by Sam Mariano
But Vince’s smile inexplicably widens at her response.
Everyone else finishes their salads within a few minutes so we head back to the kitchen for the next course.
Meg casually remarks to Mia, “He’s gonna be fun tonight, isn’t he?”
“So much fun,” Mia replies dryly.
“Sorry,” Meg says, like she’s directly responsible for Mateo.
Mia shrugs. “Wouldn’t be Sunday if he left in a good mood.”
“Maybe he’ll drink so much he passes out and you can just drive home and leave his ass in the car,” Meg suggests.
“I don’t want him to die. I’ve sipped that shit before, it’s strong. He needs to switch to water.”
Snorting, Meg says, “Yeah, you should definitely tell him that. In front of everyone at the table; he really seemed to like that. Why isn’t he allowed to call you sweetheart?”
Mia says nothing as she approaches the counter, but the flush that creeps up her neck gives me a pretty good idea. I’ve heard Mateo call Meg that before; I bet that’s what he called Mia, too.
Though I’m as confused as Sal about their history today, and I was around when it happened. Why did he even use his endearment on Mia during those awful few days? I don’t like to acknowledge it since it sucks, but Mia and Mateo weren’t sleeping together when he had her. His crass reference to making her wet was even weirder because, well, would she have really been aroused when he had her? I would think no.
I’m sure Vince wanted to think no, too.
Mateo can be such an ass sometimes.
I recall him telling me about how he would wake up every morning to her accidentally cuddling him, and I pray to God he doesn’t say anything about that. He’s not loose-lipped in general, but Vince is being irritating and when someone triggers Mateo’s temper he tends to launch the cruelest verbal missiles, without regard for the fallout. Sure, it would kill Vince to hear about Mia giving him post-rape cuddles, but it would mortify Mia, too.
Now I’m almost as anxious as Mia heading back to the table.
The tension at the table already feels like it has doubled, and it ratchets up another notch when Mia puts Vince’s plate down and he hands her his newly empty glass.
Mia hesitates with the glass in her hand, obviously wanting to cut him off, but not wanting to further dent his ego.
Mateo has no such qualms. Lifting his own glass to his lips, he regards Vince and says mildly, “I think you’ve had enough.” His gaze moves to Mia as he takes a sip. “Put that down. He has water.”
Mia promptly replaces the glass on the table and smoothes her dress down as she awkwardly takes her seat between them.
“Oh, sure,” Vince says, looking over at Mateo with a mocking smile. “Excess is only okay if it’s yours. When is enough ever enough for you? But me, I take whatever scraps you see fit to throw at me. That’s how it works, right?”
Mia’s eyebrows rise at being very obviously referred to as scraps. She doesn’t get offended often, but she clearly is right now. Her gaze drops to the napkin in her lap, looking like she’s fighting to control her own temper.
“Don’t,” Mateo says to Vince, still mildly, but with an undercurrent of firmness.
“Just trying to understand the fucking rules, boss,” Vince states, meeting Mateo’s gaze with a spark of challenge.
Sal reaches over and lightly touches my thigh to get my attention. I don’t want to look away from the trains set to collide, but I lean in his direction.
“Has he ever shot anyone at one of these dinners?” Sal whispers.
“Not yet,” I whisper back.
“You know the rules,” Mateo tells Vince, the patience visibly draining out of him as he drops his fork on his plate. “Now, sit there and abide them or get the fuck out.”
Vince doesn’t even hesitate to push back his chair and stand. “Sure, we’ll leave.”
“No,” Mateo corrects, meeting Vince’s gaze. “You’ll leave. She’s not going anywhere. This is family dinner, and no member of this family leaves until the last fucking crumb has been cleared.”
At Mateo blatantly telling him Mia is more family than he is, Vince throws back his head and laughs.
Sensing impending disaster, Mia gives up her rightful irritation and reaches for Vince’s hand, looking up at him with big, pleading blue eyes. “Please sit down,” she says softly. “Please.”
