Page 30 of Villainous
“Not technically. We’re just roomies for now.”
“Are you coming home for Christmas?”
I don’t want to disappoint her and tell her I’m not going to see her.
“I don’t know.”
“You rather shack up with a man than be home with us. Why would the universe bless me with a whore? You are pathetic.”
Pain radiates in my chest at her words. If I don’t do what she says, she always says things to hurt my feelings. Every time she does this, I let her do it.
“This will be our first Christmas without you if you don’t show up. AJ will be very disappointed in you.” The last thing I want to do is hurt him, and I’ve already let him down, but it was my fault before. “We had to move again because Seamus found us. We’re in Destin, Florida, now.”
“You don’t think he suspe—”
“No. I destroyed all the pictures like you asked, so no one will know. I saw him entering our apartment building, so I left until I saw him leave. And when I came back, the apartment was shot up. I’m staying in a hotel now, and we’re moving into our apartment next week. The money you send really helps, especially with AJ.”
I get up from the bed and pace the floor. “Where is he?”
“Sleeping.”
“Can you wake him? I want to speak to him.”
“No. You ca—”
“I have every right to. You can’t ta—”
“I can and I will. You’re lucky you ever get to see him again. We have an agreement, and you signed the paperwork. You get to see him on holidays and his birthdays, but that’s it.”
The line goes dead, and I give Noemi back her phone as tears wet my eyes. How can she be so cruel to me and not let me see AJ? I want to throw the lamp across the wall and slap the shit out of my ma. She gets under my skin, and there isn’t anything I can do about it. It’s been ten years of going through this with her. She’s so vindictive sometimes she can’t see that she hurts other people.
I wipe the tears from my eyes quickly, but my hands can’t keep up, and I sob like a newborn baby.
Villainous
I maneuver through the sea of people in the living room of Devious’s manor, then stroll to the meeting room. Tonight, we’re celebrating the pregnancy of him and Roselyn. I hate dealing with crowds, and normally, I don’t show up to famiglia events. The only reason why I showed up was to support my brother. People are in deep conversations, and a waiter in a black uniform offers me a glass of bourbon, but I shake my head. Devious glances up at me with a lopsided smile on his face. He’s wearing dark pants with his sleeves rolled up to his elbow, and a blood-red tie hangs loosely around his neck.
“How is my favorite brother?” He slurs his words.
“Good one. I’m your only brother,” I say.
He nods, standing up from the round table and coming over to pat me on the back. I can smell the whiskey on his breath.
The air is stuffy, so I unbutton my cufflinks.
“You up for a game of poker?” Devious asks, pointing to the round green table.
Berserk, Atrocious, Piero, and Manos are sitting around the table, and I shake my head. They all nod at me, and Devious sits back at the table. They play a game of poker and talk a little shit. I’m not much of a gambler—never saw the appeal of wasting my hard-earned cash and not ever seeing it again. Berserk gives me a slight nod. It’s been ages since I actually had a decent conversation with him. We haven’t been friends in a long time. I guess time split us apart. Life has been hard on us all. When he moved to the West Coast, I guess he didn’t want to keep in contact anymore.
“Are they trying to pressure you into playing poker too?” says Aldo, my cousin on my mother’s side, from where he stands next to me. He’s in his early twenties and fresh out of training. He filled Roselyn’s father Lex’s role after his death as an underboss. Lex ended up betraying Devious to the Irish mob, and Devious had one of his soldiers take his life.
“No,” I say.
“I suck at the game, and I’m a horrible gambler,” Aldo responds, folding his arms across his chest.
“Good thing Devious didn’t put you in charge of the Las Vegas territory,” Berserk says before lighting his cigar.
He switched territories with Atrocious. Now, he’s running the Vegas area, and Atrocious is running Los Angeles.
