Patriot and his Secret Baby (The Rossi Family Mafia Book 1)

by Avery Hawkes

  “Oh, don’t mind Matteo. He’s PMSing.” I tried to shoo my brother away, but he stood there like a statue.

  “I have an eye on you, Strong.” And with that, my brother turned on his heel and left us to our running routine.

  “Jesus Christ he can be a dick … no offense.” Lance muttered when my brother was out of earshot.

  “I know,” I sighed. “My family can be a bit uptight about my male friends.”

  He started jogging, naturally taking the lead, and I kept up with his pace. We ran down toward the track. This time, instead of turning into the entrance, Lance detoured toward a trailhead that started just off the path.

  He looked back at me with that cocky smile I had learned to love. We had never ran anywhere but the school grounds and the feeling of the forest was invigorating.

  “Where are we going?”

  “You’ll see.”

  Butterflies started to erupt in my stomach. For weeks I had agonized over the crush that had formed for Lance. He was lithe and athletic and had a reputation for being a “bad kid”. However, he had never shown his bad side to me.

  We ran until I couldn’t run anymore. If it was the track it would have been easy, but the rocky terrain and hills tired me.

  “One sec,” I huffed, holding my sides. After stopping, I made sure to keep my feet moving. Staring up at the canopy of trees above was my only option. Looking at Lance tended to make my heart beat faster and breathing a bit difficult.

  I could feel him come closer and then felt a hand on the small of my back.

  “We’re almost there.”

  My eyes met his and I could swear we both felt a spark ignite between us, but it was short-lived. He turned and motioned forward. The forest to the east of the high school was vast, with only the occasional clearing or farm. It wound up to a small mountain. The trail itself only traced the bottom of mountain, but it was still a bit hilly.

  Lance lead me up the path, both of us huffing from the steep grade of the landscape. I could tell from the smell of the air that it was about to rain. If it were to storm we'd be drenched.

  After a few more minutes, the forest opened up and Lance stepped out to a rock. It looked out on the town that we had grown up in. To the south, I could see the small roof of my house sticking out among the others in the suburbs. In the distance, I could see the rainclouds starting to mist rain down upon the town, creating a blur of dark haze across the landscape.

  We sat there in silence for a while. Luckily, it wasn’t the awkward kind of quiet. I liked that about Lance, he was easy to be around. Other boys always expected me to be a certain way―some girl-next-door porn star that did their bidding. Lance―well he was fine just being with me, and I loved being with him.

  I closed my eyes and smiled, breathing in the fresh, sticky air as droplets started to hit my face.

  “It’s starting to rain,” Lance said, his hand resting on my shoulder. “As cool as this spot is, maybe we should head back.”

  I turned to look at him. This time when we looked at each other, the spark between us became something akin to a forest fire.

  Lance leaned in to me, unsure at first, watching to see if I’d let him.

  I did.

  Then, when he felt confident that I wouldn’t run away in terror, he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine.

  Some people say that their first kisses are overrated. Mine, however, was one of the most magical moments of my life.

  For a second there, I was surprised. I had thought for sure that Lance had been gay or uninterested. All the good guys tended to be taken or not attracted to females. But it seemed like Lance really liked me, and … well … I liked him back.

  So when we parted lips after what seemed like forever, I kissed him again.

  It was new territory for me and kissing felt better than I had imagined. The scent of him was what got me. That was unexpected. His breath crept into my head and drove me insane. Enough so, that I could feel myself getting weak in the knees. My mouth was the first to open, eager for whatever he had to offer. With some hesitation, he followed, our tongues finding each other in the middle.

  It wasn’t slimy and disgusting like my brothers had said, but intoxicating. I was already addicted to him and I had only kissed him once.

  His arms wrapped around me and brought me close. Even when the rain started to pick up, I didn’t care because he warmed me right up.

  Eventually, I allowed myself a reprieve from the kisses so I could look at him. To my surprise, he looked just as dazed as I was. Hadn’t he kissed most of the girls in my class? I could have sworn that was true. How was I any different from the other girls?

  “Lance …” I whispered, but he placed one of his fingers on my lips and leaned in to make-out with me again. It was pouring by the time we were done. I was shaking from both the cold and the concoction of chemicals that was reacting in my brain.

  Our touches were primal and something stirred within me.

  So this was what people were so excited about.

  His hand slid around to cup the back of my head. Fingers interlaced with my soggy red hair.

  Every good thing eventually came to an end, and so did our kiss. Lance pulled back, letting go of his grasp on me. I smiled up at him, feeling drunk.

  “We better get in before we catch a cold,” I said, some semblance of logic returning to my addled brain.

  I wanted him to kiss me again, to touch me in ways that I hadn’t been touched before, but not here. The light was starting to fade and the rolling of thunder boomed in the distance.

  “Good idea,” I could feel his reluctance too. He stepped aside and raised his arm, offering me to go first down the trail. Taking the lead, I tried to ignore the wetness both from my clothing and the place between my legs. Jogging didn’t help, only further turning me on.

  It was longer than expected for us to get back to the school, but when we did, it was still pouring. Our gym clothes were clinging to us and I could see the outline of my sports bra through the white fabric.

