Gabe

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

  Aurora: I see we’re moving out of fuckwad territory.

  Isabella: Just trying to keep it creative. Sam thinks I should be giving jackhole another chance.

  Aurora: Another chance to screw you over???

  Isabella: If I’m going to be screwed over, I might as well enjoy it, right?

  Aurora: Definitely enjoy it. If anything, it’ll keep Sam mad at you and out of my business.

  Isabella: Thanks for that.

  Aurora: What can I say? I’m thoughtful like that.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Gabe

  “HEARD YOU FUCKED Cazzo’s sister,” Cap said as he walked into the training room. I had successfully avoided Cazzo for the last few days, always having some excuse to leave when he was around. I would have never slept with her had I known sister she was his fucking sister. There were codes that you followed and they were sacred. But damn, was she worth the beat down that I got. She was sexy as hell and the best sex I had ever had.

  “I didn’t know she was Cazzo’s sister. It wasn’t like we actually talked that much. She picked me up and we went back to her place.”

  “And you answered the door?”

  “Look, she knew it was her kids and she didn’t want them to see her naked. It was a no win situation.”

  “She could have just thrown on some clothes quickly.”

  I sighed, not wanting to go over this again. “It’s done. What the fuck do you want me to do about it now?”

  He looked at me, assessing my face that was a lovely shade of purple from the beating Cazzo had given me. “I’d say you learned your lesson. My suggestion? Stay away from his sister unless you plan on marrying her.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been warned.”

  I didn’t have any plans to get married any time soon, but it would be nice if I could choose who I fucked without interference from my teammates. Besides, she had kids, young ones. I had no clue what to do with a kid and I was pretty sure they would cut into my sex life. So as much as I wanted to sink my cock into Isa again, it wouldn’t be happening.

  “Before I forget, we’re having a barbecue on Sunday. Maggie said everyone has to come and that you have to bring a dish.”

  “Yeah, sure. What kind of dish do you need?”

  “Anything you want,” Cap shrugged.

  “Okay,” I said slowly. “Big, small, square, round…”

  Cap looked at me funny. “Just bring something that’s enough for all of us.”

  “Whoa, you said one dish. Do I need to run to Walmart or something?”

  “I guess that depends on what you have in your house.”

  I rolled my eyes in irritation. “Well, I probably have enough for everyone, but they’re all gonna be different.”

  “Whatever, man. It’s not a big deal. Just bring what you can.”

  When he turned around, I mentally flipped him the bird.

  “I saw that,” he shouted.

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  “Doesn’t mean you weren’t thinking it.”

  This time I held my hand up and gave him the middle finger, not caring if he saw me or not. He just waved, his back still turned to be as he strolled away.

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  Swinging by the grocery store, I went directly to the deli section and picked up a chicken for dinner and some potato salad. I was starving and I needed something fast. I was walking to the checkout when I slammed right into a woman that was coming around the corner, mashing the potato salad between us. The lid had come off, but luckily not on my side. The woman had salad smeared all over her.

  “Sorry about that,” I said, staring at her nice tits.

  “No big deal. It’s not much different from any other day.”

  My head snapped up at the sound of her voice and I stared into the beautiful eyes of Cazzo’s sister. Damn, she was even prettier than I remembered. My brain took a hiatus for a few seconds as I took in the tired look on her face and the dark circles under her eyes. She looked like she hadn’t slept in weeks.

  “Is everything okay?” I asked, not sure why I cared.

  “Oh, yeah. Everything’s just great. Just getting settled and unpacked. Trying to…” She sighed heavily and shook her head. She was studying my face, probably taking in all the bruises that I was sporting, courtesy of her brother. “Sorry, what was the question?”

  “I was just wondering if you were okay. You look a little rundown.”

  “Yeah, well, kids will do that to you. Although, I should be used to it by now. It’s not like Matteo actually helped out with the kids.”

  “He’s the ex I take it?”

