Page 112 of Vows of a Mobster

Brianna

My grandma’s place seemed extra small with Mateo and Antonio in the house. We all sat around the dining room table. The monitor to Emma’s room was on the side table next to Mateo and I but she was fast asleep. When I checked on her during Mateo’s shower, and then again before dinner, she didn’t even stir. She wasn’t running a temperature, so I took it as a good sign.

Glancing around the table, it seemed surreal that we’d all be sitting together in my home. Mateo was relaxed, and I liked him like this. Even Antonio was relaxed. I was surprised to find Daphne sitting next to him, whispering something when I came down. Even now, her cheeks were flushed, although she barely touched her alcohol.

Antonio gave her a quick sideways grin, and it immediately hit me. Those two had sex together. Daphne caught my shocked expression as I watched the two of them. How did I miss those two? I raised an eyebrow and she gave me a small shrug of her shoulder. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement and happiness. Who was I to say anything? As long as he made her happy.

I gave her a smile and she winked back at me.

“So this is where the three of you got into trouble all the time?” Mateo teased, his fingers circling my back. Despite the hard day and my exhaustion, I was stupid happy to have him here with me. His presence soothed me. Marissa and Daphne were always here for me but this with Mateo felt different. With Mateo, it felt like having a family of my own.

“This is where we usually hang out,” I responded smiling. “And we rarely get into trouble.”

“We are pretty much saints,” Marissa chimed in. “We did, however, take Mother’s alcohol and stock it up here. You are too generous, Mateo. She really doesn’t need that much of an assortment. Next time, just send it here.”

“I’m going to have to lock my wine cellar with three of you under my roof,” he muttered, smiling.

Mateo and I sat together, my thigh against his. He was relaxed, his arm resting on the back of my chair, his fingers playing with strands of my hair. I loved his touch. I wondered if he realized that I kept leaning into it. I craved it like air.

“Might be wise,” I told him.

“Remember when we smuggled all that alcohol to the party our second year at Columbia?” Marissa beamed.

I chuckled. “Yeah, I remember we got caught.”

“Nobody ever pinned it on you, Brie,” Daphne chimed in. “You were the angel.”

“Yeah, till she stripped off her sparkling dress and jumped into that pool from the balcony in front of the dean. Brie was lit!”

I groaned. “C’mon, that is just too embarrassing to remember.”

“Marissa, tell us more,” Mateo urged his cousin with a mischievous smile. “Tell me what happened. It would seem there is a wild side to my… to my Brianna.”

I totally liked how he called me his and I gushed over it.

“Before she tells you,” I chimed in, “in my defense, I wasn’t used to alcohol back then. It was my first party where I got drunk.” I resisted the urge to hide my face.

“Brie kept taking shots,” Marissa continued as if I hadn't spoken. “She was determined to show a group of guys she was able to do a cannonball. They kept calling her too proper so she stripped out of her dress.”

Antonio’s both eyebrows went up. “I kept my undergarments on. It’s like a bathing suit.”

“And there she goes, climbing onto a balcony and jumping into the pool screaming cannonball… while the dean stood and watched the entire thing.”

“You were dying to get wild,” Daphne ganged up on me. “You just needed us.”

“Yeah, that got too wild,” I muttered. “Dad and Mom had to fly in and talk the dean down. My mother screamed so loud, I was sure the whole of New York City heard her.”

“The entire dorm heard her,” Marissa mumbled. “I never met her but that voice, it is painfully etched in my ears.” I laughed at that. “You should have just blamed us.”

“It wasn’t like I didn’t do anything, so there was no sense in passing the blame.”

“I never heard what your dad said,” Daphne asked.

I chuckled. “After Mother stormed off, he told me to have fun but keep my clothes on and don’t accept drinks from any men. Then he gave me extra spending money and kissed me goodbye.”

“How is it possible your dad was so nice and your mom is such a bitch?” Daphne shook her head. “I could never understand it.”

“No idea, but he married her. I imagine she would have damaged his career if he decided to divorce her. Hell if I know.” My mother’s double standards never ceased to amaze me. She kicked me out because I got pregnant out of wedlock but she never considered that she might have done something even worse. She left my dad for someone else, divorced him, which in Catholicism is considered a huge offense.