“See!” she shouts at me. “You’re proving my point. Quit being a stubborn jackass and go get Ashton.”
“Fine!” I shout and do a U-turn on the two-lane road. “I don’t know why you care about Ashton. You always complain that he watches shitty documentaries and hogs all the popcorn.”
I’m met with her silence.
Finally stumped her.
About damn time!
“Just pick him up.”
I grumble at her. “I am, I’ve already turned around. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
This time I hang up for good, and a minute later, I can see Ashton walking in the distance, heading in my direction.
I contemplate driving past him, just to be an asshole, but think better of it. I’ve seen a few lone snowflakes already; the weather could be turning any minute.
I pull to a stop, unlock the car door and he silently gets in.
“You called my sister to tattle on me. Real mafia of you,” I say, turning the car back around in the direction I was previously heading.
Ashton secures his seatbelt while I hit the gas, trying to make up for time. Snow slowly begins to blanket the sky, but it hasn’t laid yet on the ground.
“Would you have rather I called your father?”
Point taken.
I reach for the radio and let the music drown out the silence, but it does nothing to dispel the tension in the car as we head back to the compound.
We leave early Sunday morning, and as a peace offering, I drive Ashton with me back to campus.
The tension is still heavy between us, but we had spent most of Saturday evening pretending everything was fine.
It seems neither of us wanted to piss off Dante, who was in a vile mood.
“You don’t have to worry about me replacing you,” Ashton says as we near the exit.
“What are you talking about?”
“This internship for Ricci Enterprises, it’s just for the semester.”
I snort. Is that what he really thinks will happen? My father will just let him work for a couple of months for the family business and then leave.
He’s stupider than I thought.
“You’re an idiot,” I mutter as I turn onto the main road that leads us near campus.
“I fully intend to work for my father after I graduate. Dante is just a means to an end.”
He’s got to be joking. “Does he know that, because Dante doesn’t just let men walk away after everything they’ve been involved in and seen?”
“Aurelio and Dante are old friends. I’m not worried.”
I pull up out front of our building.
“You should be.”
“Why are you so worried about me? Worry about your girlfriend and her kid.”
