AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I smile at no one, amused by her. I could either go down this slide and face her, or stay up here and not make myself known. What if she’s with her brother?
“Don’t be a pussy.” She scoffs, “I’m all alone. Just a small girl.”
I chuckle and let go, letting myself slide down fast. When I get to the bottom, I slam against a small, soft body.
“Stronzo!”She yells as she falls to the ground on her ass, and I laugh harder at her.
I tower over her, smirking as she looks up at me. “Has anyone ever told you that you have a potty mouth?” She says something unintelligible under her breath, not even bothering to answer me. More like cussing me out, I assume. “You also have beautiful eyes. Anyone told you that?” I don’t even know why I said that just now, but I can’t take it back anymore.
Those big hazel eyes narrow at me. “Are you going to help me up or not?”
“It depends.” I shrug. “Are you going to get off my playground after?”
“Yourplayground?” She rolls her eyes, “Where is your name on it?”
I laugh. This girl is feisty and cute. What a combination. “My name doesn’t need to be on it, princess. I’m here every night, and no one comes until you, I guess.”
“Don’tcall me princess.”
“That’s what you got from this?” I ask her with a smile. It’s as if her eyes are permanently narrowed, and her little nostrils flare. “You need to go.”
“Why? Because I’m Italian?”
I nod, “Precisely.”
“Well, maybe I don’t want to go!” She yells at me, finally getting up from the ground. She’s brave, I’ll give her that. Because instead of stepping back, she steps forward. Toward me. “I don’t care that you’re Russian.”
“That makes one of us,” I tell her seriously.
“Why is everyone always fighting with you and your friends? Why can’t we all just get along?”
She really, really doesn’t get it. I stay rooted to the spot even as she gets so close that she has to look up at me. I get even closer, until her sandals are touching my sneakers, her pink toenails right against the edge of them. Her feet look battered and bruised, parts of toenails missing, bandaids on random toes. Wow.
The girl shrinks a little when my eyes linger on her feet, and she looks nervous when my eyes meet hers again. “One word:Power.” She doesn’t say anything, doesn’t even breathe. “We all want it.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s just how it works in the mafia, princess.” She rolls her eyes at my nickname. “But I’ll make an exception for you. I’m Nikolai.”
“Camilla.” She sighs, stepping back. “But my friends call me Cam.”
“I don’t like that.” Camilla scrunches up her nose as I say it. “Millasounds better.”
And that’s what I’m calling her from now on: Milla.Mee-lah.
“Milla is different.” She says slowly, “But I guess it’s alright.”
“Well, you shouldn’t be here, Camilla.” I turn around and go back to the end of the slide, then sit on it. “Go back to your brother.”
“Nah.” She shrugs, sitting back down on the mulch, flashing me her panties on the way down. I look away, trying to be respectful. “I want to talk to you.”
“Oh?” I ask her, “And what do you want to talk about?”
She grins. “Power.”
And then, she proceeds to ask me twenty-one questions about the mafia and why we hate each other.
There’s a swarm of bodies invading my home. Sweaty college students move to the beat of the music, most of whom I’ve never met, let alone seen before. There’s not one visible square foot of the downstairs area that’s unoccupied. In fact, I can’t even see the hardwood floors from where I’m standing on the grand staircase.
