Page 50 of Taming Nikki

She glowered at me. “Your stupid guest room has no blackout curtains and the windows are facing east. It was like the sun was burning out my eyes and no matter how far under the covers I went, I couldn’t escape it.”

I chuckled. “I offered to let you stay with me. You refused.”

Nicole rolled her eyes. “It’s too damn early to explain how that will never happen. Are you done punishing me yet? I don’t have any clothes here.”

“That depends. What do you have planned for today?”

She hesitated, which told me all I needed to know. “Don’t bother lying. I told you, your poker face is shit.”

“It is not. You’ve never played poker with me. How the hell would you know?”

Gio watched us with avid fascination. “I’m going to have to change some of my bets. This marriage is going to be a disaster.”

Before Nicole could start on another rant about how there wasn’t going to be a marriage, I made Gio give me his updates. She ground her teeth and her eyes shot daggers at me.

“We’re all set for the job tomorrow. Just needs your approval.”

I shook my head as I poured myself a coffee. “Move it to Monday. I’ve got plans.”

Gio nodded while he pulled out his phone. He stepped outside to make the call, and Nicole rounded on me.

“Wait, are you canceling a job so you can babysit me? Why the hell would you do that?”

I was uninterested in walking her through it again, so I ignored her as I pulled out ingredients for breakfast. The job wasn’t that important. The guys could probably handle it on their own, but it was one of the first drops through the docks, and I wanted to be there to oversee it.

Right as I leaned down to grab something in the fridge, something flew over my head and smashed into food on the shelves above me. I whipped my head around with a snarl.

“What the fuck was that?”

She was off the counter now, her face a mask of fury. I slammed the door to the fridge and stormed over to her, but she stood her ground, her chin lifted. It took all the patience I could muster to keep my hands off her. I wanted to wring her neck.

“Are you going to explain, or are you really not interested in leaving today?”

“Don’t fucking ignore me. I’m not one of your little cousins who you can dismiss because you’re too damn important to talk to me.”

I realized then that I hit a nerve by dismissing her. I probably would’ve been nicer about it if she wasn’t throwing projectiles at me. “I don’t owe you an explanation,princess. You’re not owed a damn thing. Your job is to keep quiet and do as you’re told.”

It was stupid and I shouldn’t have said it. It wasn’t what I ever expected from her. To ask Nicole to be silent and obedient would be like asking the sky to turn purple. I was angry, and she was testing me. I lost my temper. I hadn’t done that since I was a teenager and I got my ass kicked for it. I grabbed a pack of cigarettes and disappeared out the side door and into the back yard. I was going to end up smoking the whole damn thing if I wasn’t careful.

Especially when I heard an engine turn over and realized that I pissed Nicole off enough for her to steal my car.

ChapterTwenty-Three

NIKKI

I lost my mind.That was the only explanation. That was the only thing I could think of to explain what possessed me to steal Leo Vitale’s car. In the middle of his neighborhood, on his side of town, right after throwing a bottle opener at his head. Either that or I was fucking suicidal. I jerked the wheel, nearly spinning out in the effort to get out of there quickly. I probably wouldn’t be able to out run him and he knew where I would go, so again, what the hell was I thinking?

Piero wasn’t wrong. I did drive like a wild animal. I made it all the way to Papa’s side of town without even a glimpse of anyone following me, and I knew if anyone showed up, I could lose them pretty easily. I kept running through different options in my head. I avoided going home because he’d probably be waiting for me there. I couldn’t even call my brother. Leo still had my phone. In the end, I headed to the one place I felt safe.

I arrived at Nino’s at mach speed, choking myself on the seatbelt when I slammed on the brakes. I dashed inside, glad the restaurant was already open, and tore into the kitchen. Nino looked up with a frown.

“Nikki? What’s wrong?”

“I’m fucking stupid. That’s what’s wrong. I need to hide.”

He tossed me his keys and shooed me upstairs. I knew it was only a matter of time before Leo found me here, but I left my knife on the nightstand in his guest room, so I was unarmed. I wasn’t even wearing shoes. I paced Nino’s living room, disappearing into his bedroom to peek out the front windows before I started again. I couldn’t sit still. I had no plans, no safeguards. I was impulsive and stupid and I was going to die for it.

I heard the creak of the stairs as I was checking the front windows again. I crept toward the living room and grimaced at Nino’s dark frown.

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