Vince looks down at her, watching her for a moment. The alcohol softens the sharp edges of the very real feelings beneath his currently belligerent exterior, but I can see them all in his eyes now as he looks at her: the pain, the fury, the longing. My heart sinks for him and I feel like such a voyeur that I have to look away.
He sits down.
The table is quiet after that. It also calms down. Mia engages the side of herself I haven’t seen as much with Vince lately—the endlessly loving storm calmer. It’s the reason I thought she would be good at withstanding Mateo, but tonight Vince is the storm, so she begins to ooze calm. Between bites of food, she reaches over and caresses his thigh, his arm, his hand. At one point she wraps an arm around his shoulder and leans her head against him. It’s been a long time since she’s given him that much tender affection in front of me, at least, but it has the desired effect. Even though he’s drunk and angry and hurt, Vince’s temper winds down and he comes to rest in the palm of Mia’s soft hand.
When we clear the last of the dinner dishes and bring out dessert, everything is fine. Sober, Vince may not trust Mia’s easy affection when she clearly didn’t have any for him a half hour ago, but he’s not sober, and he’s not questioning it. When she bends to put down his dessert, he grabs her at the nape of the neck and pulls her in for a kiss, right there at the table.
Mia’s flushed again when she sits down. Maybe it’s only so visible tonight because Mateo threw her in the pool and all her makeup washed off. Maybe she’s always overwrought at family dinners.
Then again, she’s not always volleyed between two dangerous men with volatile tempers and loaded guns, so maybe not.
Whatever the case, we make it through family dinner without any fatalities. No one lingers tonight; we all want to get out of here. Meg walks Mia to the door, but stops because Adrian has pulled Vince off to the side to chat with him. Vince looks passively aggravated, so I don’t think it’s a friendly chat.
Mateo kept his distance while we walked toward the door, but now that Vince is otherwise occupied (actually, that may be why Vince is otherwise occupied) he wanders over to stand beside Meg. Sal and I are standing by Mia, and she looks up at Mateo as he comes over, but her expression doesn’t change. She’s tired and ready to go home and potentially deal with even more bullshit—and it’s his fault for deliberately provoking Vince.
I guess I can see why she doesn’t have the warm fuzzies for him tonight. If I got a little worried that he might rip Vince’s head off his shoulders, surely she did. Mia may have her conflicted feelings, but she doesn’t like violence between them.
Mateo reaches forward and gives Sal a handshake, thanking him for coming to dinner.
“Always a pleasure,” Sal says lightly. “You guys should add a course for popcorn.”
Mateo smirks, and Meg casually wraps an arm around his back, tenderly rubbing his arm as she smiles at Sal. “We always bring the entertainment.”
Mia scoffs lightly. “Entertainment. Yeah.”
Meg lets go of Mateo to raise her arms in her best Gladiator impression, “Were you not entertained?”
Mia rolls her eyes, then glances over where Adrian still has Vince. “I should go round up my Hulk. I’ll see you guys next weekend.”
As she turns to walk away, Mateo’s hand shoots out, catching her arm and gently pulling her back. Her eyes widen slightly as she looks up at him, startled.
“I don’t think you should leave with him tonight. Why don’t you stay here?”
Mia’s gaze darts to Vince, then she pulls her arm out of Mateo’s grasp. She shakes her head and
avoids his gaze. “That won’t help anything.”
“I don’t care if it helps anything,” he states. “He’s drunk and capricious tonight. I’d feel much better about you staying here. Let Adrian take him home. Vince can sleep it off and you can go back to the house tomorrow.”
“I can handle Vince. I will be perfectly fine,” Mia states.
“You always think you’re perfectly fine; your danger sensor needs calibrating.”
Mia rolls her eyes. “Thank you for the offer, but I’m going home with my boyfriend.”
His eyes narrow very slightly. He doesn’t appreciate her arguing with him, denying his requests. She usually doesn’t, so I can see why it’s throwing him. Finally, after a moment of reluctance, he says, “Maybe you don’t remember how your night went last time I pissed him off and he made a scene at dinner.”
Mia flushes again, with embarrassment or anger, I’m not sure. “I do remember that, as a matter of fact. I’m still going home.”
