Chapter 6

Good girl? Really?

I couldn't believe that Gio had the gall to say that and then pat me on the head. What did he think I was, some kind of pet? Pretty sure one didn't order their pets to crawl around naked. Then again, animals didn't really wear clothes. Unless they were those weird purse dogs, rich princesses liked to tote around, and I didn't see Gio carrying me anywhere…

A vague image of my hand coming down on something hard while a shoulder dug into my gut flashed through my mind, but I shook it off. It was probably a dream.

"Baaaa," Knox's tongue popped out in a loud raspberry.

"I agree, Knoxy."

What the hell was Gio thinking?

I suppose the same thing could be said about me. I did basically sign my freedom over to an asshole. Who then made me suck him off and crawl on the floor with my panties in my mouth. And out of all of that, what was the one thing that bothered me? Gio's condescending good girl remark, that's what.

I huffed out a sigh.

Maybe Memphis was right, and I did need to get my priorities in order? Damnit, I was never going to hear the end of this unless… I just killed Gio. Memphis couldn't brag about being right if he was busy helping me dispose of a body. And considering I'd murdered Gio in my mind at least five hundred times, I already had the execution mostly planned.

I'd come up with some pretty interesting ways too. Hanging, burning, drawn and quartered–that one was my personal favorite–and of course nothing beat a good old-fashioned guillotine.

That one was a little too messy for my liking. I had to fight my way through the crowd to see it, and some lady stepped on my foot. It was not my best fantasy.

Before he came along, I had the best dreams of yelling at my second husband while he sat outside on a broken lawn chair with a bottle of beer in his hand.

Now the lawn chair actually had cushions, and I was gagged by a pair of YOLO panties. That shit was humiliating, and I was the girl who showed up to school with a sock on her ass.

A plastic apple bounced off my cheek while Knox laughed.

Great, even my nephew enjoyed my torment.

Were there any good men out there? Did I want a good man? Don't get me wrong, romance was fine and all, but there was something dark and depraved about the way Gio looked at me. As if he wanted to devour me whole, then spit me back out.

It was oddly exciting. Maybe I liked that kind of thing? Or maybe Gio Mancini was that ridiculously attractive? I was still a girl with hormones, after all.

I tipped my head, causing the wide brim of my flowery hat to flop. "What do you think, Knox?"

He answered me by blowing a raspberry.

"I see your point." I nodded my head. "And I couldn't agree more."

Pbbbbt was the best answer.

Suck my son's cock…

Pbbbbt.

Take your clothes off…

Pbbbbt.

Crawl like a dog…

Pbbbbt.

Everything was just Pbbbbt.

Thankfully, I didn't have much time to dwell on things today because Maw Maw stuck me with babysitting duty. Another by-product of my suspension. Ever tried to ponder on the hotness of a guy while a baby was laughing? Yeah, those two things didn't mix well. In fact, that shit was the best birth control on the planet.

One look at Knoxy's chubby cheeks was all it took to remind me of what could happen if I didn't gird my loins.

Knoxy smiled and sang, "Nah, nah, nah."

"Ah yes, of course. I agree." I daintily picked up the pink plastic tea pot. "You should have some more tea."

He laughed and slammed his hands down on the blanket I'd laid out on the floor, causing the cup I was pretending to fill to clatter and fall over.

I sighed and watched it roll along the floor.

Tea parties and highchairs didn't mix well, so we were forced to do it picnic style, which wouldn't have been a problem if Knox would sit still. When he wasn't crawling through the dishes I'd painstakingly placed, he was tugging on the floppy brim of my flower covered hat.

A chubby baby foot kicked out, knocking a fake loaf of bread in my lap.

Knox's hands clapped together as I looked down at and picked up the plastic food.

"This isn't a football, Knoxy." Though it was kind of in the shape of a football. "It's food."

He took my words way too literally. Knox reached out, snatched the loaf out of my hand, and promptly stuffed the tip in his mouth.

Why couldn't Veda have had a girl? I prepared for a girl. I even bought some cute pink outfits when she was pregnant–that she wouldn't let me dress my nephew up in. It wasn't like it would mess him up. He was a baby for Christ's sake. His biggest worry at the time was Mommy's boobs.

"We really have to work on your manners, Knox."

There was a fine etiquette to tea parties that one had to follow. Kicking food around wasn't part of that etiquette. That kind of defeated the purpose of my horrible British accent. No duchess ever had to deal with this, or the amount of slobber Knox was gumming onto that fake loaf.

Dropping my elbow on my leg, I propped up my chin and sighed, "This party is a bust, Knoxy. Should we color on your mother's wall instead?"

"Garblflat."

I was going to take that as a yes.

Veda needed a little sunshine in her life. And by sunshine I meant giant purple boobs in every corner of her room. I'd draw dicks but I didn't want to traumatize her.

At least that was my plan until a whined out screech poured through the house. Maw Maw really needed to fix that doorbell.

