“Makes sense; you sure you don’t want to stay a little longer?”
“No, I’ll come back another time and clear it out without telling him too.” Oookay.
“No problem.” I had to lower the backseat to fit it in, and then we were off. I could feel her anger in the hand I held but didn’t say anything to sway her, she has a right to her feelings, but her next request when we got back to town made me wary.
“You want to go to your house?” She gave me the don’t make me repeat myself look, and I wondered how the hell my sisters had rubbed off on her so quickly. If she put those glares into words, my ass would be singed. “Okay, we’ll go to your house.” I wasn’t planning on beating Victoria’s ass today, but you learn to roll with the punches when you’re a Russo.
I played wingman once we got there; I’m just here to do what she wants. “Bring the portrait.” Uh-oh! I did as she asked and followed her to the door. Her dad answered with a look of surprise on his face. “Gia, why…?” He didn’t get to say anything else because she brushed by him. She walked into the living room and dragged a side chair over to the mantle, where a picture of Becky hung.
Her dad and I watched, he in stunned silence and me with pride as she took the picture down and threw it to the floor. “Gabriel!”
“Wait, let me get a chair so I can help you.” I would’ve offered to hang it myself, but she needed to do this. It was a power move, something I would’ve done but didn’t think she had it in her.
“Gia, what do you think you’re doing?” Felix asked in shock. Victoria must’ve heard the commotion and came down the stairs and into the room, her chest puffing up with anger when she saw her mom’s image on the floor. “What’re you doing?” She started to rush forward, but Felix pulled her back. “You can’t let them do this. Mom wanted her picture there.”
Gianna didn’t say anything to either of them. “I need to clean back here before we hang it; give me a second.” She got down from her chair and walked past the two of them out of the room. Victoria started to follow, “hey, no!” That was all I needed to say to keep her still. That, and a look that said in five seconds or less, I’d throw her ass into a wall if she tried.
Gianna came back with cleaning supplies and wiped down the wall, removing the shadow left by Becky’s picture. Felix made some kind of weird sound when the new portrait was hung, and Victoria lost her shit. I ignored her and focused on him, “if that gets taken down, none of you will have a home tonight.”
Felix knew exactly what my words meant, but Victoria, who was clueless, kept going. “That’s disrespectful to my mother, Felix; she’s your wife.”
“Leave it, Victoria. Gia…”
“Not now, dad, not now.” She climbed down from her perch and turned to face them. “Victoria, if you touch that, I will finish what I started yesterday.”
“So, it is true; you’re the one who did this to her? I didn’t want to believe it but….”
“Your concern for your stepdaughter is very touching, dad. Where was that concern when she and her mother were tormenting me?”
“I didn’t, I’m sorry, I didn’t….” She walked right by him like he wasn’t there, and I just followed, wondering who the hell she’d become. She grumbled something about wishing she could kick them all out of her house when we got back to the Hummer, and I was here for it. It would entail moving a few things around, but I could get it done.
I listened to her rant all the way to the house, not saying a word, just kissing her fingers every few seconds to keep her grounded. “I have to go practice; then we can walk Thor, okay.”
“Yes, ma’am.” She gave me an odd look like she didn’t realize she was acting like a drill sergeant, and I held my tongue before she released whatever that was brewing in her eyes on my ass.
I spent the next hour or so eavesdropping on the goings-on in the Fontane residence while putting the finishing touches on the little surprise I had planned. I gave a fleeting thought to the one in Sicily but let it slide; for now, there’ll be time enough to get back to him. I’m already laying breadcrumbs to facilitate me going there sooner rather than later, so I guess you can say I’ve upped the program.
There’s just one niggling doubt of unease when I think about it now because there’s something pulling me in a whole other direction, and that’s something I’ve never had to deal with before. Her family’s drama is keeping me from facing those fears right now, but since I expect things to come to a head there soon, I know it’s only a matter of time before I have to choose—a life with Gianna or fulfilling a promise long made.
One would bring me happiness of a lifetime but would leave my mother’s issue unavenged, and the other, well, it’s what I’ve lived with and planned for my entire life. I’d made peace with it long ago and didn’t think that anything could sway me from the course. Now her face is the only thing I see when I think of what the future holds.
GABRIEL
The week flew by, or maybe it was the excitement surrounding the twins’ party that made it seem like it had. I’m always amazed at how life still goes on for others, even in the midst of your own turmoil. Gianna was being brave, but I’m almost certain she’s still in the trauma bonding stage, which is why I’ve been distracting her these last few days with anything other than sex.
Sometime around Wednesday, which was the third day she cried in her sleep, I was hit by a thunderbolt. She’s going through trauma, but what’s my excuse? Why am I allowing this to happen when I know in the back of my mind that it’s not right? I’m not sure why it took me this long, but while everyone else is in a celebratory mood, I’ve been dealing with the guilt of taking an innocent’s innocence.
Refusing her when I still want her is proving to be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but I’m doing it for her. I still won’t let her go back to her own bed, though, because she needs me in the night, so I stay awake, watching over her and fighting my own need for her sake. I’ve promised myself that I won’t touch her again, so I guess in my own twisted way, I’m tormenting myself by having her sleep next to me as some sort of penance.
I know more than a little bit about the human psyche, and I’m convinced that when all of this is over, once everything has been said and done and she comes down, she might have some regrets. But most of all, there’s the fact that I still have my own mess to deal with, which she can’t be a part of. That last part has left me restless and slightly confused.
The lure of her, of wanting to be with her into the future, has been troubling my mind to the point where I’ve questioned the decisions I’ve made a time or two. But I always come back to doing what’s right. That doesn’t help with the guilt I feel for letting things go too far with her, and now I find myself in the bind of having to choose between the two major decisions I now face because of my one lax in judgment.
No matter what, I’m going to disappoint someone, Gianna or Ma, and that’s something I never expected to face. It’s most humbling to realize that she’d so easily snuck under my guard when I didn’t think that anyone could. I know, too, that the reason it’s bothering me so much is because of the love I have for her. No one else could’ve brought me to this place of confusion and regret, and she’d done it so effortlessly. Her family’s arrival on Friday night only added fuel to the fire.