Kissing The Moon Goodbye - A Midnight Mafia Novel

Twenty-One

Alessio

Pietro handed me a foul smelling concoction, I accepted it without arguing. It would help the hang over dramatically.

"How are you feeling?" He asked standing above me with arms crossed over his chest.

I grunted in response and drank the potion.

"Head?"

"Hurts."

"You hit it pretty hard last night. The back." He explained casually. My finger twitched, almost tempted to reach back and feel for myself but I resisted. "You fell out of the tree." He further explained.

"Hm." I feigned interest and kept drinking. He apparently didn't feel like clarifying how I had gotten into a tree in the first place.

"Stomach?"

"Fine."

"Heart?"

I looked up sharply. "I'm fine." I stood up off the bed I was sitting on. "I don't know why I wouldn't be."

"Come on Alessio. It's me you're talking to." He reminded me and I sighed.

"I will be fine."

"It's okay to not be fine too sometimes you know. What are you going to do? Get his initials tattooed to you and pretend like otherwise he too never existed?"

"No tattoo." I grunted and got a pair of slacks out. "Tattoos are reserved for family and those with half a shred of loyalty to them."

"Oh please. I remind you again. You're talking to me."

"Right, right, the guru."

"I was up with you all night. I dragged you home after four in the morning. You're not exactly a talkative drunk what between your simultaneously trying to kill everyone and tell them how much they mean to you in the same breath. You did choke me while telling me I was a good cousin by the way."

"Clearly I didn't choke you long enough because here you stand before me."

"You're missing my point here."

With an impatient sigh I decided to humor him. "And your point is dearest cousin?"

"My point is we tell each other things. Let's not pretend Sergio was just some guy who left the family, let's not pretend you didn't wish to do the same at one point in time. Let's not pretend this is just...okay."

"Do you need to talk to someone about it? You know Madre always keeps someone on call for the guys and their little break downs."

"I'm upset, yeah. I know it may hurt your ego a little to hear, but I care about Sergio just as much as I care about you. Years apart has not changed that for me." He didn't shy away from it, he didn't seem embarrassed or dismissive. He said it with a shrug like it was just normal, acceptable, feelings he was having here.

I guess in some world, they were.

"Did you and Kate have a talk when you woke?" He changed the subject slowly.