“Mia…”
Offering a sweet smile that for once doesn’t ring true, she meets his gaze and shoots back, “Mateo, I think you and I both know I can survive a little roughness.”
My jaw inches open again, but I catch it this time.
He can’t say a damn thing to that in front of Meg, so Mia nods at him, then glances at the rest of us, adding, “I’ll see you ladies next weekend at the shower. Bye, Sal.”
As she walks away Mateo watches her, murmuring almost to himself, “Huh.”
Mia rescues Vince from Adrian, looping an arm around his waist, and then they’re gone without so much as another backward glance.
“Well, that was…” Meg shrugs, unusually at a loss. “I don’t know what that was. I’m tired, I’m going to bed.” Leaning in to give Mateo a kiss, she braces a hand on his chest and looks up at him teasingly. “Care to join me? I’d like a demonstration of this roughness you apparently doled out to Mia.”
Smirking faintly, he asks, “Oh, would you?”
“Mm hmm,” she murmurs, molding herself against him for another kiss. His arms snake around her waist and he kisses her for several seconds before she breaks away and backs toward the stairs. “Good night, Castellanos, goodnight future Castellanos.” Then, to Mateo, she adds, “Don’t you keep me waiting too long, mister.”
I make no attempt to hide my revulsion when Mateo turns back to face us. My mouth opens and closes, but I can’t find words.
Sal’s hand goes around my waist and he speaks before I can. “Well, we’re gonna get out of here.”
I am appalled. “But—”
Sal covers my mouth with his other hand. “Nope.”
I mutter a muffled “but” and he shakes his head, not moving his hand.
Mateo smiles at me. “I like him.”
Before I can properly lecture my brother about his absolute depravity, Sal hauls me out of the house.
Once we’re in the car on our way back his house, Mateo may be safe from my mouth, but Sal sure isn’t.
“Oh, my God. That is hands-down the craziest family dinner we’ve had in a long time. What was that? Meg is a psycho. She’s insane. She just purposely evoked memories of him with Mia to seduce her own fiancé.”
“In her defense, she didn’t know what she was suggesting. If she actually meant, ‘hey, can we reenact how you raped Mia? ‘Cause that sounds sexy,’ then, yeah, psychopath, but she doesn’t know.”
I shudder dramatically, shaking out my hands and closing my eyes. “I need an exorcism.”
“Your family needs a dedicated team of psychiatrists, psychologists and priests.”
I can’t stop shaking my head and being generally repulsed, but after a few minutes I come to a decision I’m not sure Sal will approve of.
“I have an idea.”
Sighing, Sal says, “Let’s hear it.”
“It’s not about Mateo’s love life. You’ll think it is, but it’s not.”
“Out with it.”
“I don’t want dates invited to the rehearsal dinner. I know that’s not how it’s usually done, but you saw how tonight went. Mark and Mia are not only in the bridal party together, but the maid of honor and best man. They’re walking down the aisle together. And since Mark likes Mia, he’ll probably joke around about it. Mateo will also be there since he’s giving me away. I don’t want Vince there. It won’t go well. But I can’t just make Vince stay home because that’s mean, so I say, fuck it, the people in the wedding can come, but they need to leave their respective lovers at home.”
Sal rocks his head left, then right. “Before tonight I may have argued, but I think you’re right. Let Mia focus on the wedding and not handling her horde of psycho suitors.” Glancing over at me he adds, “I wanted to give her a high five when she gave Mateo a taste of his own medicine back there. I mean, it didn’t work as well since Meg is much cooler than Vince, but good for her.”
“Yeah, he must have really pissed her off. She normally doesn’t talk back to him. Especially like that—that was a borderline threat. I wouldn’t have even had the balls to say something like that to him, and I’m me.”
“I think Meg handles him just fine, though. I know you think Mia has the magic touch, and I’ll admit she deflated Vince’s rage in record time, but Meg watched him fuck around with Mia all day long and still had good cheer and bedroom eyes for him at the end of the day. I think you’ve misread her.”