I opened my mouth and gave Knox a shocked look. "Who could that be?"

He continued to chew on his toy so rabidly, that I wondered for a second if my nephew was part dog. There was an entire half of his genetics we knew nothing about. Unless, of course, that half came from the Mancini line. But Knox didn't have any traits in common with Gio or his family.

Pushing myself up off the floor, I walked over to answer the door. But not before I grabbed my pink sparkly sceptre. One had to commit to the role they were playing. Plus it was always fun to freak someone out.

Unfortunately the person standing on the deck was someone who'd seen me dressed up in worse things than a giant hat and ruffle skirt.

"Ah, Duchess," Memphis folded his arm against his stomach and bowed down, like a proper gentleman. "I see I'm not too late for tea."

Finally, someone who understood the assignment.

I stepped back and waved for him to enter. "No, good sir, you are right on time."

Memphis did a little skip and strutted in.

I cocked a brow, "What the hell was that?"

"What?"

"That little skip you did?"

"I didn't do a skip."

"Yes, you did." Who was he trying to fool? "I have eyes."

"You sure about that? You miss a lot."

"I do not." I snorted.

"Knox is dumping paint on his head."

I looked over to where I left my nephew. Sure enough, the fake loaf that used to be in his grip had been replaced with a small bottle of blue paint that he was placing on his head like a hat.

"Look at that. He learned how to take lids off."

Memphis's brow arched. "Really?"

"What?" That was a milestone wasn't it?

"He's making a mess."

He sure was. Fat globs of blue splatted down on the blanket. Thankfully I grabbed it from Veda's room, so it wasn't my problem.

"Aren't you going to do something about it?"

I looked at the blue lines running down Knox's head and waved my hand dismissively. "He'll have a bath later."

"Seriously?" Memphis shook his head and walked over plucking the baby off the floor. "Come on buddy, let's get you cleaned up."

I rolled my eyes when he shot me a dirty look, then chuckled when Knox reached up and smacked Memphis's cheeks, causing blue to splat all over his face and hair. It looked like a Smurf exploded on his face.

"Waiting for bath time doesn't seem so bad now, does it?"

Memphis shot me a dirty look in response.

Luckily for him, I had some of Memphis's clothes here. I had a lot of his stuff. Some of which may or may not have been procured under suspicious circumstances. But would he really be my best friend if I didn't steal a couple of things?

How else was I supposed to make a shrine in my closet, if I didn't have some of his stuffed animals to worship Gio's shoes? That would just look ridiculous.

After a few stern words about responsibility, Memphis convinced me to clean up my nephew. After that I helped get the blue off Memphis's face, and then we sat down to have a snack while Knox took a nap. Because apparently adults had to stay awake. What kind of bullshit was that?

"You didn't call me after your doctor appointment?"

Knots began to tie in my stomach. "Yeah, I must've fallen asleep."

"You fell asleep?"

Was that so hard to believe? I'd be asleep right now if I had a choice.

His brow pulled up. "After you got stuck by a needle?"

Shit, I forgot about that part. I had exactly three phobias. Orange jam – that wasn't normal. Knives, and needles. Anything sharp really. Someone could do a lot of damage with a blade. There would be no tattoo's in my future.

"You know me." I said trying to play my tone off as casual. "I got myself so worked up before that, I was exhausted after."

I held my breath while Memphis studied me, then let it out when he rolled his eyes.

"I honestly don't know what you're so worried about? It's just a little prick."

I popped a Dino Nugget in my mouth before I could say something that gave me away, and nodded.

"Technically, you don't even need it." He waved a finger in my direction. "You can't get pregnant if you don't have sex, and you've never even seen a dick."

"Yes I have."

Shut up, Nova.

"Who's?" A sneer curled Memphis's mouth. "Simon's?"

Quick, stuff more nuggets in your maw.

That's exactly what I did. I crammed as many of those delicious little bastards in my mouth as I could, then smiled and nodded.

"Simon is nothing to brag about." He rolled his eyes then let out a contented sigh. "Chuck however…"

Eww. Did he not see me eating here?

Memphis carried on describing, in way too much detail, the taste of his boyfriend's member. There were some things I never wanted to know about Chuck. Memphis didn't see me telling him about the masculine flavor caught in the back of my throat. I'd tell him what happened. I didn't really have a choice. I just wouldn't tell him everything that happened.

Today was the last day of suspension, meaning we had school tomorrow. There was no telling how Gio would act or what he might do. Some things I could pass off as bullying, but something told me that wouldn't be the case. The only problem was figuring out how to explain things to Memphis.

I highly doubted a simple oh by the way I now belong to Gio Mancini, would suffice. Then again…

"We were up until three am…"

We? Who was he talking about?

"I'm surprised my dad didn't hear us."

Unless Memphis was trying to play the bagpipes again, I was going to assume he was still talking about his boyfriend.

"He does this thing with his tongue." He chomped down on a nugget and twirled his hand in the air. "It winds around and almost vibrates…"

It was definitely Chuck, and also… "Eww. There's such a thing as too much information."

