13. Luka
Luka
I don't know what changed since I left Adrianna in the living room, but I don't like it. I can feel the tension in her body as I lean into her.
"Where are you going, Gattina?"
She turns to look at me. I want to tear the house apart, trying to figure out what made this look in her eyes. I hate it.
"What is the matter? What happened?" I grab her shoulders and try to push past her in the room, but she grabs my shirt.
"Can I leave? Can I go home?" She looks at me like she is afraid of something.
"Of course. Did something happen? Did one of the girls say something?" I love my family, but I will be very pissed if they made Adrianna feel uncomfortable.
"No, I loved the girls." She curls the side of her mouth up like I said the most horrible thing in the world.
"Then what is the matter?" I look at her and watch her flinch when Romeo walks past us.
Then again, when Cross comes behind him, putting his gun in his waistband.
Shit. I wasn't thinking. I didn't think someone would attack our warehouse on the first night I brought her to meet my family.
I take her in my arms and pull her close to me.
She slowly starts to relax as I rub my hand over the back of her head and down through her hair.
"I am so sorry, Gattina. I should have been with you.
None of the people in this house would hurt you. I promise."
"Can I just call an Uber to come get me?
I am ready to go home and you need to stay here.
" She pulls away from me. I go to grab her, but she steps to the side and pulls out her phone.
I stand there and stare at her while she pulls up her ride-sharing app and requests a ride. "It will be here in 15 minutes."
"Please let me take you home." She doesn't say anything as she shakes her head at me.
She turns and goes in to say bye to the girls and my Ma.
She spends a little longer than I like saying goodbye to the kids.
Like she won't see them again soon. I am waiting for her to get done when my Pops comes and stands beside me.
"She is beautiful, Luka." He places his hand on my shoulder. His episode this afternoon has drawn all the energy out of him and I am surprised he is up walking around.
"She is." I watch as Adrianna places a final kiss on Layla's head. "I think I lost her before I even had her Pops."
"Why do you think that, my boy?"
"Because of who I am. Who we are." I turn to find him nodding along.
"You know, we always tell you boys that your Ma and I fell in love the moment we saw each other."
"Yeah, like Liam and Mia."
"Well, we did fall in love at that moment. I knew she was it for me. Later, she admitted she felt the same way."
"What do you mean later?" I turn my eyes from Adrianna and look more closely at my Pops. "What do you mean?"
"Your Ma wanted nothing to do with the Rizzolis.
She knew what my Pops was. Knew what I would eventually have to become.
I had to show her that the Rizzoli name wasn't all I was.
That when I was with her, with my family, I would be a different man.
That I would be the man she needed me to be.
That the head of the family was just a small part of who I am.
You need to show that to Adrianna. If she is your person, you need to show her that hockey and the Rizzoli name are just a portion of who you are.
You need to show her who you will be for her, for your family.
" Adrianna walks over to us before I can say anything to him.
"It is nice to meet you, Cara." My Pops holds his hand out to her.
"It is nice to meet you, too, Mr. Rizzoli."
"Matteo is fine, Cara. I will see you later." Before she can argue with him, he turns around and walks to my Ma.
"My ride is almost here. Can you let the guards at the gate know?
" She looks up at me and I nod to her and pull out my phone.
I watch her carefully put her shoes on and we step outside.
"I am glad your dad is feeling better." She is looking down at her feet.
I grab her hand and lift it to my mouth, placing a kiss on her palm.
I can hear her breath hitch and I swear I think I heard her sob.
"Thank you for inviting me to your game, Luka.
I had a great time." She finally looks up at me.
I reach up and run my fingertips over her jawline.
"You can come to any game you want. You and Penelope will always have tickets waiting for you. I would like to meet her next time."
She gives me a sad smile. Her car comes around the driveway.
She reaches up on her tiptoes and places a kiss on my lips.
I want so bad to pull her close to me and devour her mouth.
I want to let her feel everything I am feeling, but I won't do that right now.
I won't do it when she thinks this is goodbye.
"Bye, Luka."
"Bye, Gattina. See you soon."
She gives me another sad smile, walks down the steps, and climbs into the back of the car.
I turn and open the door to the house. "I will be back!" I yell to whoever is left to listen.
"Going to follow your girl home?" CeCe peaks around the corner.
"Yeah."
"Good, I really like her." She smiles at me.
"I like her too, Ce. Just don't know how to keep her."
