Kon (Trassato Crime Family Book 2)(38)
Clearly, she wasn’t. I didn’t know why I asked such an asinine question. She sat on the edge of the tub deck clothed in my too big robe with her face in her hands and her shoulders shaking.
“Can you leave me alone?” she mumbled through her fingers, her sobs intensifying with each syllable out of her mouth.
I knelt in front of her and peeled her hands from her face. Mascara streaked her cheeks. Her eyes were swollen and her skin was splotchy. “You’re all right, Carmela. Just breathe, and talk to me about what’s going on in that head of yours.”
“No, I’m really not.” Her legs bounced up and down. “And it doesn’t matter. I’m not your problem. Just give me something to wear and I’ll get out of your way and cry somewhere else.”
“Tell me what’s wrong.”
“I hate you. I hate that I did that with you. I hate that I feel anything for you. I hate that my family is pushing me to marry Nico. I hate, well, everything. ”
My lips twitched. “That’s a lot of hate.”
“Ugh.” She punched me in the shoulder. “Why are you smiling? You’re so annoying. Have you always been a pain in the ass?”
“According to Evie…yes.”
“You probably tortured her when you were kids.”
“There was that one time when I gave her favorite doll to the dog as a chew toy. If you tell her I admitted it, though, I will deny it.”
She barked out a laugh and my lungs tightened. Damn, I liked making this girl laugh.
“You forgot who you’re talking to. I’m a Trassato. I probably got the confession on tape and I’m going to use it against you as leverage.”
I ran my hand down her cheek to her jaw, erasing the last evidence of her tears. “Is that right?”
“You’ll have to wait and see.”
“So are you going to tell me why you were crying?”
“I don’t want to. You’ll think it’s trivial.”
“Try me.”
“Ugh. Fine.” Her eyes flickered up and down like she couldn’t stand to look at me. I didn’t like it. I wanted all of her attention. “I’ve only done that with Rocco, and not very often either. Okay? Now go ahead and make fun of me.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, though I had a damn good idea what she meant. For reasons I refused to examine, I wanted her to clarify. “You and Rocco dated for a long time.”
“Yeah, well, we never spent much time alone once we hit puberty, and my parents made it known that we shouldn’t go there. Once we got engaged, we snuck around a few times, but Rocco gave me this whole speech about not wanting to disappoint our parents and having our whole life in front of us.”
For several seconds, I didn’t say a single thing until I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I burst out laughing.
“You jerk!” She smacked me on the side of my head. “I can’t believe you’re laughing at me right now. I told you something extremely personal and private, and you think it’s a joke?”
“No, solnyshka, I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing at Rocco.”
“Huh?” She blinked a few times. “What do you mean?”
“Let’s just say, if you were my girlfriend, my fiancée, or my whatever, I wouldn’t let anything stop me from kissing you. Touching you. In fact, I’d spend a considerable amount of my waking hours plotting to get you in my bed.”
A million dollar smile spread across her face, and my heart stopped momentarily. She was insanely beautiful. “Really?”
“Really. Now tell me what you want for dinner. I’m starving.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Carmela
When I woke up at Kon’s place this morning, my phone was dead. Without question, my mom was coming out of her skin with worry, and in all likelihood, she had called Gian. This knowledge didn’t compel me to run home and fall into line with a pile of apologies on my lips. It actually motivated me to embrace my freedom and linger in bed with Kon, taking pleasure in my first sleepover with a man. Taking pleasure in the momentary disconnect from the expectations of my family.
By the time I pulled into the garage of my childhood home, I’d been gone for over thirty hours. My stomach dropped along with all hope no one noticed my absence when I passed Gian’s black SUV in the driveway.
Deciding to face the firing squad, I went into the house rather than using the stairway to the apartment over the garage. It would be futile to hide. The confrontation would happen either way, but if I met it head on, it gave me more power…or at least that was what I told myself as my sneakers squeaked over the marble tiled floor. Thankfully I’d had the forethought to change into my gym clothes in the trunk of my car before I drove home.