Chapter 7
I ’ve never been to Australia. Whenever we’ve left the States, it’s been to go to Ireland.
I wasn’t prepared for the heat that slams me right in my face the moment we step out of the plane and onto the stairs.
Although the humidity and sun beating down on me has nothing on the glare I can feel coming off Aurora’s brother.
I lean into her ear from behind her and whisper, “I think this one might actually like me.”
Aurora laughs, really fucking laughs. The sound forces a genuine smile onto my face, which I school as soon as we reach the bottom step. Aurora jumps down and runs at her brother, jumping on him. I watch as he catches her and spins her around.
It’s irrational to be jealous, but I fucking am. I want to be the only guy she runs at like that. Also, he’s been holding her for way too fucking long. I stop behind them and wait. And wait and fucking wait for Aurora to pull away.
“Lorenzo, this is Connor. Connor, Lorenzo.” She waves a hand between us.
Her brother goes back to giving me the death glare. I have no doubt he’s picturing just how he’s going to kill me. I bet it’s gruesome and bloody too.
“Lorenzo, be nice,” she warns.
“Nice? Really, Aurora? You bring a fucking boy to my house and you want me to be nice? Do I need to remind you why you’re even here? Because his family is trying to fucking kill you!” Lorenzo directs his wrath his sister’s way.
I’m about to say something but Aurora beats me to it. “That is not Connor’s fault. And I don’t need to be in your house. I’m sure I can find somewhere else to stay. If you’re going to be an ass, I will.”
“Aurora, it’s fine,” I tell her.
“It’s not fine. This is not your fault. You can’t be blamed because your parents decided to hate me. Jeez, you kidnap a guy one time…” She shakes her head.
“You kidnapped him?” This comes from a feminine voice behind Lorenzo.
“KYLA!” Aurora squeals. I’m guessing it’s her sister-in-law. The two women throw their arms around each other. “I’m so glad you’re here. Your husband is an ass,” Aurora says when they break away again.
“Yeah, but he’s a loveable ass. He grows on you.” The girl smiles up at Lorenzo.
“Get in the car. We’ve been out in the open for too long,” he says, taking his wife’s hand and walking back to the Rolls Royce he has idling on the tarmac.
I follow Aurora, opening the door for her.
I step directly behind her when I see just how far the shorts she’s wearing ride up on her ass cheeks.
Lorenzo didn’t come alone. There are four other cars, surrounded by who I presume are soldiers.
One in particular is eyeing Aurora, or at least he’s trying to.
“If he doesn’t stop staring at her ass, I’m going to remove his fucking eyeballs from their sockets,” I growl at Lorenzo.
His head turns to follow my line of sight, and his guy immediately faces the other way.
Lorenzo groans. “You’ll have to beat me to it,” he says before he gets in the car.
He waits until we’re pulling away from the hangar before looking to his wife.
“Aurora needs clothes, preferably ones that actually fit her, so message that shop you keep raving about and have some sent over.”
“Aurora is right here. Also, I can buy my own clothes. Also-also, my clothes do fit me,” she retorts.
“No, they don’t,” I mumble.
“What was that?” Aurora twists in her seat to look at me.
I shrug. “Those shorts could be longer.”
“Seriously? What’s wrong with my shorts, Connor?” She glares at me.
“Your ass hangs out of them. Every fucking asshole can see it,” I tell her.
“Oh boy. He’s either dumb or brave,” Kyla says to Lorenzo.
“I’m voting dumb,” he grunts.
“Yeah, guess what, Connor? It’s my ass. If I want the world to see it, I will let them. You do not own me. You do not get to tell me what I can’t wear!” Aurora yells.
“Fine. Wear whatever you want. I don’t care. It’s not my eyes that will be rolling on the ground. It’ll be theirs.” I gesture a hand towards the car window.
Aurora crosses her arms over her chest. “Sure, you’re just gonna go rip out the eyes of every guy who looks at me. Be realistic, Connor.”
“Try me,” I tell her.
