by Ws Greer
“A leg-breaking mob couple? Are you fucking kidding, Jackie?” I snip. I don’t mean for it to come out as mean as it sounds, but I don’t necessarily regret that it came out that way. “I don’t even know who Michelle from Optometry is. So that’s why you’ve got that look on your face whenever you come around? Are you picturing Dominic and me breaking legs like some sort of psycho couple?”
“Well, I don’t know . . .” she stutters, but I cut her off.
“Look, the first thing you need to do is mind your own business. But if you’re incapable of minding your own business, then at least come talk to me if you want to know something about me. In which case, I will promptly tell you to mind your own fucking business.”
“What exactly is going on here, ladies?”
Ugh.
I look up to see Deanna Senna glaring at Jackie and me. Deanna is the head nurse and my direct supervisor. She stands there with her hands on her bony hips and her hair as gray as the day is long. Her typical scowl seems to have grown in strength since I saw her earlier this morning, so I’m sure this conversation is going to be a fun one.
“It’s nothing, Deanna,” I reply, picking my pen up and returning my attention to the chart.
“Nothing?” Deanna asks. “So nothing is what’s making Jackie cry?”
I glance up, and sure enough, Jackie has managed to shed some tears just in time for my boss to see. Wonderful.
“All I did was tell her to mind her own business when it comes to me and my boyfriend,” I say to Deanna.
“Ah yes, your mobster boyfriend,” Deanna replies, and I immediately feel my blood heat up. It’s not quite at a boil, but it’s at that point when there’s a bunch of little bubbles and you know the boil is coming. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that myself, actually.”
“Why is that? Don’t you have your own husband to think about?” When the words come out, I immediately regret them, because I know Deanna just came out of a very tough divorce and custody battle with a doctor who used to work at Mercy. I try to recover. “I’m sorry, Deanna, I didn’t mean to say that. I just forgot.”
“Oh, is that right?” she snaps. “My ex-husband gains custody of my only son two weeks ago, and you decide to throw it in my face because I mention your mobster boyfriend?” I know I touched a nerve in Deanna, because now she’s the one with tears in her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Deanna, I really didn’t mean to.”
“Bullshit, Alannah. If you want to date a known mafia member then go right ahead, but maybe you can show everyone else’s relationships a little respect.”
“Okay, I know you’re upset about the divorce, but please stop saying Dominic is in the mafia. That’s the kind of thing that’s fueling these rumors about me.” I try to be reasonable, but Deanna is already off the deep end. No coming back from the plunge now.
“Why should I stop? I just saw a picture of you and him together in the paper yesterday. You were coming out of River City Casino, which I’m sure he uses to hide his drug money, and you were wearing the most expensive-looking dress I’ve ever seen. I know you’re not buying dresses like that on your salary!”
“Okay, what the fuck is this, an interrogation?” I snap as I stand up. “What I do in my personal life, on my personal time, is none of your business. Dominic is a successful business man, and I’ve known him since I was eleven years old, so it’s a really bad idea to start talking crap about him. I know you’re going through a lot right now, Deanna, but don’t take it out on me.”
“You’ve got a lot of nerve with your holier than thou attitude. We see you out there in St. Louis flaunting the fact that you’re with him. You think we don’t see you acting like you’re better than us? We see it, and none of us like it,” Deanna bellows.
At this point, we’ve managed to build up a small crowd of both nurses and patients peeking out of their rooms to see what all the fuss is about.
“Flaunting? This is ridiculous,” I say, trying to calm down.
“No, you’re ridiculous. When your mobster boyfriend gets caught doing whatever it is he’s doing, none of us are going to vouch for you when you go down with him.”
And there it is. The blood is finally boiling.
“I told you to stop calling him that!” I bark. “I don’t need any of you little bitches to vouch for me. You don’t know shit, so you and everybody else in this hospital who’s been whispering about me, better shut the fuck up. Or I’ll show you just how mafia-like I can really be.”
