Chapter Nineteen
Primal sex is honest sex.
Gina understood it now. The hunter inside him didn’t want only her body, and he’d said as much.
“I want the shiver in your voice when you realize I see you, fully. I want that ache you feel when your mind’s being pulled open before your legs ever are.”
He did see her.
Matt saw her like no one else ever had, not even her.
What they shared together was special—a most sacred bond. And now that she had it, Gina wasn’t about to let it go. She’d fight tooth and nail to hold on to it forever, so too fucking bad if Tony or anybody else didn’t approve.
It’s their problem, not yours.
Coating her lashes with mascara, Gina leaned into the mirror. That’s what she told herself, anyway. Everyone, including her eldest brother, was downstairs. She could hear him. His voice, louder than the others, drifted down the hallway.
Even though she was exhausted, she dragged her ass out of bed at three in the afternoon.
Her mother expected her to join the family for dinner before she had to work her fourth of six twelve-hour shifts in a row.
She’d skipped Mass again this morning, so she knew better than to further her ire.
Besides, with Teo, Nick, and Luca here to back her, this might be an opportune time to tell them about her and Matt.
If any photos had surfaced, Gina hadn’t seen them.
And if Tony had said anything to her parents, she’d certainly know it.
But even she knew, time was not on her side. In the eight days since the concert, her brother had been marinating on what he knew, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. It’s how he rolled.
You’re fearless, remember?
Gina wasn’t going to let him have it.
She grabbed her work bag and strolled down the stairs to pour some coffee and ready herself for what was sure to come. Teo stood at the kitchen counter, muttering to himself as he slammed down the remains of a bottle of Lambrusco.
“That bad, huh?”
“No worse than usual,” he said, tossing the empty bottle into the trash with a shrug. “Tony’s in there, all full of himself, bragging about how he got us a deal for a place over on Clark Street.”
“So, Wrigleyville’s a go, then?”
“Looks like it.” Teo turned away from her and pulled Mom’s salad bowl out of the fridge. “Dad’s talking about opening by September.”
“But that’s a good thing, right?” With her hand on his forearm, Gina glanced up at him. “You won’t have to work with him anymore.”
He scoffed. “Yeah, well, at least there’s that.”
“Has Tony said anything about Matt? Made any underhanded comments? Hinted at all?”
“Oddly, no, but you gotta know he will.” With a snicker, Teo put the bowl in her hands. “He’s probably been waiting for you so he can make a grand spectacle out of it.”
Yeah, ’cause he’s a dick like that.
“I’m gonna tell them before he does.”
Teo’s brow lifted, his hazel eyes widening. “Right now?”
“Might as well.”
“Oh, shit,” he muttered with a chuckle, then, composing himself, Teo hugged her to his side. “It’s gonna be all right, Gi. I got you.”
The room went silent as she took her seat at the table. She spooned a couple of meatballs onto her plate and helped herself to some salad while wondering how to broach the subject. Gina just wanted to get this over with and go to work.
She didn’t have to wonder long.
“Tony was just telling us that a friend of his saw you at the concert last weekend.”
“Yeah, so?” she said, glaring at her brother.
He sat back, his hands clasped behind his head, and smirked. “Quite the little metalhead you’ve become, bambina. Since when?”
Gina tilted her head and smiled. “Since I started seeing the rhythm guitarist in the band, but you already knew that.”
Eyes bulging, nostrils flaring, Tony leaned across the table. “Well, you won’t be seeing him anymore.”
I’m fearless, I’m fearless, I’m fearless…
She didn’t so much as flinch. “And who’s gonna stop me? You?”
“If I have to,” he bellowed, slamming his fist into the table.
“Basta!” Her mother’s shrill cut through the room. Then, patting the arm of her firstborn, she softened her voice, placating him like she always did. “What are you saying, Anthony?”
“Your daughter’s messing around with my old pal, Matt McCready, that’s what,” he said, the engorged veins in his neck twitching. “I wanna castrate the sonofabitch.”
