* * *

I don’t recall the last time we were all here together like this except for family Sundays, which hadn’t happened in a while. Shit has been going haywire just lately, what with Mouth leaving bodies all over the city for me to clean up. But maybe this was good for her. She seemed more relaxed with ma and the girls and her laughter helped ease the knot in my gut.

Just then the back door opened and trouble walked in. Like I need this shit now too on top of everything else. I took a deep breath and prayed for peace. Coulda saved my damn breath.

“Hey Jimmy limp-limp how’s it sitting?” Shit, her and my kid brother, were still dancing around each other and the ass was sulking. He looked at her like he wanted to strangle her but one look at my face had him back pedalling quick.

“Need a cushion for that hole in your…?”

“Mouth!” I gave her a warning glare, which she ignored. I had to pull her down onto my lap to keep the two of them from going at each other. The fact that his ass was taking forever to heal didn’t help matters either.

“So Arianna, we’ve narrowed it down to two florists.” Ma broke out the big ass scrapbook she was using to keep tabs on the wedding stuff. “That’s my cue, let’s go boys.”

“Hold it Don Genovese, this was your idea. If I have to deal with it, so do you.”

“Babe, all I have to do is show up in the monkey suit, say a few words, kiss the fuck outta you and we’re done.” Talk about steam coming out of ears. The other men were already shaking their heads and giving me looks. My sisters were bitching about me being a caveman and ma was telling me to watch my language.

My two sisters in law were laughing their heads off and bemoaning the fact that I know nothing. Whipped fucks, of course for both their weddings my sisters had had their asses knee deep in tulle and whatever the fuck else Mouth was babbling on about when she was having her little episode. Fucking nut.

“Mouth seriously, I love you, but I’m not choosing flowers, what the fuck? Don’t do that.” I pointed a finger at her when she gave me the sulky lip pout and the puppy eyes, what’s a guy to do? Now my dick, which I’d barely got back under control, was perking the fuck up again. But since I couldn’t have her with all these nosy fucks in my place I might as well go take care of some other shit.

I put my hand over her tummy and nibbled on her ear. “I’ll let you ride tonight if you let me off the hook.” She likes being in charge when we fuck, it’s not always I give her the opportunity. I like fucking into her from behind or the missionary; all manly positions of power. It’s a sign of what our life together will be like when even the sexual positions are like battle play.

She melted as much as it was possible for her to melt and let me off the hook. “Okay but you don’t get to mention the other thing.” That’s what she thinks. I’m gonna tan her ass for sneaking out when I specifically told her to stay put. Then if she doesn’t brain me, I’ll let her fuck me to sleep.

I signalled Mikey and Tony to follow me before their wives found something for them to do, like laundry or some fuck. The twins gave me a pained look when they realized I was leaving them on guard duty again so soon after she’d given them the slip. Too fucking bad, that’s what I pay them for. Though I did sympathize with their plight. Mouth is a fucking handful on a good day.

“Son, where are you going?”

“Ma, I got things to do.” Like trying to make my shit legit while assholes are trying to get me at every turn. The three old fucks had cleaned up Mouth’s latest road kill, but there was still the fallout to deal with. The congressman she offed had friends. They’re gonna have questions.

She sniffed and went back to her spaghetti, mumbling some shit under her breath and I snapped my fingers at the others to get a move on. “Why don’t we come with you boyo?” Poppy got up from his seat and his cronies followed. Poor ma. So much for her family gathering! I beat feet for the exit and started to tell them they weren’t invited but that shit got cut short quick.

“Sit.” Well shit, I was almost out the door.

“Ma, come on.” Four grown men tried to reason with her but the tyrant wasn’t having it. “I said sit. This family have not had a quiet moment together in weeks and now that I have you all here we’re gonna sit down together like civilized people and have a meal.”

“Ma, I hate to burst your bubble, but the Rossis aren’t civilized, they’re barely human. And they ain’t no family of mine.” Mouth kicked me under the table when I took my seat again and I didn’t miss the sighs of relief from her team.

“Shane Flanagan, I taught you better manners than that. Now behave yourself and let’s get this wedding stuff taken care of. It was your idea to speed things up after all, so it’s only fair.” If not for Mouth’s shit I’d move back to the city, too many fucking females around here and all the women in this family knows how to do is hand out orders.

“Jimmy, why didn’t you bring your little pillow so you could sit son?” Oh shit. He’s still touchy about his wound and since ma still has no idea that Mouth had put one in his ass, I was trying to keep it that way. Mouth almost fell off my lap laughing and I had to squeeze her sides to quiet her down.

His face heated up when Mouth started her shit, and of course the sisters in law who knew the whole story had to laugh like the asses they are.

He mumbled some shit and headed for the door. I feel bad for my brother. Since Mouth came along I’ve hardly had any time for him. Now with all the shit that has been going on my time was even more scarce. I’ll make it up to him but if he don’t stop letting Mouth get under his skin, I’ll let her have his bitch ass.

I watched her while the women yakked away about floral arrangements and fuck all that I could give a fuck, to see if it would trigger anything, but she was still acting like business as usual. I still wasn’t sure if that was good or not, and the shit was making me more than a little antsy.

