Chapter Twelve #2
It hadn’t even been close to forty-seven minutes, which Gabe probably knew, but Sean wasn’t going to bother addressing. He was too full of the panic suddenly streaking through him.
“I just . . . I gotta get in the shower. Get ready. Get the nuts packed up to go. We’ve got more than normal prep this morning, you know.”
“I know,” Gabriel said. He did not seem particularly eager to get up.
But Sean knew he couldn’t stay in bed a moment longer.
“I’ll be in the shower,” he said, and got up and left. And he immediately missed the warmth of Gabriel next to him.
By the time Sean got to the lot an hour later, he was still feeling uneasy.
Gabe had helped him pack up the nuts and had given him a brief kiss when they’d parted, telling Sean that he was headed home to shower and change and then he’d see him at the lot.
Gabriel had apparently not noticed Sean’s uneasiness, probably because his own mood had been playful and happy, like his regular innate charm was simply bubbling out of him this morning, too plentiful to control.
Sean hoped that had nothing to do with him, but he was afraid it did.
Somehow, they’d gotten embroiled in this thing, and they were already deep in the middle of it before he had even realized it was happening.
Sean stared across the way at Gabriel’s truck, where Tony was putting up the sign, chatting casually with both Gabe and Ren. Tony had done his first, commenting briefly on how glad he was that they’d figured something out.
He’d initially been afraid that Tony would continue the teasing from yesterday, because Sean could not handle that right now, but he’d apparently gotten the memo that Sean was busy and didn’t want to be bothered, because he’d posted the sign next to Sean’s menu, on the side of his truck, and had moved on to Gabe’s almost immediately.
But Sean?
He couldn’t seem to dismiss his own bad mood. Instead of working, he was just standing here, stewing in it.
Finally he decided that he’d go outside, take a picture of the new sign and post it on Instagram, hoping to drum up some interest in his followers for the new dish.
He was getting the shot framed just right when he heard a voice literally growl behind him. Except this was Los Angeles, and as far as Sean knew there weren’t actual bears running around.
Sean turned, and there was a man standing there, staring at his truck. Specifically at the name written along the top of the menu, the red letters bright and cheerful against the white background.
“Can I help you?” Sean asked, even though he really didn’t want to. He was already in a bad mood and he could tell this guy was just going to piss him off more.
“I think you sure as fuck should,” the guy growled again.
There was something so familiar about him, Sean thought as he took a step closer.
The dark hair, with the threads of gray already beginning at the temples, and the handsome face, with the dark, intense eyes.
He looked so painfully similar to someone, Sean knew he should know, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
“Excuse me?” Sean retorted. He’d been nice before, but he wasn’t sure how long he could keep up the facade.
“You stole my brother’s name,” he said bluntly, pointing first at Gabe’s truck, and then at Sean’s.
It was only then it hit Sean who this was. This was one of Gabriel’s brothers. This had to be Luca, the eldest. The one that Tate had mentioned visiting last summer, the one that made things hard for Gabriel.
Taking a second look, it was obvious. The facial structure was the same.
That was Gabriel’s hair, just less shaggy, and more precisely cut, and with the gray.
And that attitude? Definitely explained the gray.
Also explained why the guy’s arrogance had felt so familiar.
The antagonism radiating out of Luca reminded him so much of how Gabriel had used to be, back at the beginning.
He’d had to learn it from somewhere.
“I didn’t steal anyone’s name,” Sean said in a measured, surprisingly calm voice. “We both ended up with it, kind of by accident.”
Luca’s brows slammed together. “Then you should have changed yours.”
The resemblance was so staggering now, that Sean couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it right away. He crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah, I don’t think so. And while you’re at it, maybe you should actually talk to your brother about what’s going on, because we’re dealing with this.”
“If you were dealing with it, you would have already fixed it,” Luca said inflexibly. And that, Sean thought with frustration, was really an adjective that could describe all Morettis. Even Gabriel.
“You mean I would have changed my name, right?” Sean said. “Because that’s what you’re really saying.”
“Gabriel has paperwork. He could sue you for copyright infringement. He should have sued you for copyright infringement.”
Why was Sean not surprised that the very first thing Luca had done was drag out the threat of lawyers?
He sighed. “You’re really just embarrassing yourself now. Go talk to Gabe. He’ll explain the whole thing.”
