Chapter 16 Kitty #2
“Ma, he’s the reason Kitty—”
“He’ll share his actions with me, not you. Now, sit down and be quiet.”
I didn’t have to look at him to know that every nerve in Lucas’s face would be doing a jig.
When Stan tucked me onto his lap, I wept—with relief. He jostled me a bit, because he wasn’t a wizard, but god, the tension in me immediately abated.
I wasn’t like this. But this version of me had dealt with much too much in the past few days and I’d reached the end of my tether.
Next week, I’d return to busting balls like a pro. Now, I needed my family to cut me some slack and for Stan to hold me like he never intended on letting me go.
“You shouldn’t have gone to the hospital today.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Even a liunissa needs a day off.”
“Right, Custanzu,” Ma declared, perching on the edge of the coffee table so she could pat my knee. “Maybe you’ll give me some answers.”
“Of course, ma’am.” I felt the tension rush through him like he’d been hit with a lightning bolt. “One of my… your equivalent is a crew, betrayed me. He abducted Kitty from my home and…” He swallowed. “Your daughter is a fighter. You should be proud of her.”
Ma narrowed her eyes as she took me in, huddled into Stan’s arms, finally able to relax now that I had distance from the noise and the crowds and the city itself.
“I’m always proud of my children, Custanzu. What’s happening with the man who betrayed you?”
“I’m sure you can imagine, ma’am,” he deadpanned.
“I’m sure I can’t.” Her head tilted to the side. “Custanzu. Sicilian. I don’t know much about your people, boy, but I’m pretty sure you’re high up the ranks.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said calmly, respectfully, perfectly.
“I assume blood will be shed.”
“Every bruise that he meted out will be repaid. Four times over.”
“Good, good.” It was easy to forget that Ma could be bloodthirsty too… “Now, why didn’t you bring her home?”
“Ma!”
Both ignored me and he remarked, “I believe because she didn’t want you to hate me.”
“And that would matter why?”
“Because we’re rather serious about one another.”
Ma clucked her tongue. “I’ve never heard her mention you before. Kitty likes those—what do you call them, Neev?”
“Pricks?”
“Language, girlie. Don’t think you can get around me by using Irish curses!”
“Finance bros,” Raisin mumbled then agreed with Neev. “But they’re less bros and more pricks.”
“Girls!” Ma stopped fiddling with her crucifix. “Are you a finance bro, Stan?”
He grimaced. “No, ma’am.”
“So, how did you two meet?”
“The hospital,” he said earnestly.
Raisin straightened up at that. “I knew it!”
“RAISIN,” Ma barked. “Watch your tongue!” To Stan, she ordered, “Explain.”
“I’m a chemist by trade—” Lucas pshawed but Stan did a great job of pretending he didn’t exist. “—and I… well… I acted like a fool and ended up in your daughter’s hospital.”
There were many gaps in those couple sentences, but Ma, who’d raised a lot of kids in her time, discerned something few could because, apparently all set on the question front, she tapped her hands to her knees. “Would you like a sandwich, Stan?”
He stiffened. “Excuse me, ma’am?”
“You have cotton wool in your ears? Are you hungry?”
I pinched him, hoping he’d pick up on what I was trying to tell him.
“Oh! Yes, ma’am. That’d be lovely.”
Ma nodded, the movement brisk, before she got to her feet and headed for the kitchen. On the way, she aimed at my brothers, “You keep your traps shut. If I hear cross words, then I’ll forget how to make that millionaire shortbread you love.”
Because we all loved that millionaire shortbread, tense silence filtered among us as she took her leave.
Neev was the first to breach it. “God, it’s been years since I’ve seen you cry.” Her hand settled cautiously on my knee. “How are you doing?”
I scrabbled to cling onto her fingers. “I’m f-fine.
Today was a lot. I wasn’t ready to go into work, but I knew I had to, and then my boss wouldn’t let me take some time off.
Just traveling into the city was hard, never mind actually fulfilling a shift.