  “The one and only. Sorry, this is-”

  I looked down when I felt something hitting my leg. Her kid was slapping at my leg and when I looked at him, he grinned.

  “Hey, bawoon! Bawoon!” He started pointing over by the register where there were a bundle of balloons tied up.

  “Yeah, kid. I see the balloons.” I looked back up at his mom. “So, are you-”

  “Bawoons! I fee da bawoons!”

  I nodded my head at the kid. “Yeah, I know. You already told me about the balloons.”

  “Sorry, he’s very persistent,” Isabella said apologetically.

  “I can tell.”

  The kid started smacking me again, so I got down on my haunches so that he knew I could hear him. He grabbed my cheeks and held my face so that I was staring at him. “Bawoons, you fee da bawoons?”

  “Yeah, kid. They’re right over there. Balloons. I heard you the first time.”

  “Bawoons. Dat green bawoon?”

  “Yep.”

  “Dat blue bawoon?” Spit flew out of his mouth and sprayed me when he tried to say blue.

  “Yeah, that’s blue.”

  “And lellow?”

  “Yeah, there’s yellow too.”

  I looked up at Isabella, wondering if she was going to intervene at some point, but the kid grabbed me by the face again and held my gaze. “You big?”

  “Yeah, I’m big.”

  “And I mall?”

  “Yep, you’re small.”

  “And mommy big?”

  “Yeah,” I nodded.

  “And Tori mall?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Did this kid ever shut up? He just kept asking me thing after thing. I needed some duct tape or something to put over his mouth so I could just say two fucking words to his mom without being interrupted.

  “Enzo,” Isabella finally said, grabbing him by the hand. “He sees the balloons, but we’re not getting any today.”

  “Why?” he whined.

  “Because we don’t need any balloons. You have plenty of toys to play with at home.”

  “Dat Chicken?” Enzo pointed at the chicken in my hands.

  “Yeah, buddy. That’s chicken.”

  “It for me?” He grinned as he smacked himself in the chest.

  “Uh…”

  “Enzo, we’ll get our own chicken.” Isabella grabbed onto his arm, but he pulled away and reached for my leg, wrapping his little arms around me.

  “No, I eat wit chicken boy.”

  I barked out a laugh. I had been called a lot of things in my life, but never chicken boy.

  “Enzo,” Isabella said firmly, “we’ll eat at home.”

  “No! I eat wit chicken boy!”

  I didn’t like seeing her stressed, which she definitely was right now. It had to be difficult having two small kids to raise on your own. And even though I knew jack shit about kids, if the kid wanted to eat with me and it made it easier on his mom, I’d do it. Though I wasn’t quite sure why. If Cazzo found out, I was in for another beat down.

  “It’s alright. How about we get some more chicken and I’ll eat with you?”

  I directed the question at Enzo, but I was looking at his mother to make sure it was okay. She gave me a grateful smile as we headed back for the deli. We loaded up her cart with a feast for the four of us.

  I noticed that the girl kept lookin
g up at me with a strange look. It made me uncomfortable. I didn’t know if I was supposed to ask her what the fuck was wrong or tell her to stop staring. We got to the checkout line and placed everything on the belt. I was just about to pay when the little girl looked up at me and said, “You’re the man that was at our house with your shirt off the other day.”

  The cashier looked up at me with wide eyes and a blush spread across Isabella’s face.

  “I was cleaning your mom’s pipes,” I said quickly, only then realizing how dirty that sounded. The cashier snorted and the little girl cocked her head at me.

  “Daddy always hired someone to do that.”

  “Well, I fix shit on my own.”

  She gasped and pointed a finger at me. “Mommy, the man said a bad word!”

  “His name is Gabe, Vittoria. And he’s an adult. Sometimes we say bad things.”

  “But you said it’s not okay to say that word,” Vittoria said as she glared at me.

