Chapter 4
4
Mia
Tradition was stupid.
I’d been out of sorts all morning since waking up in our bed alone. Oscar insisted it was bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding, so he’d stayed at Cian’s house with Cam and had their version of a bachelor party.
Despite the fact Oscar and I met when I was performing in a burlesque revue, strippers weren’t his scene. Without having to speak to him, I knew his night had consisted of pizza and beers with the boys while they played video games and talked about life. They were a very sweet trio, and only Cian was single of the three of them. Whichever woman eventually caught his eye would have their work cut out for them.
The slam of my front door pulled me from my brooding, and a moment later a wild eyed Violet appeared in the entrance to the kitchen.
"Your brother's here," she breathed, an uncharacteristic flush painting her cheeks.
"What's wrong?"
"I just...he... his friend..."
Realization dawned and I smothered a smirk as male voices drifted in from the front porch.
"Mateo hit on you, didn't he?"
"He looks like a god."
I snorted. "He's a major player, and he's supposed to be behaving himself. He's just here as Luca's emotional support extrovert. Whenever Luca is feeling uncomfortable, Mateo gets more outrageous to draw attention away from him.
Violet paused. "Oh. That's sweet, actually. Kind of like how Oscar looks after Cam."
"Kind of... but way more co-dependent."
"I heard that," Luca's deep voice set my grin free. I ducked past Violet and threw myself at my older brother. He smelled of chlorine and the only safe space I'd had as a child.
His body tensed beneath my arms before relaxing into the hug with a heavy sigh. Luca hated to be touched by anyone. I was the only exception to the rule.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” I breathed into his wide chest. He grunted, squeezing me a little tighter in acknowledgement.
“I hate to break up the love fest, but shouldn’t your make-up artist be here by now?” Violet asked, glancing at her phone. I reluctantly pulled out of Luca’s arms, taking his wrist to tow him into the kitchen where I’d left my cell. A text was waiting for me and, after a quick scan, I sighed.
“She’s called in sick.” Raking a hand through my hair, I considered my options as Luca and Mateo slid onto stools on the far side of my kitchen counter. I was already doing my hair myself, and I’d had years of practice doing make-up for my burlesque performances. I’d hired a professional because Oscar was so excited for the day that I wanted something special. To look like I fit into his perfect idea of what a wedding should be.
We had the perfect venue, and the perfect dress, and a perfect cake, and… holy shit I was going to ruin it. The thought hit me like a two hundred pound anvil landing square on my chest. I clawed at my throat as my lungs seized, refusing to admit air I desperately needed. A high pitched whine rang in my ears as I folded into myself and prayed I didn’t black out.
Oscar wants today to be perfect. You’re going to fuck it up like you fuck up everything else. You don’t deserve happiness. You don’t deserve him.
Strong arms hauled me across bulky thighs and slowly the familiar scent of chlorine broke through the first panic attack I’d had in months.
“Breathe.” The command in his voice was something that had derailed my anxiety so many times throughout my life that I obeyed without thought. Fresh, cooling air swept into my lungs and I choked on a sob as I curled deeper into his lap like I had when we were children and our step-father-of-the-week decided to use his fists, or worse, to set an example.
“Where are you?”
“I’m going to fuck it up.” A tear slipped down my cheek.
“Mia.” His voice was an insistent growl, the bass in it vibrating through my skull. “Where. Are. You?”
“I’m with you.” I sniffed.
“Which means…?”
“I’m safe.”
This was an exercise I’d learned with one of the many therapists along the way. Originally, it was designed to orient me to time and space, but when nowhere felt safe, I’d fallen into the pattern of finding safety in people. Namely Luca. And now Oscar.
As my pulse evened out and logic returned, it occurred to me that if I considered Oscar a safe space, then something as trivial as a bad day wouldn’t change that.
“What’s important about today?” Luca asked, pulling me further into the present.
“Marrying the man I love.”
“Good girl. Focus on what’s real. Everything else is just fluff.”
“Ugh. When did you get so wise?”
A snort came from above us. Mateo’s eyes were soft, even as his lips ticked upward in a cheeky grin.
“He learned from the best.”
Luca snorted, and I rolled out of his lap feeling self conscious with the reminder we weren’t alone.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say so many words at once,” Violet whispered to Mateo.
In true Luca fashion, he ignored her.
“Are you all right now?” he asked, climbing to his feet and frowning down at me. I offered him a small smile. “Yeah, I’m better now. Thank you. I just let the bad thoughts win for a minute there.”
He hummed and tugged at the end of my hair, but our sibling moment was cut short by the ringing of my cell. When I saw Elena’s name on the screen, I hit answer immediately.
“Hi Elle, is everything okay?”
“Uh, hi.” I pulled the phone away from my ear to check the caller ID as a sheepish male voice came through the speaker.
“Nathaniel Meyer, I swear to god, if you’ve bothered Mia I’m going to kick your ass. I never should have agreed to this.” Elle’s irate voice grew louder until a scratching sound came down the line followed by an indignant huff.
“Good help is so hard to find these days.”
“Who was that?” I couldn’t resist asking.
“No one. Literally no one. A mistake.”
Holy. Shit.
Oscar’s middle sister was as open and honest as he was, and twice as headstrong. If she didn’t want to talk about whoever that was, it was going to be juicy.
“He sounds hot,” I said, just to mess with her.
“You think you’re funny, but you’re not.” Her voice was so flat I couldn’t help chuckling.
She sighed.
“We have a bit of a problem. Idiot here offered to let me use his truck to get the cake to the venue and it’s broken down on the side of the road. He was supposed to be calling a tow, but apparently he doesn’t follow instructions well.”
