenty years old, a high school dropout trying to find my way in the mob. I had options despite not getting my diploma. I could’ve gotten my GED or taken a job in construction like every other neighborhood kid that didn’t make it through school. No, that wasn’t the road I aspired to go down in life. Since I was twelve years old, all I wanted to do was be part of Victor Pastore’s world. The summer before my thirteenth birthday, my old man skipped out on my mom, sister and me, forcing us to move into a two-bedroom apartment across the street from the Valente’s. It didn’t take long for Mike Valente and me to become friends. Sure, he was five years younger but we both liked playing handball in the schoolyard down the block from where we lived. Despite the age difference, it was an easy friendship. Mike was all right for a seven-year-old, barely got on my nerves and his father was a fucking legend in our neighborhood. People called him Val, he was Victor’s underboss and known on the streets as one of the toughest motherfuckers in the mob.
Val was such a nice guy; it was hard to believe the rumors at first. I couldn’t imagine him being capable of removing someone’s eyeball with an ice cream scoop, all because the poor schlep didn’t pay Vic the money he lost in a card game. He knew my dad bailed on my mom. So he would always include me in whatever he was teaching his son; like how to throw a football or how to change a tire. He even taught me how to drive.
Some people might say that Val was a stone-cold killer, no fucking good in their book but in my book, he was aces. I grew up thinking of Val as a father figure. He was someone who I could respect and look up to, someone to teach me how to be a man.
I begged Val to give me a chance, but he always shot me down explaining that his life wasn’t glamourous—it was ugly. It wasn’t until I interfered with a guy trying to put the moves on Vic’s fifteen-year-old daughter that the mob boss himself first acknowledged my existence. I had to cut the eighteen-year-old kid some slack. Vic’s daughter, Adrianna, did not look to be only fifteen years old. She was fucking gorgeous, like drop dead gorgeous, and had the body of a woman not a girl. Her face alone was enough to make a man drop to his knees. She had the most perfect features, making her real easy on the eyes, but her full lips were my favorite part of all.
Adrianna was fifteen years old, a mobster’s daughter, completely off limits. I knew all this, but it didn’t stop my twenty-year-old ass from fantasizing about her. So when the little shit tried getting into her panties at one of Mike’s parties, I put that shit to an end real quick. The next day Vic sent Val to grab me for a sit down. Apparently, Adrianna had told her father I had rescued her from some sleaze ball. The thing was, Vic thought I had done it because I was a standup kid. The truth was, I did it for purely selfish reasons. I didn’t want anyone else to have her.
Vic took an interest in me from that point forward, giving me jobs here and there. I was a glorified errand boy; parking cars for racketeers when there was a meeting or running out for coffee. It was all bullshit, but I guess everyone had to start at the bottom and make their way to the top. At least that’s what I told myself when Vic called me with some bullshit job that had absolutely nothing to do with the mob.
It wasn’t until one afternoon when he called that I really thought he was about to give me a real piece of the pie. I figured he’d start me off with something small, maybe lifting a truck full of goods, or kicking around some sucker that didn’t pay his debts. My days of bringing espresso to the big dogs were done. It was my time; I was finally going to see some action.
Victor summoned me to his home to give me my orders directly. There I was, standing in front of him like a blithering idiot, when he told me my big break into the mob consisted of taking his daughter and Mike to the movies. I was a fucking chauffeur, taking the gang banger kids to the goddamn movies.
“Vic you can’t be serious,” I stammered, finally finding my voice and the courage to question the boss’ decision.
“I don’t think you understand what a major responsibility this is,” Vic stated, leveling me with a steady glare.
Yeah, real fucking major. Should I sit between them to make sure they don’t share a fucking tub of popcorn?
“There is nothing more important to Val and me than our children, so for me to trust you with our kids, thatisa major deal,” he said, his voice sounding both reassuring and amused.
“Right,” I drawled, not believing his bullshit for one goddamn minute.
“So my big job is to take your kids to a movie; that’s it?”
“Is anything ever that easy?” he said, chuckling.Cocky bastard. I wanted to punch him in the nose for making a jerk-off out of me. “The last thing we need is our kids getting into trouble, and relationships are nothing but trouble; if you get my drift.”
“So, let me see if I got this right, you want me to take Adrianna and Mike to the movies so they don’t hook up?”
“Exactly you’ll be like a buffer,” Vic declared. “With you there, I know there won’t be any funny business between them and I can do my job with a clear head.”
“Fuck!” I mumbled underneath my breath, combing my fingers through my hair in frustration.
“Problem?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at my little outburst.
“No,” I paused miserably. “No problem at all.” I was going to kick Mike’s ass for putting me in this situation, not to mention,what the fuck was he doing asking Adrianna out on a date? Granted, I didn’t tell him I was itching for a taste of her myself, but still, he should know the girl was off limits. For fuck’s sake, weren’t they raised like cousins or some shit?
I bit my tongue hoping this shit would one day come to an end, that Victor would take me seriously and make me a soldier or an enforcer, anything besides a fucking babysitter. For now, I’d swallow my pride and do whatever the hell was asked of me, even if it meant sitting in torture while my pal Mike went on a date with the hottest girl in the neighborhood.
It took all the self-control I could muster up to sit beside Mike in the car as I drove to the UA theatre in Sheepshead Bay and not wrap my hands around his throat. He sat in the passenger seat with a smug smile on his face, barely talking to the beauty in the back seat. On top of refraining from throttling Mike, I also had to force myself not to steal glances at Adrianna from the rear-view mirror. She had worn the shortest shorts known to man and the cutest little bohemian style shirt stretched across her chest. I understood why Vic wanted a chaperone for his daughter; with a rack like hers, she was dangerous to anyone, especially a hormonal teenager like Mike. However, Vic miscalculated, Mike wasn’t the only one unable to ignore his little girl’s assets. I was starting to feel like a fucking pervert.
I parked my car in the garage and followed them to the box office, only for Mike to turn around and face me when it was time to pay for the tickets.
“What?” I barked.
Mike raised an eyebrow at Adrianna, who in return looked down at her perfectly pedicured feet. I glanced back and forth between the two of them, neither of them speaking. Adrianna chewed on her bottom lip as Mike nudged her with his elbow waiting for her to say something.What the fuck did these two have up their sleeves?He couldn’t be expecting her to pay for her own ticket, could he? Didn’t he know anything about taking a beautiful girl out on a date? Then I realized maybe this was his first legit date. Did I mention how much I hated Victor Pastore?
I leaned forward, trying not to blow up his spot in front of Adrianna—even though the little shit didn’t deserve it. “You have to pay for the tickets Mike, including hers,” I uttered through gritted teeth, hoping he got my drift.
“Nope,” he said, smiling then extended his hand, giving me a friendly pat on the shoulder.
“You do.” Adrianna lifted her head at that moment, her eyes meeting mine to gage my reaction but I remained focused on Mike.