  “Your mom’s right. It’s a bad word and l shouldn’t have said it.” I hoped that would appease her, but she just glared at me.

  “You have to put a quarter in the jar,” she raised an eyebrow at me.

  “But I don’t live with you,” I argued.

  “Does that mean that if I’m not at home, I can say bad words?”

  “No, you have to follow your mom’s rules.”

  “Then why don’t you?”

  I opened my mouth to argue with her, but Isabella put her hand on my arm. “Are you really going to argue with a five year old in the middle of the grocery store?”

  I narrowed my eyes at Vittoria, knowing I had lost this round. Obviously, she knew too based on the look on her face. I followed them back to their house and cursed myself the whole way for agreeing to eat dinner with them. This was ridiculous.

  I helped Isabella bring in the food and then watched as she expertly got her kids inside and everything put away in just minutes. It was like she had done this a million times before.

  “Okay, everyone at the table.”

  We wove our way through the boxes that were still scattered throughout the house over to the kitchen where more boxes were stacked. She pulled out paper plates and plastic forks, setting everything out on the table.

  “Sorry, I’m still not unpacked.”

  “Haven’t you been here for like a week now?” I asked in confusion.

  “Yeah, well, it’s difficult to get anything done with these rugrats running around. And I start work in two days, so I don’t have much time to finish up.”

  “Well, I can help you put stuff away after dinner.”

  Why did I just say that? Shut your mouth, dumbass.

  “That’s okay,” she smiled. “I’m kind of particular about where everything goes.”

  “Well, I can hang out with the kids and keep them entertained for you.”

  Stop talking. What the hell are you thinking?

  “Really? That would actually be great. I might be able to get a lot done.”

  I smiled as I nodded. Fuck, what the hell are you doing? You’re supposed to be keeping your distance from Cazzo’s sister and now you’re offering to watch her kids? You don’t even know anything about watching kids, you prick!

  “I’m surprised that you even had the nerve to come back here after my brother did that to your face.”

  “He’ll get over it,” I said with much more confidence than I had. “Besides, I’m just trying to help out.”

  “I appreciate it. You have no idea how nice it’ll be to have some help around here, even if it’s just for one night.”

  “Does Cazzo not help out?”

  “He does, but he has a newborn at home. Besides, I’m used to doing it all on my own, so I don’t really like asking for help. But since you offered…”

  She had a twinkle in her eyes, like she knew exactly what she was doing, but I wasn’t going to admit that I had been an idiot for offering. They were just kids. Hell, I could handle them for a few hours. I’d put on a movie and we’d just hang out on the couch. It’d be easy.

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  “Again! Again!” Enzo shouted as he jumped on my back and tackled me to the ground. Vittoria came at me from the side and her foot hit me right in the nuts. I groaned and tried to shrink into myself as these two hellions continued to pound on me and treat me like a punching bag. Why the hell had I agreed to this?

  “Okay, that’s enough jumping on me.” I rolled over just in time for Enzo to jump up and land right on my bruised balls. My cheeks puffed out as I squeezed my eyes tight and tried my hardest not to yell. That fucking hurt. When I opened them, Enzo was looking down at me with a toothy grin.

  “New plan,” I grunted. “You two are going to watch a movie while I…work shit out.”

  “You can’t say the s word,” Vittoria said snottily. “You have to put a quarter in the jar.”

  “I’m not putting a fucking quarter in the jar.”

  Her eyes went wide and her mouth formed this cute little hole. “You said the f word,” she said quietly. “No one is allowed to say that. You’re gonna be in sooo much trouble.”

  “No, I’m not because I’m an adult and I can say whatever the fuck I want,” I grated out.

  Her lips pursed and the little monster yelled. “Mom!”

  “Shhh.” I started waving her down, trying to get her to shut the hell up. I pulled out my wallet and shoved a twenty into her hand. “There, will that keep you quiet?”

