The Badass Mafia Boss Queen

After breakfast, we headed down the driveway, with Rocco straggling. It had rained heavily during the early hours of the morning, so the ground was still wet with dull clouds up in the sky. When we came to the bend in the driveway, something at the back of the property caught my eye.

Hugh and Nero were standing near the tree line at Hugh’s usual spot. Nero’s face and his shaking finger were very close to Hugh’s face. His chest was pumped, and his lips were moving rapidly, angrily.

Hugh had his back to me, with his head bent in submission. While I was quickly taking all of these things into account, I hadn’t noticed that my pace had slowed. Hollis came back to get me.

“You don’t have to wait for Rocco,” he told me, grinning.

Rocco caught up with us. He glanced knowingly to the spot Nero stood with Hugh before catching my eye, but remained silent.

When we got to the garage, Hollis stood by with an even larger grin on his face. I smiled back, to hide my discomfort at the sight I witnessed seconds ago.

“What?”

“Which one?” He asked, waving his hand back and forth along the lineup of cars in the garage like a game-show host.This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

The smile was washed from my face. I shook my head in disbelief. ‘Was this his idea of fun?’

Hollis nodded as if he heard my thoughts. “They’re your cars now. You should know how to drive them.”

I shook my head, I’ve rarely driven much. Getting a driver’s license was one of those Real World things that I had wanted to achieve, and I did. I celebrated my feat by buying a car, a bright-red Toyota. But after battling with Fairview traffic for months, I ditched the car and opted for the bus that had a designated pathway and the train at other times.

I remembered the added dents on my car due to impatience and the crazy drivers that roamed Fairview. Then I looked at the shiny, frail cars lined next to me. I imagined the kind of damage someone like me could do to them since I’ve been out of touch for months. I lost my breath and leaned against one of them to steady myself.

“Aha!” Hollis said, waking me from my nightmarish trance. “The Lamborghini, a bold choice.” He smiled with approval and went to grab the keys from the back wall.

“Hollis, I can’t… I have no idea how to drive this thing.”

“It’s amazingly easy,” he reassured. “I’ll show you.”

He climbed into the driver’s seat. Rocco went into the backseat, pulling his shirt in place to shield his gun. I grudgingly got into the passenger side. Hollis spent the next few seconds amused with my frustrated attempts at closing the door. When I gave up, and started murmuring in frustration like a five year-old, he got out of the car and closed the door for me. My mood was darkening with the impending doom tugging at the edge of my mind.

My mood seemed to amuse Hollis and Rocco. They didn’t understand. I was sure they were making faces when my head turned to struggle with the stupid seatbelt. Hollis ended up leaning over me and helped me with that one too. I was terrified.

While he pulled the strap over to my lap, our eyes locked briefly, I let my smile reach my eyes and his cheeks colored. He looked down and then away and fumbled to get the strap secured as quickly as possible. Driving out of the garage, Hollis looked at everything and anything that wasn’t in my general direction.

At the end of the driveway, he decelerated just long enough for the soaking-wet armed guard to peer in and quickly step away. Within seconds, the car was racing at an incredible speed down the gravel road.

I held on to the door handle and the middle console for my dear life while Hollis explained over the rev of the motor how the gears worked. But hello, I heard nothing. Not even a single word. I was still terrified.

The trees on the side of the road were a blur, and the rain was hitting the windshield hard. We raced through sharp curves, never slowing down. Hollis was completely, frustratingly calm.

And then he looked over at me. He slowed down a bit, making it possible for me to swallow again. The whole episode I experienced with Maxine flashed through my mind at that moment.

We’d been driving for quite a while, at least fifteen miles, I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t paying adequate attention. But I was certain I hadn’t seen any houses, road signs, nothing. We were in the middle of nowhere. When the gravel driveway paved onto a muddy highway, Hollis spun the car around and stopped.

“Ready?”

“No,” I mumbled, but he was already out of the car, making his way around to the passenger side.

Hollis opened the door and stood in the pouring rain. I scooted over to the driver’s side, catching a glimpse of Rocco’s reflection as I adjusted the rearview mirror. He was terrified, so was I. Even though Hollis coached me through, the car kept jerking forward, and stalling. And everytime it comes to a jolting stop, Rocco’s head would slam into the seat in front of him.

After a lengthy while, I was able to make the car move more than a few inches at a time, and before long, we were coasting along the muddied road. The car did corner curves effortlessly. It was almost a refreshing experience for me. Even though I noticed Rocco’s knuckles going white with the tight grip he had on the door handle. But Hollis on the other hand, looked on proudly, enjoying the ride.

But soon, it all went very wrong. I came to a deceivingly deep puddle and got to a curve faster than I should. I turned the wheel, but nothing happened. I braked hard, the car swerved. Hollis looked ahead, a hand on the dashboard, and the other pushing me against my seat.

“Hold on we’re gonna crash,” he said so casually like it was some normal basic stuff.