Page 48 of Straightened Out

I pushed my plate away and ordered another drink. Hours went by before the plates were cleared from the table and Uncle Vic announced the night was just getting started. We wound up a nightclub in the Meat Packing district—surprisingly, one that Uncle Vic didn’t have a piece of. The booze flowed and every woman with a short skirt tried their hardest to get past the velvet ropes that separated our table from the rest of the club.

At one point Uncle Vic threw his arm around my shoulders and asked me what was wrong.

“This is your scene and you’re sitting here like a fucking monk,” he said, shouting over the music.

He wasn’t wrong. If we were back in Miami, I’d have two girls on my lap and another two on deck, but as I sat in the smoke-filled club, all I could do was think of Violet.

She was consuming my every fucking thought and that was a real problem. For Christ’s sake, I paid a debt that wasn’t mine and this morning, I went into my safety deposit box and took out my mother’s tennis bracelet.

After she passed, I gave Gina all our mother’s jewelry, except for that and her engagement ring—which Gina will eventually get too if she ever decides to find herself a husband. I think the girl is married to her career, but who am I to judge.

To each his own.

Anyway, I remember standing in the bank with Uncle Vic at my side, going through all my mother’s belongings. There wasn’t much, most of it she had sold to make ends meet after my father was murdered. But she had the bracelet, her engagement ring, and a few odd pieces, like a diamond cross and pearl earrings.

All the gold bangles and the thick gold rope chain she always wore when we were kids, were gone. Uncle Vic said she probably kept the diamonds because there wasn’t much of a demand for them as there was for gold.

A valid point.

I wanted to give it all to Gina, the bracelet too, but Uncle Vic said I should keep something for myself.

“One day a woman is going to come into your life, and you’ll wish your mother were there to meet her. To make sense of everything you’re feeling. You’ll wish you had her approval. Now, you don’t give her the ring, because even though your father was a piece of shit, your mother loved him, and she held that ring sacred. If things don’t work out between you and this girl, guess who keeps the ring? No, you give the ring to your sister’s future husband that way it stays in the family. But the bracelet, you give that to the woman of your choice and when you give it to her remember a bracelet wraps around the wrist. It’s a circle. There is no end and when you look at those diamonds glistening on her skin, you’ll be reminded that though your mother’s life ended, part of her lives on. She might not get to dance with you at your wedding, or see you become a father, but she will be there in spirit. She’ll be watching over you and she’ll watch over your woman.”

“How do I know I’m giving it to the right girl?” I asked him.

He smiled at me.

“You’ll know,” he assured me.

I thought he was crazy. First of all, I wasn’t getting married and I certainly was never going to have children of my own. Secondly, if that bracelet was all I had left of my mom, I wasn’t giving that shit to some woman. Fuck that.

And yet, this morning, as I held the bracelet in my hand, I replayed that conversation in my head. If there was anyone who’d cherish that bracelet more than me, it was Violet and so the decision was made.

Now, hours after I finally left Uncle Vic at the night club, I’m sitting in front of Flora’s house, waiting for Violet to sneak down the fire escape, hoping she’s wearing my mother’s bracelet. Fantasizing about how she’ll look wearingonlythat.

The door opens and she slides into the back seat beside me. Her blonde hair is piled high on top of her head in a messy bun and she’s wearing a pair of oversized sweatpants and a long-sleeve New York Yankee’s t-shirt that she knotted at the waist. There isn’t a stitch of make-up on her face and she’s never been more beautiful.

“This better be good,” she warns, huffing out a breath as she crosses her arms over her chest.

Reaching for her hand, I quickly roll up her sleeve and find her wrist bare. My lip curls with disdain and I lift my narrowed gaze to her face.

When she called earlier to thank me for the bracelet, she said it was too much and I immediately knew she was going to give me a problem. In fact I toyed with the idea of rushing back to the restaurant simply to put the bracelet on her wrist myself, but her mother wasn’t my biggest fan and Uncle Vic had me by the balls. A pit stop was definitely not in the cards.

Suddenly, she pushes out her other hand and rolls up the sleeve. Even in the dark the diamonds shine brightly against her olive skin.

“Wrong wrist,” she says.

Seeing my mother’s diamonds on her wrist does something to me and I snap. I loose all fucking sense of control and instead of telling her why I want her to wear the bracelet or how much it means to me, I grab her face and slam my mouth against hers. Pulling her onto my lap, I let my hands travel down her sides and around her body. My tongue slides inside her mouth and I cup her ass in the palms of my hands.

I was surrounded by women all fucking night and with the snap of my fingers, I could have any one of them. But none of them held a candle to Violet. I wanted her, plain and simple.

A moan slips from the back of her throat as she threads her fingers through my hair and returns the kiss. Sucking on my tongue and nibbling on my lips.

On the streets I’m on the path to power, but in the back seat of this car, I’m powerless. Violet is the one calling all the shots and I’m okay with that. I’m fucking thankful for the reprieve. In the back seat of this car there is no pressure to be something I’m not.

I feel every stroke of her tongue in my dick and it takes every ounce of self-control for me not to pull her pants down and bury myself inside that sweet little cunt of hers.

“Keep grinding on me like that and I’m going to fuck you right here,” I growl against her lips. She pulls the ends of my hair and bends her head, taking my lower lip between her teeth.

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