Blue
For the first time since she’d gone into witness protection, felt something other than numb or sad. For the rest of her life, she’d never forget the way Sean’s eyes had lit up—like he had firecrackers in them—the moment he’d seen her at her front door.
“Now I know wishes come true,” he’d said.
She blinked, misunderstanding his meaning.
“What are you talking about?” she asked, pulling the door closed and locking it behind her.
He smirked.
“I was wishing you’d wear this masterpiece,” he said, tugging at one of the flowy folds of her light pink skirt.
“And you did.”
Heat rushed to her cheeks, and she quickly adjusted her leather belt as her stomach filled with butterflies.
“You say that like you’ve seen this before.”
“I have. It was one of the designs you used for the presentation in class.” He extended his hand for her to take.
She stared at it and the butterflies began to take flight. He’d recognized his favorite of her drawings in real life, and he loved it. While his words had implied that he found her beautiful, that’s not what he’d said. He’d mentioned her work, and that had to be one of the best compliments of her life.
That pesky tingle in her stomach didn’t fade when he opened the car door for her, carefully making sure that her skirt was inside before shutting it. It didn’t go away when he took her hand again during the drive, and now that they were weaving their way to their seats at the concert, still hand in hand, her happy excited emotions began to take flight. Maybe she could get used to this.
The venue was massive, the crowd bigger, and the stage in the middle of the stadium’s bowl was a beacon of colorful lights drawing the eye.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she said under her breath.
Somehow Sean heard it despite the hum of the throng talking all around them. He smiled back at her, then side-stepped a laughing couple that was already a few drinks in, going by the bitter yeast smell and squeezed her hand.
“Honestly, I can’t believe you are either, but I’m glad you decided to throw caution to the wind and give me a chance.”
Right. Going out with Sean was never going to be a cautionary tale. Even if she never saw him again, she just knew she’d always think fondly of this night.
They kept on moving down the steps, threading through the crowd, closer, and closer to the stage. These tickets had to have cost an arm and a leg.
“Where exactly are we sitting?” The tickets she’d wanted to get had been all the way in the back.
Sean’s gate slowed just a little.
“About that.” He rubbed the back of his head with his free hand as they kept on descending.
“Did I mention this was a double date?”
For just a moment, ’s stomach clenched with nerves.
“A double date?” Like with people from school?
Finally, at the front row, he stopped and faced her.
“Well, sort of. You see, my entire family has tickets to the show. My parents, my brother Johnny, and his latest girlfriend slash supermodel,” he said with an eye roll, “went to the show last night. But my tickets, and my grandparents—”
A loud whistle—that had everyone in the closest vicinity quietening up to look—had Sean turning toward the front row.
“Sean,” a woman called.
leaned to the side to peer around him. A cute older couple, maybe in their 60s or 70s, sat in the first-row, dead center of the stage, waving at them. The woman was stunning, chicly dressed, with salt and pepper hair, and a smile that warmed ’s insides. The older man wore dark khakis, a hunter green Henley—which showcased his broad chest and massive arm muscles—had thick, pure white hair combed back to perfection, and a chiseled jaw. He had to be the hottest grandpa she’d ever seen.
“Nonna,” Sean said. The word meant grandma in Italian. That’s what she’d called her own grandmas. Using Italian was pretty commonplace in The Outfit.
“Gramps!” Sean waved over his head.
She glanced at Sean, taking in the resemblance. Aside from the fact that Sean had hazel eyes instead of dark brown, dimples on his cheeks, and dark hair, he was practically the spitting image of the older man. She pointed at the couple.
“We’re double dating with your grandparents?” Unable to help it, she grinned as all her nerves about being on a double date dissipated.
Sean tugged on her hand, pulling her a little closer, then leaned in and whispered, “So you think this is a date, too, huh?”
Her smile fell at the same time that her stomach went into a nosedive. “Uh—”
He reached up and pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, the tips of his fingers, caressing over her cheek as he pulled it back. If she’d had any coherent thoughts after his comment, they were all gone now.
“Let’s put a pin in that until later, shall we?” he asked.
Thoughtlessly, she nodded, and then suddenly he was pulling her after him again.
“Let’s meet my grandparents.”
