Page 71 of Knocked Up by My Dad's Mafia Boss

For my baby.

18

DANTE

I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep, but I lie down anyway. The sunlight streaming through the windows makes my head pound.

I feel hungover from lack of sleep and the adrenaline crash, and even though my stomach’s empty it feels like I’m going to puke.

I close my eyes, just for a minute, and when I wake, it’s dark out.Fuck.My phone buzzes on the nightstand and I glance at it.

Elio. I pick it up. “You’re supposed to be resting.”

“I rested plenty. Doc gave me the good drugs.” Elio laughs.

“Glad somebody’s having a good time.” I don’t realize I’ve said it out loud until Elio responds.

“Don’t tell me you’re that shaken up over little old me.”

I sigh. “It’s not that.” I mumble the words, and I shouldn’t have said anything. Fuck. I’m unraveling. It’s taken forty-five years, but I’m finally cracking.

“It’s not? Now I’m offended.”

“Oh fuckoff, Elio.”

“What’s going on?” His voice changes. Softens. I feel like the world’s biggest asshole, and now I have to lie to him.

Again.

“I… met someone.”

“What do you mean, you met someone? Seriously? Finally? After all these years?”

“Stop acting like I’m a nineteenth-century spinster.”

“You kind of are.”

“I hate you.”

“You love me,” Elio teases. “So tell me about her.”

I hesitate, but then it all tumbles out of my mouth. “She’s beautiful,” I breathe. “Smart. Funny. Bratty.”

Elio chuckles. “I do love a brat.”

“So do I,” I admit. “But it’s… complicated.”

“What, she’s married or something?”

I snort. “No. Nothing like that. She’s just… she’s young, Elio.”

“How young?”

I hesitate again. “Twenty-five.”

Elio scoffs. “That’s notthatyoung.”

“She’s twenty years younger than me, Elio.”