Forbidden Arrangement, page 15
“She has contact with him. He and her mother didn’t have a very good breakup, and, well, he was a little bit of an asshole, but she’s still seen him. He is a lord, you know. He’s not going to completely disown his child. Or rather, children.”
“I forgot he was a member of the aristocracy. I guess you and Gabriella are, really.”
“Please don’t, Sam,” she said, touching my arm lightly. “I know you like to think we’re from two different worlds, but we’re really not.”
“I think we are,” I said. “You could buy the world, and I’m lucky just to set foot on it.”
“Oh, Sam,” she said, shaking her head and leaning forward to kiss me. My eyes widened as her lips pressed against mine. There was a buzz of electricity between us. She stroked the side of my face. “It’s interesting, you know.”
“What’s interesting?” I asked.
“You. You’re so handsome and so outwardly strong, yet you’re so fragile inside.”
“That doesn’t make me sound like much of a man.” I rolled my eyes.
“No, it makes you sound like a human being,” she said. “It makes you sound like someone who has feelings and emotions and—”
“Valentina.” I pressed my finger against her lips. “I know you’re a woman, and I know women love to talk about feelings and emotions. But I’m a man, and I’m not about that.”
“Okay, fine,” she said. “Are you hungry?”
“I’m starving. Let’s eat.”
I watched as she opened the picnic basket and pulled out two white plates.
“Shall I serve you, or would you like to create your own plate?”
“You can do it,” I said, watching as she pulled out little containers.
“These are scotch eggs,” she said.
“Scotch what?”
“Scotch eggs.” She giggled. “It’s a hard-boiled egg, and on the outside is meat covered in breadcrumbs.”
“Okay.”
“It’s English.”
“I’ve never been to England,” I said.
“It’d be cool if we went together someday.”
“Yeah.” I nodded, looking away quickly.
“These are cucumber sandwiches.”
“Okay.”
She giggled. “I know they don’t sound like much, but they taste dainty. We’re having an English tea, if you didn’t guess already.”
“Tea? As in hot tea or sweet tea or—”
“No, silly, not iced tea. Like an afternoon tea picnic.” She giggled again. “It’s an English thing.”
“I see.”
“And this is a scone. I have clotted cream and strawberry jam.”
“Sounds good.”
“This is the pasty.”
“Yummy.”
“And I also have some salt and vinegar potato chips because the English supposedly love salt and vinegar chips.”
“Interesting. I can’t say that’s my favorite flavor, but I don’t mind.”
“What’s your favorite flavor, Sam?”
“Jalapeño.”
“You would like it spicy.” She giggled.
“I do like it spicy.” I winked at her, and she blushed. “Put the plate down, Valentina,” I said softly. She frowned slightly.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, put the plate down.” I watched as she put it down, and then I grabbed her and pulled her over to me.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m kissing you,” I said as I pressed my lips against her neck and ran my hand down the side of her body. She stilled as her hand reached up and ran down my chest.
“We’re right out in the public.”
“And?” I asked.
“You haven’t eaten your lunch yet.”
“I find that I’m usually hungry after I make love,” I said, staring at her with eyes full of desire.
“So you’re saying—”
“I’m saying I want to touch you and kiss you, Valentina. Don’t you want that, too?”
“Yes,” she said, “but anyone could see us. And if the cops see us, we’ll get arrested for public indecency and—”
“Come,” I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her up.
“Where are we going?”
“You see those bushes over there?”
“Sam.” She shook her head quickly. “We can’t.”
“We can do anything we want. I mean, unless you’re too chicken?”
“I’m not chicken.”
“Then I dare you.” I grinned at her and bit my lower lip.
“Sam, you know I can’t say no to a dare.”
“I know. Come on.”
She looked around and then sighed. “Come on then. Quickly.”
We ran toward the bushes and then stopped.
“Just doesn’t look very comfortable.” She looked at the ground and wrinkled her nose.
“Is it supposed to be comfortable?”
“I mean, yes?” she said as she pressed her hands against my chest. “I do want to make love to you, Sam. But I just don’t want twigs and mud between every crack that I have.”
“I’d like to see every crack that you have,” I said, and she giggled slightly as she rolled her eyes.
“That’s not romantic.”
