Page 12 of Memento Mori
The same feeling always assaulted me when she was around, but this time I hoped it was just me being anxious to see her. But I was wrong. It wasn’t my anxiousness. My eyes settled on Aaliyah. Her eyes told me everything I needed to know, despite her rigid, cold exterior.
When she was with me, she was always an open book, and now was no different. First hurt flickered through her eyes when her gaze shifted to mine and Francesca’s hands clasped together. The crippling look on her face caused a sharp ache in my heart.
Doesn’t she know that this is all a bunch of bullshit? She’s the one I want.
I quickly pulled my hand away, and shook my head, pleading with my eyes for her to understand. Pleading with her tounderstand that it was all a show. A darkness settled in her eyes, their once warm gaze turning frigid.
“Shit! I’ve fucked up.”
I quickly rose ignoring the confused looks of my parents, and their guests at my outburst. Aaliyah turned her attention back to the unfamiliar men sitting around the table. After speaking for only a few moments, she stood up and forced a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. She politely acknowledged each man, shook their hands, and walked away from their table with her guards surrounding her.
As they approached our table, she averted her gaze, refusing to make eye contact with me. “Aaliyah, baby. Please,” I said, pleading with her to understand that it was all a show. “Let me explain.”
Abel, the head of her security detail wouldn’t let me pass when I tried to reach out for her.
“Sir, step back,” he said, placing his palm against my chest.
“Get out of my way, Abel! Goddamn it!”
When he touched me, my security and my father’s approached, causing a standoff in the middle of a restaurant full of diners. Not something I wanted, especially since my personal life was always a news story in this city.
Over the past few months our security details had become well acquainted with one another. But I also knew my guards would not hesitate to put a bullet in anyone when it came to my safety, and Abel and her other guards would do the same for her.
I held up my hand to keep my security back. Abel was doing his job by keeping anyone from approaching her, including me. When all this shit got straightened out, I wouldn’t hold it against him. But I also knew we’d have a long conversation about it.
Although Abel and Aaliyah had a romantic relationship a long time ago, I trusted Abel with her life. He genuinely loved her and wanted what was best for her. It was a hard acknowledgement to come to, but I did.
We’d already had a knockout drag out fight about his feelings for her. After we finished beating the shit out of each other, and having Aaliyah bust our balls for acting like children, we sat down, had a few beers and he explained his feelings would never change regardless of who was in her life. And I explained nothing would ever come between Aaliyah and me, including him. I informed him I would kill him first before I let that happen. That night we came to an understanding. Even though we were two men who cared deeply for her, he was Aaliyah’s past, and I was her future.
“Tony, what the hell is wrong with you?” my mother hissed while she looked around at the onlookers gawking, some snapping pictures, others’ eyes widening in shock. “You’re making a scene.”
I didn’t give a fuck who was looking or if I was making a scene. I was trying to get to my woman before she shut me out.
“Aaliyah, please. Let me explain,” I pleaded again, ignoring my mother and all the onlookers surrounding us. But she kept her head held high and didn’t acknowledge me. “It’s not what it looks like.”
Furiously, she wiped away a tear that slid down her face, refusing to even look at me.
“I hope you have a very damn good explanation,” Abel whispered in my ear, the threat clear in his voice before he pushed away from me and followed her out of the restaurant.
“Son?” My father’s hand on my shoulder stopped me from following her out the door. “Are you alright?”
“No. I’ve got to go Papa. I’ve got to fix this,” I said, panic in my voice and sadness in my eyes.
His hard stare softened, and he gave a slight nod giving me permission to handle my business, even though at this moment if he said no, I wouldn’t give a damn. But I also hadn’t missed the command in his gaze. When I got everything squared away with Aaliyah, I would need to explain my actions today. Especially actions that had been done in front of a member of the Scuderi organization.
“Thanks, Papa.”
“What is the meaning of this!” Marianna shouted. “How can you allow him to leave Antonio? We have guests.”
I heard my mother shriek in her usual dramatic flair and my father’s command for her to sit down and finish her fucking meal in silence, while I rushed out of the restaurant, praying I wasn’t too late.
Despite the cool morning air against my skin, the panic surging through me intensified as I dashed out of the front door of the busy restaurant. The look of hurt and disappointment in her eyes was seared in my mind. A look I would never put there again if I could help it.
I looked in all directions, hoping I had caught up with her, but she was nowhere in sight.
I flung my hands in the air. “Goddamn it!”
The short time explaining to my father gave her enough time to disappear before I could reach the outside. I pulled out my phone and called my guard, Jackpot Joey. In less than five minutes, I slid into the backseat of my town car. I called Aaliyah praying she’d pick up. When her voicemail answered, I left her a message, hung up and tried again.
