9. Wylder
9
WYLDER
“So, Wylder,” Gigi says from across the table, “What’s your story?”
She’s direct for a little thing and reminds me of Tate. Looking at them side by side, I’d assume Gigi was Tate’s older sister.
“Darlin’, leave the guy be,” her husband says to her with his arm slung around the back of her chair and a beer in his other hand. “Don’t grill the man.”
“I don’t mind,” I tell him.
Tate snuggles into my side and peers up at me. “You seriously don’t have to answer.”
I give my girl a smile. “I don’t have any secrets.”
“Okay,” she mutters, “but Gigi is super nosy.”
I laugh because everyone in her family is. I’ve known them forever in some capacity, and all of them know everything there is to know about me. That’s how it is when you grow up in this area. Everybody knows everyone.
And I’ve quickly learned how her family is with one another. They hold nothing back. There’s no judgment, though. When you fuck up, they’re going to bust your balls, but there’s no malice in it.
“Not much to tell. I’m a mechanic, divorced, and have two daughters I take care of on my own because my ex-wife moved across the country with her new, rich husband.”
“You sound bitter,” Gigi states, which isn’t too far off the truth.
“I’m bitter for my girls. They didn’t deserve what she did to them,” I explain truthfully. “I wasn’t surprised when Katie didn’t want to stay married to me anymore, but how she did it…sucked.”
Gigi nods like she understands, but I don’t think anyone could unless they’ve been in my shoes or my girls’. “How’s raising two girls on your own?”
“It’s something,” I mumble as I lift my beer to my lips.
Tate laughs. “They try his patience a lot. You know how we girls do,” she tells Gigi. “But they’re good kids.”
“I love that, and I love him for you,” she says, raising her eyebrows as she lifts her chin in my direction. “You weren’t lying about him either.”
“You talkin’ about me, princess?” I ask Tate.
“I didn’t have a choice since you left a mark on me.” She stares up at me as she points to the spot on her neck that I had forgotten about.
“That was a mistake.”
“Was it?” She raises an eyebrow.
“I got carried away.”
“Ah,” Gigi sighs, “New love. It’s the best. So much passion. I remember when this guy,” she says as she nuzzles her head against Pike’s neck, “and I met. It was hot and heavy.”
“It was a fling, darlin’. Spring break madness before you left me without your number. Poof. Gone. Vanished without a trace.”
“But you found me. You can’t stop destiny, baby,” she says to him.
He grunts. “I got lucky.”
“In more ways than one.” She winks at him with a playful smile.
“Look at this. Nothing makes my heart happier,” Mrs. Gallo says from behind me, nearly scaring the ever-loving shit out of me.
“Hey, Auntie Betty,” Gigi says, pushing back her seat and standing to round the table. “Looking as good as ever.”
Betty places her hand on my shoulder to steady herself. “You’re a good liar, kid, but not a great one. I’m looking like a worn piece of leather and feel like I’ve been left out in the sun for years to wither away to nothingness.”
Gigi walks over to my side to hug Betty. “You’re always so dramatic and descriptive.”
“It’s the Gallo way, baby,” Betty says as she moves her hand away from me to wrap an arm around Gigi. “I’m sure your grandpa has taught you all well.”
“Of course. Of course,” Gigi says as she stares down at the old woman who still sports a thick head of red hair. “Sit with us. Have a drink.”
“You kids look like you’re having too much fun and don’t need an old woman intruding.”
“Gram, come on. One drink,” Tate begs.
“Would you boys mind?” she asks, looking between Pike and me.
“Never,” I say, peering up at her from my seat.
“We’d be honored, auntie. Sit. Sit,” Pike tells her, motioning toward the chair next to him.
She lifts her hand, waving a few fingers. “Just one beer,” she says as she drops into the empty seat. “I need to get to bed. Morning comes too early at my age.”
“What’s new?” Gigi asks Betty as she sits back down next to Pike.
Betty leans back, shifting to find a comfortable spot on the wooden chair. “Not much. My girl has found herself a good man for once.”
All eyes move to me. I’m the good man? I’m not shit, but I don’t know if I’d call myself a good man. I’ve done things most would never dream of. I’ve had my moments of stupidity and carelessness. The me now, the dad, he is a good guy, but I don’t know if that wipes away a past riddled with sin.
“Grandma, you’re embarrassing me,” Tate whispers, covering her eyes with her hand. “Wylder and I…”
This is my shot. It is time to make it clear to Tate, even though everyone else around us already seems to know.
“We’re still new, but I’m the luckiest bastard in the world to have caught the eye of the most beautiful woman in the world,” I tell them. “I’m honored that she’s mine.”
Tate’s mouth opens and closes a few times as she blinks at me. “I’m yours?” I ask softly.
I lean over, cupping her chin in my palm as I gaze into her eyes. “You good with that, princess?”
She nods, her eyes still big as they stare back at me. “Yeah,” she breathes softly, as if she says the words any louder, the promise would disappear.
“See,” Betty says, “a good one.”
“We need a bottle of champagne to celebrate,” Gigi says, but I haven’t torn my eyes away from Tate.
“Is there any occasion that’s not champagne-worthy, darlin’?” Pike asks her.
“Yoo-hoo,” Betty says, waving her hands off to the side. “Come back to us.”
