Page 23 of The Mafia’s Girlfriend

“Where you running off to now?” one asked as he blocked my way. A second man stepped up flush to my back, sliding his hand over my stomach as he hugged me close. The stink of his boozy breath sickened me. Terrified and on edge, I looked back in the direction of where Luke was.

His back was to me as he hung out with his friends. Oblivious to the fact I was here.

“Let me go.”

“The boss has been wondering where you’ve been hiding,” the third Marchese soldier said. He held Krista out of the way as he leered at me.

“I’m not hiding. We’re just having some fun.”

The taller one who blocked my way stepped into my space. Leaning down, he brought his mouth toward my ear. “The boss won’t mind sharing his whore. I’m in the mood to have some fun too.”

Shudders wracked my body. My lower lip trembled as fear shrouded me, but I fought to stand still and not show a sign of it.

“What do you say we break her in for him?” the Marchese at my back taunted.

No. Fuck. Shit, this can’t be happening!

They nodded. One took hold of my wrist and pulled me forward to leave with them.

Chapter 9

Luke

When my mom lamented that I never had free time, I doubted that she wanted me to waste it here, at a club, instead of wherever nice, decent good girls might lurk. I wouldn’t have changed my plans though. Being here wasn’t about hanging out or having a good time.

Ben and a couple of his friends mentioned coming here, and I was eager to get my foot in the door one way or another. Jimmy could be cryptic and weird about keeping me where I was. He wasn’t giving me a good enough reason for why I couldn’t advance to a more qualified fighter. I wasn’t in the mood to wait around for his agenda. I intended to at least get my name known, to talk and be more familiar with Ben so that if a situation ever arose that the needed someone else to fill a spot in a match, he’d remember me and consider me for something above what I’d been doing already.

So far, though, three drinks in and at least one line of coke, he only got drunker and higher, not really focusing on what I was saying. I was still working on my first beer. I didn’t touch any drugs. My patience wore thinner as the time passed, and I wondered if it was because it was always so annoying trying to have a conversation with someone who wasn’t sober or if Ben was just messing around, humoring me without any actual intention to help me move up to a better match.

All he wanted to talk about was Jimmy, and I knew very little about him.

“I noticed you at the very first fight, man,” he slurred, smiling with his two friends nodding along behind him. Ben wasn’t a big player or mover in these criminal circles, but it seemed he had enough clout to need a couple of bodyguards flanking him. Those brutes looked like any other hired manpower, standing tall, not breaking a sweat and definitely not betraying a single emotion on their stoic faces.

“How long ago was that?” He turned to the lackey on his left, who donned a pensive frown.

“Not sure, boss.”

Boss. I almost laughed. Ben might think he was the “boss” but I knew many others held superior significance above him.

“I think when I was sixteen,” I answered. There was no thinking about it. Jimmy was nervous to have me enter my first fight, especially so young. Illegal street fighting was a risk in and of itself. The whole operation could be shut down at any time if someone snitched. But a minor participating? It was doubly dangerous. The son of a well-known fighter had been talking shit, though, and Jimmy had me match against him as an introduction to it all.

From that day, I was addicted to being able to vent my anger at the world. Having those dollar bills put in my hand was even more or a motivation to come back for more.

“Sixteen?” Ben laughed. “Damn.” He reached out to pat my back but missed, already too wasted to make contact. His coordination was shit. “You were born a legend then, huh?”

I shrugged, trying to smile without looking like a smartass. I was born fighting to survive in this world, and I had a strong hunch it would be like that until the day I died.

“How’d Jimmy find you, anyway?”

“Just ran into each other on the streets.”

Ben seemed sober then, and I had a fleeting worry that he was trying trick me. That he was up to something, acting wasted when he wasn’t just in case I’d say something or slip. That was how deep my insecurities ran. That was how little I trusted anyone.

“He’s such a loner,” Ben commented. “He hasn’t been repping any other fighters, fuck, for like twenty years or something.”

“Sean stopped as well,” the lackey on the right said.

“Who?” I hadn’t heard of a Sean before. Jimmy never mentioned him to me.