Goldie is standing just outside the door, in a narrow alleyway running alongside the club, leaning against the grimy wall in her pretty dress, the Russian leaning over her and the stench of piss rising all around them.They look like they’re about to kiss, and I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to see something happen less.
“Gianna!”the girl with me screeches.
“We have to go,” I add.
The Russian looks at us like we’ve got two heads each, probably surprised his cronies let anyone through, let alone anyone looking for the girl he’s with.Gianna is looking at me like it’s the first time she’s seeing a man.Or more like, the first time she’s seeing a man she likes?Not a bad look.I like it.Definitely a connection here.A solid one.
The Russian recovers fast, pulling a short but wide knife from somewhere and aiming it at Gianna’s stomach.That wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t staring into her big pretty eyes instead of keeping my eyes on him.
But I cut off whatever he was planning next, by knocking the knife from his hand in that way my grandfather taught me a long time ago, and which I’ve perfected in all that time while fighting off idiots for Dante.It works like a charm, and I pair it with a hard kick to the guy’s knee just for good measure.He goes down with a satisfying crunch.
“Come on, we gotta run,” I tell the girls who are holding each other, both looking at me with shock, fear, and surprise on their faces.Maybe something like admiration on Gianna’s...
“Did Dad send you?”Gianna asks just as her friend says, “Are you a new guy or something?”
“No and no, but I’ll get you home,” I say.“My car’s just over there.”
“You look so familiar,” the dark-haired one says.“Have we met before?”
I point to the left down the alleyway.“You don’t know me.We gotta move.They won’t stay down for long.”
At least they don’t take a lot of persuading, they just rush down the alleyway, moving surprisingly fast given how high their heels are and how tight their dresses are.The Russians are regrouping behind us, but they’re making sure the last guy I fought is all right and not chasing us.Yet.
The Lambo is parked right where Nico left it, and I marvel at the readiness with which they both get in.The same kind of readiness that landed them in that alleyway with a knife wielding Russian.
But whatever.The car rumbles to life in the most satisfying way and moves out into the street smoother than a hot knife cutting through butter.I’m driving the car of my dreams with not one, but two gorgeous women with me.Not a bad end to the night.But not a particularly great one either.
What the hell did I get mixed up in here?
Hopefully that Russian guy was just feeling rapey and didn’t want to be disturbed and it’ll all be forgotten by tomorrow.
Chapter5
GIANNA
To sayeverything that happened in the last fifteen minutes or so happened without me… or more like with me barely watching on… would actually be an understatement.I’m in the front seat of a fancy sports car, Chiara in the back, and beside me is a guy I’ve never met driving so fast all the city lights are a blur.I roll down the window to feel the fresh air on my face as I try to piece together the sequence of events that lead us here.
I remember getting ready and sneaking out just fine.I also remember dancing for hours, making sure I didn’t drink too much, too fast, because I wanted to make the fun of the night last until morning.I’m very good at managing my alcohol intake, been doing it for years.I know how to drink just enough to take the edge off, make me loose and happy, not enough to get sick.So I didn’t black out from the alcohol.Another thing I remember is that this guy driving way too fast now was watching me for most of the night.And that he didn’t come and dance with me.Which upset me a little because I wanted him to.
Then another guy did come, offering me a sip of his hot pink drink and then showing me some moves on the dance floor I’d never seen before.All while laughing and telling me I’m the most beautiful woman he’d seen all year.I found that hilarious and pretended to be offended that he only said a year and not something likehis whole life.I also found myself lighter than air, floating a few feet above the ground, as light and happy and carefree as I’d ever been.So going with the guy to the back where we could hear each other talk, as he suggested, seemed like the best idea in the world.Although I didn’t even find him attractive.
Even standing in that smelly alley out back, with him leaning over me, about to kiss me, seemed like exactly the place I wanted and needed to be.
Not until I heard Chiara screaming at the guy to get away from me and seeing the knife he aimed at my stomach, did I feel something might be off about the whole thing.Seeing the guy Chiara was with beat up two guys, including the one with the knife, made me even more sure I’d done a really dumb thing coming out to the alley.
And now, as the cold air blows in my face, I feel like a total fool.So stupid I’m afraid to even look at the guy beside me, or my sister, who I feel seething in the back seat.
I glance back to confirm that she is in fact as angry at me as I feel her to be, and the way she’s glaring back does exactly that.
“You’re bleeding,” I say to the guy as I turn to face front again and see the gash in his shirt sleeve with blood bubbling through.
He glances at it, then into my eyes, and then back at the road, leaving me feeling like I’ve just been standing out in the sun.“It’s nothing, just a scratch.What’s your address and where is it?”
He doesn’t have the hard New York accent most of my friends and family do.There’s even something soft and expansive in the way he speaks, reminding me of wide-open roads and beaches and the ocean.I like it.
“It’s just up ahead,” Chiara says, giving him the address of our building.“You might want to slow down.We’re almost there.”
I know another little moment of panic when he doesn’t do as she told him to right away.But then he does slow down, and I point at the traffic light we’re heading towards.“Make a right there and our house is about halfway down on the left.”
