Waiting Game Read online

  Ivy Scott

  Waiting Game

  Underground Royals Book Two

  First published by Infamy Press 2022

  Copyright © 2022 by Ivy Scott

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

  Ivy Scott asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

  First edition

  Cover art by Angela Haddon

  This book was professionally typeset on Reedsy

  Find out more at reedsy.com

  Dedicated to D.M. - my forever cheerleader & soul sister.

  Chapter 1

  Back Then…

  Valerie

  I only dared to open one eye so I could sneak a peek as my door cracked open.

  “Come on,” Antoni whispered.

  I threw off the covers and jumped out of bed, already fully clothed.

  For hours, I had been dressed and ready to go. I had been lying in bed awake and staring at the ceiling, waiting for the signal from Antoni that our parents were finally asleep. I shoved my feet into my sneakers and fumbled in my rush, causing my second shoe to fall to the floor with a thump.

  “Quietly,” Antoni hissed.

  We both froze. Standing completely still and listening.

  There was no indication that our parents had heard, so I slipped into my second shoe and followed Antoni out into the dark hall.

  We tiptoed out of the back door by the kitchen, and Toni closed it behind us gently. We both ran through the large garden, springing through the flowers and ferns that had submitted to us over time, causing a path to form in between the scrub from our frequent escapes.

  We only hoped that the gardener wouldn’t mention it to Mum.

  Our house was quite a far way back from the road, but I could already spot the noisy white truck idling on the other side of the street, and I smiled.

  We ran towards it, with Antoni falling back and checking over his shoulder constantly - never wanting to let down old Mummy.

  I didn’t care quite so much. I could hardly be in any more trouble than I was already.

  Just being me seemed to be enough to piss off the parents.

  Antoni, The Golden Boy - not so much.

  I got to the car first and reached out for the handle to open the passenger side door before Antoni grabbed me by the wrist.

  “In the back,” he scolded in a hushed tone.

  “Why can’t I ride in the front with Ren?” I complained.

  “It’s inappropriate, Val. It’s bad enough that I’m sneaking you out, if Dad knew that there were other boys involved we’d both be dead. Get in the back,” he snapped again.

  I rolled my eyes but obeyed.

  Antoni was overly protective, and just like our parents, wouldn’t want me to do anything to embarrass the Santino name.

  I went around to the other side of the car, and hopped into the backseat behind Ren.

  “Hi,” I whispered. He smiled at me through the rear view mirror as Antoni slid into the front seat. Larissa was already in the back seat too with an irritated expression that perked up immediately when she saw Antoni.

  “Hi, Toni,” she smiled, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around his neck from behind the front seat as he put his seat belt on. I rolled my eyes.

  Larissa and I were not friends, as much as it was forced on us throughout our childhoods.

  She was Ren’s little sister, and when she found out that we had been sneaking out, she demanded to be invited or she would rat us out to our parents.

  Larissa had always been like a little puppy dog when it came to Antoni, and was madly infatuated with him. He didn’t entertain it, and tried his best to avoid her altogether.

  We drove as Larissa chatted, babbling to Antoni about the two boys at school who were fighting over her. We exited the bright lights of the city and the inside of the car grew dark. Almost on cue, a hand stretched back, sliding between the driver’s seat and the door. I smiled, angling myself so I could lean forward and grab it.

  I met Ren’s eyes again in the rear view mirror, only for a second before he looked away. His thumb stroked the palm of my hand as he drove, and I closed my eyes and exhaled deeply.

  It was just under an hour long drive until we got to the field.

  It was an abandoned cattle property with an attached creek and sprawling hills. Ren let go of my hand as he turned off of the main road, and drove under the bridge. The recent rain had caused the red dirt track to turn into sludge, and we bounced and rocked down the steep hill until he parked underneath the rickety old bridge, right next to the creek.

  I got out of the car, stretching my neck and looking up towards the sky.

  Ren got out of the car too, grazing my waist with his fingers and giving me a knowing look before he walked around to meet Antoni on the other side of the car.

  I could feel the heat rush to my cheeks as I watched him.

  He was so tall, so handsome, and so warm.

  His light brown hair was a mess of waves, and I felt my stomach flip when he pushed it back out of his face, his bicep flexing as he did it. I tore my eyes away from him, knowing from the action that he was aware that I was still watching him.

  I pulled my flannel jacket tighter around my body as the cool breeze picked up.

  The boys went for their usual stroll down to the narrow end of the creek, where they could pretend they weren’t smoking. Antoni thought that I couldn’t smell it on him. He also thought that I was too young for the habit, even though I was barely twelve months younger than him.

  Larissa stubbornly followed them, her sandals sinking into the sludge as she hobbled behind and calling out for them to wait.

  And then I was alone.

  I let down the back of the ute’s tray, and heaved myself up to sit on it.

