Alessandro: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Mafia Academy Book 1) Page 2

  This was the senior dorm. As freshmen we shared four to a room and had one bathroom between us. Living hell is what it was. Each time we moved up the yearly ladder, our surroundings became more luxurious. Just as our lives would be after graduation.

  I moved aside some of Maria’s never-ending swaths of material that covered every available surface. We’d just arrived the day before and they already cluttered everything. We would set rights to the dorm this weekend but by next week, her material would be spread around again. I didn’t mind.

  I sat and pulled on the boots. They dripped sex like an overpriced hooker. My father would come out of his suit if he saw me. According to him, I should always wear diamonds and full-length gowns that cost more than most people’s yearly salary. He would have a coronary and I would be sent home faster than I could scream my virginity was still intact.

  Maria fussed with her nails while I had another internal breakdown. Her outfits all screamed wild sex with no inhibitions. That wasn’t me. But I had a small talk with myself before this year began. I had no way of knowing when my future husband would come out of the woodwork. He could already be chosen and I could walk into a wedding when I arrived home from graduation. He could also be old and sexually out of his prime. I wanted to live a little or maybe a lot. I dared myself to do it and here I was trying to back down.

  This year was my last chance. If a man hadn’t been chosen, I would be paraded out when there was someone to impress. As the family jewel, I would be watched and controlled. Basically, my life would be a boring hell.

  It was a thought I hated.

  “Want some liquid courage?” Maria asked at the same time she pulled out a pint of boutique tequila.

  She tried to grab glasses but I jumped up, almost breaking my neck in the heels, and made a mad dash toward her, twisting the bottle from her hand. I lifted it and tilted my head back. It was my live-a-little guarantee.

  “There’s the princess I know and love,” Maria said with the most genuine smile I’d seen today.

  I took another swig and flipped my middle finger. Her grin inched up a notch. I handed the bottle over and she tossed it back.

  “We really needed limes but hey, I can handle it.” Her mouth twisted into a half tequila tornado with a cough. “Waw,” she declared once she recovered. “How do you do that?”

  “What?” I asked as the alcohol soothed my nerves.

  “You don’t even make a face,” she complained.

  I gave my first smile of the night. “I like the taste.”

  “You’re pretty strange for a plushdog.”

  “I hate that word,” I said for the hundredth time since our freshman year.

  “Come on,” she bumped my hip with hers. “You could be the princess at this school. It’s our year and it’s our time. Life waits outside and we’ll never be seniors again.” She waved the bottle toward the hall outside our door.

  Sadness shot through me at her words.

  “You’ll be a senior in college before you know it. It’s me who will never be a senior again.”

  Gloom flashed in her eyes and I was sorry I said it.

  “I won’t have my bestie with me so it won’t count,” she said and I knew she meant it.

  I don’t tell her she’ll have a new bestie and I’ll be married. Most likely by her college senior year, I would be on my second child. Maria’s older brother would continue their family’s tradition of loyalty to the Rossi’s. I would no longer be Rossi and loyalty to me would be nonexistent. No matter what, we would remain friends but it would be different.

  No feeling sorry for myself. This was my life and I accepted it. I had a year to live before the Rossi walls closed in. I wanted my virginity to be a thing of the past; I just didn’t know how to go about it and there was no way I would tell Maria my plan. She would never shut up about which guy would be the best to do the deed. I wanted someone I felt safe with, and at this school, it was asking too much. I refused to give up, though, and would look around tonight for a possibility.

  We did another round from the bottle before we stepped outside to walk the short distance to the party.

  It was time to be the Rossi.

  Chapter Three

  Alessandro

  Rumor said the bitch nudging my lap with her face liked to use teeth. Her sharpies would stay away from my most prized possession. I pushed her off and didn’t bother trying to remember her name. Her straight hair, dyed blond, large tits after surgical enhancement, a possible nose job, though she went back to groping for my dick and I couldn’t see it, was what she offered. I took a pass.

  Public demonstrations of affection were not my thing.

  With a slightly harder shove, she went to the floor.

  She was a recep, short for receptacle. She was here to ease the load when our dicks needed relief. I had no idea why the thought seemed repulsive tonight. She wasn’t forced to make herself available. I took full advantage of willing receps when the princesses were locked down. Lockdown happened when shit went bad on campus. Protect the princesses at all costs.

  My thoughts turned dark and I shook my head to clear them. The girl climbed half into my lap again, refusing to accept my rude no.

  “Someone get this bitch off me,” I said to the group at large.

  They were my crew, the guys who, through sweat and blood, proved they had my back. These friendships and pacts would serve me when I was the Brambilla.

  “Come over here, sweetheart, and put that mouth where it’s needed,” Marino said with his legs splayed and a slight tap to his lap.

  He blew smoke, then handed me his vape pen.

  “She bites,” I told him with a lazy grin, inhaling deeply, then blowing out the smoke.

  “Only if she wants to lose teeth,” Marino warned with a stern look in her direction as she crawled toward him.

  If he wanted his dick munched, I wasn’t the man to stop him. Marino was a sexual deviant and would probably enjoy it. To each their own and all that fucking shit.

