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“I heard. So Nate didn’t get to pop your cherry before Hugo showed up to kill him?” She said it like we were talking about the weather, not assault and battery.
“No, Jesus, we were at a party, and honestly, I don’t feel anything for him.”
“Wasn’t that the whole point?”
“I meant I don’t feel attracted to him. And if I was before, I sure as hell ain’t now.”
She didn’t respond right away; instead, she came to my end of the bed and laid on her belly, her fabulous curly black hair covering her back. She was keeping it long, even if it was hell to take care of it. All three kids got Patty’s curly hair. That curly hair was the reason for my first mafia hit. When I turned fifteen, my nonno threw me a huge party at an amusement park down in Sandy Hook Bay. He invited a lot of his friends and their kids, but I didn’t know half of them. On the guest list also was Lucien Garibaldi, the Capo of the Garibaldi family and his two daughters. At the time one of them, Sally, was eighteen – and she may or may not have slept with Gino on the pier that night – and the other, Betty, was ten. Betty told Bianca that she didn’t believe she was a Nucci because she was mixed, and no Italian had curly hair like hers. I remembered how mad I was when I overheard that and saw the hurt on B’s face. That little skank from New Jersey called someone in my family a liar, so I waited for the sun to go down, dragged her behind a roller-coaster and broke her finger. I didn’t remember waking up that day and choosing violence, but it was worth it.
“Cat, what exactly happened last night?”
She made me look into her eyes.
“W-what?”
“I’m just saying, yesterday you were set on fooling around with Nate, and now you don’t want it anymore.”
“Nate is a mindless idiot, and I just don’t want Hugo to find out and lose his mind again.”
“You mean Gino.”
I looked at her with confusion and blinked rapidly a couple of times.
“Gino?”
“Your brother? The one who’s opinion you should actually care about. Why is Hugo Mustafa suddenly part of your decision?”
That was the million-dollar question. I had carried a torch for that dark and monstruous man since I was in second grade, but I never imagined it could happen. Not until last night. I kept all those fantasies locked up in my heart’s basement, somewhere where no one could find them, but last night when I lured him in our demonically passionate kiss, I danced with every single one of them. There wasn’t a place in my mind that wasn’t occupied by it; there wasn’t a spot on my heart that was left untouched. I did not know how to go back.
“B, can you keep a secret?”
She jumped up like a branding iron landed on her ass.
“Oh, my goodness gracious, you slept with Hugo,” she yelled, and I choked on my own tongue.
I pushed myself up and grabbed Bianca, covering her mouth with my hand.
“Shhh! No, I didn’t. We just kissed.”
She didn’t make another sound, but her eyes turned to circles on her face. I didn’t take my hand away until I was sure she wouldn’t say something stupid again and risk someone overhearing it.
“Hugo kissed you? Hugo, like, the guy who’s in charge of protecting you? The underboss? The Albanian Monster kissed you?”
He was all those things and many more. It wasn’t only his duty and oath to the family between us; it was his friendship with my brother. There was a bro code.
“Not really. I kissed him, but he didn’t stop me. It got intense.”
“Cat, this…wow…it’s… Does anyone know? Gino?”
“Are you insane? Gino is in Italy with Muse. He would lock me in his bathroom and take Hugo out for a walk on the bottom of the Hudson River. You can’t tell anyone, B, I’m serious. Not your mom, not your brothers, anyone!”
“Don’t you think I know that? You can trust me; it’s ok. What now? Are you going to seal the deal?”
“Well, now he hates me more than ever. He basically threw me out of my own house this morning, dumping me on Vito’s lap.”
“Uh, I wouldn’t mind being dumped on Vito’s lap either.”
My jaw fell down while she was smiling like a minx.