  It was silent, not like the city.

  The only noises that could be heard were crickets, the muffled sound of the boys talking, and the occasional loud clacking of another car driving over the bridge above me. I laid back on the cold steel, putting my hands behind my head and closing my eyes.

  We had been coming here every Thursday night since the boys got their licences. Sometimes, even before then if we managed to get hold of a car. Every single Thursday night we would gather here, and pretend to be normal teenagers. We would drink, smoke, listen to loud, shitty dance music.

  Here, we could pretend.

  Though we all went to a private school surrounded by other rich kids, it wasn’t quite the same. Wealth was not the only asset attached to the Santino name. We were more guarded, more sheltered - different. It was near impossible to relate to the kids who had no idea about the world in which we lived.

  Many of the parents had already told their kids the stories, and warned their children to stay away from us because of who we were. Or who our parents were. We were dangerous in their eyes, even those of us who had nothing to do with the evil that my family represented.

  I wasn’t just Val from school.

  I was Valerie Santino, daughter of the Don, heiress to the Santino crime family - whether I liked it or not.

  The tray of the ute groaned under a new weight, and I smiled.

  His hands drew themselves across my torso lightly, pulling me close to his warmth. I turned to my side,
propping myself up on my elbow to look at him. He smiled down at me, tucking a stray curl behind my ear.

  “Where’s Toni?” I asked.

  “Larissa wanted to go for a walk,” he rolled his eyes, “that guy has the patience of a monk, I swear.”

  I trailed my hand up his jeans, feeling the small box in his pocket and I retrieved the packet of cigarettes. He shook his head as I flipped the top open with the tip of my nose, and pulled one out by the butt with my teeth.

  “Your brother’s going to kill you,” he shook his head, but used his lighter to spark it anyway.

  I threw the packet back at him, rolling onto my back and taking a long drag.

  “Things are gonna change now, aren’t they?” I exhaled a large puff of smoke and it curled up into the dark sky.

  Ren didn’t reply, he only reached out and stroked my hair.

  Tomorrow, the boys would graduate from high school.

  Me, I still had a year to go.

  I was scared, not for me but for them.

  I knew that the moment that they were done with school, they would be immediately pushed into the family business. Antoni had been training to take over for Dad for as long as I could remember. Ren’s father was Dad’s right hand man, and I knew that Ren would eventually become the same for Antoni.

  Another generation, another pair of men to rule all that was wrong in Melbourne.

  Another pair of men to carry on a cruel and evil legacy.

  Another pair of lives lost to the dark side.

  “What are you going to do? When you finish?”

  “Val,” he sighed, turning onto his back and raking his hands through his hair again.

  “What?” I snapped.

  “I don’t have a choice, okay? You know that. Dad is going to prison. I don’t give a shit what his lawyers say, I already know what’s going to happen. Someone has to take over,” he said, taking the cigarette from my fingers.

  “But it doesn’t have to be you,” I pleaded, my eyes searching his face as he looked towards the sky.

  He turned his head to meet my eyes, giving me a sad look.

  “We could still run, you know,” I said.

  He took a draw from the smoke and his expression softened, “to Perth?”

  I nodded, “like we’ve always talked about.”

  Ren exhaled, the sadness returning to his face as he battled internally.

  I knew that I was asking a lot of him, and I knew that he didn’t want to let Antoni down either. But I couldn’t stand to watch him, or my brother, turn out like our fathers.

  Both of them were the kindest, sweetest, most amazing men that I knew. It wouldn’t be long before the life changed them into monsters. It was a cruel fate, a destiny that none of us chose.

  And I would have to sit back and watch it happen.

  “You need to finish school, Val,” he said, passing the cigarette back to me.

  “No I don’t,” I sat up, putting my legs over his.

  “Yes,” he urged, “yes you do. You have so much ahead of you.”

  I shook my head, looking down at our legs that were tangled together.

  “You’re better than us, Val. And I refuse to be the reason that you hold yourself back,” he said.

  “Then just wait for me,” I begged, “it’s only a year. Then we’ll both leave. Together.”

  I could feel the tears tugging at my eyes, threatening to add another layer of pathetic to my pleading. It’s not like we hadn’t already had this conversation ten times. At the beginning, they were more optimistic. But as the day drew closer, Ren became less hopeful and more defeated.

  “Once I’m in, I’ll be bound for life. You know that,” he sighed, sitting up and pulling his legs away from mine and drawing them in towards himself.

  I looked up at the sky as he watched me. The beats of silence filled the space between the words I wanted to say and the words that I knew had to be said.

  “So that’s it then?” I threw my hands in the air, “We give up? It’s over?”

  He frowned at me, the frustration growing plain on his face.

  “It doesn’t have to be like that. You can stay too. You can go to University, live your life. Live it with me. Here.”

