9. Theá
Chapter nine
Theá
I watch as my father whisks Antonio away, and I’m left standing awkwardly in the middle of the dance floor.
Of course, I was stupid enough to think he’d want to dance with me. I knew what this was from the start, and I shouldn’t have expected anything different. This is all just a business deal to him. Nothing more, nothing less.
An old couple who’s extremely passionate about their waltz nearly knocks me out of the way, and I take that as my cue to leave the dance floor. I look around the room and decide to follow the crowd and head straight for the bar, because God alone knows I can’t be sober if I’m expected to be that close to Antonio for the entire night.
His presence is warm, but his touch, fuck his touch sends bolts of electricity through me.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I apologise as I bump into someone. The sudden impact shakes me from my Antonio-induced daydream.
“Oh, it’s no worries, mia cara , I guess it’s as good excuse as any to introduce myself.” Her Italian accent is thick, and just by looking at her eyes, I know immediately that she’s Antonio’s mother.
“Mrs. Vitale,” I say without a second thought. Her face pulls in disgust, and suddenly, I’m worried I may have guessed incorrectly.
“Please, call me Gianna. I’d prefer not to be reminded of my late husband. It’s nice to finally meet you, Theá. Antonio and the boys have told me so much about you.”
Hmm, I wonder what they would’ve said since I’ve only known them for just over a week, and that hasn’t left us with much time to get super close and personal. “Hopefully, all good things considering the circumstances.” I chuckle, and she joins in immediately, alleviating the nerves that were swimming in my stomach.
“One thing they didn’t mention is just how beautiful you are. Antonio’s lucky to be able to call you his wife, even though this is supposed to be…fake,” she whispers the last word.
“Thank you, Mrs…Gianna. Sorry.”
She laughs. “It was lovely meeting you, Theá. I know this is probably a lot for you to be dragged into as well, so on behalf of my boys, I just wanted to say sorry.”
That’s a first.
In this entire situation, not one person has cared about how it may affect me or how I may feel, and the first person to do so is my new husband’s mother.
“It’s okay, it would’ve happened one day or another. At least Antonio is good-looking and nice most of the time.”
Her face saddens a bit. “Trust me, he was probably the best option of my boys that you could’ve gotten. Ambrose has always been the most difficult. You would’ve been lucky if Adriano spoke to you, and Gus, well, Gus just hates commitment, so he would’ve probably left you at the altar and dealt with the consequences later.” She laughs. “Antonio is the softest of them all, and he cares so much about other people that he’s often harder on himself if it means protecting someone else. Even with this, he did it all for Valerie and Ambrose. Even after everything that happened, it’s so selfless.”
“What did happen?”
Her eyes widen as if she’s realised she’s said too much. She sighs. “You’ll have to ask him more about that. Sorry, Theá, it’s not my place to say any more.” She offers me an apologetic smile and places a hand on my shoulder. “It was so lovely meeting you.”
“Likewise, Gianna, enjoy the rest of the night.”
“You too, mia cara .” She winks and then leaves me to resume my mission of finding liquid courage. I wish I’d managed to get a shot in before running into her, maybe then the whole interaction wouldn’t have been so awkward.
“A shot of tequila, please.”
“Make it two, top shelf,” a deep voice from next to me says, and I draw my eyes up to the person slowly.
“How’s your wedding day going?” Adriano asks.
I sigh. “What are you expecting me to say? It’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of?”
“Lying would make it more believable. Isn’t that the point of tonight?” He shrugs.
“I guess. Did you want something, Adriano? I’m trying to drink until this night turns into everything I’ve dreamt of or until I’m too drunk to care. Whichever comes first.”
He grins as the bartender places the shots in front of us, and he slips the man a crisp 500 Euro note. “Make sure she always has a drink in her hand.” The bartender nods enthusiastically.
“Just came over to make sure my new sister-in-law is having a good time.”
He raises his shot glass. “ Salute. ”
“ à ta santé ,” I respond, throwing the shot back.
“So, how does it feel?”
“What? Being forced to get married?”
“I was talking about the tequila, but okay.” He chuckles.
“Sorry, it was good, really smooth. Sorry, today is just a lot.” Another shot arrives in front of me seconds later, and I eye Adriano and the bartender.
