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Chapter Twenty-Five
Bella and I had fun during the drive back. I had my head, I was no longer the slightest bit tipsy, and we tried to see what my new baby could do. We hopped on the Belt Parkway, only having to go one exit until we got off at Bath Avenue.
But for the two minutes, I was able to gun it to seventy.
Bella squealed, and I hadn't smiled as wide in a dog's age.
It was great.
"That was cool!" Bella shouted. "I know it can go much faster than what you were going." She looked out the window.
I sped up, going mad fast, but then I put my arm out when I had to stop short—red light and all.
Bella giggled. "My gram used to do that."
That kind of killed my jovial mood. "Again, I'm so sorry about that. I know youse were close."
When we were kids, Jasper never said much about their parents. Their mother died while actually giving birth to Bella, and then his father disappeared a few years later.
I know he used to suspect it was a mob hit—he told me that when we were like thirteen—although he knew nothing about his father. But that shit isn't surprising—not in this neighborhood, where it seems everyone is connected. Everyone might have a different story, but around here everyone has a mob tie.
They moved in with their grandmother right after their mom died. Even if he died young, their pops didn't stick around to do much while he was alive. Grandma Cigno raised them, was all they ever really knew. When we were kids, Jasper would get into moods—when he'd miss their parents.
But Grandma Cigno was their heart, someone they could always rely on.
She nodded. "Jasper sold all her things . . . I wanted to keep it all. Jasper…He thinks logically, I guess."
Since I never knew my grandparents, I was close to Grandma Cigno, too.
We were all close, actually. My father and Colleoni Senior would look out for her. But I don't know what happened after I left.
"Mr. Colleoni offered Jasper money, but . . . you know how proud he can be. Instead, he offered Jasper the management job at Sal's."
I nodded. "I own that now." My tone was hushed. "It's mine. I have all this money—a house, the pizzeria . . . I've barely had time to let it process."
"That's really cool." She smiled. "You're set for life—"
"And if I am, that means you and Jasper are, too. You guys are like siblings—"
She groaned. "You just killed the last of my buzz—calling us siblings." She grimaced.
It made me chuckle because...I shouldn't refer to Bella as that nowadays, not with how I feel. That's fucking gross. "Why, you wanna be my girl or something?" I gave her a fleeting glance.
She didn't answer me, staring out the window.
Having never been able to make heads or tails of broads, I pulled into the driveway behind Jazz's Honda—content to let the conversation die.
Regardless of what her answer would have been, she could never be my girl any-fucking-way. I just curious. Did she only want me to get her off, did she only want to fuck me, or...?
It didn't make a difference anyway.
"Yo!"
Someone hit the back of my car.
Alarmed, I placed my hand on Bella's thigh. "Stay here." I went to get out.
"It's, um, Jake." She left the car before me.
I groaned, leaving my car with a quickness.
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