Taken by the Boss: The Ruzzo Family

by Belle Winters

  Dante rolled his eyes. “I’m not ever getting married, but she is cute.”

  I felt my blood boil. I don’t know why the thought of her with him pissed me off, but it did. When she was flirting with him, I wanted to shoot out her kneecaps to teach her ass a lesson. I turned to Dante, “swear to fuck I will kill you.” My gaze swung to Angelo, “and you. I don’t mind having to explain to my ma why her boy isn’t coming home, and my sister her fiancé.” I threatened. The two fucks snickered like this was a joke. I was dead fucking serious.

  You see, I trusted Angelo and Dante with my life. Dante was my cousin, but he couldn’t be any closer than my brother. I inherited the family business from my pops some time ago. He groomed me for the business my whole life. His brother, my uncle, Taz, was his partner. He got gunned down by some fucks who wanted to take over our turf when I was a kid. Before I was even fully aware of what it was my dad was into. Naturally, my father took Dante in, and he was groomed right along with me. Dante preferred to use his hands, he wasn’t much for the shit that I do which is why he’s one of my guards. We grew up together, and you couldn’t tell me he wasn’t my brother. I have never been closer to another person as I am with him. Angelo also came into the business through his family. Both his parents had hands in the business, and he came to us saying he wanted in. He hadn’t trained with us, but he knew shit. His family made sure of that… made sure he could protect himself in case shit ever went down. He had what we call a dead arm, a knockout punch, and his shot was spot fucking on. He wasn’t initially by my side, but I took a liking to him. It wasn’t long until I promoted him and kept him by my side. We grew close as fuck, shit he was there to watch my back I couldn’t have a mother fucker I couldn’t trust. It turned out, I wasn’t the only one keeping an eye on him. Him and my sister, Francesca, have been together for years and they were engaged waiting to tie the knot. I couldn’t have picked a better mother fucker for her. He blended into the family smoothly – and as ma loved to do, took him in with open arms. He was my brother too – I guess technically. Well, brothers or not they keep riling me up they’re going to be two dead fucks.

  “Touchy…” Dante teased. How I dealt with these two dumb asses, no one would ever know.

  I decided to ignore the two assholes and get back to work. I was going over my books, and I sighed. This shit was a pain in the ass, and really, it wasn’t worth it. Over the last few years, I’ve been changing shit up. Like the whole loan shark shit. The amount of effort and shit I have to put into it isn’t worth it. I loan a fuck ten grand, and he pays me back twelve. I only made two grand, and then you have the asses who try to skirt paying me back. The amount of manpower, time and energy to rectify the shit just wasn’t worth it. Then the risk, always the possibility with the fucking pigs looking at me. I make more than the twelve grand in a few hours at just one of my establishments, and I don’t even gotta put out any money. Well, you know what I mean. Keeping up a booming establishment, of course, has its expenses, but the turn around is much better.

  I spent the rest of the night ignoring these two ignorant assholes who made it their business to point out to the fucking room every time I watched her from on the security monitors. It was like some sick fascination that I’ve had since I hired her. Honestly, I only used to come to the club for business once a week, if that. I may come for a drink or two once in a while, but this isn’t where I normally work from. It hasn’t gone unnoticed. My staff is definitely curious about my unusually consistent presence, but fuck them it wasn’t any of their business.

  I kept telling myself the reason that I was there was to make sure that shit didn’t hit the fan because of my newest employee, but that was bullshit even to my own ears. It was clear within her first couple of days that she was fully capable of doing her job and was damn good at it. She garnered a lot of male attention, and I knew she had to be racking up tips like crazy. She also did a good job of handling the men with their come-ons and attention without offending them. Which brings me to question, what the hell is wrong with her?

  These men were far more harmless than I was and she still pushed my buttons as much as she could. Maybe she was hell-bent on making me crazy. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if some dick was trying to make a move to take me out and put her in place to make me mental. That would sure as fuck explain a lot.