“Did you just threaten me?” Deanna says, switching gears and doing her best to look afraid now. She takes a second to look around the room before asking, “Did you just threaten all of us?”
“Are you fucking kidding?”
“That sounded like a threat to me. What about you, Jackie?” Deanna asks, and poor little naïve Jackie hops right on the bandwagon with a head nod.
“Wow. I see where this is going,” I say as I stand up. “Well I’ll beat you to it, Deanna. You can take this job and go fuck yourself. I’m sure you’ll need to fuck yourself since you no longer have a husband to do it. I quit.”
I hear Jackie gasp as I turn to grab my stuff. After a few minutes to gather my things, and a quick “I’ll call you” signal to my friend, Ally, I walk out of Mercy Hospital with my head held high. They brought the fight to me, and I had to defend myself. I had to defend Dominic. He came to my defense when I was only in the fifth grade and that bully was shoving my face into the sand, and I’ll gladly spend the rest of my life defending him.
Maybe quitting is a good thing. The shitty part of my life has been clipped off and there’s nothing left but the good part. I can always apply for another job, but there’s no replacement for what Dominic and I have. So, I don’t regret anything. Let them talk. In the end, it’s Dominic and me against the world.
He’s the kingpin, and I’m his queen.
We’re in this.
Together.
Alannah
“Good evening, Ms. Sullivan.”
“Good evening, Shane. Thank you.”
I greet the valet who seems to always be on the clock when I arrive at River City, and hand him the keys to my car. The young, skinny black kid trades me the keys for a ticket and climbs into the front seat of my navy blue BMW, while I saunter through the doors of River City Casino & Hotel.
It’s always been a beautiful place. There’s dark red and gold everywhere, and the colors really complement each other. The dark red countertop of the check-in desk works perfect with the gold chandelier lighting up the lobby. The gold chairs make a perfect match with the dark red rug they rest upon. The walls are accented by pictures of St. Louis in golden frames and gold light fixtures illuminate my path as I walk towards the elevators with gold doors.
“Good evening, Ms. Sullivan,” Natasha shouts from behind the counter just as I press the button to bring the elevator to me.
“Hey, Natasha,” I reply with a forced smile. I’m here so often, most the River City staff greets me like we’re best friends now. It always makes me feel good, and I need that on a day like today, especially since I haven’t vented to Ally yet.
The elevator reaches me and I take the long trip up to the penthouse on the top floor. When Dominic took over business at River City after his father died, one of the first things he did was move into the penthouse, and he’s been living here ever since.
The bell dings, the golden doors part, and the first thing I see is Dominic standing in front of me with his hands in the pockets of gray pants, and the top half of the buttons on his white shirt undone, exposing his chiseled chest. His hairless face is perfectly smooth, and his smile is as flawless as it is wide. His wavy black hair is slicked back and perfectly styled. He’s breathtaking. And just like that, everything I went through today is made easier.
“Hey, baby,” he greets, his voice deep and soothing, like the first sip of the perfect cup of coffee.
I respond by stepping off the elevator and into his arms.
We embrace, and I burrow my face into his chest as I wrap my arms around his waist. He smells how you’d imagine heaven would smell after you just left hell, and I breathe it in with a full breath as he wraps his arms around my shoulders. The thick muscles in his arms feel like a hefty blanket being draped over me, protecting me from the cold and any harm. We stand there for a second, enjoying the moment as if a day apart has been far too long, before finally pulling apart enough to kiss. The lips everyone used to say were too big for his face now fit perfectly with mine, and I have to force myself to give him some space.
“Hey, babe,” I finally reply. “How was your day?”
“My day? My day was interesting,” he answers with a grin. “Security caught a couple of stronzos counting cards in the casino.”
I wince at the thought of what probably happened to them, which Dominic notices.
“We didn’t break their legs or anything,” he says with a chuckle.
“No? What then? I know you didn’t let them get away with that.”