“Make it an Aperol Spritz after this,” I say, and he nods.
“Whimp,” Adriano says as he turns to face the room.
I take the shot and allow my eyes to travel along the bar, where I catch a glimpse of Antonio talking to someone. “Who’s that with Antonio? He looks familiar.”
“I should ask you that since we didn’t invite him.”
I raise a brow and look at him. “Well, I didn’t. I don’t want to be here. Obviously, I didn’t have a say in the guest list.”
Adriano nods carefully as he observes his brother and the man. “It’s our cousin, Mattia’s older brother. There’s some beef, so we find it weird that he’s here since we didn’t invite him.”
“So that’s the reason you’re here,” I scoff. “To figure out if my father has something planned. I already—”
“Theá, I told you why I am here. Not everyone is trying to use you to get to your dad.”
I clamp my mouth shut at his sharp words. Instead of responding, I focus my attention on Antonio again. He looks drained, and the night has just begun. The man who was next to him is quickly replaced by a beautiful blonde in the most adorable pink dress I’ve ever seen. Antonio looks physically uncomfortable in her presence, and I’m itching to know more. “And who’s that?”
Adriano faces his brother again, and this time, even he raises a brow. “That’s Valerie.”
“Ambrose’s fiancée?”
“Sure, let’s go with that.” He cringes. “The two of them were best friends first.”
“What happened?” I ask, watching the two of them. The discussion seems more heated than it should be for two friends, and I can tell it must be an argument from the way Antonio’s body grows in size, and Valerie seems to want to shrink into a hole.
“Ambrose happened.” My head whips to Adriano, and I furrow my brows. “That’s all I’m at liberty to say, so ask Antonio if you want to know more.”
“I’ve gotten that answer twice tonight. Does my husband really have this many secrets?”
“We’ve all got our demons.”
My mother’s screams ring through my ears.
“Yeah, I guess we do.”
“Uh-oh,” Adriano says, and I follow his gaze over to Antonio and Valerie, who are now joined by what looks like a pissed-off Ambrose. Then again, Ambrose always looks pissed off.
“That can’t be good,” another voice says as it joins us, and I look over my shoulder and see Adriano’s twin, Augustus.
“It’s not,” Adriano says.
“I’m assuming there’s some tension,” I say.
They both snicker like little girls gossiping. “ Tension is putting it lightly. He’s marrying the girl Nino has been obsessing over for years and—”
A loud smack echoes in the air as Adriano hits Gus against the chest, looking up at him with wide eyes.
I’m sure mine are the size of saucers because never did I think that was the reason for their beef. “Does he still…you know.” I can’t get the words out.
They look at me with apologetic glances. “Makes sense.” I shrug it off.
So what, if he has feelings for someone? It’s none of my business. It shouldn’t bother me. Right? We’re not really married, nor are we even in a real relationship for me to get jealous, but the burn in my throat doesn’t dissipate as I watch Ambrose drag Antonio out by the arm.
“Are you two going to do something?” I ask.
“Nah, Ambrose isn’t stupid enough to hurt Antonio, because that’ll just land him in the dog house with Val,” Gus says.
“Antonio might still do something.” Adriano meets his twin’s gaze.
“Let him. Ambrose could do with another hit.” Gus snickers.
“You guys have such a weird family dynamic.”
“Us?” they ask in unison.
“Touché,” I say, and we all chuckle.
The next few minutes feel comfortable as I stand and chat with the boys. They eagerly share all the embarrassing details of Antonio’s childhood with me.
“So he really covered himself head to toe in the lotion?” I ask, barely able to speak from the way I’m laughing.
“Yup, and he was wearing clothes as well,” Adriano adds
“Theá.” I hear Kylian call, and I excuse myself from the twins and meet him halfway on his way over to me. He looks especially handsome in his deep maroon suit.
“They want to do the bouquet and garter toss.”
I gulp at his words. I knew my family would want to keep the traditional elements of the wedding so it would look as realistic as possible, but this is all starting to get more and more intimate as the night goes on. Soon, they’ll be accompanying us to our bedroom and actually insisting on those sheets.
“Uhm—yes, I’ll go get Antonio.”