A1: The Don (GirlxGirl)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Meeting Delaney's parents was just as stressful as I thought it was going to be. They had high expectations for their daughter and there was no way I could live up to them without lying my ass off. The longer I stayed with Delaney then the deeper lies were going to get and one day it was all going to go to sh-t. The last thing I wanted was to ruin Delaney's relationship with her parents or have them hate me, but I feared one of those things were inevitable to happen.

We watched a movie with her parents and then everyone ended up going to bed, except for me. I couldn't fall asleep and I was stressed about lying to her parents so I decided to sneak out to the backyard. I sat by the pool with my feet in the water and rolled a blunt. I was for sure overstepping my boundaries but everyone was asleep so in a way, that didn't matter. I took a hit from the blunt and began coughing. I closed my eyes and when I opened them again I nearly jumped out of my f-cking skin.

A pair of legs were beside me in the pool. They were hairy and muscular and I knew they could only belong to one person in the house and it definitely wasn't Delaney or her mother. I looked up to Michael's face with my eyes wide while he gave me an amused glare.

"S-sir, I swear this isn't what it looks like. Actually, it kind of is but I smoke for medical reasons, I swear." More lies. Why was I even lying? Nearly everyone smoked pot nowadays, but I guess it was kind of rude to just smoke pot on someone's property.

"Shut up, and let me get a hit, kid," Michael said as he took the blunt from my hand. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't dreaming. No way was Delaney's dad hitting a blunt right now. I would've never guessed he had ever seen weed before in his life. He took hit after hit, and honestly, he was hogging the f-cking sh-t. Even though I was annoyed, I remained quiet. It was bad enough that I was smoking on his property without his permission and snatching my blunt from him wasn't going to make things better.

When he passed it back to me, he coughed and laughed like a f-cking coyote. His eyes were already red and lazy. He seemed so more relaxed than when we had met earlier. "That's some good grass, man," he said in a chill tone. Was I hallucinating right now? The man who was wearing green shorts earlier couldn't be the same man smoking weed with me right now. There's just no way.

I didn't know how to start a conversation without apologies, so I took another toke and kept my silence. "I know you don't own a damn repair shop." I scrunched up my face at him and tried to act offended as if he was calling me a liar. It only lasted for a second and I ended up laughing. F-ck, I'm so busted. Delaney is going to kick my ass. Michael chuckled and waved his phone at me. "I searched 'Ricci's Auto Repair' and there was a repair shop under that name but unfortunately it was in Massachusetts, not Santa Monica."

"Also, your last name isn't 'Ricci', it's 'De Palma.' You come in here with a sh-tload of gang-related tattoos and looking like a spitting image of your father and think you can get away with being a business owner. I know what you do." I clenched my jaw as I looked into Michael's eyes. His stare was focused on me and his stare was almost menacing. I know I said a guy with his preppy and goofy fashion could never scare me, but at this moment, he kind of did.

"You know my father," I asked. There was no need in acting stupid. He knew what I was about and there was no going back or convincing him otherwise. The only thing I could do for now on was be as honest as I could and hopefully win him over with that. If that didn't work, maybe I could win him over with free weed or something.

"No, not personally. I know of him and I know what he looks like. I went on Google and searched 'Ignazio De Palma', saw some pictures and he had to be your dad. I mean, it looks like he literally spit you out." I sighed. F-ck my father for being so good looking and making me just as good looking as him. "So, what's your deal? You're a part of the De Palma Family but what is your role? Are you powerful? Are you dangerous?"