A Love Restored

Things were indeed, slowly getting back to normal. Nico and I texted regularly, and honestly, things with Julian had never been better. He has kind and attentive, and his affection was constant and consistent. And he was making efforts for me and our hatry

Today was also the day I would finally go hack in to work. My ob–gyn had told me that tattoos and tattoo ink weren’t fully safe for me, since I was pregnant. She told me not to do any tattoos and be extra vigilant around ink. Hut a woman needed money. Dad had told me not to come in, he would still pay me, but i wanted to work for as long as I could. So I had decided I would sit at the register and help in clean up and stuff,

I

I was kind of excited to get back to work. The tattoo shop was kind of a second home to me. And I had missed it these past few weeks. I had almost grown up here. After mom passed, I’d hang out here with Dad and Gabe because we didn’t have the money for a sitter

I put on a cute pink sweater with jeans and tied my hair up into a loose ponytail. I liked how I looked. I think I had that pregnancy glow. My skin looked nice. Or maybe it was the happiness and relief of things going back to normal.

When I walked inside the shop, it was mostly empty except for a group of young girls, probably just out of high school, getting tattooed by Gabe. They were giggling excitedly about it- getting matching tattoos on their pinkie fingers. It was really very cute.

I yelled out a hi to Gabe and then sat down at the cash register. We usually didn’t have anyone up here. Everyone managed it. But I guess now I was the designated cashier.

The tattoo shop traffic only increased in the evening because that’s when most of the appointments were. And most of the drunk p

people came at night.

Work was pretty easy most of the time. I spent it chatting up with Gabe and while he was working I worked on the accounts for the past few days. Dad and Gabe were a little…lagging in this area.

We were going to close at nine–thirty since it was a weekend. Around eight, two young men walked in. They looked eighteen or nineteen, Both were tall and lanky with hair cropped very short. When they came in, I put on my best smile.

“Hi, there!”

“Hey, we have an appointment?” One of them said. “Sure, names?”

“Tristan and Jason. He pointed toward each person with their name.

I nodded. Finding their entry in the register, I was about to answer when Jason whispered to his friend, “Isn’t that the Rivera whore?” It was barely whisper. He had said it

pretty loud. Maybe he was only pretending to whisper. I was sure he was. He wanted me to listen. He wanted me to know what he thought of me – that 1 was a whore…

“Shut, bro!” Tristar said to him. “You could get killed for that.”

Jason scoffed. “Who’ll kill me? Dante has no power anymore.”

I looked up at them. “Please wait for your turn,” I nodded towards a sofa, “You can sit down.”

“Who will do the tattoos?”

“Gabriel will be right with you,” I answered. I tried to put on my best placid face, pretending like their words hadn’t hurt me. But they had pinched ever so slightly when they had said it, and now it felt like my face was on fire. The hurt was only growing by the second.

Jason cocked his head to the side. “Why don’t you do mine? Maybe you can throw in a handy for free. I’m not a Rivera, but I can buy you stuff, too.”

My eyes widened. I opened my mouth to say something, hoping some mediocre comeback would make its way out, but I could barely say anything.

“What the fuck did you just say?” It was Gabriel. I looked toward him. He was seething, looking at Jason and Tristan with undisguised rage.

“I’m so sorry for my brother.” Tristan looked at me, his eyes frantically searching mine. “He’s just stupid. He didn’t mean i

it.”

But it was too late. Gabriel was already all up in Jason’s face, grabbing him by the collar. He pinned him against the wall. “What the fuck did I hear you

12

Jason grinned. “The truth? Your little sis is a hoe, brother.”

Gabe shook him hard. “You fucker. Let me see how you get made.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot. This is a family thing for you. The brather caught the Capo. The sister caught the Capo Bastone and the Consigliere’s son. Guess it didn’t work out, huh?”

He looked toward me, mocking, “Do you even know who knocked you up?”

That was it, I think. I knew it was too much for Gabe now. His fists clenched, and he was going to punch him.

I needed to stop this immediately.

“Gabel” I yelled, “Let him go! He’s a child.”

Gabe looked at me for a few seconds. Seeing the look on my face, he let Jason go. “Get the fuck out!”

Both Jason and Tristan ran out the door. Gabriel ran toward me.

“Those stupid d fuckers,” He swore under his breath, “I’m so sorry, Ginny.”

1 shrugged, my smile was watery. “It’s alright,” 1 puffed, “Kids.”

“You’re okay? I need to get back to my appointment.”

I nodded. Gabe patted my head, and then left for another room. He tumed back a few times to get a good look at me. I gave him a reassuring smile. When he had left, I slowly made my way to the washroom. It was small and cramped in here. Good. I shut the door behind me, bolting it from the Inside

And then I let my brave expression fade away, and I cried and cried and cried.

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