GIOVANNIThere are two types of people I hate in this life: those who think they can fuck with my business, and people like Adrian.I hated myself more for admiring the stupid mole under his eyes, and his stupid freckles. I hated the fact that I found his big brown eyes fascinating, and the way the corner of his eyes wrinkled up whenever he attempted a smile that he would never let out.I hated the fact that I was drawn to the way his nose crinkled when he was frustrated, and even more, I hated that I couldn't help but notice these insignificant details about him.I watched Adrian disappear into the smoothie shop, and I had to physically hold back from clenching my fists in frustration, tempted to punch my own jaw in exasperation."What the fuck is wrong with me?" I groaned out in frustration, slipping quietly back into the car. I let my eyes dropped to my crotch and I snickered when I saw the tent in my pants. "Fucking hell!"I groaned out, letting my head dropped to the headrest of
ADRIANAston's words echoed in my mind like a haunting refrain. 'Mom is very sick, she has lung cancer. I'm sorry you didn't know, she asked me not to tell you.' As I mechanically wiped down the blender for the fifth time, my thoughts seethed with a toxic mix of anger and hurt and pain.My brother's words cut through me like a knife. Mom's secret battle with lung cancer, hidden from me at her request."Did mom hate me that much to the point of keeping her sickness a secret from me?" I asked myself, my eyes burnt with tears and I wished I didn't have shift this morning, I wished I was at home so I could cry myself to sleep.I had always known that mom didn't like me that much, but she shouldn't have hated me to the point of completely cropping me out of her life.She didn't want me to know that she was sick. She didn't want me to come see her at the hospital because I was... Me. It was obvious, she never wanted to see me ever again.I absentmindedly attends to the customers, complete
GIOVANNI"Can I have your phone?" I asked, staring at the little shit with a fake smile on my face.Adrian rolled his eyes, I had half expected him to protest but then, he dipped his hand into his pants pocket and took out his phone. Just like a good boy."Please tell me you're not installing a tracker app on my phone." He said, eyes twitching as he extended his phone to me.Ignoring his smartass comment, I didn't expect him to be this obedient and... Cute? He was so cute that I couldn't help but pat his head. His hair was so soft against my rough hand which made me bit back a harsh grunt."Good boy." I smiled warmly, retrieving the phone from him and then took my hand off his head.All I wanted to do was to save my contact on his phone, but when he said something about me putting a tracker on his phone, the urge to do it was so strong."You want me to track your location?" I asked, raising my head to stare at him. I would do it if he say I should.Adrian pulled on a confuse glare and
ADRIANIn what felt like an instant, my shift at the Queen's was over, and I breathed out a sigh of relief.After saying my good-byes to my colleagues, I walked over to the locker room to fetch my bag. The first thing I did was pick my phone, my hand hovering over Giovanni's contact and I wondered if I should call him or not."Call me when you get off work I'll come by to pick you." I mimicked the way he had said it earlier, rolling my eyes as I shoved my phone into my pocket without calling him."I Love Him, huh?" I scoffed, heat spread across my face as I tried so hard to hide my grin. It was stupid that he had to save his contract that way, but I didn't know why I was blushing.Something must be wrong with my head.Exiting Queen's, I was greeted by the evening's gentle caress against my skin, and I breathed deeply, feeling alive again after hours of recycled air."It's donut O'clock!" I exclaimed as I took out my phone and quickly placed my order.Every evening after my shift at Qu
GIOVANNI"Tony Drill." I read out the name on the document my father had given to me for the fifth time, anger settled in the pit of my stomach as I bit down on my knuckles.When my father had given the document to me, I didn't expect for the task to be this difficult because how could he? How could my father send me to kill Tony? "That old fucker!" I cursed under my breath, staring at the peaceful face of Tony in the document.Tony was my father once upon a time boyfriend, yes, boyfriend. None of us —me and my two brothers— know about that side of father until mom died. Turned out Dad was gay all along and only used mom to birth his children.As the eldest among my siblings, I happened to know first that Dad was into men. I was only twelve years old when Dad brought Tony home as his boyfriend. It hadn't even been a month since Mom died that Dad brought Tony home.I really didn't care about what Dad do during his free time because I was never a fan of him. Both him and Mom.I didn't
ADRIAN "He picked Dare!" Someone yelled from across the room, even before I could get to announce what was inside the paper I had picked. I sighed, glancing at Carlos next to me, slowly raised my brow as if to ask, should we bail out on the dare? Carlos shook his head, grinning hard at me. Ever since that one time in high school someone dared me to post on the school page that I was in a relationship with our statistics teacher —which I wasn't— I had been avoiding anything truth and dare. I knew I should stop them and walk out of this room, even before they get to dare me, but I couldn't. Carlos seemed to be having fun here, and I would be an asshole to ruin it for him. "Are ya ready for the dare, baby?!" The over hyperactive voice of a girl I had just got to know to be Lisa, yelled out and I simply rolled my eyes. "Do your worst," I said to her, making the room erupted in a fit of giggles. I looked around the room, searching for who was in charge of my fate here, relief washed