They weaved their way around large groups of people standing and chatting, and finally came to a stop. Sean held his arms wide, indicating the stadium.
“What do you think, Nonna? This concert big enough for you?”
Nonna shrugged a slim shoulder, her eyes sparkling with the same mirth Sean’s eyes always seemed to have.
“I’ve seen bigger.”
Sean snorted.
“Don’t tell Axel that,” Grandpa said with a smirk.
Nonna’s eyes swept to in an approving sort of way, smiled at what she was seeing, and stepped forward, placing a hand on Sean’s arm.
“Who’s this lovely young lady? And what is she doing with you?”
Sean put a hand to his heart.
“Nonna! That hurts.”
Nonna winked at him.
“Where’d you learn your manners?” Grandpa grinned.
“Introduce us already.”
Sean touched his chin and glanced up as if he was in thought.
“Where’d I learn my manners? That’d be from you, pretty sure.”
Nonna chuckled, and couldn’t help but join in.
Sean signaled between her and his grandparents.
“Nonna, Grandpa, this is my friend bell. We have business class together.” He glanced at .
“, this is my Grandma Amelia, and my Grandpa Don.”
extended her hand.
“It’s so nice to meet you.”
They shook her hand, both cupping hers in theirs, making feel strangely stable and comfortable in their company.
“We’re so pleased to meet you,” Amelia said.
“Sean hasn’t stopped talking about you all week. I hope you liked my hot chocolate.”
shot a glance toward Sean, certain he must be embarrassed, but his smile held and he winked at her.
“Best hot chocolate in the world,” Sean said.
“How could she not?”
Amelia blushed and swatted at his shoulder.
“He’s right.” Don kissed his wife on the head.
Who were these people? She always thought families like this only existed in movies. She quickly pulled herself together.
“I have to agree. Your hot chocolate gave me something to look forward to every morning.”
“Not me?” Sean asked, dejected.
“And to think I’ve been getting up at four every day just to study with you.”
wrinkled her nose, feeling guilty again.
“Yeah, sorry about that.”
Don shook his head.
“Don’t be. You’re keeping him on his toes. It’s character building.”
More laughter from Sean.
“Between the three of you, I must have a lot of character then.”
didn’t quite know why, but she liked being included in that statement even though she’d only known him a couple months and really only talked to him the last week. She felt like she belonged, and the only place she’d ever felt she belonged was with her dad and . . . Dom.
She swallowed the lump the thought of her brother brought on and forced a smile. Sean leaned in close and whispered in her ear.
“Hey, are you okay?”
She nodded and smiled up at him.
“Better than okay. Thank you for inviting me.”
He pointed to her seat as his grandparents took theirs. She sat next to his Nonna.
The lights in the stadium dimmed, and smoke from smoke machines billowed across the stage and over the edge like a water fall. Spotlights lit the stage and spun in every direction as a slow crescendo of music began to build. Axel and The Venturists ran out onto the stage, the smoke swirling away from their legs like eddies, and the crowd screamed and stomped and whistled.
cheered and shot a glance at Amelia and Don. Amelia had an indulgent smile on her face and stars in her eyes as she stared at Axel—she must have a little crush on the rock star. That was adorable. Don, however, was rolling his eyes as Axel sweet-talked the crowd.
“Good evening, Orlando!” Axel pointed his mic at the audience as he strutted in his leather pants and tight tee toward the front of the stage.
More screams filled the air.
Don covered his eyes.
“Are you ready to party?” Axel tossed his head, throwing his chin-length hair out of his face.
And yet more yelling.
Axel let loose a throaty chuckle that sent every girl in the nearest vicinity swooning. The two ladies to the right of Sean were fanning themselves with their hands.
“What a showboat,” Sean murmured.
quirked a brow.
“You don’t like him?”
He shrugged, then laughed under his breath—the sound sent tingles down her spine.
“I like him well enough.”
That seemed like a weird thing for him to say considering he and his entire family had front-row tickets to The Venturists’ concert.
Axel grabbed his guitar and slung the strap over his shoulder. The drummer began to play, followed by the base player, and then Axel with his guitar, playing the well-known song, Salty.
