“One more thing,” I’d slipped in. “About Teo. We’re…seeing each other.”
“Old news,” he’d said, and rolled his eyes at my surprise. “Dude. You have been, like,coveredin hickeys constantly since Boston. Literallyeveryoneknows.”
I’d had to press my hands to my cheeks to help cool them down. “And you and Luca are okay with it?”
Finch had just smirked. “Luca said as long as it doesn’t affect Teo on the job, he’s fine with it. As for me, I’m just thrilled to see my best friend finally embracing the inevitable. Welcome to the Dark Side.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Teo
The weirdest thing about my promotion in the Family was the instant acceptance it got from my Morelli brothers. Snapper was proud as hell of me, of course, but I’d been worried I’d have to stomp on some of the guys who were used to working alongside me, now that I’d be above them in the hierarchy. But they were all real happy about it, especially Carlucci.
He’d kissed me on both cheeks and hugged me hard, then said, “Guess I can’t tell you you’re a dipshit no more, huh?”
“Guess not.”
“As long as you know I’m thinking it in here.” He tapped his temple. “For reals, though: you deserve it, Mr. Vitali.”
From that moment on, I was Mr. Vitali to everyone below me. Once I’d even heard Carlucci talking about me and Mr. Messina in the same sentence, like I was on the same level as that legend. It blew my mind to hear it, and I even told Aidan about it over dinner one night.
The extra money had meant Marietta and I could rent somewhere bigger, and I could even have afforded Manhattan at a pinch, although we stayed in Brooklyn so the kids didn’t have to move schools. But everyone had their own room now, and I didn’t have to keep trashing my back by sleeping on that old couch. I had my own bed now, although I only slept in it half the week. The other half I stayed over at Aidan’s, though I felt guilty about it and told Mari I’d cut it out, come home and give her a break more often from the kids.
She’d told me not to, though. Said I deserved to enjoy myself after all the shit I’d dealt with my whole life. And then we talked a little about our parents. When she told me to get the daisy chain covered over by a pro, I told her I never ever would, and we both cried some.
“It won’t be long before the kids are all making their own ways in the world,” Mari had reminded me after. “And when they do, you never know. I might start dating, get married, have a family of my own.”
“Why wait?” I’d said. “Seriously, Mari. You can date. If I can date, you sure as shit can date. There’s a line around the block waiting for you.”
She’d laughed it off, but I saw her thinking about it. I figured it was enough for now that she knew she had the option.
As much as I loved Mari and the kids, I couldn’t help wanting to spend all my time with Aidan when I was off work, so I’d decided to split my time between Brooklyn and his tiny walk-up in Manhattan. Mr. D suggested once—and only once—that Aidan move into the townhouse, but one look at the Boss’s face had nixed that. Aidan hadn’t been keen on the idea anyway.
“I can’t have sex in the same house as them,” he’d confided. “I’d be too self-conscious.”
“Uh, you’re the one who wanted me to plow you when yourMomwas asleep a few feet below. Don’t try to act like a virgin no more, baby. You’re way past that now.”
Thatwas an understatement. I’d never known being with an inexperienced guy would be such a workout. The thing was, Aidan was curious abouteverything: every position, every kink, every new term he heard Finch D’Amato casually throw around. Once when I was balls-deep in him, only just sunk in, he asked, “Would you like to fist me later?” and I shot my load then and there. It was embarrassing. After he’d stopped giggling, Aidan even said, “So that’s a yes?”
Sex with him was fucking incredible, even those times thatweren’tstellar, when we’d tried something and figured out he didn’t like it. I craved him on the nights I couldn’t be with him.
But even more, I justmissedhim when we were apart, the way his eyes half-shut when he was thinking about something important to him, the way he smiled at me out of nowhere and told me he loved me, the way he cared so much about doing good things in the community. He’d softened me up inside, and I thought that was a good thing, so long as I stayed tough on the job.
* * *
Three months after Boston,I was staying at his place one night. We fell as usual into his bed together but there was something different about it that night. I was buzzed with happiness just being there with him, and I never wanted the feeling to end.
“Would you ever think about moving in with me?” I blurted out. “Or would the kids and Marietta would be too much?” Mari had met him by that stage, and freaking loved him. So did the kids. But I’d known they all would, because who wouldn’t?
He got that faraway look of his and said, “You know, I don’t know if I’d be comfortable doing that.”
“Forget it,” I said immediately.
“It’s not because of Mari and the kids,” he said. “I just think that if we were going to be living together, we should, you know. Be married.”
I was so stunned I couldn’t say anything in response.
“You don’t agree?” he asked anxiously, and I could tell then that this was something he’d been thinking about a lot. Maybe even worrying about.