  Really, I hated the attention she got. The way these douche bags would ogle her like she was just there for their eye candy. I wanted to stab every fuck in the eye who looked at her. There was something downright primal in the feelings she invoked in me, and they were so damn foreign, I didn’t know what to do with it. It sure as hell didn’t make any sense because I didn’t really want her.

  When we shut down for the night, I had Angelo and Dante pull the car around front. I walked out and leaned back against the passenger side door and watched as one person after another trickled out of the club. Eventually, she came sauntering out with a huge bookbag slung over her shoulder. I watched as she waved goodbye to a few people before bouncing her way over to me.

  “Sup boss?” she asked cheekily.

  I grunted and opened the door. She looked at me and grinned. “Oh yea, today was alright. My feet are hurting a little bit from standing in heels for so long but overall, it wasn’t that bad. Thanks for asking.” She said before sliding into the car. I looked up to the sky praying for patience before I slid into the backseat beside her.

  “Where to boss?” Dante asked from the driver's seat.

  I caught his eye in the rearview mirror and gave him a face that clearly said, you cant be that fucking stupid. He got the message and nodded. “We’ll be at the cabin in ten.” He said.

  I groaned. The cabin is where I took my hookups and business acquaintances when I needed something private. I never used my crib, that was off limits. That was information that I liked kept limited to people. That’s where I rest my head and should be the safest place for me. Wouldn’t be all that safe if every fuck in the City knew where it was. As far as the streets knew, the cabin was where I lived.

  I shook my head. “No idiot, take us to my place,” I said.

  I watched as both Dante and Angelo’s faces transformed to one of shock. I never took anyone there but the closest of my personnel and family. I don’t know what made me take here there before, to begin with. “You sure boss?” Angelo asked warily.

  I nodded. “It’s not like she hasn’t been there before,” I grumbled.

  That was also news to them, and I watched Angelo’s face as a hundred different expressions crossed his face. The concern was evident – you can see why I’ve got him right? His first concern was my safety and what it could mean having her in my spot. Up until today, my gut has never failed me, and like the other day in the club, I didn’t take her for one to run her mouth about certain shit. Sure she had a few screws loose, but she seemed street smart – just not smart enough for her own safety.

  Dante gave me a tight nod with a scowl and drove us to my place. Julie noticed the tension in the car and shifted in her seat uncomfortable but didn’t ask any questions. See what I mean? She knew when to fall back, she knew it wasn’t her business, and it wasn’t her place to pry.

  *****

  Becca

  Something was definitely fishy here. I thought it was odd on her first day how she interacted with Giovanni. They had to of known each other, and I got an odd feeling he’d gotten her the job. When she touched his face, I wanted to claw at her eyes. When he didn’t do anything but say a few words, and she laughed it off, I wanted to claw his eyes out. How is it that she was able to get away with that shit? I was here far longer than she was and we had something. He came back more than once for more, so what is it that this chick is up to? Is she trying to sleep with the boss because that’s my job? He’s just been busy lately and hasn’t had time to hook up. I know once he gets some spare time he’ll come find me so I can give him what he needs.

  Plus, I know he’s a smart businessman. Wouldn’t wa
nt anyone getting the wrong ideas about us or anything. You know thinking there was some type of favoritism or something going on. He was trying to keep what was blossoming between us on the low and separate from our work relationship. I totally got it. Why this heffah is pushing up on my man, I don’t get.

  When she came in today and asked about him, my hackles rose. When I asked her why she tried to brush it off as if it were nothing. If there were no reason, then she wouldn’t have asked. I’m no fool. I kept my eye on her and saw when she slinked out into the hall leading to his office, and I waited until I saw her come back. She was gone for a while, but not long enough even for a quickie. I couldn’t help but smile to myself. That’s what you get… I could only imagine the rejection he just gave her.

