Page 19 of Kingpin
Alannah
You ever get the feeling something bad is about to happen? It’s like a little warning inside of your heart that tells you to watch out, because everything is about to go wrong and you need to be prepared. Well, that’s how I feel waking up this morning. It’s in my stomach like a cancer waiting to be discovered—it hasn’t been officially diagnosed yet, but you can feel it eating away at you from the inside.
There are rumors about Dominic now. Over the past couple of years, the kids in school have been drawing their own conclusions about what he and his father do to make all the money they obviously have. Donnie Collazo has had a different car every year, and Dominic is one of the best dressed kids in school now. Not to mention the fact that he seems to have every electronic device known to man. Last year, he gave me a new iPod before that version was even available for purchase. Kids are nosy, so when a guy goes from being normal to being picked up and dropped off at school by Italian guys that look like they’d have no problem slitting someone’s throat, people talk, and since Dominic and I are best friends, they talk to me.
I spend a lot of my time trying to convince people that Dominic’s father is simply a casino business man. I say that because that’s what Dominic tells me to say. Apparently, a year or so ago, Donnie Collazo became part owner of River City Casino & Hotel and started making big bucks. Around the same time, all these news reports and newspaper articles started popping up about potential organized crime going on in downtown St. Louis, and the FBI started looking into it, but they didn’t have anything solid yet. Even my father started complaining about Italians coming in downtown and running big businesses. The next thing I knew, there were rumors and stories about people going missing and being beaten up inside the casino by people who looked like they worked there. There was even one story about a young Italian kid helping to cut off some guy’s pinkie finger for trying to pocket chips at River City. Once that story started spreading, everyone thought it was Dominic. His level of respect went through the roof. Anyone who was brave enough—or dumb enough—to disrespect him when we were younger, wouldn’t dream of doing it now.Teachersrespect Dominic Collazo. The principal talks to Dominic like he’s the president. Everyone believes that he’s somehow connected to this wave of Italians downtown, but they don’t know for sure.
I do.
The best thing about my relationship with Dominic is that we tell each other everything. It’s been four years since we met, and we get closer every single year. Even through the few boyfriends I’ve had—all of whom Dominic has despised—and the few girls he’s been interested in, he and I are still close. That closeness brings honesty.
And trust.
And secrets.
We’re best friends, so when Dominic told me he got the new iPod from Best Buy, I knew he didn’t mean he bought it. He didn’t come right out and say it, but I understood what he meant, and he knew I knew it. When he took me out to dinner after we graduated eighth grade and paid for it with a wad of cash that was nearly too thick to fit into his pocket, I didn’t think twice about it. When I asked him about the pinkie story and he grinned like The Grinch without saying a word, I knew it was true. When he bought me a watch for my fifteenth birthday that was nicer than anything my mother has ever owned, I just smiled and accepted it—and hid it from my parents, of course. Dominic has never said the words mafia or mob to me, but it’s been implied enough times for me to know, and I don’t care.
Our relationship is complicated. The truth is, the things I know about Dominic only make me like him more. I love that I know things about him that other people wish they knew. From the very beginning, Dominic has done nothing but make me feel safe and special. He’s the reason I’m the only popular girl in school who doesn’t have rumors being spread about her. Nobody talks about me behind my back, and guys wouldn’t dare disrespect me like they do other girls in the school. Like I’ve always said, nobody wants to be on Dominic Collazo’s bad side. Dominic goes out of his way to make sure I’m taken care of, and he’s been doing it since the day we met, so I would never break the bond we have. I’d never betray his trust, and he’d never break my heart.
A few guys have come and gone, but Dominic has always been there. Even though I think I’ve always known the way he feels about me, he’s always supported me when it has come to dating. He’d do his best to convince me he wasn’t upset about anything, but when I got a new boyfriend, I could always tell it was killing him inside. I just never thought of Dominic in that way.
Until this year.
The Dominic Collazo I met in fifth grade is not the same Dominic Collazo I know now. Dominic is five-nine, about a hundred-sixty pounds, and he doesn’t have an ounce of fat on his body. He has the most beautiful lips I’ve ever seen, and his incoming facial hair makes him the most gorgeous thing roaming the halls of East Belleville High School. Girls fall over each other trying to catch a glimpse of Dominic, and the rumors of his mafia ties make him the bad boy they all wish they had. But Dominic doesn’t pay any of them any mind. His way of thinking isn’t anything like other guys in high school. It’s like he’s already an adult. I mean, he basically is. He’s working with his dad, he’s making money, and from what he tells me, he even helps his mom with some of her bills—although their relationship has soured over the past couple of years. When he walks into the school, the other guys become little boys. He’s bigger, more confident, and more mature than all of them. To these high school girls, Dominic is like the big, sexy guy who graduated and went on to college, except he didn’t. He’s a freshman just like me, but it’s like he’s from another planet, and it takes everything in me to ignore how I feel about him now. We’ve always been friends, and even though I’ve always known how he feels about me, I’m worried that my feelings towards him will somehow ruin what we have, and I couldn’t handle it if that happened. I need Dominic in my life, and I can’t risk what we have by crossing that line. So, as I walk down the stairs for breakfast, I ignore thoughts about what it’d be like to go to homecoming with Dominic instead of the guy I’m actually going with.
“Good morning, sweetie,” my father says when I reach the kitchen. To my surprise, my mother is sitting at the table. Usually, she’s gone by now, but she’s wearing her scrubs, so I know she’ll be leaving soon.
I grab a box of cereal out of one cabinet and go to reach for a bowl in another.
“Good morning,” I reply. “Surprised you’re still here, Mom.”
“Yeah, I’m getting ready to go in a bit,” she replies. “I told them I’d be late this morning. There’s something me and your father need to talk to you about before I go, though.”
The look on her face worries me. She’s scrunching her forehead and glancing back and forth between my father and me.
“Okay, what’s up?” I ask as I pour my Froot Loops into the bowl.
“Umm, well I have some news,” my dad chimes in. “It’s about my job.” When I don’t reply, he’s just spits it out. “I got orders last night.”
I set the box of cereal on the counter and turn around so I can face them.
“You got orders?”
“Yeah.”
“So, we’re moving?” I ask, even though I already know. That’s what getting orders means in the Air Force. The military is making us move to another base.
“Yes,” my dad answers, looking at the floor. My parents know how much I love living here.
“When is this supposed to happen? And to where?” I press, feeling hot all over.
“We have a couple of months left,” Dad answers. “And it’s to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. In Anchorage.”
“Alaska?” I snap, making my mother jump. “We’re moving to Alaska? Are you freaking kidding me? A couple of months? That’s insane!” I feel tears already starting to sting my eyes.
“I know, sweetie. It’s a little short notice, but you’ll still be able to go to homecoming, at least,” my mother says, trying to show me the silver lining.
“So what!” I snip. “I’ve been here since the fifth grade. All my friends are here. Dominic is here!”
