“Put your hands to the edge to hold yourself, babe,” he demands. I fist my hands around the edge of the granite counter, I’m still feeling the remnants of the burn from my orgasm as he pulls me to him, slamming into me quick and hard. It’s fast but great because it’s unexpected as he plants himself into me one last time and his arms come around me sit me back on the vanity.
After sitting here a beat, I say, “I guess we’re going to be late, huh?”
“Yeah,” he agrees.
Feeling talkative for some reason, I go on, “I’m glad you like my dress, it’s new.”
“I like your panties, too,” he adds.
“They’re new, too.”
“And your boots. You can keep them on later tonight,” he pulls his head up to look at me. “But without the dress and panties.”
“So you like my boots the best?” I ask grinning at him.
“No, I think I’m just liking you the best,” he reaches down to kiss me soft and I melt into him. Then he bosses me, “Go clean up, we’re late.”
“You say that like it’s my fault, Jude,” I say dryly without moving a muscle.
“It is your fault, sugar. I couldn’t help myself,” he smiles at me, helping me off the counter and I come down with a clomp on my boots. Bending to grab my panties, I make my way to clean up and I hear Jude call after me again, “And do me a favor, Gabby, don’t bend over in that dress. I don’t want to have to kick anyone’s ass tonight.”
Shaking my head I mutter, “Whatever.”
“You think I’m kidding, Gabby. I just fucked you in that dress and those boots. I’m feeling territorial.” he growls out.
Seriously. We are going to a charity function with my family, like there’s any reason for him to feel territorial!
*****
“We basically have two tables, the firm buys a table and my Uncle Nic’s construction company buys another. I think we’re at the firms table, I’m pretty sure Tony arranged that so his mom will have someone else to bother other than his date. My Pop will be at our table, too, and since Lilly is by herself, I asked her to join us. You should know everyone,” I explain as Jude pulls my Tahoe onto the Stable grounds to park. We brought my car because the antlers and antique toys are mine and I need to gather them up to bring them home.
“This is a sweet ride, but why do you have such a big car, Gabby?” he changes the subject, apparently not caring who’s going to be there or where we’re sitting.
Getting used to Jude’s conversation tactics, I respond immediately. “I’m always hauling around furniture, large pictures or area rugs. I needed something big. I like your truck, Jude, but I didn’t want one,” I wrinkle my nose at my explanation for my choice in vehicles. “And by the way, we need an excuse as to why we’re late.”
“Babe, one look at you in that dress, do you really think anyone’s going to think twice about why we’re late?”
“Jude! This is my family!”
“Gabby, you’re an adult,” he goes on to explain.
I look to the ceiling of my car as he parks and start to panic, so I put my foot down, “I’m not getting out until we think of an excuse!”
“Just blame it on me, I can handle it.”
“Ohmygoodness,” I whisper to myself and I hear Jude getting out of the car and slamming his door.
I hear my door open, he grabs my hand to pull me out. I hop down, he slams the door looking down at me and kisses me quick. “Don’t worry, babe. No one’s going to say anything,” he proceeds to turn and drag me up the hill to the Stables.
The sun is setting and it’s a beautiful night. The bonfires have been lit the near the lake and people are milling all over the grounds. Lilly has sold all three hundred seats and it looks like they could be close to capacity already. The Carpino clan isn’t hard to find in large groups because of their sheer numbers and the volume they create when they’re together. Tonight is no different. They are congregated near the bar in a mass of people, Jude must have spotted them as well because this is where he is dragging me.
“Jude, maybe we should go look at the lake. We can pretend we’ve been here and just couldn’t find them.”
“Gabby! Over here! Where have you been?” my Aunt Lizzie yells, stretching her already tall body up high and waving to us dramatically.
“Too late, sugar,” Jude says on a chuckle.
“Shit,” I whisper as I wave back and we make our way to the craziness that is my family.
“Where have you been?” Lizzie asks.
“I decided to paint my nails at the last minute!” I respond with enthusiasm.
