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Giovanni
PLAYLIST: ? STATE OF MY HEAD - SHINEDOWN ?
Present…
Falynn freezeswhen she sees me. I’m a ghost in front of her eyes. The last person she probably expected. A moment passes where we stand and stare at each other. Louis and Tasha hover off to the side, neither addressing the fucking five-ton elephant in the room.
Surprise. I’m back from the dead.
What this means for the clown shit allowed to go on in my absence is anyone’s guess.
But one thing I know for certain. I’m going to get to the bottom of whatever the hell happened, and then I’m not stopping until I burn every last thing to the ground. I don’t give a shit what happens to me so long as I get the last laugh, even if it’s with the last breath I take.
I’m living for revenge. For blood, pain,gore.
I want to see heads roll and collect them as trophies for my fucking mantle.
And I will in due time.
For the moment, I quell the rage pulsing through my veins. I keep it at bay in order to function, retreating to my old methods where I hid behind a cold, emotionless mask. Nobody needs to know the extent to which I’m raging from the inside.
Though, Falynn knows me well enough to sense it. I can tell by the mixture of emotion in her warm brown eyes. They fill with tears, and a split second later, she’s launching herself at me. She practicallyfliesinto my arms.
The familiar sweetness of her scent surrounds me, powerful enough to pierce through my stone-cold facade. I hold onto her and let her process what’s happened—I’m still alive in the flesh.
“What…what…how…” is all she can choke out between her sobs. She winds her limbs around me like a fucking koala bear clinging to a tree, like she’s afraid if she lets ago I’ll vanish again.
“Shhh, I’ll explain later,” I say. I peel her off of me, though I keep hold of her hand. “We have to go. They’ll be coming here to look for you.”
“So now that you’re back, you and your brother are still beefing?” Tasha asks, her eyes round with horror. “Can’t you squash this at family counciling?”
“Louis,” I say. I pull Falynn along by the hand, stepping out of the cramped apartment we arrived at moments ago.
Louis understands with no further instruction. He grabs onto Tasha and begins escorting her out. She protests, slapping and shoving his broad shoulder.
“Ut-ut…I’m not going nowhere! This is my apartment—”
“That’s about to be visited by a crew of guys you don’t want to deal with,” Louis says, fending her off easily. His arm slips around her waist, and he drags her along like a piece of furniture. “Will you stop smacking me? I’m a big guy, but those cat claws of yours hurt.”
“Can I at least grab my purse? Damn!”
I leave Louis to tussle with Falynn’s best friend. Louis isn’t much of a ladies’ man, but there’s something mildly entertaining whenever he interacts with one. Falynn’s best friend is no different as they bicker until she’s defiantly clutching her purse, and Louis is rubbing his groin area.
Falynn and I haven’t said another word. I’ve led her down the apartment complex’s exterior staircase. Any second now, my brother’s men—some who used to work for me—will be stopping by Tasha Henson’s apartment on the shoddy side of town.
“Gio, where are we going?” Falynn whispers. She’s still in shock. I can tell by how slow and stiff she moves as I usher her into the backseat of our car.
Tasha’s next. Louis has finally managed to tame her, both of his thick arms wrapped around her from behind, but it didn’t come easy—she’s clawed at him more than a cat at bath time.
“Are you two done?” I ask him as I take the wheel, and he moves around to the passenger side.
He merely shakes his head, an incredulous look on his face. “We’ve got to talk about some kinda hazard pay, Boss.”
I have several known properties across the country. Many of them are back east. A few of them are on the west, like my winter ski home in Aspen, and a sky-rise apartment I’ve purchased (and rarely used) in Los Angeles.
But nobody—even my family and closest allies—knows about my secret compound just a few miles outside of Vegas.
It’s my location in case of a rainy day. A place I set aside where I can go if I ever needed to lie low or disappear for a while. I haven’t needed it until now.
