Chapter 14

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Charlotte

"What's this from?" I asked, rubbing a patch of thin scar tissue on Luca's shoulder. For the last hour, we'd been lying in my bed in each other's arms letting the world pass us by. It was like time stopped, and all that mattered was right here.

"The first time I got shot." Luca said as nonchalantly as if we were discussing the weather.

"The first time?"

A small smile crept across his lips. "Occupational hazard."

"How many times?" I asked, propping myself up a little bit. Suddenly I needed to know all about it. Even though I knew who he was, the thought of Luca being shot never even crossed my mind before. Of course, he had. He was probably in dangerous situations all the time. The more that sank in, the heavier my chest became.

"What?" Luca set his phone down giving me his full attention. "How many times have I been shot? Three."

He took my hand and brought it back to the scar. "Once here, I was eighteen and had just joined the ranks. I was young and stupid and a guy from the Irish group got me off guard."

He pressed my fingers to his skin, dragging them up to his opposite shoulder. I shuddered at how close it was to his heart. "Once here, a buddy of mine and I were sent undercover to take down a sex trafficking ring the Russians were running out of Manhattan. Our cover got blown, I made it out before anything happened but my buddy got held up. I had to go back in for him."

"Did he make it out?" My voice faltered.

"Barely. He's got an even gnarlier scare than me." Luca smirked, knowing I was hanging on his every word. It was sickening. He was just a teenager the first time he was shot, and I couldn't help but wonder how early on he was expected to take part in this type of thing. When did he take charge? How did he get involved in it to begin with? I had so many questions but I wasn't brave enough to ask any of them.

"And this one," His fingers led mine down his chest and stomach and then past his hips to the inner thigh of his right leg, stopping on a smooth, round scar on the inside of his right thigh. "This is from a disgruntled lover."

"What?" I let out a sharp laugh. He couldn't be serious.

"An ex-girlfriend of mine. One night we were at her place, and she wanted to have sex. I'd had too much to drink and couldn't get it up and I guess that really pissed her off. She grabbed her gun from the night stand and tried to shoot my dick right off. She missed, thank God." He raised his eye brows, and a serious expression washed over his face.

I stared at him blankly, trying to read his expression, but Luca had a killer poker face. Could he actually be serious? Finally, he cracked a smile.

"You aren't serious, are you?"

"Do you think I'm serious?" The deep smoothness of his voice sent a warm wave over my entire body.

"I... I don't know."

"You're going to need to get better at detecting a lie if you're going to survive in this world, Charlotte." He smirked, brushing my hair out of my eyes and securing it behind my ear.

"What actually happened?" Content with the fact he was lying, I relaxed and snuggled back into his bare chest.

"Well, I wasn't lying about the drinking part of the story. Angelo and I got drunk out of minds one night. We had our guns out, and his accidentally went off."

"Oh my god!" I covered my mouth. "That's terrible."

"It's okay. I shot him in the arm to make up for it." He shrugged.

"You're joking again, right?" I laughed.

"No." He said with a straight face. "Ask him to see his right bicep the next time you see him."

Something told me this time he was dead serious.

"You're turn." He swept his thumb across the tattoo on my inner elbow—three small intersecting lines. "What does this mean?"

I didn't answer at first, consumed with the memories it brought back. It was tiny, and most of the time I forgot it was even there, but that didn't diminish the meaning it held.

"I got that when I turned eighteen. It's for my brothers. They died in a car crash when I was little. My dad, too."

Confusion overcame Luca. "I thought your brother was back in Jamestown."

I rolled my eyes. Of course, he knew that. He knew everything about me. 

"Sorry." He chuckled. "Let's pretend you told me that and I didn't read it on a background check."

"My brother, Noah, is in Jamestown." I continued. "But I had two older brothers two. When my parents separated, they lived with my dad almost full time, and then a few years after that there was the crash. I never got to really know them, so I guess the tattoo is kind of a way for me to feel close."

I didn't like to talk about them much. When my dad left, we got to see them for a little while, but eventually he cut off contact completely and my mom was devastated. I was so young I didn't really understand, and looking back now, I realize how debilitating that must have been for her. She was forcibly separated from her sons, and still had a daughter to take of. I guess she reconciled it the only way she knew how—by throwing all of her attention and love on to me and giving me the very best childhood that she could.

Luca was still stunned by what I said.

"What? Your background check left that part out?" I cracked a joke, trying to make light of the mood. There was nothing like talking about how my brothers and father were killed to bring the energy down.

"I'm really sorry, Charlotte. I had no idea."

"Thank you. Honestly, I was young when it happened and I don't have many memories of them at all." I said. 

"Do you remember your dad?" Luca asked, gently stroking my arm. 

"No." I scoffed. "But I'm thankful for that. He was a horrible person. When my parents got divorced, he fought my mom for my brothers, but not me. He kept them from her until the very end and it nearly destroyed her. I don't need to remember him to hate him for it. But I guess really I should be glad he left. Josh was the greatest thing to happen to both my mom and I. He's the only father I've ever known."

Luca was quiet for a minute and then pressed his lips to mine. "He sounds like a great guy. It takes a lot to step up in that way." 

I nodded, all the talk of my family making me a little emotional. I wasn't ready to dump all of that on Luca yet, so instead, I changed the subject. "It's about dinner time, why don't we go get something to eat?" 

Luca groaned, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and pulling me into him. "Or we could stay right here and eat other things. Or I guess order take out if you want real food." His devilishly handsome grin was almost enough to change my mind. 

