Chapter 15
I ’m sitting with Aurora in the dining room eating a sandwich when her brother walks in and places his phone on the table. “Pops wants to speak to you.” I assume Lorenzo is talking to Aurora, but then he adds, “Both of you.”
“Hi, Papa, missing your favorite child already?” Aurora asks, looking into the phone.
“Immensely,” her father tells her. “I had an interesting conversation with Dominic…”
“He overreacted. It’s not my fault Zara came to her sister’s house to get drunk,” Aurora says. “Also, I was responsible. I made sure she didn’t drink the whole bottle by herself.”
I cough on a laugh. Surely this crap doesn’t actually fly with her father?
“Aurora, you’re supposed to be in hiding. Need I remind you that it’s your actions and choices that got you into this mess. I cannot get you out of it if you don’t stay quiet.”
“I know, Papa. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” She bats her eyelashes—seriously bats her eyelashes—at him.
“Make sure it doesn’t,” he says, seeming to buy her bullshit apology.
“Now that that’s settled, I’ve made arrangements with your school.
I’ve sent Lorenzo all your coursework. Connor’s too.
Get it done. Send it back. I need to submit it at the end of each week so you two don’t fall behind and you both can graduate. ”
“I can’t,” Aurora blurts out, looking panicked.
“You got more important things to do, Aurora?” her father asks. “Actually, don’t bother answering that. I don’t want to know. Put Connor on.”
Aurora looks to me with wide eyes and then turns the screen towards me. “Mr. Valentino,” I say the moment his eyes narrow in on my face.
“A little birdie told me you got early acceptance into Harvard. Congratulations, but you need to actually graduate to keep that acceptance. And you need to keep your grades up.”
“Thanks.” I have no idea what to fucking say to that. I can feel Aurora’s eyes burning into me. I haven’t told her about Harvard. I wasn’t going to either.
“I expect you both to get your coursework completed. I will not have my daughter held back because she has shitty taste in boys,” he says.
Yep, that I can deal with. The direct insult. It’s easier than having him congratulate me. Something my own father never would have done.
“I’ll make sure we get everything submitted, sir,” I tell Mr. Valentino.
“Good.” He cuts the call and the screen goes black.
“Why would you tell him we’d do that work? I can’t do it, Connor. You know I can’t do it. What the hell am I going to do? Shit.” Aurora stands and starts pacing the length of the dining room.
“Babe, calm down. It’s fine. I’ll do it for you,” I tell her.
“Oh, you’ll just do it for me. Gee, thanks for coming to the rescue for your stupid girlfriend,” she snarls. “And Harvard? When were you going to tell me you got into Harvard? The day you left New York to go back to Boston?”
“I wasn’t going to accept it if you didn’t want to come with me.”
“And do what? I can’t do college, Connor.”
“You can do whatever you want to do, Aurora,” I tell her.
“Someone want to fill me in on what the fuck you two are talking about?” Lorenzo asks.
Fuck. I forgot the asshole was here. I look to Aurora. I’m not spilling her secrets. “I didn’t tell her I was applying for Harvard.”
“Yeah, I got that part. Aurora, what do you mean you can’t do college or the schoolwork Pops sent.” Lorenzo looks directly at his sister.
“I…” Aurora opens and closes her mouth. “I don’t want to go to college. I don’t like school.”
“Nobody likes school, Aurora. It’s not supposed to be fun,” Lorenzo says.
“That’s not true. Dante likes school. Connor likes school,” she counters.
I liked school a lot better when I was visiting that little room at the back of the library.
“They’re nerds. They don’t count. Why can’t you do the work?” Lorenzo asks again.
“I can’t do it, okay? I’m not smart. I’m not good at anything. I’m not like everyone else in the family.”
“Your grades are fine. You can do the work,” he says.
“Dante’s been doing my schoolwork since the fifth grade,” Aurora whispers.
“What?” Lorenzo barks out, even though it’s clear he heard her.
I step in front of Aurora. Her eyes are glued to the floor. It’s not a look I’ve ever seen on her. She’s ashamed, and I fucking hate it.
Taking her face in the palms of my hands, I lift her head until her eyes meet mine.
“You are not fucking stupid, Aurora. You are smart and good at so many fucking things. Stop thinking that just because you don’t like math or history or some other useless subject you’re less-than.