I-I’m tired and aching,” I admitted to the room.
“Do you want to come home with me, duci?”
“Can we stay here?”
His eyes caught mine. “We can. Of course.”
I sagged into him. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me for this.” He pressed another kiss to my temple. “Do you want to go to bed now?”
“Please.”
He carefully maneuvered us until we stood beside the couch. Carrying me over to the kitchen, a wise move as Cade and Lucas looked set to pounce, he dipped his head into the doorway.
“Ma’am? Kitty needs to rest—”
“That’s fine, Custanzu. I’ll bring a tray up for the pair of you.”
“You don’t have to do that—”
“Nonsense. See to my girl.” Ma peered at us. “She has been treated by a doctor, hasn’t she?”
“Yes, Ma. That… same night.”
She crinkled the wrapper in her hand. “We’ll talk later about you being more closed off than a jail door, Catriona. For now, rest. I’ll pop up with some hot chocolate for you.”
“With the Irish marshmallows?” I inquired hopefully.
“Hmm.” To Stan, she ordered, “You’ll be staying the night?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You’ll be the first boy that my girls haven’t sneaked in. This’ll be a new experience for all of us.”
“Ma!” I croaked in mortification, but she wafted us away with a smirk.
Then, just as we crossed the threshold into the hall, she cleared her throat.
Stan, proving he could be sensible sometimes, stilled.
“If I find out you were the reason for my baby looking like that, Custanzu Valentini, I’ll fry your balls in engine oil and feed them to you. Do we understand one another?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed.
This man, this killer, peeked at her over his shoulder. “Yes, ma’am.”
She hummed.
And that was that.
As a rush of love flooded me, he stepped onward. I knew one of my sisters fell into place behind us because I heard their lighter footfall. Neev skipped ahead to dart up the stairs first, and I was so grateful because my door was open, ready for Stan to carry me over the threshold.
“You want to go back to bed, Kitty?”
I wanted to be in bed and in his arms, but that didn’t look like it was about to happen.
This whole interaction had been stressful, until he’d come along and defused the situation. It was probably the only time in my entire life that I’d allowed someone to take over for me.
I imbued the word with my gratitude: “Please.”
Neev hurried into the bedroom and stacked a bunch of cushions and pillows against the headboard so that I could sit up easier.
While Stan settled me down, Neev was the one who tucked me into a burrito roll of duvet and blankets.
He backed off until I tugged at his hand. “Stay with me.”
He tried to take a seat at the edge of the bed, but I shook my head.
Neev snorted. “I can see why Raisin’s so damn sure that weekend in Cancún was a setup, K.”
I didn’t bother glowering at her. “It was your gift for doing well in class. That’s all.”
“Oh, I know. But I’m not as naturally suspicious as Raisin is,” she reasoned. “This chemistry you got going on is definitely fire. Which is a miracle seeing as you look like shit.”
“Thanks, Neev,” I groused, finally breaking eye contact with Stan. “What are you still doing here?”
“Ouch! Ma will be in soon. I’d recommend you wait until then for Stan to climb between the sheets with you.”
“She has a point.” Stan shot my sister an appreciative glance. “I’m going nowhere, duci.”
I sulked when he squeezed my fingers before relinquishing control of them and ambling over to the window to sit on the wide, cushioned sill. Seeing Stan in a custom-tailored suit amid my beachcore-themed nook was definitely out there.
Neev, gaze amused, patted the covers. “Need anything, sis?”
“To be left alone?”
“Liunissa,” Stan chided.
I pulled a face. “Sorry, Neev.”
“You’re allowed to be a cunt when you look like that.” Her smug smile turned concerned. “Seriously, holler if you need me.”
“I will. Thanks, Neev.”
Winking at me, Neev departed, leaving us alone.
I returned my focus to Stan, who studied me just as intently. I felt the fire of his interest as it licked at my nerve endings.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.”
I squinted at him. “You’re a shit liar. Anyone ever tell you that?”
