Dad wasn't quite such a fan of that idea when she'd suggested it, so he'd thankfully interceded to convince her to compromise. The house my siblings and I had all grown up in. There was a time when they'd thought to sell it for being too big for just the two of them. Then came the grandkids who often had sleepovers.
I glanced down at Rebel, at the fixation she had on my obsessive tick against my leg. Any normal dog would have been actively sniffing the ground and pushing to explore her new surroundings. But my girl was too worried about me to be bothered with any of that trivial stuff.
"You gonna make it?" Enzo asked, tightening his grip on my hand when I tried to pull it free from his. My pointer finger tapped against the back of his hand obsessively, his head nodding with each and every one in a way that pleased my compulsions.
"I blame you for this. How did I let you convince me this was a good idea?" I paused, leveling him with a glare that made other men cower in fear. He just grinned at me as though I was adorable, raising our hands to press a kiss to the back of mine. "This is a terrible idea. Mom is going to lose her damn mind. My brothers are going to pretend they're badasses for the first time in their lives, and then they'll be pissed because my sisters-in-law are going to ogle you like the piece of man meat you are. We can still leave, right?" I turned back for the Range Rover, the safety of the black vehicle looking particularly appealing.
I hadn't told Mom I was bringing Enzo. I hadn't been able to muster up the courage to even mention it, and yet here I was expected to navigate an entire evening of them in the same room?
Yeah, okay. When dicks flew.
"Sadie," Enzo laughed, pulling me to the front of the house. The toe of my boot touched the bottom step. A little nose pressed against the front window, Penny's face morphing with a blinding smile before she raced away from the door.
"Sadie brought a boy!" she shrieked, the sound muffled by the windows.
"Oh no she did not!" Oliver yelled. "If it's that fuck, I swear."
The voices muffled as someone undoubtedly reminded him we could probably hear them. "It's not too late,” I blurted.
Enzo chuckled. "Sadie, they saw us."
"No, a five-year-old saw us. They imagine shit all the time." He guided me up the last of the steps, knocking on the door and settling any debate that may have come from my wanting to escape. Penny thinking she saw us? I could explain that away.
A knock on the door that a house full of people heard? Not so much.
My dad answered the door, his face staring down at us. Etched in hard lines that he didn't normally have, he glowered at me briefly before turning his attention to Enzo. Those lines smoothed as his eyes rounded in shock, his gaze coming back to me as confusion pursed his lips.
"Sadie girl, since when do you knock?" he asked, stepping out of the way so we could slip inside the house. Rebel no longer seemed concerned with manners, tugging until I dropped the leash and let her bolt into the house. Tail wagging, she went straight for where Penny lurked, peeking around the corner to get a good look at the boy I'd brought with me. Colliding with her body with no concern for how much she might weigh, Rebel pressed her nose into Penny's neck and wiggled her entire butt back and forth in that way pits had that was just so uniquely pitbull. "Well, that's new," Dad commented, grinning as Penny squealed with peals of laughter and shook her head back and forth as Rebel licked her. "So are you. Oscar," he said, holding out a hand for Enzo to shake.
"Enzo," he responded. "You have a very welcoming home."
Dad scoffed. "Like a rainbow exploded in here, but I appreciate the lie just the same." A smile transformed his face as he turned his attention back to me. "You should have said you were bringing a friend."
"So Mom could make eighteen more dishes to impress him with every single recipe she has and still complain it wasn’t enough? Pass on that," I laughed. He shrugged in response, because he couldn't deny the truth in my words.
"You picked a hell of a night for an introduction, Sadie girl. Shouldn't you have started off with just Mom and me? Overwhelm him less?" Dad winked at Enzo. The two of them already conspiring with one another, minutes into the meeting, did not bode well for the rest of my evening.
"He threw me to the wolves with his family. Five sisters, Dad. Five. I have no sympathy for whatever he suffers tonight," I said, taking Enzo's hand and moving to step into the main living room where the men lurked. The women were undoubtedly in the kitchen, whispering and waiting for an invitation to the introductions like they hadn't heard Penny's shriek.