“Did I say I was trying to be romantic?”
“Hold on,” she said. “Stay here.” I watched as she ran back to where our picnic stuff was, and she grabbed the blanket on the ground and ran back.
“What are you doing?”
“If we’re going to make love, we need to be on something.”
“But the food. It’s just—”
“It’s fine,” she said.
“The ants will get it.”
“I’ve got plenty more in the basket.” She put the blanket down on the grass behind the bushes. “Now, what do you want to do?”
“What do I want to do?” I sat down next to her and pushed her back. My hand moved up the side of her leg and pushed her dress up slightly. She stared up at me with wide eyes and giggled.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this.”
“I can,” I said, suddenly feeling desire unlike I had ever felt before. My hands found her breasts and squeezed slightly. I shifted so that I was hovering over her, and she reached up and pulled my shirt off. Her fingers ran across my chest and played with my nipples, and I gasped as she leaned up and bit me on the shoulder.
“What are you doing?” I said.
“Leaving my mark on you,” she said with eyes dark with desire. I groaned as I pressed my lips against hers and kissed her passionately, my tongue sliding into her mouth smoothly. She reached up and unzipped my zipper, and I felt her fingers pulling my cock out of my pants. I was hard and ready, and she murmured underneath me as she shifted and opened her legs. I ran my fingers between her legs and rubbed the wet spot on her panties, and she moaned some more.
I slipped her panties to the side and rubbed my cock against her entrance, grunting as desire filled me. And then, I thrust into her hard and fast, and she cried out. I placed my hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming out loud. The last thing I needed was people to come over to us and find out what was happening. Her eyes danced with merriment as she gazed up at me, and I grinned down at her as I continued to thrust into her hard and fast. I could hear the sound of our breathing as we both reached the edge of orgasm. And then, I slammed into her hard one last time, and as I exploded inside her, I could feel her body shaking as she orgasmed.
Pulling out of her, I kissed her on the lips and helped her up quickly. She looked dazed and satiated, and I smiled. “You’ve got leaves in your hair,” I said, reaching up to brush them off.
“So do you.” She reached up, touched the side of my face, and pulled a leaf from behind my ear. I smiled at her. I wanted to tell her how much she meant to me. I wanted to tell her how special this moment was, but I knew I couldn’t. I knew that there was no longer going to be a “Valentina and Sam.” We couldn’t hook up again. I was done playing these games. I was done putting myself in a situation of conflict.
“I need to go now,” I said.
“What?” She blinked. “But—”
“I have to go.”
“But, Sam, we haven’t even eaten yet.”
“I’ve gotten what I came for,” I said harshly.
“What?” She looked confused and ran her hands through her hair.
“I said I got what I came for.” I looked her up and down. I knew I sounded cold, but I couldn’t help myself.
“Sam, what’s going on?”
“You can’t have me and every other man you want, Valentina.”
“What?”
I moved from behind the bushes and walked back to where the picnic basket was. She grabbed the blanket and hurried behind me.
“Sam, wait.” She grabbed my shoulder. “You’re just going to leave me like this, after everything I did?”
“You can just deal with Connor. I’m sure he’d be more than happy to eat your English food. Maybe you guys can go to England together and have tea with the queen and whatever duke and duchess and prince and king you can find.”
“Sam, what are you talking about? Connor who? What?”
“The guy your dad wants for you. The blond I saw you with the other day.”
“What?” she said, blinking. And then, like a bad movie, I saw the man heading toward us.
“Him.” I pointed. I watched Valentina turn around, and her face paled.
“Oh. You know him?”
“I saw you with him the other night. The night you said you were at dinner with your father still.”
“Oh,” she said. “So you know?”
“Yeah, I know. I guess I was just a bit rough for you.”
“What are you talking about, Sam?”
“I guess you want Connor now, huh? You had Shane, and now you had me, and now you’re onto Connor. The one who Daddy approves of.”
“You’re confusing me. I don't know what you’re talking about.”
The guy stopped next to us.
“Hey, Valentina. Is this a good time?”
“Not really,” she said. “David, this is Sam. Sam, this is David.
“David?” Now it was my turn to look confused. “I thought he was Connor.”
“I don’t even know who Connor is,” Valentina snapped. “Sam, David is an artist friend of mine. I commissioned him to make a painting for you.”
