Kingpin (An Italian Mafia Romance) by Ws Greer Read Free Book Online Page B

the darkness up the road. My father hits the driver in the back of the head with the gun, knocking him out, and we leave him there in the darkness.
    Once we’re back in the car and driving away, my father can no longer hold in his excitement about how things just went down.
    “Holy shit, this is huge!” he exclaims. “Did you see how much shit was in the back of that truck?”
    “Fucking beautiful,” Frankie agrees. “You know what else was beautiful? Fucking Boy Wonder back there. Did you see him kick the shit out of that guy?”
    “Oh my fucking god, I know! What did I tell you?” Dad yells.
    “He’s a fucking natural, Donnie,” Frankie says, turning back in his seat to look at me. I smile, because I don’t know what else to do.
    “You did real good back there, Dominic,” my father says, looking at me in the rearview mirror as he drives. “Real fucking good. I’m proud of you. You hear me?”
    “I hear you,” I answer, still smiling. “Thanks, Dad.”
    “Fucking Boy Wonder,” Frankie says again, still looking at me and shaking his head like he can’t believe it. “Congratulations on your first score, kid.”

Alannah
    I get to the bench before Dominic does today. It’s not as beautiful outside as it normally is. Maybe that’s my subconscious making it seem worse than it actually is, I don’t know. I feel nervous. Anxious, even. On one hand I’m excited, on the other hand, I feel terrified and I don’t even know why. I have no reason to fear Dominic. Other people might, but not me. Yet, as I place my back pack on the ground in front of me, I feel like he’s about to be upset with me, and these days, nobody wants Dominic Collazo to be upset with them.
    I hear the door to the school slam behind me, and I know it’s him. My heart quickens and I have to make myself breathe or I might not do it right. I hear his footsteps because he’s big and he walks heavy. Even his walk is intimidating. He sits down across from me and smiles, so I smile back to keep it light.
    “Hey,” he says.
    “Hi.”
    “Why you looking so nervous?” he asks, so I know I already messed up the smiling part.
    “I don’t know. I’m not nervous.” That’s a lie.
    He chuckles a little. “Okay. So, you said you wanted to talk to me, and now I come out here and you look like you’re about to get the electric chair. You’re making me nervous. What’s up, Alannah?”
    “Nothing’s up, really. How was your day?” I ask, stalling.
    “My day was fine, but you ask me about my day all the time and you never look this nervous. Your note said you needed to talk to me, so just get to it, crazy.”
    He’s being playful and smiling, so maybe this will go better than I thought.
    “Okay, so I need to tell you something,” I begin. Dominic puts his big arms on the table and leans forward to listen. “Do you know Bobby Pistone?”
    He twists his mouth and looks down, thinking.
    “Bobby Pistone. Oh yeah, Bobby Pistone. Tall eighth grader on the basketball team, really skinny, blonde hair.”
    “Yeah.”
    “I don’t really associate myself with guys on the basketball team, so I don’t really know the guy, but I know who he is. What about him? Did he do something to you? He say some shit to you?”
    “No, no, it’s nothing like that,” I reply, making sure I clarify. I don’t want Dominic to get the wrong impression or it could be a problem for Bobby.
    “Okay, so what about him, then?”
    “Well, I have, like, five classes with Bobby, so we see each other all the time.” He nods, and now that I’ve started, my heart is going crazy. “He’s always looking at me and stuff, and kind of flirting, and I guess I was kind of flirting back a little. He’s always making jokes. He’s really funny. I bet you’d like him if you guys got to know each other. Umm, anyway, so me and Bobby were talking in third period today, and he told me he really liked me. I was super nervous, but I told him I kind of liked him, too. And umm,