“But I told you I don’t want to be there. I want to go with you guys. Even Mammà said I could. Please, Dom? Don’t be a jerk. Let me go with you, okay?” I plead, taking his hand off my wrist and holding it instead.
Dom’s eyes always twinkle when we hold hands, and my stomach gets a warm fuzzy feeling when his perfect blues soften by looking at our entwined fingers.
“Geez, Selene. You really know how to bust a guy’s balls,” Gio laughs out behind us.
“What are you up to anyway?” I ask Dom sweetly. He never tells me no when I use Mammà’s soft voice.
“Men stuff,” he replies curtly, but brushes his thumb on my fingers to soften his dry remark.
“I think that means you’re missing something under that dress to qualify for an invite, principessa,” Gio mocks.
“Oh bite me, Gio. If you say something like that again, I’m going to slug you. I know both your Mammàs raised you guys better than that. Should I go back to the party and ask them myself?” I snap reprimanding, pulling my hand away from Dom’s warm one, so I can place both my fists on my hips for good measure.
“Damn it, Red, why do you always have to play so dirty?” Dom counters, going back to his perfect soldier form.
“I guess because you boys bring it out of me. Now tell me, where did Vincent run off to?”
“Red, you know we can’t tell you that,” Dom states stoically, but his steel-blue eyes can’t hide his apology no matter how tall and foreboding he tries to make himself.
“Why not?” I ask, my brow in the air, not backing down for a moment.
“Because its business.”
“Since when are any of you privy to ‘business’?” I ask, making bunny ears on the word business sarcastically. When I see Dominic bite his tongue and Gio play with the bowtie in his hands instead of meeting my eyes with an answer, my stomach drops and my arms fall to my side in one fast swoosh.
“Gio? Dom? Where did Vincent run off to?” I ask warily, unsure if I’m going to like their answer.
Dominic looks to the floor, his stance even more rigid, while Gio looks far too serious for my liking. If they won’t tell me, then I guess there is only one way to find out.
“Selene, where do you think you’re going?” Dom whisper-yells, running behind me as I quicken my step in a mad rush into the woods.
“After Vincent! If you won’t tell me where he is, then I’ll just have to find him myself,” I huff out stubbornly.
Gio jumps in front of me, his brown curls bouncing and falling into his chocolate eyes, and grips my elbows firmly in place, preventing me from taking another step.
“Giovanni, let me go,” I warn, my nose flaring in rage, yet keeping myself so immobile I’d give the ice sculpture centerpiece back at the main house a run for its money on frozen stillness.
“Fine! You wanna see where Vince went to in such a rush?” Gio starts, but Dom smacks him across the head, preventing him from saying anything further.
“Gio…” Dom starts, shaking his head left to right.
“What? Vincent said for you to take care of her, so I’m suggesting a solution to your problem. All three of us are going up to the cabin,” Gio states, pulling me to his side.
“Cabin?” I ask, my curiosity peaked beyond measure.
“You got a big mouth, Gio. It’s gonna get you killed one day,” Dom murmurs, pulling his blond locks away from his livid stare.
“You worry too much, Mancini. C’mon, principessa, let’s go for a walk in the dark woods. Nothing creepy about that, right?” Gio laughs, throwing a cocky wink at Dom. He then grabs my hand and walks in a different direction to the one I was running off towards.
“Fuck,” I hear Dom say under his breath beside me.
“Don’t curse, Dominic,” I tell him again, but my nerves are way too hectic for my scolding to have any heat behind it.
“Yeah, yeah. All I’m saying is that Vincent is so not going to like this,” Dom replies, giving me a sullen glance.
“Well, Vincent isn’t here now, is he?” Gio chuckles. He squeezes me tightly and leads us all further into the gloomy woods, toward whatever secret Vincent has been hiding from me. Something tells me I’m not going to like it one bit.
TWO
Dominic
Thirteen years old
Fuck Gio and his impulsiveness to do whatever he wants. Bringing Selene to the cabin is all sorts of bad. I can already hear the laughs and distant conversation from the men that are holed up at Salvatore’s cabin, and if any of the made men there find us, we are so screwed.
Damn you, Giovanni, I think to myself as I walk beside a trembling Selene.
Gio still has her hand in his, but it doesn’t seem to be calming her nerves any. When I see the lights shining brightly on the cabin’s backyard, I yank her hand out of his and scrunch down, so no one sees us. Gio gives me his trademark smirk, but I just flip him off, not wanting to draw any attention to us for slapping that stupid knowing grin off his face. I love him like a brother, but he sure does know how to push my buttons.
Selene presses her body next to mine, grabbing my forearm fiercely with her free hand, and my stomach starts to prickle. It always does that when Selene is close, and when she touches me this way, as if I’m the only one who can protect her, my chest tightens right along with the tingling sensation. Gio wags his brows at me, and I almost let her slip from my grasp, just so I can tackle and punch him in his gut before Selene sees that stupid-ass look on his face.
I really am going to kill him one day.
“Where are we?” Selene asks in such a velvety-smooth, hushed tone; I’m glad I still have my jacket on so she doesn’t see the goose bumps her voice springs out all over my skin.
“Big Sal’s cabin,” Gio replies, his eyes are no longer mocking my reaction to Selene’s proximity to me, but instead, look hawk-eyed sharp at the armed men surrounding the cabin.
Shit! We really shouldn’t be here.
Vincent is going to lose his mind when he finds out Gio and I brought Selene to his cousin Pietro’s initiation ceremony.
But hell! As much as I care for Selene, I don’t want to miss the opportunity to see one up close before it’s my time to take the vow. Lucky Vince has already started his initiation, so pretty soon he’ll be a made man himself.
Of course, passing all those damn tests and training suck ass, but still, it’s a rite of passage for any man to enter the syndicate. Vince and Pietro are privileged in that regard. They’ll be made men way sooner than either Gio or I will ever be. Having the Romano’s last name has its perks after all.
Well, at least I think they’re perks. Gio doesn’t think the same way, of course. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear he doesn’t give a rat’s ass at being made. Which is astounding to me since his father is the underboss of the Outfit, so there is no way he’s not going to follow in his dad’s footsteps.