The mysterious driver turned off the car and I walked into the front parking lot to try and get a better look at him. When he stepped out of the vehicle, my whole body froze. I could hardly breathe. Luka Gioti stood in front of me, dressed in a gray suit with a blue tie. His dark hair looked different, slightly longer than the last time I had seen him. And he had a tattoo that just crept out of the collar of his shirt. He looked so suave, with his hand unbuttoning his jacket, as he walked toward me. My mouth dropped open slightly at the sight of him, and as much as I didn't want to admit it, my whole body ached for him to touch me.
But that wasn’t the plan.
“Vienna?”
I simply nodded, unable to find my voice.
“It's been a long time. Do you think we could talk?”
I didn't want to talk. But this was part of what we had set up. I had to go with him.
“I guess. Why?”
“Because I’ve missed you.”
I sighed. “Fine.” I didn’t mean to sound so cold. I needed to play my part better. But his missing me made this easier. He would fall into my trap.
“Are you done here? Whatever the hell here is.”
“Yeah. I just finished my shift.”
He came close enough to me that he could whisper in my ear. “I can take you now, then.” His voice was seductive and made me feel like I was under a trance. I couldn't say no to him. I never had been able to. I looked up into his gray eyes. For some reason, I felt safe when I was with him, even though he was one of the most dangerous people that I knew.
“Yeah. I can leave.” My heart was beating rapidly in my chest, but I willed it to slow down. This was all part of the plan. Get him to trust me again.
I walked away from the safety and security of the diner, but at that moment, looking into his eyes, I didn’t care how dangerous it was to be around him. Without a second thought, I climbed into his car. The new leather creaked as I sat down in the bucket seat. Holy shit, this car was hot. The tires squealed as we sped off, heading in the opposite direction of my home. But he wouldn’t know where I lived, could he? He knew nothing about me anymore. It had been so long since we'd been together. And back then, we were just friends. He still had no idea how I felt about him.
I sat with my hands folded in my lap and looked out the window. I tightened my hands together and tried my best to ignore his brooding presence next to me. Occasionally, I would steal glances in his direction. The outline of his jaw was so much more pronounced, and the softness of his face as a teenager had turned into hard edges as an adult. He looked darker than I remembered, or mysterious. And I was dying to get underneath his skin and find out what he was hiding.
“Are you hungry?” He asked me.
“I can eat, I guess,” I said shrugging. Why did he want to take me to dinner? That wasn't the type of guy that Luka Gioti was. He didn’t date. At least that the man that I knew. But perhaps he was different now, maybe the years had changed him, maybe it was all the time he had in prison. He played it off, like he didn't know that I knew where he had been. Maybe he really thought I had been living just a normal existence as a full-time waitress. I laughed to myself. Like anyone I knew could do that. No one who had any mob affiliation could just walk away and live in normal life. Once you were in, you were always a part of it regardless of what you really wanted.
Your wants and needs were never put above the family.
“So where are we going?”
He turned down another street that I didn't recognize. I had been away for so long. I didn’t really know where things were anymore.
“A little Chinese restaurant. They have the best General Tso’s chicken in town, at least the last time I was there they did.”
“And when was that?” I wanted to trap him into telling me about present. Give me more information than he really wanted to, but I needed to know the truth.
“A while. You know how it is with the family and all. They eat the same damn meal over and over again. I needed a fucking break.”
“From the family?” He let his eyes cross the space between us and meet my own.
“Something like that.”
We pulled into a small hole in the wall type place, and that's when I realized he didn’t want us to be seen. He must have kept my location a secret, but why?
“I guess this place isn’t very well known.”
He didn't say anything, just exited his side of the car and came round to open my door. He extended his hand to mine and I stepped out. The last time he had opened the door for me was almost a decade ago.
It was for a dance at school. I didn't have a date, mostly because the men of the Gioti family didn't trust outsiders. I had decided at the last moment that without a date I wasn't going to go. My mother argued with me million times about how a woman didn't need a man and I should just go with my friends, which is when I realized that I didn't really have many of those either. I could never invite them over to my house, for fear that they would see something that they shouldn't. When you are hiding secrets all the time as a teenager, it's hard enough just to keep up with the lies.