Page 49 of Bad Medicine

And did I have the guts to put aside my pride and ask her?

I considered what she would say if I told her that I had a son, and that there was a threat to us I might need help with. Francesca had just gotten through dealing with a whole mess of problems. Would she think I was worthy of her help with my own?

Deep down, I really hoped that she might.

But, as I considered the reaction I would get from Francesca when I told her about Jasper, my mind wandered to another reaction, one that might not be quite as welcoming.

What would Rocco say when he learned about my boy? Sure, he was having fun chasing me right now, but I was under no delusions that Rocco saw me as anything other than a prize to be won. He had only been putting in effort because I had denied him so many times. And after our last meeting, where I had unintentionally insulted him, he hadn’t invested even a single minute in his pursuit.

No. I was certain that once Rocco learned I was a mother, he’d run as far from me as he possibly could.

And maybe that was for the best.

Still, I couldn’t help but notice the pang of disappointment that rang in my chest at the thought that he’d turn his back on me because of my beautiful boy.

Blowing out a breath, I looked to Linny, who was staring at me as though she could see my thoughts and was already disappointed with their direction.

I opened my mouth to tell her I was going to be alright, but froze when I heard my name being called from the front porch.

“Mia!”

I knew that voice. I had dreamed about that voice, remembering every filthy thing he had whispered in my ear.

“Who could that be?” Linny asked with a sly grin, rising from the table, but I shot to my feet first.

“I got it!” I practically shouted the words, startling her as her eyebrows rose. “I mean, I’ll take care of whoever it is,” I fumbled, my attempt at recovery doing nothing to ease Linny’s suspicions.

“Alright,” Linny conceded. “Jasper and I will hang out here. But, do me a favor, will you?”

“What’s that?”

“Give the man a chance.”

I stared at her, wondering if that was something I could actually do.

And what it might cost me in the end.

Chapter twenty-two

Rocco

Iwasn’thungry.

That should have been my first clue that something was seriously fucked in my head. I always had room for food. Especially a feast like the one Francesca had prepared, with mountains of deliciousness on every surface throughout the whole house. I should have been gorging myself to the point of a food coma.

Instead, I was sitting at the table, moving some mashed potatoes around my plate and pouting.

What the fuck had I become?

“Hey, dickface.” Lexi’s words were followed up with an elbow to my ribs. “You gonna eat it, or sculpt it? Some of us are trying to enjoy our meal. The smell of sadness coming off of you is curdling my gravy.” Picking up a pea off her plate, Lexi placed it on her thumb and flicked it at me, smacking me right between the eyes. “What the fuck is your problem, Rock?”

“I don’t have a problem, Lexi, unless you count the fact that I got stuck beside you for dinner when you clearly should have been at the kids table.”

Lexi barked out a laugh. “Look around you, man. The entire thing is a kids table.”

Looking up from my plate for the first time in a while, I could see that she was right; our group was made up of a bunch of overgrown kids pretending to be grownups.

Enzo sat at the head of the table, and he’d pulled Francesca’s chair so close to his own, she was practically in his lap, his eyes straying to her newly pregnant belly every few minutes like he just couldn’t help himself. Enzo’s mom, Lita, the only woman who had ever come close to feeling like I thought a mother should, sat at the other end, next to Lucky, who looked about as comfortable as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs as Lita talked her ear off, going on and on about her recent cruise. All along the rest of the table sat our family, the people I cared about most in the world, laughing and joking and insulting each other the way only the closest of friends could do and not get punched in the face.