“I told you to leave my sister alone. Did I not?”
I scoff.He can’t be serious!“We were kids, Rocco.” I shake my head at how preposterous this is. “She’s an adult now, and so am I. This is crazy. Can you please step aside so I can get in my car?”
Shoving his phone in his pocket, he narrows his gaze, resentment etching the tips of his lips. “You seem to forget; I neverasked. You will stay away from her, or you will pay.”
Pay.
That’s exactly what he's after. Blackmail of some sort, but joke’s on him, I’m a teacher. I don’t have any money. The only thing he can possibly take from me is that sponsorship check, but the whole town counts on that. He’d only be hurting himself.
The thing with Rocco is he is too stupid to see that. He’d be the guy who would destroy his own livelihood if it meant he could take down someone he hates. Every fiber of my being knows he isn’t bluffing, but I’ve spent my life afraid of Rocco.
I’m so done having him bully me. My entire life I’ve cowered from his threats. It’s gotten me nowhere.
I’m done being that guy.
Anger buds from my gut, burning a spiral of adrenaline through all my extremities. My fingers tighten one by one into a tight fist, and I slowly pull my hand back, winding up. The sequence plays out in slow motion, and it’s everything I’ve wanted to do to Rocco for years. With the deepest breath I can suck in, I dream of slugging him in his gut. Instead, I take the higher road, push past him, bumping my shoulder into his. “Get lost,” I murmur and I steal the opportunity to slide into my car. I don’t even check the rearview mirror as I squeal the tires and speed off.
I’ve never felt better.
fourteen
Gia
“Dad.” My palm frantically finds the dash while my other hand secures the door handle. “You need to let me drive.”
He putters forward in his old red Ford. It’s not his speed that is making my heart screech in my chest, but his lack of sense of space. We’re on our way to Bella’s for lunch and to grab the daily deposit. That part is dandy and sounds like a nice little Saturday. The part that’s aging me faster than a banana in an oven is he’snearlyclipped every car parked on the side of the road.
“There’s nothing wrong with my driving.” He slams on the old, squeaky, disc brakes. With only the lap belts holding us down, we both swing forward at the waist.
This is worse than Space Mountain Roller Coaster!
Cars stack up behind us, serial honking.
This is where it all ends! I’m clearly going to die!
“You’re lucky you don’t have GPS in this old thing, because instead of giving directions, it would be rattling off prayers!”I scream out as I frantically swipe my hand through my hair, pulling it behind my ears, resisting the urge to yank it all out.
“Ah, those GPSLMNOPs robots these days are overrated.” He puts his blinker on to turn left but then proceeds to take arighton red.
“Dad!” I grab his wheel, yanking it hard to the right to dodge oncoming traffic. “You had the wrong blinker on!” He slams on the brake, halting us in the middle of the road. Again.
Beeeeep!A double-decker tour bus nearly sideswipes as it wails past, and icy sweat frosts my forehead.
“We are in the middle of the road.” Tossing a look behind me, traffic is lined up down the next block, and mortification washes my face with a warm flush. “Move, Dad!” I hastily wave for him to pull forward.
“Hold on.” He guns us out into traffic. Sweat pours down my brow, and my shoulders hug my ears as tension pulls them together. When he rounds the final corner, he finds a metered spot in front of the pizzeria, I let out the biggest sigh of relief.
A series of chuckles radiates from Dad’s lips.
“How can you laugh?” I give him a stoney glare.
“I long since learned not to cry in times of stress.”
“It wouldn’t have been stressful if you’d let me drive in the first place.”
“True.” He tips his head toward me. “But then we’d have nothing to laugh about.”
“It’s not funny.” I let out a huff as I tug on the door handle to let myself out. “Plus, now I need to ruin my diet, because the only thing that’s going to help me is a giant cup of diabetes.”
