Page 44 of Little Deer
I shrug. “Not really. I only had two steady boyfriends, and one of them was my husband eventually. The first one was in high school, so it was that young kind of love that you think is going to last forever and then falls apart at the first hard thing. The only weird thing he ever did was that he insisted that I only called him by his first and middle name at all times. Samuel Jedadiah.”
“Imagine saying that in bed,” Rori laughs. “Damn. What was that for?”
“His mother drilled it into him that the name they gave him was to be revered and should be celebrated by being said anytime someone addresses him. She was one of those old-time southern women. She really didn’t like me much. She only tolerated me because she knew it wouldn’t last.”
“Probably for the best if that’s the kind of mother-in-law she turned out to be. So what about your husband? What was he like?”
How to tell them about Joey?
“Only if you want to,” Gia rushes to add. “Massimo told Nico that you lost him early in your pregnancy. I’m sure that was very difficult.”
“It was.” I take a deep breath. “I still get sad some days, but for the most part, I’ve kind of worked through my grief. Joey was one of those men that always wanted more. Better. Bigger. I liked that about him, honestly. He had ambitions, and I wanted to be along for the ride. He got a job here in New York and I followed him here. For the most part, he was normal, but he did have his quirks.” I smile. “He always had to be first in a door. He was like that when we were first dating too, and it took me a bitto get used to, but he told me that it was so he could protect me if something terrible were happening on the other side of it.”
“Or he just wanted to look like the most important person in the room and didn’t want to chance you outshinning him,” Sofia says drily.
“Probably,” I sigh. “Honestly, I stopped caring after a while. There are worst things to fight over. He had other quirks, but nothing crazy really.”
“How long were you married?” Amara asks, gently rocking Soren again.
“Hand him over,” Sienna orders, reaching her hands out. Amara pouts, but she hands Soren over, who only stirs long enough to look at Sienna, before closing his eyes and going back to sleep. Sienna grins at me. “He likes me I guess.”
I smile. “He’s a really good baby.” I look back at Amara. “And we were married a total of two years, but we were together for almost eight years before that. Honestly, the only reason we got married was to please our parents. Otherwise, we probably wouldn’t have bothered. Neither of us really cared for a big wedding or any of that.”
“I can only imagine how excited he was when he found out you were pregnant,” Gia says quietly.
I barely manage to control my flinch. Instead, I just give her a calm smile and lie, “He was definitely full of emotions. I don’t think he knew how to handle it. Unfortunately, we never got to do all the stuff that couples normally do together. Thankfully, Kida bullied her way up here to stay with me. Without her, I’m not sure what we would do.”
Kida scoffs. “You’d be lost without me.” Sensing that I want the topic to change quickly, she adds, “Oh, I just remembered about this time I dated a zookeeper. He took me there late at night to try and impress me. Only he forgot to tell me that themonkeys like to throw literal shit at people, and I ended up with a bunch on the side of the face and in my hair. It was awful.”
“What the fuck is with people and monkeys?” Rori demands.
The conversation moves along, and I reach over to give Kida’s hand a grateful squeeze. As much as I like these girls, I don’t know that I’m ready to talk about my past just yet, at least not in depth. I still need to sort some of it out in my head.
Instead, I try to think of anything else but. My thoughts drift to Massimo. I hope he’s alright.
23
MASSIMO
“Report,”Papa barks as we gather in the main foyer. It’s been a bloody couple of hours, but we’ve emerged victorious. Again. I wasn’t sure for a little bit, watching men fall all around me, but thankfully, the men who fell weren’t ours. Or at least most weren’t. A small feeling of guilt hits me for the few that we did lose, who will go home to their families in a box instead of walking through their front doors. They knew the risks, but I always hate to bear that weight. We’ll provide for their families, of course, but it won’t bring their men back.
“We pushed them out and back, and most of the losses are on their side,” I tell him tightly. “We lost five men, and Nico lost another five. Most of them were in the initial explosions. Some injuries and bullet wounds, but we already have them being seen by the doctor Dante called in. They’ll survive, but out of commission for a little bit.”
“Where are Nico, Dante, Lazaro, and Alessio?” Papa asks, his head moving to look around.
“They’re handling the leftover stragglers,” Alonzo answers, coming up behind us. His face is covered in soot and blood, his suit torn in a few places, and blood dripping into the fabric. “Just grazes, I’m fine,” he says absently when I arch a brow at him in question.
“What was destroyed?” Papa asks.
“They destroyed the front gate and a couple of vehicles that were out front. One dog was also killed with his handler, but all the others got out of the way and took down some soldiers that came rushing through.”
“Do we know who it was?”
“Urso and I grabbed one of the men, and he’s down in the basement for questioning.”
“Good. We need as much information as we can.”
“With the number of men, I would say that it was Leonardo,” I note. “The few that did speak didn’t sound like they were Russian.”