Because you are better than anyone else I know. ”
I can see tears welling up in her eyes. Aurora doesn’t cry. This isn’t right. “I… You have a biased opinion of me because you like my vagina,” she says.
Her brother curses behind us. “Fucking hell. Aurora, don’t ever mention your… that… around me again. And he’s right. You are good at plenty of shit. Who told you that you were stupid?”
“No one. I just know I am.” She sighs.
“Well, you’re wrong. And you need to tell Pops about your little arrangement with Dante,” Lorenzo says.
“I can’t. He’ll be more disappointed in me than when he found out I was dating an Irish boy,” she replies.
“Doubtful. Nothing is more disappointing than you dating an Irish boy.” Lorenzo smirks. If he didn’t just make her smile, I’d tell him to fuck off. But she is smiling.
“Right? Who would have thought?” She shakes her head. “He’s a good one, though, so I am keeping him.”
“You both know I’m right here?” I grunt.
“I always know where you are, Connor,” Aurora says with a seriousness that should be creepy.
“I have no doubt,” I tell her.
“Aurora fucking Valentino, how dare you come to town and not call me,” a male voice yells out, and I spin around, keeping myself partially in front of her. She responds by stepping around me and running at the guy who just waltzed in like he owns the fucking place.
“Ares, what are you doing here.” Aurora throws her arms around him.
“ Why ?” I grunt as I stare up at the ceiling.
“She does that a lot,” Lorenzo answers me. “She’s a hugger, surprisingly enough. She once told me if people expect her to hug them, then they won’t see it coming if she has to stab them.”
“That actually makes sense.” I smile. She is way smarter than she gives herself credit for.
“You really going to pass up on Harvard?”
“For her, yes,” I say, not taking my eyes off my girlfriend, who is currently whispering something in some asshole’s ear.
“You can’t kill him. His family is extremely well connected,” Lorenzo tells me.
“So are mine.” I shrug. Because it’s the truth.
“Yeah, but you can’t use those connections right now.”
“Ares De Bellis, am I right?” I ask Lorenzo.
“Yep.”
“He’s dating Kyla’s sister?” I ask.
Lorenzo snorts. “He wishes.”
“Right.” Taking the few steps I need to make it to Aurora, I place my hand on the small of her back.
“This is Connor. Connor, Ares. He needs a bathroom. Can he use yours?” she asks me.
I look at the guy, then back to Aurora, and she winks at me. “Sure?” It comes out more like a question, because it is one.
“Why the fuck are you here, Ares?” Lorenzo calls out.
“I came with Zia Zoe. She’s talking to Kyla, but she heard this one was here. I just happened to be with her,” Ares replies.
“Don’t you have work or something to do, Lorenzo?” Aurora asks. “Talk later.” She takes hold of my hand and leads me out of the room. “Ares, follow us. I’ll show you where the bathroom is before I find Zoe.”
When we make it back to the bedroom, Ares drops his backpack onto the bed with a loud plop. “Okay, I got you some things,” he says, pulling out a MacBook, an iPhone, and a small black box, which Aurora picks up.
“What’s this?” she asks him.
“A scrambler. No one will know you’re using a device within five meters of this,” he explains. “Also, this.” He hands Aurora a disk drive. “Internet. It’s prepaid and loaded.”
“So, like burner internet?” she questions while eyeing the device.
“Kind of. If anyone asks, you didn’t get this from me. And Zara has nothing to do with it either,” Ares says.
“So, you and Zara, huh?”
“There is no me and Zara,” he deadpans.
“You sure about that?” Aurora laughs. “You know her father will literally feed you to pigs.”
“Your boyfriend’s parents have a bounty on your head. I think you have more to worry about than who I am or am not dating,” Ares is quick to fire back.
“Pfft, they’re not going to find me. But I do need to hunt down Zoe before she bursts through this door.” Aurora looks from Ares to me. “You wanna meet another cousin?”
“What’s one more?” I take her hand in mine.
“This one happens to be a De Bellis,” Ares says.
“And that makes her different because ?” I ask him.
“If you’re rude to her, I’ll happily hold you down while my brother cuts out your tongue.” He smiles.
“You could try, but you’ve met my girlfriend, right? Aurora likes my tongue way too much to let anyone cut it out,” I reply with a smirk.
Aurora snorts from beside me. “He’s right. I do like his tongue.”