Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80572 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80572 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
"You're very sweet, but that would be an absolutely terrible idea. Believe you me, you do not want me in the kitchen. No. And now you can tell me what's going on."
So while we peel enough potatoes to feed an army, I tell her everything.
I tell her how I got here, the job Sergio gave me, how much he’s paying me and what I'm going to do with the money. I tell her about the car accident and my fears that Sergio would be gone. I tell her that I'm interested in him, and I don't know what it means, that I'm afraid of everything this club has to offer, but I also want to leave the past behind me. And God, does it feel good to have a friend. I like Marialena and I like Rosa. But Marialena is only visiting the club and will return home eventually, and Rosa is a little distant and quiet and harder to connect with. The guys… I don't know if it's me or them or if Sergio has told them to stay away from me, but they all keep their distance and barely talk to me.
There's just something “other” about me that keeps me separated. When I left, I had a feeling it was going to be like this. I didn't really think about it because my only goal was to leave. Now that I have, I feel the pain of missing so much that I left behind. Yes, I left a terrible marriage and abuse, and I left under the assumption that I would find a better place for my sister and me. But I also left the familiarity of home, and I left my sister there.
"Okay, so let's go back to the part about you telling me that Sergio Montavio is your boss."
"Do you know him, too?"
"Honey. Know him? Of course I do." She looks over her shoulder as if the walls have ears and she's afraid that Sergio is going to overhear her. "He's kind of… how do you say it. Scary hot. Notorious?" She talks in a lowered voice, almost like a whisper. "Eden, do you what a gangster is?”
Gangster. I feel my eyes widen. I cover my mouth. "You mean like organized crime?"
"Uh yeah, babe. That's exactly what I mean. Like the Godfather? Goodfellas? Only, Sergio is hotter and richer and obviously has much better taste in women."
Has much better taste in women.
I guess that's a compliment.
Although I don't know everything I need to know about this, I do know that Sergio isn't the type of person to hurt me like my husband did…
Actually, do I know anything at all?
Re-focusing on the overflowing bowl and the mounds of peels in front of me, I realize that we have peeled the entire twenty-pound bag of potatoes.
Quinn settles back on her stool. "I heard you snuck into the club last night."
For a secret private club, word sure gets around pretty quickly.
I grin at her. "I did," I say. "Quinn, I like it here."
Aunt Flo saunters in wearing nothing but what looks like a tiny little leopard-skin zip-up dress… if you could call it a dress. If I reached out and pulled the end of that zipper down, I don't think she'd have anything on underneath. And she probably wouldn't even bat an eyelash.
"Oh, hey Quinn."
"Hey Flo. Do you know Eden?"
Flo grins. "Of course I know Eden. She’s my favorite person in the whole world."
I know she's probably being hyperbolic. She's exaggerating.
But gosh, she likes me. That makes… well, a couple of people now.
"The word on the street is that you snuck into the club last night," Flo says in a singsong voice with a note of pride.
I shake my head. "Oh my goodness, did everybody talk about this? I'm so embarrassed."
"The only reason why you're embarrassed is because we all know. But nothing involving Sergio Montavio happens that we aren’t all aware of. Believe me. I mean, he's scary, but when you're around him, he is kind of like a marshmallow. Only for you. Sergio is a marshmallow for literally no one else."
Marshmallow. For. Me.
A couple of people walking by the entrance momentarily snag Quinn’s attention. She bites her lip as if thinking. "I mean, I'm not really into girls, but even I love Eden. She's so beautiful. And it's not like she's anything like anybody's ever met before, right? There's no way that Sergio has ever met a woman like her."
They’re talking about me?
"I completely agree with you," Flo says, nodding. "She's so charming."
They do know I'm standing right in front of them, don't they?
"I mean, just the fact that you call him by his first name, honey. Nobody calls him Sergio. Everybody calls him Mr. Montavio. Or Boss. You're on a first-name basis with him? That's crazy."
Well, some people call him Sergio, but…