Cosa Nostra: A Steamy Mafia Romance (Kids of The District Book 3) by Nicci Harris (digital ebook reader txt) 📗

"Oh my giddy aunt, are you smiling?"

Lifting my fingers to my lips, I stroke the curve they now form. Yep, I'm smiling. "I have no idea why. Usually, it's your mouth and brain that aren't connected." I laugh.

"Meeeow. Up-the-duff-Cassidy is a mean girl."

I shake my head, smiling for no reason at all. "Sorry."

"So do you want to have Max Butcher's baby?"

Pulling my knees up, I cuddle them tight. "It's happening anyway."

"You could abort," he states with ease. Those words lodge themselves in my throat. Immediately, I look around for Carter, finding him a few metres away. Swallowing hard, I turn back to Toni. "I couldn't."

"What if Max doesn't want it?"

"I-" Realisation hits me. "I can't abort. No matter what. I'm kind of afraid he'll secretly hate me for this, but I still can't. He's still getting used to me and now this? Gawd. Have I ruined his life?"

Toni twists to face me, lifting one knee to the side. "Firstly, you couldn't ruin anyone's life, darlin. Secondly. . . I presume by what you have just said that you haven't told him yet?"

Cringing a little, I shake my head.

His mouth drops open. "Fuckidy fuck. Why not?"

I glance away, staring off into the distance. "I only just found out and last night. . .I didn't stay at his."

He hums with contemplation. "And. . . why not? You've been getting humped by that man-god every night since-"

"Since the attack," I blurt out, "we don’t. I mean we try, but it never ends well."

"Is that why you went home? Is he pressuring you?"

"No. God no." I smile at that truth. "He'd never."

"So. . ." He tilts his head knowingly. "You started to talk and then stopped. Last night what?"

"Last night, Max came to me." Feeling uneasy about sharing this intimate information, I squirm a little with discomfort. I keep Max's secrets. His vulnerable side is just for me; sharing this. . . it feels like I'm betraying his trust. And yet, I need to tell Toni something. I hate lying to him. "He was really tense. Really. . . I can't think of another word. Like, intimidating. . . And he has all these bruises and cuts on his face and he wouldn't tell me the truth about how he got them. I. . . saw-" My eyes flicker with unease. Angry eyes. Scarred skin. Dark mien. "Well, the guy who attacked me had all these scars. And I saw him. I couldn’t unsee it. And I just. . . couldn't be with Max last night."

He wraps one long arm around my shoulders, and I lean into him. "Don't feel guilty. You're allowed to feel however you want to."

"Max said the same thing." I sigh, thinking about how patient he's been. How understanding.

Frick, what is wrong with me?

Trying to rationalise an irrational thing, I say, "He's a lot, you know? And he's gone a lot. He disappears some nights." I laugh contemptuously. "I'm not allowed to know what he's doing. I always feel a little lost in his world. Like I'm in a maze."

"A maze?" he confirms, lifting a perfectly manicured eyebrow that usually only proceeds mockery. "With like a minotaur and a fairy?"

I groan with exasperation. "Yes."

He nods as if he's on my wavelength, but the whole concept is a big joke to him. "Is Max the minotaur?"

Rolling my eyes, I just agree. "Yes."

He grins. "Am I the fairy?"

"Yes," I groan, releasing my knees and rubbing my temples with my forefingers. "Thank you. I'm so glad you could stay on track with this analogy."

"Sorry. Okay, so you're in a maze. I get it. You're lost in the big, sculptured hedges of his being. Isn't the maze exciting though? That's why you went in in the first place."

I smile at that. "It is exciting."

"Good." He squeezes my shoulder. "Don't let them win. Control those fucking memories. They are yours. Push them aside. Don't let them win, darlin."

Control.

It's always about control.

I watch as the cattle dogs steer the flock with little effort around the field, controlling them. . ."Do you think sex can be used as a form of control?"

And there it is.

"Of course. But I don't see how that will help you control your memories unless you are thinking about something way above my kink spectrum."

I shake my head at that, feeling a little better already. Feeling like my best friend is now sharing part of the weight of this memory for me. Just having him know about it makes the memory feel lighter. Staring at a black and white border collie that is bending the sheep to its will, I expose more fears in the hopes he'll lighten their hold on me too. "Is Max controlling me?"

Toni cracks up laughing and I kind of want to slap him. That's probably the Butcher baby in me, spiking my hormones. "Oh, Golden Girl. Hell no. Your lady parts have him hog tied; don't you worry about that."

"Stop it, Toni. I'm serious." I turn from the oval and face my beautiful chow-mien-biscotti bestie. "Does being a woman instantly make me weak? Because men literally enter women. Max entered me. My body. Heart." I shuffle on the grass. "And now, a part of him grows inside me. I've never thought about it before, you know, but it's true."

He frowns at me. "That's a really perverted way of viewing your relationship. Where is this coming from?"

I scratch a piece of pink nail polish off my index finger. "It's just something I read," I lie. I lie because I know that listening to the words of a psychotic dead man is absolutely ridiculous. . .

Yeah, Cassidy, it really is.

His eyes suddenly brighten. "Put your finger up his arse. Even the score."

"Oh my gawd, Toni! Seriously?"

"Sorry," he mutters as if ashamed, but I can see he has more to say. It's so blatant on his too-excited face. Unable to hold it back, he