Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 151410 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151410 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
When I finished my routine without a hiccup, Nevio let out a whistle and applauded.
“Show off,” Davide muttered, but his expression told me he was actually proud of me.
I gave a small shrug. I hadn’t meant to brag. This wasn’t a difficult routine for me but I couldn’t help but grin at their praise.
It had taken a long time for me to feel comfortable on a skateboard but more importantly in a skate park. I had been the first girl in our circles with an interest in skating and always felt like the odd one out when I’d joined the boys. Many had made teasing remarks, as if me being a girl made it impossible to be good at skating. Boys in our circles were often caught up in the Middle Age with their thoughts. Nevio, however, had never made a big deal out of me skateboarding. He treated men and women the same way, from what I heard even when it came to his kills. It was a thought I didn’t like to dwell on.
Maybe Nevio had that opinion because his dad always said “women should stop thinking and acting like the weaker sex if they don’t want to be treated that way”.
Carlotta smiled broadly. She joined me at the skate park most days, even if she didn’t skate herself. Her brother Diego considered it too risky because of her heart condition, though she hadn’t had any troubles in a long time. I thought Carlotta wasn’t too sad about it anyway. She was a girly girl, who preferred art, dancing and music to most sports.
I perched on the rail beside her again.
“This is how you impress a man,” she murmured and nudged my shoulder.
“Because you know so much about men,” I muttered with a small laugh.
But she had a guy watching her with rapt attention all the time. Like now. Massimo’s gaze was attached to her. He didn’t look like he was fawning over her or madly in love, but really I doubted Massimo was even capable of that expression, but his intent observation spoke volumes. Carlotta had never even flirted with him. They talked a lot, or rather argued about pretty much every topic under the sun because their viewpoints were on opposite ends of the spectrum, but that seemed to have done the trick.
Maybe showing Nevio the cold shoulder or even fighting with him on occasion would do the trick for me too, but so far I hadn’t managed the necessary composure around him. It wasn’t even that I was throwing myself at him or flirting, I was just being an embarrassing klutz.
It wasn’t really surprising that Nevio wasn’t into that. Few people were attracted by clumsiness I assumed.
I wasn’t sure what Nevio’s type was. I’d never seen him with a girl, but word of mouth said he hooked up with them frequently at parties. Carlotta and I hadn’t been to one yet. Nothing had really made me want to go.
It was a warm summer evening about two weeks after the attack in New York and war had broken out between the Camorra and the Famiglia.
The atmosphere was strange at home and it was even worse at the Falcone mansion.
I packed my sunglasses and a spare bathing suit into my beach bag. I’d spend the evening at the pool with the Falcones. Davide had already gone over there an hour ago to hang out with Giulio. Except for Greta I’d be the only girl there today, and she and I had never been close friends. Now that things with Amo had gone downhill, she was even more closed off. I hadn’t even managed to talk to her yet. Not to mention that she wasn’t fond of water.
When I entered the kitchen, Mom ate sushi with a fork, still not having gotten the hang of sticks yet, spearing every roll as if it had offended her while she read over a police report about the arrest of one of her clients. Dad would be working all evening and I would eat pizza over at the Falcones so she had the evening to herself, which usually involved work if she wasn’t having a girls’ night with Serafina, Gemma and Kiara.
A perpetual worry line had taken habitat on Mom’s forehead since the war declaration.
I sank down across from her and put my bag on the ground. I’d overheard Mom and Dad talking in hushed voices in the living room almost every evening in the last two weeks, but neither of them had shared their concerns with me.
Maybe I wasn’t an adult but I was a good listener.
Mom looked up from the report and glanced at her watch, a beautiful Cartier piece Dad had gifted her for Christmas. “Aren’t you meeting the other kids?”
“They won’t care if I’m late.” I cringed inwardly at how bitter I sounded. I loved hanging out with the Unholy Trinity and the other Falcones, but I always felt a bit like the fifth wheel if Carlotta didn’t join me. Giulio and Davide hung out together even if they weren’t the same age, and the Unholy Trinity was a tight unit anyway. Then there was Greta. We chatted when I was over there but I could feel that she felt comfortable on her own and so I always worried she only hung with me because I’d be lonely otherwise.