Page 12 of The Tempted

Chapter Five

I stared across the private room in Fiorintino’s Italian Restaurant at Mikey who was on his tenth scotch. Apparently, he didn’t have a drink of choice and would drink whatever you put in front of him. After Maryann’s memorial service and the burial, my father had insisted we all gather here for the repast. I was pretty impressed with how well Mikey had held up in church, but my heart broke for him when he said his final goodbyes to his mom at the cemetery. My dad had told us to go back to the cars to give him some privacy. I watched from the car window as he kissed the wooden coffin laying a single rose on top of it before he joined us in the limousine. He was quiet for the ride to the restaurant barely speaking at all.

“I feel so bad for him,” I said to my sister as I placed my drink down.

“Me too, but at least he’s not going back to Pennsylvania by himself. Did you hear anything about where he will be staying?” Adrianna asked as she handed Luca a piece of bread. I smiled at my nephew as he kicked his legs in the high chair. He was the most adorable two-year-old. Yes, I’m biased but you would be too if he were your nephew.

“He’s staying with Anthony,” I said carefully. Anthony was a real touchy subject when it came to my sister. Her shoulders tensed as she lifted her head. I looked over to where Anthony was standing and noticed he was staring at my sister. After all these years, he still only had eyes for her. Well, maybe that wasn’t a hundred percent accurate. He had women lots of them, but his heart belonged solely to my sister. I just wish the dumbass would realize it.

“Oh,” she said simply as their eyes met. The two of them were chicken shits because they quickly looked away.

“You’re pathetic,” I said honestly.

“Excuse me?” Adrianna said, turning to me with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh don’t pull that shit with me. I don’t know what you two are waiting for but it’s obvious that you both are miserable as you pine away for one another. Shit, A life is short. What are you waiting for?”

“Nikki, leave it alone. You’ll never understand,” she said, standing to her feet to pull Luca out of the high chair. “I have to go.”

Did I mention I suck as a sister? “A, don’t leave. I’m sorry,” I blew out a frustrated breath. “Look you’re right, I don’t understand, but you never made me understand either. I just want to see you happy. I’m tired of watching my sister be sad all the time.”

Adrianna balanced Luca on one hip and slung her diaper bag over her other arm. She leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “I love you. Promise me something?”

I sighed as I looked at her expectantly.

“Don’t make the same mistakes I did.”

I didn’t know what mistakes she was referring to, but I was pretty sure it had everything to do with Anthony. I nodded my head. “I promise. Be careful going home,” I stood up and placed a kiss on my nephew’s forehead. “Bye, my sweet boy.”

Adrianna started to walk away, but she paused and looked over her shoulder at me. “Hey Nikki Michael looks like he could use a friend,” she nodded in his direction. “Don’t leave him hanging.”

I diverted my attention back towards Mikey. He was standing by the bar alone, staring at the drink in his hand. He had taken off his suit jacket and the sleeves to his dress shirt were rolled up to his elbows. By the way, I was a hundred percent right when I thought he would be lethal in a suit. He was just as lethal though in his current state. His hair was messy from all the times he ran his fingers through it. The top button on his shirt was undone, and he still hadn’t shaved.

I looked back at my sister but the traitor she was disappeared poof vanished! It was probably a bad move walking towards Mikey but still, I decided that my sister was right. What can I say? I’m a glutton for punishment. He looked like he could use some company and why shouldn’t it be me? So, what if I acted like a fool around him? If I could stop picturing him naked, I would probably be able to pull this friend thing off. Maybe he’d let me feel his muscles. I flinched before scolding myself, stop it, Nikki! I blamed it on Rico and the fact that he was still withholding his penis from me. I thought only women withheld sex during a fight. Apparently not.

If one more person came up to me and told me they were sorry, I was going to punch them in the face. I wasn’t in the mood for people I hadn’t seen in years telling me how sorry they were. Besides, they were only there out of respect for Victor. On the other hand, maybe it was fear. Who the fuck knows?

I didn’t know half the people here, but they all knew me. They patted me on the back and told me I looked just like my old man. Victor showed me off like I was a prized filly he bought and was about to race at Aqueduct. Everyone was talking about the fact I was going to be working for Victor. They were all eager to see me fill my father’s shoes. The thing was my father didn’t run a nightclub. My father ran illegal card games he took bets on everything from football to horses and when the sucker placing his bet didn’t pay my dad was the one who put him in the hospital. Instead of punching a clock my father broke kneecaps and left you eating through a straw. He carried a piece at all times and never left the house without being locked and loaded. Me? I didn’t even know how to work a fucking water gun. But I was going to be Victor’s nightclub running protégé. This should prove to be interesting or comical I wasn’t sure which yet.

I polished off the rest of my drink despite the fact that my head was pounding and I was seeing double. In fact, right now I was seeing two of Nikki as she stood beside me. Two Nikki’s hmm… imagine the fun I could have with that. My dick got hard just thinking about it. What the fuck was wrong with me?

“What do you want?” I slurred placing my empty glass on top of the bar.

“Nice to see you’re acting like your usual charming self,” she said as she slid onto the barstool. I wondered if she was trying to be sexy or if it just came naturally to her. She crossed her legs, causing her tight little black dress to inch up her thighs exposing more of that olive skin. “Seriously, are you always a dick or just around me?”

I lifted my eyes from her legs and watched as she cocked her head to the side her eyes questioning mine. “When have I been a dick to you?”

“I didn’t say that you were a dick towards me, but rather that you act like a dick around me. But now that you mention it, you were kind of a dick to me the other night when you found it necessary to tell me you didn’t like my boyfriend. Oh! And how about when you told me I wouldn’t know what to do with your intentions? Maybe you couldn’t handle my intentions ever think of that Mikey?” she crossed her arms over her chest her tits rising as she did. She looked rather smug all proud of her comeback and all that.

“Tell me more about your intentions Princess,” I said huskily. If her intentions were anything like mine I’d take my two Nikki’s (The one that was really in front of me and the clone my drunk ass saw) into the bathroom and show her just how well I could handle them.

She frowned, her perfect lips pouting. “You weren’t supposed to say that.”

“What was I supposed to say?” I said as I swayed a bit. It was getting harder to keep my balance. Hell, it was getting harder to stand period.

“Oh, forget it. What does it matter anyway? You’re bombed,” her eyes wandered behind me. She quickly straightened her posture, speaking to me through the fake smile planted on her lips. “Sober up my dad’s coming this way.”

“How would you like me to do that?” I asked incredulously. I shrugged my shoulders and scoffed at her. “I don’t give a fuck. I had a few drinks big fucking deal.”

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