  We were here to assess this year’s class and hopefully put down the wannabe asshole who thought he could take my top spot. I’d had my eye on his smart mouth and dumb brain since last year. He was a Romano and he thought he could win against me and my crew. He was wrong. I would put him down when the time came and leave him with a reminder that a Brambilla will never bow to a Romano.

  I glanced at Marino who had his head back and eyes closed while enjoying his party favor. One of the academy staff walked by and ignored him and the recept. Their job was to see no one was hurt, and controlling our sex lives went far past their paid responsibility. They also overlooked the vape pen. We were seniors.

  Me and my crew were only at the party long enough to size up Romano so Marino might as well get his rocks off now.

  Obnoxious laughter came from the double glass doors at the head of the rotunda and the punk of the hour, Matteo Romano, walked in with six of his crew. At one time or another over the past three years, I’d left them all weeping or passed out on the ground. Now they’d teamed up with Romano and they met my eyes again. I ignored them, turned my back, and warned my crew with one word.

  “Business.”

  Marino’s eyes popped open and his lazy sex gaze turned sharp. The others followed my chin nod.

  “Sorry, doll,” Marino said and pulled himself from her mouth with a slight grimace.

  He suddenly jerked her hair hard enough to tear it out and caused a sharp shriek. She got a bite in.

  “Crazy bitch,” he muttered, then turned to the group at the door as they moved farther into the senior hall.

  Romano’s crew gave us the same eye fuck. Maybe tonight would be the night. I’d like to settle into my senior year without wondering when Romano would stab me in the back.

  Truthfully, I was tired of playing the academy game and wanted real life. I had three full years establishing myself as the number one dick. It took my fists and my willingness to take on anyone who wanted a shot at me. I excelled at strategy, had killer instincts, and handled a great deal of pain without flinching. Halfway through my sophomore year, I went after the top spot held by a senior and won. As the youngest to ever take the position, I’d defended it since.

  I was tired of dealing nicely with the Romano eurotrash of this world, the school rules and my education be damned. The weed was talking. I would not disappoint my father. I also didn’t want my crew to suffer. I didn’t see a way around this mess and I hated that I even considered another way to handle it.

  Tonight, more than anything, I’d wanted to get lost in a heavy buzz caused by something stronger than liquor or green. The academy staff frowned on heavy drugs and would not condone the night train I wanted to ride this weekend.

  Too fucking bad.

  Monday was the first official day of our senior year. It bugged the fuck out of me and I didn’t want to think about it.

  There was more to this school than simply keeping us safe. Rochester halls are where we established ourselves. Our future partnerships and loyalties were built here. When we graduated we entered a life of violence and death. All for one reason.

  Family.

  As for mine, Father was breathing down my fucking neck again. After graduation, I would stand on his left. Jolly, Marino’s dad, would be on his right. I would be privy to all family skeletons, though I already knew most of them. In ten years or so, I would be the Brambilla and the family business would be mine. This course was mapped since my birth, or more likely before. Hell, my father was already throwing out hints of marriage and grandchildren. For fuck’s sake, I had only turned eighteen two months ago. The man could kiss my ass because I was taking this entire year to live the life I would never have again. The point of my decision to do something different this year was t
o not think about the responsibility waiting after graduation.

  I was ready for that responsibility. I actually craved it. I also knew once I stepped to my father’s side, every action I made would be analyzed and criticized to polish me for leadership. I had this last year of freedom and I planned to take it to the limit. It was now or never.

  My father stayed single and fucked around until he was twenty-two. He said he knew his single days were over the first time he saw my mother. He also got lucky that she was from an approved family who was willing to negotiate and become allies with the Brambilla.

  But the truth was, my father fucked around after marrying my mom. Discovering his adultery when I was ten left a bitter taste in my mouth. I also knew I would be exactly like my old man.

  It was expected.

  A hush fell over the hall and brought me out of my thoughts. The atmosphere had changed. A few people glanced my way, then back to the double glass doors leading outside.

  I knew of only one person who would cause this stir.

  Rossi.

  She stepped forward and students parted.

  Another step and I could see every inch of her.

  Too fucking much of her.

  I’d saved this bitch for my senior year and made sure the school knew it. No one else would spread those legs before me. Hell, I wasn’t sure her legs deserved spreading so I just might take her from behind the first time. It would also keep me from looking into her lying Rossi eyes.

  I turned my gaze to my crew. Lust dripped from them even though they cast the occasional look in my direction. Rossi never came to these events. The two of us were rarely in the same room and watching her from across campus was as close as I got.

  Dark thoughts filled me as I studied her and revenge swirled in my head. My father made it clear I was to stay away and leave the revenge to him. Until this year, I’d done as he demanded, but the waiting was over. I planned to take something from her family that they would never get back just as they took from me. I think one princess’s virginity verses my mother’s life was a poor trade, but it was in the realm of revenge I could get away with.

  My father hadn’t gone after Rossi over the death of my mother which infuriated me. When it was my turn to lead the family, I would handle Rossi myself. His daughter was simply the prequel.