  He grabbed my hand as we got closer to the gym and my heart soared. It felt warm despite the cold.

  After we got to the gym it took a few minutes for us to clean up and get into our dry clothes. I looked at myself in the mirror, feeling like so much had changed in one day. Lance had kissed me. Just thinking about it gave me goosebumps.

  Like the silly girl I was, I imagined our life together after that moment. We would start hanging out more and maybe become Facebook official in a couple months ….

  But there was a problem. I realized that Lance was in the ROTC. Did that mean he was going into the military soon? He was a year ahead of me and the end of the school year was only in 5 months. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind as I tried to salvage my soaked hair with a hair tie.

  When I left the female locker rooms he was waiting outside the gym. There was an overhang near the entrance which sheltered us from the pouring rain.

  He looked cute with his wet hair and hoodie. Slowly, deliberately, I stepped closer to him, popping his personal bubble.

  Lance grinned.

  “I had a nice run,” I said.

  “Me too.”

  “Hey … sooo I was thinking we should hang out outside of school sometime. Like, go see a movie.”

  He raised his eyebrows at me, “Well, aren’t you forward?”

  I could feel my face get flush and he laughed.

  “I’d like that,” he said before kissing me.

  I saw a car pull up out of the corner of my eye, then heard a door slam. When I was able to get a better look at it between kisses, I stepped away from Lance as quickly as possible. It was too late.

  Lance stared at me in confusion. When he realized that I wasn’t focused on him, but something behind him, he turned. Around fifty feet away and lumbering toward us was Matteo, my older brother. His jaw clenched and you could just about see the fumes rise from his figure.

  “Oh God,” I muttered. Instead of be
ing smart and getting the hell out of Dodge, Lance stepped in front of me to block him from my view.

  “Hey man,” Lance said to my brother with an air of nonchalance. Dammit, I knew this was going to go poorly. Matteo didn’t seem to care what Lance said. I could see that his hands were balled up into white fists at his sides.

  “Get away from her,” he growled as he got close. They were in each other’s faces.

  “What, is she your property? Rosa can talk to whomever she wants.”

  Mateo pressed his finger into the other man’s chest. “From what I saw, you weren’t exactly talking.”

  I could feel my stomach sink as Lance replied with his cocky, one-sided grin. He was a dead man.

  My brother was furious, grabbing his collar. I was terrified that a fight would break out between the two of them. It was tough to register who would win in a brawl between the two. While Lance was much taller and in shape, my bother was stocky and made of pure muscle. Also, he was more likely to be holding a weapon. My family wasn’t exactly known to play fair. In a fight for my honor, I expected the law to be thrown out the window.

  “You think you’re funny, you fucking loser?” he hissed the words into Lance’s face. “You think you’re hot shit?” Matteo pushed him into the brick wall of the gymnasium.

  “Matt! Stop it!”

  “You need to get in the car,” he told me. Rossi’s were always bossy, and being the oldest, Matteo was the worst of them. Even my father, who was the family head, didn’t talk to me like an underling. Instead of listening to him, I stepped forward, praying to stop the two before someone got hurt.

  “Do you want me to tell Dad you’re picking fights at school?”

  He brushed me aside and pinned Lance to the gym wall. Lance didn’t seem too worried. There was something in his eyes that told me he was waiting for my brother to pull the first punch.

  “I don’t want trouble,” he said, his voice steady. He nodded up toward the underside of the overhang. When I glanced up, I saw a black security camera.

  “You’re being taped.”

  “You think I give a fuck, snitch?” Matteo laughed at that and pressed his arm deeper into his chest. Lance shifted uncomfortably, obviously in some pain.

  Matteo went on, “I’m going to tell you once, bro. Stay away from my sister. If I see you near her again, I’ll kill you.”

  I grimaced. “You won’t be killing anyone!”

  “Shut up,” he barked back.

  Lance and Matteo stared each other down for a few minutes. Then, without warning, my brother planted his fist into the side of Lance's jaw. His head whipped around, but otherwise Lance was like stone. I was unable to decipher his expression. It was emotionless, even when a bit of red appeared at his lip.

  “No!” I yelled. In an instant I was on top of my brother, pulling him away from Lance. To my surprise, he allowed me to drag him away toward the car.

  I glanced up at Lance with an apologetic look on my face, but he didn’t look back. We were ghosts to him.

  Matteo shook my arm off and spat in the direction of my crush before opening the door to the small black sedan.

  “Come on, Rosabella.” he said. I stood by the passenger-side door, wishing that I didn’t have to get in with my violent brother.

  Finally, Lance turned toward me. Our eyes locked on to each other, having a conversation without words.

  My eyes pleaded to him and his replied.

  “I’m sorry.” they said.

  “I’m not going to ask you again, Rosa!” After giving him one last, parting glance, Lance nodded for me to do what my brother said. Tears were filling my eyes. I opened the car door and slammed it behind me.

  As the car pulled away from the high school, I looked back at Lance. At that moment, I didn’t expect that would be the last I saw him in 6 years.

  The bastard broke my heart and I wasn’t one to forgive that so easily. My mind had compartmentalized him into the category of one of those annoying boys who tried to court me during high school, but my heart said otherwise.

