Trials and Tribulations

Chapter 31

Enjoy.

Jazmin

"Yes Mama." I laughed a little at how concerned she was. I hadn't talk to her in a while, so I called her while Stephen was out with the guys. She was, of course, excited to hear from me. James got on the phone for a moment, but he was extremely tired from work so our talk was brief.

You would've thought my mother was a detective with LAPD the way she was questioning me. I let her ask all the questions I knew she had been waiting to. Her and Stephen actually met for a nice conversation. We had dinner all of us together a while back, while I was nervous, Stephen was really calm.

"Are you eating okay?" She said with concerned laced in her voice. I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, Ma. I assure you, I'm eating good." I picked up a Reese Cup off the night stand. "Real good." She went on and on about other things for a moment. I knew it was her cleaning time, so the conversation was about to end real soon.

"Well, I just wanted to make sure you're still alive. Stephen seems a little shady." I choked a little bit while I was laughing.

"Why does he seems shady to you?" I said out of curiousity.

"A mother's intuition. I can't pinpoint what it is, but it is something." I mean hey, she was definitely right.

"Well Ma, I don't know what to tell you. He's a great guy." In theory of course.

"Mhm, well I'll talk to you real soon, sweetheart."

"Alright Ma, love you."

"Love you too." With that, the line cut and it was just me and these delicious Reese Cups.

The door creaked open and Stephen came in looking beat. Who knows what he talked about with Alessio. Seems like all he did was business 24/7. Man is going to have a full head of gray hair in a couple months at this rate.

"Amore." He said tiredly.

"Hello love, how are you doing?" I looked at him in amusement. I could tell he was going to crash as soon as he laid on the bed. He let out a huff as he unbuttoned his shirt.

"A little stressed is all, but what else is new?" I nodded in agreement.

"Your talk with Alessio?" I said cautiously. He was putting his pants away and just in his boxers at this point. He always had the black boxer briefs, there was no other color in that drawer. Don't even think about trying to give this man blue.

"It was okay." I nodded slowly. I know he was very discrete about his business, but I wanted to see if he'd tell me what they talked about.

"What did you guys discuss?" He was quiet a moment and then I felt him look up at me.

"You really wanna know?" I shrugged.

"I mean you don't have to hide your business from me if you don't want to. I know I've expressed disdain for it before, but...I have different feelings about it now." I said lightly. I was fiddling with my Reese Cup wrapper, trying to avoid his gaze.

"How do you feel now?"

"I mean I love you and wanna support you in everything. I know you have your reasons for doing what you do and I trust you on that. 100%." He smiled at wrapped his arm around me.

"Yeah? That's a really big relief. Not going to lie, it's kind of like walking on eggshells when it comes to talking to you about the mafia. I just wanna be honest." I chuckled.

"I appreciate that. I apologize for making you feel that way." I gave him a peck on the lips. I pulled away before he wanted to take it to another level. "No, no sir. Not tonight." He grumbled and moved away. "We're having a nice discussion, don't ruin it."