Page 51 of Forgotten Comeback (Parisi Family #5)

Chapter

Fifty

Taylor

“We’ll see how long this new bed lasts,” I muse as we walk out of the shop with a sales receipt in my purse.

“Tried to get you to test it out,” Gavin reminds me.

“My public sex kink doesn’t include creepy boomer salesmen watching us,” I whisper-hiss.

He snorts like I’ve offended him. “I was going to knock him out before we gave it a test run.”

“Please tell me you’re kidding.” I poke Gavin in the chest.

With a chuckle, he wraps his arm around my shoulder as we stroll down the street. The two of us doing normal couple things feels so natural, so right, it nearly throws me for a loop.

“What?” Gavin watches me.

“What what?” I deflect.

“I can see the wheels spinning.”

“The wheels are always spinning.” Except for when I’m painting and fucking this man, I realize. A weird sense of foreboding washes over me, and I try to shake it off. Gah, I’m way too much in my head this morning.

We approach my favorite cafe, and after popping in and out, I sip on my boba tea. “Wanna try it?” I offer Gavin, who’s eyeing my cup like it’s a freaky science experiment.

He shakes his head emphatically. “I don’t think balls should go in tea.”

“Your balls were in my mouth this morning; I’m not concerned with tapioca ones in my tea,” I inform him, wanting to return to our playful back and forth.

Gavin howls with laughter as he wraps me in his arms for a hug, and I nestle my cheek against his strong peck. “I’ve gotta put time in the ring this afternoon, and then I’ll be back to pick you up for the party,” he tells me with a smile.

“What if we don’t finish at the same time?” This feels eerily similar to the conversation Mia and I once had.

“Then I’ll wait for you to finish, or you’ll wait for me to finish. Either way, we’ll finish together.” He wags his eyebrows.

I elbow him, but secretly I’m beaming at his answer as we continue to the parking lot.

He opens my door for me and hustles around to the driver’s side of the old work truck. “What happened to your car?” I wonder.

“I’m getting a new one,” he answers vaguely.

“That didn’t answer my question.” I narrow my eyes at him. “What happened to it?”

“Molotov cocktail.”

“Gavin!” I exclaim.

“That was back when Fabio and I were getting things handled.”

“Are things handled?” My eyebrows lift to the roof.

“Thanks for reminding me, I need to talk to my brothers about that.”

“Sure, glad I could help,” I drawl.

“Fabio threatens you again, I’ll fucking kill him,” he says matter-of-factly as we pull away from the curb.

“You will do no such thing!”

The look Gavin gives me tells me that, Oh, but he will do such a thing.

“Talk to me about the championship. How does that work?” I change the subject.

“To secure my spot, I have to win two out of three of my next bouts.”

“Will you need a good luck kiss or a good ball busting before these fights?” I tease.

“Both.” He chuckles.

I reach over, lacing our fingers together. “I bet no one’s ever told you, but I’m glad you’re here, and I’m proud of what it took for you to get here. A lot of people would’ve given up, but you didn’t.”

He jerks the wheel over to the curb and shifts into park, hopping out.

“Gavin, what are you doing?”

He’s running up the stairs of some nondescript office building, and my heart’s beating wildly as I chase after him, because gah, I still hate running.

Reaching the top, he lifts his hands triumphantly, shuffling back and forth.

“Are you seriously reenacting that cheesy boxing movie?” I ask, my hands falling to my knees as I catch my breath.

“Shhh, don’t mess up the moment. I’m mentally accepting the championship belt. Cue the inspirational music.”

Shaking my head, I grab my phone from my pocket and search for the movie soundtrack, hitting play.

Gavin opens his eyes and hoists me onto his shoulder, and I join in celebration, because who says I have to be Ms. Serious all the time?

We laugh as we return to the truck and continue the drive back to my place.

Pulling up to the building, there’s a blacked-out SUV idling across the street. Kat’s at the door of my studio, ringing the bell, with two guards surrounding her.

“You want me to drop you off and bounce?” Gavin asks.

“No,” I tell him firmly.

We park, and Gavin helps me out of the vehicle. I lace my fingers around his as we approach. The two guards surround Kat, but she peers over them and waves them away.

“Please, come in,” I tell her, unlocking and opening the door. One of her guards goes first, with the other standing guard outside.

My eyes plead with Gavin to be on his best behavior as we step inside and close the door.

“Hey, Mrs. Mazza. Sorry about the misunderstanding,” Gavin gives his best version of a choir boy smile. It’s more deranged-looking than anything.

“Are you calling kidnapping me a misunderstanding?” Kat crosses her arms.

“No harm, no foul, right?” Turning to me, he wraps me in his arms. “Taylor, baby, I’ll be back later.”

“Yeah,” I say, rising to my toes and giving him a quick kiss before he walks out.

“When did you start this thing with Gavin?” Kat asks, her voice laced with a hint of judgment.

