Page 131 of Driftwood Daffodil 2

My uncle Aldo was not only an asshole, but he was an inconvenient asshole. It was Monday. I should be at school instead of wasting my time at home doing arduous shit like planning a menu with the cook–because god forbid Aldo ate anything Cajun.

This bullshit happened every time he came in from Sicily. By the way my father treated his little brother one would think he was the king of fucking England. At least my father remembered I existed when Aldo come to town.

Get the room ready, Giovanni. Show some respect, Giovanni. Yes, you have to be here to greet your uncle, Giovanni.

I didn’t get it. He didn’t act this way when we went to Italy. Sometimes I wondered if he was worried about what his brother would report back to their father? While my dad was boss here, his father was boss there, so I could see my grandpa checking up on him. I would.

“Your dad is a pain in my ass.” Atlee snatched a bottle of bourbon off a bookshelf, swallowed back a shot, then slammed it back down. “Why the hell did I have to drag my ass out of bed at five am for this shit?”

That was easy. “Because he’s the boss.”

And we had to do what the boss said.

“We’re going to be given all the grunt work aren’t we?”

“Everyone has to work their way up.” Did he think we’d be given the keys to the kingdom? We hadn’t even taken the Omerta yet. And when we did, we’d still have to do the shit jobs until we proved ourselves.

“You have staff for this.”

“Aldo doesn’t trust our staff.” Paranoid prick.

Atlee huffed out a snort. “And he trusts us?”

“He’sfamiglia.”

“He’s an asshole.”

I couldn’t argue with him there.

Grumbling under my breath I stomped over to the closet in the corner and stuffed a pile of towels on the shelf.

I don’t know what pissed me off more, having to this tedious crap, or that I wouldn’t see Nova today. Little pain in the ass vixen had weaseled her way into my mind.

I barely got two hours sleep last night. And not because of nightmares. That shit I was used to. I kept rolling over and waking up when I reached out to grab her and she wasn’t there. Even when that was gone, she was annoying.

“How come Darry doesn’t have to do this shit?” Atlee whined.

“Someone needed to keep an eye on Nova.”

There was no telling what she would do. When Nova left yesterday she stomped out the door like a toddler having a tantrum. Her bad mood was no one’s fault but her own. If she hadn’t mouthed off, then she wouldn’t have left with my handprint on her ass.

“I could’ve watched her.”

“No.” Hell no.

“What?” Atlee looked almost insulted. “I wouldn’t touch her.”

“But you’d play into that bullshit rumor.”

Motherfucker was helping that shit spread like wildfire.

“Of course I would.” He snorted. “Do you have any idea how much pussy I’ve gotten because of that? I should’ve gotten a fake girlfriend a long time ago.”

“As long as it’s not my girl, I don’t care.”

“Don’t get mad at me.” Atlee picked up a chair to carry across the room. “I didn’t start that rumor.”

“But you have no problem perpetuating it.”

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