“You what?” And that was when I noticed that David had something in his hand.
“Hey. This is for you,” David said and held up the painting. It was of my brothers and me. I blinked in surprise.
“What is this?”
“David’s an artist. A really talented one. And I knew you were feeling down, and I know your brothers are everything to you, so I commissioned him to do a painting. I wanted to gift it to you because I wanted you to have something special. I feel like you do so much for your family and everyone else, yet no one does anything special for you. So I wanted to be the one who did.” She pressed her lips together. “It’s beautiful, David. Thank you. I hope you like it, Sam.”
“I do,” I said. I didn’t know what to say. I ran my hands through my hair, and guilt washed over me. I was ashamed of myself. I treated her horribly, and I—
“I can’t do this anymore, Sam.” She shook her head. “You’re not going to use me. You’re not going to just fuck me when you want to and then go cold on me. I know you’ve been through a lot, but no. I’m better than this. I don’t need this. It’s over, whatever this was.” She held her hands up in the air. “Which I don’t even know. I’m so confused. Just lose my number.”
“Valentina, wait. I—”
“No,” she said, one solitary tear falling down her cheek. “I don’t want to hear it. I’m done.”
CHAPTER 21
“Well, that was awkward,” David said, looking at me with a curious expression on his face. He turned back to look at Valentina as she ran away and then looked back at me. “What was that about exactly? Don’t you like the painting?”
I stared at the painting that was still in his hands and I shook my head. “It’s great. It’s really great. I don’t even know how you made it. I never even gave Valentina a photograph of my brothers and me. And I don’t even know if we have a photograph like this.”
“Oh, it wasn’t from one photograph,” he said with a smile. “She took individual photographs of all of you guys I guess when you were hanging out and gave them to me. And she gave me the artistic license to put the photos together as I saw fit.”
“Wow. I didn’t even know.”
“Obviously,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Well, I’ve already been paid handsomely for this painting so you can have it.”
“Thanks.”
He handed it to me and then smiled awkwardly. “I’m going to go if that’s okay. I need to go and fix my chakras. You two have really given me some bad energy today.”
“Sorry,” I said and wrinkled my nose.
“No worries. I’m just really affected by other people’s energy.”
“Can I ask you something, David?” I wanted to speak to him before he left.
“Of course, he nodded, “What is it?”
“You and Valentina.”
“Yeah?”
“I saw you the other day, and you were holding hands.”
“Oh, I hold hands with everyone,” he said, laughing. “Why?”
“Have you ever been together or friends with benefits?”
He threw his head back and started really hard. “Sam, I’m going to fill you in on something.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Seriously, you’re much more my type than she is.”
I stared at him for a few seconds until it dawned on me what he was saying. I pressed my lips together. “Okay then.”
“You wouldn’t trust it,” he said, his eyes sparkling.
And I shook my head quickly. “Sorry. No.”
“I had a feeling you weren’t, but if Valentina is your girl or you want her to be your girl, then I think you need to get it right the next time because girls like Valentina don’t come around every single day.”
“I think I’ve already blown it,” I said, shrugging.
“Maybe, but if you don’t try, you’ll never know. See ya, cutie.” He gave me a wink and then walked away.
I stood there for a couple of seconds and then looked down at the painting. My brothers and I looked handsome and strong. And in the painting, you could see our connectedness. Whatever photographs Valentina took of us must have shown us in our pure light. It was such a thoughtful gift—something I’d never received before. And I felt ashamed of myself. “You’re a fucking idiot, Sam,” I said as I headed toward the sidewalk. I called Stefano.
“Hey, what’s up, bro?”
“I’m an idiot.”
“Yeah. Tell me something I don’t know.” He chuckled like he thought he was fucking Dave Chapelle, telling the funniest joke told to man.
“No, seriously, I’m an idiot.”
“And like I said, ‘Tell me something I don’t know.’”
“That guy we saw Valentina with the other day.”
“The hedge fund broker guy?”
“Yeah.”
“What about him?”
“I got it wrong.”
“Okay. So he was or wasn’t that Conner you were talking about?”
“He wasn’t.”
“Well, please don’t advertise that. We are private investigators with our own detective agency.”