Her pain in the ass old man came over and nudged me while she was preoccupied. I tapped my piece on my side under my shirt and the fucker grinned and inclined his head. “I’ll be right back baby.” I lifted her off my lap and sat her back on the chair before glaring at her old man. I followed him out of the room with poppy and the uncle bringing up the rear after assuring ma that we weren’t going too far.

“What do you fuckers want?” I turned to glare at them as soon as we cleared the room.

“We want an update. She looks fine but what do you think?” I’m not gonna go soft because of the real care in their eyes. They shoulda taken care of this shit long ago.

“She’ll be fine because I’ll make sure of it. Once I deal with this asshole who killed your wife she should be good as new.”

“Good, that’s good. So, you’re going after him?”

“That’s the plan. I’m taking her with me, it will be her last hit.”

“I’m not sure about that, it’s in the blood. She’s got the taste for it now.” Uncle Al the fuck laughed like that shit was okay. Uncle or not I was ready to plug his ass.

“No, and I don’t want you two filling her head with shit. Now is that all?” I turned to head back the way I came. One more second and I just might give in and off both their asses for what they’d done to her, or let her become more like.

“Something on your mind, Rossi?” Her old man was looking kinda sketchy. In all the chaos I hadn’t given much thought to how he felt about the fact that I’d found Tommy the knife after he’d spent so many years looking for the guy and he was right under his nose the whole time.

“I’m thinking maybe me and Al should go take care of him.”

“I know you want to take care of this guy but he’s Mouth’s. He may have taken your wife and sister but he took her mother, and he did it in a way that still fucks with her to this day, anyone else touches him they’ll answer to me.” I glared at the three of them until they got the point and turned to leave again.

“Hold your horses son. I got a call from Don Luigi. The other families wanna have a meet.”

“Have a meet with who?” I looked at poppy like what the fuck did you do now?

“You.” This old man is always up to some shit. If he weren’t my poppy I’d have ended his ass a long time ago too, just on principle. His answer registered and got my hackles up.

“The fuck for? I already had a sit down with their asses a year ago.” It’s never a good thing when the heads of the ruling ‘families’ call for a meet. I could take a wild guess as to what they wanted though, and this shit was just one more headache I didn’t need.

“Yeah, that was then but things kinda changed since then and now they wanna bend your ear a little.”

“I ain’t got nothing for them poppy, the time for that shit has long passed.”

“I hear you boy, but you know how we do things. Just hear what they have to say.”

“Shit.” I knew what they wanted and I wasn’t interested. Like I said, I ain’t got fuck all for none of ‘em. But these are not the types to just go away and leave me to my shit peacefully.

I knew this day would come, knew they’d try to muscle in on my shit after the fact, but that shit wasn’t about to happen. I was doing this shit for my son, my family with Mouth. I wasn’t about to let old ties fuck that shit up. I wasn’t interested in going to war either just when I’d settled all the old scores I had to, so it looks like I have no choice. Fuck my life!

“When?” Might as well get the shit over and done because they weren’t gonna go away. When I first made moves to go legit, I told them I was pulling out. Poppy had started letting go of some of the more risky attachments before I took over. We hadn’t lost much of anything, because while he was doing that, I was building the foundation of our legitimate enterprise.

It was easier than if he had tried to make the change himself. We’d used the contacts we had in government and other so called legal avenues, though some of those fucks were shadier than the fucking crime bosses. But at least on paper they were good for business. I’d offered on poppy’s say so to bring some of the others along, especially the ones that had done business with poppy, but they’d damn near laughed in my face.

None of them had any real interest back then. They were too fat and happy with the way things were. Now that I’d set the groundwork and done all the dirty work they no doubt wanted in. Fuck that. I don’t even like half of them anyway and they had no uses for me in the past. Poppy had gained respect because of who he was and where he’d come from. But some of those fucks still thought an Irishman had no place in their Italian boy’s club. I’d shown all their asses though, now they want to ride on my coattails. My ass!

“You know this is going to rub some people wrong.” Poppy kept his voice at the right level so as not to appear to be telling me what the hell to do. He knows that’s the surest way to get me to do the opposite. He should know, he’s the same way and he’d taught me everything I know about the life. He also knew where he had a diplomacy switch mine was fucked at birth. I’d rather die than let some other fucker tell me how to run my shit.

“We knew that going in. I told you I have it covered. We’ve already eliminated most of the threat; we’re in the final stages now. I’m not about to let anything get in the way.” The shit was starting to piss me off. I thought I was done with them. I’d done my part and felt no way about leaving them in the dust.

We’d severed all ties to the underground world and done it in a way that there would be no hard feelings, and no one coming out of the woodwork at some later date claiming we owed them shit. That shit hadn’t been a walk in the park, but it hadn’t been the impossible trek some of them had made it out to be when they were busy telling me that it would never work.

“We’ve got your back.” It was the first time I’d seen that look on her dad’s face. I knew the strength and power behind that statement and accepted it as such. I nodded in acknowledgement and we went back to join the others. Mouth eyed me down when I took my seat and pulled her back down to sit on my lap.

“What’s that about?” She asked out the side of her mouth so as not to alert ma who was in the middle of a dissertation on wedding etiquette or some fuck.

“Nothing for you to worry about sweetheart.” She huffed but since we had a full house kept her shit to herself for once. She was still holding it together and ma had moved on from flowers to color schemes and silverware or some such shit.