I look around and my Pop is glaring at Jude with narrowed eyes, Uncle Gino is taking a drink of his beer while shaking his head minutely looking to the sky and Tony is grinning huge like he finds something funny. Shit, shit and shit again! Needing to do something, anything, to take the attention off me, I try and pull a ‘Carpino’ and say, “Tony, where are your manners? Aren’t you going to introduce us?”
Tony’s huge grin disintegrates immediately and he glares at me. He puts his arm around his date, looks down at her and says, “Chelsea, this is Gabby, my cousin and her live in boyfriend, Jude. They’ve been together for a whole month.” He looks back over at me and gives me a look like he has just one upped me.
My manners on the other hand never fail, so I stick my hand out and say, “Nice to meet you Chelsea. And he has his own condo!” I add for good measure. “What do you do?”
It was at this time that I hear Lilly calling my name from far away, “Gabby, Gabby!”
Chelsea keeps on, “I’m a waitress at a sports bar downtown. But I’m in college!” she adds with excitement.
“Gabby!” I hear Lilly snap, getting closer.
Ignoring Lilly, all I can think about is Tony on a date with a college girl. She looks so young, she’s very pretty and petite. I’m sure her red hair is very natural, it’s beautiful on her fair, clear skin. “What are you studying?” I ask, still trying to block out Lilly’s voice.
“I’m still undecided,” Chelsea explains.
Wow. She’s really young if she hasn’t even declared a major. At this point I look at Tony who’s appearing a bit uncomfortable. I keep at Chelsea, “So you’re what, a freshman?”
“Gabrielle Carpino!” Lilly is very close now.
Totally ignoring Lilly right along with me, Chelsea exclaims like she is super proud of herself, “Just started my sophomore year!”
Well shit again! She could be as young as nineteen! Really wanting to know when she graduated from high school, I decide to ask that later so it doesn’t look like I’m interrogating her.
“Gabby!” Lilly yells again, and I feel two hands grab my arm and I look over to her and see she’s out of breath.
But I know she’s going to want the scoop on Chelsea so I look over at Lilly and say, “Lilly, this is Chelsea, Tony’s date.”
“Gabby, not now,” she says under her breath. “I’ve got to talk to you!”
Ignoring Lilly again, I go on with my snarkiness, “She’s a sophomore in college, but she hasn’t decided on a major yet.”
“Gabby!” Lilly semi yells in my face.
But before I have time to say anything else to her or act like a snarky bitch to get back at Tony for announcing that Jude is my live in boyfriend, I hear a different voice, a familiar voice call out, “Gabby?”
I turn to stone. Looking straight into Lilly’s eyes, hers get as big as mine feel communicating the whole story to me. James is here and she was trying to warn me but this is what I get for being a snarky bitch to sweet young Chelsea. Yes, this is exactly what she is saying to me through her eyes!
But it’s not me who responds, it’s my Uncle Nic, who says in an unwelcoming tone, “James?!? What in the hell are you doing here?”
I close my eyes instantly as I feel Jude’s hand on my forearm and he gently slides his hand up my arm to my shoulder. Opening my eyes and giving Lilly a look that hopefully communicates that I
cannot effing believe this is happening, I let Jude turn me as he gently folds me into him, my front to his side with his arm around my shoulders holding me there.
This is when I see him.
James.
My one year and three month selfish asshole boyfriend who broke up with me right after my parents died because I was too high maintenance for him. He’s pretty tall, though not as tall as Jude, but somehow seeing him now standing in front of us, I realize how much smaller he is. And that’s because there is no bulk to him at all. I wouldn’t call him scrawny, but definitely skinny, really skinny. Skinnier than I remember, especially standing next to Jude. I really don’t know what to say, I haven’t seen him once since we broke up, but that could be because I haven’t put myself out there since he broke up with me, either. So I simply greet him with a cool, “James.”
“Gabby,” he says while taking in some air. “It’s good to see you. You look good. How are you?”
What in the hell? He wants to know how I am? All Carpino eyes are on us and Jude’s arm tightens around my shoulders at his ‘you look good’ comment. But before I can answer, Jude chimes in, “She’s great. I should know.”
Ohmygoodness!
James’s eyes go directly to Jude and narrow on him while asking, “And you are…?”
