Viper - Michael Morley [10]
‘He’s not your uncle. Why do you call him that?’ Valsi urinated noisily as he spoke.
Gina picked at her fingernails. ‘He’s like an uncle. He’s been around my family since I was a young kid.’
‘So has the mailman. Maybe you should call him uncle too.’
Gina tried to stay positive. ‘Maybe it is good that my father wants Sal to look out for you. Maybe this is a good thing?’
‘And maybe not. Maybe it is a stupid and dangerous thing.’ He flushed the toilet. ‘Maybe it is the worst thing that could be done to me – and maybe your father knows that.’ He stepped into the shower. Enough of the maybes. His wife and her bed could wait. He had no desire to be with her.
At Poggioreale, showers were dangerous places. Places where people got fucked in the ass. Places where people got knifed and killed. Places you were never safe. Now, he stood under the steaming waterfall, trying to relax, trying to clear his mind. One question bothered him more than most: How long can I stand living with this fat bitch?
Eyes closed, head tilted back, he turned up the heat but still couldn’t soak the smell of Poggioreale from his pores nor banish the jail’s demons from his memory. Prison didn’t just affect you, it seeped through your skin and twisted itself into your DNA. It altered you forever.
Valsi felt edgy. Permanently edgy. One blink away from an outburst of violence.
He pulled on a white towelling robe and struggled to get used to its softness as he headed to the bedroom.
Could he fuck her? Should he fuck her? Hell, did he even need to bother with this shit?
Gina sensed his dark mood. ‘You look tired, baby, come here and let me look after you.’ She pulled back the crisp white bed linen so he could slip in beside her.
Valsi could smell the sheets, sharp and fresh with a tang of lemon. Again this unaccustomed luxury rankled. He sat on the edge of the bed. He and his wife were only inches apart, but there may as well have been miles between them. ‘We need to talk.’ He bowed his head and focused on the strange-smelling sheets. ‘I don’t want there to be any confusion about how things are between us.’
She reached out to take his hand. Wanted him to know that she understood his awkwardness. Valsi moved it away.
He had made up his mind that he was going to put the record straight, lay down the new rules, right from the start. ‘Gina, I think you know I will always be a good father to Enzo, and I will always provide for you and for my son.’
His wife smiled. ‘I know you will, Bruno. You are a good man and we both love you so much…’
‘Let me finish!’ His dark eyes grew wide and cold. ‘We both know that a marriage is forever. But you have become a fat ugly woman while I have been in prison. So fat that you sicken me. Have you looked at yourself?’
Gina was shocked.
She knew she wasn’t the shape she’d been when he was arrested, but surely she didn’t deserve this? The rejection stung. She pulled the covers up over her arms, an involuntary sign of retreat that she hated as soon as she realized she’d done it.
‘Yes, please do that. Cover yourself up, you disgust me. Chiattona.’ Valsi contemptuously flicked the rest of the covers up at her.
Gina’s temper snapped. No one insulted her like that. ‘How dare you fucking speak to me like this!’ She jumped out of the bed and stood right up close to him. ‘Who the hell do you think –’
Valsi grabbed her face. The fingers of his right hand dug into her skin as he squeezed hard. ‘Shut the fuck up and listen. And don’t talk back to me.’ He pushed her on to the bed.
Gina sprang at him. Inches from his face. Her eyes flashed defiance. ‘Don’t you ever touch me! You bastard! You so much as lay a fucking finger on me and my father will kill you.’
Valsi laughed at her. Laughed and