Chapter 17 #2
With a nod, I follow Scarlett and Lulu into the kitchen, where there’s already the beginnings of a huge feast spread out on the countertop. Platters of food are laid out, and I can see that Lulu’s still assembling some of it.
“Did you make all of this?” I ask as I climb on a stool on the other side of the island, right next to Scarlett.
“Food is Lulu’s love language,” Scarlett informs me. “And the best part is, we get all the benefits.”
“I wish I knew how to cook,” I say as Lulu offers me a dish full of olives, and I take one, pop it into my mouth. “But I’m hopeless at it. I almost burned the house down the other day. The appliances are too fancy for me to figure out.”
“I can teach you some basics,” Lulu says with a shrug. “It’s not hard once you get the hang of it. How is everything going? Are you and Julian getting along?”
“And how are you after that night at the club?” Scarlett adds. “We want to know everything. And don’t worry, the guys will be busy until we call them to dinner, so it’s just us girls.”
Just us girls.
I like these two. I want to fit in with Julian’s family, and if I’m going to be here every week with them, I need to trust that I can open up to them.
“Julian and I are . . . great, actually. I have no complaints so far.”
Lulu wiggles her eyebrows as she stirs something in a bowl. “I like the sound of that.”
“And as far as the other, I was doing fine until we got to this building, and then I had a panic attack.”
“Makes sense,” Scarlett says with a nod. “You had something traumatic happen to you here. But I can promise you, it’ll never happen again.”
“That’s what Julian said too.”
“Never,” Lulu agrees. “It’s a fun place.”
I shudder at the thought. “I’ll take your word for it.” I bite my lip, and I reach for another olive but don’t eat it. “Can I ask you guys some questions?”
“You can ask us anything,” Lulu replies with a smile. “We’re your friends, Natasha. Hell, your husband and mine are brothers in every way that counts, which means that you’re my sister.”
Sister. That makes my throat want to close up.
“You’re safe here,” Scarlett adds, and reaches out to pat my hand.
I don’t flinch away from her touch, and I’m filled with pride in myself.
I’m getting better.
“You two are both with powerful, dangerous men.”
They nod, watching me with open expressions on their gorgeous faces, giving me the confidence to continue.
“Do you feel . . . safe with them?”
“Personally, I’ve never felt safer,” Scarlett says and looks to Lulu, who nods.
“I’m the same. I also grew up in an organized crime household with a father who was ruthless and abusive, and well, it was bad. I didn’t, and still don’t, trust easy. Rome would never hurt me.”
“Luke is so protective, I think if someone just thought about saying something unkind to me, he’d take out their tongue.”
The two of them laugh, but I don’t join them. Because this is important to me.
“What about cheating?”
Their smiles fall, and then they shake their heads adamantly.
“No,” Scarlett says. “Not a chance. When would they have time?”
“You’d be surprised,” I mutter, staring at the olive in my fingers that I keep rolling back and forth. “I grew up in this life, and I don’t know anyone who stayed faithful, including my own parents.”
“Our guys are a different breed,” Lulu says. “They may live in the morally gray side of life, but when it comes to us, they are next-level obsessed.”
“But they have access to a whole sex club. The whole club. They could hook up with anyone, anytime.”
“I have no need for that,” Rome says from behind me, startling me, and I feel my cheeks burn in embarrassment as he walks around to pull Lulu in his arms. She smiles up at him so brightly, the love is written all over her. “The club is my business, but Eloise is my life.”
Okay, that was swoony as fuck.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—”
“You absolutely should ask questions,” Rome interjects. “You’re new to us, Natasha. And this is a safe space for you to do that. I apologize for interrupting, but I’m hungry.”
Lulu chuckles and tips her head back, inviting a kiss, and Rome grabs her throat as he kisses her deeply. When he looks at her, it’s as if she hung the moon.
There’s no malice or hate anywhere in this home.
It’s so amazing. And so different from what I know.
It’s not long before we’re all seated around a huge table in the dining room, passing around bowls of spaghetti and meatballs, salad, and fresh bread. Luke sits next to Scarlett and scoots her closer to him, leans in and kisses her temple, and then continues his conversation with Spider.
I glance next to me, where Julian sits, talking with Rome, and I can’t resist reaching over to rest my hand on his thigh.