Her hand falling away from Tony, Rosemary looked at her over the frame of her horn-rimmed glasses. A single eyebrow lifted, and she cocked her head. “Gina?”
“I love him.” And as far as she was concerned, that was the only response necessary.
“You don’t know him.” Tony’s fist hit the table once more, and she held onto her glass. “He’s a dog.”
Fanculo! Gina flipped him off and popped a meatball in her mouth. Maybe that was childish, but her brother was an ass, and she didn’t have the mental energy to deal with him right now. Let him throw his hissy fit. She didn’t care what he thought, anyway.
“Matt’s a pretty cool dude. I like him,” Luca said, throwing his arm around her. “He’s good to Gina.”
“You knew about this?”
“I got them together.” With his shoulders back and his chest thrust out, his grin was so wide he showed every one of his pretty white teeth. Then he noticed their mother’s frown, and it faded. “Sorta.”
“And you…” Wagging her finger inches from his face, Rosemary moved on to Teo. “How could you lie to me—your own mother?”
He settled back in his chair with a sigh, the fork in his hand clattering to the plate. “I didn’t.”
“Yes. You. Did.” Wag. Wag. Wag. As if the words sneering out of her mouth needed any more emphasis. “You told me your sister was spending the night at a friend’s.”
“And that’s what she did.” He folded his hands on top of the table and leaned in, tipping his head with an upward tick of his lip. “So, not a lie.”
Poor Teo. Being the middle child, if he wasn’t ignored, it seemed he always got the brunt of her bullshit.
“I thought you meant one of the girls…”
“Never said that.”
Defeated, and with no one else left, she turned to her husband, who’d been silently observing the latest installment of the family soap opera while he twirled spaghetti onto his fork. “Anthony, say something to your daughter, will you?”
“What do you want me to say, Rosemary?” Her dad threw up his hands, then rubbed the crinkled skin at his temple. “Gina’s got a mind of her own—always has. She’s gonna do whatever it is she wants to do, so just leave her be. This will run its course in due time.”
Let him think that if he wanted to, she wasn’t going to correct him. Because the only conceivable outcome in her mind was forever.
“Gina, baby, you cannot get involved with this boy.” It sounded like a plea, or perhaps a prayer.
“I already am.” She reached across the table, and taking her mother’s hand in hers, she squeezed it. “And he’s not a boy, Mama. Matt’s a grown man.”
“And far too old for you.”
“Really? Try again.” Pulling away, Gina rolled her eyes. “Daddy’s fourteen years older than you.”
“Times were different when I married your father.”
Oh, the hypocrisy!
Of course, she’d expected Rosemary to bring up the age difference, which was silly in her opinion.
Love is ageless, and Gina was prepared to defend it.
“Yeah, okay.” She scoffed, staring down her brother. “Tony’s got eight years on Lina. Why, she was barely legal when—”
He stood, his hand coming down on the table so hard her mother’s glass tipped over, burgundy liquid spreading on the pristine white tablecloth.
“You better shut your mouth, little girl.”
Fuck you.
“Why should I?” She tossed him a napkin. “It’s the truth, and everyone here knows it.”
Lina blanched.
Rosemary sent the kids into the kitchen for a cookie while urging her precious son to sit back down. Then, patting Gina on the hand, her voice took on this dulcet tone. “The thing is, sweetheart, Matt McCready isn’t the right man for you.”
No, Mom, you’re wrong. He’s the perfect man for me.
“You belong with a nice Italian boy like Vinny.”
“Vinny is a pretentious asshole,” she said with a snicker, stabbing at the meatball on her plate. “I’d rather take vows.”
“Good idea,” Tony muttered under his breath as he cleaned up the mess he’d made. Then, pausing, he lifted his chin at her. “You’d be safe in a convent, at least.”
“Safe from what?”
“Predators.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
“You’re being ridiculous.” She burst out laughing.
He tossed back his head, shaking it, and huffed out a breath. “You don’t know him like I do, Gina.”