I shake my head. “Maybe. I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
“Maybe they’re secret swingers,” he suggests.
“Oh, yeah. Clearly Vince is just a really skilled actor.”
“Maybe they just share Mia. Maybe Meg’s into girls.”
“Okay, I think we’re getting into your fantasies more than Mateo’s love life. Also, this is way more explicit than I need to get in regards to my brother’s love life.”
Sal shakes his head. “Nah, I could maybe get behind you and Mia together, but Meg’s crazy. I wouldn’t invite her into my fantasies.”
“Oh, my God.” I roll my eyes, shaking my head. “What is it with guys fantasizing about two girls?”
“Two hot girls kissing? Where’s the mystery? There are two. And you get to watch them both kiss each other. It’s all very self-explanatory.”
“Have you ever done that before?”
“Have I ever—goddammit, I walked right into this.”
I laugh a little. “I’m just curious.”
“Sure, I have. A couple times.”
My eyebrows rise. “A couple times? So, more than once. Huh. Okay.” I miss a beat. “Just kissing, or…? How does that even happen? Do you just pull up a chair, or were you involved?”
“Do we have to talk about this?” he asks, glancing over at me.
I shrug. “You obviously have more experience than I do. I just wondered. I like knowing about your fantasies.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s a fantasy of mine, just something that came up, so I thought, hey, what the hell. There are two of them; why not?”
“A couple times with the same girls, or different girls? Was Vivian one of them?”
Now he rolls his eyes at me. “No, Vivian was not one of them. I don’t know why you’re so interested in Vivian. Vivian was nothing. Literally a boredom buster.”
“How would you rate our sex life compared to your sex life before me?”
Laughing, Sal shakes his head. “Nope. No way. We’re not doing this. I’m very happy with our sex life. Our sex life is perfect. I’m not comparing or rating, none of that shit.”
I nod, since that’s probably for the best. I’m curious now that I know he’s done it, but I probably wouldn’t want details. Picturing him with anyone else makes me violently ill and also just violent in general.
I reach over and take his hand, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. Now that I’m winding down from the excitement of today, I’m just so grateful he’s normal.
“I’m so happy we’re getting married. Thank you for all you’ve done
for me, for all you continue to do. You’re really the best, and I’m the luckiest woman in the whole world.”
Sal gives my hand a squeeze and looks over at me with a heart-stopping smile. “You know I’d do anything for you.”
Chapter Forty Six
Francesca
My bridal shower goes off without a hitch, but Sal’s mom doesn’t come.
I offer to go to his mom’s Sunday for dinner, but he says no and we have dinner with my family instead. I know he really doesn’t mind spending the family day with my family every week, but considering I know he spent every Sunday before me at his mom’s, I have to imagine it’s not making her like me any more that he’s not now.
So I ask Mia to cover my afternoon at the bakery Monday and I drive over to Sal’s mom’s. He doesn’t know I’m going because I don’t think he’d approve. I told Maddie, but mostly only because I’m a little paranoid about how much his mom hates me, and if she sics some goons on me or something, I need someone to know where I went. Her daughter probably wasn’t the best choice, but Mia knows where I’m going, too, so one way or another someone will find out.
My heart pounds as I stand on the porch, waiting to see if she’ll even answer the door. I knocked and pushed the doorbell, just in case she didn’t hear one or the other. I know she saw me, because I saw the curtain move when she looked out to see who was on her doorstep.
I almost give up and go back to my car when the door finally opens.
“Mrs. Castellanos,” I say, offering a hopeful smile.
She’s scowling at me, the door only cracked open like I’m some potential burglar who might break down her door and steal her jewelry. Her gaze drops suspiciously to the white box in my hands, like maybe I brought hand grenades with me.
I guess it’s not impossible that she thinks any of this. I am a Morelli. There has been violence between our families. She doesn’t know me, so she doesn’t know I’ve never been involved in anything like that. My brother has a reputation for respecting tradition when it suits him and breaking with tradition the moment it doesn’t, so hey, if he could use a female, maybe he would. It’s not done in our kinds of families, but Mateo does whatever the hell he wants.