  She quirked an eyebrow at me and smiled. “For now.” She skipped off to her bedroom, leaving me alone with Enzo.

  “Everything okay in here? I thought I heard Vittoria call me,” Isabella said from the doorway.

  “Uh, yeah. We’re all good. Just hanging out. Vittoria just went to her room really quick.”

  “Okay,” she smiled and headed in the other direction. I breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn’t been caught and then wondered why the hell I cared. I wasn’t currently sleeping with this woman and if I wanted to keep my balls in tact, I wouldn’t be ever again. But for some crazy reason, I didn’t want to close any doors with her.

  I heard the phone ring and Isabella’s voice sweet voice carrying through the house as she laughed. I couldn’t help but close my eyes and listen to her sweet tone until I heard his name.

  “Matteo, that’s not necessary. I can handle the kids…Well, I’m doing just fine without you.”

  I crept closer so I could hear better, careful not to let her see me.

  “Well, I suppose if you want to you can.” She laughed lightly and smiled. “Okay, we’ll see you then.”

  It made my blood boil to think that she was laughing with her douchebag husband on the phone, while I was here watching her kids so that she could get unpacked. I was such a pushover, just like I had been in the past, but I wouldn’t be anymore.

  “I gotta take off.” My voice was angrier than it should have been, but I couldn’t control it right now. I just wanted to get the fuck out of here.

  “Is everything okay,” she said, concern pinching her face.

  “Yeah, I just remembered that I have some stuff to do tomorrow morning.”

  “Okay. Well, I appreciate the help.”

  I snorted in derision. “I’m sure you do.”

  I turned and walked out the door before she had a chance to give me some bullshit excuse about how her husband was just calling to check in. She was probably out here trying to get back his attention, figuring that if she left, he would come crawling back. After all, Cazzo said that she was still married. No wonder he was so pissed. He obviously thought they could work it out.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Isabella

  I DIDN’T HAVE time to interpret Gabe’s little mantrum. He was pissed for whatever reason and if he didn’t want to talk about it like a rational adult, then I was fine with him leaving. I had spent too many years with Matteo lying to me and pretending that nothing was wrong. I needed a man that would just talk to me and tell me what
the hell was on his mind.

  After another night of bad sleep due to the kids climbing into bed with me, I shuffled around the house like a zombie, hoping that my coffee would zap me awake. So far, I wasn’t having much luck. I just wanted to go back to sleep, but that wouldn’t be happening until Enzo took his nap, which was still hours away.

  I rolled my eyes when someone pounded on my door. I was wearing striped pajama pants, a cami, and a cotton robe. My hair was still hanging around my face in some curly disaster that wouldn’t be tamed in the next few seconds. Sighing, I walked over to the door with my coffee and opened the door, squinting at the bright sunlight.

  “You look like shit, Isa.”

  “Thanks, Sam. I appreciate the compliment,” I grumbled as I walked inside and flopped down in a chair. The kids were currently quiet as they sat and watched a cartoon and drank their chocolate milk. “If you want coffee, you’re going to have to get it yourself.”

  “Tired this morning?” I looked at him, knowing the bags were heavy under my eyes, and glared at him.

  “Well, since both kids jumped into bed with me last night and kicked me all night and then woke up at four o’clock this morning, yeah, I’d say that I’m tired this morning.”

  He shook his head. “It must suck now that Matteo’s not around.”

  “Really? You think that Matteo was any help?”

  “Well, he was there to help out at least a little.”

  My brother had no idea what he was talking about. He hardly ever saw us and he still assumed that there was something Matteo and I could do to put our marriage back together. He was being supportive in his own way, but deep down hoped that things would work out.

  “Sam, you’re so delusional. Matteo was never around to help. The only thing Matteo was good for was bringing in a paycheck.”

  “He was taking care of his family,” Sam growled. “You don’t have to be such a bitch about it. He was earning all the money. Why shouldn’t you be taking care of the kids?”