“Let us take you home. We have lots to talk about,” Dario orders.
“But I have my car he—”
“No worries. Alejandro will take it home.” I nod, dig for my keys again, and toss them to Alejandro.
Dario opens the door and slides out, letting me take the middle seat. Climbing in, I take my seat and notice another guard in the driver’s seat—a beautiful woman in a sexy black and white suit—hot and strong.
Getting comfortable in my seat, Dario grabs my bag and lightly places it on the floor. Catalina slides closer on my left while Dario crowds me on my right.
“We have a proposition for you and Sonny. How about y’all join us for the weekend? Does a trip to visit Isabella and Niccolo in Shreveport sound good?”
Shocked by the news, I look at them with my mouth agape. I just got put on a two-week mandatory leave of absence and Sonny is overthinking his life’s purpose. I don’t know; maybe this is a sign to say fuck it and go on this wonderful trip.
“Before I answer that, I have a question. My dad came earlier and said that he was told by y’all to kill a patient that was brought in a couple of hours ago. Is that true? Did you just expect me to kill him?” I say, tilting my head to the side.
“Absolutely not. I know you’re not stupid. I can see that you’ve had a feeling your dad does shady stuff. Well, hehandlesthings for us. He has been doing it since my papa was in charge. We told him to check on the traitor’s status. We never ordered him to tell you to kill him.” Dario states, and it solidifies what I’ve known about my father all along. He’s a fucking liar.
I trust Dario, Catalina, Niccolo, and Isabella more than I trust my father. So, what’s the harm in joining them for the weekend?
What’s the worst that can happen?
Lean into Love by Biz Colleti
The morning after the
Dia de Los Muertos Party (10:00 a.m.)
Wakingup the following day, the feelings I felt after everything went down last night were immediately replaced with nerves. It’s time for me to finally open up to Niccolo if I want our relationship to work out. I just don’t know if this will be the thing that breaks us, and if it does, I don’t know where we can go from here.
Catalina brings my bags to the trunk of Niccolo’s black Escalade while my best friend, Chiara, opens the backseat door. Chiara Ferrara is Niccolo’s head bodyguard and my childhood best friend. We used to be neighbors, and her dad worked for Niccolo’s dad before they both passed.
“Grazie, amore,” I say sweetly as I blow her a kiss. She smirks and waits for me to climb in when she closes the door. I roll down the window and wait for Catalina to appear.
“We’ll be there tonight, okay? We just need to convince Sonny and Willow to come with us and we’ll join you,princesa,” Catalina declares as she leans in to kiss me goodbye.
Leaning forward, I peck her lips twice before sliding my tongue across her bottom lip and devouring them. We stay like this and break our kiss when we’re interrupted by Niccolo and Dario.
“Enough. Come on, you’re gonna see each other tonight,” Dario says, shaking his head.
“Vete a la verga, Dario. Not my fault you don’t like to show PDA in front of people. I love letting everyone know my girl is mine. Go ahead, Daddy. Kiss our girl,” Catalina teases. Dario rolls his eyes but does what he’s told, leaning in to kiss me as I return the kiss. His tongue swirls with mine and it feels different from Catalina’s. He’s gentle; it screams every emotion he’s feeling about me. He makes love to my mouth. Someone clears their throat and we break apart, smiling.
“See you tonight,dulzura,” Dario says, winking. He then goes to kiss Niccolo, pecking him three times.
“Text me when you land,amorcito,” Dario instructs. Niccolo gets in the backseat with me and Chiara takes the driver’s seat.
“Prenditi cura di loro, Chi,” Catalina orders before Chiara closes the door.
Chiara rolls the window to respond and responds, “Sempre.”
We leave the ranch for the private airport, where Niccolo’s plane awaits us. I turn around and see my loves get smaller through the back window. Niccolo lightly places his hand on my thigh and I pivot around to face him.
I grab his hand and squeeze it as I say, “As soon as we get on that plane, we’ll talk, okay? Can you just hug me for now?”
“Of course, baby. Rest for now,” Niccolo extends his arm out and I snuggle up to him, inhaling his woodsy scent. It’s my only anchor right now as I anticipate the emotional conversation we are about to have.
“Wake up,farfallina. We’re here,” Niccolo says, kissing my forehead. Chiara opens Niccolo’s door and he grabs my hand for me to follow when he quickly gets off. Extending his hand forward, Niccolo allows me to mount the stairs up the plane where I take a window seat. He sits beside me as Chiara chats with the pilot and flight attendant about the manifest.
“Are you okay? We can wait till we take off to talk,” Niccolo offers.
