Kingpin (An Italian Mafia Romance) Read Online Free

man.”
    “Interesting,” I reply, but only because I can tell he’s lying.
    “Yeah. He lives out in St. Louis.”
    “Wow. He brings you to this school all the way from St. Louis. That’s like forty minutes away.”
    “No, my mom brings me to school. My dad lives in St. Louis. My parents aren’t married. I stay with my mom mostly, but I hang with my dad on a lot of weekends. Joint custody agreement, or something like that, I ain’t really sure.”
    “Oh, I get it now. My dad’s a doctor for the Air Force and my mom’s a nurse, not for the Air Force.”
    He nods, then goes back to the game again. At that moment, the bell rings and lunch is over. All the kids run to put their equipment away and line up to wait for the teachers.
    “Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say to Dominic as we both stand. Dominic puts the basketball away before turning to me with a confused look on his face.
    “What’d you say?”
    “I said I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    “You’re gonna talk to me tomorrow?”
    I frown. “Sure. Why wouldn’t I?”
    “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but nobody really talks to me here. They’re either afraid of me or they’re secretly making fun of me. So, I just kind of stay to myself.”
    It doesn’t seem to bother him, but just hearing him say that makes me feel bad for him. It’s not fair that people ignore him like that. He doesn’t do anything to anybody, but they still treat him like crap. It’s not fair. He defended me.
    “Well, I don’t know what’s wrong with everybody,” I say, walking to the back of my class’s line. “I don’t care what other people think. You saved me on my very first day of school, and made that guy apologize for hurting me. So, I’m gonna talk to you.”
    He smiles at me again as he reaches the back of Mrs. Webb’s line, just as the doors swing open and the teachers usher us in.
    Once we’re inside, Dominic looks over at me again, still smiling.
    “Okay, well I guess I’ll talk to you tomorrow then,” he says.
    “Okay. Talk to you tomorrow.”
    We walk into our respective classes and I ignore Maggie and Lisa as I take my seat. I feel their eyes burning into me.
    “Why were you talking to him so long, Alannah?” Maggie inquires.
    “Because I wanted to,” I say, instantly feeling frustrated.
    “Nobody really talks to him, though. He’s so big and weird-looking,” Maggie says.
    Lisa jumps in. “And he’s mean. He’s beaten up, like, four people already this year. I’m surprised he didn’t try to eat you.”
    “No, he didn’t try to eat me, Lisa, and he didn’t beat me up, either,” I snap. “If he’s mean to you guys, it’s probably because you call him Ugly Dominic and ignore him all the time. He’s nice to me, and that’s all that matters. So, I don’t care what you guys say.”
    And that’s the last of it. Maggie and Lisa glare at me for a second longer, but they don’t say anything else. Mr. Bishop steps to the front of the class and starts talking about something that happened a long time ago, and I smile to myself because I feel like I actually made a new friend today.

Dominic
    “T here you go, sweetie,”
    “Thanks, Ma,” I reply, immediately taking a sip from the Coke my mother just put in front of me. “I’m starving. This is gonna be so good.”
    My mom, Gloria, takes her seat on the other side of the table and smiles. Her puffy cheeks have big dimples that always make me feel calm. She’s dressed up for dinner like it’s a special occasion, even though it’s not, with a black dress and a pretty silver necklace my father bought for her when they were still together. Dad doesn’t hang out here much because Mom doesn’t like what he does, which is why they never got married, but I can tell they still like each other. I like seeing them together, but I really like hanging out with my dad on the weekends, too.
    “So, how was school, Dom?” she asks, looking up at me while she chews. I absolutely