“Are you sure? I don’t want to deal with Daniel on top of the shit with my dad.”
“Yes, now get ready!”
Hanging the phone up, I don’t need to be told twice. If it gets me out of this house, I will do just about anything I have to. My dad is so overbearing, it drives me insane. I walk into my closet and look at all the clothes that line the walls. You would think that I would be thankful for what I have, but I’m really not. I don’t have to work for anything, it’s all handed to me by my parents in order to keep me in line. I have to be on my best behavior every time I turn around. You can’t embarrass the man that is in the public eye every day of his life. As I let my fingers linger on the silk dress, I contemplate what life would be like if I left. What if I just up and went off on my own? Would he even care? A part of me wants to believe that he would but the bigger part says I already know the truth. My relationship with my parents is rocky at best. Dad has always been way too involved in work to settle down and actually act like a father a should. Instead, he throws all these pretty things at me and expects me to just put on a happy smile and be the prefect little girl.
With a sigh of defeat, I grab a pair of tight jeans, a shimmery tank top and my knee-high boots. Heading into the bathroom, I look at myself in the mirror. My bright blue eyes and long blonde hair hang around my face, framing it. I see a lot of my mom in me, but she’s so lost in her own little fantasy world that she doesn’t even notice me anymore either. Grabbing my brush, I run it through the tangles as I stare at my own reflection. One day I’ll leave this place. One day I’ll have a life of my own. Blowing out a breath, I slam the brush onto the counter, grab the hem of my shirt and pull if over my head. Forget all the shit for one night. I’m going to go out and have fun with my friends tonight. Everything else can wait.
Cordae
Counting to fifty, I do my pushups after I eat. I’m in a slight hurry for tonight’s fight to start. In fact, I just want to get it over with so I can get the hell to the after party. My body’s tense with all the weight of the world on it. My mind has wandered to every little thing that could go wrong tomorrow. I have a job placement of sorts. I guess it really isn’t a placement, seeing how I already know that I’m going to be taking over the goddamn empire one day.
I sometimes wonder how the fuck my uncle and father were truly related. They were ying and yang. Cut from two different cloths. Rolling onto my back, I do some sit ups while I weigh my options. There aren’t many within this family. Fuck, after I was kicked out of high school, I joined the Navy to learn some kind of discipline. My discipline came from the streets though, not the Navy. When I was released of my duties there, I fell back into the slump of life. My shoulder still aches every time the rain comes, and tonight is no different. Being shot that once really fucked my shoulder up for a long time but it’s healed well over time. Well, for the most part it has.
“What’s going on, Cord?” Jordy asks as he walks in looking a like an old school pimp. Some days I wonder how the hell we’re friends.
“What the fuck are you wearing?” Nodding towards his fur coat, I can almost smell the dead animal he skinned to make that shit.
“You like it? Got it off Joey over on the east side.” Shaking my head, I sit up resting my forearms on my knees as I watch him examine himself in the mirror.
“You look like the roadkill attacked your ass. You aren’t wearing that shit with me tonight,” I say pointing to it again, he shrugs before taking it off. Tossing it on my couch, I lunge forward and grab it.
“Don’t throw dead animals on my furniture man!” I roar before tossing it back to him, he scowls. Fucking idiot. What the hell is wrong with him? Some days I wonder if Jordy has a full brain inside his head. Especially when he does random shit like this.
“Your uncle coming in tonight?” he asks but I just shrug. I’m hoping he doesn’t. As much as I love my uncle for everything he’s done for me, I feel like he’s pulling me into the gates of hell with him. I suppose in a way I already live there. This lifestyle isn’t for everyone. It’s hard and it’s a dark place to live. I’ve never doubted myself in this family though. I’ve always held such pride within me when it came to this. I just hope one day it all plays out the way it should.
Being a Vitale, you know your place. It doesn’t matter if you’re at the bottom of the fucking totem pole or not. You know your place. Just as I know mine. There were times when I was younger that I didn’t want my place in this family. I would have done anything and everything possible to get out of it but over time, I watched my uncle be the man he is. I’ve watched him run this family with an iron fist. He takes nothing from no one, much the same as me. Each day he does his job as the Boss of the Vitale family and each day I see myself in him more and more. It’s not that I don’t want to be just like him necessarily, but I find that I like my way of living right now. My uncle has slowly been giving me more and more work for the family and I do enjoy it. There are just times that I can see myself doing something else. This life isn’t for the faint of heart. You have to shut down to a point and shut people out. You have to wear a mask of stone that you never let crumble because at the end of the day, you are a statue of what this world makes you. Being a Vitale means that you have to hold your head high and never let anyone step in your path. If by chance they do? You take them down any way needed in order to keep yourself at the top. I’ve been witness to more death and destruction than most people have, but that’s all a part of being me.
And I like who the fuck I am.
Ava
“Oh my god. I thought for sure my dad was going to come home early. I did not want to explain to him where the hell I was going today. He has been such an overbearing asshole,” I tell Taren with the roll of my eyes as I look out the window. I hear Taren giggle slightly before she actually speaks her mind.
“I don’t understand why you don’t leave. He’s such an asshole.” Blowing out a breath, I say something to her that I’ve never said to anyone.
“Truth?” Looking over at her, she nods her head.
“He has all my accounts locked. I can’t get into them. I get a six hundred dollar a week allowance,” I say with disgust. Taren’s mouth hangs open, but she keeps her eyes on the road. For that, I’m thankful.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me that? Why does he do that?” Pulling the visor down, I check my eye liner in the mirror before I answer her.
“Control. It’s all about the control with him. The accounts are frozen until I turn twenty-one. If he wanted to push the issue, I’m sure it could go on much longer,” I mumble. Pulling up to the stop light, Taren turns to me. I hate the pitied look that she’s giving me right now. This is exactly why I haven’t told her a thing. I do what I do. I am who I am. Do I hate being me some days? Of course I do, but that doesn’t mean I can change it.
“You can always tell me these things. If you ever need anything, just ask. I didn’t know he got that strict on you.” Grabbing my hand and pulling it into hers, she smiles at me. I love Taren for the most part, but she doesn’t understand me or my life. She doesn’t get the way my family operates and to be honest, I don’t want her to.