“Stefano, shut up. This is not funny.”
“I’m not joking.”
“Dude.”
“Sorry. Who was he?”
“He was some artist she hired to make me a painting of the four of us.”
“Oh wow. That’s incredibly sweet.”
“I know. I fucked up.”
“Well, that doesn’t surprise me. I mean, look who our dad is.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Haven’t you ever wondered why Mom left?”
“No, the fact that she left was enough.”
“But maybe there was a good reason,” he said softly. “Maybe…”
“What? Have you been speaking to Mom?”
“Maybe. We had a phone conversation last night.”
“Stefano, really?”
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t going to say anything, but …”
“But what?”
“But I’ve just been thinking about a lot of things. And I know because you’re the oldest, you feel like you’ve had to shield me and Sergio and Santino. And you’re even taking care of Dad and his issues. But maybe Dad is the problem.”
“Dad is not the problem.”
“Maybe you need to speak to Dad, Sam.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s be real. None of us has ever had a proper relationship. And that’s because of Dad, because of the bimbos he doesn’t date for longer than a year because he doesn’t want to get his heart broken again.”
“Okay. But look, he’s got Sienna. He’s kept her in his life.”
“Yeah. And?”
“And I just think it’s rude. Look at freaking Annie. She’s a bimbo.”
“I mean, you’re not wrong about that, but obviously, Dad’s getting something from her.”
“What? I know he’s on Viagra.”
“What?” I said, shocked.
“I’ve seen the pills, dude. He’s barely able to keep up with her. And you know she was all over you. Shit, she’d be all over me too if she could be.”
“Stefano, really?”
“I’m not trying to be funny here, but that Annie she’s a ho. She’d be bouncing on all of our cocks if she could be.”
“Don’t let Dad hear you say that.”
“I’m just saying that Mom said she’s going to contact Santino and Sergio because we’re not the gatekeepers to the information that they have. And you know her, she will do it.”
“Okay. So what do you want me to do?”
“You need to speak to Dad about this, Sam. You need to get him ahead of the situation.”
I sighed, “Fine. I’ll go today. Are you coming?”
“I’ve got to go to the gym. I have to train. I’ve just got one last match.”
“I know.” I let out a deep sigh. “Fine. I’ll go now.”
“I forgot he was a member of the aristocracy. I guess you and Gabriella are, really.”
“Please don’t, Sam,” she said, touching my arm lightly. “I know you like to think we’re from two different worlds, but we’re really not.”
“I think we are,” I said. “You could buy the world, and I’m lucky just to set foot on it.”
“Oh, Sam,” she said, shaking her head and leaning forward to kiss me. My eyes widened as her lips pressed against mine. There was a buzz of electricity between us. She stroked the side of my face. “It’s interesting, you know.”
“What’s interesting?” I asked.
“You. You’re so handsome and so outwardly strong, yet you’re so fragile inside.”
“That doesn’t make me sound like much of a man.” I rolled my eyes.
“No, it makes you sound like a human being,” she said. “It makes you sound like someone who has feelings and emotions and—”
“Valentina.” I pressed my finger against her lips. “I know you’re a woman, and I know women love to talk about feelings and emotions. But I’m a man, and I’m not about that.”
“Okay, fine,” she said. “Are you hungry?”
“I’m starving. Let’s eat.”
I watched as she opened the picnic basket and pulled out two white plates.
“Shall I serve you, or would you like to create your own plate?”
“You can do it,” I said, watching as she pulled out little containers.
“These are scotch eggs,” she said.
“Scotch what?”
“Scotch eggs.” She giggled. “It’s a hard-boiled egg, and on the outside is meat covered in breadcrumbs.”
“Okay.”
“It’s English.”
“I’ve never been to England,” I said.
“It’d be cool if we went together someday.”
“Yeah.” I nodded, looking away quickly.
“These are cucumber sandwiches.”
“Okay.”
She giggled. “I know they don’t sound like much, but they taste dainty. We’re having an English tea, if you didn’t guess already.”
“Tea? As in hot tea or sweet tea or—”
“No, silly, not iced tea. Like an afternoon tea picnic.” She giggled again. “It’s an English thing.”
“I see.”
“And this is a scone. I have clotted cream and strawberry jam.”
