DeLuca (Mafia Romance)

MiaOriginal content from NôvelDrama.Org.

I walked into the kitchen the next morning showered, dressed and in search of coffee. I hadn’t expected anyone else to be awake yet so I was surprised to find Pauline leaning against the counter sipping a cup of coffee. She smiled at me when I entered the room like she had been waiting for me.

“Couldn’t sleep?” she asked.

“Not really,” I said, more like not at all. The clock on the coffee pot read 6:30 am.

“Me either. Have a seat I’ll make you a cup,” she motioned for me to sit across from her at one of the barstools. I complied and waited for her to continue. I’d been around Pauline enough over the years to know when she was gearing up for one of her ‘talks’. “Sweetheart, you know we love you like you’re our own, right?” she asked as she poured some creamer into a mug.

“Of course,” I said, wondering where she was going with this.

“And you know we only want what’s best for you, yeah?”

“Yes?” I drew out the word like a question. She was starting to scare me.

“I’m fucking this up, aren’t I?” My mouth dropped open. I had never heard Pauline swear. She was the kind of woman that would say fiddle sticks before she dropped an f-bomb. Noticing my expression she laughed, “Oh please. You’re an adult now, you can handle my swearing.”

“I guess, it’s just weird is all.”

She laughed again, “You’ll understand when you have children. It took a long time after having Gina to kick my dirty mouth. But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about,” She set the cup of coffee in front of me and continued, “I want to talk about that,” she said, pointing at the ring on my finger.

I looked down at my hand unable to keep the smile from my face, “What about it?”

“I just want to make sure you’re making your decision with a clear head. This is a big step and there are a lot more hurdles to jump when you love a man like Carlo.”

“What do you mean?” I asked confused.

“Well, what about this mess that we’re in the middle of right now? Honey, this isn’t going to be the last time someone tries to hurt you or Carlo and you need to think long and hard about that. Can you handle it if this happens again and again? Is your love going to be strong enough to endure it?”

I sighed and looked down into my coffee, “I know it might happen again, but I love him. I can handle the bad as long as I get the good, you know?”

She smiled widely at me, “That’s what I needed to hear,” she said patting my hand, “If you ever want to talk, I’m just a phone call away, yeah?”

“Yeah,” I said, feeling lighter than I had before. I didn’t even know I wanted her approval but now that I had it, it felt right. Pauline wasn’t my mother but she was the closest thing I had ever had to one.

…

We arrived back at the house a little after four that afternoon. We’d gone shopping for an outfit for Frankie and to the salon to get her ready for her audition. When we entered the house the men were once again in the front room, this time with Mouse and Sal as well.

“Is everyone caught up to speed?” I asked, instantly slipping into ‘Boss-Lady mode’ as Frankie so affectionately called it.

“Yeah, we’re all ready to go when you guys are,” Antonio said with a nod. I had been unsure of him before but I was starting to warm to him.

“Okay, we’re going to get ready. We’ll leave here at six,” I responded with a nod, following Pauline and Frankie up the stairs.

…

“I can’t believe I let you guys talk me into wearing a slutty school girl costume. I think I just single handedly set feminism back twenty years,” Frankie said trying to tug the skirt down as she stood in front of the mirror. “How the fuck am I going to wear this outfit on the street without getting arrested for indecent exposure?”

“Relax, it’s a means to an end. It’s not the end of the world if you play up the patriarchal fantasy for one night,” I said, “Besides, you don’t go to the club in your costume. You change there. No one is going to see you. At least no one that will be alive in the morning.”

“Oh, okay, that makes a lot more sense,” she turned around to look at me, “How do I look?”

I took a minute to study her, “You look hot,” I said truthfully. Her fire engine red hair was done in full layers with the ends curled. She had put her foot down when Pauline tried to give her pigtails. Her makeup was heavy but not to the point where she looked like a hooker, maybe just a slutty club girl. The white cap sleeved button down tied just below her breasts. Underneath she had a white bikini top which peeked through the open buttons of the top. For someone as tiny as she was, she had a decent amount of cleavage to work with and filled out the top perfectly. The skirt was about the size of a belt, just barely covering everything in the front, but if she turned around you could see the bottom of her ass cheeks sticking out underneath the material. Knee socks and seven inch Maryjane’s completed the look and brought her five foot nothing frame nearly to eye level.

There was a knock at the door, walking over I opened it. “Hey, what’s up?” I asked in way of greeting.

“I came to tell you…” Angelo trailed off, his eyes locked onto where Frankie was standing behind me. “Oh, shit. Enzo’s going to, fuck, this is not good.”

“Well, he’s just going to have to suck it up,” I said, feigning confidence, “What did you come up here for?”

“Right, everyone is ready to go when you are,” he said, he tried to focus on me but his eyes kept wandering back over my shoulder to Frankie.

Fucking men.

“Okay, we’ll be down in five,” I said shutting the door in his face.

“Hurry up and change before Enzo comes up here,” I ordered as I turned around. “If he catches you looking like before we leave he’ll go ballistic so move your ass!”

Frankie nodded and quickly changed into a pair of jeans and t-shirt, packing her costume up in a duffle bag I handed to her.

I snuck a glance at myself in the mirror. I had opted for skinny jeans, knee high boots, and a long sleeve black thermal top. My gun was tucked into a holster at the back of my waistband, my thin top doing little to conceal it. I had knives tucked into right boot and another small pistol secured in my left. My hair was pulled away from my face in a high ponytail. I looked and felt like I was ready for battle.

“Are you nervous?” I asked as Frankie zipped the duffle and turned to me.

“Not about dancing. Maybe a little about taking my clothes off but, like you said, all the guys that see me are going to be dead before the end of the night so it doesn’t really matter, right?”

“Exactly. Once we’re in, you’ll go out the back and meet up with Mouse and the others.”

“Okay,” she nodded and we headed downstairs.