Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80014 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80014 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
He nodded embarrassedly and didn’t look at either of us as Adriano asked him, “Were you worried about that?” Romy just shrugged, and his brother said, “Nothing could ever change the way I feel about you, kid. I’ve loved you since the day you were born, and you’re more than my brother. You’re my best friend.”
“I don’t want to make this about me,” Romy muttered. “It’s fantastic that you finally got to meet your dad’s side of the family, and that they’re so eager to bring you into the fold. Your new brothers are great, too, and so much like you. It’s funny, actually—it’s like all three of you were cut from the same cloth. I wonder if the two you haven’t met yet are the same.”
He was right about that. Besides the fact that they all looked so much alike and were close to the same age, it was as if Adriano and his two older brothers were all throwbacks to a bygone era—a time of gangsters, and Sinatra, and swagger.
I would have assumed they were all emulating their father, but Adriano had never met him, and Dante and Vincent had been little kids when he died. Maybe they were just influenced by the idea of him and had modeled themselves after the kind of man they thought he’d been, regardless of who he really was.
After Romy finished wrapping a clean bandage around my arm, he packed up his medical bag and took off. Then Reno moved over so he was sitting beside me on the little, avocado green loveseat and drew me onto his lap.
I kissed him before resting my head on his shoulder, and he wrapped his arms around me and buried his face in my hair. After a while, he said, “This is such a strange time. There are all these new family members to get to know, and my mom and Romy to worry about, and then there’s you and me. This thing that’s happening between us is amazing. It excites me and makes me feel optimistic, and I haven’t felt like that in a very long time.
“Meanwhile though, the situation with Greco is still hanging over our heads, and I don’t know when or how that’s going to get resolved. I’m terrified you’ll get hurt again, but I’m also so damn grateful you’re here with me. It feels like we’re in the eye of a storm—a place where everything is calm and perfect, even though there’s chaos circling us.”
“There’s no place I’d rather be than right here with you,” I whispered, as I nuzzled his cheek.
“When this is all over, can we go somewhere? Just you and me?”
There was so much longing in his eyes when I sat up and met his gaze. “Of course. Where do you want to go?”
“Anywhere. You pick. All I want is a hotel with room service and an uninterrupted week with you.”
I grinned and asked, “Just a week?”
He smiled at me, which made his hazel eyes sparkle. “For starters.”
21
Adriano
The next few days were surprisingly blissful. I retrieved some clothes and a few things from my house, and Jack and I settled into the rental with my new-found family. I figured as long as they were in Vegas, I shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to get to know them.
Besides, the house they’d rented was huge, so why not stay with them? It had eight bedrooms, most of which were empty after Vincent, Darwin, and Josh returned to San Francisco. That left Dante and his husband Charlie, and Nana and Ollie. The four of them were treating this like a vacation, and why not? They might as well enjoy themselves while we were all in this holding pattern.
I was trying not to feel guilty about the fact that it felt like a vacation to me, too. Jack and I had both needed these past few days to heal and recover, so I had to accept the fact that I couldn’t actively look for Greco.
It probably wouldn’t have helped much anyway. Despite having a team of almost thirty people—between my crew and Dante’s small army—at work trying to find him, it was as if the man had vanished. If he’d left town, that would explain it. But something in my gut told me he was still around, lurking in the shadows and looking for his next opportunity to lash out at me.
As great as it was to get to know my new relatives, the absolute highlight of that week was Jack. He was just pure joy. I loved the way he got excited about the littlest things, like when I’d surprised him by making his favorite dessert after he mentioned it in passing. You’d have thought I’d bought him a car, given how appreciative he was.
I also loved the fact that he was a voracious reader. He read every chance he got, anything from nonfiction to gay romance to sci fi. Whenever he came across a passage he particularly liked, he just had to share it with me. Each time, it felt like he was giving me a gift.