Page 100 of Diary of a Mafia Princess

I rolled my eyes. “Just eat your fucking food, Nyah.”

But still, she paused. “Thank you.”

That word, and the true appreciation behind it, hung in the air between us for a second, before she shoved the first bite of food into her mouth and closed her eyes, moaning loudly. “What did you season this with?” Her mouth was full of food, but she didn’t seem to care. “So good!”

My dick kicked at the sounds she was making, and pride washed over me. I had forgotten my own plate of food. I was too busy watching her.

It was on the tip of my tongue to drop the whole Mafia prince act and tell her she was beautiful.

“Is that bacon?”

I dragged my attention off Nyah to the man standing in the doorway.

Nyah choked on her food. “Dax?”

Something passed between them. A look I couldn’t quite determine.

But it sent jealousy through my veins, thick and fast, and suddenly my good mood disappeared. “What are you doing here?”

He turned to me, surprise all over his face.

Like he hadn’t even noticed I was in the room, because he was too busy making eyes at her.

“Your old man gave me a room. Said to stay as long as I wanted.”

It was jealousy that had my tongue sharp again. “He gave it to you so you had somewhere to fuck the woman. She cleared out. Why didn’t you?”

He frowned at me. “What’s your problem? Don’t want to share your bacon with me? I’m sure Nyah won’t mind.” He leaned down and plucked a piece from Nyah’s plate.

She didn’t stop him.

Her breaths had turned rapid, and she shot worried glances between me and Dax.

He pulled out the chair next to Nyah’s. “Your dad didn’t have a problem with me still being here. In fact, when I asked if I could stay awhile, since my place is getting fumigated, he slapped me on the back and said, ‘Son, you can stay as long as you like.’ I’m doing some sort of exhibition fights for him this morning, and then a bunch more of them over the next month or two. He wants to take over my training. Said you have a nice gym here.”

“We do,” I said stiffly. “Don’t you have a tattoo shop to run?”

He crunched on his bacon. “I’ll still be there during the day. My brothers can cover the shop on the nights I need to fight.”

“Great,” Nyah squeaked. She cleared her throat. “I mean, great that you’re getting these new opportunities. You were really good the other night, at the warehouse.”

He glanced at her. “Was I?”

That same tension I’d detected earlier was still there between them.

It was so fucking thick, it felt like it was clogging the room.

My suspicion and jealousy mixed until I couldn’t stand either of them.

I left my plate of food uneaten on the countertop and got out of the kitchen.

Because even if there was something going on with Dax and Nyah, at this point, there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn’t go to my father and tell him that she was being unfaithful.

Because I was sure I liked her enough that I could no longer live with the repercussions.

Icouldn’t remember any of the players’ names, and they all looked the same to me, bulked up in pads and with mouthguards in and helmets on. I fought the urge to wrinkle my nose at the frankly rank stench of the locker rooms.

Maybe I was grateful my father had never wanted me to play team sports. Though the locker rooms in the boxing gyms I hung out in really didn’t smell much different. There were just less bodies so it wasn’t quite so overwhelming.