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Mason opened the door and stepped back after his eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Luca. The younger boy’s gaze went to mine, silently asking what the hell was up with his future brother-in-law. I shrugged, letting him know I didn’t have a clue what was going on.
As we entered the living room where everyone was gathered with nonalcoholic drinks in hand, my eyes searched the room for the only person I wanted to see. Between my family and all my honorary aunts, uncles, and cousins, there were over thirty people in the living room. Extra seats had been brought in just for the holiday, but most people were standing in smaller groups around the room having conversations.
Everyone paused to greet Luca, whose eyes were traveling around the room in hopes of finding Violet.
But like Shaw, Vi seemed to be missing as well, and I figured they were in the kitchen since it was getting close to time for the huge Thanksgiving feast. The house smelled like sage with a hint of sweetness that made my stomach growl, reminding me I hadn’t had more than a bowl of cereal that morning for breakfast. I’d skipped lunch so I could make room for all the turkey I planned on eating that evening, so my hunger was practically gnawing at me.
It was only a few minutes after we’d arrived that Lyric appeared with Violet. I took one look at her as her pretty purple eyes locked on to Luca and knew something was very, very wrong.
Every time I’d seen her or even just called her in the last two months, I’d gotten strange vibes from her. There had been a lack of emotion in her voice, a muted, almost vacant look in her eyes. I’d put it down to what happened with Cannon, mixed in with missing her boyfriend.
Yet when she looked up at him, her heart wasn’t in her eyes like it usually would be when she was simply in the same room with Luca. If anything, she looked like she was about to pass out, and when she took a step forward, she began to sway. Luca rushed forward, blocking my line of sight to her face. Lyric was closer and steadied her.
Her mom suggested the couple have a private moment on the beach before dinner, and they didn’t waste time moving toward the door. As it shut behind them, Shaw entered the room with Aunt Lana.
My girl’s eyes went straight to me, and I couldn’t lock my feet in place. I needed to be closer to her so I could feel her warmth, smell her perfume, touch her soft skin. Lyric said something to her I didn’t hear over the others going back to their conversations from earlier, but Shaw’s face tightened, and she crossed to the doors through which her best friend had just exited.
I stopped beside her, my eyes eating up the sight of her, while her gaze followed the two out on the beach. Fuck, but she was beautiful. Just looking at her made my chest tighten.
My shoulder brushed against hers, and she leaned into the contact, as if she needed my touch almost as much as I needed hers. We stood like that for several minutes, her looking out at the beach and me looking at her, until she broke the silence between us. “Remember when we were little and the only thing we had to worry about was how much dessert we could have after Thanksgiving dinner?”
“I was always more concerned if there would be enough turkey so I could make a sandwich the next day,” I told her with an upward tilt of my lips.
She turned her head and smiled sadly. “I wish we could go back to those times when that was our only problem, Jags.”
The nostalgia in her voice, the pain that was shadowing her eyes, had me reaching for her. “Baby…”
“Why is Violet yelling at Luca?” Uncle Shane asked, making me drop my hands as I glanced at him over my shoulder.
I hadn’t heard him come up behind us, but his blue-gray gaze was on his daughter as he looked out the glass door. My attention went to Violet, who, from the looks of it, really was yelling at Luca. Even from a distance, I could see that her face was red and scrunched up.
Luca fell to his knees before her, the waves crashing against him, soaking his pants and shoes. They were both crying, Violet still shouting, when he reached out for her. But she stepped back, forcing him to drop his arms or fall on his face in the surf.
Behind me, I heard someone start to cry and quickly glanced around to see who those gut-wrenching sounds were coming from. When I saw it was Aunt Layla, a few things clicked into place, and I turned to look at Shaw. “They broke up, didn’t they?” She nodded, her eyes full of tears. “This entire time?” Another nod. “But why?”
Around us, everyone was going crazy. Uncle Shane was shouting. Aunt Layla continued to cry. Uncle Jesse and Ma were trying to get everything under control, but it was turning into chaos.
“He cheated on her,” she whispered as a single tear fell from her beautiful blue eyes.
“Cheated?” I repeated, unable to understand that word since she was using it in connection with Violet and Luca. “No, he wouldn’t—”
“He did,” she confirmed, another tear spilling over her lashes. “But she didn’t want her parents to know yet, so she’s been waiting until he came home to tell everyone. I guess she was still trying to protect him or something. So Uncle Shane wouldn’t kill him.”
Lyric pushed past us and opened the door, calling out to his brother. Shaw and I watched him run toward the couple arguing on the beach. Violet was hitting Luca now as she screamed at him. Nothing I was seeing or even hearing from Shaw made sense. Violet was the sweetest, most kindhearted person I knew. She would never physically harm anyone. Yet she was pounding her fists down on Luca like she wanted to destroy him.
I heard Ma pleading with Uncle Shane to just listen and Dad telling her to back up so she would be safe. But Uncle Shane would die before he hurt my mom. Before he hurt anyone in our family.
Unless it was Luca.
Luca, he would kill.
The younger kids were crying because they didn’t understand what all the shouting was about. Our family rarely did this shit, but when they did, they usually made sure the babies were as far away from it as possible.
Part of me wanted to take in the room behind me, make sure Ma really was safe. That Mia and Emerson were out of harm’s way in case fists started flying. But I knew Barrick wouldn’t let anything happen to either of them.
A bigger part of me wanted to go out there and beat the fuck out of Luca for Violet.
Chapter 13