“Pops said I can’t kill him until you say I can, Aurora. Want me to kill him now?” Lorenzo asks.
“No,” she snaps.
“Fine, but if you change your mind…” He lifts a shoulder.
“No one is killing anyone,” Kyla adds before addressing me. “What part of Ireland is your family from?”
“Dublin, but I was born and raised in Boston,” I answer her.
“I’ve always wanted to go to Ireland. We should travel more, Lorenzo,” Kyla says.
“You know our grandmother is a red-haired Australian, so she probably has Irish ancestors. Means I probably have Irish in me too,” Aurora adds, all the fight gone from her voice.
I smirk, the thought of telling her that she was filled with Irish just hours ago on the tip of my tongue. Of course, I can read the fucking room and this is not the time.
“We’re not fucking Irish,” Lorenzo grunts.
“We could be,” Aurora argues.
“Don’t worry, Connor, you’ll get used to their bickering. They’ve been doing it since Aurora could talk back,” Kyla tells me.
Somehow I don’t think I’ll get used to it.
“I don’t talk back,” Aurora says. “I just tell the truth, right, Connor?” She looks at me pointedly.
I’m smart enough to know there is only one correct answer to that question. “Of course,” I agree with her.
“Please tell me this house of yours has a pool?” Aurora turns to Kyla again.
“It does. But your brother had it emptied,” Kyla replies.
“Why?”
“Because my wife kept going outside in a bikini,” Lorenzo explains.
“That’s kind of what you’re supposed to wear in a pool,” Aurora says.
“My parents’ pool still has water. We can go swimming there,” Kyla tells her.
“Good idea. We should take them out to the farm to see your father’s pigs.” Lorenzo smiles.
“Not happening,” Aurora snarls.
I close my eyes and lean my head back against the seat, a migraine forming at the base of my skull.
“What’s wrong?” Aurora’s concerned voice has me opening my eyes.
“Nothing,” I tell her. “You okay?”
“I’m not the one who looks like they’re about to pass out,” she says.
“Jet lag. It was a long flight.”
“It was.” She nods. “We can sleep as soon as we get to Lorenzo’s.” She smiles at me.
“Yeah, in separate fucking rooms. At opposite ends of the house.” Lorenzo grumbles at his sister, who just smiles wider.
“He forgets that he’s the one who taught me how to dodge security cameras.” Aurora laughs while winking at me.
“Yeah, you’re not as good at that as you think you are, babe. I had to delete a shit-ton of footage of you that night you broke into my house,” I remind her.
“What? You broke into the O’Malley estate? Alone? What the fuck, Aurora?” Lorenzo’s voice booms through the car. I’m surprised he doesn’t know. I told her cousin Dante about it, hoping he’d rein her ass in. Clearly it didn’t work.
“I didn’t break in. The window was unlocked,” Aurora says.
“You broke in. Do you have any fucking idea what that family would do if they caught you?” Lorenzo asks her.
“Nothing good,” I mumble.
“It’s fine. I didn’t get caught. I’m fine,” Aurora tells him.
“This time. You didn’t get caught this time ,” Lorenzo groans. “Seriously, Aurora, you can’t just go around doing whatever the fuck you want. Why would you break into that estate anyway?”
“Because some asshole dumped me and I needed to remind him that he could never forget about me.” Aurora smiles like her plan was genius. Little does she know, I could never forget her anyway.
“You broke up with my sister? You really are dumb. Why the fuck would you break up with her? She’s perfect,” Lorenzo asks me.
I’m so confused about this whole stay away from my sister but why would you break up with her thing. “I was dumb,” I admit. Because the real reason is between us.
“I killed his cousin, so he had every reason to be mad,” Aurora says.
“Yeah, I heard about that too. Don’t think we’re not discussing that further, Aurora,” Lorenzo tells her.
“Good thing you’re not Papa.” Aurora pokes out her tongue—actually pokes out her tongue—at her brother.
Who the hell is this girl? She’s so insanely different with her siblings. It’s a side of her I never got to see before. And I love it. Then again, I love everything about Aurora Valentino.