“Oh, fuhgeddaboutit,” he replies, as if to say of course not. “They can still walk. They just have less digits to play cards with now.”
“Oh gosh, Dominic,” I say, wincing again.
“What? I said they could still walk.”
“You’re a mess,” I reply, shaking my head as I give him another kiss.
You may be asking yourself why an Air Force brat like me would stay with a mob boss like Dominic. I get it, and my answer is simple—I love him with everything that makes me human. He’s everything to me, and any woman who’s ever been in love with their soulmate knows what I’m talking about. I know the things that Dominic does because he tells me. He doesn’t try to hide it from me or act as if he’s a normal guy working a nine to five every day, and that makes me love him even more. He doesn’t keep secrets the way men usually do with the women they claim they love. So when Dominic tells me he had some guy’s fingers cut off for counting cards in his casino, I know it’s the truth, and I’m thankful he told me. I know cutting off fingers is a part of the life he’s always lived since before we even met, so I don’t judge him for it. As long as he loves me the way he always has, I don’t focus too much on the details that don’t really involve me. Others may fear Dominic, but I know I don’t have to. He’d cut off his own fingers before he’d ever let anything happen to me. I have a rich, gorgeous, powerful man who everyone knows is not to be fucked with. What more could a girl ask for?
“Alright, enough stalling,” Dominic says, interrupting my train of thought. “In your text, you said you had some news about work. Come tell me all about it.”
He takes my hand and leads me across the hardwood floor down the hallway. The floors in the penthouse are cherry wood, and all the fixtures are a deep gold that look like they’re being polished every day. The walls in the hallway are lined with pictures of Dominic and his parents. On the left are the pictures of his father, each resting in a gold frame. Some of the pics are of Donnie alone, some are with guys who I’m sure were members of the Family at the time, and then there are two of Donnie and Dominic together. In the first pic, Dominic is young, sitting on the hood of an old Cadillac while his father stands next to him, both of them smiling. The last pic is the last one Dominic took with his dad before he was murdered. Dominic is fifteen, and both of them are happily smoking Cuban cigars together. Dominic’s face isn’t nearly as innocent as it is in the previous picture. He’s harder and tougher from spending time with his gangster father.
On the right side of the hall are pictures of Dominic’s mother, Gloria Giaculo. All of the pictures are from a while back since the two of them don’t talk much these days, but nonetheless, Gloria is a beautiful woman. Her long black hair is wavy and always styled, and she has a gorgeous, warm smile in every picture. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Gloria on one occasion, Dominic’s twenty-seventh birthday, but I haven’t seen her again since. When we met, she was nice enough, just a bit distant and obviously uncomfortable with being surrounded by so many mob guys. She showed up late to the party and left early, but for the time she was there, she seemed nice. Just a concerned mother who obviously yearns for a better relationship with her son, but doesn’t want to get involved with all the sketchy stuff he’s into. Dominic doesn’t talk about her much. I think their relationship status upsets him, and he doesn’t like to show that kind of emotion, so he avoids the topic.
“Alright, have a seat and tell me all about it,” Dominic says as we enter his enormous bedroom and sit on the California king-sized bed. I sit on the edge and he hops on the dark gray comforter behind me. Once we’re both comfortable, Dominic grips my shoulders with his strong hands and starts massaging me. Just the thing I need right now.
“Well, I’m not even really sure where to start,” I begin, trying my best to enjoy the impromptu massage while still focusing on the story I’m about to tell. “Remember how I’ve been telling you all about how some of the girls in Mercy were starting to make little snide remarks and give me sneaky looks?”
“Mm-hmm,” he mumbles as he runs his finger up my neck and starts rubbing the back of my head. My eyes involuntarily close and I can feel myself melting.
“That feels so good, babe,” I say as the tension begins to lift off of me.
“Good. I’ll keep going as long as you do.”