  My eyes were on her when Romano stepped into my line of sight.

  “Oh no, he fucking didn’t,” I said under my breath when I realized his target.

  Tossing the pen to the table, I was off the couch before I thought about my actions. The rustle of movement behind me let me know my crew had my back as I walked toward the enemy. The slight buzz I had didn’t help what happened next.

  Chapter Four

  Gia

  The senior hall was the height of ostentatious vomit with its antiques and artwork. Even the Victorian wallpaper screamed wealthy assholes. It was connected to the main school whereas the underclassmen had a more updated freestanding structure on the main campus hidden in the trees behind the larger buildings. This monstrosity with its grand ceilings and columns said welcome to your kingdom, seniors.

  I hated every inch.

  I felt like an idiot in Maria’s creation and my heart raced uncontrollably. She gave my hand a quick squeeze and reassured me before I went into my role.

  “You are the Rossi bitch and never forget it.”

  The Rossi bitch served me well. When you were shy and pretty, you appeared stuck up. It fanned the jackals. I was no longer shy because I’d learned the art of role play and could become anyone I wanted. Rossi bitch was just one of my many faces and I stole it from a character of a sitcom on television. She owned her world and when I went into her role, I owned mine.

  Maria also had my back. She made it clear early on that she didn’t take shit from anyone. She wasn’t someone who pulled your hair in a fight. She’d been trained by her father and brother. Others thought her loyalty to me absolute because of our families. That wasn’t it. Maria knew I wasn’t the tough-assed bitch the others saw. Even though I’d recovered from shyness, I could not get past my soft heart. All it would get me in life was a swift death.

  Between Maria’s protection and my family name, most left me alone, and that was exactly how I wanted it.

  Maria was my best and only friend. I’d shared my dreams with her and only her from an early age and she never laughed. We both knew I would do my family duty when the time came, but she didn’t think me crazy for the fantasy world that lived in my head.

  The other girls at school were of no interest to me. I never wanted to play their social games or know they were sleeping with my future husband or someone else’s. I was here to adjust to my life and dismissing the other students was a simple act of rebellion against my father who forced me to Rochester. If I came across as too good for everyone here, so be it.

  On days where holding the Rossi princess head up was too heavy, my dreams got me through. I spent hours of my free time studying film and mimicking actors. Tonight, I played the Rossi bitch.

  The instant hush in the room was caused by my appearance at the party. I didn’t do parties even when Maria did. The whispers followed and eye movement shifted from me to someone across the room. I didn’t need to look to see who it was. My skin crawled. That was enough.

  Why hadn’t I considered that he would be here? Of course, he would.

  I straightened my shoulders and curled my lips into the perfect condescending smile. My bitch face. I slid a leg forward so the material slipped off and miles of bare skin showed. Even if I would never be an actor, I was the best fucking one here because no one but Maria knew I was shaking in my four-inch booted heels. She also knew I would throw up at least once tonight due to the stress. Hopefully I would be drunk enough by then and “Gia can’t hold her liquor” would be the consensus.

  I knew when his eyes landed on me. The weight of his visceral hatred almost pushed me to my knees. I mentally pushed back. He could intimidate Gia but not the Rossi bitch. My back straightened infinitesimally. Alessandro Brambilla would never see me sweat, cry, or least of all, break.

  “Incoming,” Maria hissed at my side.

  I looked in the direction she was turned and watched as Matteo Romano swaggered our way. I didn’t like him. He was one of those guys who activated my creep factor. He was inhumanly cruel and I’d known it since my freshman year.

  Matteo and his friends tortured a dog and I found them with the evidence. It was too late to help the dog. The guys looked at me with contempt when a tear tracked down my face. Maria had stayed late in her classroom to talk with a teacher and I was alone.

  She came around the corner and took in everything at once.

  “You killed a dog?” she screamed loudly.

  It surprised even me until she started crying uncontrollably and wouldn’t shut up about the dog. It was an act to protect me. Maria didn’t care that she was talented in the acting department, but I saw her potential. Sadly, it wasn’t her dream and I couldn’t live vicariously through her.

  The theatrics saved me from a fate worse than death. No one remembered my wet cheek. They did, however, remember the trouble Maria caused. Matteo and his crew were locked down for two weeks. Maria and I made plans for the blowback that never happened.

  Matteo pretended it was old news but we knew the truth. One day, Maria would pay. His creepy vibe kept us away from him even when he said bygones were bygones. Until tonight, we’d managed to stay clear.

  His father and mine were friendly enemies and Matteo was the oldest of his family line. He would be an appropriate spouse and the thought turned my stomach. I didn’t think my urge to vomit could take much more.

  His eyes found mine and I saw something I didn’t expect but should have.

  Lust.

  It flamed hot from his body language with his intense approach. Matteo suddenly stopped cold and stared at something over my shoulder on the opposite side of Maria. A warm voice whispered in my ear.

  “What brought the queen bitch to the party?”

  I audibly sucked in a breath and still felt as if the oxygen in the room was gone.

  Alessandro Brambilla stood so close I could smell the musky bite of his cologne. A thrill ran through me. No, it was stone-cold dread.