Page 3 of Long Live the King
Alannah Sullivan
“Hi, Alannah.”
“Hey, Jackie,” I reply with a smile. Jackie Patterson gives me a half-hearted grin as she walks by the nurse’s station, her blonde hair bouncing in a tight ponytail behind her. As she passes me, I see her mouth twist into a frown before she turns the corner. My forehead wrinkles with confusion mixed with a dash of frustration as I try to focus my attention back to the chart in front of me.
It’s been an interesting year. I think the best way to describe it would be to break it up into separate parts: the “good” part, and the “kind of shitty” part.
The good part is easy to describe. It’s Dominic. Since I moved back to St. Louis, he’s been a part of my life, literally since the day I landed and went to check into my hotel, Lumiere Place—which, of course, Dominic now owns.
My time here started off with a horribly tense bang that almost sent me to my grave on more than one occasion, but it was Dominic to the rescue. When things almost became too much, my knight in a tailored suit swooped right in and did what he had to do—he saved me, and eagerly put four bullets into my attacker. I try not to think about that particular part of my story, especially because since that moment, everything has been better than I expected it to be. Dominic was made the boss of the Giordano family, and surprisingly, things have been quieter since then.
When it first happened, I had horror stories in my head that seem so commonplace in this lifestyle, so I was pleasantly surprised when Dominic dropped every illegal racket he had and focused his attention on the casinos he owns. The bullets stopped flying and the money started pouring in. The next thing I knew, life became simpler. We went to dinner—eating for free on multiple occasions, simply because of who Dominic is—we took trips to places I hadn’t ever heard of, and we bought things just because we could. Not that I’m into all the material things that come with being in love with a mob boss, but a girl isn’t turning down diamonds from her man. We’d walk into a restaurant in the city and the manager would clear a table for us. There was even one time when a manager had a table brought in for us because there wasn’t one available. Crazy, right? I went from being an Air Force brat to being the girlfriend of a mob boss, and my head is still spinning from the power Dominic Collazo exudes.
Even after a year in this life, I still haven’t come down from the high. When I see Dominic walk into a room wearing one of those five thousand dollar suits and all the confidence in the world, it takes all of my concentration just to keep my hands off of him. He owns every room he walks into, and he’s owned me since I was eleven years old. He owned me when I didn’t know it, even whenhedidn’t know it. I’ve always been his, and our life together is filled with romance, passionate sex, and an aura of invincibility unlike anything I’ve ever known possible. We’re powerful together. No matter what else happens, I know all I really need is Dominic, which makes the “kind of shitty” part of my life a little easier to accept—but still shitty.
It’s the shitty part that I’ve been dealing with lately, especially with my job. In the last twelve months, I’ve definitely made some friends at the hospital, some of who whom I’ve grown close to, like my best friend, Ally McDermott, who’s also a nurse here. Up until recently I’d say working in Mercy Hospital was pretty normal. But then the whispers started.
Word started to spread in the halls about me dating Dominic Collazo, and although Dominic has never been a person who craves the spotlight, people tend to have their suspicions about a twenty-seven year old Italian casino owner whose father was murdered in a mob hit in broad daylight. So, sometimes sleazy reporters try to make their way down to River City Casino to get pictures of the young mogul, and when they take those pictures, I’m always the woman on Dominic’s arm. All it took was one nurse opening up her Sunday paper and staring at a snapshot of me and Dominic strutting out of River City arm in arm for the rumors to start flying and people to start treating me differently.
So, that’s the part I’ve been dealing with the past couple of months, and it’s beginning to wear me down. The stares are starting to work my nerves, the whispers that stop the second I come around the corner are beginning to irk me, and I’ve had it up to here with the subtle remarks about the mafia and the mentioning of mob movies, likeGoodfellas, which is always followed by a quick glance in my direction. What my so-called friends and associates fail to realize is that it’s always been about Dominic and me. Their judgey little eyes and remarks only serve to piss me off, because Dominic is my soulmate, and I don’t need them. I only need him.
I’ve grown very comfortable with how my life has changed this past year, and maybe it’s some of Dominic’s alpha male attitude rubbing off on me, but I put up with a lot less shit than I did when I was going to college in Alaska. The woman I am now is the polar opposite of the girl who was freezing her ass off in Anchorage. So when Jackie Patterson comes bouncing her way around the corner again, looking at me out of the corner of her eye, I speak up without even thinking about it.
“Is there something you want to say to me, Jackie?” I ask, as I set my pen down. I lean back in my chair and glare at her as she looks at me with wide, nervous, blue eyes.
“Umm, no,” she answers after hesitating. “Not really. Why?”
“Not really? So, kinda-sorta, then?”
“N . . . no. I just . . . It’s nothing, Alannah.”
“Then why do you keep looking at me like that? I’ve noticed it more than once today, Jackie, so if you have something you want to say, just spit it out. You’re not doing a good job of keeping your curiosity a secret.”
She lets out a sigh and her shoulders slump with the weight of guilt. Finally, she approaches the counter and puts her elbows on it for support as she looks down at me.
“Okay, I don’t mean to pry,” she lies, because she absolutely does mean to pry. “It’s just that I keep hearing rumors that you’re dating a guy who’s in the mafia. Michelle from Optometry told me that you and him actually break guy’s legs together. You know, like, as a couple. A mob couple. A leg-breaking mob couple. I mean, is that, like, true? Is he really in the mafia?”
Same old crap, just a different day. Jackie is one of our newer nurses, a ditsy twenty-something who has obviously been sheltered by her parents for far too long, so I almost can’t blame her for being so naïve. But that doesn’t make it any less frustrating.
“A leg-breaking mob couple? Are you fucking kidding, Jackie?” I snip. I don’t mean for it to come out as mean as it sounds, but I don’t necessarily regret that it came out that way. “I don’t even know who Michelle from Optometry is. So that’s why you’ve got that look on your face whenever you come around? Are you picturing Dominic and me breaking legs like some sort of psycho couple?”
“Well, I don’t know . . .” she stutters, but I cut her off.
“Look, the first thing you need to do is mind your own business. But if you’re incapable of minding your own business, then at least come talk to me if you want to know something about me. In which case, I will promptly tell you to mind your own fucking business.”
“What exactly is going on here, ladies?”
Ugh.
I look up to see Deanna Senna glaring at Jackie and me. Deanna is the head nurse and my direct supervisor. She stands there with her hands on her bony hips and her hair as gray as the day is long. Her typical scowl seems to have grown in strength since I saw her earlier this morning, so I’m sure this conversation is going to be a fun one.
“It’s nothing, Deanna,” I reply, picking my pen up and returning my attention to the chart.
“Nothing?” Deanna asks. “Sonothingis what’s making Jackie cry?”
I glance up, and sure enough, Jackie has managed to shed some tears just in time for my boss to see. Wonderful.
“All I did was tell her to mind her own business when it comes to me and my boyfriend,” I say to Deanna.