“Sounds good.”
“This is the pasty.”
“Yummy.”
“And I also have some salt and vinegar potato chips because the English supposedly love salt and vinegar chips.”
“Interesting. I can’t say that’s my favorite flavor, but I don’t mind.”
“What’s your favorite flavor, Sam?”
“Jalapeño.”
“You would like it spicy.” She giggled.
“I do like it spicy.” I winked at her, and she blushed. “Put the plate down, Valentina,” I said softly. She frowned slightly.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, put the plate down.” I watched as she put it down, and then I grabbed her and pulled her over to me.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m kissing you,” I said as I pressed my lips against her neck and ran my hand down the side of her body. She stilled as her hand reached up and ran down my chest.
“We’re right out in the public.”
“And?” I asked.
“You haven’t eaten your lunch yet.”
“I find that I’m usually hungry after I make love,” I said, staring at her with eyes full of desire.
“So you’re saying—”
“I’m saying I want to touch you and kiss you, Valentina. Don’t you want that, too?”
“Yes,” she said, “but anyone could see us. And if the cops see us, we’ll get arrested for public indecency and—”
“Come,” I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her up.
“Where are we going?”
“You see those bushes over there?”
“Sam.” She shook her head quickly. “We can’t.”
“We can do anything we want. I mean, unless you’re too chicken?”
“I’m not chicken.”
“Then I dare you.” I grinned at her and bit my lower lip.
“Sam, you know I can’t say no to a dare.”
“I know. Come on.”
She looked around and then sighed. “Come on then. Quickly.”
We ran toward the bushes and then stopped.
“Just doesn’t look very comfortable.” She looked at the ground and wrinkled her nose.
“Is it supposed to be comfortable?”
“I mean, yes?” she said as she pressed her hands against my chest. “I do want to make love to you, Sam. But I just don’t want twigs and mud between every crack that I have.”
“I’d like to see every crack that you have,” I said, and she giggled slightly as she rolled her eyes.
“That’s not romantic.”
“Did I say I was trying to be romantic?”
“Hold on,” she said. “Stay here.” I watched as she ran back to where our picnic stuff was, and she grabbed the blanket on the ground and ran back.
“What are you doing?”
“If we’re going to make love, we need to be on something.”
“But the food. It’s just—”
“It’s fine,” she said.
“The ants will get it.”
“I’ve got plenty more in the basket.” She put the blanket down on the grass behind the bushes. “Now, what do you want to do?”
“What do I want to do?” I sat down next to her and pushed her back. My hand moved up the side of her leg and pushed her dress up slightly. She stared up at me with wide eyes and giggled.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this.”
“I can,” I said, suddenly feeling desire unlike I had ever felt before. My hands found her breasts and squeezed slightly. I shifted so that I was hovering over her, and she reached up and pulled my shirt off. Her fingers ran across my chest and played with my nipples, and I gasped as she leaned up and bit me on the shoulder.
“What are you doing?” I said.
“Leaving my mark on you,” she said with eyes dark with desire. I groaned as I pressed my lips against hers and kissed her passionately, my tongue sliding into her mouth smoothly. She reached up and unzipped my zipper, and I felt her fingers pulling my cock out of my pants. I was hard and ready, and she murmured underneath me as she shifted and opened her legs. I ran my fingers between her legs and rubbed the wet spot on her panties, and she moaned some more.
I slipped her panties to the side and rubbed my cock against her entrance, grunting as desire filled me. And then, I thrust into her hard and fast, and she cried out. I placed my hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming out loud. The last thing I needed was people to come over to us and find out what was happening. Her eyes danced with merriment as she gazed up at me, and I grinned down at her as I continued to thrust into her hard and fast. I could hear the sound of our breathing as we both reached the edge of orgasm. And then, I slammed into her hard one last time, and as I exploded inside her, I could feel her body shaking as she orgasmed.
Pulling out of her, I kissed her on the lips and helped her up quickly. She looked dazed and satiated, and I smiled. “You’ve got leaves in your hair,” I said, reaching up to brush them off.
“So do you.” She reached up, touched the side of my face, and pulled a leaf from behind my ear. I smiled at her. I wanted to tell her how much she meant to me. I wanted to tell her how special this moment was, but I knew I couldn’t. I knew that there was no longer going to be a “Valentina and Sam.” We couldn’t hook up again. I was done playing these games. I was done putting myself in a situation of conflict.
