Romancing The Mob (ON HOLD)

Chapter III

Ch. 3

            “Papa, I do not need a babysitter-“

            “Laura, we are not having this discussion! Either you go out with Alexi or you do not go out at all!”

Carlos Santos roared into the phone as he received a massage in his cabana on the beach. He ended the call and Laura slammed her end of the phone down too, glaring at the receiver. This was ridiculous, why couldn’t she go out on her own? She was 19 years old for god’s sake! And she’d been to Paris enough times to know her way around! For two days she had been cooped up in the flat with nothing to do. At night, her father invited over Cher, his Paris mistress, and Laura had to sit through a meal with the atrocious woman, forcing smiles and ignoring the glares the woman sent her way. Then, Laura had the pleasure of being woken up several times in the middle of the night to hear Cher moaning loudly or screaming her father’s name. after two days of minimal sleep and awkward dinners, Laura was dying to get out of here. All her friends were in England doing internships over the summer, and she had even had a spot too with her best friend Elizabeth, but Carlos had broken his word and whisked her off to Paris instead of letting her attend too. Elizabeth sounded so happy on the phone, that Laura didn’t have the heart to tell her she wasn’t enjoying herself too.

Determined to leave the flat, and without Alexi, Laura looked around the living room. Her father had told her that Alexi was stationed downstairs, but could be at the penthouse in a moment if she needed him. Well, Laura didn’t need him. Laura went to her room and changed into a pair of black dressy shorts and a men’s style blue dress shirt with light grey pinstripes. Stuffing her feet into a pair of grey Tori Burch shoes, Laura grabbed her bag and her sunglasses, and got in the elevator. Stopping it at the 5th floor, Laura got off and walked the remaining flights down. She peeked through the window to see Alexi standing by the elevator doors, talking to another security guard. Perfect timing. Slipping out through the service entrance of the apartment, Laura was finally free to roam the streets of Paris. With a relieved sigh, Laura set off towards the art district.

            After going to many museums and gazing at the art, and a small lunch at a wonderful bistro she knew, Laura wandered into a park to stretch out on the grass. Taking out her sketch pad and pencils, Laura began to loosely sketch the people around her. The little girl trying to feed bread to a duck, but being too scared. The old woman sitting on a bench with her husband, arguing over something, but still holding hands. Laura was engrossed in her work, and didn’t notice when someone stretched out beside her and surveyed her work. Laura sighed, tilting her head to the side and smudging her forehead with charcoal in thought.

            “Your light is changing, you can’t quite capture it, non?”

            Laura jumped at the sound of his voice, and turned in surprise to see Alexi stretched out leisurely beside her, his head propped up by an arm bent at the elbow. She tried not to let her eyes follow the line of his body in his tight black shirt and dark jeans, but it was too tempting, and she felt herself blushing as she realized he had found her, and she was ogling him.

            “How did you find me” She demanded fiercely, suddenly very angry.

            “Dio, she speaks,” He muttered, looking away from her and to the pond in front of them. “You are predictable, Signorina, the art galleries were a given, the bistro was an option, but the park was irresistible.”

            Flustered, Laura began packing away her things, throwing her pencils and sketch book into her bag carelessly. “Well, if you are done tormenting me, we can go now.”