“Okay. Well, I noticed this girl, Jackie, looking at me all weird when she walked by, so I asked her if she had something she wanted to say to me. She got all spastic, as she’s known to do, and said she heard that you and I go around breaking people’s legs together. Like, we’re a serial leg-breaker couple, riding around in a big car that has Mafia spray-painted on the side, looking for legs to break. It was ridiculous, so I told her to mind her own business.”
Dominic stops massaging me so he can laugh. I hear him chuckling behind me as if I’m joking.
“What’s so funny?” I ask, as my own smile starts up.
“She thought we were a serial leg-breaker couple?”
“She did! She actually said it. It’s not funny!”
“I’m sorry. Maybe it’s just the way you tell the story, babe. I’m sorry. Please continue. I won’t laugh anymore, I promise.” Dominic struggles to wipe the smile off his face as he starts rubbing my shoulders again.
“Okay. Anyway, so I told her to mind her own business, and this idiot starts crying just as Deanna walks up.”
“Oh. That’s no good.”
“Exactly. So, Deanna starts going off on this rant about a picture she saw of us in the paper, and how you’re going to go down, and nobody in the hospital is going to vouch for me when I get pulled down with you. It was like she had been saving all of this up for a year and she finally found a moment to let it out. Ugh. Anyway, to make a long story short, I could see where she was going with all of that, and in the heat of the moment I just decided to beat her to it. So I quit.”
The massage is paused once again as Dominic leans over my shoulder so he can see my face.
“You kidding?”
“Serious as ever.”
“Holy shit, babe. That is big,” he replies with raised eyebrows. “Are you okay?”
“I guess so,” I answer, although I’m really not sure if am. “It still hasn’t quite sunk in yet. I just couldn’t take any more of them judging me. There was a lot of little bitchy jealousy going on in that place the moment they found out I was dating you. I didn’t want to have to quit, though. I loved my job, and I had some really awesome patients there. Not really sure what I’m going to do now.”
Dominic repositions himself on the bed so that he’s sitting on the edge next to me, his round shoulder softly brushing up against mine.
“I’m sorry that happened, Alannah,” he begins, his blue eyes nearly hypnotizing me. “I know you get a lot of shit just because you’re seen with me, and I feel terrible about that.”
“You don’t have to feel bad, Dominic,” I interrupt. “I don’t care what people think. If they hate
on me for being with you, then so be it. We’re gonna be together no matter what, whether people love it or hate it. If they don’t accept us, then I don’t accept them. I’m fine with it.”
“I know you are, but I still feel like it’s my fault. Yeah, people are fucked up and super-fucking-nosy, but they’re still hating on you because of me. But I know you can handle it, and you’re gonna come out of this thing better and stronger, while all the bitches still working at Mercy will still be the same little weak, jealous, boring bitches they are. You don’t need to work there anyway. You can get a job at St. Luke’s Hospital or Forest Park with no problem. You put in a call to one of those other places, and you’ll be hired the next day. So, don’t worry about it, babe. You’ll be alright.”
I feel myself smiling as I start to reply. “Thanks, Dominic. I appreciate your support.”
“Fuhgeddaboutit,” he says with a grin, sending shooting stars exploding through my stomach. “That’s what I’m here for, babe—to support and protect you. As a matter of fact, now that you’ve told me your thing, I’ve got something I wanna tell you.”
“Oh, did you quit your job, too?” I say with a giggle.
“Yeah right,” he replies behind a chuckle. “Actually, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. And something crossed my mind that I just haven’t been able to let go of.”
“Getting deep, Mr. Collazo. I’m intrigued.”
“Good. Because I was thinking that maybe you wanna stop spending the night here.”
“Stop spending the night? Why would I want to stop spending the night?”
“Because I was hoping that you might wanna sleep over here every night. No more back and forth, no more bringing your work clothes over so you can change in the morning. I was thinking you should just move in with me instead.”
My heart starts to speed up a little more with every passing second, like stepping on the accelerator of your car until you reach one hundred miles per hour.
