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“Yes!”

His eyes narrowed. “No drugs, Elena.”

“Yes, sir,” I laughed.

“I’m serious.”

Something sober settled in me when I remembered his mamma. “No drugs,” I said.

“Promise me.”

“I promise, Ace.”

His lips tipped up. “Ace, huh?”

I nodded lazily. “I’m trying it out.” And from that moment on, I called him Ace whenever I was drunk, Nicolas when I was mad, and Nico all the times in between.

He ran a thumb across my cheek. “Are you going to puke in my car?”

I wrinkled my nose. “Why would I puke? I feel great.”

He made an amused noise. “Fuck, this will be fun.” He shut my door and I watched him through the windshield as he walked around the car. He looked like a don tonight, and I was dying to take him home and rip off his clothes to humanize him a bit.

My head rolled against the headrest to look at him once he was in the driver’s seat. “How are you so handsome?”

He chuckled. “God’s gift, I guess.” He gripped my cheek and pressed a deep kiss on my lips that made me melt into my seat.

I fell asleep somewhere between the club and home, but I made it all the way to the toilet to puke.

“Love is a strange dark magic.”

—Atticus

SUNLIGHT SHONE THROUGH THE HIGH windows of the church’s bridal suite, lighting dust particles in the air like tiny flickers of gold. Nausea swirled in my belly, and I pressed a hand to my stomach and tried to breathe through it.

I swayed as Mamma tugged at my laces. “You’ve got to suck in, Elena. I’ve barely begun tightening it up.”

Che palle. It felt like she was squeezing the life out of me.

“For goodness’ sake, Celia, she can’t suck in her boobs,” Nonna commented from her seat in the corner. She had a Vanity Fair magazine in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

“It’s her backside I’m having trouble with. The laces are gonna be gaping at the seams if I can’t cinch them in any tighter.”

And they wonder how I could ever be depressed . . .

With another jerk on my laces, I breathed, “Oh, God,” and covered my mouth as nausea traveled up my throat.

“Quick, Adriana! The waste bin!” Nonna exclaimed.

My sister hopped from her chair, and I met her halfway across the room before throwing up my breakfast of coffee and toast in the small trashcan.

“Che schifo.” Mamma grimaced.

Adriana rubbed my back. She wore a pink off-the-shoulder bridesmaid’s dress and her hair and makeup were done. My cousins were still in the room across the hall finishing with theirs.

“Welcome to the club,” she muttered. “I puked three times this morning.”

I already knew because I’d heard her through the bathroom door. I’d stayed at my parents’ last night for formality’s sake. Nico wasn’t happy about it, but I only got one wedding and I wanted to keep the tradition of being separated the night before, regardless that we were already married. I’d kissed him in his car for ten minutes when he dropped me off. It was only one night apart, but something tugged deep in my chest as I walked away from him.