Page 166 of Boyfriend of the Hour

Who, at this point, definitely wasn’t me.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I said. “I literally just heard that name like one week ago, so you need to slow your roll.”

“And how did you hear it?” Lea barreled on. “Don’t lie to me, Joni. I know where you were at. I know these things becauseMichaelgot a phone call literally the next day asking him to meet up with those guys. They haven’t looked him up in almost twenty years.That’s two decades, Joni!”

“I know what a decade is,” I said as I rolled my eyes. “What do you mean, looked him up? What does Mike have to do with a bunch of gangsters?”

Lea looked like she was about to hyperventilate. I watched as she looked away from the phone, rubbed her face, almost like she was pushing back tears, and then turned back after taking several long breaths.

“It was when you were little,” she said. “When Mike and I first met. You wouldn’t remember, but he wasn’t always the most upstanding guy.”

“Everyone in the family knows you married an ex-con, Lea,” I informed her just as condescendingly as she had spoken to me. “But no one cares. Mike’s always been good to you and us. He’s a Zola now.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t know what it took for him to get to that. To get to this place, with our house, our kids. What he sacrificed to make that good happen.”

I frowned. “Sounds like you’d better tell me.”

Lea just shook her head. “It was when the Albanians started moving into Belmont. You were so little, but I remember. They bought up a lot of the restaurants in the area, and I guess themob too. Merged with one of the local families—the one Mike was stealing cars for when he was put in prison.”

I calmed down at that. I knew about that part of Mike’s record, but not about his connection to organized crime in Belmont. That was no joke.

“They wanted him to come back to work for them when he got out,” Lea said. “They only let him out because they respected him, but Antoni always said he would one day call back that favor, and I thought maybe he forgot, but hedidn’t, Joni! He didn’t! Because someone in his group saw you at that fucking party, shaking your ass, recognized your last name, and came knocking at our door again. I guess they figured if one Zola was getting back into the life, Mike should come with her.Fuck, Joni! How could you do this?”

“Wait. Hold on, I didn’t do anything,” I protested. “It was a gig, Lea. I was serving drinks at a private party. How was I supposed to know the people there had some weird debt to call in from Mike?”

“You always do this,” my sister spat. “You blink your big green eyes and act like you don’t know anything so you don’t have to take responsibility for what you do. You didn’t even think if the ‘party’ was sketchy, did you? Didn’t even wonder if charming random dudes was a good idea.”

“It’s not like that,” I said. “I needed to make some money.”

“I’m sure you were doing a lot more than that, baby.” Lea sounded so weary. “You act like your bad decisions don’t affect the rest of this family. But now you’ve dragged mine into it. And I don’t know what the fuck we’re gonna do, because the last time we extricated ourselves from the claws of Lis Antoni, Michael and I both almost got killed. Get it now? Real stakes, Joni! Real lives!”

“Oh myGod, I am not responsible for bad decisions you and Mike made twenty years ago!” I practically shrieked. “I’m sorryI served a drink to a bad guy who hates you, but it literally could have been anyone. It’s not my fault he came calling!”

“YES, IT IS!” Lea shouted back. Her face was so red that she looked like she was about to boil over. Even tears were starting to form around her eyes. And this sisternevercried. Lea was tough as nails.

I might have felt bad. I did feel bad. But I also felt angry. Too angry to be nice. Too angry to do anything but bite right back at her.

“NO, IT’S NOT!” I shouted right back. “And honestly, if you can’t see that, then fuck you! I don’t need this shit, Lea. I’m trying to get my life together, and you accusing me of all sorts of things I am not responsible for isn’t helping. So, you know what? You can either start being arealsupportive sister, or you can legit fuck off.” I swiped at my face, aware I was probably ruining Kiara’s careful makeup job. “Now, I gotta go. I have another gig tonight that I cannot be late for. With someone who actually cares about me. Bye.”

“But, Joni?—”

“Bye,” I said again, then turned my phone off.

I sat on the corner of my bed for a long time, sucking back tears, taking deep breaths, and trying to get myself together. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. I looked up to find Kiara and Rochelle poking their heads in.

“Hey,mami,” Rochelle said as she edged inside, followed by Kiara. “You okay?”

I shook my head. “Lea issucha bitch. Apparently, that Antoni guy called her husband for something bad, and she’s blaming me. Because I had the bad luck of serving him drinks.”

Kiara and Rochelle traded glances, but neither said anything.

“She’s just scared,” Rochelle said. “No one wants a call like that. Especially since your brother-in-law used to be wrapped up with those dudes too, right?”

I nodded. Like most of our extended family, Rochelle was well-versed in the gossip that had been Lea and Mike’s beginning.

“I’m over it,” I said as I stood up. “And I know what I need to do.”

Without another thought, I swiped my phone off the bed and fired off a text to Kyle letting him know I was on for the boat party. I could go to that, make the money I needed for the surgery, and talk to Lis about leaving my family alone all at once.