How Jesse Got His Karma

twenty-seven

After deciding to take a week off of hanging at the daycare. I couldn't even get any peace and quiet when I came back to work.

"Boss! You gotta see this!" Nicholas comes walking into my office and grabs a chair sitting on the other side facing me before handing me a few pieces of paper. When I take hold of the papers, I furrow my eyebrows and confusion. I look at him and ask, "What is this?"

"Those are pictures that I was able to take from the security cameras in your dad's hideout. I think you forgot about it since you're dad barely used it before he died, not since he was on the run. But look closer." I look closer at the image and see that the place is completely trashed beyond belief.

It doesn't make sense how it could be because no one has gone in there in years. The key to the hideout is in a safe and I'm the only person that had access to it. None of my men even know how to get into it. Not even Nicholas and he's the head of the security team.

I look through the ten pictures that he hands to me and I see that there are barrels on the floor that kept things such as weapons in case my dad was in there and his location had been leaked and he needed protection, I'm pretty sure everything in there is gone by now.

There were various spray-painted drawings on the walls and the words 'son of a bitch'  was written numerous times in Italian. Along with other insults that were most likely directed at me but the piece of art that really caught my eye was the family crest of one the most nauseating families that I've ever had the punishment of knowing my whole life.

A circle is drawn with two large letter R's facing backward towards each other written in the center. The initials of past leaders of their gang curved around it forming a smaller circle around it.

Growing up with this man all my life I was made to believe that he was a second father to me. I truly felt that way until he and my father had a falling out. When my dad was in & out of jail for a while he was the only father figure I had besides Emiliano. From teaching me how to change tires at 7 years old, how to shave by the time I was 10. Even though I didn't need it he made sure I had all of these skills. All of a sudden this man that used to carry me on his shoulders as if I was one of his own, that used to introduce me as his other son whenever I'd stay with his family he just threw me away and I had no explanation other than my father saying 'he had made his own choice.'

Now Joseph Rossi was reappearing in my life and I had no idea why.

I was crushed for a while until I became a teenager and was introduced to things that would take my mind off of the fact that my life wasn't really worth living.

I was thirteen when I lost my virginity. I didn't even know what that word was. I barely knew anything about sex until Cyrus had found a way to get us into this high school party. It was the summer of seventh grade and we were going to be eighth-graders.

For some reason, we thought that we were old enough to do half the stuff that Hollywood portrays in movies and TV shows. We weren't. But it was fun to act like we were.

Cyrus was the one that was always into experimenting. I'm not going to lie I was definitely a coward when I was younger. A bit of a follower. Ryan and I would follow Cyrus's lead.

When I rolled and smoked my first blunt for the first time it was Cyrus who showed us.

When I got drunk for the first time it was Cyrus who later taught me to handle my alcohol better.

And when I needed to learn how to pretend I wasn't a virgin to get into this 16-year-old girls pants at only thirteen, Cyrus had given me a 'Sex 101' crash crash course lesson on what to do and what not to do the entire night before I had planned to make my move on her. He had been having sex for a year at that point.

Ryan and I were more bookworms than anything and had been book smart in comparison to Cyrus who excelled when it came to his street smarts.

I don't know if I was more-so focused on impressing her but I definitely was focused on not embarrassing myself. Yeah, I guess I cared if she had a good time but I was really only using her to see what the hype was. I'm aware of how bad that sounds. But I wanted to know why everyone was so eager to have this experience rather than waiting.

Once I figured out what the hype was I started doing it with anyone I met. Well, everyone that consented to it of course. I made sure it was no one I went to school with because I didn't want to walk around my school and be able to say I slept with a little over half of the female population there and have that as my reputation. I didn't want to remember who I slept with and seeing them at school would make it easy.

I didn't want to put a face to the bodies that I was trying to use for one night.

You wouldn't smoke the same blunt or cigarette that you used the night before right? Because once you've got the high you wanted from it, it's useless.

Instead, my reputation is the attractive quiet guy with 'slight' anger issues who is unattainable to every girl at Rochester.

That's why people made it a big deal when they saw me take Karma to my room the night she was drunk. I've never been with anyone romantically from that school.

With my mom being gone and my dad being...gone. All the time might I add, I lived by myself. Dad didn't hire a nanny because he didn't want to risk letting an outsider know his identity.

The number of women who willingly slept with me helped my ego grow to what it is and it helped my confidence. I went from being a follower to having people want to follow me and ask how I pull women with ease.

That went on for years until recently now that I'm 19. When my father died my main focus had been on the gang so I, sadly, became celibate because I didn't want any woman to be a distraction.

A few months later and now all my thoughts are consumed by this overwhelming breath of fresh air, a crazy intelligent, charming brown skin beauty whos been harassing me in my dreams in the best possible way every night since I kissed her for the first time.

God, all she has to do is smile most of the time and she'll lose me whenever she starts talking. She doesn't throw my life into my face all the time and it makes me feel more human despite the things that I accidentally exposed her to.

She's too good for me but I don't mind being selfish if it means I get to hear her say my name and see her roll her eyes in the way she does, feel her scratch the back of my neck when we kiss or smell her Japanese Cherry Blossom body sprays and oils. Her signature scent. She appeals to all five of my senses.

Dammit. She has me sounding like all the  fucking Shakespeare we've been reading. I hate the way I feel around her.

I won't be able to give her anything serious but if all she wants to do is have fun with me. I couldn't care less.

I hear Nicholas tell me, "Rossi messed with the alarm system and got in. I think he's calling you." He sighs grabbing the finished Rubik's cube on my desk, and I have to sigh inwardly to hide my annoyance of him fucking it up all over again since I know he's gonna struggle with it.

I don't care to see this man after all these years but I'll head over there anyway. I'm not giving him the satisfaction of watching me crawl into a corner just because he's the one sending this message. No one threatens my family and this gang without hearing from me.

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Oof. Things are getting a bit juicy

But now you have more background on Jesse and how people at school see him and how he feels about our girl 😌