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“Noted. But no, not today. Meet me out front.”
I throw on a black windbreaker and sneakers. Me and Sabrina exchange a glance, and she shrugs, telling me I’m lucky.
I shut the door behind me and take a deep breath. The trees are blooming again, marking my first winter ended with the Valentinos. It was a tough one, for sure. But I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Donny whips his high-octane car right to the front door and leans over to push the passenger’s side open. There’s a black handkerchief on my seat.
“What’s this?”
“I wanted to try some S and M,” he jokes.
“I wouldn’t mind,” I throw my first sexual advance in months, and his mouth hangs open.
He takes out his phone and frantically starts pressing buttons.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling Artie, now.”
I hit him playfully.
“Yo. Don’t do that. It’s been so long that a breeze might set me off at this point.”
“You have plenty of memories,” I say suggestively, and pull open my jacket to give him a nice look at my cleavage.
“Marone. If I didn’t have something planned… I think I’d tear your clothes off right now.” He pulls out of the driveway, shaking his head.
It gives me joy to drive him crazy. No man has ever been this attentive, this obsessed, or this deadly. It’s the perfect mix to sate my fucked up psyche. Who needs normal anyway? Maybe this was always normal, and it’s the rest of the world living at odds.
“Put that on and stop teasing me,” he says. “Tie it around your eyes and take a nap.”
“Are you serious?”
“Deadly.”
I scoff and do as he says, then smack his hand away when he pulls the cloth farther down to make sure I can’t see.
The drive to wherever we’re going takes a while, and along the way we chat about business and threat levels. He seems elated that the targets are off the Valentino’s backs. It took him a while to get over the lost cash with the Russians, but he’s made do somehow. I wonder how much money he really has, and how the hell he keeps it all clean. My family had an army to launder and keep the feds out of the business. Stress levels were insane at times. Donny, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to bat an eye.
The car pulls to a stop.
“Alright, rabbit. I’m putting sunglasses on so you don’t look like a hostage. Don’t move.”
“Hostage? You’re taking me to a public place? What the hell, Donny?”
“Relax. Trust me. It’s a good surprise.”
The driver’s side door shuts and mine opens a handful of seconds later. Donny helps me out of my seat and takes my arm in his. I hear a few sets of footsteps around me, but then everything gets muffled when Donny puts noise-cancelling headphones on me next.
He’s smart to put on some Christmas tunes even though the holiday passed. It puts me in a more pleasant state of mind. I’m seated, and before I cross my legs, I’m pulled up again. Now I’m getting frustrated. To the point I’m about to pull off the blindfold, but Donny beats me to it.
My hearing returns when the headphones come off, and the blindfold comes next.
I can’t believe what I’m seeing. My father… laughing and holding his belly in his prison jumpsuit.
“What the f—”
He envelops me in his arms, and I can hear Donny’s laugh carry far.