“The tow will take a couple of hours. By that time, the cake will be late, and the icing will have melted in the heat. I’m the hero here, stop treating me like a villain.”
“Stop being an asshole, and I’ll stop treating you like one.”
“Ahh… guys? Where are you? We’ll pick you up.” I didn’t have time to sit and listen to their bickering, even if the tension between them was off the charts. I wondered if they’d fucked, then immediately decided that was something I didn’t need to know about my future sister in law.
The arguing on the other end of the line paused while Elle gave an exact location and Violet promised to head straight out to pick them up. I gave her hand a thank you squeeze as she ran out the door and relayed her cell number to Elle in case they needed to give any updates.
After promising help was on the way, and waiting through another round of arguing I ended the call and blew out a breath.
“At least we know the cake is on its way, right?” An awkward smile from Mateo and a blank stare from Luca were my reply.
“Right.”
I combed my fingers through my hair, once again questioning whether I should have cut it shorter for the wedding so that there would be less of it to deal with. Too late now. Luckily, it was naturally pin straight, which meant I could run a brush through it and call it done. The idea of sitting still while someone stood over me and twisted it all into an elaborate design made me want to break out in hives.
I wandered into our bedroom to start on my makeup when the dress bag hanging on the back of the door caught my attention. Violet had dropped it by the day before after running to the store to pick it up for me, and I hadn’t had the nerve to look at it yet.
I’d agreed to a traditional white dress the designer had insisted I needed to go with the traditional wedding. With my past, the idea of presenting myself as a virgin on my wedding day seemed laughable, but if that was what was expected, I’d play along.
As long as I could call Oscar my husband by the end of the day, everything would be perfect.
I retrieved my makeup bag from our ensuite and had just started to lay out my brushes when the doorbell rang.
“I got it!” Mateo called from the kitchen, and a moment later I heard the click of the front door followed by, “Well hello, Ladies.”
“Down boy,” a familiar voice said, then shouted, “Where’s the bride?”
“In here,” I called back, waiting for Tia, Oscar’s eldest sister to find me.
“What are you doing hiding away in here?” she asked, leaning a hip against the doorframe.
“I’m on my own for makeup today.”
Tia straightened, blowing a dirty blonde lock of hair out of her eyes. It was always a shock speaking to Tia, she looked exactly like Oscar from the floppy blonde hair right down to the forest green eyes. The only difference was she had tits and used to kick a soccer ball better than anyone I’d ever met.
“Grab your bag and sit out here, I’ll look after you.”
“Thanks, Tia.” I smiled, feeling a weight lift off my shoulders as she returned it. One of the things I’d learned quickly about the Cavanaughs was that they loved hard and would do anything for family. I wasn’t just gaining a husband today. I was also getting two sisters and an amazing mother-in-law as a part of the deal.
I sat on the edge of the bed while Tia laid out everything she needed to help me look my best.
“Distract me. Tell me what’s new with you,” I said, rubbing my hands over my knees and stealing a glance at the dress bag.
“Nothing much. We got a new pizza cook at the restaurant.”
“Is he cute?”
She shot me an admonishing look. “Just because you found your soul mate with my brother doesn’t mean the rest of us are ready to settle down. Yes, the pizza cook is cute. He’s a half-deaf eighty year old Italian man who only has enough English to insist I’m too thin and should eat more pizza.”
“He sounds like a keeper.”
“Who sounds like a keeper?” Mateo poked his head in the bedroom doorway, his eyebrows pinched.
“Just someone who knows how to treat a woman right.” I hid my smirk as his eyes bounced between Tia and me, as though searching for clarification. Tia’s face was as blank as mine, but I noticed her eyes drop to take him in as he wandered further into the room. Violet was right. The man was a snack, if you liked tall, lean, Latino swimmer types.
You just had to ignore the fact he took pride in his reputation both as a player and the team clown.
“I know how to treat a woman right.” The pout in his voice had me rolling my eyes as Tia ignored him in favor of pumping foundation out onto her hand.
After another twenty-five minutes of Tia painting my face while we both ignored Mateo’s attempts to charm her, I applied my own fake lashes and we took a moment to appreciate her handiwork.
“If you ever get tired of waiting tables, you could have a decent future in makeup artistry,” I joked, admiring the subtle beauty of the work she had done.
“I’m already tired of waiting tables, but I don’t think this is my new career path. I’m not quite over my old one yet.”
Her eyes darkened with a sadness I could never imagine, and when Mateo opened his mouth to question her, I changed the subject quickly.
“Should we get the dress out?”
Tia looked relieved at the new direction of conversation, even as Mateo looked put out.
It was her place to decide who knew about her career ending knee injury, and the devastating timing of it during her rookie year in professional soccer. She could have been a star.
At her instruction, Mateo unhooked the dress bag and laid it out on the bed with a care that surprised me.
“Should I open it?”
“Tia, have you spoken to your brother recent—Oh! Are we getting the dress ready?” Mrs Cavanaugh forgot the phone in her hand as soon as her eyes landed on what was laid out on the bed, but I was more concerned about what she had been going to say.
“What’s wrong with Oscar?”
She hummed, shooing Mateo out of the way as she lowered the zipper on the bag.
“Oh, nothing to worry about. He isn’t answering his phone, but I’d say he’s probably busy making sure everything is perfect.”
And like fate had decided to prove how not-perfect I could make the day, she opened the bag to reveal the dress.
Silence fell over the room as we all took in the sight before us. No one was willing to speak first.
We were fucked.