“Not easy to let someone in. I’ve done that in the past and ended up hurt. Trusting people makes me break out in hives. Not the easiest to trust.”
“Especially being a Caselli,” Blair muttered.
I watched as Meer looked at his wife, then he looked over at me. “Had she been scared and allowed her past pain keep her from letting me in, we wouldn’t be here, Zoy. We wouldn’t have this life that both of us wanted. Letting someone in is easier said than done... I get that shit, foreal.”
“Meer, don’t act like you let me in… he refused to let me in at first.” Capri laughed, as she called him out.
“Yeah?”
“Girl, he wouldn’t tell me anything about his family. He was always there for me but didn’t allow me to be there for him.”
He kissed her hand. “Stupid on my part.”
Capri smiled. “You let me in though, Meer Cat.”
Alaia came and sat down beside me, as she smiled at her sister-in-law and Meer. “Love is beautiful when you let it in.” She gently nudged me.
“I have so much going on right now that I can’t even think about letting love in.” I thought about all I had going on at work, and then Sigel’s ol’ crazy ass running around the city murdering women.
The only person that knew was Goon, and he kept pressuring me to tell my brother. I felt like such a failure for dealing with Sigel. At first, it was to fuck with my brother because I knew he would never approve.
I loved getting under his skin by doing the opposite of what he wanted. Menace liked control because it had been taken from him, so not having control of me always triggered him. He was always tossing around empty threats at me.
His threats to me were always empty, but the threats he tossed to past boyfriends were anything but empty. I had to stop hanging around my ex-boyfriend’s people because of how bad Menace did him.
They wanted nothing to do with me, not because I wasn’t a good person, but because of what they knew of my brother. Menace was everything that his name meant, and there was no limit to what he would do or how far he would go when it came to me, Landon, and Kora.
“Zoya, there will always be an excuse or a reason. Life is too short for you to wait for the perfect time to date.” Navy replied.
“Says the girl that is getting her dream wedding,” I teased her.
I was happy for both of my brothers. Since Menace and Stevie didn’t have the traditional wedding, we were all excited to witness that with Landon and Navy. My brother was so happy with her, and I saw it whenever I was around both of them. Navy loved him in a way that he had never received, and I loved that for him.
She healed pieces of his childhood with every hug or rub of his ears. Navy gave him the reassurance that we Casellis needed at times. Not to mention, her family welcomed us like they had known us forever.
Avril texted or called me to check in on me, which was something I wasn’t used to. It was nice having someone call because they just wanted to make sure you were good. She stayed a few nights a week over at Stevie and Menace’s house too.
Stevie’s mother passed away, so she was healing something in Stevie, while teaching her motherhood. So, this wedding was our Superbowl, and we couldn’t wait until Navy was officially a Caselli.
Navy laughed as she scrolled on her phone. Knowing her, she was probably reading in between having this conversation, which is something I noticed she did often. “Your brother came into my life at the worst time… I was overwhelmed with everything and was in a relationship. Had I decided to push him out because it wasn’t therighttime, where would I be?”
“Surely not marrying into billions,” Erin chuckled, crossing her legs.
Navy nodded her head. “Exactly.”
I laughed. “As if you care about the money that Landon has.”
“I don’t… but it’s nice. You know he took me on a date to another country?” Navy blushed as she thought about the things that money could do. “Landon could take me to the Chinese restaurant, and I would still be blushing like a fool. It’s notthe money that makes that man… it’s the man that makes the money.”
“He learned from the best,” I yawned.
Landon was Menace’s twin in every way. They both were the same person in different fonts. While they had many similarities, they were also different. Landon liked to think about shit before he crashed out.
He’d give a warning.
Menace would kill someone’s entire family after sneezing too hard. There was no chill with that man.
“We wasting our breath anyway.” Meer said.
