Book 1
Gia Salvatore does not like to feel tied down. Tired of answering to her controlling father, she ran away the night of her high school graduation and moved in with a secret older boyfriend, glad to cut ties with her toxic family.
But four...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Gia opened her mouth to object to the free food. The least she felt she could do was try to leave on the gentlemen's good side but Evan spoke first.
"You know my music," he said looking at the man with surprise and a newfound sense of respect.
Gia realized Evan thought they were being given the food because of his fame and she bit back a groan. The clerk looked confused and his eyes darted between the two of them.
"No, I can't say-," he started to stammer, not wanting to disrespect Gia or her friend.
Gia grabbed the box of pizza from the counter and thanked him eager to end the awkwardness for both parties and get as far away from the pizza parlor as possible. If this man knew who she was, that meant he answered to the Don. Gia assumed by how fearful the man seemed, he would be more inclined to want to forget she'd ever walked in his shop rather than communicate her presence with anyone but she hurried to leave, not wanting to take any chances.
Any of her father's men could walk through the door, looking for a complementary slice or just to do a shakedown. Low level mob men liked rustle the feathers of shop owners just to show off their status.
"That's really thoughtful of you thanks so much." She rushed her sentence, picking up their pie and heading to the exit.
Evan smiled having not caught his denial of knowing him. He placed a generous amount of dollar bills into the tip jar to which the owner once again bowed his head in gratitude.
"I hope the pizza is as good as this service," Evan smiled, knocking on the glass display he had been leaning on before following Gia's path.
The man smiled confused but glad they were making their exit. He hurried to greet an elderly couple that had only just walked in and stood far off examining the large menu board above his head. Gia left the shop wondering if the sweat on the man's brow was from the heat of the pizza oven behind him or just genuine fear.
Once again, the fresh saltwater air hit her face as a huge gust of wind blew by. She left her worries at the shop door, her anxiety of being recognized slowly dissipating with each step forward. Despite being incognito and spending the evening with a professional rockstar, Gia had to admit this was the first evening she had ever got to spend at the shore as a normal pedestrian. She was carrying a fresh pizza down the boardwalk and back to her hotel room, a cute boy to accompany her. No Godfather ordering her around or security men watching her every move. She hadn't known freedom in this city since her mother had passed away and she was finally getting a taste of being a carefree adult woman.
Gia blushed at the memory of her kiss with Evan and turned to see how far behind he had fallen. She noticed the skateboarding fans of EGO had migrated to the other side of the boardwalk and were lounging on the stone barrier to the beach. A couple of them did tricks off of the empty benches in front of them and Gia saw one boy off on his own, standing under the shadows of a closed game stand, the LED from his phone lighting his face while he typed away furiously.
