Page 16 of Stolen Kisses
It was amazing all the times I remembered seeing the horrific sight of my sister dead on that bed, and the roses and anything that reminded me of that day, but I never shunned the memory of Maria.
Back then I blamed everything for Christina’s death. The wind, the time, the roses, anything.
I never blamed Maria though. I knew she thought I did because Christina changed a lot when she moved into that apartment with her. I was just a firm believer in people being responsible for the choices they made.
Maria may have introduced her to the life of high-powered men and gangsters I wouldn’t want to clash with, but Christina chose to follow that path.
I was in my office going over the sales report. It was the most boring task ever even though I was looking at some serious money. Money I’d brought in from just last night.
Gio came in holding the money bags for one of the cash registers. It was full. He’d changed it at the start of the shift just a few hours ago and it was already full. I had things set up so when the registers reached their limit we’d get a message in here to change over the float.
He held up the bag and laughed.
“I should just take all this for payment,” he joked.
“Yeah? Would love to see you try something like that with me watching you.” I laughed.
“I’m too tired, and you’re either going to have to accept me as your new business partner or hire me.” Gio sat down in front of me and set the bags on the table.
“Which is cheaper?”
“You know what bro, I’m not too certain. I do all this shit for you and I swear to God I couldn’t put an actual price on it. Especially when I’m doing all the work and you’re off chasing skirts.”
I laughed and feigned innocence. He was right though to some extent. I had a weakness for beautiful women. What man didn’t? Add the fact that I had that hot, Italian blood flowing through my veins and I was a hopeless case in front of a woman I wished to declare mine.
“Sorry man. Can’t help myself.”
“You fucking bastard,” Gio laughed and threw a box of tissues at me. “Always thinking with your dick. Now it’s worse, because you have more money than me.”
I laughed again. I was laughing, completely different to how I was days ago at the gravesite. Gio might be complaining about working too hard, but he’d been here a lot more than usual over the past week. It started from the buildup to the memorial service, then he just stuck with me. Making sure I was dealing and coping.
These light-hearted conversations of ours were that.
“I had another idea.” I stated resting my hands on the table.
“What? What now?”
“Motorcycles. They are us. I don’t know why we never did this, but I think we should delve in a little more than we do. Like take it more serious.”
Gio chuckled. “How much serious are we talking? Like you and Alex jumping your bikes across the rooves of the warehouses?”
I rolled my eyes at him. He was pissed, because he couldn’t do it. Me and Alex were daredevils, Gio was a speed demon and Claudius was like the godfather, which he kind of was. Alex and I were more likely to plan something and execute it. Claudius on the other hand did all the crazy, Duke of Hazards shit you’d see on the show and in the movies. Jumping his bike through buildings, from buildings to the road, and fucking riding out of planes.
I still didn’t know how he didn’t die that time.
We’d always modified bikes and sold them. That was what we used to tell people we did. We had a garage downtown that had grown substantially larger over the years.
“I’m talking about an arena, a sports ground. There’s a large number of bikers in the Chicago area. We could host competitions and stuff like that. I was thinking it could be something we all do as business partners.”
Gio looked intrigued and the smile on his face widened.
“I love that idea. That sounds amazing. We could be the home of the next daredevils.”
I nodded. “See what would you do without me?”
He chuckled. “I don’t know man.”
Claudius gave him an apartment complex which basically ran itself. The two of us each had our own business areas, but our main job would always be working for Claudius; managing finances, andother things.