Without hesitation or breaking his train of thought, his hand covers mine, and he gives it a squeeze. When there’s a break in the conversation, he glances down at me and lifts an eyebrow.
“You okay, angelos mou?”
I nod and offer him a smile, and then I glance at his brothers.
“So, who’s going to tell me embarrassing stories about my husband from when he was a kid?”
The conversation stops around us, and all three of them, along with Jack and Luke, grin at me.
“I like her,” Mateo says. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know. So, this one time when we were in high school, Julian thought it would be a good idea to steal the principal’s classic Mustang and take it for a ride.”
“To be fair,” Rome adds, “he’d been stealing cars for a while by then. So, the ’Stang shouldn’t have been an issue.”
“It wasn’t an issue,” Julian insists, and I’m riveted.
“Did you get caught?”
“He never took the car,” Mateo continues. “Because when he got to the staff parking lot that morning to take it, he found the principal and his secretary fucking on it.”
“On it?” My eyes bug out, and I blink up at my husband. “On it?”
“It was early. He always got there early. Now I know why. And let me just say, I never needed to see his old naked ass fucking her against the hood of that sweet car. I should have stolen it later, just out of spite.”
“Aww, you were traumatized.” I rub his back soothingly, and the guys all laugh. “Poor guy.”
Julian catches my gaze and winks.
“He hacked into the high school system and changed all of our grades to A’s,” Luke says with a grin. “Remember that? Good times.”
“You’re welcome,” Julian says smoothly. “Is this walk down memory lane about over?”
“You can hack into stuff?” I nod, impressed, and Julian smirks down at me. “Me too. My father finally took my computer away because I kept getting into his financials so I could tell him where he was messing up. That’s why I’m computerless right now.”
“You hacked into your father’s banking information?” Carson asks, clearly impressed.
“Well, he made me get an MBA, and then he wouldn’t let me use it. He broke my ribs, though, when he discovered I’d been in his—”
“What the fuck did you just say?” Julian growls next to me, and I look up in surprise, noticing that all of the men are glaring at me.
Eight scary-as-hell men are super pissed off right now.
“Oh, um, nothing. I’m sorry, my mouth was running away from me, and . . . I’ll stop.”
I press my lips together, cursing myself for not knowing when to shut up. But then suddenly, Julian turns my face to his, and he kisses my forehead.
“He’s going to pay for that,” is all he says, and we drop the subject.
“Kind of cool that you both have computer skills,” Scarlett says, and smiles at me. “It’s always good to have hobbies in common.”
“I’m not that good at it—”
“Banking institutions aren’t easy to get into,” Julian says easily. “Not to mention, you have an MBA at twenty-fucking-two. You’re the brains in this relationship, Angel.”
“I hate to break it to you,” Carson says, “but she’s also the beauty.”
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t know,” Julian replies.
“Okay, you’re just trying to butter me up, so I like you.” I laugh and lift my wineglass. “It worked. I like you. Now we need to talk about someone else.”
“I love that sound,” Julian murmurs in my ear as he passes me a platter of bread.
“What sound?”
“Your laugh, Angel.” He kisses my temple, and when I glance up, I find Mateo watching us with a smirk on his lips.
Dinner is delicious. The rest of the conversation flows effortlessly through the meal, and they include me in it. They ask me questions. They make me feel like I belong here, with them.
Did I mention how good the food is? Because holy shit, I could eat a third plate, but then I would literally explode, and no one wants that.
“I have homemade ice cream sundaes for dessert,” Lulu says, making me groan.
“Uncle. I can’t get anything else in my stomach.” I pat my belly and lean back in the chair. “I’m going to explode.”
“We’ll wait a few minutes to serve it, because you’re going to want it, my friend.”
I lean on Julian’s shoulder, so content with how this evening has gone. His hand comes up to my cheek, and he brushes my hair behind my ear as he continues to hold a conversation. I love that he does that. He acknowledges that I’m next to him, even when he’s talking with someone else.
“I should be getting word from the port in the next fifteen minutes,” Julian says to Jack, who’s sitting across from him.
“Our guys have it handled, boss.”
“This is the first major shipment since before.” I don’t know what he’s referring to, but I can tell that my husband is on edge. “And if it blows up in my face, heads will roll.”
“It’s going to be fine,” Jack insists, and then their phones both start to ring.