Deal • REWRITE • BOOK 1

3; Smoke and Mirrors

"Sexist men just like you don't see pretty girls like me as a threat..."

L U C I E N

Mornings seemed to be my favourite part of the day despite my love for the dark. There was just something about it that got my blood pumping, heart racing and fingers trigger ready, today especially more so.

I'd been greeted with the sight of a semi naked Aria the instant I'd stepped onto the balcony joint to my room, my intentions being to smoke until another need popped into my head at the sight of her.

With long legs and an ass that looked great I'd verified that my morning was made and the job that I thought would be a drag wasn't, my mood for the day set until I'd been asked about my dad.

The realisation had slapped me in the face and caught me off guard, which meant that I was in a sourer mood than usual considering I'd also received a call from Alex telling me that my father had steadily deteriorated further overnight.

It made my body tense and thoughts dark, my mind trying to a find a distraction that would serve as a veil over what was really happening and obscure my need to kill someone with my bare hands.

So, as I stood at the entrance to the estate changed into fresh clothes and waiting for Aria, I found a distraction and admired the property before me.

With its grand two storey structure and tan bricked exterior, it marvelled in the center of a thirty acre landscape that Giovanni owned. Surrounded by shrubbery it stuck out like a sore thumb, vines covering parts of the front of the house and twisting against the bricks until they reached the roofing and invaded the piping like a disease.

Oddly the comparison made me smile, my fingers pulling the cigarette away from my lips as Aria emerged from the entrance of the house with her suitcase behind her.

"Only one?" I asked, blowing smoke through my slightly parted lips whilst nodding in gesture towards her suitcase, pushing the distraction of her body out of my mind as I looked at her.

"The rest of my things are being shipped over," she said, running a hand through her hair as I nodded and inhaled another drag before retrieving her suitcase and placing it in the back of the car.

As I did Giovanni walked out, stepping behind Aria where she began to talk to him whilst I leaned against the side of the car and took a quick look at my watch.

It was coming up to ten to seven which meant that we had time to spare and we weren't running late, the small gap between our schedule giving me ample time to call Alex quickly.

It was one in the morning in New York taking into account the time difference, so I wasn't surprised when he picked up almost straight away sounding wide awake.

The phone call was short, most of it centred on my dad and me being pissed at the world for everything that was happening, resulting in nothing but an argument between Alex and I when he'd told me to keep my tantrums to a minimum.

It left me strung tight with tension, my focus blurred as we said our goodbyes to Giovanni and made our way to the airport forty minutes away.

It was then, whilst we were in the car, when Aria spoke up. She seemed concerned, something that I was used to since I had an older brother who tended to be overboard with the whole keep your cool shít.

"Are you okay?" Aria asked, sounding a little awkward as I nodded without looking at her. Instead I kept my eyes focused on the view outside, the rural scenery soon turning into city buildings until the airport was in sight.

From there it was straight forward, the both of us getting on the private jet sent for us before enduring the near ten hour flight back to New York.