Oliver, Ethan, and Lucas all sat on the couch, looking too relaxed in a way that wasn't natural. I narrowed my eyes on them. "Haven't we outgrown eavesdropping yet? Rude."
"What?" Oliver asked. "We're just sitting here minding our own business."
"Is that why it looks like you fell onto the couch when you realized I was coming this way and you were about to get caught? I may not have kids yet, so I lack the eyeballs in the back of my head like Mom, but I know you assholes," I laughed. "This is Enzo. Save us the protective brother shit, because he'll wipe the floor with you."
Penny chuckled. "Mom says their ears will fall off if they keep eavesdropping."
"Is that my Sadie? Come help!" Mom called from the kitchen. I dropped my head to my chest, tugging on Enzo's hand to drag him to the center of my misery that was Mom's kitchen in total disarray.
"You can leave your friend with the boys," Dad said. "We won't bite."
"Can I introduce him to the gossip police first? Mom will start stabbing things if she has to wait any longer, and I don't particularly feel like dealing with the mess today."
"His funeral," Dad chuckled, dropping into his favorite recliner. Moving toward the kitchen and shoving open the door, I drew in a deep breath to steady myself. There was no Rebel to help ground me, and I realized how much I'd come to rely on her unique distraction. Wyatt and Lily had joined Penny in rubbing Rebel's tummy while she wiggled on the floor. I wasn't selfish enough to take her away from the joy of the attention the kids gave her.
"Mama," I said as I stepped into the chaotic space. Nina and Joy worked to arrange the plates on the table, Mom's fine china proudly on display. The royal blue and gold decorations on the plates stood out from across the room as the two women leveled us with wide eyes. "This is Enzo."
I kept it simple. A name introduction, rather than assigning a label to whatever we were. I didn't want to think about that given his assertion the day before that we were heading towards something I wasn't ready for. Boyfriend didn't seem to fit a man like Enzo and introducing him as my man felt too intimate. Like I'd be shouting, he fucked me on his motorcycle for all my family to hear.
Awkward as fuck, that was.
"Hello, Enzo," Mama said, stepping up to lean onto her toes as he bent down. She kissed him sweetly on the cheek, touching his other with her hand. "How do you know my baby?"
"Mom," I groaned.
"Fine, fine," she said, waving a towel in our direction. "Help us get the table ready. Enzo, would you be so kind as to let the boys know that dinner is ready? I'll interrogate you while we eat." She shot a bland look in my direction before turning sneaky eyes that glimmered with mischief back to Enzo.
"Sure thing, Mrs. Hicks," Enzo said, smooth as ever. He kissed my temple, lingering for just a moment past what was appropriate.
"Sadie!" Nina whispered with a hiss as she rounded the table and came over to draw me away from the door. "Who was that?"
"I already told you. His name is Enzo," I said, turning my back to the mess in the kitchen. If I couldn't see it, then it might not bother me so much.
Even I knew that was bullshit.
"I know that," she said. "But how do you know him? Where did you meet?" she asked.
"Have you gotten a piece of that ass?" Joy asked. "I could bounce quarters off it."
"Joy!" Mom laughed. "Of course she has. A man does not look at a woman the way he looks at Sadie unless he has sampled the merchandise and loved it."
"Mama!" I shrieked. "Can we please not talk about my sex life? Don't be weird."
"Last I knew, you had sworn off men after Patrick proved what a useless shit he was," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Forgive me for being curious, since it hasn't even been 10 days since I've seen you. Does he want kids?"
Deciding to just ignore them all in favor of moving to clean the kitchen, I made for the sink and the pile of dishes inside it. "Leave that. We'll clean after dinner," Mama said, grabbing one of the bowls off the counter and setting it on a pan holder on the table.
"If you're going to stand here and question me relentlessly, I might as well get some of it done now," I snapped, my patience fraying at the edges to begin with. Not wanting to come out and admit that the mess bothered me put me at a distinct disadvantage.
