Page 25 of Mafia Star

“Not with the way you’ve been acting. You’re like a coiled spring under pressure.”

“Luca, I don’t need advice on when to fuck.”

“Then maybe you need a vacation.”

That brings to mind images of Beth in a string bikini on some beach where I can yank the bows and watch it fall off her.

“Who the fuck are you picturing?”

“What?”

I look blankly at Luca. Shit. Can he tell I was daydreaming?

“You are definitely thinking about someone specific. I didn’t think you had any significant arrangement. At least, not one with a woman you’d travel with.”

“I don’t. I was thinking about hooking up with someone wherever I go.”

Luca just stares at me. None of us do— did— now that I’m the last unmarried guy —random hookups. Too many possible complications with someone we haven’t run a background check on. Luca, Gabriele, and Lorenzo might not have snooped into their wives’ history, but the background checks were run. I already know Beth’s because it came as part of Chelle’s.

I might have done a little late night studying after the rehearsal dinner. There wasn’t much to read. I knew we belonged to the same BDSM club, but I didn’t think I would run into her so soon after the wedding. We’ve both been members for years and never encountered one another. I know she has a near perfect credit score and hasn’t had a speeding ticket since she was twenty.

“Fine. Keep your thoughts to yourself.”

“You were always a nosy fucker, Luca. I think Carmine learned it from you.”

“Bullshit. Mama expected me to keep an eye on you heathens. I had to make sure I knew what you were up to.”

I roll my eyes. We’re eighteen months apart, and that’s the furthest apart my parents had any of us. Enzo came almost a year to the day after me, and Maria came almost a year to the day after him. They didn’t have three boys then tried for a girl. They would have been just as happy with another boy as they would have been with four girls. They said they stopped before the number of kids outnumbered the parental hands.

The men of my dad’s generation— so Uncle Salvatore, Uncle Domenico, and Uncle Cesare —have all been hands-on fathers. There were plenty of times when Papa had four kids' meals being passed through the car window after soccer practice. If Mama was working, he chopped the orange slices and took them to the matches. Uncle Domenico is the musical one and taught all of us the piano. How he’s not deaf is beyond me.

None of them are anything like Nonno Vicenzu, Papa’s father and our last don. He would give Papa and my uncles shit, but none of them cared. People may have feared Nonno, but they didn’t respect him. He believed those were synonyms, but Uncle Salvatore has shown they aren’t. Men both fear and respect my uncle. I’m grateful I’ve only ever worked for Uncle Salvatore.

“Hello to la-la land.”

Luca snaps his fingers in front of me. I bat his hand away.

“I have shit to coordinate now that I have a plan in place. Sorry that I’m not listening to you babble more than your daughter.”

Luca’s grin softens into one full of pride. He’s a huge softy at any mention of Petra. He and Papa are ridiculous together with the faces they make and the songs they sing.

“Shouldn’t you be home in time for Petra to wake up from her nap? I thought you had the night shift.”

“Vaffancullo.” Fuck off.

But my brother shows me a photo Olivia must have sent a little while ago of Petra in a bouncy swing.

“Go home to your wife and kid. Let me figure out how to run the world.”

We hug, and then I’m back to being alone in my place. Blessedly alone. I pull out my phone and realize we’d been talking for almost forty-five minutes. I must have been staring off into space a lot more than I realized. Luca was definitely more patient than I realized.

Me

No worries. I’m bummed. But I get it.

I glance at the time on my phone, and I bet she’s already at dinner by now. I stare at the screen, wishing for a response, but nothing comes. I drop my phone into my pocket and make my way into the kitchen. I pull out a couple things of leftovers and reheat them. I’ll deal with setting up the plan in the morning. I’m about to flip on the TV when my phone vibrates.

Beth

---