"Nooo." I whined, climbing out of bed and reaching for my clothes. "There is a really great pizza place down the street, but they don't deliver. Come on, it'll be fun." 

Luca didn't seem convinced, but he got out of bed and slipped his t-shirt on to placate me. "Fine.  But I'm from Italy, you know. It better be fucking good pizza."

"It is." I grinned. 

Luca and I finished getting dressed, and we headed to Marino's. 

"This is your idea of good pizza?" Luca arched her eyebrow at me when we walked inside. It was somewhat of a hole in the wall, and we were about the only people here. 

"Trust me." I said, leading him up to the counter. "Hi Raul! We'll take two pepperonis, please!" 

"Nice to see you, Charlotte! Coming right up!" 

"I have so many questions about this place." Luca chuckled as we ate down at one of the booths. He grabbed a napkin, sweeping some crumbs and leftover sauce off of the table in disgust. "You come here often enough that you're on first name basis with the chef?"

"I like my pizza, what can I say." I said, reaching for his hand across the table. "Raul works the late shift. He'd actually not the head chef, but he runs the place. He's actually from Mexico. He and his wife immigrated here a few years go, and he's working here so he can bring his parents over, too." 

Luca gave me a funny look, a big smile spreading across his lips. He didn't say anything, just stared at me and smiled. 

"What?" I asked, blushing a little bit. 

"Nothing." He squeezed my hand. "I just... I love that you know that about him. That you take the time to get to know people. That you genuinely care about them." 

"I'd like to get to know you more, too." I said, pressing my luck a little. Luca was a private person, and it took a lot to get him to open up. It didn't stop me from being curious, though. Especially if anything was going to  come from this thing between us. "Tell me about your family." 

Luca tensed up, but he tried to pass it off like he wasn't bothered. "What do you want to know?"

"Anything." I shrugged. 

"Well," he started. "I'm an only child, born and raised in Italy."

"Really?" My eyes widened. 'How was that?" 

"Good, I guess." He said. "I don't have much to compare it to, but I loved it. It's a beautiful place, and they have real, authentic pizza. Not this New York shit." He smiled. "Carlo and Angelo and I all grew up there."

"And Marco?"

"Marco's from here. We met once I moved over and he's been working for me ever since." He said. 

"How did you get involved in all of this to begin with?" I asked, sipping from my soda. 

"Pizza's ready, Char!" Raul called form behind the counter. 

"Saved by the bell." Luca smirked. "Come on, let's go back to your place and eat this." 

Luca stood up and grabbed our pizza off of the counter. Before we left, he slipped a few hundred dollar bills to Raul. It made me smile to see a little bit of softness in the big, bad Mafia Don's heart. I could tell he didn't like to admit it, but he cared about people, too.

The walk back to my apartment was quick, and we headed back upstairs. As I put my key in the lock, I realized it was already turned. 

"Hmm, that's strange." I frowned, stuffing the keys back into my purse.

"What?" Luca asked cautiously.

"My door wasn't locked."

Luca pulled a gun from his waistband that I hadn't even realized was there. "Stay behind me."

"I'm sure there's no one in..."

"Hey, Char." Grant walked out of the kitchen with his hands in his pockets and a sheepish smile on his face.

What the hell was he doing here? Luca fanned  his gun before I could even think and pointed it directly at Grant. 

"Woah!" Grant shrieked, throwing his hands up in the air. "Jesus Christ, Char, who is this guy?"

"OK, enough!" I sighed, putting my hands out between both of them. "Luca, it's okay. Grant is... A friend of mine." Luca kept his eyes trained on Grant, but lowering his gun but keeping a tight grip on it.

"A friend?" Grant questioned. "Is that what we're calling it now?"

"Okay fine, Grant is my cheating scumbag of an ex-boyfriend. Better?" I hissed, second-guessing my decision to not let Luca shoot him. "What are you even doing here?"

"You didn't answer my calls." He started.

"So you broke into my apartment?" 

"I didn't break in, I have a key, remember? Jenni's been worried, she said you haven't been into the gallery for a few days." He began ranting.

"I've been a little busy." I didn't owe him any kind of an explanation, and was furious to even be having this conversation. 

"Clearly! Since when did you start hanging out with criminals?" He said gesturing to Luca.

"What is the matter with you? Luca isn't a criminal, he's my friend." I threw my hands into the air.

"Another friend. Interesting."

"Watch it." Luca seethed.

"Do you know who he is, Charlotte? You're dating a Mafia assassin." Grant said, matter-of-factly.

"You know each other?" I turned to Luca.

"He's been trying to pin ball kinds of bullshit on me and my guys for years without any proof or evidence whatsoever. We've met a few times." Luca smirked, speaking to me but never taking his eyes off of Grant.

Of course! Grant was an agent with the FBI, how had I not figured out they probably had run into each other a few times? 

"What the fuck are you doing here, Catalano?" Grant sneered. 

"Do you want to tell him or should I?" Luca chuckled, glancing at me. 

"Grant, Luca and I are..." We were what? How did I even finish that sentence? Until tonight, we weren't even all that friendly. Things had taken a drastic turn but I still wasn't sure how to define it. 

"I'm her boyfriend."

Luca's answered surprised me, but also made me swell with pride to hear him say that. Even if it was to throw a low blow at Grant. 

Grants eyes widened, and he turned as white as a ghost. "You're dating Luca Catalano?"

"Yes." 

Grant looked distraught. He paced back and forth for a second before stalking out the door, slamming it behind him. 


 





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