Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
Gabriele nodded, opening the wrapping and the smell of frosted pastry wafted through the air. A few kids in the waiting room halted their activities, turning to us with hungry looks. They looked like bloodhounds who had caught onto the scent.
“Here, get changed.” Giovani threw the rest of the bag at Tallon, who caught it in mid-air with a frown.
“Clothes?” Tallon questioned, pulling a T-shirt from the bag. “These aren’t mine.”
“Didn’t have time to find your luggage.” Giovani shrugged. “Take what you can get, unless you want to go back to the compound to take a shower.”
“No, this is fine,” Tallon sighed, then he excused himself to head to the nearest restroom.
Gabriele took a bite of his Pop-Tart and froze. His eyes narrowed as he chewed and swallowed and then glanced down at the sugary sweet pastry in his hand.
“This isn’t cherry. It’s strawberry,” Gabriele said before glaring up at Giovani. “I specifically said cherry.”
“It was red and fruity,” Giovani shrugged. “What’s the difference?”
Gabriele’s eyes darkened dramatically, and warning bells shot off in my mind.
“Maybe they have cherry ones in the cafeteria. You could ask,” I suggested with a polite smile. I had no idea Italians even ate boxed pastries. But I did have lots of practice with diffusing arguments before. Dahlia and Alessandro were both loud and opinionated, and Tallon knew just how to rile them up.
Gabriele glared at Giovani for only a minute more before sighing in defeat. “I need a coffee, anyway,” Gabriele muttered under his breath.
“Get me one too while you’re at it,” Giovani said smoothly as he took the seat beside me. He was utterly shameless as he ignored Gabriele’s glare.
“This is why they call you a demon to work for.” Gabriele crossed his arms unhappily. “You’re a menace to society.”
“And you’re still getting paid.” Giovani shot him a cheeky grin. “So hop to it, Mr. Underling. You want anything, Olivia?”
My mouth dropped as Giovani glanced at me, a smirk on his lips.
“Uh,” I glanced at Gabriele, not wanting to trouble him, but I did want some coffee to stay awake. “Frappuccino with two shots of caramel? Please?”
Gabriele just sighed, taking another bite of his disappointment of a Pop-Tart before he turned on his feet. Before he made it any further, however, Tallon came rushing back in fresh new clothes.
He looked better and must’ve done a quick rinse of his hair since it was still wet. He didn’t seem to mind as he took the seat on my left.
“Where you going, Gabe?” Tallon frowned, catching sight of the annoyed look on Gabriele’s face.
“Coffee run. Want anything?” Giovani asked, not even looking up from his phone.
“Of course! Peppermint mocha if they have it,” Tallon started, but then frowned. “But then again, it’s not in season right now, just a caffe mocha then.”
As Gabriele slunk away, biting into his strawberry-not-cherry Pop-Tart, I felt bad for him. Maybe he was right. Maybe he really was working for a demon, even though said demon was sitting to my right, and I had been sleeping with said demon for a while now.
Whoops.
I settled back into the hard plastic chairs of the waiting room and shut my eyes. There was a TV playing in the background–some news broadcast about a charity set up by middle-schoolers.
It was entirely in Italian, so I could only understand bits and pieces of it. Tallon shifted to my left, sighing to himself as I heard him start up a game on his phone.
I was overly aware of Giovani’s presence to my right, trying not to give away any kind of details with Tallon here and watching us. I couldn’t imagine what would happen if Tallon found out.
I still hadn’t told Dahlia.
But all of that had to wait now. The first priority was taking care of Dahlia. No doubt she’d be traumatized from this incident–I knew I would be.
Even as strong as she was, being kidnapped for over forty-eight hours, held at gun-point and beaten, and getting shot on top of it all was bound to have hurt her greatly.
It was my job to be there for her, to help her out of this mess.
We still didn’t know what had happened to Lorenzo or Adrian, and from what it sounded like, the people who did this weren’t done yet. They could try something again.
I still felt guilty for leaving her by herself, even if it was what she had wanted. I should’ve stayed. Well, I’d never leave her side from now on.
She’d always been there for me. Now, it was my turn to do the same.
“Fuck,” I heard Tallon mutter on my left.
I jolted out of the trance I’d been in, snapping to attention. Tallon was staring in the distance with wide eyes. He looked ready to bolt out of his seat.
“Tallon?” I asked, quietly.
“This isn’t good.” Giovani sighed to my right, and I whirled to turn on him.
The two of them looked like they had seen something troubling–something that they’d rather not deal with at the moment.
Giovani grimaced as he got to his feet, and that was when the loud booming voice rang across the lobby.
“Where the fuck is my sister?”
I paled in my seat, my eyes slowly turning toward the entrance to the waiting room. Standing there like a bull ready to charge was a very tall, very angry Italian man.
With curly brown hair and a temper that could burst into flames at any moment, I knew exactly what Tallon and Giovani were worried about now. A major problem had arrived.
And said major problem was heading straight for us, glowering like he had spotted the enemy on the other side of the trenches of war.
Alessandro had arrived.
*Giovani*
The very second I saw Alessandro storming through the waiting room, I knew there was no chance he wasn’t going to cause a scene. I’d have better chances of selling Hell itself as a water park resort than getting him to calm down now.
I got to my feet with a heavy sigh, glancing at the various people who had now taken to staring at us like we were animals in a zoo.
Whoever the fuck allowed Alessandro in here was going to get their pay docked for the next five years.
Tallon jumped to his feet, jogging over to his brother as he met him halfway. He raised his hands in defense, a shaky smile on his face as he tried to diffuse the situation.
“Come on, Alex, don’t–”
Tallon winced as Alessandro’s fury-filled eyes landed on him for only half a second before he was pushing past him and standing right before me.
“Yup,” Tallon sighed in defeat, following the path straight back to me and Olivia.
He glared at me with resentment, enraged beyond reason as he crossed his arms.