  My hands did quick work filling my plate with enough food to last me the rest of the wake. The last thing I wanted was to mingle any longer with the guests and up the chances that he would approach me. It took everything in me not to stuff my face full of creampuffs out of stress.When I turned to make my getaway, our next-door neighbor, Ms. Fulton, stood in my way.

  “I’m very sorry for your loss my dear,” one of her hands reached out to grasp my forearm. My mouth tried its hardest to form into a polite smile.

  “Thank you, my family and I appreciate your support.”

  “Federica was a fine, church-going Catholic. Why, I have many stories about our knitting club―"

  “MMMhmm …,” My head bobbed up and down, looking for an excuse to escape. But it seemed like everyone I knew was preoccupied or too close to make a clean getaway.

  “Excuse me ma’am,” Lance said. I swore internally and about dropped my plate. Ms. Fulton’s large, glassy eyes admired the man in front of her. He went on.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, but Miss Rossi and I have a previous engagement we must attend to.”

  “Wha-" My mouth opened in protest, but closed when I felt a strong hand squeeze my shoulder.

  “Oh it’s no matter. Rosa, please send my regards and well wishes to your father.”

  “Yes, Mrs. Fulton, thank you,” I said through clenched teeth. The woman left me with a smile. I whipped around to start an argument as soon as she had wandered to the next family member.

  “Not here,” Lance said, cutting me off. “Not with your entire family watching. He took my hand in his and I snorted, placing my plate down on the nearest table.

  “Whatever you want to say, you can say in front of my entire family,” I retorted. As much as I hated the thought, it was refreshing to feel his skin against mine. His palms were rough; thick calluses had formed on his fingers. I remembered how his hands felt years ago when we kissed in the forest. They had still been strong, but not as hard and rugged.

  Lance knew that my reply was half-hearted. He kept leading me, raising his eyebrows as he did.

  “I think you want to hear what I have to say.” His voice was low, just loud enough for me to hear. Finally, I sighed.

  “You get two minutes,” I said with venom in my tone. He seemed to be more than happy with that and held the door to an empty hallway open for me.

  “This way,” I said, turning the tables and pulling him down another side hallway. Lance didn’t protest, but I heard a deep breath escape his nostrils. When we got to the door at the end of the hallway, I nodded at it. It was a little surprising that he opened it for me, like I needed him to prove that he was a gentleman. Flipping my hair, I walked past him into the garage, the only place in the house I knew we wouldn’t be intruded on.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Lance

  When she passed me in the hallway, I could smell the sweet scent of her perfume. It wafted into my nostrils and drove me insane. There was nothing I wanted more than to burry my face in her neck and take a few deep breaths. Fuck, just her smell made something awaken in me. Sure, I had slept with a few women since high school, but they had been transient in my life. They passed through and didn’t make any difference to me. Whenever I was fucking them, all I thought about was the girl who had stolen my heart in high school. It sounded like such corny bullshit. The guys back in the War Dogs Battalion would’ve never let me live it down if they knew I was still pining after some hometown girl.

  But she wasn’t just some girl to me.

  I waited a few breaths to step after her into the garage, closing the door behind us. Darkness fell on the room, and it took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to it. Suddenly, Rosabella was next to me, her shoulder brushing up against my chest.

  Oh fuck. Was she making a move? I felt my body tense up and pressure build below.

  “I’m going to lock the door,” she whispered, her voice lingering in the garage. There
was a click as I realized she wasn’t jumping my bones like the other women had.

  No. I suddenly remembered Rosabella wasn’t one to sleep with everything with a dick. From what I had heard around town, she still had the reputation of being a prude. Actually, her reputation was worse now that her brothers had joined the mob. There were rumors that more than a few guys had landed in the hospital just for looking at her the wrong way. I was willing to take that chance, even for just a taste.

  Her eyes were on me. I could feel them piercing my chest.

  “What do you want Lance? On what whim did you decide to crash my aunt’s funeral?”

  “Great-aunt’s,” I corrected.

  “Really?” She crossed her arms and I could feel her annoyance fill the vast garage. Now that I could see the room in more detail, I saw one sports car at the far end of the three-car garage, a Maserati. Other than that, it was clear of any other clutter or man-toys. For some reason, now that I was with her, my brain was coming up blank. All I really wanted was to be in her presence. To smell her and touch her skin. I hated all the pretense that our history came with. But, if there was no chase when it came to Rosabella, I don’t think I’d be as enchanted with her.

  The sound of a foot tapping echoed through the large garage.

  “I came here to apologize, Rosa.”

  She was waiting. It was fucking adorable.

  “How we left it … how I left US was not okay.”

  “No, it wasn’t,” her voice was like ice. It hurt me more than I realized to hear her displeased with me. I wanted to comfort her, to let her see that I wasn’t the same stupid boy that had abandoned her to join the marine corps. My mind wandered back to the nights where I laid in my cot in Afghanistan, thinking of her. Only her. As much as I wanted to rid myself of Rosabella, everything in my being wanted her.

  “I was stupid and childish for making a move when I knew I was joining the military.”