His lips twisted. “You are well, duci?”
My shoulders slumped as I allowed the cushions to take more of my weight. “Why do you ask? You heard me answer it before.”
“Did your brothers say anything to hurt you?”
“They’re dicks. I take every word from their mouths with a pinch of salt.” I sniffed. “And I’ve been better but I’ll be fine.”
He pressed his hand to one of the cushions just so he could crush it. “You want me here?”
“Um, yeah.” My brow puckered. “What do you need me to do, Stan? Glue my hand to yours to convince you?”
A soft laugh fell from his lips, and I realized some inner tension had abated because he looked a lot lighter.
“You thought my brothers said something to turn me against you,” I said flatly.
Downstairs, the loud slam of a door echoed and raised voices came next.
It was a fitting soundtrack for this conversation.
“I wouldn’t blame you if you listened to what they said and had… second thoughts.”
“What would you do if I did?”
Another smile curved his lips. It was, I recognized, the most lethal smile I’d ever encountered. “I’m a patient man, liunissa.”
“Don’t look at me that way and say those types of things when we can’t do anything to resolve them.”
That earned me a slow blink. “I’ll do better in the future.”
“Good.”
Because my ma was a magician in the kitchen, she bustled upstairs a few minutes later. I’d never understand how she could whip up a feast with no warning.
Still, I didn’t need food. Just her presence.
Lauren was so kind, and recuperating in their home had given me a breather from the intensity of my family, but nothing beat your mom taking control of everything when you were sick.
Once she plunked a tray on my dresser, I let her coddle me as she corrected the already corrected pillows Neev had stacked behind me.
She righted the blankets, just so, tucked me in like I was a kid again, and then set a sandwich on my nightstand with a steaming hot chocolate complete with sticky Irish marshmallows.
“Thank you, Ma,” I rasped when, once finished mother-henning me, she bussed my cheek with a kiss.
“You should have come home, Kitty,” she chided, words stern, but the quiver to her lips gave her away. “Or, at the very least, let me come to you.”
“This will never happen again, ma’am, but I will always make sure you’re updated about Kitty’s well-being,” Stan inserted with the suaveness of James Bond.
Which made no sense because, surely, he’d be a Bond villain…
“I appreciate that, Custanzu.” She graced us both with the patented gimlet stare that, historically, never ended well for me. “Despite your sister’s proclamation, I’ll believe what you tell me…”
“I met him in the hospital twice, Ma. One time, he was, well, incapacitated in the ER and the other, he was unconscious in the ICU.
“I checked in with him after my vacation was over and said a handful of words. That’s literally it! Then, we met in the airport lounge, by chance, right before our flight to C-C—”
“Key West,” Stan interrupted with the smoothness of hot fudge—oooh, boy, I wanted some of that.
“Yeah. Key West.” I cursed myself for a fool when that snafu pricked Ma’s attention. “We talked on the plane and hit it off because we were sitting together. On randomly allocated seats!”
She pursed her lips. “So, because of a chance meeting on a flight a handful of days ago, a Sicilian betrayed the Cosa Nostra and you were kidnapped as a result?”
When she put it like that…
“He wasn’t Sicilian,” Stan offered.
“He wasn’t?”
“No, he was Italian.”
Ma proved she was Irish through and through because she didn’t question the difference. “I’ll expect a better answer when you’re not looking like death warmed up, my girl.”
“Why won’t anyone believe me?! This is so frustrating!”
Disbelief prevailed when she left us with a final tut and a kiss to my temple.
Stan immediately leaned over and snatched one of the large sandwiches Ma had made. “Well, duci, I’m glad I had this confirmed early on in our relationship.”
I scowled at him as he took a massive bite of what looked to be an Italian sub—my ma was so cute sometimes—while juggling a hot chocolate. “What did you learn?”
He swallowed the sandwich and shot me a smirk. “That if anyone’s a terrible liar in this room, it’s you.”