Page 120 of The Mob: Shio Cuppacio
On the dresser, there was a four-pack of pre-made formula bottles that the hospital had given with unused nipples. I opened one while managing to quiet the baby. As soon as I got her to feed, the small cries stopped. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I pulled back the hat that had fallen over her eyes. Lowering my head, I couldn't believe my fucking eyes. This baby—this little girl was indeed Leader’s child.I just didn’t know what the fuck to do with the information yet.
After letting her drink as much as she wanted, I sat her on my knee, secured her chin, and rubbed her back until she burped. Babies were easy as hell at this age, and once Glow accepted their new reality, she would be able to enjoy this as much as I was right now. Deciding I would get up with Shio tomorrow since I’d already promised Athena I’d go to the mall for her today, I scooted back on the bed and got comfortable. I was going to rock the baby back to sleep, head to the mall, and then get myself a room for the night. I’d get up with Shio tomorrow to hash shit out, hit Don up with the news that I’d followed through with the task, although my deadline had come and gone, and then I was back on the road to the M.
I was more nervous about my talk with Don because I hadn’t gotten married within his 13-day deadline than I was about telling Shio how Glow had ended up being my wife instead of his. Don hadn’t said shit about me missing the deadline to get married, but I’d done the shit. There was no reason for that nigga not to let me in the organization. A Payne on your team was a certified win. He also should consider that I was hungry, and while I’d been sniffing behind Glow lately, the money was still the number one objective, especially now that she was on my payroll.
He had no choice, but I wasn’t giving him one either.
Tunan Payne, member of the Rinaldi Mob, sounded good to me.
Chapter 23
Shio Cuppacio
Feeling warmth on my back, I turned onto my side so it could cool off in the chilly room. I kept the thermostat at sixty-seven degrees at night, but somehow, it felt more like a hundred degrees right now.
Damn.
I hoped that Solana hadn’t touched the AC. She was always complaining about being cold and shit. As I shifted again, trying to get comfortable in my bed, I felt a loose, unstable, grain-like material against my skin. Knowing my alarm would go off at any moment, I sat up in the complete darkness and felt around the bed for my phone. Gripping the sheets, I clenched them and again felt looseness flow through my fingers. Grabbing another fistful, I lifted my hand, turned it over, and the substance brushed against my face with the flow of humid air.Slapping the bed, there was no bounce back. The four-thousand-dollar mattress I slept on wasn’t what I’d been feeling around on. In fact, it felt like a bed of sand that I was in. The coarse fibers were hot and itchy as hell against my skin.Inhaling and exhaling in the same huff and not being able to smell my home, I immediately knew what time it was.
“Aye, what the fuck!”
Ezio. Ezio was waking up too.
“Is this fuckin’ sand?” he yelled out.
“On foe ’nem… I’m on Don’s ass if he took me out of my bed and dumped me in one of Preston’s sick-ass simulations.”
Nel. He was here too.
“Shit, I’m supposed to be on leave! Why the fuck Ezio get some time off when Jisei had the babies, and I don’t!”
Metavello’s cranky, complaining ass.
“Shut y’all ass up! It’s too fucking hot for you niggas to be bitching today,” Matteo grumbled.
The gang was all here, which meant this was indeed one of Don’s trainings. But why the fuck were we in the sand, and why in the fuck was it so damn hot?
Grrrrlllll Grrrrrllllll Grrrlllllll
Short, low throaty moans were near, and judging by the pungent smell, it had to be an animal. They couldn’t have been dangerous, though, because they hadn’t attacked us, but then again, it was too dark for them to see unless they were nocturnal.
“Smells like an elephant’s ass,” Metavello complained.
“Aye, where Shio? Shiooo! Shio!”
“I’m here,” I responded to Ezio, not in the mood for this shit.
Last night, I’d basically realized I was just as fucked up as the dick heads currently whining about shit they should’ve been used to. All in one day, I’d flirted past respectable boundaries with Solana, fucked my main fuck buddy and called her Solana’s name, committed to protecting Solana from her fake-ass fiancé, sucked her whole face into my mouth, ready to fuck her in the Maybach to some Rick Ross, pulled back once I realized I’d be causing a war telling her we couldn’t move forward but was still uncertain, to then deciding I was definitely not pursuing her after hearing my stepfather’s random-ass sermon before passing out. My mind was too fucked up for Don and his games today.Everybody had better tread lightly because I would blow this shit up if pushed too far.
Touching my body, I felt a pair of pants on my lower half that seemed to be made from some type of material that could be wool. On my top half was the same, but there seemed to be a shawl there too. It was too damn hot for a shawl, but I wouldn’t be removing it until the lights came on, and I could see the conditions of the climate we’d been dumped in.
Horns blared and tambourines played. The music around us sounded like something straight out of the movieAladdin.
“Are we in India? Is this a fake-ass India, Twin?” Metavello asked his brother.
“Shit, ain’t no fuckin’ telling. Help me up.”
I could hear the two help each other stand as I remained calm. There hadn’t been a training that we hadn’t conquered. I also knew that each one of us, except for Matteo, had taken the lead on a training except for me. I needed to focus and concentrate through my current mental state because knowing Don’s pattern, this shit would be solely on me, and our survival would depend on it.