GIOVANNI After waiting for another thirty minutes in my car, waiting for Adrian's call and I didn't get any, I decided to go look for him at that lousy bar he worked at."That little fucker!" I cursed angrily, gripping the wheel a little too tight.I had no idea why I was so mad that Adrian didn't call me as I had ordered him to. My brows dipped. Was I truly fixated on the fed's son already? Had he grabbed so much of my attention before I knew it?"That's a lame joke." I scoffed, chuckling angrily as I took the route that led to the bar. "That little shit is not my type."I kept repeating the words in my head, as if it would become real if I keep saying it. Honestly, Adrian wasn't my type. I loved my men rough, tall and build. Nothing about Adrian fascinated me... Or maybe it did."Fuck!" I groaned out, slamming my hands on the steering wheel. I shouldn't be like this, not when I just killed a man that was literally like a father to me, for seven fucking years.My eyes landed on Tony
ADRIANI filled a glass with water and walked out of my kitchen, and into the living room. Carlos was sitting on the floor, he was patting the little cat we rescued on our way back on its head when I walked over to them."Here," I said, handing the cup over to him. Carlos took the glass, tilted his head and pressed the glass between his lips. He took a light sip before setting the cup down. Carlos kept playing with the cat, not uttering a word.Taking my seat beside him on the floor, I took his hand, the one that wasn't on the cat, and asked. "Are you okay, Carl?"Carlos shuddered, he stayed like that for a few seconds before shrugging off his shoulders. "I'm fine. Why do you think I'm not?"There we go again. Something told me he wasn't okay, but I didn't want to push. He would tell me whatever was going on with him at his own pace."Nah. You just look..." I waved a hand in the general direction of his face. "You look a little down.""Well, it might be because I feel bad for the poo
ADRIAN The sound of my phone vibrating against my thigh jolted me awake. A heavy weight across my chest and waist made it difficult to turn over.I had no idea where I was, surrounded by an inky darkness. The only light came from the faint glow of my phone screen, still clutched in my pants pocket, but it was barely enough to illuminate my surroundings.I had little to no idea where I was, but when someone grumbled behind me and the weight on my body shifted, I suddenly realized my location."Oh no, the donut shop! I'm still at the donut shop... with Gabe!" I gasped, slapping a hand over my mouth to stifle my voice and avoid waking Gabe.I didn't really meant to sleep here. I only stayed back a little when he asked me to. All my plans were to wait for him to calm down, and then go home."Giovanni is going to kill me." I muttered, cold sweats rolled down my face as I gently shoved Gabe off me, standing up from the floor and pulled out my phone.My heart practically stopped beating whe
ADRIAN It had never occurred to me that I would one day feel the sorrow of losing someone I barely knew this deeply.Leah, I believed that was her name, was really a nice woman. She was one of the kind hearted people I had ever seen.Sometimes I found myself wondering what made me love her donuts so much. Was it because of how great they tasted, or because the treats were made by someone as special as Madam Leah?I wished she was still here, alive, so I could appreciate her for everything. The reason I always looked forward to the end of my shifts at the Queen's was her delicious donuts. It was beyond doubt that I was going to miss such a beautiful soul."Your mom," I smiled, packing up some utensils and passed them to Gabe who retrieved them from my hands without a word. "She was a nice woman."Gabe shrugged, still wouldn't say anything as we box the rest of the stuff inside the shop.He was grieving, I knew. That's why I stayed behind, helping him in any way I could, so he wouldn't
ADRIAN "Here you go ma'am." I smiled warmly, tried not to wince as I handed the customer her order of green god smoothie with some wellness boosts to go with it.Good stuff."You are such a sweet young man." The woman, who was probably in her late sixties, smiled back at me, giving my hand a light pat as she retrieved her order.Right? You can never find another sweet smoothie maker like me.Being sweet was part of the ingredients. The main ingredient even."Thanks for sipping with us! Have a berry smoothie day!" I smiled, waving at her as she exited the shop.Immediately the old woman was out of the shop, I turned around, crossing my arms as I glared at Grace who had been cleaning the same blender for the past forty minutes."Now, what?" I demanded, shooting Tobi a deadly glare when he wouldn't stop poking a hole in the poor orange. "For the love of God, you guys, please stop being weird.""Tell me you're a traitor without actually saying it." Tobi hissed, tossing the orange into th
