Page 24 of Broken Mafia Prince
“You know nothing!” I snarl. The other boys want nothing to do with me because of my face. Even when I’m being nice to them, all they want to do is laugh and try to liken me to every disfigured character they can think of.
She must be naive to think the world is like fairy tales, where everyone can see beneath what a person looks like.
“You’re not always going to get away with playing the role of Beast.” She marches forward until she’s in my face. The girl is tiny, barely coming up to my chest, but her furious hazel eyes make me feel all of three feet tall. “You think it’s all right to act like a beast? Just because everyone tells you that you look like one doesn’t mean you have to act like one.”
“I—”
But she’s not finished. “If Prince Adam had continued to be horrible to Belle, he’d never have broken the curse and become a man again.” She plants her hands on her hips for extra emphasis.
I don’t know who Prince Adam or Belle are, but I take a mental note to find out everything about them.
The way she’s staring at me, it’s almost like she’s demanding an apology. I open my mouth to say I’m sorry, but decide against it. “I don’t need a lecture from you. Don’t try to steal people’s dogs.”
Her eyes narrow. “Marty chose me.”
“That’s stupid, and Marty is a stupid name.”
“You’re stupid,” she retorts. “And your name’s probably stupid, too. What’s your name?”
I snort. “I’m not telling you that.”
“I’ll find out,” she warns.
It’ll be easy for her to find out from any of the other boys at the retreat. All she has to do is ask about the kid with the scar, and they’ll be all too glad to tell her about the Gagliardi freak kid. For some reason, I don’t want her to find out about me like that.
I don’t want her to look at me like the others look at me. I find that I prefer the annoyed pout on her face. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours,” I concede.
“I asked you first.”
“We are bargaining.”
“I don’t bargain with strangers. And I don’t know your name, that makes you a stranger.”
My mouth twitches with a smile that I automatically bite back. She’s a little smartass, and she’s fascinating. How old is she anyway? And how come I’ve never seen her around? Whose kid is she?
“Are you sure your cousin is here, Isa?” A girl’s whiny voice slices through the orchard, and I immediately step away from the hazel-eyed girl.
She eyes me for a second, then her face is overtaken by an earsplitting smile. “I’ll be back, stranger. You can have Marty until I return.”
“His name is Laika,” I call after her, but she’s already skipping away, laughing.
I’m smiling long after she’s disappeared behind the tree line, and when I press a hand to my chest, I’m surprised to find my heart racing. What is that feeling in my chest? Is that… excitement?
“What’s got the beast smiling?” My cousin’s taunting voice comes from behind me. Laika jumps into protective mode, hunching down and growling at the newcomer.
My smile freezes on my face, and I turn around slowly to face him. Gino has a smirk pulling at his mouth, and I know that no good can come out of his presence here.
I suddenly have the pathetic thought that I should have followed the annoying dog thief.
7
GIULIA
“Why do you look so excited?” Isabella asks suspiciously as we head back to our cabin. She glances over at the orchard repeatedly as we walk, neck straining.
“Can you stop it?” I tell my cousin, annoyed at her curiosity. For some reason I don’t understand, I feel possessive of the boy from the woods.
My cousin, Isabella Sanna, already has all the boys from the retreat wrapped around her little finger, but I know she hasn’t gotten to the scarred boy yet. I don’t think she’s seen him yet. I doubt my big-mouthed cousin would have been able to shut up about it if she had.