"You have to win her first, Luka. Then you can work on keeping her." She laughs. "Gio, Layla, come on time for bed." She yells back into the room and waves to me. "Be careful."
I quickly catch up to Adrianna's car. I stay back some since there isn't a lot of traffic this late at night.
I watch as the car pulls up to her apartment building, itching to get out and open her door for her.
She looks so sad walking into her apartment.
I tell myself I am going to wait until I see her lights come on and then I will leave.
I watch them come on and I don't move. Maybe I will wait for them to go out; I need to make sure she goes to bed okay.
20 minutes later, her lights go out, but I still sit there. I pull out my phone and text Callum.
Me:
Can you get me access to the cameras in the hall of Adrianna's apartment?
Callum:
One minute.
It may make me feel better if I can just see in there and make sure she is okay.
Callum:
No cameras in the hallway, but I can send you the elevator and the lobby.
Me:
Thanks, Brother.
Callum:
We will get cameras in there tomorrow, Brother. Don't worry about it.
I look at the feeds Callum sends over. Rewinding until I see my girl riding up in the elevator.
Her head was down, looking at her phone.
When she looks up, I can see tears in her eyes, and it guts me.
Before I can think about it, I am standing outside her door.
I don't even remember getting out of the car and coming up here.
I press my head against the door and knock.
I don't even know if she will hear me. I will sit out here all night if she doesn't.
"Luka?" I hear her muffled voice through the door. "Is that you?"
I lift my head so she can see me through the peephole.
"Can I come in?" I don't know what I will do if she says no. I hear her unlock her door and then it opens.
"What are you doing here?"
"I had to follow you home to make sure you got home safe. Then I couldn't leave. I feel better when I am near you."
"You need to get some sleep. Don't you have practice tomorrow?"
"I do. Can I stay here?" She starts shaking her head no. "I will stay on the couch." I blurt out, hating the idea of sleeping on a couch but hating even more the thought of leaving her.
She opens the door wider and motions for me to come in.
"You are not sleeping on the couch." I look her up and down and give her my best, sexy smile.
"You are not sleeping with me." She laughs and leads me down the hall.
"You can stay in here." She opens the door to her spare room.
"Normally, Pen sleeps in here, but everything is clean.
It is not as comfortable as the beds in your parent's house, but it will have to do. Unless you want to go home."
I shake my head at her and walk into the room. "Wait, when were you in a bed at my parent's house?" I turn to look at her.
She leans up against the door frame and crosses her arms. "Callum didn't tell you?"
Now I want to kill my fucking brother.
Adrianna starts laughing so hard she can't catch her breath. "You should see your face right now." She points at me and continues to laugh. "I went into a spare room to talk to Lacey. Callum happened to be in there and spied on us."
I still feel the anger coursing through me. Now I know what to channel when I am on the ice. "No, he didn't tell me. But it doesn't surprise me. He is obsessed with Lacey."
"Well, I think she is pretty smitten with him also.
" She lifts her shoulder and turns away from me.
"Good night, Luka." She calls over her shoulder as she walks across the hall into her room.
I hear her shut the door and engage the lock.
Thank God. I don't know if I would be able to stay out otherwise.
I am still in my suit, so I change out of it and crawl under the covers. It definitely isn't a comfortable bed. I will need to order a new one. I can't see a night that I won't want to be near her. Now, I need to figure out how I can show her I am the person she wants. I pull my phone out.
Me:
Everything okay?
Liam:
Everything is good. Got it worked out.
Cross:
Got one in the warehouse. Will get answers.
Liam:
He doesn't need to know that shit.
Me:
You know I am right here, right?
Liam:
Doesn't mean you need to know...
Romeo:
Sorry we scared your girl. I wasn't thinking.
Me:
She is good. Just forgot who we were for a minute.
I need her to see us past the Rizzoli name.
Romeo:
Invite her to family dinner.
Callum:
Pretty sure that would scare her more.
Liam:
We will figure it out, Brother.
I pull up a different group chat.
Me:
How can I make her love me for me? Not the hockey player or a Rizzoli?
Mia:
Show her your big heart.
Lacey:
Show her how much fun you are.
CeCe:
Show her how amazing being a Rizzoli is. Don't hide from the name, Luka. Use it.
Sam:
I agree with CeCe.
Me:
You always agree with CeCe.
Sam:
She usually is right...
I put my phone on the end table and rolled over. Tomorrow morning, I will start showing my girl exactly who I am.