“What the hell is this?” Tomasso asked, looking at his son and the instruments on his fingers. I quickly focused my eyes on Luca; his neck was still red where Buddha had him in a headlock. He made sure not to look in my direction; he knew all of this was his fucking fault.
“I told you about these two, Tomasso. I told you I didn’t trust them. Aye! Don’t you set foot inside this mothafucking room,” Buddha warned Luca, who actually took a step inside to get closer to his father.
Tomasso turned to Luca and frowned at him. “What did you do?”
“My son didn’t do a god damn thing. Phillipeè un animale selvatico(is a wild animal)!” Francesco said, angry lines seemed to cover his entire face.
“If I’m a wild animal, then what the fuck does that make your son? You dare put your fucking hands on my wife. Mothafucka, you’re lucky thoseuomini(men) pulled me off of you when they did,” Buddha grimaced at Luca as he took a step forward.
“Luca, you put your hands on my daughter-in-law?”Tomasso asked, looking at Luca in disbelief.
“No, I swear. She asked me to follow her into the restroom. She wanted me there; she wanted what I was doing to her.” Myeyes grew wide as golf balls, hearing Luca lie on me as I stood right here. This man was audacious as they came.
“I wanted you to try to rape me in a public restroom?” I asked incredulously because this man was indeed sick.
“You fucking wanted it,” Luca repeated, looking at me in a lewd manner. There was a blur of movement next to me, and the next thing I knew, Buddha got past both his father and Francesco and delivered a punch and then another straight at Luca’s mouth. Splitting his lip open with the spiked brass knuckles.
“Get the fuck off my son!” Francesco shouted, grabbing Buddha by his shoulders to get him off Luca.
“Abbastanza(enough)!” Tomasso said, reaching for Francesco, who was trying to get in between Luca and Buddha. This was a fucking circus, I thought, placing my hands on top of my head. I was no match physically when it came to putting a stop to this madness. I had no choice but to just stand there and hope better sense would prevail.
“Polizia! Polizia!” About three police officers, along with what I believed were hotel staff, came running toward everyone. Immediately, all four men pulled back, looking at the officers. I guess somebody complained to the staff about the noise, and they called the police.
“I’m sorry, but we need to ask all of you to leave the premises. Please know that going forward, we will no longer accept any reservation booked from either of you,” the man with a nametag that read manager said. He looked at each and every one of us one by one. Never in my life have I ever been banned from a hotel. This was fucking ridiculous!
“Man, fuck you and this weak-ass hotel,” Buddha said, removing the brass knuckles from his hands.
“Sir,per favore rispettalo(please comply),” one of the officers warned Buddha, who waved him off.
“Come on, Luca,” Francesco said, grabbing his bleeding son. They made their way to the elevator to reach their floor. Tomasso came up to me, held my face in his hands, looking at me sympathetically.
“I’m so sorry for what Luca didbella signora(pretty lady).”
“It’s fine. I’m a tough nut to crack,” I smiled at my father-in-law.
“No, this is not ok and I will have a chat with my brother about his son. I promise you that. Let’s hurry up and leave this hotel, Buddha,” Tomasso said to his son as he moved away from me and walked out the door.
“Are y’all gonna stand there and watch us pack our shit? Can we have some privacy?Scappa(get away),” Buddha waved off the officers and hotel staff so he could close the door.
I stood in shock as Buddha picked up his suitcase and began packing. It was as though being kicked out of a hotel was just another Monday morning to him. He stopped when he felt my eyes on him and turned to me.
“Hurry up,petardo(firecracker). We gotta find another hotel.”
I pinched between my eyes because my husband and his fucking family were about to make me start taking blood pressure medication.
Chapter Three- Snow
I hung the cigarette loosely between my lips as I ran a stack of money through the machine. Dirty money mixed with legitimate money was how we kept from being discovered, drawing unnecessary attention to ourselves.
I sat at the edge of my desk in my office at the nightclub. I had four more stacks of cash to check, then I was done for the day. I looked at the time on the watch on my wrist, then drummed my fingers on the table. I was stressed as a mothafucka, and wanted to snort a line, but I fought the urge. The last time I did drugs was the night of Buddha’s wedding. I’ve managed to stay away from the booga sugar since. The ringing of my cellphone on my desk made me take a deep breath. I already know who it was.
After the fourth ring, I answered her call. “What’s up?”
“Have you been avoiding my phone calls?” Angel got straight to the point. I cursed in my head, rubbing my forehead, already frustrated by this call.
“Why would I avoid your calls, Angel?”
“I dunno, Vincent. I called you three times, and you never picked up. Are you coming to my doctor’s appointment?” Angel’s question made me feel like choking my own throat.