  I shook my head.

  I had no plans of sticking around any longer than I had to.

  He knew that.

  Antoni knew that.

  As much as they both tried to talk me into staying - I couldn’t bear it.

  I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I had in some way contributed to all the bad that was in the city.

  I didn’t want to be a Santino.

  All that I ever wanted was my own life, my own name, my own reputation.

  Not the one that came attached to the name that I was born with. I wanted to do good in the world, and not just cause pain and suffering.

  I opened my mouth to ask him one more time to run, but Antoni and Larissa reappeared.

  “What’s that in your hand?” Antoni asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “It’s a cigarette,” Larissa pointed out the obvious.

  I rolled my eyes and jumped down off of the back of the tray to finish my cigarette in peace. Ren and Antoni laughed at something as I sat by myself on the rocks near the creek.

  On the way home, Ren reached back once again for my hand.

  I ignored it.

  There was no point in delaying the hurt anymore. I knew that he was gone.

  I didn’t say goodbye when Ren dropped us off. I didn’t speak to Antoni as we snuck back in, though I caught the concerned glances that he kept shooting my way. There was no point in hiding it from him.

  There was nothing to hide anymore.

  Ren had given up.

  I laid in bed and cried until the sky was tinged orange with the sunrise. My door squeaked open again and I covered my face with a pillow.

  “Go away, Antoni,” I mumbled.

  A warm body got under the covers with me, pulling me against his torso. I lifted the pillow from my head and turned around, curling into the familiar chest.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  Ren sighed, pulling me in close.

  “I couldn’t leave things like that,” he said into my hair.

  “You graduate in four hours.”

  “I know.”

  I leaned in close, kissing his soft lips gently.

  I wanted to remember, to savour what we had.

  His gentle kiss turned into something more urgent, and he tangled his fingers into my hair. I wrapped a leg over his body, pulling his hips towards mine.

  “Valerie,” he whispered, “don’t.”

  “Please,” I begged.

  He pulled away and searched my face, looking for answers in my expression like he always tried to do. I was an open book to him. He knew me better than anyone. He knew what I was thinking, how I was feeling, at any given moment.

  He was not so easy to read.

  I studied his face, trying to remember every line and every edge. I noticed how much he had changed since our first kiss at twelve years old. His plump, boyish face had grown and sharpened into the defined jawline of a man. His chin was covered in dark stubble instead of freckles. His body was hard now, instead of soft and cuddly.

  I wanted to remember every version of him, except for the next.

  I didn’t want to see his eyes hardened and desensitised to violence.

  I didn’t want to see his hands covered in blood.

  “Please, Ren. I want to,” I begged again.

  “If your father finds us,” he shook his head, “or Antoni.”

  “Please,” I sobbed.

  The sadness returned to his eyes. I knew he wanted it just as much as I did. I knew that this would be my last chance. I wanted it to be him.

  I wanted him to be my first - even if that was all I got.

  He closed his eyes, his eyebrows creasing together into a frustrated frown.

  I reached up, cupping his cheek with m
y hand. He opened his eyes again, and the sadness was still there - but so was something else. Ren pulled me close against him, kissing me again.

  It was desperate, and it was full of fire and need. He rolled over, positioning himself on top of me. He took off his shirt, throwing it to the side, and I rubbed my hands over his stomach. I was nervous to lose my virginity, but at the same time I wasn’t - because it was him.

  It could only be him.

  “This is so dangerous,” he muttered against my mouth.

  “Just once, Ren,” I begged.

  He stopped, pushing me away.

  “I don’t like how you keep acting as if we’re never going to see each other again.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, pulling him close to me again

  “Just,” he said, pushing me back, “promise me you won’t do anything without talking to me first? I - I don’t want to lose you, Val. No matter what happens.”

  I nodded, pulling him to me once again, reaching down and unbuttoning his jeans.

  “I promise,” I lied.

  Chapter 2

  Right Now…

  Valerie

  He walked in as I was packing my bags.

  I knew that none of my clothes would be appropriate for my old hometown, but it would have to do. As soon as I saw my sister, Zarina, I knew that she would rip me to shreds for how I was dressed. Then she would take me shopping and treat me as her own personal dress up doll like she did when we were kids.

  My jeans and plain tees would not fly around my family, and I was sure that my mother would not let me embarrass the family by dressing like a normal person either.

  Everything was about appearance, and how you made The Family look.

  “So you’re really going?” he asked, leaning against the door frame of my bedroom.

  He had been sulking since I told him that I was going back to Melbourne, even though it was only for a week.

  “It’s my brother’s wedding, Pete. I wouldn’t miss it,” I shook my head as I shoved anything I could find into my suitcase.

  “You don’t even like your family,” he sighed, crossing his arms.