  I was feeling a lot better by the time we were closing. I pulled a shift and a half, I was supposed to leave at eleven, but someone called out, so I ended up staying until closing. I watched as Julie flounced out of the locker room right ahead of me with this awful bookbag on her back and she’d piled her hair up on top of her head in some messy bun. What look was she going for? Innocent school girl? I laughed under my breath, this girl had no chance.

  No sweat off my back.

  I stopped to say goodbye to Rick and see if he drove in to get a ride home. Turns out he didn’t drive, and I huffed as I made my way out to go to the bus. I spotted Giovanni leaning against his car, and I grinned. He didn’t seem so busy now, and it was after hours. Maybe I’d give him a ride if he gave me one. I fixed my boobs and took a step his way, and I froze in my tracks.

  I felt all of my breath leave me as I saw Julie approach him. He opened the door up as though he’d been waiting for her and beats later, he slid in beside her. I watched as the car drove down the block and continued to watch until the car was out of sight.

  I snarled. Game on bitch.

  Chapter 7

  Julie

  The ride to Giovanni’s place was tense. I didn’t dare speak a word being surrounded by three large pissed off men. They weren’t looking at each other, but I felt as though they were having a whole conversation in the car and I was the only one who didn’t speak the language. That was fine with me though, all I cared about was getting my hands on a computer. I let my mind drift off, I wondered if he would just let me borrow the damn computer since it was a laptop. I mean really, what could he need a computer for so bad for his type of business?

  When we arrived I let myself out of the car and followed behind Giovanni silently. I was surprised when Dante and Angelo also followed us up. When we entered his house, Giovanni silently gestured to his living room, and I took that as my cue to excuse myself to let the big bad men talk. I don’t know where they disappeared to in his house, but I took a seat on the floor and got comfortable. I emptied out my bookbag spreading my papers and books out and contemplated where to start. I opened up his laptop and was met with a locked screen. Oh right. The last time I attempted to use his computer, I tried to guess his password. I’d typed in all type of shit that I’ve seen in mob type movies and ended up locking him out. I couldn’t afford to play around today. I didn’t know where to find him, and I didn’t think that my physical presence to their meeting or whatever the hell was invited… nor was me wandering around his house unsupervised. I dug out my phone and called him.

  “What?”

  I frowned at the phone, someone had a stick up their ass. “I need the password,” I told him.

  He huffed. “Brownie.” He mumbled.

  I looked down at the phone sure that my connection had gone bad. “What did you say?” I asked him.

  He groaned. “You heard me… it’s Brownie, with a capital B.”

  I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing. “No way… Brownie? You’re no thug, you’re a teddy bear.” I teased.

  He huffed into the phone and hung up without another word. I couldn’t stop laughing until my stomach was cramping and I needed to breathe. “Oh, my…” I whispered to myself through residual laughter. “That was so awesome.”

  I pulled myself together and typed in the password surprised when it granted me access. The bastard wasn’t lying. I made sure to make a mental note to ask him what that was all about later. Right now, I needed to get my ass in gear if I wanted to make a dent in my work.

  I became engrossed in my work that I didn’t notice that there were other people in the room until a water bottle was placed down in front of me. I looked up startled to see that Giovanni had given me water. Angelo was leaning back against the entryway toying with his phone, and Dante had taken a seat on the sofa across from me and picked up the remote to turn on the TV. The minute it turned on, I cringed it was so loud. There was no way I was going to be able to focus over the sound of a rerun of a basketball game from earlier today.

  I cleared my throat. “Dante, can you please turn that down?” I asked.

  He didn’t seem to hear me, so I repeated myself. He was either too engrossed in the TV or completely deaf because of it. I saw an empty bottle fly through the air and smack Dante in the side of the head. He tensed and turned with a scowl. He muted the TV and glared at Giovanni.

  “Why the fuck did you do that?” he asked.

  I looked over to Giovanni who was sitting on the couch that I was currently using half of as a desk. “Turn the TV down you fuck, she’s reading.”

