Chapter 173 - Pay What You Owe

Angela was in her living room full of mafiosos. If you didn't know who they were, you'd probably wet your pants, but not her. She'd practically lived with them for a few days in Gael's place, so her little feeling of apprehension was left at the door after they came in.

The men stood around the boxes of gifts, staring and holding the wrapping materials like it's the first time they had held them—or they just didn't know what to do with them. 

Wanting to get started, Angela gathered everyone around the kitchen island where she demonstrated how to wrap one item. The mafiosos watched her intently, their eyes following her hand movement so seriously as if she was assembling and disassembling a gun—or whatever these men do as a hobby. 

"See? Easy right?" she beamed, but Gael's men just stared at her and blinked a few times before they exchanged looks with one another.

Gael rubbed his chin as he looked at his subordinates, then he leaned in towards her and whispered, "This looks harder for them than I thought."

She arched a brow. "Do you know how to wrap?"

He scoffed. "Please, I used to do it every year with my mother when I was in grade school. She liked to give presents to the neighbors and had me help her all the time. I bet I can wrap gifts faster than you can."

Angela backed up, suddenly feeling challenged by what he just said. "Ha! I don't think so. I do this every year—and every time a friend has a birthday—I mean if their gifts didn't come with a paper bag...you know what I mean."

He smirked, mirth dancing in his eyes as he faced her.

"You don't think I can outdo you," she chuckled.

Shrugging, Gael tilted his head. "Meh, but, baby, you can do me anytime."

Such a flirt! A hint of red tainted her cheeks from his proposition. She side-glanced at his men, who were just within earshot, and saw a few of them having weird looks as if it was their first time seeing their boss acting so nonchalant like this.

Ignoring what he said, she went over to her makeshift workstation on the floor and retrieved two boxed toy cars, two sheets of wrapping paper, two scissors, and two adhesive tapes in dispensers. "Then let's see who's faster!" She placed everything on the island and asked him to stand on the other side of the counter. They stood on each side of the kitchen island with the sink between them as a partition.

Gael's men perked up upon seeing what's about to unfold. They started making a bet out of it then Rick pulled out his phone to record.

"What are you doing?" Gael questioned.

It was the first time that Angela saw Rick's full-on smile as he slapped a bill on the counter and said, "Sorry, Boss, but my money is on Ms. Angela. I just want to have a souvenir of when a girl actually kicks your ass at something."

She snickered along with the mafiosos. Initially, four of them bet on Angela and two on Gael, but one of the four decided it would be best not to spite their boss, so he jumped to support the other team, making it three on three. They shut up when Gael gave them an eye.

With a half-serious, half-chuckling expression, Rick began, "Okay on the count of three."

"Wait!" Angela held up a hand.

Gael playfully cocked a brow at her. "What? Giving up already, Love?"

'Love.' Her heart fluttered with the endearment, but she cleared her throat because she didn't want to let it get to her. He was sly. He probably said that intentionally to fluster her.

"Of course not! I don't give up. Like Rick said, I'm here to kick your ass...Boss."

Raising her chin, she wordlessly took out the adhesive tape from the dispenser. With her left hand opened and her fingers spread apart, she stuck the tape to the top of her forefinger and then dragged it down along all her fingers until it reached her pinky, creating one long line of tape sticking to her fingers. Then, she grabbed the scissors and cut the tape between her fingers. Now she had four pre-cut adhesives and transferred them to the edge of the counter.

She repeated the process one more time and looked up to Gael. "What? This is my method. You can follow it if you want."

He shook his head once. "Nah. I'm good."

Angela shrugged, joined her hands together, and then cracked her fingers.

"Nervous?" he teased.

"Nah. I'm good."

"Loser buys pizza."

"Deal."

They shook hands.

Rick called their attention, and after counting down from five to one, Angela and Gael sprang into action. As soon as Rick said go, they grabbed the paper and spread it down the counter. But the clumsy person she was, the paper flew out of her hands and fell to the floor. Gael froze for a second when he saw what happened, but Angela didn't panic. She quickly picked up the paper and continued like nothing happened. He began wrapping as she did.

The simple wrapping work turned into a marathon. Angela and Gael both had smiles on their faces as they hastily worked with their hands—she was biting her lip while his brows were furrowed. The spectators were sweating as the atmosphere became intense, as if it was a battle of the champions.

"Done!" Angela shouted, raising her hand just a mere second before Gael exclaimed, "Done."

Angela won.

The mafiosos roared, their fists bouncing in the air, feeling weirdly excited at the impromptu game. The once quiet space was replaced with a cheerful mood. She gave them all high fives.

Gael, despite losing, had a grin on his face. He leaned the side of his hip onto the counter and crossed his arms while watching them. He liked that she was comfortable with his family. Although she didn't know each of them personally, she didn't act like they were any different. He thought she would be scared. After all, his men were highly trained and went to several bloody battles with him. But as much as they could kill, these men could also protect. He trusted them.

Angela faced Gael with a gloating smirk. "I won."

"Indeed." He closed the gap between them and waved his men away. They instantly turned around and dispersed, looking anywhere else but the pair.

"Where's my prize?" She held out an open hand.

Her stomach did several backflips as he inched closer, grabbed her hand, and tugged her towards him. "Here," he said just before he leaned in and pressed his lips on the spot below her ear. She shuddered at the sudden contact but immediately melted in his arms, her eyes closing as he trailed open-mouth kisses down her neck. His hand went to her nape while the other on the small of her back, and she naturally tilted her head to the side, giving him more access. A moan she couldn't stop escaped her lips as he flicked his tongue and nipped her skin, making her cling to him tightly.

Just as her knees were giving up, he pulled back and kissed the corner of her mouth. "All good?" he asked with a heated gaze.

'Why'd you stop?!' she cried in her head. Then she forced a nod, but she would need to excuse herself soon to change her underwear.

The buzzing of her phone broke their moment, and she had to tear her stare away from him to check Nina's message saying she couldn't come tonight either. Angela decided to call her friend later to tell her what's up. 

When she put her phone away, Gael nodded at his men in the living room and wondered, "What are we gonna do about them? They seem to need a constant eye, or they might end up wrapping an entire adhesive roll on one gift."

She laughed, watching the men try to make sense of the process. A couple of them were able to get it, while the others were still awkward. "I think I know what to do."

Angela set up her smart T.V. and played a nearly two-minute video from youtube on the screen on how to wrap a gift, then played it on loop. The mafiosos took their spots on the floor, on the sofa, and on armchairs in the living room and watched the clip as they followed it step by step.

Then, she livened up the place by commanding her Amazon smart speaker on the console table, "Alexa, play Angela's Mixtape on Spotify."

"Playing Angela's Mixtape on Spotify," responded Alexa, the AI virtual assistant on her speaker. A second later, the song "Bîtch Better Have My Money" started playing.

"Oh, how timely!" She went back to Gael's side, her hands playfully tapping in the air as she sang with the song. "Pay me what you owe me. Don't act like you forgot! Bîtch better have my money!" She laughed. "Well, in this case, you better have my pizza."

"Boss, all-meat for me!" Rick grinned.

Gael shook his head and chuckled. "Well, a deal is a deal." Then he whipped out his phone and called to order pizza for everyone.