Enforcer: A Prequel Novella to the New Mafia Trilogy (13 page)

          “That’s it baby, play with yourself.” My
encouragement set her off again. Her entire body arched and she cried out my
name. This time I couldn’t hold back, giving her everything I had before
collapsing next to her on the bed. 

I didn’t want to move, but I had to deal with the condom so
I reluctantly rolled away from Miranda and sat on the edge of the bed. “I’ll be
right back,” I said, brushing some stray hairs off of her cheek. She was on her
side, facing me, eyes half closed.

          “I’m not going anywhere,” she mumbled, her lips
forming a soft smile. My girl was just as worn out.

After disposing of the condom and cleaning up a bit, I
crawled back into bed next to Miranda’s sleeping form. She had flipped over to
her other side so I spooned up behind, tucking her closer to my bare chest,
with my hand spread out possessively across her stomach.

***

I awoke the next morning to the smell of bacon and coffee.
My stomach growled and I opened my eyes to discover I was alone in bed. Muffled
voices and laughter drifted up from the first floor, male voices. This got my
attention more than the bacon and I threw on my jeans before going downstairs,
the conversation became clearer when I reached the bottom of the steps and it
made me pause.

There were two men in the kitchen with Miranda and they were
joking around. From the banter I could tell they were completely comfortable
with one another.

          “Thanks Rand, I needed this,” one of the men said
and his voice was familiar.

          “Dom, it’s not like you’re supposed to enjoy
hurting people. I understand why you’re struggling with this,” Miranda said.

          “Your dad, my dad and Uncle Al…they’ve always made
it seem like it’s no big deal, but the smell of blood, man that shit stays with
you. I don’t know how the other guys do it.”

          “Have you talked to anyone like Telly, Joey D. or
Grant?”

At the mention of my name, Dom snorted. That prompted me to
move off the bottom step where I had been sitting and listening.

          “Grant? You mean Mr. Perfect? Jesus, I’m surprised
my dad hasn’t adopted him.”

          “I didn’t realize you had an issue with Grant.”
The light hearted tone was gone and Miranda sounded more guarded. “He’s a great
addition to the business and he knows what he’s doing at Crimson, but nobody’s
perfect. Grant has his shit together so he obviously figured out how to deal
with the violence. Talk to him…or talk to someone,” she urged. “I’m worried
about you.”

          “Yeah dude, it’s just a matter of time before
Uncle Marco sends me out for my first hit and I gotta say, you’re not exactly
selling it,” the other man chimed in.

I stood in the hallway, outside of the entryway to the
kitchen, close enough to hear the choked sobs.       

          “Having to kill Mike was fucking horrible. Christ,
we grew up together.” Dom’s voice was thick and I felt myself thawing towards
him. Yeah, he could be an asshole, but I was beginning to realize it was just a
front.

          “Hey, it’s done and you can’t take it back. That’s
the life. You either kill or be killed, right? Mike dug his grave the moment he
went against Marco. Who’s to say what else Mike might have done to stay in
Barker’s favor?” Miranda said. “You’re going to be okay, Dom. You’re strong.”

          “Yeah, yeah and a Grabano.” He sounded more in
control. “So when is breakfast going to be ready?” he asked.

          “Oh, this isn’t for you two assholes.”

          “Who’s it for then?” There was a pause and I
decided that was my cue.

I stepped into the kitchen, recognizing the other man.
Dominic and Dante were sitting on the bar stools with their backs to me.
Miranda saw me walk in and her face lit up when she grinned. Her cousins pivoted
around to see what she was looking at and I thought Dominic was going to fall
off his stool.

          “What the fuck, Miranda. Grant, you…and him?” He said,
looking between us. “Does Uncle Marco know?” Dom glared at me with red rimmed
eyes, the only sign of his recent emotional outburst.

          “Yeah, Dad knows, but no one else, we’re keeping
it on the DL. Which means you can’t say shit about us to anyone. Got it?” She
pointed at them with a wooden spoon.

I loved it when she got fierce like that. Walking around the
island, I wrapped my arm around Miranda’s waist, pulling her close to kiss her
forehead before releasing her and grabbing a mug.

          “You got some balls, Ross,” Dom said and Dante
agreed.

          “You’re right about that,” Miranda said with a
wink and I almost spewed coffee across the room.

Dante shook his head, “TMI, Rand, TMI.” Miranda laughed and
turned back to the stove to stir eggs that were cooking in a stainless steel
pan.

