Page 5 of Humility

FIVE YEARS LATER

AGE 13

Why did they let girls come on these trips? I never understood it. They held us back from the stuff we wanted to do because we had to include them. To make matters worse, Jasmine Falcone was here this year.

I saw enough of that annoying girl at school, and now I had to spend an entire week with her at the yearly get together. My dad was on his phone and didn’t care what I had to say about not doing this father-child event. I used to look forward to this every year. The Dons and underbosses got together, and while the men discussed business, the rest of us played games and had fun. It was the one time of year all of us guys could hang out and our fathers always set up amazing activities, but three years ago, it all changed.

One of the Dons complained that he had four daughters and no sons, and his daughters also wanted to enjoy the week. Now, here we were with girls at our guys week. Yuck.

We pulled under the grand, sweeping archway of the massive resort, and I couldn’t help but feel a tiny tug of excitement in my chest. Dario and I always found cool stuff to do, and picking on Joseph was funny shit.

The driveway was long, but soon, we reached the lineup of limos and SUVs and sat, waiting. One song on my playlist later, we pulled up to the front of the sprawling villa, and I spotted Dario in the crowd.

He was dribbling a football with a bunch of guys. I jumped out of the SUV, ignoring my dad’s yells to get my suitcase, and ran into the middle of the group to steal the ball. Kicking it hard away from Dario.

“Hey,” Dario yelled and ran after me. We raced across the perfectly cut grass, and like God himself gave me the opportunity, there was Jasmine, walking along the path straight ahead, all alone.

Barreling down on her, I looked back once to make sure none of the adults could see, then yelled her name and kicked the ball hard. It sailed straight at her, and she looked up just in time to get hit square in the face.

She stumbled back with the impact and was crying before her ass hit the grass. I had to stop running. I was laughing so hard and couldn’t catch my breath. All the guys laughed with me, except for Dario.

“Aww come on, that’s funny shit,” I said, but Dario shook his head and walked over to Jasmine.

She sat up, and blood ran from her nose as tears ran down her face. Okay, I didn’t mean to do that, but watching her fly off her feet had me rolling around in a fit of laughter all over again.

“Leave me alone,” she said, pulling her arm away from Dario. “Don’t pretend you care.” She marched toward me, her eyes furious. I’d gotten used to that look on her face. It was a daily occurrence between us at school.

“Hey there, Tiger. Did you know you have something on your face?” I sighed, enjoying the bright sun as I sat my hands behind me on the grass and stretched out my legs. “I hope that ball didn’t make you any uglier. Your face really couldn’t take it.”

“I hate you,” she hissed. “I hate all of you.” Jasmine stomped by, and I yelled as she jumped on my hand. “Oh no, I hope it’s not broken,” she said, her voice sarcastic as I glared at her and held my hand to my chest. Jumping to my feet, I flexed my one good hand into a fist. “You going to hit me now, too?” Jasmine crossed her arms. “Not surprised. We all know you come from a long line of men who hurt women. Why would you be any different?”

That was a low blow. There was no proof that my father ever touched my mom, but I’d heard the whispered stories about my grandfather. The rumor was that my father killed him after he raped my mom one night while my father was at a meeting. Grandfather’s disappearance was kept quiet. My mom moved out shortly after, cutting off all contact. One day I had a mom the next day I didn’t.

A shrill whistle from the top of the hill got our attention. Giovanni, the Don of Dons, and his son, Lucas, stood at the top. I groaned at the sight of Lucas. Why was he here? He never came. He considered himself too good to be bothered with this retreat. He was five years older than I was and an asshole. He acted like he was better in everything, bragged about it nonstop, and always chose to make fun of me.

Giovanni waved for us to head up, and before I could spout out my comeback to Jasmine, I realized she was already way ahead, her fast strides eating up the ground. Shit, her father was here.

Dario grabbed my arm and waited until the other guys were out of earshot before saying anything.

“What is it?”

“This thing you have with Jasmine has to stop. That shit was wrong.”

I narrowed my eyes at my best friend, anger burning in my gut. “Whose side are you on?”

“It’s not about sides. We’re older now, no longer little kids. Jasmine may be two years younger, but she is still a princess. One of these times, her father will get pissed. Do you really want your father and the Falcone family to fight?”

Dario made a good point, but I didn’t want to hear it. “Screw that. I hate her, and she hates me. It’s fair.”

I stomped away from my best friend and caught up to the guys just as they reached the top of the hill. I looked for Jasmine and found her with her father. He looked worried as he held her shoulder and chin to inspect her face. I expected her to point her finger at me and yell out my name, but she never glanced my way. Staring at her face, I was stupidly annoyed that she acted like I didn’t exist. It should have been a relief that she wasn’t snitching.

Even when Don Falcone looked around, he didn’t look my way and instead waved over the organizer who ushered them inside. I didn’t understand why she wouldn’t say anything.

A hand clamped down on my shoulder, and I knew without looking that it was Lucas.

“Looking as scrawny as ever. I thought you might’ve started working out or something, but you still look like a plucked chicken.”

“I thought you hated these things,” I said, hoping to avoid whatever insult he had cooked up next.