After Maryanne’s re-pass, Victor pulled me aside and ordered me to head into Manhattan to shake down the contractor’s union he had under his thumb, working on the nightclub he was opening. Apparently, the foreman had been giving Vic the run around, telling him he needed more money in order for the job to be done on time. Temptations was scheduled to open soon, and they were procrastinating on the finishing touches, which set Vic into a frenzy. He had offered Mike a job managing the club and on a dare, he accepted Vic’s offer. It became clear that Mike had noticed Nikki and I think that was more the reason he chose to stick around. That, and to stick it to her boyfriend.
I didn’t like Mike working for Vic and was sure I wasn’t the only one. His parents must be rolling in their graves, knowing that Mike was in bed with the devil himself. Still, I knew trying to talk him out of it would be a waste of time. It’s a shame because by the looks of things something could’ve developed between Nikki and Mike. I don’t think she’s that happy with her boyfriend and he’s probably only with her because of her daddy. Rico’s a disc jockey who got off on names and statuses. Being with Nikki attracted people to him, and so his popularity grew. Anyway, no good would come from Mike being employed by Victor.
I stopped home to change out of my suit before heading into the city. I got sidetracked when I went to take my chain off and found the earring that Adrianna had left in my apartment the last night we had been together. I stared at the diamond hoop for a moment before the memories of her throwing her head back as she started to unravel for me invaded my mind. The way her hair covered my pillow and her body arched made me hard. I remembered tucking the loose strands of her hair behind her ears as she writhed like a snake and came around my cock. She was so fucking beautiful that night, so wild and carefree, reminding me of the girl she was before I broke her.
I looked to the right of the earring and hesitated for a moment before reaching for the small velvet black box. I bit the inside of my cheek, battling the demons inside of me that made me slam the drawer closed whenever my eyes settled on that box. This time they lost, and I took the box from the drawer along with the earring, both reminders of what I had lost.
Adrianna’s words from earlier sounded in my head as I grabbed a beer.
“I’ve been fighting for you, for us for ten fucking years and all the while I’m fighting, you are fighting against me.”
I took the first pull of my beer as I sat on my couch, sitting on the edge as I hovered over the coffee table. My gun, her earring, and the black box … well if that didn’t sum up our life, I don’t know what did. I took another sip of my beer before placing it beside my gun and reached for the black box.
“You’ve been charging in and out of my life for ten years, Anthony. You’ve been my whole world for ten damn years. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t find myself thinking about you, thinking about us, and it’s eating away at whatever is left of me. You want to know why I ran after we had sex? Probably not because I didn’t speak to you afterwards for a month. I’m going to tell you anyway, I left because cannot watch you walk away from me again. I physically can’t stand it.”
I flicked the box open and heard myself hiss as I stared at the diamond engagement ring. I forgot how pretty it was, how clear a stone and how perfect it would’ve looked on her finger. I bought the ring after I found out that Adrianna was pregnant, planned to give it to her after we left Victor’s. After I told him, I wasn’t going to be going to jail and instead I was going to marry his daughter and raise our little family. Things didn’t go as I planned but then again they rarely ever did. I never gave Adrianna the ring and not because we lost the baby that night. I wanted to marry her with or without a baby. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her but I knew I’d never be free of the mob. Victor was never going to let me go.
I put the ring in a safe deposit box before I went away and tried to push it out of my head. I took the platinum ring out of the box, pinching the delicate band with my fingers as I held it up and stared at it. Funny how something so tiny could hold so much meaning, how something meant to be beautiful could leave such an ugly taste in my mouth.