Arrogant Prick: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance by Tessa Thorne Page B

you call me?”
    I turn around and look her in the eyes. Maybe I don’t have to give her up, if I live through my mission. Maybe I can be happy with her. But I’ve always been a realist. The odds of surviving through this have never been good. I'm only one man, trying to take down an entire familia .
    I pull my cellphone out of my pocket, press in my code and hand it to her. “Put in your name, so you’re not just a number in my texts.”
    She takes the phone from me quickly and hands it back as soon as she’s done. “I want to see you again,” she says quietly.
    I press my lips against hers, relishing the taste of her mouth one last time. Giving her up is far harder than I thought it’d be. I turn around before I give up on avenging my family. I couldn’t be there for them when they needed my help. I can't fail them again.
    Even if I have to give up the only lover that’s ever meant anything to me.

    * * *
    T he oiled leather creaks as I slide into the driver’s seat of the 1969 Chevy Camaro. I close the door behind me with a loud thud and lean back against the headrest. I put one hand on the stick shift and the other on the leather-wrapped steering wheel.
    I worked on this car with my father. No matter how much we fought, we could always come back together, working silently on this car, and eventually we’d get along again. My mom loved to jokingly refer to her as our therapist.
    I blink away the sting in my eyes, remembering when Elena asked me if I would chauffeur her to the junior prom in this car. I had told my CIA handler I would need to be back in New York on that day.
    I slam my fist against the steering wheel, and the Camaro’s horn echoes off the concrete of the parking lot. I want to avenge her. I need to avenge her and my parents.
    Then why am I wasting my time by fucking around with the daughter of one of the Pavonis? I take the cellphone out of my pocket, prepared to smash it, but I hesitate. This has gone past her just being a good fuck. It felt good to talk to her. I felt relieved to share my burden with her. Is it so wrong to hope that I can be happy after all this is over? Can’t I succeed in my mission, hoping I live through it to spend time with her?
    I was too cold to her when I left. I need to tell her I’m not angry with her. I unlock the phone and open it to the contacts screen to send her a text, but my thumb pauses over the message button. I read it again and again. This is impossible. It can’t be right. But no matter how many times I read her name, it says the same thing:
    Alessandra Pavoni
    Everything makes sense now. The way she acts like no one’s ever said a cross word to her in her life. The wise guys watching over her. No captain’s daughter would be treated like this. I haven’t gotten the files on the Pavonis yet, but I know enough. There's no one else in the family with that name.
    Alessandra is the daughter of Don Enzo Pavoni. The man who ordered the hit on my family.

Chapter Seven

Alessandra
    “ E verything’s gone to hell since last night.” I’m on the phone with Sarah while I sit on the bench in my closet.
    “Speak up,” she says. “I can’t hear you.”
    “I said everything’s gone to hell.” My voice is barely above a whisper. I don’t want my mom to hear me in case she’s trying to snoop from outside my door. “My mom was raging the moment I got home.”
    “But you went home right after the club closed, right?”
    Sarah still doesn’t get how things work around here.
    “Yeah, I came straight home.” Not that I wanted to. I wish I hadn’t asked Gio about his family. I can’t believe I messed that up.
    “Do you think they found out what you did last night?”
    I can feel the heat rising in my face the moment she mentions that. Just thinking about what I did last night makes me squirm in my seat. It’s like some surreal dream. I still can't believe I let him fuck me against my window like that. It feels like it happened to someone else.
    “I