After spending a lovely day, and night, at the beach, though there had been some heavy parts, Griffin and I were both back in Rome. It was Saturday today and Griffin had asked if I would like to go with him to a dinner. All his brothers were going, and he said he wanted me to meet them.
It was a huge step forward for us but I had readily accepted.
I got dressed in a nice evening dress. It was the most gorgeous shade of teal and went down to my calves. I'd paired it with strappy Rene Caovilla heels to dress it up and left my hair down. Some black eyeliner and pink lipstick later, I looked pretty nice.
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"Wow." Griffin breathes, hooded eyes taking me in as I walked out of the gate towards him. I smile.
"Hi." I giggle like a teenager when he grips my hips, kissing me in greeting.
"You look good enough eat." He growls in my ear. I laugh.
We both got in the car and he drove us to a fancy restaurant where we met up with all 3 of his brothers and Alana, who looked absolutely beautiful in a flowy black dress that showed off her baby bump. She was close to giving birth now.
Aswell as Damon and a few other people that I didn't recognize.
Dinner went by as smooth as I had hoped. I sat between Griffin, to my left and Alana, to my right. Me and Alana spent the entirety of the ordeal talking and as the night was coming to an end, a girl came over to us, greeting Alana.
Griffin had just walked away to talk to his friends for a while.
"This is Ariel Russo." Alana introduces me to the girl. "Ariel, this is Anastasia." She gestures.
"Stassie McCall, it's lovely to meet you." Anastasia smiles as we shake hands.
"You too." I smile politely.
She tells us that she is here with one of Damon's brothers. We slip into conversation about the last vacation she took in Amsterdam when Alana excusesherself to go to the bathroom.
"Being pregnant is no piece of cake." she rolls her eyes, just as her husband comes over to hold her hand and lead her away. "Oh cake! Babe can we get cake?" She asks as they walk away. I smile at that. They are so cute.
Thankfully, Stassie is nice and easy to talk to, and we continue our chat.
"So, Griffin Moretti." She makes a wary face. I smile. "I'm sorry, I just. I've seen him around, he just doesn't strike you as a relationship kind of guy." she says, glancing to where he's stood, listening to Damon speak with a scary expression on his face. I laugh.
"I could understand that. I suppose I just got lucky." I shrug briefly. I didn't want to defile the personality Griffin was so clearly not comfortable sharing with just anyone and everyone.
"Yeah. Well I guess Jace is like that around other people too. It's the curse of being in the Mafia." She smiles, referring to her boyfriend. The conversation soon shifts. She is very talkative, so she kept it going. "My dad is planning on retiring early. It's weird because he loves his work so much. But obviously my mom supports it, she loves vacationing. He's a Consigliere so he doesn't get alot of free time." she mentions.
"Oh?" That piques my interest.
"I am trying to secure a spot as Consigliere." "A current one is... taking early retirement."
He had to have been talking about Consigliere McCall.
"He's just retiring for no reason?" I question.
"Yeah. I personally think it's not a great idea, he's very invested in what he does, he wouldn't make a very inspiring retiree." she jokes.
"So when did he decide on making his retirement official? Has he said anything?" I ask. I realise I might be coming off creepy but I was so curious. And I knew I was never getting any information out of Zio or dad.
I wanted to talk about this with Griffin, but our day had already been so heavy yesterday, I couldn't bring it up.
"No, he's still deciding.." She trails off looking behind me. I turn to find Griffin stood there, an unreadable expression on his face.
"Oh hi." I smile.
GRIFFIN
As Damon drones on about how sad he is that even I had a girlfriend and he didn't, I looked around the room again, spottinb Ariel talking to the same girl she had been for several minutes now.
I excuse myself, walking up behind her in time to catch the end of her sentence.
"--when did he decide on making his retirement official? Has he said anything?" she asks the woman infront of her, who I correctly identify as Jace Romanos girlfriend, Anastasia McCall.
McCall.
Unease twines my spine as I remember my conversation with Aaron a month ago.
"I hear he's being voted to a Consigliere's position."
"Who's stepping down?"
"Consigliere McCall."
Why was Ariel asking about the retirement of her uncle's supposed predecessor? I reel my thoughts back to safe ground. Ariel couldn't have an alternate motive. She was the most moral person I knew. She wouldn't.
"No, he's still deciding.." the girl trails off when she notices me standing there. Ariel turns around and smiles.
"Oh hi." her sweet smile wipes away any chance of doubt. She was too good to be true. But she was true.
I wrap an arm around her, just as Jace approached, taking away his girlfriend. Ariel said her goodbyes and then I had her to myself again.
"I can't wait to rip this dress off of you." I murmur in her ear, making her squirm in my arms.
"Then what are we still doing here?" She whispers. I grin placing a kiss just under her ear.
God I lov--
"Ahm." We hear someone clear their throat and I lift my head from her neck to see Ares and Alana stood there. She had the biggest smile on her face. "I just wanted to say bye." She awkwardly maneuvers a hand around Ariel while Im still holding her, resting it above mine. They do the odd, cheek kisses that women do then with another suggestive smile from Alana, they leave.
