Lonely Together

07

MARIAH

The next morning I woke up with my arm draped over my eyes in a soft, California king bed that definitely did not belong to me.

Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I looked to the right of me where bright light was flooding in to see that I was definitely still in Valentino's house. Those same floor to ceiling windows were in this room.

I figured this wasn't Valentino's room, as it had absolutely no personal touches, so I figured it must have been a guest bedroom.

My phone was on the nightstand beside me and I turned it on to see that it was eight in the morning and I had a few texts from Myles in the past hour.

How was it? The dick, I mean ;) ;)

I rolled my eyes at his text as a small came onto my face. I had really enjoyed myself the night before, not only with Valentino but with his friends as well.

Standing from the bed, I stretched quickly and saw that I was still in my outfit from before and had no clue how I had slept comfortably in it or even how I had gotten up here.

I opened the door to the room and immediately heard music playing from downstairs. The upstairs floor allowed you to overlook the bottom floor, but I could see everything but the kitchen where the music was coming from.

"Good morning," I muttered to Valentino as he sat at the kitchen table, a bag next to him that smelt of warm bread. I knew that smell very good.

"Good morning, bella addormentata (sleeping beauty)," he smiled, placing down his phone to turn and face me.

"I have no idea what you just said, but what's in that bag?"

"Nosy, are you? I got us breakfast. Bagels."

"I love bagels," I muttered as I took a seat beside him the island, our legs touching each other's. "So what did you say? That was Italian right?"

"Yes. I called you sleeping beauty," he replied, smearing a bunch of cream cheese onto his bagel.

"I'm not so sure I'm a sleeping beauty, Valentino. Don't wanna get your hopes up."

"Yeah, you were snoring a lot!"

"Was not!"

"How would you know if you were sleeping?" He retorted with a chuckle.

We finished eating and chatting before he let me know that he had somewhere to be later in the afternoon. Although I had fun with him, I was ready to go because our second date had now lasted over twelve hours.

"It's a nice morning, Mariah. Wanna take the motorcycle?" He asked when we were back down in his garage.

"I-I don't know, I've never ridden on one," I replied nervously, even going so far as to bite my nails.

"That's fine. There's always another time."

Today, he grabbed the keys to a black Range Rover, pulled the door open for me, and soon we were off and back towards my house. I was surprised to see that even though we lived in opposite sides of the city, we were only just about ten minutes away from each other.

"I had so much fun yesterday," I told him giddily once we were in the elevator alone together. "And that bed...it was incredibly comfortable."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. Next date is on you," he spoke as we walked down the hallway to my place.

Just like the last time, we stood outside the front door and he asked to kiss me to which I obliged. This one lasted longer and featured a bit of roaming hands that never went too low.

"You're back!" Myles shouted suddenly, making us both pull apart instantly, surprised that he had opened the door and we hadn't noticed.

"I'll call you Mariah," Valentino told me after clearing his throat nervously, his lips a bit swollen. "I had fun too."

He kissed the back on my hand and gave Myles a quick wave before walking down the hallway and getting into the elevator.

Myles immediately grabbed my hand, pulling me into the apartment to begin his interrogation.

Of course I told him everything and he was quite upset to find out that no fornication had taken place.

***
VALENTINO

"Marco, I've written you a $500 check," I told the tall, burly man as I walked into my office after dropping Mariah off.

He had been our guard for the night before, following us after we left Mariah's apartment, went to the Chinese takeout and my home, and when I took her home this morning.

I couldn't get her out of my mind at all, even as I walked into the conference room and saw my father's face in front of me, as well as my brothers'. It pained me that I looked so much like them even though I practically despised them.

Although I was enthralled by Mariah, there was still a big part of me that felt bad for keeping my true profession away from her. She was so sweet and so pure that I knew she wouldn't want to he with a guy with ties to the Mafia that ran as deep as mine. My great-grandfather, grandfather, and now my own father have all been bosses and that would only continue with my oldest brother.

"Valentino, nice of you to show up," my father remarked as my brothers snickered like hyenas beside him. "Hungover again? Or were you high this time."

"Neither," I growled, not giving them the true answer either because I knew they would make comments about it. "Let's just start."

"The call from Hawaii came in this morning. They're willing to hand us over the land for the villas, but have offered the rest for you boys to create your own places. What do you have in mind?"

"We want to build another restaurant. We think that turning our partnerships into chains will be very beneficial," Adriano, told him as Emilio nodded from beside him eagerly.

"And Valentino?"

"I want to create a park or conservation site that highlights the indigenous Hawaiian population. They're losing native land to people like us so I think it's only best to conserve as much of their land as possible and honor them."

The room fell into silence before my father let out a laugh that my brothers immediately joined in on.

"What a stupid fucking idea," he remarked, making my blood boil immediately. "I can see headlines now: 'Mafia boss's son opens up butterfly garden In Hawaii. Mafia gone soft?'"

This makes them laugh at even harder as I feel my chest rise and fall in anger. I was trying to be better than them and acknowledge the damage done to Hawaii and they were laughing.

"Call the man in Hawaii, tell him our ideas, and let him ask the community what they want more. You'll see. I'm done here."

With that, I stood from the table and stormed out of the room, stalking down the hallway to my office and slamming the door behind me.

I tried to be cordial with my father and my brothers my whole life and my attempts went to shit each and every time.

I'm done trying to please them.
***
a/n: i am beyond excited for the next chapter and idk why!!!