He shot me a deadpan look. "Last week, you called me to describe the lingering scent of your burp."

"Okay, first off." I held up a finger. "I hadn't had bacon in a week. And secondly, I'd never give you the dirty details of my sexual exploits."

To be fair, I didn't really have any until now.

His brow rose. "You gave me an hour long explanation of how Simon kissed."

Well, yeah…

"I had to make sure he wasn't trying to eat my face." I plucked a nugget off his plate and popped it in my mouth. "Cannibalism would've been a serious red flag."

"The fact that it was Simon should've been a red flag."

He might have a point there.

Memphis shook his head. "At least you didn't do something stupid like suck him off."

This was a possible opening, or… I could continue to stare at the blue spots staining his blonde hair. Would they draw something if I played connect the dots?

"You know who gives good head?"

Oh God, were we back on this?

"Chuck."

Shocker.

"That man can suck like a hoover."

Why did he think I wanted to know this stuff? Did he have me confused with one of the many girls drooling over his boyfriend? Because that was so not the case.

"Does he make you crawl?" I clamped my mouth shut too late.

Memphis stopped and gave me a weird look. "No?"

So it wasn't a normal thing then, good to know.

"But that might be kind of hot."

Great, now I had that image in my head. "It's not as great as you think."

"How would you know?"

Damnit, did I say that out loud?

Based on the look Memphis was giving me, I was going to say that yes, indeed, I did say that out loud. Fantastic. Well, I guess there was no time like the present.

"Oh, did I forget to tell you that I sold myself to Gio Mancini? My bad."

His jaw dropped. Under normal circumstances, I'd be pretty impressed with myself right now. I might even see if I could get his bright eyes to go any wider. But in this case, I wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible.

"So," I sucked back a breath and settled into the back of my chair. "Chuck gives good head, does he?"

Memphis continued to stare at me with his mouth open.

Sure, now he shuts up.

After a few minutes of silence, I reached out and pushed on his chin, closing his mouth. "Wouldn't want you catching flies."

There were a few around here somewhere. I saw them earlier.

"Nova?"

"Memphis?"

He tilted his head in the same serious way his father did. "What did you do?"

That felt like a loaded question. "Do you mean today?"

Between shaving cream bombs and playing double agent with the FBI and Mafia, I had a busy life.

He eyed me. "Novalee Ford."

I eyed him back. "Memphis Blake."

"Tell me you didn't make a deal with Gio Mancini."

Alright."I didn't make a deal with Gio Mancini."

That was easy.

"NOVA!" Memphis's hand smacked down on the table. "What were you thinking? Never mind. I know what you were thinking." He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

Actually, no. I still wasn't very clear on the parameters of our agreement. I knew I had to spend the weekends at Gio's house, and that I was supposed to listen to him, but nobody said anything about not being difficult. And I was good at difficult.

Let's face it, punishment for me was simply a matter of time. But would Kato be punished? Or was that only if I tried to take off? It was kind of hard to figure out where the loopholes were if I didn't know where the line was drawn.

"What do you think Kato would say?"

I knew exactly what he would say. But I also knew he'd do the same thing for me.

Despondency glimmered in Memphis's bright eyes. "He wouldn't want you to do this."

No, he wouldn't. If Kato got a single whiff of what I'd done, he'd skin Gio alive. But he was locked up in prison, where he couldn't protect me. So I would protect him.

A heavy sigh huffed out of my chest. "He doesn't have to know."

I sure as hell wasn't going to tell him.

"He's not stupid, Nova. Don't you think he'll figure it out when he suddenly stops getting beat up."

I didn't think about that.

"Kato's a likable guy." My brother was very charismatic. I'd seen countless people fall for his smile. "Maybe he'll just think he made some new prison friends."

Memphis gave me a pointed look.

Okay, maybe that was a little far-fetched.

"What did you expect me to do, Memphis? How long would it be before they killed him?"

His sigh was so heavy that I could feel the weight of. "It's not your job to clean up his mess."

"Then whose is it?"

"Kato's." He snapped. "He got himself in this situation."

"He was protecting Veda."

"He didn't have to kill him, Nova." He reached out and grabbed my hand. "This isn't your problem to fix."

Tears welled up in my eyes. "He's my brother, Memphis."

"And he's in jail for murder!"

"Atlas…" I tried to interject but Memphis cut me off.

"It doesn't matter what Atlas did. Kato beat him to death in the middle of a bar. Was he thinking about you when he did that? Or what this would do to your family?"

His words hurt because they were true. I should be pissed at Kato for abandoning us, but I understood why he did what he did. Besides…

"It's too late. I already made the deal."

Memphis slumped back and muttered, "Of course you did."

There was nothing he could do now. He knew that and so did I. That's why I didn't say anything before.

"I won't let him kill you."

"He's not going to kill me." It was so much worse than that. "He's going to marry me."