The thought makes me want to put my roll down, but I don’t. After all these years, I’ve toughened up some. Jessica’s only been a part of the life for a little under a year. The women stay out of the business at all times. That’s our rule. It prevents the shit that happened with Jack’s ex from going down. Yet another reason Jack blames himself. She should’ve known, though. What did she really think was going to happen?
Sitting around the table are more people in the family. Tommy and Anthony are good friends of mine, but they're also my cousins. They’re a year older and a year younger than me, respectively. Although they’re brothers, they look nothing alike. Tommy’s a wall of muscle. His fucking muscles have muscles. I’d be shocked if he didn’t take steroids. I hope he doesn’t, 'cause that shit will shrink up your dick. He’s a fucking hothead like my Uncle Enzo, so it’s hard to say if it’s from 'roids or just genetic. The younger one, Anthony, looks scrawny next to his brother, but he’s lean and works out to keep himself in shape. His eyes are darker, almost black. Anthony is a sick fuck. Tommy might be the muscle, but when we need to get information from someone, we turn to Anthony. Put him in a room with anyone, I don’t care who it is, he’ll get what he wants.
Two seats down from them is Uncle Enzo; he owns the bistro and the club. If someone’s trying to meet my father, they have to go through my uncle first. He’s leaning over telling Jack something I’d wager is a dirty joke, if his tone and hand gestures are anything to go by. A second later, that half of the table is laughing up a storm and my father’s yelling out with a grin. There are some others around the table: Paulie, Joe and a few other guys I know. I don’t hang out with them really. I do the books like Pop says, and I keep my nose clean.
Pops wasn’t fond of me being a bookie at first. He said it’s not good to do shit that could bring heat around the family. But when I started making valuable contacts, like my vet friend, he changed his mind. I know he’s still proud of me even if I’m not looking to take over his empire. I’m not who he thought I’d be, but I’m still family and still worthy of being part of this particular family. Ma takes a seat at the other end and smacks Uncle Enzo over the head. “Hey!” he yells out and rubs the back of his head as everyone gets a good laugh in. Tony’s on my right, the nerd of the group and also a lifelong friend. He gets the intel that we need. And that reminds me of my girl. My hands itch wanting to feel her lush ass again, and my dick jumps in my pants. I slip off my jacket and drape it over the back of the chair as Johnny walks in.
He takes a seat next to my sister, Clara. I’ve been noticing that lately. Not sure I like it. They’ve been friends for a while, but they seem different lately. The only people missing are my cousin Jimmy and his little boy, Gino. Gino’s a hoot. His mom’s a bitch and is lucky she’s alive, to be honest. Not that I’d ever do anything to the kid’s mother, but still, she’s lucky.
The bowls are going around the table. I close my eyes and breathe in deep. It smells like home. With the laughter and loud voices of my uncle and father talking over one another, it sounds like home.
And then Ma opens her mouth and ruins it by asking, “Dom, when are you going to bring home a nice girl for dinner?” The room goes silent except for a few chuckles from my uncle and Jack.
“Come on Ma, why don’t you pick on Vince for a while?”
“'Cause he’s my baby,” she says and shoots him a smile and he snorts a laugh in return, but I can tell he’s embarrassed, too. Good. If she’s gonna go after me, she should be digging at him as well.
“Ma, as soon as I find a keeper I’ll bring her home, alright?” As soon as the words come out of my mouth, my beautiful doll pops into mind. She’s got something about her I think Ma