Enzo and the others entered through the kitchen door, lured in by the smell of the food and Enzo's warning that dinner was ready. Realistically, I knew that he must have suffered his own interrogation because it didn't take five minutes to tell a bunch of men they could eat. In my experience, they moved pretty quickly once they knew food was on the table.
With a sigh, I turned the water off and set the last of the three mixing bowls I'd washed on the rack to dry. Plastering a fake smile on my face, I spun away from it and made for the table like nothing was wrong. The smile felt brittle, like it was suddenly at risk of cracking when I'd kept it in place for so many years without fault. Enzo made me vulnerable. He made it harder to keep lying to people I knew loved me.
Because for the first time I felt accepted and had to wonder if they would take me as I was too.
His gaze went to the sink behind me, watching as I forced myself to ignore it, with a sympathetic smile on his face. Moving to take a seat with my back to the kitchen, I watched as Enzo hurried to pull out my chair. Ever the perfect gentleman, at least when he had clothes on. Mom sighed in happiness at the move.
Like a sign that he was worthy of me. Because he pulled out my chair. If she knew the filthy things he liked to do to me, she might not be so supportive. Though, given how casual she was about acknowledging my sex life, that may not be entirely true.
Gross.
I shuddered, shaking my head quickly when Enzo gave me a curious look. He took his seat next to me, tucking himself in. "These are stunning plates," he said. "Are they Filipino?"
"A local artist made them, but she was from Japan and that culture influences her art," she said, a bright smile transforming her face as she sat at one end of the table. Dad took the seat next to Enzo, grinning at Mama's pleased face.
"See, Oscar? Some men can appreciate art."
"Woman, he's just humoring you so you'll like him," Dad laughed. "Like I did with your mother in the beginning. Let's hope he doesn't refer to you as the she-devil as soon as they leave."
"You never called my mother a she-devil," Mama said, her voice trailing off as she thought back.
"Not to your face, maybe," Dad laughed, looking to Oliver for support.
"Gran was slightly insane, Mama," Oliver echoed. "Nobody can blame Dad for calling it like it is."
"Heathens. The lot of you," she scoffed, reaching for a spoon to take a helping of ensalada to start. The others took their own foods as I prepared to tell Enzo what everything was. That task would have been much easier if she hadn't felt the need to make all the food in the kitchen.
"This is sinigang," I said. “It’s a sour soup with vegetables and shrimp.”
"Serve me your favorites," he said. "You can tell me what they are as I eat them."
It sounded easy enough, but.... "There are some things we eat that aren't so typical in American cuisine. I think the most obvious is that we cook with shrimp paste a lot, and I'm not sure if you have any things you wouldn't eat."
"It's fine, Carina. As long as you aren't feeding me human flesh, I think I'll be good," he laughed. Faced with my mother's Filipino foods, the accent of his Italian felt so much more drastic and obvious. Nina sighed across the table, making Ethan glare at her. She quickly averted her gaze to her plate, filling it with steamed rice.
"Where did you two meet, Mahal?" Mama asked, breaking out the rare and affectionate word for love that she called me when she felt like being extra sweet.
"Enzo is good friends with Ivory's husband. We've somehow never met until recently," I admitted, keeping it as vague as possible. I'd never informed my family about the attack in my apartment. I pulled two empty bowls closer, scooping a ladle full of steamed rice and mechado into each for the two of us. “Mechado,” I explained quickly. “Like a braised beef stew.”
"Oh, how lovely!" Mama gushed. "You and Ivory with two friends. That's perfect. The only thing that may have worked out better would be if you were with Matteo's brother so you could be sisters," she gushed, teasing but not realizing how much Enzo protested the idea of me with anyone else.
"Matteo doesn't have a brother, I'm afraid," Enzo said, smiling through his torment.
"And you two are dating now?" Lucas asked, piping up from where he silently glared at Enzo. I narrowed my eyes on him, shaking my head. The damn brat was younger than me, for shit's sake.
"I'm not sure I'd call it dating. Too casual a word for my taste," Enzo admitted. "Your sister should know what her place is in my life since I think I've been very clear. It's up to her if she wants to share that with you."
