The Mafia Leader

5

Kieran

What my father had said on the plane stuck with me. I didn't like her, right? I mean if I did, I wouldn't know. I'd never truly liked a girl. "Kieran?" I looked at her. "You okay? You've been spacing out all day." I nodded.
"I'm fine. Thank you." I said, not fully convincing her, but before she could ask again, my father came over.
"Okay, I'm all set." I nodded.
"Okay." We got in the car, the driver smiling at us. When we got to the hotel, the man behind the front desk was eager to help us. Well, help Ava.
"Come possiamo aiutarla, signora?" She blushed and looked to me.
"In inglese per favore. Per il bene della signora." He nodded.
"How can we help you, ma'am?" She looked to me again. She was too nervous. But to be fair, I'm paying. And he is gawking at her like a prime rib.
"We have a reservation. Two rooms. Name is Kieran Esposito." His eyes widened, glancing to me and I nodded gently. He visibly swallowed, before typing frantically.
"Yes sir, let me just get your keycards."
"I paid ahead."
"Y-yes sir, it's on file."
"Room service charges will be put on that card."
"Yes sir." The man said, handing us the keycards. I nodded to him, handing her one of the keycards to our shared room. I hand my father his card and he walked towards the elevator.
"I'll take the stairs..." she said softly. I shook my head.
"We're on the 9th floor." She visibly shuddered. I leaned down to meet her ear. "You'll be okay. I'm right here. Okay, girasole?" She nodded and I led her to the elevator. "Give her a second papa." He nodded. She looked around for a moment, and nodded, leaning into me. I wrapped my arm around her gently, nodding to my father. He pressed the button for the 9th floor, all the while, giving me a look. "She's afraid of elevators." He nodded, giving me another one, with an underlying tone. When the doors opened, she was the first one out.
"Thank you." She said, blushing. I nodded and led her to our room. I opened the door, moving so she could go in first. She gasped as she walked in. "This is our room?!" I nodded as she looked at me.
"Well, this isn't exactly Holiday Inn." I said as I closed the door.
"We have an infinity pool! On the 9th floor!" She said loudly. I laughed.
"This is the room I usually get. For me and papa. But papa said he'd prefer a room to himself." She nodded wordlessly. She couldn't keep still, looking at one thing for a max of three seconds before fixing her gaze on something else. "Do you want the back room?" She looked at me. "That door is the second bedroom." I said, pointing to a door. She walked into the room and squealed. I walked over. "I take that as a yes?" She hugged me. There was a knock on the door, and I went to answer it. She returned to her room, probably to admire something she'd seen earlier.
"Signore, le sue valigie." I nodded and let him in.
"Ava, our bags." I called and she walked out, smiling at the man.
"Thank you so much sir." She said, to which he looked to me.
"Vuole ringraziarti per aver portato i nostri bagagli." I translated for her.
"Oh!" He said, and smiled at her. "Nessun problema, signora!"
"No problem ma'am." I translated back. She smiled.
"This is one of the many moments I'm glad you're bilingual." She said, looking at me. I chuckled and handed him 100 euros. He was almost to the door when she said something. "Signore?" He turned to her and she handed him 20 more. "It's all I can afford, but thank you so much." He looked to me.
"Vuole darti una mancia in più e ti dice grazie mille." I roughly translated. He smiled and put his hand to his chest before extending it in a thank you kind of motion. She returned the gesture and he left. "Very good Italian there."
"I heard it a couple times and deducted what it meant so." I nodded. She grabbed her bags, blushing as she grabbed the bag that had caused issues before, and scuttled off to her room. My dad came by later, and she came out of her room while we were talking business. "Kieran, have you seen my little purple suitcase?" She asked, to which I shook my head. "I'm going to go ask if they've seen it in the lobby."
"I'll come with."
"I don't need a translator. I have my phone." She said, waving her phone a bit with a translation app open.
"Yes, and while I am confident that your little app should work fine, you aren't walking up and down nine flights of stairs. I'll wait by the elevator." She blushed and nodded. "Papa, I'll be back." He nodded and I walked with her to the elevator. "Ready?" She shook her head as we stepped inside. Once downstairs, she retrieved her small suitcase, and they apologized profusely. She smiled to them and waved as she returned to me. "That's all of your belongings?" She nodded. Once we returned, my father handed her a card.
