Tempted By The Mafia Boss

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Salvatore

I straighten up as Gabe walks in.

He looks me over cautiously and that weirdness between us comes rushing back on me.

Last night I decided to sort this thing out.

Air out the shit and try to move past it.

I thought the best place to talk would be here at the booking office for The Odyssey. So I called him and I knew he’d come.

He looks worse for wear, worse even than when I beat him up. I imagine it must have been hard to hear what Mimi had to say to him.

“Hi,” I decide to talk first.

“Hey. You …okay?” he asks.

“Me bro? You look like shit?” I’m aiming for lighthearted. This is how we usually talk.

He walks closer. “I feel like it. Guess I’m not that far off being shit.”

“I know Mimi told you,” I state. “I know she told you what happened to her.”

“Salvatore… of all the things I’ve ever done in my life I feel the guilt of that the most. It’s something I can’t fix.”

“I agree, but… it’s also something you can’t change. So we either dwell on it or try to make the situation better.” That was on me too. I could either fixate on it and hate him, or try to move past it.

He’s apologized numerous times and acknowledged his errors. I can’t hold this over his head when he’s done all he can to try to fix the mess too.

“You were right, I shouldn’t have gone there with Mimi,” he acknowledges. “She’s like family. She is family. We’ve known her long enough and she’s been in our lives long enough for me to have behaved better with her. I knew I shouldn’t have gotten involved with her right from the start. But I did. ”

I remember the time very well and I could have killed him then too. I kept wondering if they were serious then it looked like they were just fooling around. But every time I looked at Mimi I realized she wasn’t. He was though.

It made me wish I could have taken the step to do what I’m doing with her now well before they got together. It was just a gray area I never thought I should have gone to either. I worried I’d mess up the friendship we had. Then the point came where I knew I wouldn’t. It all went down last year when I first kissed her. That was when I knew I had to have more.

“I’m going to tell Charlotte,” he declares and I frown.

“Is that wise Gabe? It’s not like it happened while you guys were together.”

“She’s my wife, Salvatore. I don’t want any secrets between us. She likes Mimi and the two get on. I don’t want her finding out in some other way and then it will look worse on me. She knows something’s up and I already told her I was with Mimi. I need to tell her everything else. I’ll tell her after the baby comes.” He nods.

I definitely have to give him credit. And respect.

“I think it’s something we’ll each have to move past together,” I state.

“You too? You’ll move past it too brother?” He looks me over. “The reality of the situation is we’re two brothers who were with the same girl. I won’t lie and tell you I didn’t always know you had feelings for her. I just never knew until recently how deep your feelings ran. Or I would have never crossed the line with her. Not even with the shit that happened to me would I have crossed that line with you too.”

There’s an immature part of me that still holds on to jealousy. I know I have to let that go too.

Last night when she told me she would pick me it meant everything to hear it, but part of me holds on to truth.

The truth that she was with him before me and she was having his baby, and was happy. I hold on to those things. That’s on me though. It’s on me and those are the things I need to work past and let go.

He’s looking at me waiting for an answer, so I give it.

“I will… I am. Mimi means a lot to me… you do too but when it comes to her, if you hurt her it doesn’t matter who you are to me.”

He nods. “I hear you. Loud and clear. I see you too. You know, Salvatore…she should know how much you love her.”

Love… I won’t deny it. I won’t be an asshole and deny it. It’s a step I want to take but when she’s ready. I want her to be ready and on the same page as me. She’s getting there.

“Small steps. I have a lot of work to do before she trusts me with her heart.” Right now I have her body. She trusted me with her body and I know it was a big thing for her to do, no matter what she feels for me.

Heart, mind and soul next. I feel like I’m trying to collect pieces of her. And fuck, listen to me. This chick has definitely made me go soft.

He dips his head in agreement. “She will. She already does. My fault she’s being careful. I’m sorry. You’re a better man than me.”

I shake my head at him. “I said this before Gabe and I still mean it. We aren’t different. If I’d had the shit that happened to you happen to me, I know I’d go off the rails.”

He looks at me and he doesn’t comment one way or the other. He knows I’m right again. I would have gone off the fucking rails. They all think Nick’s the wild child. He is, but I’m crazy.

I give the appearance of being even tempered and cool but it doesn’t take much to push me, even when I know there’s some reasoning behind it. Like in Gabe’s situation.

I understood where he was coming from and all that happened to him and his girl. Yet I was ready to beat him to death for the pain he caused my girl. His saving grace that day were Vincent and Nick. Their intervention reminded me that Gabe was my brother and I couldn’t kill him.

“I wish it didn’t happen. Losing Charlotte messed me up,” he confesses.

“I know.”

Gabe can’t stand here and tell me I’m better than him. I’m not. He exerted great control in the situation, knowing he could have started a blood war. It was being placed in that position of helplessness that drove him over the edge. Had it been me and it was my Mimi that got taken I would have killed every motherfucker. Every man dead including me, because sure to fucking shit our enemies would have had to kill me dead to stop me from killing all of them.

I look at him and see that the guilt he feels over Mimi isn’t something that’s ever going to go away.

Making the situation better starts here.

I put my hand out to shake his, to reform the bond we have as friends. He takes it and gives my hand a firm squeeze.

“Want to go grab coffee?” I ask. “We can… catch up.”

“Yeah I’d like that,” he answers. “Thank you. Thanks for giving me a chance. I never meant to hurt her Salvatore. I never did.”

“I know. Come… let’s go.” I motion toward the door, leading the way and he follows.

We walk outside and I mull over the best thing to talk about to change the subject. I start by talking about motorcycles. Gabe and I are obsessed with them.

“I’m heading to the bike shop on Saturday,” I tell him.

That gets him interested because he knows I’m not talking about any old bike shop and it’s not actually a shop. I’m talking about hanging out with our old friends. Claudius’ crew.

We’re all mobsters to the bone who love motorcycles and trying all sorts of stunts that could get us killed. Like jumping motorcycles off buildings. There’s only a few people in our circle who have done that without getting something broken. One of them is me. Jesus, I nearly died doing that though.

“I’m coming with you,” he nods.

“Yeah, come. I think Claudius has a new bike part you’ll love. It’s Japanese.”

The sound of a speeding car steals my next words.

Habit makes both of us snap our attention down the road.

Speeding cars around here, especially black Sedans with no number plates, are reason enough to pay attention and check for safety.

My hand is already reaching for my piece but I freeze up just like Gabe when the car reaches us and just stops. It stops right there in the street. The window already rolled down revealing the man in the passenger seat.

Stephanou Portaleu.

Stephanou Portaleu as in the same crime boss who killed our brother.

He ordered the hit on Frankie for killing his wife. It was an accident. Our brother’s death was not. The fact that Frankie took the bullet to the heart the same place it got her told me no mere hitman killed him.

It was this bastard right here in front of us.

Eight years we’ve been looking for him.

Eight years there’s been no sign of his ass. Not hide nor hair. All trace of him and his people gone.

But here he is.

He’s just looking at us, no guns or anything pointed at us, and it’s like we’re in some trance.

It fucking breaks though when Gabe pulls out his gun.

The car speeds off as Gabe starts shooting mindlessly.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

He takes off down the road and I follow him, running top speed as the car speeds away.

Another screech of tires behind us makes me look over my shoulder.

A motorcyclist speeds towards us and as he reaches behind him I know that’s the danger. Not the fucking car getting away from us with Stephanou inside.

Adrenaline launches me forward and I knock Gabe to the ground just as the biker sprays the place with bullets from his machine gun.