Chapter 1 Angelo
ANGELO
“This is the lamest bachelor party ever.” Vinnie crushes the beer can in his palm, clearly annoyed and not bothering to hide his feelings either.
I’d gone over this with Vinnie what felt like a million times.
I didn’t want a bachelor party. I’d had one when I married Marissa, and that was enough.
But he whined. Complained he was too young to go out with us then and missed out on something great.
So, I agreed to this to make my little brother happy.
Plus, anytime I could get everyone together, it was a good thing.
“Shut up.” Lucio smacks him on the shoulder before handing him another beer. “Just drink and keep your trap closed. You’re such a whiny baby lately.”
“You’re the one who’s soft now.” Vinnie slowly shakes his head, popping open the top of the beer. “I never thought I’d see the day your ass would be such a pussy.”
I chuckle behind the rim of my drink, trying to hide my laughter at their stupidity. They are both pussy-whipped. Hell, so am I, but I don’t try to hide the fact like they do.
Lucio barks out a laugh. “That’s priceless coming from you. Bianca has you completely by the short hairs.”
Vinnie’s eyes darken. “She does not.” He takes a swig of his beer before wiping his lips with the back of his hand. “Fuck.” He grimaces. “Maybe she does. What the hell happened to us?” he asks, looking around the table as we wait for the rest of the partygoers to get here.
I can’t wipe the stupid smirk off my face. Vinnie and Lucio used to bust my balls about Marissa. For years, I listened to their bullshit and their promises that they’d never fall so deep that they’d settle down and become domesticated like I had been.
“It’s love,” Leo says before bringing his glass of bourbon to his lips. “Love does funny shit to our heads.”
Ah, Leo. He’s a man of few words. He’s usually quiet around the family, probably still feeling like an outsider most of the time.
The checkered past between our fathers clouds everything, including his ability to open up and feel like he’s one of us.
Slowly, the wall he’d built has been crumbling, though.
It doesn’t hurt that Daphne is such a ballbuster, telling him to get over his shit because everyone else had long ago.
“No.” Vinnie swipes his thumb across the water droplets running down the can. “That’s our dick. That’s where love starts.”
My little brother looks at the world very differently from the rest of us. Of course, he’d think love started in his dick. Everything centered around his cock. Everything.
“Love starts in our dicks?” Lucio raises an eyebrow and stares at Vinnie in disbelief.
Vinnie runs his fingers through his thick brown hair and sighs. “Of course, moron. You don’t fall in love with a chick unless she gives you a hard-on. Ya know? She has to give you feels here—” he grabs his crotch, and then he slides his hand to his chest “—before you feel it here.”
Everyone at the table laughs. I’m not laughing at his words, because there’s truth in them; I’m laughing because my brother is talking about love.
I never thought I’d see the day when he’d even consider settling down, but now he’s engaged with a baby on the way, even if he’s been great at hiding the pregnancy.
I knew the signs. The biggest one was that Bianca stopped drinking when she came to the bar right around the same time they announced their engagement. Hello. That’s the biggest clue ever. No one stops drinking all of a sudden unless they’re ill, pregnant, or gave up alcohol for Lent.
Her body’s changed some in the last few months, just like Marissa’s did when she was pregnant with Tate and Brax.
“Well…” Lucio pauses for a moment as he stares down at his beer. “I never thought about it that way.”
“It’s not until you’re balls deep into a chick and she’s moaning your name that you think—” Vinnie spreads his arms out, becoming more animated “—fuck, I think I’m in love.”
“You’re so romantic,” Leo mutters against the glass and peers at him over the rim.
“You ever loved someone you haven’t fucked, Leo?” Vinnie winces as soon as the words are out of his mouth.
The realization that he’s talking about our sister must’ve finally smacked him in that stupid head of his.
“Have you ever loved someone you weren’t attracted to?” He corrects himself because none of us can stomach the thought of Daphne fucking anyone, even her husband.
Leo shakes his head. “I’ve only loved one person in my life.”
“Loved?” I ask, catching his words and totally fucking with him because it’s so damn easy.
“You know what the hell I mean. Jesus, asshole. I’m head over heels for the crazy woman. I could never love anyone, beautiful or not, the way I love her.”
I knew his words were true. The man put his life on the line to be with Daphne. I don’t know many men who would go to that length to be with a woman. That’s when I knew he was truly in love with my sister. For that, he’s earned my respect.