“I need to go now,” I said.
“What?” She blinked. “But—”
“I have to go.”
“But, Sam, we haven’t even eaten yet.”
“I’ve gotten what I came for,” I said harshly.
“What?” She looked confused and ran her hands through her hair.
“I said I got what I came for.” I looked her up and down. I knew I sounded cold, but I couldn’t help myself.
“Sam, what’s going on?”
“You can’t have me and every other man you want, Valentina.”
“What?”
I moved from behind the bushes and walked back to where the picnic basket was. She grabbed the blanket and hurried behind me.
“Sam, wait.” She grabbed my shoulder. “You’re just going to leave me like this, after everything I did?”
“You can just deal with Connor. I’m sure he’d be more than happy to eat your English food. Maybe you guys can go to England together and have tea with the queen and whatever duke and duchess and prince and king you can find.”
“Sam, what are you talking about? Connor who? What?”
“The guy your dad wants for you. The blond I saw you with the other day.”
“What?” she said, blinking. And then, like a bad movie, I saw the man heading toward us.
“Him.” I pointed. I watched Valentina turn around, and her face paled.
“Oh. You know him?”
“I saw you with him the other night. The night you said you were at dinner with your father still.”
“Oh,” she said. “So you know?”
“Yeah, I know. I guess I was just a bit rough for you.”
“What are you talking about, Sam?”
“I guess you want Connor now, huh? You had Shane, and now you had me, and now you’re onto Connor. The one who Daddy approves of.”
“You’re confusing me. I don't know what you’re talking about.”
The guy stopped next to us.
“Hey, Valentina. Is this a good time?”
“Not really,” she said. “David, this is Sam. Sam, this is David.
“David?” Now it was my turn to look confused. “I thought he was Connor.”
“I don’t even know who Connor is,” Valentina snapped. “Sam, David is an artist friend of mine. I commissioned him to make a painting for you.”
“You what?” And that was when I noticed that David had something in his hand.
“Hey. This is for you,” David said and held up the painting. It was of my brothers and me. I blinked in surprise.
“What is this?”
“David’s an artist. A really talented one. And I knew you were feeling down, and I know your brothers are everything to you, so I commissioned him to do a painting. I wanted to gift it to you because I wanted you to have something special. I feel like you do so much for your family and everyone else, yet no one does anything special for you. So I wanted to be the one who did.” She pressed her lips together. “It’s beautiful, David. Thank you. I hope you like it, Sam.”
“I do,” I said. I didn’t know what to say. I ran my hands through my hair, and guilt washed over me. I was ashamed of myself. I treated her horribly, and I—
“I can’t do this anymore, Sam.” She shook her head. “You’re not going to use me. You’re not going to just fuck me when you want to and then go cold on me. I know you’ve been through a lot, but no. I’m better than this. I don’t need this. It’s over, whatever this was.” She held her hands up in the air. “Which I don’t even know. I’m so confused. Just lose my number.”
“Valentina, wait. I—”
“No,” she said, one solitary tear falling down her cheek. “I don’t want to hear it. I’m done.”
CHAPTER 21
“Well, that was awkward,” David said, looking at me with a curious expression on his face. He turned back to look at Valentina as she ran away and then looked back at me. “What was that about exactly? Don’t you like the painting?”
I stared at the painting that was still in his hands and I shook my head. “It’s great. It’s really great. I don’t even know how you made it. I never even gave Valentina a photograph of my brothers and me. And I don’t even know if we have a photograph like this.”
“Oh, it wasn’t from one photograph,” he said with a smile. “She took individual photographs of all of you guys I guess when you were hanging out and gave them to me. And she gave me the artistic license to put the photos together as I saw fit.”
“Wow. I didn’t even know.”
“Obviously,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Well, I’ve already been paid handsomely for this painting so you can have it.”
“Thanks.”
He handed it to me and then smiled awkwardly. “I’m going to go if that’s okay. I need to go and fix my chakras. You two have really given me some bad energy today.”
“Sorry,” I said and wrinkled my nose.
“No worries. I’m just really affected by other people’s energy.”
