The Mafia Man

Tea, Trees, and Tattoos

                         Callahan and I didn't speak the rest of the walk home. I found Charlotte hiding behind a tree in our back lawn. She'd apologized profusely for deserting me, and I forgave her. Cal was a scary man. I understood her fear.

                            Maybe Callahan was upset that I talked back to him, or that I deprived him of a chance to kill. For some strange gut feeling, I didn't believe the latter.

                              A real gang leader who was invested in his work wouldn't have let a teenage girl give his prey money and a way to escape. My father absolutely wouldn't have allowed it.

                               These thoughts tugged at me as I poured two cups of tea: one for me and one for Cal. We needed to talk.

                                 I found him sitting on the back porch, head in his hands. He looked up at me in confusion when I passed him his mug, but I just beckoned him to follow me upstairs into my bedroom.

                                   He couldn't fit on my petite desk chair and I was perched on the canopy bed, so he awkwardly hunkered down on my floor. I felt bad, and gestured towards the space beside me.

                                    Cal carefully sat down next to me, and I tenderly took his scarred hand in mine. The etchings of a tattoo creeped beyond his jacket sleeve. Mesmerized, I rolled up his sleeve to reveal a glorious picture of a red rose.

                                     Callahan gulped. I stroked the script that shown my name under the flower. Rosalie.
  
                                       "I can explain-" he pronounced in a flustered tone, preparing for his oration.

                                       "No need. Not yet. We have some things to discuss first. Just wondering, Cal, have you visited the All Saints Library recently?"

                                        His eyebrows shot up in disbelief. "You remember me?" He sputtered.

                                         "Vaguely. I didn't put two and two together before today. But you apparently did-"

                                        "Oh God, Rosalie how could I forget you? I fell in love with you the first time I saw you with your nose buried deep in Treasure Island. I've only fallen in deeper these past few weeks." His eyes shown with hope.

                                         "Why didn't you tell me?" I questioned. Cal bit his lip and interlocked our fingers.

                                           "When I realized you didn't remember me at our first meeting, I made a point to start fresh. I obviously wasn't memorable enough for you back then, and I thought the only way to win you was to wipe the slate clean. I wanted another chance."

                                       I squeezed his hand. "Cal, the reason I didn't remember you isn't because I didn't care for you or that you weren't good enough, it's that any memory from that time of my life hurt me to think about. Thinking about my old school and anyone in it brings back my mother's death. I've blocked a lot of it out. The only person I've seen since then and remembered was Hayley, and that's because she looks exactly the same. You look...quite different." I waved at his tattoos, muscles, and facial hair.

                                    "You also look quite a bit different now, my love," his eyes scanned down my body, "You were beautiful then, but you are absolutely breathtaking now."
                                    
                                     He leaned over to press his lips to mine, and I let him. The kiss was just deepening when my door was hurled open.

                                    My brothers stood furiously with their mouths gaping open. I was tucked under Cal's body with my arms around his neck, his face in the crook of mine. Instantly they were cursing and shouting. Colin even had the audacity to pull out a gun.

                                       Cal gathered me up in his arms and hauled us out of the room, hurtling down the stairs and out the back door. Johnny threw a shoe at us on our way out, but it hit the wall, and we were gone.

                                           In the woods out back, Cal and I kissed quite a while longer before I broke away. He groaned and drew me back in. Sternly, I placed my hands on his chest to create some distance.

                                            "Cal, I have a question"
    
                                             "Go ahead, my love," he begrudged.

                                              "Why do I get the feeling you don't really want to be a gang leader?"