Her cousins left soon after that, she gave them hugs and
each a piece of bacon like a consolation prize. As soon as they were gone,
Miranda served up breakfast and I enjoyed watching her. She was wearing a white
apron that said ‘Principessa’ in pink over sexy red pajamas. Her hair was
twisted up in a haphazard bun and she seemed to be at ease in her kitchen. She
told me to get the hot sauce out of the fridge as well as the butter and jam
for toast. “Do you want scrapple, too? I have some and can fry some up,” she
offered.

Scrapple was something really common in Lancaster County and
with the Amish, but the mushy meat loaf was popular in the entire region.
Miranda had already cooked enough food to feed six people so I declined.

We sat down next to each other in the stools Dom and Dante
had vacated. I poured hot sauce on my eggs and shoveled up a forkful. Miranda
had mixed in some type of cheese when she scrambled them and they were freaking
delicious.

          “Thank you for this, I think my sister was the
last person to cook me breakfast and that was over a year ago.”

Miranda shrugged. “I like cooking especially after working
up an appetite.” She smiled at me and I laughed.

          “That we did.”

It was comfortable, just the two of us in her kitchen. There
wasn’t any of that awkward morning after bullshit where I was struggling to
remember the woman’s name or trying to make a quick escape without committing
to an actual date. I didn’t do relationships, but something about Miranda made
me want to stay, to be something more. This realization was overwhelming, but I
swallowed it down with my eggs and reached for Miranda’s hand that was resting on
the counter between our plates. Lacing my fingers with hers, we stayed like
that sipping our coffee and making small talk. Who would have thought that I’d
be falling for Marco Grabano’s daughter?

Days stretched into weeks and while Marco did his best to
keep me busy, I spent most nights at Miranda’s. I was invited to the Grabano
Thanksgiving dinner, but opted to go home to York with Natalie. We hadn’t spent
a lot of time together and I actually missed the pain in the ass. I paid for
the turkey and everything else, my mom didn’t say anything, but the set of her
jaw and her pursed lips as I unloaded the groceries from my brand new Lexus said
enough.

          “Mom, I’m making good money and you refuse my help
with the house, so I did this. Get over it.”

She let out a dramatic sigh. “Fine,” she said and left the
kitchen. Natalie and I looked at each other wearing identical surprised
expressions.

          “Whoa, she never backs down that easily,” she
whispered and passed me a can of cranberry sauce to put on a shelf she was too
short to reach.

After our first couple of meals together where we answered
mom’s questions about life in Philadelphia, we ran out of things to talk about.
While mom was busy cooking the turkey and sides, Natalie and I escaped to the
annual high school alumni football game where alumni played against the current
varsity team and all ticket sales went to the sports boosters.

The last time I had been to this game is when I was a
captain on the varsity team and we won, barely, I was blocking some college
players who were bigger than me, but I held my own. When I showed up with
Natalie, Chelsea immediately descended upon us and led Natalie away to their
small group of friends who were already sitting in the stands.

I saw some of my classmates hanging out by the fence
bordering the track that wrapped around the football field. A few of them still
wore their blue and orange letterman jackets and I shook my head. These were
the guys who peaked in high school. They called me over when I walked by and I
shot the shit with them for a few minutes. Tim Kelly, my co-captain and
starting quarterback, was now working at Home Depot and his girlfriend was
pregnant. When the guys found out where I worked, they started talking about
coming to the city to party.

          “You’d do us a solid and hook us up, right Grant?”
Tim asked. “I need a night out before the kid is born.”

          “I’ll see what I can do,” I said before moving on.

Coach Gordon saw me and came over to talk briefly. We shook
hands. “Damn son, you’ve bulked up.” Coach patted my biceps, feeling their size
beneath my leather jacket.

          “I’ve been working out.”

          “Well, I’m glad you’re not playing today, you’d
probably hurt my boys,” he said before returning to the sidelines.

I was ready to get out of the small city at that point and
even more so after Thanksgiving dinner, which was a quiet and reserved affair. We
ate and helped mom clean up before Natalie and I escaped to our bedrooms. Nat
had a paper to work on and I was feeling like the walls were closing in.
Stretching out on my bed, I called Miranda. She answered on the second ring and
it was hard to hear her with all of the noise in the background. People were
laughing and talking with the occasional shriek of a child.

          “You must still be at Franco’s.”

          “Yes, it’s a little insane. I’ll be leaving soon.
Happy Thanksgiving!”

          “You too, babe, I miss you,” I said.

          “I miss you too. When are you coming home?”