Tate blinks and shakes her head like she’s coming out of a trance. “Sorry,” she says to her grandma before breaking eye contact with me.
“I thought you two were about to consummate the relationship right here,” Betty adds.
I chuckle to myself as I lean back in my chair and reach for my beer. Betty’s the original wild one of the group. There’s no doubt in my mind she was a hellcat in her younger years, because even at her age now, she’s a pistol.
“Grandma,” Tate says with a gasp.
Betty laughs as she pats her granddaughter’s hand. “I mean, I wouldn’t blame you, sweetie. The man could even bring my dead ovaries back to life.”
Tate shakes her head as her cheeks turn the brightest shade of pink.
Gigi snorts out a laugh. “This family is too wild sometimes. I’m the luckiest bitch in the world to have been born into it.”
“Is your grandma like this?” Tate asks Gigi.
Gigi nods, dabbing the corner of her eye. “I don’t know which one is worse. They’re almost carbon copies, but Aunt Fran is the worst by a long shot.”
“Uncle Bear seems to keep her on a tight leash,” Tate replies.
Gigi nods. “He has to, because she’s out of control sometimes.”
Brax sets a bottle of champagne down on the table, along with five flutes he carried by the stems in his other hand. “What are we celebrating?”
Betty motions toward me and Tate. “They’re officially a couple.”
“I got shit to do.” Brax rolls his eyes and grumbles under his breath before he stalks back toward the bar.
“What’s his problem?” Betty asks as she reaches for the bottle of champagne.
“He suddenly wants to be in a committed relationship,” Tate explains as she passes out the flutes.
Betty’s eyes cut to Tate. “What?”
Tate nods. “I don’t know what’s going on with him.”
“It’s about damn time he stopped playing so many games. He’s getting a little long in the tooth to be out there trying to repopulate the world on his own.”
“Gram, you’re on fire tonight,” Tate says to her.
Betty holds her champagne glass out to Gigi. “I’m getting too old not to say what I’m feeling and thinking, baby. I don’t know how much time I have left here with you kids to point you in the right direction.”
“You’re not going anywhere anytime soon, auntie. I forbid it,” Gigi says, filling Betty’s glass to the top.
“If it were only that simple, kiddo,” Betty replies. “Now, let’s toast my granddaughter and her new handsome devil.”
Once Gigi’s done filling the flutes, we lift them into the air, and Betty clears her throat. “To eternal love that burns bright and long.”
We clink our glasses together and then take a sip. The champagne’s bitter and has never been my favorite thing to drink, but I do it to appease Betty.
“You made this old woman very happy tonight,” Betty says, but she isn’t looking at any one person. “There’s nothing better than being surrounded by family.”
I take in her words, hating that I’ll never have this with my family. Sure, I have my mom and kids, but I can’t imagine Thumper ever settling down. And even if he did, we don’t like each other enough to be thankful for our time together. I wouldn’t think our kids would be friends because we aren’t. We are a fractured family, but that is my brother’s choice by being a dipshit his entire life.
“How are your parents?” Betty asks as I slide my hand under the table and intertwine my fingers with Tate’s.
She doesn’t even look my way as their length tightens around mine. “I miss them,” Tate says to Gigi.
“They’re good. Busy as ever with the grandkids. I didn’t think they’d be better grandparents than parents, but they’ve proven me wrong. They live and breathe for them. Dad works sometimes when he needs a break from retirement, which is getting to be more and more. I think he has a hard time realizing he’s getting older.”
“Oh, he knows, baby. He just doesn’t like it. No one does,” Betty explains.
From her lips to God’s ears. Every single new pain is a reminder that my body is already starting to break down, and I hate every minute of it.
“But they’re great, otherwise. Just as in love as they always were.”
“Joey was such a little troublemaker. I still can’t wrap my head around him with your mother. She’s a good girl.”
“Dad’s the best, auntie,” Gigi tells Betty.
Betty chuckles into her champagne flute. “He is, but when he was young…phew. The man was a hellion.”
“Well, isn’t that the Gallo way? Which one of your kids was the angel?”
Betty smirks. “Not a damn one of them. We have to marry the good ones so our blood doesn’t become too corrupted. We’re already hell on wheels.”
“Where’s everyone else?” Gigi asks, looking around the bar. “I was hoping to see the other cousins.”
“They’ll be around all week, and if they aren’t, we’re having a family dinner before you guys head back,” Tate tells her cousin. “You’re stuck with just us tonight.”
“It’s okay,” she says, “I’m exhausted anyway. Traveling always sucks the life out of me, and tomorrow’s going to be another long day.”
“You don’t have a client until two. I made sure not to book you too early.”
“You’re a smart cookie, Tate Gallo,” Gigi replies, giving her cousin a big smile.
“You want to get out of this place?” Tate asks me. “You can walk me home.”
“Yeah, princess. Let’s go.”
I’m not going to let a single evening go to waste while the girls are away at camp.
I lean over, placing my lips next to Tate’s ear. “I guess I didn’t fuck you good enough the last time if you didn’t realize you are mine. We’re going to fix that tonight.”
Tate swallows as her eyes darken, and she turns her head so her gaze meets mine. “Don’t promise me a good time if you aren’t going to deliver.”
“Tomorrow, you’re going to walk funny.”
She smirks. “Bet.”
“Bet.”