"What's this for?"
"An expense card." He said.
"For what?"
"It has $5,000 American on it. For emergencies, or in your case, normal spending money." Her eyes bulged. "I had a feeling you didn't bring a swimsuit, so why don't you go get one?"
"Are you sure?" My father nodded.
"The PIN number is 1047. You two go shopping. Get some souvenirs." She nodded and soon we were off to a mall in the area. She was looking through the swimsuits, with a frown on her face.
"What's wrong?"
"I could find these in Walmart for $20, this tag says €300."
"And?"
"It's so expensive." She looked at me like it was an issue.
"Um, you are aware, you are spending my money? Not yours?"
"Exactly my point." I looked at the ground, shaking my head.
"Do you like the suit?" I asked her and she nodded. "Go try it on."
"But-"
"I will buy it, if it's the one you like. Take a few others too that way you don't go back and forth from the rack." She nodded in defeat before looking around the swim suit section. She grabbed a white floral print bikini with really long straps. Why anyone would need two foot long straps on a bikini, I have no clue. I was kind of glancing around and saw one I thought might look nice. "Hey what do you think of this?" It was a black bikini with leaf print on it. The bottoms were high waisted. She nodded after a moment and grabbed it in her size. She grabbed a few others before going to the changing room. As I was walking over to the changing room to wait for her, a girl smiled at me.
"Hey cutie." I gave her a curt smile, and turned away, but I felt her hand on my arm. "Oh come on."
"Let go of me." I said. She giggled. "Miss, let go of me."
"Oh come on, play nice." I removed her hand from my arm and walked over to the changing room.
"Kieran?"
"Yeah, let me see." I said, genuinely curious.
"It makes me look fat." She said, verbally upset.
"I'm sure it doesn't. Let me see."
"I'm not coming out." I sighed.
"Are you decent?"
"What?!"
"Do you have your tits covered?" I could sense her blushing through the door.
"Y-yes but-" She squeaked mid sentence, shocked by the fact that I had come in. "Kieran, get out!"
"You don't look fat." I said softly, looking at the way the swimsuit I chose fit her. She looked up at me. Oh god, I'm screwed. "I'm serious." She looked at herself in the mirror, picking at a invisible roll above the waistband. "You look beautiful, girasole. And you don't look fat."
"Thank you." She said softly.
"But let me ask you this." She looked at me in the mirror. "Would one of those sheer things women wear to the beach make you more comfortable?" She hesitated before nodding. "Okay, I'll be right back then." I stepped out, and went to find a worker. I tapped the woman's shoulder, smiling when she turned around.
"Come posso aiutarla signore?"
"English?" She nodded. "Hi. I'm with a girl here, and she wants one of those like sheer things?"
"A cover up?" I nodded.
"To pair with this bathing suit?" I said, grabbing it off the rack. She nodded and led me a couple rows over, pulling a few and handing them to me.
"That is what I would suggest. They go, uh, very well." She said, fumbling with her English a little. I nodded.
"Thank you." I went back to the dressing room. "You decent?"
"Yes." I went in and handed them to her. She put on a few before finding one that made her stop and look. It was a black floor length tie up robe made of sheer lace.
"You like this one?" I asked. She nodded, and I could tell she was about to cry. "Hold on what's this?" I asked her.
"I'm sorry. I can't spend your money." She said, taking the robe off.
"Woah, freeze. Girasole, I don't mind."
"But-"
"How about this." I said, having her sit down. "I'll pay with my own card. That way I'm spending the money." She took a few moments. "You obviously like the swimsuit, but try the others on. " She nodded, and I walked out, sitting on the bench. When she came out I smiled at her. "You like any of the others?" She nodded, and handed me the black one, the white one, and the robe.
"Are you sure?" I nodded and walked her up to the counter.
"Will this be all?" The man asked, to which I nodded. Once they were paid for, I swung into a electronic store.
"I'll just be a second." I told her. "I forgot my speaker." She nodded and followed me into the store. Once that was bought we headed back to the hotel.