ADRIAN "Where the hell are you?" I half-yelled into the phone, casting a nervous glance over my shoulder to make sure the guys weren't eavesdropping.I would absolutely hate myself if T-Jay should found out I was here talking about him behind his back with Marcelo."At the office." Marcelo grumbled tiredly, there was a sickening sound in the background. "I'm fucking busy."The sound of metal hitting something solid, like a wall or floor, echoed again, followed by a muffled groan.What the fuck was that sound?It was as if he was at a butcher shop."That means you're not coming here." I asked, deciding to let go of the weird thoughts that were running through my mind.It wouldn't do me any good to know if Marcelo was really at a butcher shop, butchering a human instead of beef.Fuck!This whole thing was messed up."I will be there. Soon. Not now." Marcelo grumbled again, he was sounding a little bit irritated now, instead of sounding tired like before."You're a bastard, Marcelo!" I
ADRIAN Working at Great Fisher had never felt so gloomy. Having already informed my boss of my decision to quit, today being my last day made every task feel surreal. It was strange to go about my duties as if it weren't my final day here.Noah had been acting weird since my shift started. He wouldn't talk to me, and he wouldn't even look me in the eye. He was straight-up avoiding me.I hadn't even told him yet, and I wondered what was making him act like that. My shift flew by in a blur, and before I knew it, it was already time for me to leave.I disappeared into the backroom, packing my bag, when someone walked in, slamming the door shut behind them.It was as if they were trying to announce their presence."You're really gonna quit?" Noah half-yelled, and I felt my body shudder a little at how annoyed he sounded.So this is what it's all about? "H–how did you know?" I asked, swallowing down a ball of lump as Noah walked over to me.He plugged into the empty beside me on the ben
GIOVANNI Adrian had disappeared into the building, and it had been over twenty minutes since he went in, but he still hadn't come out.Standing here in the cold, with the scent of animals and fur wafting from the vet hospital, was making me feel sick. I wished I could go in there and drag him out, but I couldn't. Can't get close to those whining pets.I would never understand humans' obsession with animals. I mean, we have enough animals amongst us humans already, why need another one?"Fucking dammit!" I grumbled, leaning slightly against the bike. I needed to do something to distract myself from my surroundings. So I pulled out my phone from my pocket, dialing Dominic.He picked up on the first ring and I wondered if he had been wanting to call me as well."Did you schedule a meeting with Price Russell?" I asked, my hand clenched tightly inside my coat pocket as I exhaled deeply.I fucking need a smoke.One wasn't enough.The line went dead for just two seconds before Dominic grum
ADRIAN I fucking owned a bike now, and it was my dream bike.The last time I had a bike to myself was years ago, back in 7th grade when I was still in middle school.I had come first in my class that year, beating Aston for the first time. For the first time in forever, Dad was so proud of me. He got me a bike as a reward, something he later took away from me when my grades slightly dropped in 8th grade.I wasn't able to get my bike back, and it took me over three years to get over the hurt and pain of losing my first-ever gift from Dad.But now, no one is going to take this new bike away from me. Giovanni told me it was a gift from him to me, and he would never take it back.Harley!My fucking Harley!My heart almost jumped out of my chest when Giovanni took me to the garage this morning and showed me the bike. At first, I thought he was joking when he said it was mine. I only believed it was real when he asked me to sign the receiptFucking hell!I was still on cloud nine about own
GIOVANNI I wasn't at all surprised when Adrian's demeanor turned cold immediately that night, upon mentioned of him returning to school.I had read his profile so many times that I knew he didn't have a college degree. I couldn't help but wonder why, especially since his brother was nearing graduation and seemed to be doing well.I knew Adrian wanted to say something to me, but he forced out a smile and said he'd think about it. I was tempted to press for an explanation about why he dropped out of college, especially since financial struggles seemed unlikely given his father's wealth. However, I decided to hold back. If he felt comfortable enough to share his struggles with his family regarding his sexuality, I trusted that he'd eventually open up about why he left college when he was ready.I wanted to be someone he could always turn to. Someone he could trust and rely on. I don't want to be like his family who made him think less of himself.It had been three days since we had tha
ADRIAN When I asked Giovanni to tell me more about himself, I never really expected his story to be so heart-wrenching.I had always thought being a mobster was the life he chose, but I never really considered that he had no say in the person he wanted to become. His future had been decided from the day he was born into the family. He wasn't born for himself, but was born and raised for the organisation.All the bad things he said the organisation made him do at a young age were the most depressing. How could anyone starve and beat up a twelve-year-old boy just because he refused to torture an innocent person?Giovanni told me how he was forced to watch people die in the underground torture room where he was held for a year. In an attempt to break him and mold him into one of them, he was ordered to torture people, effectively stripping him of his innocence. Each time he refused, people were killed, and he was forced to witness their gruesome deaths.I knew he wasn't a good person; G