“Jude Ortiz, Gabby’s man,” Jude bites out.
“Jude,” I try and rein him in.
“You’re Gabby’s man?” James asks, apparently needing clarification.
“Yep,” Jude clarifies, but James’ eyes come back to me.
“I’m gonna ask again, what are you doing here?” Nic chimes back in.
“My accounting firm bought a table,” James answers but doesn’t look away from me.
“Maybe you should go and find that table,” Jude returns.
James looks back to Jude. “Maybe,” he enunciates, “but I’d like to catch up with Gabby first.”
“Oh, really, there’s nothing to catch up on! Everything’s the same!” I say in the fakest happy voice I can muster.
James looks back to me and I can see but also feel his eyes raking over my hair, dress, legs and finally back up to my face. “No, I think things have changed,” James mutters.
This is when I feel Jude turn to stone against my body.
Oh no!
I can’t see it, but I can feel the Jude Fury setting in!
Okay, it’s time to bring this scene to an end! “Well then! Thanks for coming over to say hi,” I say, trying to wrap this up. “It was…um…you look like you’re doing well, James. That’s good. Good for you. Maybe I’ll see you around. Or not. It has been almost four years,” I say sarcastically.
“Yeah, it has been almost four years. You seem different, Gabby,” he braves.
“She’s saying goodbye so you’ll leave,” Jude says, getting my point across much better than I did.
I snake my arm around in back of Jude and fit myself closer to make a point but also just because it feels good. That’s when James looks at Jude, back to me and then at us both together. “Okay, Gabby, maybe I’ll see you around,” he looks at me a beat, I raise my eyebrows giving him a fake smile before he turns to leave.
The Carpino Clan at least gives him enough time to get out of earshot before starting up the Carpino Incinerator. My Uncle Gino starts with, “That ass, has a lot of nerve, coming up here to talk to you in front of all of us.”
“He’s got some balls approaching Gabby at all after what he did,” Tony adds, now on my side again.
“But did you see his face?” Paige exclaims, the only happy one in our clan over what just happened. “That. Was. Awesome! With Jude telling him he’s your man and all! Jude, you’re way hotter. It makes me so happy that Gabby got caught in that raid with the bad gun smuggling people. We always hated James. Crazy as it was, I’d pay to see that again! That made my night! Priceless!”
As I glare at Paige, my Uncle Tony says, “Paige, sweetheart, you couldn’t afford to pay to see that again. It’s time for you to get a real job.”
“Dad!” she yells back, not finding his comment priceless. The rest of my family just shake their heads, as we are all accustom to Paige, she has her own brand of crazy.
Jude softly gives my shoulders a squeeze and says, “Sugar, you okay?”
Letting the tension go, I smile up at him only to realize that yes, I am more than okay. “I’m fine,” then I look at the rest of my family and go on, “really, everyone. I’m good!
I can see my tense family barely begin to relax (other than Paige who seemed to love the entire exchange) and sweet Sophia saves me by saying, “Welp, everything looks amazing, Gabby. You did a great job! Sorry I wasn’t up to helping. Two more weeks with this one, I feel like a blimp!” She leans against Lanny as he takes her weight with an arm around her while she rubs her big ole preggo belly.
“Thanks,” I answer. Looking up at my family I say, “I need a drink! Who wants a drink?”
“Come on, I’ll take you to the bar,” Jude says and he takes my hand pulling me through my family to the bar.
As we walk through my clan, Pop puts his hand up to Jude’s shoulder stopping our progress. Keeping his hand on Jude’s shoulder he looks up at Jude for more than a beat, then with his other hand slaps him on the back giving him a little shake. Then, one more slap on the back and Pop moves to walk away.
I look up at Jude, grin at him and whisper, “I think you’ve just been given approval by the king.”
Jude leans down and kisses my head saying quietly, “I’m glad, babe.” And we go in search of a much needed drink.
