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.As if, I thought while swatted him away, Barnes took a step forward, his face stern and menacing.Gianni’s bodyguard stepped forward and slightly pulled Gianni back and whispered in his ear.Then Gianni said, “Ah, si, you’re right, Greco.Let us … go to our table.”When we got to our table, Gianni thought it would be funny to yank back my chair just as I was about to sit down.I fell to the floor with an outstanding thud, which must have been the highlight of his evening, because I’d never before heard such a bellow of laughter.Barnes helped me up as I glared at Gianni, but he was too busy snapping his fingers at passing waiters to give his drink order.Dinner was horrible too.Gianni insisted on ordering for all of us.For Greco and Barnes he ordered the cheapest entrée on the menu--spaghetti with marinara sauce.For himself, he ordered a rack of lamb in a cherry glaze with green beans.He ordered a very small green salad for me, and when I told him I was very hungry after a long trip, he told me I could stand to lose a few pounds.I was deeply offended.I was keeping my shape by using the royal gym religiously, and I was proud of that.After dinner he ordered dessert for everyone but me.I got black coffee.I tried to get my own dessert, but the waiter didn’t speak English and Gianni sure wasn’t going to help me there.After many mindless discussions about all of Gianni’s successes, and watching him down a few more drinks, it was time for us to leave.He was generous enough to walk me out of the restaurant arm-in-arm while Barnes and Greco paid the bill, but the stagger in his step that was only slightly visible at the beginning of the night was now a full-blown drunken stumble.I rolled my eyes as he tried to walk in a straight line to the hotel.A few times I even had to support him when he almost passed out while walking.We finally made it to the entrance of the hotel.It was the awkward moment when the date was over and you both said goodbye about a million and one times.In this case, however, I wondered if Gianni was sober enough to remember he was even on a date, and this was the end of it.His head was downcast, whether because he was drunk or ashamed, I didn’t know which.Still, I couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry for him.He’s embarrassed, I concluded, and out of compassion I decided to seal the evening with a quick peck on the cheek.But as I leaned in, everything took a turn for the worst.Gianni suddenly grabbed my face.Unable to do anything, my face was pulled to his and he crashed his lips onto mine.My stomach turned as I smelt and tasted the booze on his breath.After what seemed like forever my hands found his chest and I pushed him off with a tremendous amount of force.He flailed back and luckily enough Greco was there to catch him.Gianni looked up at me in confusion as I glared at him.“Good night,” I hissed.Greco, always one step ahead of the rest of us, had already hailed a cab and was pouring Gianni into it.Before he got into the cab after him, though, I pulled him toward me and whispered, “Look, I don’t know if you speak English or not, but listen to me.Get that boy to a rehab.Pronto.”He gave me an OK sign and hopped into the cab.As it pulled into traffic I rolled my eyes.At that was when I saw Antonio and Kevin looking down from the balcony of my hotel suite.They must have just witnessed the Goodnight Kiss of the Damned and were doubtless laughing their heads off at my expense.Once they saw me looking back at them, they quickly disappeared from the window, but the damage was doneI turned back to face Barnes and saw that he too had an amused look on his face, and I didn’t appreciate his silent laughing at the moment.I glared as I walked by and put my hand up to ward off any explanations.“Can it,” I muttered.I stormed up the staircase and barged into my suite.There Antonio and Kevin sat on my bed, giving me a phony “back already?” look.Just two innocent boys watching TV.You could practically see the cartoon halos over their heads.Only I was able to see past the angel bit and see the devils laughing on their shoulders.As I walked past them, heading toward the bathroom, Kevin snickered, “So … how’d your date go?”The slam of the door behind me answered his question.Chapter 26SicilyThe next morning we jetted off to Sicily to visit Terrence’s friend, Aldo.The good news was that there was absolutely no business involved in this trip, which was exactly what I needed after my disastrous and exhausting evening with Gianni.The bad news was that I wasn’t the only one who remembered my date from hell, so Kevin, Antonio, and Barnes found it completely necessary to tease me throughout the flight.Well, Kevin and Antonio anyway.Barnes was mentally teasing me, I could just feel it.“So, what would you say, An?” Kevin asked me.“Worst date in the history of dates, including both A.D.and B.C.?”“Aw, Kevin, don’t ask her that,” Antonio said, giving Kevin a playful punch in the arm.“I’m sure she doesn’t want to be reminded how revolting that guy was.Like when he pulled the chair out from under her just as she was sitting down [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]