“Can I ask you something, David?” I wanted to speak to him before he left.
“Of course, he nodded, “What is it?”
“You and Valentina.”
“Yeah?”
“I saw you the other day, and you were holding hands.”
“Oh, I hold hands with everyone,” he said, laughing. “Why?”
“Have you ever been together or friends with benefits?”
He threw his head back and started really hard. “Sam, I’m going to fill you in on something.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Seriously, you’re much more my type than she is.”
I stared at him for a few seconds until it dawned on me what he was saying. I pressed my lips together. “Okay then.”
“You wouldn’t trust it,” he said, his eyes sparkling.
And I shook my head quickly. “Sorry. No.”
“I had a feeling you weren’t, but if Valentina is your girl or you want her to be your girl, then I think you need to get it right the next time because girls like Valentina don’t come around every single day.”
“I think I’ve already blown it,” I said, shrugging.
“Maybe, but if you don’t try, you’ll never know. See ya, cutie.” He gave me a wink and then walked away.
I stood there for a couple of seconds and then looked down at the painting. My brothers and I looked handsome and strong. And in the painting, you could see our connectedness. Whatever photographs Valentina took of us must have shown us in our pure light. It was such a thoughtful gift—something I’d never received before. And I felt ashamed of myself. “You’re a fucking idiot, Sam,” I said as I headed toward the sidewalk. I called Stefano.
“Hey, what’s up, bro?”
“I’m an idiot.”
“Yeah. Tell me something I don’t know.” He chuckled like he thought he was fucking Dave Chapelle, telling the funniest joke told to man.
“No, seriously, I’m an idiot.”
“And like I said, ‘Tell me something I don’t know.’”
“That guy we saw Valentina with the other day.”
“The hedge fund broker guy?”
“Yeah.”
“What about him?”
“I got it wrong.”
“Okay. So he was or wasn’t that Conner you were talking about?”
“He wasn’t.”
“Well, please don’t advertise that. We are private investigators with our own detective agency.”
“Stefano, shut up. This is not funny.”
“I’m not joking.”
“Dude.”
“Sorry. Who was he?”
“He was some artist she hired to make me a painting of the four of us.”
“Oh wow. That’s incredibly sweet.”
“I know. I fucked up.”
“Well, that doesn’t surprise me. I mean, look who our dad is.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Haven’t you ever wondered why Mom left?”
“No, the fact that she left was enough.”
“But maybe there was a good reason,” he said softly. “Maybe…”
“What? Have you been speaking to Mom?”
“Maybe. We had a phone conversation last night.”
“Stefano, really?”
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t going to say anything, but …”
“But what?”
“But I’ve just been thinking about a lot of things. And I know because you’re the oldest, you feel like you’ve had to shield me and Sergio and Santino. And you’re even taking care of Dad and his issues. But maybe Dad is the problem.”
“Dad is not the problem.”
“Maybe you need to speak to Dad, Sam.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s be real. None of us has ever had a proper relationship. And that’s because of Dad, because of the bimbos he doesn’t date for longer than a year because he doesn’t want to get his heart broken again.”
“Okay. But look, he’s got Sienna. He’s kept her in his life.”
“Yeah. And?”
“And I just think it’s rude. Look at freaking Annie. She’s a bimbo.”
“I mean, you’re not wrong about that, but obviously, Dad’s getting something from her.”
“What? I know he’s on Viagra.”
“What?” I said, shocked.
“I’ve seen the pills, dude. He’s barely able to keep up with her. And you know she was all over you. Shit, she’d be all over me too if she could be.”
“Stefano, really?”
“I’m not trying to be funny here, but that Annie she’s a ho. She’d be bouncing on all of our cocks if she could be.”
“Don’t let Dad hear you say that.”
“I’m just saying that Mom said she’s going to contact Santino and Sergio because we’re not the gatekeepers to the information that they have. And you know her, she will do it.”
“Okay. So what do you want me to do?”
“You need to speak to Dad about this, Sam. You need to get him ahead of the situation.”
I sighed, “Fine. I’ll go today. Are you coming?”
“I’ve got to go to the gym. I have to train. I’ve just got one last match.”
“I know.” I let out a deep sigh. “Fine. I’ll go now.”