*****
Paige is swinging Gabby around the dance floor and Tia is trying to get in on the fun. They are all laughing their asses off. Gabby’s not as drunk as she was that night with her friends, but she’s getting close to it. She’s drinking something called a Salty Dog, which I’m pretty sure is just grapefruit juice and vodka with a salted rim. She’s made me dance with her a handful of times which I cannot believe I did, because I don’t dance. Ever. She’s danced with all of her uncles, cousins and even made friends with Tony’s young date, who we found out just graduated from high school less than a year and a half ago. It was fucking hilarious and I’m pretty sure that bit of news put a cold blanket on Tony’s night. Needless to say, he might ask how old women are when he picks them up in bars from now on.
I’ve been sitting here at our table nursing a beer for the past hour watching men watch Gabby and I’m about to go fucking insane. Seeing her ex approach her telling her how good she looks made me want to put my fist in his face. He doesn’t get to say how good she looks, he lost that right when he broke up with her when she was already broken, the asshole. Between dealing with her ex and watching men adjust themselves while watching her have fun on the dance floor has put me on edge to say the least. The only thing that has kept me even keeled is watching her throw her big beautiful smile at me and giving me that intimate secret knowing look that only lovers share. But then that makes me wonder if she used to give that same look to her ex, putting me on fucking edge again. I hate to be a hypocrite because I’ve had plenty of women, but now that I’ve seen the asshole in person and knowing he had her before me is about to make me crazy.
On that thought, I see Gabby give me the universal sign for another drink and pointing to the bar as Paige has her hand dragging her to the stables. Keeping my eye on her, I hear Tony say to me, “I can’t believe you got Pop’s blessing so soon. James broke up with Gabby right before she moved in with Pop, so he had to deal with that as well the death of her parents. No one’s more protective of Gabby than Pop. And that’s saying something, because we’re all pretty protective of her.”
“I’m feeling like I could give him a run for his money,” I mutter, not taking my eyes off Gabby, still making the trek up the hill to the bar in her short ass dress.
“Well, the jury is still out on that, but I’m thinking maybe you might.” Then he adds, “Or should I say, we’re all hoping you
will.”
That got my attention. Looking straight at him now, I ask, “You don’t think I will?”
“Like I said, we’re all hoping. You’ve only been around for a month, but you’ve proved yourself so far,” he pauses, looking down at his beer shaking his head then looking back at me. “I’m closer to Gabby than I am my own sisters, I don’t remember it every being another way. I’m just saying, Jude, we’ve got pretty fucking high expectations when it comes to Gabby. She deserves happy and if someone or something takes that away from her, I don’t think her family is going to be too forgiving,” he says, trying to deliver his warning softly. “I like you Jude, I’m on your side and I hope you saw that the day in the hospital. Shit, I pegged you a good guy when I met you and could tell you were interested in Gabby. Why do you think I invited you to the draft? But I love my cousin, so make her happy. She’s had enough hurt to last a lifetime.”
I don’t get a chance to respond to his warning because we hear a familiar but drunk voice scream, “Take your hands off of her, you asshole!”
Tony and I whip our heads around to see where Paige is screaming from and we see Paige pulling on James’s arm since he has both his hands around Gabby’s biceps. I fold out of my chair and start across the open grassy area to get to them, just off from the bar. I can hear Tony close behind me, weaving in and out of people to get to her. As I close in, I see that James has her by the upper arms and is crouched down a bit with his face in hers. Gabby is rearing back as much as she can, her eyebrows are pulled together and she’s quickly shaking her head ‘no’ while saying something I can’t hear. I make my last few strides to them and grab his forearm with my left hand, he’s surprised by me because he instantly lets go of Gabby. I see Tony pull Gabby back out of my peripheral vision, but then see a fist coming my way. I duck easily, rear back and punch the fucking asshole in the face, he stumbles back too many times and barely rights himself. When he looks back up to me while holding his jaw, I can see he’s drunk off his ass but I don’t give a shit, he swung at me first. Proving he’s not just an asshole, but stupid to boot, he comes at me one more time. I dodge to the right to miss his pathetic attempt at an uppercut and grab his wrist. Twisting his arm, he has no choice but to turn his back to me as I grab the other and pull them up his back. I keep ahold of his arms pulling them high in back of him until I hear him wince.
Overflow: The Carpino Series Page 19