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3
Dominic
“You’re such a pussy. Where were you this morning?” Luca jabs me in the arm with his fist.
“I’m the oldest. I can’t spring back from a hangover as fast anymore.” I sip my scotch on the rocks, hoping my younger cousin accepts my lame-ass excuse.
“Did you hear about my buddy puking?” He shakes his head as his fiancée, Lauren, comes over and slides her arm behind Luca’s back. He pulls her closer but continues his conversation with me as though it’s a natural occurrence. “He’s still up in his room. We’ll see if he can fly tomorrow.”
She laughs and Luca kisses the top of her head, chuckling himself.
Never did I think I’d see my youngest cousin so at ease with a woman who’s about to be a permanent fixture in his life.
“How was your bachelorette party last night?” I ask Lauren.
“Fun. How were the strippers last night?” She raises her eyebrows.
Luca throws his head back and laughs. “No lap dances.”
That’s the truth—unless something changed after I left. Something tells me that’s not why Luca came to Vegas for his bachelor party.
“Yeah, but you had naked girls dancing for you.” She pokes his stomach before stealing his beer and downing a sip.
“I would’ve gladly sat in a chair all night and watched you dance around a pole naked.”
Her face tints pink because she knows it’s true. Just like all my cousins and my brothers, Luca has fallen hard. I’m practically the last of the singles in my family.
My baby sister, Blanca, comes up next to me. “There you are.”
“What’s up?”
“You’re the only other single person here. I need to get away from the kissy and huggy sweetness of it all. Can I get at least one fight? Show me their lives aren’t all roses and sunshine.” Blanca pushes between Luca and me to reach the bar. “No offense to you guys. You’re the wedding couple, so you should be all unicorn and rainbows.”
She orders her drink and I slide money to the bartender. She’s my little sister and is still working her way up the corporate banking ladder.
“Thanks, big bro.” She twirls her straw in her drink. “All of this wedding stuff must cost a fortune.”
“Blanca.” I shake my head, but when you’re dirt poor just out of college, you obsess over how much everything costs. I’ve been there.
Luca laughs. “You only get married once.” He and Lauren smile at one another.
“Here’s hoping.” Blanca laughs.
My gut twists as the realization of my predicament sets in with Luca’s words. I’m now going to be a second marriage guy. If I meet a woman I want to marry one day, I’ll have to tell her she’s about to become my second wife. I know enough about women to know that she’ll feel as if she’s my second choice, and she might not be far off in her assumption.
Val is just something I’ve never worked out of my system. That’s all she is. I thought I’d accomplished it after nine months of silence. Sure, I’d stalk her on social media, but other than a few personal pics of her and Ryder, it’s all business on there.
“Especially for an Italian. Could you imagine what Zia or Ma would say about a divorce?” Blanca shakes her head.
She’s unknowingly pissing me off. I can’t imagine if Ma ever found out about my wedding. She’d be heading to church and praying every day for my immortal soul.
“Oh my God!” Blanca screeches and hits me in the stomach before pointing toward the door. “Look!”
The three of us turn and look in the direction she’s pointing. My drink slides through my fingers and falls to the floor, where it smashes into a million pieces.
“Party foul,” Luca says.
Flustered, I crouch to pick up the shards of glass. What the hell is Valentina doing here? She wouldn’t come here to out us, would she?
