Page 43 of Driftwood Daffodil

“Where’d you go?”

I started walking up the steps and glared at my brother. “Nowhere special.”

Aside from the green eyes that Romeo inherited from our mother, we all took after our father. Dark hair and olive complexion. But sometimes when the light hit Romeo in the right angle, I could’ve sworn I was looking at Atlas. They could’ve been twins. Romeo even had the same suspicious quirk in his brow.

“That was a long time for nowhere special.”

“You said that already.”

He shrugged, “I supposed I did.”

Why the sudden interest in my life? Growing up, I barely saw him,and now it felt like he wouldn’t go away.

I rounded the corner at the top of the stairs and crossed my arms. “What do you want, Romeo?”

My brother didn’t do anything without a reason, that much I did know about him. Well that and that he took the oath to join the family at the age of fifteen. I’d be eighteen in a week and my father hadn’t so much as mentioned theOmerta.

“I’m just checking in on my little brother.”

“Go check on someone else.” And he could get rid of this Persian rug running down the middle of the hardwood while he was at it. Why did my father insist on keeping it? I fucking hated that thing. Every time I saw it my jaw tightened.

I didn’t have many memories of my mother, and the ones I did have kept me up at night. The things that were done to her haunted my dreams. I could hear her scream every time I closed my eyes. And everything that happened to her was done on the twin of this goddamn rug.

The gold, green, and blue swirls entwined in the fabric weren’t pretty. They were a fucking nightmare. One, it seemed like I was constantly trying to escape. I blamed my father for that. Who he was, put the target on her back. He should’ve protected her better.

Atlas’s death, that one was on Romeo. He should’ve been with him that night. I should’ve been with him.

Romeo straightened up and flicked an ash off his cigarette. “I worry about you Gio.”

That made me snort. “Sure you do.”

“Carissa Barone is bad news Gio,” he pointed the lit end of his cigarette at me. “Stay away from her.”

“What?” There was no possible way he could know about that. We were careful. “Are you fucking crazy? Why should I be worried about Darry’s mother? She’s harmless.”

She might be addictive and seductive but she wasn’t a threat.

“You’re a shitty liar little brother.” Romeo kicked off the banister and strutted my way. “I could smell her on you the second you walked through the door.”

When he paused and leaned in closer, I had to stop myself from punching him in the face.

“She wore the same perfume for me.”

NOVALEE

Last night wasn’t one of my better nights. Maw Maw was stuck in the past when the word bastard was whispered in secret, so it wasn’t a huge shocker when she was upset about the whore scrawled across my truck. Ever try to explain something like that to a god fearing Christian woman – it didn’t go well.

She didn’t buy my story for that, but she did buy the explanation I gave her for the bruises on my neck. Apparently accidentally strangling myself with a scarf was more believable than a gang of misfit sailors vandalizing cars in a school parking lot. Not sure what that said about me. I didn’t even own a scarf, but it was a half win, and I’d take it.

Besides, it wasn't like I could say Gio Mancini strangled me. Maw Maw might try to beat him to death with her nine iron – that was her weapon of choice. Then there was Veda. She never did confirm whether or not Atlas was one of the men who attacked her. According to her, she couldn’t remember what happened that night.

I called bullshit on that one. We lived in a three bedroom trailer, the walls weren’t that thick. I heard her crying in the middle of the night. I used to ask her about it, but she would just say that I was hearing things.

Lying wasn’t one of Veda’s strong suits. She was that kid who would bust themselves, and say something like ‘I didn’t eat the cookies’ when their parents called them down.

And those skills didn’t get any better with age. If anything they got worse. So I knew Veda remembered everything, but I didn’t press the issue. It wasn’t like it would do any good. Kato was already in prison, and her rape was deemed inadmissible. Pushing her would only make her relive it. And honestly, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what they did to her.

Hence why I refused to bring up Gio’s involvement. The last time the name Mancini was mentioned around Veda, she hid in her room for three days. It wasn’t worth traumatizing her again because some guy decided to be an asshole in school. I could take care of myself.

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