“I don’t know how you put up with her shit all the time. She’s the biggest ballbuster.” Lucio lifts his beer to Leo. “You deserve a Husband of the Year award or some shit.”
“I wouldn’t have your sister any other way.”
They say there’s someone for everyone, and I’d say they’re right because there aren’t many men in the world who can put up with Daphne’s dramatics, bossiness, and overall pain-in-the-assness.
“Even when she’s being…” Vinnie’s voice trails off for a moment, and I can tell he’s choosing his words wisely for once.
“Don’t finish that statement,” Leo warns.
He’s always protective of his wife, even when it comes to us.
“Where the fuck are they?” Vinnie asks, being smart and changing the subject to something that isn’t going to get Leo all riled up.
I lean back, glancing at my watch. “The plane landed an hour ago. They had to drop the women off at my place, take the kids, along with Uncle Sal and Aunt Mar, to the hotel before meeting up with us.”
“Maybe they aren’t coming.” Vinnie shrugs, looking toward the doorway. “We can always go without them.”
“They’re coming,” I tell him because I’m not leaving without them.
The “they” we’re referring to are our cousins from Florida. This is the first time in years the entire Gallo gang will be back together since they couldn’t all make it for Lucio’s wedding.
They used to be part of our everyday lives until my uncle Sal uprooted his family and took off for the sun and sand in the South.
I wonder sometimes how life would’ve been different if they’d stuck around.
I’d always been close with my cousins, but we were constantly getting into trouble.
I’m sure that had something to do with the move, along with his utter disgust for my father and his inability to keep the family name out of the newspaper.
Before Vinnie can complain again, the door to the bar swings open and the motley crew walks inside.
“Honey, we’re home,” Mike announces, standing tall and towering over everyone else.
He looks good, better than I remember the last time I saw him. Even though he’s given up fighting in the ring, he’s kept in shape and is as big as ever.
I followed his fighting career as best I could.
Our fathers weren’t speaking at the time, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want my cousin to achieve greatness.
And he did too. He won a title, got married, and popped out a few kids.
He looked happy. Content. I knew that look because I’d been sporting it too with Tilly.
Lucio’s the first to stand, stalking toward my cousins with open arms. “You fuckers. I wasn’t sure you’d show your ugly mugs.”
“Get the fuck outta here.” Joe waves my brother off as Lucio tries to hug him. “We weren’t missing this for anything in the world.”
Joe never seems to age, and his edge never fades. The man has always been intense, more intense than me, which is saying something. His dark hair has splashes of gray near the temples, no doubt caused by having daughters on the verge of dating.
Vinnie’s on his feet and next to Lucio within seconds, excited to meet the cousins he’d been too young to hang out with. “Hey,” Vinnie says with a chin lift, always trying to be the cool bastard in the room.
“There he is,” Mike says as he steps forward and grabs Vinnie, lifting him off the floor like he isn’t freakishly large. “You little asshole went and became a badass football player and shit.”
Mike was always the silly one. We’d laugh at him until we couldn’t breathe. He was such a dork and a complete ass-kisser. Color us shocked when he grew up, filled out, and eventually became a champion fighter. That’s the day we all stopped laughing.
“Fuck, man, I can’t breathe,” Vinnie grits out, trying to break free of Mike’s bear hug, but Mike isn’t having any of it.
It’s funny to see someone as big, if not bigger, than Vinnie holding him like he’s a rag doll. By the time the kid turned sixteen, none of us could do shit to him physically because he grew at a freakishly fast rate.
Mike squeezes him tighter, lifting him higher, ignoring Vinnie’s whining. “Pussy,” he mumbles before he places Vinnie’s feet back on the floor.
“Fuck off.” Vinnie punches him square in the shoulder.
Mike barely flinches, but he looks down to where Vinnie’s hand touched him, then stares at my brother. “Was that supposed to hurt or something?”
“Are you two ladies done?” Lucio asks, taunting them. “Or do you need more time to hug it out and shit?”
Thomas pulls up a chair and reaches for an empty glass and the bottle of whiskey. “Longest plane ride of my life,” he groans and looks over at James.
“The way the kids bicker, you’d think they were all brothers and sisters,” James adds, sitting down next to his brother-in-law and pushing another empty glass toward Thomas, wanting a drink and clearly in need of one. “My ears are still ringing from all that whining.”