Page 65 of A Treasure To Keep
When I make my way through the rest of the house, I admire how Luci decorated it for El’s baby shower. It’s glamorous yetclassy, with plenty of ingredients for a mimosa bar and a few bottles of alcohol-free champagne for El. Light blue and mint green cupcakes line the dining room table, a small decorative pacifier on top of each one. The funniest thing I notice is the variety of foods. There’s no direct theme on the type of food, time of day it’s eaten, or flavor palette. I heard that El’s pregnancy cravings are broad. She’ll be able to eat buffalo wings, cinnamon rolls, and movie theater-style popcorn in one meal.
I continue to scan the room, noticing the table is halfway covered in gifts for my son, several of them from me. I got hold of El’s registry to see what she wants, partnering with Luci to make sure they got onto that gift table. And by got hold of, I mean, I hacked into the store’s computer system where she registered and bought the most expensive and coolest items. That was only after Luci told me where she was registered. El is Luci’s best friend, and Luci would never deny her best friend’s son from being showered with gifts from his papa. What I didn’t tell Luci is that not all the gifts are from El’s baby registry. The one that will piss her off is the picture of the dirt bike I got him. It’s sitting in the garage, locked away with the one I bought myself, ready for him as soon as he’s tall enough to ride it. My papa never got one for me as a kid, regardless of how much I begged him. Something about falling off it and getting head trauma. That’s what helmets are for. Now, I get a dirt bike as a thirty-year-old man. Even fucking better.
I follow Alessandro’s SUV in my truck as he leads me to the axe-throwing place. Although I’ve never gone axe-throwing, I do have plenty of experience with knives. It can’t be thatdifferent. Unless my hand slips. I’m convinced Domenico has ever forgiven me for the one time I was fucking around, and instead of throwing my knife up, it went out, slicing him in his side. Dr. Rossi was the one who broke up that fight when she came to stitch up Domenico. We had to explain to Geno how we got blood smeared deep in the carpet. That wasn’t fun either.
Alessandro takes his turn first as I disappear to the bar. When I come back holding two bottled beers, I see him hit the outside rim of the target.
“Ha, you fucker. You missed! And it wasn’t the first time your aim sucked.” Alessandro turns around, the axe in his hand, after he yanked it out of the target. His eyes light with fury when I hint at the time he accidentally shot Luci. In his defense, he intended to hit Aldo, her nonno. Now that I think about it, I don’t think that makes it any better.
“And you think you can do any fucking better? My threat to throw this into your kidney still stands.” He grabs one of the beers from me, bringing the neck of the bottle to his mouth to take a sip.
“I’d prefer to have both of my kidneys, please, and thank you.” I grasp onto the axe, struggling with Alessandro to pull it out of his hand while my beer is in the other hand.
His jaw is clenched, and his eye twitches as I yank it out of his hand. I need to say something to shake the vision of carving out an organ of mine from his mind.
“Wanna turn this into a bet?” As his best friend, I know he’d have a hard time turning this down. It’s in his blood.
“$5,000?” A confident smirk spreads across his face. That son of a bitch is convinced I won’t even hit the target. Joke's on him. Unlike him, I don’t miss. Normally.
“Deal. I’ll make sure to buy myself something nice and model it for you.” We both set down our beers, shaking our hands firmly before I throw the axe blindly.
Alessandro and I don’t break eye contact for a few seconds until our hands part and we turn our heads.
“Boom! When am I getting paid? If it’s in cash, I require an audience to watch me dance while it’s stuffed into the waistband of my jeans.” I do a little dance, wiggling my eyebrows as his lips go into a thin line. He hates losing. If there’s anything Alessandro is, though, he is a man of his word.
“I’ll have the money in your account by the end of the day.”
“I know you will.” I wink at him, blowing him a kiss as he rolls his eyes.
“Are we going to play and drink or brag all day?” Alessandro has always been a sore loser, down to the time we got in a fight when we first met. To be fair, my papa and Geno pulled us off each other, meaning there was no winner.
“How about both?”
All I get is a grunt in response. I’ll say it again, sore loser.
Alessandro and I hang out for several hours until he needs to head home. When we part ways, I head to the Leone’s bar, waiting for our security cameras to show me that the baby shower is over. We’re to a point where, unless there are lawyers involved, we can’t talk without fighting. And not the fun type of fighting that we hate to love.
Eventually, I see Luci over the cameras cleaning dishes after the baby shower. The gifts from the table are gone, sans the bikes that are in the garage. I can only assume it’s okay to head back.
At least I hope so.
Chapter 71
El
At thirty weeks pregnant, I can finally check off another thing from my list: my baby shower. Luci, James, Quinn, and I are the last four left at the shower Luci hosted for me, and we’re in no rush to leave.
James brought her son, Oliver, who is sitting beside Gia on a blanket in front of us. I cannot handle how adorable these two are. If I’m in charge of this, I’m pushing them together in a closet as teenagers. A classic game of Seven Minutes in Heaven. Oliver and Gia can date as teenagers, and Gia and my son can get married after college. The girl needs to have some fun before settling down. Or! Technically, she could have both. Regardless, that girl will have plenty of options.
James comes and sits by me, interrupting my thoughts of who I’ll be playing Cupid with when she hands me another virgin mimosa.
“What do you think Luci and Quinn are hush-hush about in the corner?” Oh goodie. Gossip. My favorite pastime.
I turn my head enough to see Luci and Quinn chatting about something in the corner. Since my coffee date with Luci, I’m convinced Alessandro has been diving in balls deep since she got the all clear to have sex again. “I’ll put $100 that she’s pregnant again.”
James raises an eyebrow at me, not believing a word I said. Before she can argue with me, I interrupt her. “No, babe. You don’t understand. Take Andrea and my obsession with constantly fucking with a caveman’s need to procreate. You’ll have Alessandro in a nutshell. Honestly, I’m surprised it’s taken this long. They conceived Gia within the first couple of times they had sex.”
James and I continue theorizing if Luci is pregnant until I notice her and Quinn walking over. Quickly, I nudge James, quieting her before Quinn and Luci can hear us.