Page 43 of Mafia Boss

I scrunched my nose. What the hell was I thinking? I didn’t care about him.

But he cared about me, right?

“That’s all,” I said, wanting to just go home and sink into the bedsheets with a bottle of Afterglow to forget about today, yesterday, and all the days before then.

I pulled the door open, tucked the gun back into my purse, and walked out the door with Marco following behind me.

Before he could get lost in the crowd, I grabbed his wrist. “Don’t tell Cristian that I asked.”

32

cristian

“How many timesdo I have to tell you to get your fucking hands off me?” I asked Alessa.

She trailed a finger down my chest and dropped her hand, rolling her big, makeup-dressed eyes at me. “What is your problem? You’ve been moody for the past few weeks. I just want to have fun, like we used to.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw one of the doors in the back hallway open. Roxie walked out of it with Marco trailing behind her. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer to her, whispering in his ear. I balled my hands into fists, aching to end that man’s life right fucking now.

Was I jealous of him? Fuck yes. I wasn’t going to fucking deny it. I had stupidly let him touch what was mine, and now, he thought he could do it all the fucking time. Roxie wasn’t any better, using him to get on my fucking nerves.

“I’m talking to you,” Alessa said, grabbing my chin and yanking it toward her.

I captured her wrist in my hand and shoved her away. “Next time you touch me, I’ll put a bullet straight through your head. I don’t give a fuck if you’re my sister’s best friend. I’ll fucking kill you.”

Alessa smirked at me. She always fucking loved to drive me crazy in the worst possible ways, which might’ve been what initially drove me to her. But not now. Now, she was just plain annoying, and I couldn’t get my sister to give her up as a friend.

“Oh, Cristian, I love that dirty mouth of yours.” She pulled a wad of lipstick from her purse and puckered her lips. “I’ll see you later, and … don’t forget to tell your little friendRoxiethat Alessa says hello.” She turned on her heel and walked through the crowd of people to the exit.

I followed after her. “Don’t touch Roxie. Don’t eventhinkabout touching Roxie.”

She smirked at me. “Do you really care about her that much? You used to love me as much as you love her. Do you remember that, Cristian? Remember taking me out to breakfast in Boston, killing any man who looked at me, letting me stay with you?” She bit her lip after speaking lies.

I had never killed anyone for her. I killed one man in front of her because he had betrayed me, not because he had insulted her. But I had killed more people than I would ever admit for Roxie, and I’d do it again and again.

Though I had let Alessa stay with me and I had brought her out to breakfast. This life was fucking lonely sometimes. I didn’t know who to trust and who just wanted me for my money. Most of the time, those people were the same. Sometimes, those people were snakes, like Alessa.

“Don’t you want someone who will kill with you? Be your partner? Roxie will never do that. She’ll never live up to be the woman I could be and have already been for you, Cristian. Remember that.”

She walked through the exit doors and out of my damn club.

When she was gone, I grabbed the bouncer’s shoulder. “Next time you let her into my club, it’ll be your balls. Don’t fall for it when she rubs her tits all over you. One more mistake, and she’ll be the death of you.”

33

roxie

“What the fuckwere you doing with Marco inmyback room?” Cristian asked me, grabbing my upper arm and pushing me to a dark corner of his club. “Huh? What did you fucking do with him?”

I balled my hands into fists and ripped myself away from him, feeling the anger pool inside of me. “What were you doing with Alessa? Why were her hands all over you? Why did she walk out of the hallway with you?”

The more questions I asked him, the more I sounded jealous.

Was I really jealous of Alessa? Did I really care about what they did together? Did it really bother me that she and Cristian had slept together countless nights before, touched each other, kissed each other?

Yes. Yes. And yes.

Why?

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