“C’mon, Tony, I’ve known Matt as long as you have.” Sighing heavily, Nick pushed his plate away. “He’s a good guy.”
“Oh, yeah?” Tony shifted in his seat, his head half cocked as if their brother had spoken blasphemy by disagreeing with him. “Would a good guy prey on your baby sister? That motherfucker betrayed us.”
“Little ears, Tony.” Lina drew three-year-old Mallory up onto her lap, holding the child’s cookie-smeared face to her chest.
Teo snickered, his scorn obvious, at least to her.
Tony glanced over at him. “You think this is a joke?”
“Nah.” Teo wet his lips, swallowed the wine in his glass, and smirked. “It’s just real funny hearing it come out of your mouth.”
“What?” It sounded like a challenge.
Exchanging glances with Nick and Luca, Gina chewed on her lip.
“Who the fuck are you to talk about betrayal? Tell me, Tony, would a good guy knock up his brother’s girlfriend?” Teo got up from the table, shaking his fist and pointing at the person he’d once loved and trusted the most, the same person who’d hurt him like no other. “You’re the motherfucker.”
“Matteo!”
“I know, Ma. What’s done is done, right?” With his hand scraping through his umber waves, he looked at her and shrugged. “Just leave Gina alone. Trust her to know what’s in her heart.”
He stormed off, the kitchen door slamming shut behind him.
So, there it was, the ever-present elephant in the room, out in the open at last. Teo and Lina dated all four years of high school.
They used to be that sickening couple who finished each other’s sentences and couldn’t keep their hands off one another.
Until the autumn after their graduation, that is.
Gina was fourteen, a freshman in high school then.
It was nothing big—a little tiff. They’d break up one day and make up the next, as they had a million times before.
But they never did.
Lina was gone for a while. She reappeared at Christmas, a diamond ring on her finger. The wedding was a rushed affair for obvious reasons. A small ceremony in St. Vincent’s chapel, with only the parents of the bride and groom in attendance.
In all the years since, it hadn’t been spoken of or addressed. Teo had been forced to squash it all down for the sake of “appearances” and a baby that wasn’t his, but should have been, while having to look at the face of his betrayer every day.
“Fuck’s sake.” Tony waved his hand in the air as if his brother wasn’t worth a second thought. “He knows it wasn’t like that.”
The fucking audacity…
Maybe he’d convinced himself otherwise, because how else could he live with what he’d done? But no matter how Tony spun it, an ultimate betrayal is exactly what it was.
With her mouth hanging open, Gina’s gaze went from her brother to her parents. “Did any of you ever stop and think about it from Teo’s perspective—or even acknowledge his feelings?”
“They were over, Gina,” Tony shouted, not allowing anyone to speak.
“Were they?” She glanced over at Lina, who had the decency, at least, to hang her head in shame. “Well, you made sure of that, didn’t you? Regardless, Teo’s entitled to feel the way he does.”
“Yeah, you can’t blame him for it,” Luca said.
Nick nodded in agreement. “You forgot the bro code, dude.”
“See that?” Tony abruptly stood, knocking his chair over, and pointed a finger at their youngest brother. “He’s gone and torn this family apart.”
“You mean you just noticed?” And Luca rose from his chair.
“No, Tony, it wasn’t him. You and your wife did that.” Gina glared at him, then, turning to her mom, she lowered her voice. “You and Dad, too.”
“That’s not fair, Gina,” she whispered back.
Pathetic.
“You still don’t get it, do you?”
“People can’t help who they fall in love with, dear.”
She glanced at the clock on the wall. Gina didn’t have to leave for another hour, but she didn’t want to be here a minute longer.
“Right.” And she let a sardonic laugh escape. “I have to get to work.”
“I’ll take you,” Luca offered, putting his arm around her.
Nodding, Gina picked up her work bag and paused when she reached the door.
She turned around.
“And Mom, don’t ever tell me who I can and cannot love, because I’ll be sure to remind you that you said that.”