AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s Shantee.” Tess smiled in amusement. “Niccola asked if she’d hit on Vinni, and as you can see, she’s got no problem with that. She loves to fuck with the straights.”
“I see.” I nodded and grinned. This place must be entertaining at times.
“At the risk of me overstepping,” Tess eyed Trigger, “how did the two of you meet?”
“We were both young and were good at fighting.” I let Trigger take the lead on the conversation. I knew he was a very private man and wasn’t sure what he’d say.
“Yes, but you were living in Italy. What brought you all the way here?” she asked. Trigger nodded at me to talk, letting me know he was all right with it.
“I liked to fight, and Sicily is a small island, not much opportunity to find opponents. My father was working with a client in California, and as a young boy who would take over the family business one day, my father wanted me to attend as many meetings as I could.”
“They were fine with a young boy at those kinds of meetings?”
“They didn’t have a choice.” Trigger chuckled. “They’re the mafia, babe.”
“Okay, understood. Keep going.”
“I’d heard about the fights here in Vegas from one of my father’s clients. I was happy to come to any meetings I could. It gave me the chance to check out the ring. Long story short, I’d fight there from time to time.”
“And you met Trigger there?” She was trying to move the story along.
“Yes, we’d been paired to fight. We were both the same weight and, I liked to think, about same caliber of skill.”
“Who won?” Her eyes told me she was enjoying the story.
“The first fight he got lucky.” I chuckled, but we knew the truth. “Trigger won that fight fair and square. But I learned from that fight I had a couple of weak spots to work on, and I spent the next three weeks correcting the problem so when we fought the second time about a month later, I won.” I paused. “Although I really wished I hadn’t.”
“It’s fine, man,” Trigger muttered.
“What do you mean?” Tess looked at the two of us.
“He saw what happened when I didn’t win.” He glanced at her, and she reached over and slid onto his lap.
“We come from different worlds,” I added. “From that day on, I knew I couldn’t fight him. I wouldn’t be the reason a father’d beat his child.”
“Now I get it.” She placed her hand on some papers on the table, and Trigger handed them to me.
I flipped over the stack of papers and read the name of the fight club at the top. I realized they were ownership papers. Trigger had signed them, and under that was my name.
“You’re looking to expand into different companies in the US.” He paused. “Fight clubs are big moneymakers. I can’t think of anyone else’s name I’d rather have on there.”
“But…” I wasn’t sure what to say.
“Call it even.” He looked away, and I knew he was thanking me for seeing him for who he was all those years ago.
I took the pen Tess handed me and scribbled my name next to his.
“Oh, come on!” I tossed the book aside and flopped down on my back, staring up at the gray clouds. I was suddenly chilly. Though I appreciated any library, the Coppolas didn’t share the love for the same kind of books as I did. I wanted action, adventure, love, angst, happily ever afters. Good Lord, give me some kind of smutty fairytale. All I could find was a dry story about losing hope. The girl finally gets out of her hated boarding school, only to get smacked with her parents getting killed. Seriously? I invested three days into this, only to have my heart dropkicked into the garbage. I knew I really needed to make a trip down to the bookstore to feed my literary addiction, but first…I eyed the stone hot tub and thought I should warm up first.
“Miss?” A voice jolted me from my thoughts, and I scrambled back in my lounge chair. I looked up and found I was not alone on the rooftop. “Here, I’ve bought you a few minutes.”
I eyed the phone he held, even as I begged my eyes to avoid looking at the crosses that ran along his neck. I watched one of them stretch as he swallowed.
“Who…” I cleared my throat, hearing my nerves get the best of me. “Who is it?”
“Answer it and find out.” He smiled.
Careful not to make contact with his skin, I took the phone and held it up to my ear. “Hello?”