  Dante looked at me sheepishly. “Sorry, Julie.”

  I smiled at him as he turned it down to a reasonable volume. “Don’t worry about it, sweetie.” I flirted.

  Dante’s cheeks pinked, and I felt a tug on my hair. I looked up to see Giovanni glaring at me. “Stop flirting and do your damn homework.” He demanded.

  I saluted him. “Sir, yes sir.”

  He released me and rolled his eyes. I heard a snicker and watched as Giovanni threw his middle finger up in Angelo’s direction. I snuck a glance at him and saw him grinning from ear to ear. I threw him a wink which made him laugh again. I heard a growl behind me and returned my attention back to my work. I didn’t need to piss him off too soon and get kicked out before I was done.

  I’d been working for a couple more hours, and my eyes were heavy, but I was so close to completing my essay. Dante and Angelo had left about a half hour ago, and besides watching TV, they hadn’t done anything else. I guess I was crashing guys night. I turned back to see Giovanni sprawled on the couch, head back, eyes closed. His mouth was slightly opened, and I took the opportunity to ogle him. He really was beautiful. His long lashes brushing against his defined cheekbones. His lips looked soft, they were pink and full… totally kissable. Such a shame he was off limits.

  I let myself into his kitchen and his shiny fancy coffee maker. I made me a large mug of coffee and got right back to work. I was going to pull an all-nighter it seemed, but at least I didn’t have school tomorrow.

  Giovanni

  I startled awake and frowned confused. What the fuck was I doing in my living room sleeping? I never slept out here. I barely spent time in this room unless I had someone over. I sat up, and my frown deepened when I saw long blonde hair cascading down a back and over my table. I noticed it was Julie and I couldn’t hold back my smile. It all came back to me, her swindling her way into my house to use my computer. She’d been at it from the moment we got in.

  Dante and Angelo tried to give me shit for having her here. Talking about safety measures and all that shit. How I didn’t know her well enough to not only allow her to get away with the shit she does but to have brought her home. They were convinced she was up to something – had some type of ulterior motive. I tried to explain to the two hard-headed fuckers that she was legit, but they weren’t trusting it. That’s why the two fucks lingered around all fucking night. They watched her closely as she worked away totally oblivious to the fact that she was being watched like a hawk. After a while I guess they came to terms with it and got bored.

  She was currently sitting on the floor, her head on her hand, on top of the open laptop keyboard. The screen
was black, so she must’ve been out for a while. There was an empty cup that I’m sure held coffee and her papers, notes, and books were all over the place. Her back was hunched over, and she looked all sorts of uncomfortable. I sighed and scooped her up in my arms. She fidgeted for a bit, and I was sure she was going to wake, but she just turned and snuggled her head into me, took a deep breath, and sighed.

  I carried her into my room and laid her down before tossing the blanket over her. I took off my clothes and to my dismay, threw on some sweats. I didn’t want her waking up with her shit thinking I did something to her before crawling in bed beside her. Her scent engulfed me, and I had to fight the urge to touch her. I’ve been watching her and appreciating her body for weeks, but having her this close to me… in my bed was something else entirely. I was hungry for her, but I wasn’t going to take the bait. Instead, I let business fill my head until I tired myself out enough to fall back asleep.

  I was immediately awoken by shifting. My body tensed ready to spring when I smelled her. I was a light sleeper, which was why I always slept alone. It was too big of a risk of me hurting someone for putting me on alert innocently. My stomach tightened when I realized that her fucking scent put me at ease. This shit was no good. She was having an effect on me in ways that weren’t normal and was starting to scare the fuck out of me. I turned my head to look at her.

  She was moving a bit as though she was rousing from her sleep. She mumbled something unintelligible and shoved her face into my pillow. She turned over to her side facing the other way before mumbling again. Finally, she flipped onto her back and tossed her arm over her eyes. “so early.” She mumbled.