“That’s a complicated question.”

She narrows her eyes. “Taylor, it really isn’t.”

“How did you find my studio?” I change the subject.

“Stalked you on social media; you updated your artist page with your studio deets.”

“Right,” I say, giving my bracelet a twirl, awkward silence filling the space. “It sucks things have gotten weird between us.”

“Yeah,” she says on a sigh. “It does suck.” She walks around my studio, stopping at the Maid of Dishonor painting. “It also sucks that you didn’t feel safe enough to tell me about your hospitalization.” She turns to me, hurt in her eyes.

“It also sucks that you found out by your husband prying invasively into my medical history,” I counter.

She holds up her hands. “I’m sorry, but you don’t understand his world.”

“I’m beginning to,” I tell her honestly.

“Fabio isn’t one to forgive and forget,” she warns.

“Gavin’s off limits, so it looks like your husband will at least have to forgive.” I cross my arms, using Fabio’s words against them both.

“And why is that?” Kat wonders. “All I know is I’m at the reception, you leave, and then my husband leaves, and now suddenly, the restaurant is undergoing lobby ‘renovations.’”

“That’s something you’d have to talk to your husband about.

I don’t have answers.” Sure, I could take an educated guess.

Gavin blew up the restaurant, and tit for tat, Fabio blew up his car.

But I keep the speculation to myself. “Look, Gavin and I had a complicated start to our relationship, but as I told you over text, the man saved me from Dominic.”

“Taylor, I’m so sorry,” Kat says genuinely.

Tears threaten to fall from my eyes. “He was your ex for a reason, right?”

She wraps her arms around me, and we hug. “Let the men fight it out, and let’s get hammered at brunch with bottomless mimosas.”

“Sure, I’d love to go to brunch. But I’ll have to be the good cop; I’m working tonight.”

“But I heard you’re not working at the Diamond anymore?”

“The rumors are true.” I smile brightly. “It’s an artist gig.”

My friend examines me. “I haven’t seen you this happy in years.”

“Yeah, I’ve found my passion again. After Nana died, that’s when things went off the rails for me, and I stopped painting.”

“Your trip out west to visit family after the funeral, did that really happen, or were you—”

“Lying about my hospitalization? Yeah, I don’t have any surviving family,” I say softly.

“Taylor,” she says, dabbing her eyes.

My eyes are getting bleary, but I need this off my chest. “After a misdiagnosis of depression, I had a pretty severe manic episode following Nana’s death; that landed me in the psych ward.

Spent a month there and was finally correctly diagnosed with Bipolar 1.

” While my residency wasn’t a five-star resort stay, I didn’t experience the horrible trauma that Gavin went through.

In fact, my hospital stint probably saved my life.

“That’s why I went to dealer school and joined you at the Diamond; I needed the medical insurance after that whole experience,” I explain. “I’m still paying off the debt.”

“God, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s a shitty state of affairs when dying is the most affordable healthcare option, but hey, my suffering has given me some amazing material.

” I nod at the paintings on the wall. “And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.

I was afraid of the ‘crazy’ stigma, even though I know you wouldn’t have judged me,” I say quietly.

“I wouldn’t have,” she agrees.

“Nothing about me has changed, except I’m medicated now and keeping the extreme mood swings at bay. Oh, and my ass is a bit fatter because of my meds.”

“Take it from a skinny bitch with curve envy, you’re perfect.”

“Aww, you’re sweet.”

“You damn well know I’m not,” she says playfully.

“You’re a sweet bitch, how about that?” I counter.

“Better.” She walks around the space, examining my works I’ve hung on the wall. “When is your gallery opening? I’ll be the first in line.”

“Oh, I don’t have one planned, but I should,” I say, those wheels in my mind spinning yet again.

“You should get Valentina to help you. She’s an amazing event planner.”

“I met her at your reception. How is she a Parisi?” I tread lightly.

“She’s Romeo’s little sister.”

Meaning she’s Gavin’s half-sister.

“Ah, gotcha. Well, let’s go do brunch, and I’ll let you challenge that bottomless mimosa policy.” I change the subject.

“Don’t say it’s bottomless if there really is a bottom,” she argues.

Chuckling, I usher her and her silent guard out the door and lock up.

“Should I call you your majesty?” I joke, climbing in the back of a tricked-out SUV.

“Duchess Kat does have a nice ring to it.” Climbing in beside me, she crosses her legs primly.

“Don’t expect me to curtsey,” I inform her. “Or break out in a princess number. You know I can’t sing for shit.”

“Oh my God, remember our eighth grade chorus recital?” Kat says with a laugh.

“How could I forget? Our section sounded like a dying donkey.”

We both laugh till we cry at the memory.

Kat examines me once we’ve gotten ourselves under control. “It’s not just the painting. Gavin’s good for you. Ha, never thought in a million years I’d say those words.”

I grin like a fool. “Trust me, I’m just as shocked about it as you are.”