Luca looked absolutely apoplectic, and it filled Sean with a lot more satisfaction than he had any right to. “He will. He will explain the whole thing, and then we will come back here, and you will agree to change your name.”
“I don’t think you understand,” Sean said stiffly, annoyed, “I’m not changing it. We’ve talked about this.”
“With Gabriel?” Luca had the nerve to sound shocked at this.
“Yes,” Sean said.
“But if you had talked about it, then this would all be fixed.”
Sean ground his teeth together, deciding it was just about time for him to lose his temper. “Maybe you should talk to him,” Sean said, giving him a little wave that had the desired reaction of making Luca’s jaw clench visibly. “Go on! I hope you have a good brotherly talk!”
Luca looked like he wanted to say something else—well, more like he wanted to say a lot more things—but he shot Sean one more searing glare, and stormed off in the direction of Gabriel’s truck.
Maybe Sean should have felt a little bit guilty about sending Luca over to his brother, all primed for an argument, but he didn’t.
It was cowardly, and he definitely should have felt ashamed, but Sean felt like he needed some space and some time to think.
Things were changing between them, both as slow as molasses and so quick it felt like he’d just blinked and they were different.
If Luca wanted to go over to Gabe’s and distract him for a morning, or even for a whole day—and while he was at it, let Gabe inform him of what was really going on, then Sean wasn’t going to stand in their way.
“It’s the most beautiful fucking day,” Gabriel half said, half sang as he sank, wrist-deep, into an enormous bowl of meatball mixture.
“You’re absolutely disgusting,” Ren muttered.
“Yep!” Gabriel wasn’t denying it. He couldn’t.
He was too happy. Maybe he hadn’t quite told Sean the whole truth, but he had a feeling that when he did, Sean wouldn’t run.
He’d give Gabe one of those sweet, slightly crooked smiles, like of course Gabe had fallen in love with him and of course he’d fallen in love with Gabriel back, and tell him to get over here, so they could kiss.
Their first kiss as a real couple. The first kiss when Sean knew Gabe loved him, and Gabe knew Sean loved him in return.
He could already taste it, could feel Sean’s passion when he took him to bed that first time.
“Should I leave you alone with those meatballs?” Ren asked, raising an eyebrow. “’Cause you keep mixing them that way much longer and they’re going to get jealous of Sean.”
Maybe he had been kneading the mixture a bit suggestively. Gabe shot his cousin a sheepish look. “Maybe Sean should be jealous of them.”
“You have a real problem,” Ren announced as Gabe removed his hands and went over to the sink to wash.
“Actually I’ve got the opposite of a problem,” Gabe said. “Sean’s crazy about me, and we both know, despite your insistence that it’s a mistake, that I’m crazy about him.”
“No,” Ren said firmly, “you have a real problem.”
“I really don’t,” Gabriel argued, certain to his core that Ren could only be talking about his epic love with Sean. He finished scrubbing his hands, and flipped the water off, grabbing a paper towel before turning to find the meatball scoop.
They had a ton of meatballs to bake off today, even more because he needed to send Ren over with a bunch for their new Thai wrap.
But before he could find the scoop in the clutter of tools scattered across the counter, he saw Ren’s face out of the corner of his eye.
He was staring out the front window. At the real problem, rapidly approaching.
Luca was here.
“Well, shit,” Gabriel said.
“I said you had a real problem.” Ren shook his head. “Like you and Sean could ever constitute a real problem. On the other hand . . .”
“Luca is a massive pain in the ass?”
“A massive pain in your ass,” Ren said with a succinct nod. “I think I’m gonna take my break now, if you don’t mind.”
“Hey, wait,” Gabriel called out, but Ren had already shed his apron and was vanishing out the back door.
Just in time for Luca to stop in front of the truck, and eye him through the front window.
He looked pissed—okay, he usually looked a bit pissed, but he looked way more pissed than normal.
And it occurred to Gabriel then that the last time Luca had graced them with his presence had been last summer.
Before the food truck lot had opened. Which meant that he’d never met Sean, and he’d never seen his truck.
The truck that had the exact same fucking name as Gabriel’s.
Knowing how Luca felt about intellectual property—it was nearing a fanaticism with him, he’d once camped out in a neighboring restaurant’s dining room, arguing for hours that they had stolen Nonna’s red sauce recipe.
Having tasted both, Gabriel had been pretty sure they had too, but the only one who had really, truly cared was Luca.