Home. With one word Miranda made me realize that where I
grew up was no longer home, but she and Philadelphia were now home for me. The
walls had been closing in before, but as I looked around the time capsule of my
old bedroom, it felt like I was trapped underneath a mountain of rubble.

          “We’re leaving Saturday morning.” I had to be at
Crimson that night and Natalie wanted to return with me since she had a project
in the studio to work on.

          “Can I call you later? Dad’s about ready to do
another toast.”

          “Yeah, I’ll be here and maybe we can talk dirty to
each other.” She was laughing when she hung up and I imagined her cheeks
flushing red with embarrassment since she was surrounded by her family while
thinking indecent thoughts about us.

More restless than ever, I left my room and knocked on the
door across the hall. Natalie yelled for me to come in and I found the doorknob
unlocked. Nat was on her bed sitting crosslegged with her computer on her lap.

          “Are you still working on your paper?” I asked.

          “Nope, all finished. I’m just chilling watching
Elf.”

No way, that was one of our favorite holiday movies and a
source of laughter when there was so little in our lives growing up.

          “Move over,” I ordered, plopping down next to her.
She handed me an extra pillow and I propped it behind my back against the wall.

Natalie fell asleep before the movie was over, but I watched
it until the end, closing her laptop and setting it on the floor. I quietly slipped
out of her room, shutting the door behind me. After grabbing a glass of water
and brushing my teeth, I returned to my bedroom to call Miranda.

She filled me in on her Thanksgiving and how she went down
to watch the parade with some younger cousins, including Dominic’s little
sister, Eva.

          “That sounds like fun. How was dinner? I bet your
Aunt Gloria cooked up a feast.”

          “Oh yeah she did. I’m wearing sweatpants right now
to make room for my food baby.”

I chuckled knowing that Miranda hardly had an ounce of fat on
her stomach. “I know what you mean, I’m going to see if Nat wants to go for a
run tomorrow.”

          “That’ll be good. So, when am I going to meet your
sister? You could have brought her to dinner you know.”

I paused before responding. “I want to keep Natalie away
from this life.”

Miranda was silent on the other end. Seconds passed before
she said anything. “Wow. Now I feel like your dirty little secret.”

          “You’re not. I want to tell the world we’re
together it’s just that Natalie doesn’t know what I really do and I don’t ever
want her to know.”

          “So she just thinks you’re head of security at
Crimson?”

          “Yeah. Nothing good can come of it if she finds
out the truth.”

          “How long can you keep it a secret from her?”

          “As long as possible.”

Miranda let out a deep breath. “Okay, I understand, but
secrets find a way of revealing themselves.”

Her words haunted my dreams that night, causing me to toss
restlessly. I dreamt of Natalie getting caught in crossfire, bullets ricocheted
off of every surface and blood rained down from dark, misshapen clouds.  I woke
up tangled in my sheets and sweating.  

I was a mess the next morning and desperately needed to get
out of the house. Natalie had the same edginess and agreed to go running with
me. She was the runner and had a gracefulness to her stride, while I ran like a
lineman. My feet were heavy, like they wanted to stay anchored to the pavement.
We did a five mile course, running out past our old high school and looping
around by the little league fields.

 Despite the threat of snow, it wasn’t that cold out because
the air was heavy with humidity and I was sweating through my gray hoodie,
enjoying the cleansing sensation. Natalie kept her pace with me, but started
picking up speed as we rounded the last quarter mile of our run, so I sped up.
She glared at me and pulled ahead. I laughed and started running after her.
When we hit the corner of our street, we were both neck and neck, sprinting at
break neck speeds. Natalie beat me to the end of the driveway, what had been
our long established finish line, by less than six inches. She dropped onto the
front lawn and rolled onto her back to catch her breath in between giggles. I
was bent over, hands on my knees, laughing with her.

After we caught our breath, I held my hand out. Natalie
latched on and I pulled her up off of the brown grass. Bits and pieces clung to
the back of her sweatshirt and I brushed them off. She ran her hand through her
ponytail, removing some more dead grass. “That was fun,” she said. “We can go
running in Philly anytime you want. I miss this.”

          “Yeah, let’s do that. I know I haven’t been around
much.”

          “It’s okay, I’ve been busy too,” she said with a
smile, but I saw the hurt in her eyes. I watched as she walked across the lawn
to the front door, bracing herself by straightening her shoulders before she
went inside. Shit, I did need to spend more time with my sister. The trick was
finding the right balance so she didn’t learn about my other life.