Fight For You

Chapter 13

I took the Dan Ryan back out to the north suburbs and to my family's restaurant. It was a bit of a drive from the city, but it gave me some time to clear my head, and enough time for Jackie to sufficiently freak the fuck out about meeting some of my family.

"Is your whole family going to be there?" Jackie stared out the window as we took the North suburbs exit.

I shook my head. "Not my whole family. They don't all work there. My uncle is probably working and I messaged Dominic to meet me there, and maybe my cousins. Not a lot of them."

I glanced over to see that she was fiddling with the hem of her dress. "I'm not really dressed for meeting family members..."

Taking her hand, I clasped it in mine and then brought it to my lips, kissing her knuckles. "You look fine. You don't need to worry. Dominic and the guys already saw you at the fight. They know who you are. You don't need to impress them."

"Those are your guy cousins and that was at a fight at a strip club. This is at your family's restaurant. A business. One that they own, and I'm going to walk in wearing a freaking dress that I bought on the clearance rack." She huffed. "God, I feel like an idiot right now."

I glanced over, my eyes trailing a little longer than they should have over the curves of her body. The dress fit her like a glove. "First off, you look fucking amazing in that dress and have nothing to be ashamed of. Who fucking cares where you bought it or about the price tag? I don't give two shits about that sort of thing. And second, yeah it's my family's restaurant. My Nonna started it out of her house when they first moved here from Sicily. It was supposed to be her hobby while my Nanu worked but her business actually did better than his for a longtime, especially during the war." I smiled, patting Jackie's knee. "Just like you, the woman worked her ass off for what she had and when she passed away it went to my uncle Guido. So it may be my family's business, but it's my family. They know about working hard for what they have."

Jackie squeezed my hand. "For a guy with a reputation for being such a hardass you definitely do care a lot about your family, especially your Nonna. I wish I could've met her."

I swallowed hard, clenching and unclenching my jaw. Family was something I wished I'd cared more about the past few years. My sister was right about me. I hadn't been around much. Once I graduated from DePaul and started at my dad's company I knew I was next in line to take over the business and I didn't want it. To be my father. So I'd run from my family. Tried to fight against them. Now all the fighting had brought me right back to where I started.

"Yeah, I wish you could've met her too. She would've loved you. Well, except she might not have liked you taking up all my time."

Jackie laughed. "Don't tell me you were a Nonna's boy."

"Ey, don't knock it."

She shook her head. "You're definitely something else, Nicky and I really like that about you."

"You too, Jackie." I squeezed her hand.

Nonna's Ristorante may have started out of my Nonna's basement, but it grew into a large restaurant and banquet hall out in the North Chicago suburbs. I pulled into a parking space on the side near my uncle Guido's Escalade and saw that Dominic's car was already parked next to his as well. Good. He knew this shit was serious.

"I guess Nonna really did work her way up in the business," Jackie said as I opened her door and she stepped out of the car.

"Yeah, that's one way to put it." I closed the door behind her and put my hand on her lower back, guiding her toward the maroon awning that hung over the entryway to the restaurant.