Page 65 of Niccolaio Andretti (The Five Syndicates)
If I was the cursing type, I would have said, what the fucking fuck do you fucking think you’re fucking doing? But I haven’t cursed since I made a promise to mold myself into the model parent after Mina was taken away. Plus, I don’t think four variations of “fuck” are enough to express my alarm. I need at least a baker’s dozen.
“I’m hungry,” he says.
My eyes widen in disbelief. “Okay… go eat.”
“I need to brush my teeth first, and who knows how long you’ll take in here. I didn’t want to wait.”
I roll my eyes but close the curtain and try to shower. But I can’t. All I can think of is how naked I am and how close to me he is. My nipples harden at the thought, and goosebumps rise all over my flesh despite the heat of the water.
I eye the shower curtain, knowing that neither of us can see through it, but needing to check nevertheless. Closing my eyes, I allow myself to focus on the proximity between Nick and my naked body, and I let my hands drift lower down my body until my fingers brush against my clit. Startled, I jolt at the sensation, not use to ever enjoying touching myself. It usually feels awkward and uncomfortable, but this… This was magic.
From the other side of the curtain, I hear Nick mutter something that sounds like “everything okay?” with a mouth full of toothpaste.
“Yep! Dropped the soap,” I lie and force myself to behave.
I stand under the showerhead, waiting for him to leave and trying to focus on anything other than how embarrassingly affected I am from being naked in his proximity, even though there’s nothing remotely sexual about this situation aside from the naughty thoughts I shouldn’t be entertaining.
A few minutes later, I hear Nick turn on the sink and spit toothpaste out of his mouth. I expect him to leave, but he doesn’t.
Instead, he says, “How are you feeling?”
Still behind the curtain, I answer, “This is hardly the appropriate place to be having this conversation.”
“Do you want me to leave?” There’s amusement in his tone. “So you can touch yourself in peace?”
My jaw drops and cheeks heat in embarrassment. “I wasn’t—” I begin to protest before cutting myself off, deciding that he’d see past any lie I’d tell anyway. I sigh. “I don’t care. Do what you want,” I say, because I don’t want him to think his presence here is bothering me, even though it is getting me hot and bothered. And apparently, we’re both already too aware of that. I hope to distract from what just happened by answering his other question, “I’m feeling… as good as I can feel given the circumstances.”
After a few seconds of silence, he says, all traces of humor gone from his voice, “I’m sorry that you couldn’t see Mina.”
And darn it, his genuine tone has the anger and embarrassment in me receding.
I don’t reply to that, because there’s nothing I can say to it. While playing the blame game is fruitless, I still feel as if he’s partially to blame for this mess. And it’s not okay that I couldn’t see Mina, but I don’t want to talk about it.
I am, however, willing to talk about some aspects of yesterday. “What happened to the guy you killed yesterday?”
I’m not sure if he’ll answer my questions, since I’m pretty sure whatever happened yesterday isn’t legal, but I wait anyway. It’s not like I’ll tell anyone. I’m not innocent in all of this. When I brought in the groceries yesterday, I was contaminating the crime scene. I don’t even have to be a law student to realize that.
He surprises me by answering me truthfully. “There was a cleaning crew that came to deal with it while we were asleep.”
“Won’t people ask questions when they realize he’s missing?”
“Probably,” he says, which should concern me, but the indifference in his tone eases my worries of getting caught. “But he’s not from around here, so it won’t be the first place the police will look. And that’s if they are alerted.”
He sounds so certain that they won’t be alerted that I let it go.
“You said yesterday that you know him… How?”
He sighs. “I go by Nick now, but I was born Niccolaio Cristiano Andretti.”
I still at his words.
He’s an Andretti?!
I did some mafia re
search after I got on Asher’s bad side over the school year. There are whole websites dedicated to the five American syndicates, kind of like a Wikipedia for the mob. And in every single post that mentions the Romano and Andretti families together, there’s always mention of the longstanding feud between the two families. A longstanding and bloody feud.
The Andrettis and Romanos are like the Capulets and Montagues, only dangerous. I don’t know why they hate each other, but I do know that the hatred is strong. And an Andretti being in Romano territory should be tantamount to war…
