Page 136 of Marcello

Yeah, okay, it had been more like an order – but at least she’d said ‘please.’

Our Camorra crew kept practicing at the condemned motel.

I must’ve been smiling too much, because Cesare asked, “Why the fuck are you so happy?”

I lied. “I’m just glad we’re finally getting close to doing it for real.”

A vicious smirk spread across Cesare’s face as he stared off into the distance. “Yeah… and I can finally blow Dario Rosolini’s head off.”

That put a bit of a damper on my good mood, but only briefly. It was a testament to how high I was flying that just a few minutes later, I forgot all about my regular life and was back to daydreaming of Giulietta.

She called out of nowhere a few hours later – this time from a different number.

“Hey,” I greeted her happily.

“Can you meet me at a hotel tonight?” she whispered.

My heart skipped a beat. “Absolutely!”

“Good – but I still have to leave a couple hours before dawn.”

“No problem!” I said, elated. “What hotel?”

“I don’t know – can you arrange it?”

“Of course. What part of the city do you live in?”

“I don’t care where we meet, just as long as it’s someplace nice.”

“You want to go back to the same place?”

“Sure, that’ll work.”

“Okay, I’ll book a room and text you the number – ”

“No, no texting,” she whispered frantically. “Just let the front desk know I’m coming and I’ll meet you there.”

“What time?”

“…around 8:30?”

“Okay. Will you have already eaten?”

“No, probably not.”

“I’ll get us room service, then, and have dinner waiting for you.”

“Okay.”

“Anything you don’t eat?”

“I’m looking forward to putting a thick piece of meat in my mouth,” she said teasingly.

I immediately started to get hard. “You and me both. But seriously – ”

“I gotta go. Just get me anything. Bye!”

“Okay – bye – ”