He started to sing, and Sean took ’s hand, and suddenly, she was in seventh heaven.
When the first song finished, they moved on to Girl on the Train, and then Amelia, which had Sean’s nonna practically swooning in her seat. leaned over to Sean to whisper to him, but ended up yelling instead.
“Amelia is such an unusual name, interesting that he has a song called Amelia and you have a grandma called Amelia.”
He opened his mouth to answer, then stopped when a screaming fan’s pledge of love pierced the air.
“Axel, we love you!” A bra flew on to the stage near Axel’s feet.
A groan sounded from ’s left, and she and Sean glanced down the row at Don, whose eyes were bulging out of his head.
They shot their gazes to the stage just as Axel took a quick two-step forward toward the bra, winked at Sean, then kicked the bra, and sent it flying right off the stage and in Sean’s direction. One of the large cups landed like a cone on Sean’s head. A chuckle sounded over the speakers as Axel missed a couple words, then somehow, seamlessly jumped back into the song.
Sean pounded his fist and pointed at Axel, then with a grin on his ridiculously handsome face, Sean looked at and laughed.
couldn’t help herself and joined. The last thing she expected at a concert was this, but maybe she should have expected it. Well, the flying bras, but not one landing on her date’s head.
The two of them stood together practically buckled over with laughter. The bra still firmly atop his noggin.
“Get that thing off your head!” Don bellowed from next to Amelia.
Sean pointed at it.
“You want to get it off for me, Gramps?”
Don turned a nice cherry red.
Sean faced .
“How about you?”
She threw her hands up and leaned back with a chuckle.
“No thanks!”
Amelia clasped her hands in front of her.
“Oh, Don. Aren’t they the cutest together?”
Sean twisted to the woman on his right and pointed at the bra.
“This yours?”
The woman gave him an indulgent smile and shook her head.
Reaching up, Sean whipped the bra off.
got a good look at the thing now. It was huge.
“Oh no, this is way too big for her.”
The woman chuckled.
“No offense,” quickly added.
“None taken.” The woman went back to dancing to the song.
“That’s at least a double D.” pointed at the cup.
Axel’s song finished, and he moved on to the next. As the song was warming up, Sean glanced at the bra.
He lifted it, raised his voice, and said “Does this bra belong to anyone? It’s a double D . . .” he glanced at for confirmation and she nodded.
“. . . purple bra with reinforced straps and lacy edges?”
By this point, was in stitches again. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed so hard, felt so free. She didn’t know how it was that Sean always seemed to be so blasé about things, but she liked it. He just didn’t care what people thought of him, at all. And yet, he didn’t go around behaving poorly, or doing stupid things, he just did his thing. had spent her whole life until she and her dad had run away worrying about what people thought of her. As a woman in the mafia, she’d had to. She behaved because she had to. Sean just did because he could.
“Would you stop messing around with that thing,” Don barked over the music.
“You don’t know where it’s been.”
“Hey, that’s mine!” said a large woman sitting a few seats down from Don. She stood, emphasizing her height and size, which were considerable, but thankfully not as considerable as Don and Sean given the fight-vibes she was throwing off. She stomped over and held out her hand.
Don and Amelia both whipped their gazes in the woman’s direction, and Don, big tough guy that he was, flinched back. Sean’s jaw dropped as he stepped forward holding out the scrap of lace—if it could be called that, especially given the woman it belonged to. The woman whipped it from his outstretched fingers, scowl firmly in place, and turned her back on the group, and marched back to her seat.
By this point, Don’s face had gone sheet white.
Amelia covered her mouth and began to snigger, which of course sent and Sean into hysterics once more.
Don faced her, looking a little shell-shocked, and said, “It’s not funny,” but even his mouth was starting to twitch up at the sides.
A happy warmth filled from head to toe, that kind of feeling she’d forgotten she could feel. Being at The Venturists concert was fun, but being with Sean and his grandparents was the best.
Without overthinking it, she reached down and took Sean’s hand in her own. He glanced down, then back to her face, hazel eyes wide.
“This is the perfect date. Thanks for inviting me.”
His gaze turned warm and her stomach melted. He threaded their fingers together and she leaned her head on his massive arm. This was just what she needed.