Dad snorted a laugh, biting his lip as he nodded. "I like him."
"Of course you do. You're both insane," I said, digging into my mechado and savoring the flavor of the tangy tomato sauce and slight sweetness that melded with the rice.
"This is delicious," Enzo agreed as he sampled it.
"Thank you," Mama said, her chest puffing out with her pleasure at being able to feed her family well in a way that was scarce outside of her home.
"Where are you from?" Joy asked, pretending to be casual. Like she and Nina weren't conspiring to learn about his Italian accent the moment he called me Carina.
"Born and raised in Chicago," he said. "My grandparents were Italian immigrants on my mother's side, and they helped her out with us a lot growing up. We all speak fluent Italian, and so do Matteo and most of our friends."
"What does Carina mean?" Wyatt asked, furrowing his little brow as he watched Enzo.
"It means cute," Enzo said. He leaned closer to Wyatt to drop his voice to a whisper. "It's because she's so little, but don't tell her that or she'll kick me. Ow!" Enzo grunted with a laugh as my heel slammed down on his foot.
"I am not little."
"Yeah, okay, Sis. You aren't even five foot tall. I think it's time to let go of the short person complex," Lucas laughed. Sticking my tongue out at him, I glowered and plotted my revenge.
"How did you meet Matteo?" Oliver asked, going right for the throat with his question. My brothers weren't particularly oblivious to Matteo's business, but I didn't think they knew anything beyond suspicions either.
"I manage the security for his businesses. Coordinate his employees and the bouncers at Indulgence and Tease. All around, it's just my job to make sure that those people do their jobs to keep customers safe."
"How does one become qualified for a job like that?" Ethan asked.
"I did four tours in Afghanistan. Lino found me and thought my skills might be useful. He took a chance on me, and I worked my way up since then. I started out as a bouncer at Indulgence years ago," Enzo laughed. "I'm happy to have an office now, since the music is too much for me now that I'm old."
He trailed off, Dad's eyes coming to me with all the support I should have known I'd see. The minute Enzo mentioned military experience, Dad loved him.
He was a man. He was a veteran. He looked like he'd know his way around a pair of boxing gloves.
He was everything Dad wanted his sons to be, and everything I'd never be able to become.
25
Enzo
Rebel zonked out in the back seat, her mouth open and tongue hanging out the side while sh
e laid with her tummy to the air. Chasing three children around Sadie’s parents' house after dinner had exhausted her, but she'd clearly had so much fun in that moment.
I wanted that kind of future for her, and there was no doubt in my mind that she'd be fabulous with kids.
One day. Once I could convince Sadie.
"Your Mom is interesting," I said, glancing over at her.
"She has no filter. Now you know where I get it from," she laughed, wringing her hands together. We'd helped with basic clean up before her mom shooed us out of the kitchen and said she'd finish it on her own later. It killed me to leave knowing that the mess would eat away at Sadie, but there'd been no good way to insist on helping without outing Sadie's secret.
It wasn't that she didn't enjoy being with her family and love them, but there was just this hint of a piece of her missing. Like that part of her was back in the kitchen, staring at the mess and wanting nothing more than to break through the invisible barrier to clean it. It must have been such a mind fuck, to be torn in two and know that it was irrational.
That the mess would be taken care of, and there'd be all the time in the world to clean it when the family left the house.
"You should tell them. About the compulsions," I said, looking at her uncertainly.
She sighed. The sound so broken that my heart ached for her. "Why? So it can be just another thing I don't have going for me?"
"They'd support you through it, but the important thing is you wouldn't have to act like it's a dirty secret. You have nothing to be ashamed of, Baby Girl. So your brain works a little differently. That just makes you unique."
She laughed, a dry and throaty sound as her throat tightened around it. "Nobody really believes that. They're called disorders for a reason. Because the world sees something wrong with us. Mental health issues have a strong stigma. Disorders make you crazy. They make you psycho. They make you loopy and unpredictable. They make you dangerous."
Shielded Wrongs: A Dark Mafia Romance (Bellandi Crime Syndicate Book 4) Page 25