Page 3 of Angel's Forever

We all sat there in silence for a moment. I decided that it should be me to break it.

“So, with all that being said, I am going to suggest something. I know we said that we would wait for Gino to say something to one of us, but the truth of the matter is that Nico and I have been together for years and he has never said a word. Therefore, I am sure he never will. Nico, if you are correct and Gino says he is going to go home, you have to tell him the truth. You have to tell him how you both care for him. Then invite him to our place tonight for dinner so we can all sit down and talk.”

I wasn’t sure how Nico would take that. It had taken him enough to admit his feelings to me, and he still hadn’t said the words to Gaby, even though she knew. So, asking him to actually admit it to Gino was a shot in the dark. It didn’t surprise me when Gaby was the next to speak.

“Nico, you have to tell him how you feel. It’s doing none of us any good hiding our feelings from each other. I can tell you that for a fact. All the time I was falling for you, but thought it was wrong, ate me up inside, probably as much as it was you two hiding your relationship from me. Not that I didn’t notice the signs. I just couldn’t put two and two together until you told me. Please be honest with him. If you want me to be there, I will be.”

He buried his head in her neck again and rested there for a while as Gaby gently stroked his hair. As I sat there watching their interaction, one thought popped into my mind. Gaby was going to make an amazing mother at some point. We had all agreed that she would come off birth control and should it happen, it would happen. We weren’t going to plan for it. We were just going to let nature take its course, and if it didn’t happen within the year, then we would investigate. However, looking at her right now, I hoped it would happen soon.

“I know I have to tell him, Hud. But what if it doesn’t change his mind? What if still decides to go home?”

I could almost hear the tears as he was being torn apart inside. I hadn’t realized up until this moment just how important Gino was to Nico, and not just as his underboss.

“We will cross that bridge when we come to it. What time are you meeting with him?”

He gave me a slight nod before he spoke. “About three o’clock at his place. He said he didn’t want to meet me here in case anyone saw him. I wasn’t sure why, so I didn’t ask.”

Well, at least I knew if everything did go wrong, Nico would only be downstairs.

“Okay. I can drive us home if you leave your car. You can take mine if you want.”

His eyes lit up at my statement. He knew because it was summer, I had gotten my Aston Martin out of the garage. I only used it in the summer and when I didn’t have any meetings planned outside the office. I had brought Gaby to work in it today, but something told me Nico needed that little bit of fun.

“Thanks, Hud. And thank you, Rosa, but I think it’s best if I speak to Gino alone. I’m really not sure what kind of mood he is in, and I wouldn’t want to put either of you in a situation where you say something you might both regret.”

I could see Gaby was worried about Nico just from the expression on her face as she sat there looking at him. I gave him a quick chin lift when she wasn’t looking at me, and he turned to look at her.

“I promise I’ll be fine, principessa.”

He leaned over and pressed his lips to hers, but not deepening the kiss. I was truly grateful for that because I was already holding myself back while watching the two of them.

“You see that you are, or you will have me to answer to,” she said.

Chapter Three

GINO

I THOUGHT THAT things couldn’t get any worse after Nico got together with Hudson. Unfortunately, I was hugely mistaken. Not only did I have to watch the man I was desperately in love with spend time with his lover, but now I was also falling for the woman that they shared. I could have probably dealt with that easily had they not kept inviting me around to spend time with them.

I knew I could say no, but it was the only opportunity I had to spend time with people. I wasn’t really the type of man who went out with the rest of the guys over the weekend, drinking and picking up chicks. I mostly kept my personal life private and spent most evenings in my apartment alone, usually with my friends Jack Daniels and Jim Beam. I’d lost count of the number of nights I had lost to the bottle. However, no one knew.

I couldn’t go on this way. It was getting to be too much for me. I needed to end this now, and the only way I could see of doing that was by going back home to Sicily. Back to my family. It had been too many years since I had seen them in person. Speaking to them on the phone or via video chat just wasn’t the same. My nephew was growing up so fast, and I’d never even met him.

I knew I couldn’t talk to Nico in the office. There were too many eyes and ears about for my liking, which was why I had asked him to meet me here in my apartment. Hudson and Gabriella would be home not long after we met, so I knew he would be okay. I really wasn’t sure how he was going to take what I was going to tell him. Even though I was his underboss and were almost like brothers, I still loved him dearly.

I looked at the clock and saw it was just before Nico was due to meet with me. I grabbed a couple of glasses and a bottle of Jack from the kitchen and walked into the front room. Just as I was putting the glasses down on the coffee table, there was a knock at the door. I placed down the bottle and went to the front door, instantly opening it, and found Nico standing there looking like a shadow of the man I knew he was.

“Nico, what’s wrong?”

He walked past me without saying a word and walked into the front room. I closed the door behind me and followed him. I had a feeling that this was going to end badly. As I stepped into the room, I noticed him looking at the picture I had on top of the fireplace of me and him together when we were celebrating his twenty-first birthday here in New York. He picked it up and gazed at it before he spoke.

“What happened to us, Gino?”

I looked at him, confused for a second. “What do you mean, Nico?”

He turned to look at me, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There were actually tears falling down his face. I wanted to run to him, to hold him in my arms. But he wasn’t mine to comfort, no matter how long we had known each other.

“What changed? We were so different back then. Enjoying life to the fullest. Out every weekend. How did we end up here?”

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